Mia Michaels facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Mia Michaels Melchiona
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Michaels is interviewed backstage after the So You Think You Can Dance season four finale, August 7, 2008.
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| Born | February 22, 1966 Coconut Grove, Miami, U.S.
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| Occupation | Choreographer |
| Awards | Outstanding Choreography 2007 So You Think You Can Dance Outstanding Choreography 2010 So You Think You Can Dance Outstanding Choreography 2011 So You Think You Can Dance |
Mia Michaels Melchiona, known as Mia Michaels, is an American choreographer and a judge on the TV show So You Think You Can Dance. She has worked with many famous people like Tom Cruise, Celine Dion, Madonna, and Prince. In 2005, she created dances for Cirque du Soleil's world tour Delirium and Celine Dion's show A New Day.... She has won several Emmy Awards for her amazing choreography, including for her work on So You Think You Can Dance.
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Early Life and Dance Beginnings
Mia Michaels was born in Coconut Grove, Florida on February 22, 1966. She grew up in a family of dancers. Her father, Joe Michaels, started teaching her jazz, tap, and ballet when she was just three years old. Her sister, Dana Michaels, taught her contemporary dance, which is a modern style of dance. Mia also attended special summer dance programs at places like Interlochen Center for the Arts and Jacob's Pillow.
Mia's Professional Dance Career
Mia Michaels has created dances for many big shows and artists. Her choreography for Celine Dion's "A New Day" show in Las Vegas was very popular. This show had 50 dancers, and Mia's work helped make it a success. She also created dances for Cirque du Soleil's first touring show, Delirium, which started in 2006.
Working on So You Think You Can Dance
Mia Michaels is well-known for her work on the FOX TV show So You Think You Can Dance, often called SYTYCD. She was a judge and also created many of the dances for the show. She won an Emmy Award for her choreography on the show, including a routine called "Calling You."
Mia also choreographed for films and TV shows, like Cool Women and commercials for different brands. She even acted and danced in the movie Step Up Revolution.
In 2009, Mia decided to leave SYTYCD for a while. She wanted to work on the Canadian and Australian versions of the show. She also had other exciting projects, like her own dance show, a documentary, a clothing line, and a book deal. Even though she left, the show's producer, Nigel Lythgoe, said she was always welcome back. She did return to choreograph for So You Think You Can Dance Canada and later came back to the US version for its ninth season.
Other Creative Projects
Besides SYTYCD, Mia Michaels has done a lot more. She wrote a column for Movmnt magazine starting in 2006. The TV channel Bravo even announced a show that would focus on Mia and her work.
She also founded her own dance company called RAW (Reality at Work) in 1997. She has created dances for many theater productions and dance companies, including Les Ballet Jazz de Montreal.
Mia was supposed to choreograph a tribute to Michael Jackson at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, performing with Janet Jackson. However, she got injured during rehearsals and couldn't perform.
Mia has taught dance at many famous schools, like the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Broadway Dance Center. She has also worked with the Miami City Ballet and the Joffrey Ballet School.
In recent years, Mia continued to choreograph for big projects. In 2012, she worked on the film Rock of Ages. In 2015, she created the dances for the Broadway musical Finding Neverland. She also choreographed the New York Christmas Spectacular with the Rockettes in 2016. In 2019, it was announced she would choreograph for the animated movie The SpongeBob Movie: It's a Wonderful Sponge.
Mia's Choreography on So You Think You Can Dance (U.S.)
Mia Michaels created many memorable routines for So You Think You Can Dance. Here are some of them:
| Season | Week | Dancers | Dance style | Music | Notes |
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| 1 | 2 | Destini Rogers Blake McGrath |
Lyrical Jazz | "A Song for You" – Donny Hathaway | |
| Ashlé Dawson Artem Chigvintsev |
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| 5 | Kamilah Barrett Nick Lazzarini |
Contemporary | "King of Pain" – The Police | ||
| 7 | Ashlé Dawson Melody Lacayanga |
"Message in a Bottle" – The Police | |||
| 2 | LVW* | All Dancers | N/A | ||
| 6 | Travis Wall Heidi Groskreutz |
"Calling You" – Celine Dion | Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography 2007 Heidi Groskreutz's favorite routine of the season |
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| Allison Holker Ryan Rankine |
"Ethna" – Klement Bonelli | ||||
| 8 | Top 6 | "Hide and Seek" from Imogen Heap | Result Show | ||
| 9 | Donyelle Jones Travis Wall |
"Georgia on My Mind" – Ray Charles | |||
| 3 | LVW | All Dancers | "I Miss You" – Vitamin String Quartet | ||
| 1 | Lacey Schwimmer Kameron Bink |
"Dancing" – Elisa | |||
| 3 | Shauna Noland Cedric Gardner |
"I Thought We Had" – The Family Stand | |||
| 5 | Lauren Gottlieb Neil Haskell |
"Let the Drummer Kick" – Citizen Cope | |||
| 6 | Top 10 | "The Moment I Said It" – Imogen Heap | Result Show | ||
| 7 | Lacey Schwimmer Neil Haskell |
"Time" – Billy Porter | Dan Karaty's favorite routine of the season | ||
| 8 | Lauren Gottlieb Danny Tidwell |
"Then You Look at Me" – Celine Dion | |||
| 9 | Neil Haskell Danny Tidwell |
"Are You the One?" – The Presets | |||
| 4 | LVW | All Dancers | Mic Check – Imogen Heap | ||
| 1 | Chelsie Hightower Mark Kanemura |
"Beautiful" – Meshell Ndegeocello | |||
| 3 | Top 16 | "The Dance" – Charlotte Martin | Result Show | ||
| 4 | Kherington Payne Stephen "tWitch" Boss |
"Dreaming with a Broken Heart" – John Mayer | |||
| Katee Shean Joshua Allen |
"Hometown Glory" – Adele | ||||
| 6 | Top 5 female dancers | "Ave Maria" – Celine Dion | Result Show | ||
| 7 | Katee Shean Stephen "tWitch" Boss |
"Mercy" – Duffy | Nominated for the 2009 Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography Mary Murphy's favorite routine of the season |
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| 9 | Top 4 | "Hallelujah" – The Vitamin String Quartet | |||
| 5 | LVW | All Dancers | "Belief (Stripped Version)" – Gavin DeGraw | ||
| 2 | Top 18 | "Higher Ground" – Stevie Wonder | Result Show | ||
| 3 | Randi Evans Evan Kasprzak |
"Koop Island Blues" – Koop featuring Ane Brun | Won the 2010 Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography One of Adam Shankman's favorite routines of the season |
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| 5 | Kayla Radomski Kūpono Aweau |
"Gravity" – Sara Bareilles | Won the 2010 Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography One of Nigel Lythgoe's favorite routines of the season |
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| 7 | Top 8 | "One" from A Chorus Line | Won the 2010 Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography Result Show |
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| 9 | Jeanine Mason Kayla Radomski |
Contemporary | "The Four Sections: IV (Full Orchestra)" – Steve Reich | ||
| 7 | 1 | Billy Bell Ade Obayomi Alex Wong |
"This Bitter Earth/On the Nature of Daylight" – Max Richter and Dinah Washington | ||
| 4 | Top 8 | "When We Dance" – Sting | |||
| 7 | Top 6 All-Stars |
"Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" – Sting | |||
| 9 | 1 | Top 20 | "Eyes" (Coachella Live 2012 version) – Kaskade | ||
| 4 | Top 14 | "Hanging On" – Active Child | All couples perform routines choreographed by Mia Michaels form previous seasons. | ||
| Eliana Girard Cyrus "Glitch" Spencer |
Mercy – Duffy | From Season 4 | |||
| Tiffany Maher George Lawrence Jr. |
Hometown Glory – Adele | ||||
| Amelia Lowe Will Thomas |
"Koop Island Blues" – Koop feat. Ane Brun | From Season 5 | |||
| Janelle Issis Dareian Kujawa |
Dreaming with a Broken Heart – John Mayer | From Season 4 | |||
| Audrey Case Matthew Kazmierczak |
"Time" – Billy Porter | From Season 3 | |||
| Witney Carson Chehon Wespi-Tschopp |
Calling You – Celine Dion | From Season 2 | |||
| Lindsay Arnold Cole Horibe |
"Gravity" – Sara Bareilles | From season 5 | |||
| 7 | Eliana Girard Cole Horibe |
"Adagio for Strings" – Brno Philharmonic Orchestra | |||
| 10 | MT20* | Hayley Erbert Carlos Garland Malece Miller |
"Stay – Rihanna feat. Mikky Ekko | ||
| 8 | Top 8 | "Move to the Ocean" (Baauer remix) – Brick & Mortar | |||
| 14 | 7 | Lex Ishimoto
Taylor Sieve |
"You Matter To Me" by Sara Bareilles ft. Jason Mraz | ||
| 15 | 4 | Top 6 | "Spring 1" – Max Richter |
- LVW=Las Vegas Week
- MT20=Meet Top 20
Mia's Choreography on So You Think You Can Dance Canada
Mia also brought her talent to the Canadian version of the show:
| Season | Week | Dancers | Dance style | Music |
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| 2 | 8 | Top 3 Girls | Contemporary | "Concerto for 2 Violins in D Minor, BMV 1043: II. Largo ma non Tanto J. S. Bach" – The Scottish Ensemble/Jonathan Rees |
| 9 | Top 10 | Contemporary | "This Moment" – Nic Chagall ft. Jonathan Mendelsohn | |
| 3 | 3 | Top 18 | Jazz | "Let Go" – Mitzi Gaynor |
| 6 | Top 12 | Contemporary | "Will I?" from Rent | |
| 4 | 9 | Top 3 Girls | Contemporary | "What About Us" – ATB |
Awards and Recognitions
Mia Michaels has received many awards for her amazing choreography:
| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result |
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| 1992 | Jazz Dance World Congress | Silver Leo Award | Won | |
| Dance Educators of America | President Cup | Won | ||
| 2002 | American Choreography Awards | Outstanding Achievement in Commercials | Coldwell Banker "Buying" | Nominated |
| 2003 | Outstanding Achievement in Television - Variety Series | Celine in Las Vegas: Opening Night Live | Nominated | |
| Primetime Emmy Award | Outstanding Choreography | Nominated | ||
| 2007 | So You Think You Can Dance ( For episode Calling You) | Won | ||
| 2009 | So You Think You Can Dance (For "Mercy") | Nominated | ||
| 2010 | So You Think You Can Dance (For the routines "Koop Island Blues," "Gravity," and "One") | Won | ||
| 2011 | So You Think You Can Dance (For the routines "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic," "When We Dance," "This Bitter Earth/On the Nature of Daylight" (tied with Tabitha and Napoleon D'umo) | Won | ||
| 2015 | Astaire Awards | Best Choreographer | Finding Neverland | Nominated |
