Tanisha Scott facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Tanisha Anyango Scott
Picture of choreographer Tanisha Scott
Born	Tanisha Scott Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Occupation	Creative director, choreographer, dancer

Tanisha Scott is a super talented choreographer, dancer, and creative director from Toronto, Canada. She's famous for working with huge music stars like Rihanna, Beyoncé, Alicia Keys, and Sean Paul. Tanisha is especially known for bringing cool Jamaican dancehall moves into popular music videos and shows! She's even been nominated for MTV Video Music Awards three times for her amazing choreography.

Tanisha Scott's Early Life and Dance Journey

Tanisha Scott was born in Toronto, Ontario. Her love for dance started because of her Jamaican family background. Her dad owned a sound system, which is like a big music setup, and this really made her love music and moving to its beat.

When Tanisha was studying at the University of Windsor on a track scholarship, she joined a local hip-hop dance group called Do Dat. Later, she tried out to be a backup dancer for the singer Mya's tour and got the job! Early in her career, a famous director named Hype Williams hired Tanisha to dance in many music videos and even a commercial.

Tanisha got her first chance to be a choreographer for Sean Paul's music video "Gimme the Light". Since then, she has continued to work with Sean Paul as his choreographer and creative director for his tours and videos.

Tanisha Scott's Amazing Career in Dance

In 2003, a magazine called Vibe said that Tanisha's dance moves for Sean Paul's "Gimme the Light" video helped introduce new Jamaican dances to the MTV audience. The next year, she was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award for her work on Sean Paul's song "Like Glue". She was nominated again in 2006 for Sean Paul's "Temperature" and in 2007 for the rapper Eve's song "Tambourine."

In 2008, Billboard magazine put Tanisha on their "30 Under 30" list, which highlights young, successful people. The article mentioned that Tanisha was chosen to choreograph Beyoncé's "Baby Boy" video because of her great work with Sean Paul. Tanisha later worked with Beyoncé on her "Upgrade U" and "Check on It" videos.

Her unique dance style, inspired by her Jamaican roots, caught the attention of Rihanna's team. They hired Tanisha for the Loud Tour, which featured many reggae-style songs like "Rude Boy," "What's My Name?" and "Man Down." Tanisha became the main choreographer and movement coach for Rihanna's "We Found Love" video. She worked with Rihanna during her Rated R, Loud and Talk That Talk albums. She also choreographed the videos for "What's My Name," "Rude Boy" and "You Da One" and choreographed Rihanna's tours. Tanisha also appeared in Rihanna's "Countdown to TTT" and "Making of We Found Love" documentaries, showing how she created the dances.

Tanisha has also choreographed videos for many other famous artists, including Whitney Houston's "I Look to You" and "Million Dollar Bill," Elephant Man's "Pon De River," Nas' "Bridging the Gap," and Amerie's "1 Thing." In 2015, she was featured in a commercial series for American Express. She danced with and choreographed the rapper Drake in his very popular "Hotline Bling" video. Rihanna also chose Tanisha for her ANTI World Tour, and Tanisha appears in Rihanna's "Work" video.

Tanisha Scott on Television

Tanisha Scott was a coach on So You Think You Can Dance Canada. She was also a special guest choreographer on MTV's America's Best Dance Crew. On that show, she taught the 787 Crew popular Jamaican dances like the "Dutty Wine" and the "Chaplin" for a special "Rihanna Challenge" performance.

Tanisha Scott's Work in Movies

Besides music videos and live shows, Tanisha also creates dance moves for commercials, theater, and movies. She helped with the moves in Bring It On: All or Nothing (2006) and played a close friend in the dance movie How She Move (2007).

For the movie Notorious (2009), which was about the rapper The Notorious B.I.G., Tanisha was a movement coach. She helped the main actor, Jamal Woolard, move and act like the famous rapper. She was also an assistant choreographer for the movie Bride Wars (2009). In 2015, Tanisha choreographed a fun hip-hop dance scene in the comedy movie Sisters, starring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. She also created dance moves for Netflix's The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and helped George Clooney with his first-ever dance scene in the movie Money Monster.

Tanisha Scott's Theater Projects

In 2010, while touring with Rihanna, Tanisha co-choreographed a rap musical called Venice. This musical was similar to Shakespeare's play Othello. A critic from Time magazine called the dancing "fluid" in an article about the year's best musicals. The next year, she choreographed an Off-Off-Broadway play called This One Girl's Story.

Later in her career, Tanisha also started working as a movement coach and performance director. As a movement coach, she helps not only dancers and artists but also actors, musicians, models, and athletes. She teaches them how to express themselves and make specific movements for a certain purpose. As a performance director, Tanisha plans and organizes how an artist moves and expresses themselves on stage.

Tanisha Scott as a Creative Director

As a creative director, Tanisha Scott creates and plans the look and ideas for live shows and TV performances. She choreographs, sets up the stage, organizes dancers, and works with teams for styling, lighting, and set design to make amazing moments happen. Tanisha is well-known for her work with Cardi B, who first hired her as a creative director in 2018. She also provides creative direction for the singer H.E.R..

Awards and Nominations for Tanisha Scott

Grammy Awards

MTV Video Music Awards

Billboard Music Awards