She’s a Quadruple Threat, Alright

Ann Marie D’Angelo, dancer/choreographer/producer/artistic director, will direct the premiere of Thank You, Gregory! - A Tribute to the Legends of Tap, which debuts tomorrow.

Due to the premiere, we wanted to showcase a few “behind the scenes” shots for you to get a glimpse of Jason Samuels Smith and cast. But more importantly, in our gendance way, we needed to prod further so you can learn about the amazing woman behind the show.  

 “You can only do all things at once, if you do one thing at a time,” she said in her interview. This struck us because alongside Thank You, Gregory, Ann Marie is involved in plenty of projects.

From what we found, she always broke the mold. Robert Joffrey told her he’d never use her because she was too short. A few years later, she became a Joffrey principal dancer, which was influential to her artistic vision and diverse outlook. During an interview with Time Magazine, she was asked what it felt like to be “short”. She replied, “I never felt short”. In that moment, she realized that it took unadulterated commitment, focus and passion to get there.

She’s served on the Career Transition for Dancers board for 12 years, and Miss D’Angelo will produce and direct this year’s annual gala, America Dances, coming up in a few weeks. If you get a chance to see Thank You, Gregory!, let us know what you think of her work. If you want to attend America Dances, hurry and snag our discount.

Ahhh, the dance world. There’s so much to see, so much to do, and so many cool people behind the scenes.