Darren Lee, DanceBreak 2005, hit the ground runnning after last February's performances. He has since landed several regional choreography jobs, all of which were with directors he had never worked with before. They either saw DanceBreak, or signed him on after seeing his choreography demo reel.

They were Jesus Christ Super Star at the St. Louis Muny, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes at Westchester Broadway, and Carnival for the Nevada Rep. at UNLV

He also taught Theatre Dance as a guest artist to the 3rd year students for a semester at CAP 21, (NYU)

His upcoming choreography projects include:Chicago at the Riverside Theatre in Vero Beach, FL., Aida at the St. Louis Muny, and in Japan he will be choreographing Copacabana for the Takarazuka Revue company and staging an arena show for some high profile Japanese producers.

He has also been signed by a new agent and a manager and is still dancing in his spare time!

Peter Pucci, DanceBreak 2002, is choreographing Carnival at Papermill Playhouse. He is also now a Guest Professor in Graduate Drama at Yale University. He was the movement director/choreographer for Safe in Hell in November and December, The Cherry Orchard in February and Dance of Holy Ghosts in March and April. All at Yale Rep.

Peter also maintains a company, Pucci Sport that tours the country all year long giving performances, lecture demonstrations, and master classes.

In November Daryl created Cinema Soundtracks for the Ballet San Jose. He has also created and presented the first in a series of workshops entitled "Best of Broaday and Ballet" , featuring such name ballerinas as Julie Kent from ABT. In April he will be choreographing Carmen for the NYC Opera at Lincoln Center.

In this month's Dance Magazine there was an article about "dance and comedy" and Daryl's Keystone Cops number from The Pirates of Penzance, which he presented at DanceBreak last year was mentioned. He was in great company as the article also spoke of the work of Susan Stroman and Jerome Robbins and Agnes DeMille.

He is also now a member of the International Council of the Dance which is part of UNESCO - United Nations Exchange of Scientists and Culture (Paris/Athens).

Josh Bergasse, DanceBreak 2003, saw his work on Captain Louie (music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz) moved from the York Theater to the Little Schubert Off B'way. But he is currently taking a short break from choreographing and dancing in the national tour of Movin' Out.

Casey Nicholaw, DanceBreak 2003, directed and choreographed The Drowsey Chaperone at the Ahmanson in L.A this Fall. The show subsequently garnered eight L.A Critics Circle Award nominations, including Best Direction for Casey's work. Drowsey Chaperone is set to start previews in NYC in April with an aim towards a May opening at the Marquis Theater.

Naomi Goldberg, DanceBreak 2002, has been busy "teaching, teaching, teaching." But she has a new production coming up January 29th at Dance Theatre Workshop. It is 'Naomi Goldberg Hass Dancers' presented as part of the Movement Research at the Judson Church "about town" series.

Slam, DanceBreak 2005, recently presented two world premieres for the Orlando Ballet, which had been commissioned by Fernando Bujones. Diane Hubbard Burns for the Orlando Sentinel wrote "“His synergy of forms is so fresh - This dance is as cerebral as it is visceral”.

He has been commissioned once again to set a new work for the Orlando Ballet, now under the Artistic Direction of Bruce Marks, for their upcoming "A World of Dance.” He will also be presenting his work at this year's Ballet Builders 2006, at the Florence Gould Hall in NYC. Slam has also choreographed a contemporary solo for 16 year old “wunderkind” Joseph Gorak (above left) who will be competing at this year’s International Ballet Competition in Jackson Mississippi.

Andy Blankenbeuhler, DanceBreak 2002, was busy this summer with the Frank Wildhorn piece Waiting For The Moon which is looking towards another production in 2007. Right now he is working a new piece called Burleigh Grimes which is directed by David Warren and has music by David Yazbek. It is scheduled to open at the Dodgers Stages in June.

Andy is also working on a live Barbie tour with Christopher D'Amboise that is being produced by Clear Channel. And he tells me there is yet another project in the woks for June, that he "is very excited about," but we will have to wait abit to hear more about that.

Jamie Rocco, DanceBreak 2005, has made some big additions to his resume. He was just recently appointed vice president of programming for the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

"Jamie was selected, among other reasons, for his highly developed collaborative instincts," said Ordway Center president and CEO David Galligan. "He is a theatre professional, but he has a deep respect for the classical art forms."

Prior to that he staged the world premieres of What A Glorious Feeling (Mason Street Warehouse in Saugatuck, MI),which was based on the story of Gene Kelly and Stanley Donnen and the making of Singin' in the Rain.

Matt Williams, DanceBreak 2004, presented two evenings of his own choreography in concerts at Steps on Broadway last October. It was SRO.

He is also teaching two classes of Theatre Dance at Steps and getting ready to present his version of The Nutcracker come Christmas 2006.

And in the "There really is more to life than Sho' Biz" Category, we add these more personel notes:

Jody Ripplinger, DanceBreak 2004, and her husband welcomed Ruby Meena Kiesewalter, 8 lbs. 6 ozs., into their lives on Aug 28th at 6:39 AM.

And Avelina Kiyome Sanchez made the duo of Lainie Sakakura, DanceBreak 2004, and her husband Alex Sanchez into a trio on May 16th, 2004.

And that is all worth shouting about!!