Although the seating capacity in the "early years" at the New 42nd Street studios was smaller, DanceBreak still managed to pack in quite a very few well known names and faces.

#1 Fan and supporter Jerry Mitchell, seen here with DanceBreak Founder and Producer Melinda Atwood, was the Master of Ceremonies and Artistic Advisor for DanceBreak 2004. As he was busy working on (among other things) Never Gonna Dance, we have no idea how he found the time, but he did! "DanceBreak is amazing. All these choreographers are brilliant. I can't wait to hire them all."

Representatives from HBO attended every year, as did Jennifer Costello from Clear Channel, who said "I would recommend attending this presentation to anyone who asked, and will certainly be there again myself. I look forward to the next one!”

Disney, Showtime, and The Nederlander Organisation all were in attendance every year as was Ed Strong from Dodgers Theatricals: “I always enjoy this event and find it incredibly useful for a producer or creative person to see. The quality gets better every year.”

Lee Johnson from Manhattan Theatre Club is always a famliar face in the crowd and had this to say "This is one of the best ideas I have come across in a long time."

And we have welcomed representatives of Roundabout, Playwrights Horizons, Lincoln Center, The Producer's League, and The Shubert Organisation.

Walter Bobbie, with a little time off before starting to direct White Christmas and Sweet Charity, attended the 2004 performance. But he has been there every year. “The work every year gets bolder and braver, and I thought it was amazing. I was very impressed.”

Lynne Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, the creative team behind Once On This Island came to see what Gerry MacIntyre, DanceBreak 2003 , was up to. Lynne had this to say," It's a wonderful opportunity for us even more so than the choreographers because you just never know who you are going to see and want to work with. And Stephen added "It's great to see the different personalities emerge when they are given no restaints. It tells you as much about who they are as what they do. That's really exciting."

One whole evening's performance in 2004 was turned over to members of The Natonal Alliance of Musical Theaters. It was a great chance for so many regional theaters to see what these talented new choreographers had to offer.

Sue Frost, then President of the Board of NAMT said " We represent over 140 theaters around the country and this is an amazing opportunity for them."

Kevin McCollum, producer of Rent and Avenue Q, and always a big DanceBreak supporter, was there to cheer on Jody Ripplinger, DanceBreak 2004“ I was impressed by how much stronger every year gets … making this a ‘must see’ every year. This one's a winner!”

Marge Champion ("This is the best show on Broadway!") brought her friend, Rex Reed, to his first DanceBreak. And he had this to say, "We need these talented people. I think it was just great. Just great!"

And Stephen Schwartz ( Wicked, Pippin', Godspell, Children of Eden, The Baker's Wife ) attended his first DanceBreak in 2004.

"DanceBreak is fantastic! It’s so well thought out. I particularly like that the choreographers get to do a piece completely of their own devising because that’s when you really get a feel for them. It’s a fantastic idea.”

He was also delighted to find so many of the dancers in his latest Broadway hit Wicked dancing for Robert La Fosse DanceBreak 2004.

Chase Brock, an aspiring choreographer himself, did double duty while interviewing Jac Venza, one of the most lauded director/producers of dance on television, most notably for the PBS series "Dance in America."

"I thought it was particularly interesting that some of the choreographers would tackle, head on, Fosse. But I thought, ‘That’s good. They’re fearless.’ ”

Other faces spotted in the crowd included director/choreographer Jeff Calhoun, Big River and Brooklyn ("It just gets better and better every year."), director Michael Grief, also on a break from Never Gonna Dance, choreographer Lynne Taylor Corbett, many SSDC Board members, and Tommy Tune.

And Ted Chapin from The Rodgers and Hammerstein Organisation, said "Gathering a bunch of choreographers and giving them Broadway-caliber dancers, then having them create numbers the decision-makers can see is a brilliant, brilliant idea.”

Thanks to all of you, we couldn't agree more!