Christopher scott sonya tayeh biography

Well Dance fans this is it (for real this time). Our co-winners are crowned on the ninth season finale of So You Think You Can Dance. So, did the most-deserving dancers win?

Let’s bitch it out.

Since much of this week’s finale show was a re-hash of the favourite performances of the season, we’ll reserve this review for new performances. We’ll also reconsider the season as a whole sincewe were unable to address certain issues on a week to week basis.

So, let’s take care of biz-nass right off the bat: this year’s favourite dancers are Eliana and Chehon. Out of the final four, these were absolutely my choices to win. I do however, hate the fact that there are two winners this year. I’ve been wracking my brain trying to figure out who thought this was a good idea. This competition is about finding America’s favourite dancer- not dancers. Some seasons the women are stronger than the men, or vice versa, but ultimately, what the past winners have (well, most of them) is technical skill coupled with charisma – that certain something that draws us viewers in to feel something. In my years watching the show, I’ve never felt that gender mattered in terms of these qualities.

This year, the show’s ending felt anticlimactic and more than a little bit awkward in those final moments. The girls were up first, which immediately gave the sentiment that America’s “favourite girl dancer” wasn’t as important as the “favourite guy dancer”. Although I love Chehon (quite impressed with his growth this season), if we compare him with Eliana in terms of who was the better performer, Eliana blew him out of the water. She was very quickly one of my favourites – I couldn’t look away most times she was dancing and the curly haired girl turned out to be an absolute pro i

American choreographer

Sonya Tayeh is a New York City-based choreographer. She has worked nationally and internationally across the worlds of dance and theater.

She has earned several accolades for her work, including the Tony award for her choreography work on the Broadway production of Moulin Rouge!, Emmy nominations for Fox's So You Think You Can Dance, and the Lucille Lortel and Obie Awards for “Outstanding Choreography” for her work on David Henry Hwang's dance-play Kung Fu, for which she also received a Drama Desk nomination.

Life and career

Early life and education

Tayeh was born in Brooklyn, New York and raised in Detroit, Michigan, the daughter of a Lebanese mother and Palestinian father. She has two sisters and one half-brother. Tayeh started dancing at age 15 when she began frequenting hip-hop and house dance parties with her sister. She started studying ballet and modern dance—as a subject—at age 17 when she was a student at Henry Ford Community College. Although Tayeh was a freestyle house dancer in her youth, she didn't take any formal dance classes until she was 18 and a student at Wayne State University. Before starting her training, she was denied by six dance studios who wouldn't let her take classes because they felt she was too old. In addition to her classes, Tayeh was a member of Counter Groove and Full Circle dance companies.

During her time at Wayne State, Tayeh drew on dance history, anatomy, and performance to develop a style that is built on core strength, aggressive partner interaction, quirky, and stylized movements. She graduated Wayne State in 2002 with a bachelor's degree in Dance.

Dance career and mainstream exposure

Since gaining mainstream exposure, Tayeh has choreographed tours and/or live events for Madonna, Florence and the Machine, Kylie Minogue, Kerli, and Miley