Shane Sparks

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Shane Sparks
Shane Sparks backstage at the So You Think You Can Dance season four finale.
Born	June 25 1969 (age 40) Cincinnati, Ohio
Occupation	Hip-hop choreographer
Parents	Wanda and Melvin Sparks

Shane Sparks (born June 25 1969) is an award-winning hip-hop choreographer best known for his work as a choreographer on So You Think You Can Dance and judge on America's Best Dance Crew. He won an American Choreography Award for his work as co-choreographer on 2004 film You Got Served. He also has been nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography for his work on season three of So You Think You Can Dance.

[edit] Biography

Sparks was born the youngest of three kids to Wanda and Melvin Sparks in Cincinnati, Ohio. He has two older sisters, Rene and Buffy. His parents are police officers. Sparks was born with Scoliosis and spent extra time in the hospital after his birth. He started dancing at the age of 11 when he attended a local Easter Ball.^[1] Hooked on dancing from that point, he held rehearsals in his backyard and performed in hometown talent shows and high school showcases.^[2] When his sister's boyfriend was murdered, dancing became even more important to Sparks as it was his way to escape and feel safe.^[3] Dancers that inspired him included Bruno "Popin Taco" Falcon, Bob Fosse, Fred Astaire, Michael Jackson, and Paula Abdul.

Sparks graduated from Aiken Senior High School in 1987, Sparks later moved to Los Angeles in 1993, at the age of 24, to explore a career in entertainment. He was part of a dance group named Cold Krush (named after the New York group Cold Krush) that performed in talent shows, which then became a singing group called the Cold Premiere. They were signed to Giant Records and made a film and some videos, but eventually disbanded. Around this time he was featured in the music video "I Wanna Be Down" by R&B artist Brandy Norwood. Sparks then went to a dance class at the Millennium Dance Complex (formerly known as Moro Landis) in North Hollywood. When the teacher for one of the hip-hop classes was late, someone saw Sparks standing around in a baseball cap and baggy shirt, assumed he was a teacher, and asked him to teach the class. According to Sparks, he had no choreography experience up to that point. "It was one of those things that changed my life. I didn't even know how to count [in eights]."^[3] When the real teacher arrived 15 minutes later, he drafted Sparks as his assistant. When the original teacher moved to Japan a week later, Sparks took his place. Under his tenure, the class grew from three students to ten, to two classes a week, to four classes a week, to the biggest class in Los Angeles, breaking records with over 175 students.^[2] Sparks then began getting work as a choreographer for venues such as the American Music Awards, as well as getting a modeling and dancing contract with L'Oréal's Matrix hair products. He has worked with artists such as Aaliyah, Monica, Lindsay Lohan and Benji Schwimmer.^[4] He also worked as a choreographer on the film You Got Served and was a judge at the 2004 World Hip Hop Dance Championship.

Sparks is one of several choreographers, including Brian Friedman, Mia Michaels, Cris Judd, Laurie Ann Gibson, and Wade Robson, who teach at "The Pulse" dance convention. This convention is held in several cities across America. One of the workshops in 2006 had 200 attendees, and another workshop in 2007 had over 900.

According to an interview at aris-dance.com, Sparks' upcoming projects include the movie ByLar and the TV show "The Pit".^[5] In an interview for Los Angeles magazine, Sparks said he was working with Chris Stokes on the film Backdown a sequel to You Got Served^[2] which was scheduled to begin shooting in July 2007.^[1] In multiple interviews with TalkofFame.com, Sparks speaks about his involvement with a new stage version of Dreamgirls.^[6]

He has broken up with Francia Raisa from Bring It On: All or Nothing and "The Secret Life of the American Teenager."

[edit] 2009 arrest

On December 18, 2009, Shane was arrested on felony charges of child molestation. Sparks was arrested early Friday morning at his Hollywood home and brought to a Van Nuys, Calif., jail, held on $590,000 bail, LAPD spokesman, Keisha Shaw, told TVGuide.com. French also added that Sparks was the "subject of an ongoing child molestation investigation." ^[7]

[edit] So You Think You Can Dance

Sparks is best known for being one of the judges and choreographers on the reality dance competition So You Think You Can Dance. Sparks has been one of the hip-hop choreographers since season one in 2005. He started judging during season three in 2007. One of the touching moments during the 2007 auditions was when Bryan Gaynor, a computer science student whose spine was twisted with scoliosis came to audition. Though his range of movement was extremely limited, he managed an impressive robotic routine to Christina Aguilera's "Ain't No Other Man" that astonished and impressed all of the judges, especially Sparks. Gaynor did not have enough dancing skill to continue past that day of the auditions but Sparks gave him a soft rejection by simultaneously offering him a job as a featured dancer in the upcoming film Backdown that Sparks will be choreographing.^[1][8] According to TV Guide, Gaynor accepted the role.^[9]

• Favorite routines for So You Think You Can Dance:
  • Season 1:
    • Destini and Jamile's hip hop routine to "Shake" by Ying Yang Twins featuring Pitbull was Jamile McGee's (3rd place) favorite routine of the season.
  • Season 2:
    • Benji and Travis' geek hip-hop routine to "Gyrate" by Da Muzicianz featuring Mr. Collipark was chosen by choreographer Dan Karaty as his favorite routine of the season.
  • Season 3:
    • Lauren and Pasha's Transformer routine to "Fuego" by Pitbull was chosen by judge Mary Murphy as her favorite routine of the season.
    • Sabra and Dominic's slow hip-hop routine to "Make It Work" by Ne-Yo was chosen by ballroom choreographer Jean-Marc Généreux as his favorite routine of the season.
  • Season 4:
    • None (Sparks only choreographed 2 group routines and nothing more for the season)
  • Season 5:
    • Top 20 results show:
      • Hip-hop group dance to "Boom Boom Pow" by The Black Eyed Peas
    • Top 18 performance show:
      • Hip-hop with Caitlin Kinney and Jason Glover to "Missin' You" by Trey Songz
      • Hip-hop with Ashley Valerio and Kupono Aweau to "Imma Be" by The Black Eyed Peas
    • Top 8 performance show:
      • Hip-hop with Jason and Kayla to "They're Everywhere" by Izza Kizza.

[edit] America's Best Dance Crew

Sparks is currently a permanent judge on MTV's dance competition America's Best Dance Crew. There are currently four completed seasons of this show. JabbaWockeeZ were the winners of season 1, Super Cr3w were the winners of season 2, Quest Crew were the winners of season 3, and We Are Heroes were the winners of season 4.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Shane Sparks

• Official website
• Shane Sparks at MySpace
• Shane Sparks on Twitter
• Shane Sparks at the Internet Movie Database
• Choreography reel at ClearTalentGroup.com
• Shane Sparks interview at LAist.com
• Shane Sparks interviews at TalkofFame.com