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Keith "Tyce" Diorio (born August 22, 1970)^[1] is an American dancer and choreographer. He is best known for his work as a choreographer and guest judge on the Fox television series So You Think You Can Dance. He has choreographed and performed with Janet Jackson, Paula Abdul, Jennifer Lopez, and Ricky Martin.^[2][3] He won an Emmy Award in 2009 for Outstanding Choreography.^[4]

Career[link]

Diorio performed as a dancer in the 1995 film Showgirls, listed in the credits as Keith Diorio. Diorio was a contestant on the short-lived talent show Fame in 2003.^[5] Diorio also had a cameo audition in Every Little Step (2008), a documentary about the 2006 Broadway revival of A Chorus Line.^[6]

Diorio is a featured judge on the TLC competition program, Master of Dance, which aired its first six-episode season during the summer of 2008 (credited as Keith Diorio). He has also appeared as a choreographer and judge over seven seasons of the Fox television show, So You Think You Can Dance.

In 2010, he played himself in the motion picture Move (directed by Kurt E. Soderling and Melinda Songer) along with others including Mia Michaels, Paula Abdul, Wade Robson and Nigel Lythgoe.^[7]

Janet Jackson,^[8] Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez,^[8] Mýa, *NSYNC, Kelly Osbourne, Céline Dion and Toni Braxton are some of the artists Diorio has worked with. Diorio has also worked on numerous feature films including Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Showgirls, Starsky and Hutch, 13 Going on 30, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, and Epic Movie. In addition to So You Think You Can Dance, his television credits include That '70s Show, The Tyra Banks Show, The Academy Awards, The American Music Awards, The Billboard Music Awards, Big Time Rush, Fame, The Oprah Winfrey Show, as well as Annie and Cinderella.^[7] His struggle to be cast in the revival of A Chorus Line on Broadway was one of the stories included in the 2008 documentary Every Little Step.^[9]

Diorio has choreographed routines for Paulina Rubio and Tobey Maguire; commercials for iPod, McDonald's, Sylvania and Road Runner DSL; and a musical entitled Just Another Man. Diorio has worked privately with Katie Holmes and Tobey Maguire. He also choreographed the music video for Paula Abdul's single Dance Like There's No Tomorrow.

When he was younger, he was named "Mr. Dance of America" and performed in a contemporary take on "The Nutcracker" called "Nuts-n-Krackers" in Boston, Massachusetts, with dancer Nancy O'Meara, also a former "Miss Dance of America".

Choreography for So You Think You Can Dance[link]

• Favorite routines:
  • Season 1:
    • Melody and Nick's Chicago "All That Jazz" Broadway routine ended up as Melody Lacayanga (runner-up)'s favourite routine she performed of the season.
  • Season 2:
    • Donyelle and Benji's Broadway routine to "You Can't Stop the Beat" from Hairspray was chosen to be Donyelle Jones (3rd place)'s favourite routine she performed of the season.
    • Allison and Ivan's contemporary routine to Annie Lennox's "Why" was contemporary choreographer Mia Michaels' favourite routine of the season.
    • Martha and Travis' Broadway routine to "Steam Heat" by The Pointer Sisters ended up as jazz choreographer Brian Friedman's favourite routine of the season.
  • Season 5:
    • Melissa and Ade's contemporary routine to Maxwell's "This Woman's Work" Mia Michaels' favorite routine of the season.
• Top 15 routines season 1-5 choreographies by Tyce Diorio:
  • Season 1:
    • Melody and Nick's Chicago "All That Jazz" Broadway routine
  • Season 2:
    • Allison and Ivan's contemporary routine to Annie Lennox's "Why"
  • Season 5:
    • Melissa and Ade's contemporary routine to "This Woman's Work" by Maxwell was chosen to be Nigel Lythgoe's favourite routine from all seasons 1-5

Tyce recently choreographed for the hit Lifetime TV show, "Drop Dead Diva" featuring Paula Abdul and some SYTYCD past finalists including Mollee Gray(S6), William Wingfield(S4) & Joy Spears(S2). Episode premiers on Season 2, June 6 on Lifetime.

He was also special guest choreographer in So You Think You Can Dance (Poland) (season 6). He helped judges to pick the top 14 dancers.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Tyce Diorio profile at RealityBug.com
• Tyce Diorio at the Internet Movie Database

Mia Michaels (Melchiona)
Doing interviews backstage after the "So You Think You Can Dance" season four finale.
Born	(1966-02-22) February 22, 1966 (age 46) Coconut Grove, Florida, United States
Occupation	Choreographer
Home town	Miami, FL
Height	5'11
Awards	Outstanding Choreography 2007 So You Think You Can Dance Outstanding Choreography 2010 So You Think You Can Dance Outstanding Choreography 2011 So You Think You Can Dance
Website
MiaMichaels.com

Mia Michaels is an American choreographer best known for her judging and contemporary choreography on the TV show So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD). She has worked with musical artists such as Celine Dion, Madonna, Tom Cruise, Ricky Martin, Gloria Estefan, and Prince.^[1] In 2005 she choreographed Cirque du Soleil's world tour, "Delirium" as well as Celine Dion's Las Vegas show "A New Day..."^[2] for which she was later nominated for Emmy. In 2007 she won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography for her "Calling You" routine on season 2 of So You Think You Can Dance; she won again in 2010 for her work on season 5.^[3] She was a main judge of So You Think You Can Dance together with Adam Shankman and Nigel Lythgoe for season 7. She choreographed the dance sequence of "Get Happy" in Season 7 Episode 15 of the "House" episode "Bombshells".^[4]

Early life[link]

Michaels was born in Coconut Grove, Florida on February 22, 1966, to a family of dancers.^[5] Her father Joe Michaels taught her jazz, tap, and ballet from the age of three at the Miami Dance Center.^[5][6] Her sister Dana Michaels taught her contemporary dance.^[7][8] While growing up she attended summer sessions at Interlochen Center for the Arts and at Jacob's Pillow in Massachusetts.^[5][7]

Career[link]

This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. No cleanup reason has been specified. Please help improve this section if you can; the talk page may contain suggestions. (October 2009)

The choreography for Celine Dion’s "A New Day", by Mia, under the direction of Franco Dragone at Caesars’ Palace in Las Vegas has received stunning reviews. The show features a cast of 50 dancers. Mia's work can be seen in the first touring show by Cirque du Soleil, Delirium, which premiered March 2006. She has created works for numerous recording artists including Madonna, Ricky Martin, Gloria Estefan, Anna Vissi, and Prince.^[9]

Mia is a judge and contributing choreographer for the Fox television show, and touring company, “So You Think You Can Dance.”^[10] Mia won an Emmy award for her Choreography on a Television Series “Calling You” on SYTYCD.^[11] Her other works in film and television include “Cool Women” for AMC/DreamWorks Television and award winning commercials for Mike’s Hard Lemonade, Bacardi, Coldwell Banker, and Ziper.^[9]

On October 14, 2009 Mia Michaels cryptically announced via her Twitter account that her status on SYTYCD was changing. She tweeted “I AM OFFICIALLY AN ADORING FAN OF SYTYCD….THANK U FOR 5 WONDERFUL YRS,” then she followed up with, “THANKS SYTYCD AND LOOK FORWARD TO WHATS AHEAD FOR ME…LOOKOUT WORLD!!!!!”^[12] The show’s executive producer, Nigel Lythgoe confirmed on October 15, 2009, Michaels’ immediate departure from the show. Lythgoe thanked Michaels for her assistance during the auditions phase of season 6 which was being broadcast during the fall of 2009. He also made it known that Michaels was welcome to return to the show at any time during season 6 or in subsequent seasons.^[13] Michaels later revealed she left the show to participate as a choreographer for the Canadian, UK and Australian versions of SYTYCD. In addition, Michaels shared she was moving forward on several other projects, including her own choreography show, participating in a documentary/reality show, working on a clothing line, and working on a book deal.^[14] Michaels did choreograph a routine for So You Think You Can Dance Canada's second season finale on October 25; the theme of the piece evoked her choice to depart the franchise. During rehearsal in Toronto, she injured her back and could not be present for the live performance. On January 25, 2010 The New York Post claimed she was returning to SYTYCD for season 7.^[15] Michaels confirmed it via Twitter on January 28.^[16]

She will soon be seen on the big screen in the new motion picture Move, directed by Kurt E. Soderling and Melinda Songer, due in 2010. She plays herself in the film along with others like Tyce Diorio, Paula Abdul, Wade Robson and Nigel Lythgoe.^[17]

Since June 2006, Michaels is a columnist for Movmnt magazine.^[18]

Bravo (US TV channel) recently announced a new docuseries focusing on Michaels.^[19]

Included in her concert and stage work is the critically acclaimed New York based dance company RAW (Reality At Work), for which she is the founder, artistic director and choreographer since the beginning in 1997.^[5][20] She has created works for the Paper Mill Playhouse’s production of “Hello Dolly!” starring Tovah Feldshuh, Les Ballet Jazz de Montreal, Jazz Dance Chicago, and Oslo Dance Ensemble. Her choreography has been seen off-Broadway with “If These Shoes Could Talk,” and “Fort Chaffee.”^[21]

Michaels was one of many choreographers set to pay tribute to Michael Jackson at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. Michaels was to join Wade Robson, Tyce Diorio, Laurie Ann Gibson, Brian Friedman, and other dancer-choreographers in performing with Janet Jackson for her rendition of the song Scream,^[22] but suffered an injury during rehearsals and was thus unable to perform on the show.

Michaels has been on the faculty of schools including the Harid Conservatory, the Ailey School of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and Broadway Dance Center, in New York City,^[23] and her alma mater, the New World School of the Arts. Her choreography has been enlisted for the Miami City Ballet, Joffrey II, the Kirov Academy and the Jazz Theater of Amsterdam.^[5]

Michaels served as a regular judge on So You Think You Can Dance for its seventh season, but decided to leave the show in November 2010 because she felt she did not belong on the panel and also wanted to focus on other projects.^[24] She did however still do choreography for So You Think You Can Dance Canada.^[25]

So You Think You Can Dance[link]

So You Think You Can Dance Canada[link]

Awards[link]

• Silver Leo Award, Jazz Dance World Congress, 1992^[5]
• Dance Educators of America's President Cup^[5]
• 2007: 59th Primetime Emmy Awards: Outstanding Choreography: So You Think You Can Dance: "Calling You"^[26] (tied with Wade Robson and Rob Marshall)
• 2010: 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards: Outstanding Choreography: So You Think You Can Dance: "Koop Island Blues," "Gravity," and "One"
• 2011: 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards: Outstanding Choreography: So You Think You Can Dance: "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic," "When We Dance," "This Bitter Earth/On the Nature of Daylight" (tied with Tabitha and Napoleon D'Umo)
• Nominations
  • 2002: American Choreography Awards: Outstanding Achievement in Commercials: Coldwell Banker “Buying”^[7]
  • 2003: American Choreography Awards: Outstanding Achievement in Television - Variety Series: Celine in Las Vegas: Opening Night Live!^[27]
  • 2003: 55th Primetime Emmy Awards: Outstanding Choreography: Celine in Las Vegas: Opening Night Live!^[28]
  • 2009: 61st Primetime Emmy Awards: Outstanding Choreography: So You Think You Can Dance: "Mercy"^[29]

References[link]

Tyra Lynn Banks
Banks at the 2012 Time 100 gala
Born	Tyra Lynn Banks (1973-12-04) December 4, 1973 (age 38) Inglewood, California, U.S.
Occupation	Model Actress Author Singer
Years active	1991–present
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[1][2]
Website
typeF.com

Tyra Lynn Banks (born December 4, 1973). is an American model, media personality, actress, occasional singer, author and businesswoman.^[3][4][5] She first became famous as a model, appearing twice on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and working for Victoria's Secret as one of their original Angels. Banks is the creator and host of the UPN/The CW reality television show America's Next Top Model, co-creator of True Beauty, and host of her own talk show, The Tyra Banks Show.

Early life[link]

Tyra Banks was born in Inglewood, California. She is the daughter of Caroline (née London; now London-Johnson), a medical photographer,^[6] and Donald Banks, a computer consultant.^[3][7] She has a brother, Devin, who is five years older. In 1980, when Banks was 6 years old, her parents divorced. Banks attended John Burroughs Middle School and graduated in 1991 from Immaculate Heart High School in Los Angeles. Tyra Banks is one of four African Americans and seven women to have repeatedly ranked among the world's most influential people by Time magazine.

Career[link]

Modeling[link]

When Banks was 15 years old, she started modeling while attending school in Los Angeles. She was rejected by four modeling agencies before she was signed by Elite Model Management at age 16. When she got the opportunity to model in Europe, she put college on hold and moved to Milan. In her first runway season, she was booked a record 25 shows at the 1991 Paris fashion week. She would later grace the covers of ELLE and Vogue Spain. She walked the runways for Chanel, Isaac Mizrahi, Anna Sui, Sonia Rykiel, Todd Oldham, Christian Lacroix, Christian Dior, Karl Lagerfeld, Calvin Klein, Badgley Mischka, Marina Spadafora, Michael Kors, Perry Ellis, Gemma Kahng, Valentino, Tracy Reese, Nicole Miller and Fendi as well as appearing in ad campaigns for Dolce & Gabbana, Yves Saint Laurent, Ralph Lauren and others.^[8] In the mid-1990's, Banks returned to America to do more commercial modeling.

Banks was the first African American woman on the covers of GQ and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.^[9] In 1997, she received the VH1 award for, "Supermodel of the Year."^{[citation needed]} That same year, she became the first-ever African American chosen for the cover of the Victoria's Secret catalog.^[10] She is one of the original Victoria's Secret Angels.

In 2010, Banks re-signed with her former modeling agency IMG Models.^[11] Banks is now a contributor of the Vogue Italia website.

Move into television and film[link]

Banks at Cannes Film Festival in 2000.

Banks's television career began on the fourth season of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, in which she played lead character Will Smith's old friend Jackie Ames. She made seven appearances in the series.^{[citation needed]} Other TV credits include Felicity, All That, MADtv, Nick Cannon's Wild 'n Out (in which she was featured as a special guest host and team captain) and The Price Is Right (guest-starring as a "Barker's Beauty").^{[citation needed]} She also appeared as a guest in the animated talk show Space Ghost Coast to Coast in an episode entitled "Chinatown."

Tyra Banks started her own production company, Bankable Productions (previously named, "Ty Ty Baby Productions"; she did not rename it till the second cycle of America's Next Top Model), which produced The Tyra Banks Show, America's Next Top Model and the 2008 movie The Clique.

Banks is the hostess, judge and executive producer of The CW Television Network show America's Next Top Model. In addition, she hosted The Tyra Banks Show, a daytime talk show aimed at younger women, which premiered on September 12, 2005, and ran until May 28, 2010.

In 2008, Banks won the Daytime Emmy Award for her work and production on The Tyra Banks Show.^{[citation needed]}, and won for the second time in a row for outstanding, informative talkshow. In 2010, Oprah Winfrey congratulated Tyra Banks for a good job done on her talk-show for inspiring and mentoring young women.

In late-January 2008, Banks got the go-ahead from The CW Television Network to start work on a new reality television series based on fashion magazines called Modelitha. The show premiered on October 22, 2008.^{[citation needed]}

Banks's first big screen role came in 1994, when she co-starred in the drama Higher Learning.^[12] She then co-starred with Lindsay Lohan in the Disney film Life-Size, playing a doll named Eve who comes to life and has to learn how to live in the real world. Other notable roles include Love Stinks (1999), Love & Basketball (2000), Coyote Ugly (2000) and Halloween: Resurrection (2002). She and Miley Cyrus poke fun at the excesses of the Hollywood lifestyle with a battle over a pair of shoes in Hannah Montana: The Movie (2009).

Banks appeared in the fourth episode of the third season of Gossip Girl^[13] playing Ursula Nyquist, a larger-than-life actress who works with Serena.

Music[link]

Banks has appeared in several music videos, including Michael Jackson's "Black or White", Tina Turner's "Love Thing", Mobb Deep's "Trife Life", George Michael's "Too Funky" (with supermodels Linda Evangelista, Estelle Lefebure, Emma Sjoberg and Nadja Auermann ) and Lionel Richie's "Don't Wanna Lose You". In 2004, she recorded her first single, "Shake Ya Body," which had a music video featuring the final six contestants on America's Next Top Model, Cycle 2. The video was world-premiered on UPN, but the single turned out to be a failure.^[14]

Banks released a single with NBA player Kobe Bryant, entitled "K.O.B.E.," which was performed on NBA TV.^{[citation needed]} She also has a single on the soundtrack to Disney Channel's Original Movie Life-Size called "Be A Star."^{[citation needed]}

Books[link]

Banks in Santa Monica on September 14, 2011

Banks announced in May 2010 that she would be writing a novel, titled Modelland,^[15] loosely based on her own modelling experience.^[16] Published September 2011,^{[dated info]} it is the first of a planned three-part series.^[17] On an interview with Good Morning America, Banks stated that Modelland is the story of four girls who are accepted into an "exclusive" modelling school in the world of Modelland.^[18] Her first novel, Modelland, hit the New York Times best seller list in October 2011.

In 1998, Banks authored a book entitled Tyra's Beauty, Inside and Out.^[19]

Website[link]

In March 2011, Banks launched her fashion and beauty website called "typeF.com", which she co-created with Demand Media.^[20]

Other[link]

In 2011, Banks enrolled in the nine-week-long Owner/President Manager Program (OPM) at Harvard Business School's open-enrollment extension school.^[21] Banks passed the Executive Education Training Program in February 2012.^[22]

Philanthropy[link]

In 1999, Tyra Banks established the TZONE program, which aimed at leadership and life skills development.^[23][24] Banks acts as the patron for TZONE. She has also established the Tyra Banks Scholarship, a fund aimed at providing African-American girls the opportunity to attend her alma mater, Immaculate Heart High School. In 2005, TZONE transformed from a camp into a public charity, the Tyra Banks TZONE Foundation.^[23]

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tyra Banks

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Tyra Banks

• Tyra Banks at the Internet Movie Database
• Tyra Banks at the Fashion Model Directory
• Tyra Banks at AllRovi
• banks Tyra Banks at People.com
• The Tyra Banks Show website
• The New York Times Profile/Interview