Mia Michaels

Mia Michaels is an American choreographer, director, and television judge who brought emotionally direct contemporary dance to mass audiences while maintaining a parallel practice in concert performance, Broadway, and large-scale commercial production. Born in Coconut Grove, Miami, in 1966, she grew up in a dance family; her father Joe Michaels owned a Miami studio where she studied jazz, tap, and ballet, and her sister Dana introduced her to contemporary dance.

Michaels pursued concert-dance training before achieving widespread recognition through television and commercial work. She studied at The School at Jacob's Pillow in 1990. In 1997 she founded R.A.W. (Reality at Work), a New York-based company where she served as founder, artistic director, and choreographer. The company's language blended jazz, modern, ballet, and street-dance vocabularies with a pronounced sense of classicism, as documented in the 2000 performance of *Transitional Illuminations* at Jacob's Pillow.

Her choreography then expanded into commercial entertainment, with credits including work for recording artists such as Madonna, Ricky Martin, Gloria Estefan, Prince, and Celine Dion, as well as Cirque du Soleil's *Delirium*. In 2003 she received a Television Academy nomination for choreography on *Celine in Las Vegas: Opening Night Live*. These projects spanned different production contexts and roles.

Michaels became most visible as a contributing choreographer and judge on Fox's *So You Think You Can Dance*. The Television Academy records three Emmy wins for her work on the series: Outstanding Choreography for "Calling You" in 2007; a portfolio including "Gravity/Addiction," "Koop Island Blues," and "One" in 2010; and a further portfolio in 2011. The program's close-camera format brought contemporary duet and ensemble choreography structured around character, emotional stakes, and musical phrasing to millions of viewers.

Her stage and screen work continued in parallel. In 2015 she choreographed the Broadway production of *Finding Neverland* under director Diane Paulus at American Repertory Theater. In 2016 Madison Square Garden Entertainment named her director and choreographer of *New York Spectacular Starring the Radio City Rockettes*. She also directed and choreographed the 2018 short film *Only We Know*. Teaching and mentorship have remained central to her practice; she has led master classes internationally and served as faculty at Broadway Dance Center and in guest-artist capacities, extending her influence across studio training, television, concert performance, and commercial stages.