Musical-theatre dancer · Choreographer
Sergio Trujillo
Musical-theatre dancer
Why They Matter
Trujillo matters as an artist who turned embodied knowledge of Broadway ensemble performance into a distinctive choreographic and directorial career. He has repeatedly negotiated the difficult boundary between historical or popular-music source material and newly authored theatrical movement. His…
Known For
Biography
Sergio Trujillo, born in Cali, Colombia, in 1963, moved to the Toronto area during his youth before establishing himself as one of Broadway's most prolific choreographers and directors. He entered the stage first as a performer, dancing in the original companies of *Jerome Robbins' Broadway* (1989), the 1992 revival of *Guys and Dolls*, *Victor/Victoria*, and *Fosse* (1999). That decade of performing other choreographers' work taught him how movement is maintained, taught, and sustained across long commercial runs—knowledge that would shape his own practice.
Trujillo's breakthrough as a choreographer came in 2005 with *All Shook Up* and *Jersey Boys*, the latter requiring him to translate the public performance vocabulary of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons into a new dramatic narrative for the stage. He quickly demonstrated range across *Next to Normal*, *The Addams Family*, *Memphis*, and *Hands on a Hardbody*, calibrating movement for strikingly different musical worlds. His 2015 work on *On Your Feet!* channeled the Estefans' Latin-pop concert energy and social-dance vocabulary into Broadway storytelling, earning him a Tony nomination in 2016.
In 2019, Trujillo won the Tony Award for Best Choreography for *Ain't Too Proud — The Life and Times of the Temptations*. His official biography identifies him as the first Latino recipient of the award in that category. By this point, his career had already begun merging choreography with direction; he has since worked across Broadway, touring productions, international stages, and opera. Recent credits include the choreography for *Days of Wine and Roses* (2024) and both direction and choreography for *Real Women Have Curves: The Musical* (2025).
Trujillo's path from immigrant student to Broadway ensemble performer to Tony-winning choreographer and director makes his work especially significant for dance history. An extended interview with the American Theatre Wing preserves his own discussion of choreography and movement in musical theatre, offering a first-hand account to complement the production and awards record.
Legacy & Impact
Trujillo matters as an artist who transformed embodied knowledge of Broadway ensemble performance into a distinctive choreographic and directorial practice. He has repeatedly navigated the difficult boundary between historical source material—whether a biographical subject's documented style or a jukebox catalogue—and newly composed theatrical movement. His work demonstrates how period references and social-dance vocabularies can function as evidence of a performer's public identity while remaining shaped for contemporary dramatic pacing and ensemble storytelling. His Tony win also holds representational significance within Broadway's history.
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