Tag Archives: America’s Best Dance Crew

HBO Max Releases First Trailer of The Unscripted Ballroom Competition Show “Legendary,” with Leiomy Maldonado

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Leiomy Maldonado is hitting the ballroom…

HBO Max has released the first official trailer for Legendary, the streaming service’s upcoming unscripted ballroom competition show featuring the 32-year-old transgender Afro-Puerto Rican dancer, instructor, model, activist, and ballroom dancer, known as the “Wonder Woman of Vogue,” as a judge.

Leiomy Maldonado

The series follows young voguing teams competing in balls and showcasing fashion for a panel of judges.

In addition to Maldonado, the judges panel includes Law Roach, Jameela Jamil and Megan Thee Stallion. 

Legendary comes from Scout Productions. Jane Mun and Josh Greenberg serve as showrunners. David Collins, Rob Eric and Michael Williams also serve as executive producers.

Maldonado was a member of the dance troupe “Vogue Evolution,” which was featured on America’s Best Dance Crew. She has worked with artists like Willow Smith, Icona Pop, and CocoRosie. She’s also a choreographer for the ballroom scenes in FX’s Pose.

Leiomy Maldonado to Serve as a Judge on HBO Max’s Voguing Competition Series “Legendary”

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Leiomy Maldonado is legendary…

The 32-year-old transgender Afro-Puerto Rican dancer, instructor, model, activist, and ballroom dancer, known as the “Wonder Woman of Vogue,” will serve as a judge on HBO Max’s upcoming voguing competition series Legendary. 

Leiomy Maldonado

The Good Place’sJameela Jamilwill serve as the host and a judge alongside Maldonado, Megan Thee Stallion and Law Roach. They’ll be joined by a weekly rotating guest judge, with commentary by DJ MikeQand Dashaun Wesley, who’ll emcee with Jamil.

In the 10-episode Legendary, from Scout Productions, divas will battle on voguing teams called “houses,” with the chance to win a cash prize in ballsy fashion and dance challenges to ultimately achieve “Legendary” status. 

Voguing is a competitive style of modern dance featuring over-the-top fashion and choreography based on poses struck by models on a catwalk. 

Legendary will feature 10 voguing “houses,” each comprised of five performers and a leader – the house “parent.” The teams rotate in a round-robin format, and each episode documents a themed ball from start to finish.

The competition show isset to launch on WarnerMedia’s upcoming streaming service, which debuts in spring 2020.

Maldonado was a member of the dance troupe “Vogue Evolution,” which was featured on America’s Best Dance Crew. She has worked with artists like Willow Smith, Icona Pop, and CocoRosie. She’s also a choreographer for the ballroom scenes in FX’s Pose.

Espinosa: The Latina Choreographer Behind the Moves in “Magic Mike”

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Channing Tatum and Adam Rodriguez’s highly anticipated Magic Mike may be a movie about male strippers… But there’s actually a Latina behind some of the men’s dance sequences… And, her name is Teresa Espinosa.

Teresa Espinosa

The 38-year-old Latina actress/dancer—a member of the all-female breaking dance crew Beat Freaks, which was the runner-up on MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew—served as an assistant choreographer on the Steven Soderbergh-directed film, which is loosely based on star Tatum’s real-life experiences in the world of male stripping.

Magic Mike

Filming on Magic Mike took less than a month, leaving rehearsals “very sporadic because everybody’s schedule was so mixed up,” said Espinosa, who, assisting fellow Beat Freaks member Alison Faulk, choreographed group numbers and solo routines. “We’d get one hour with one person, another hour the next person. For one of the group numbers, we didn’t have everybody rehearsing together until the day of that shoot. But they all worked very hard individually that when it came together for the shoot day, they created magic.”

After graduating from the California Institute of the Arts, Espinosa got her big break dancing with Janet Jackson on her The Velvet Rope World Tour, and she later received an Emmy nomination for contributing choreography for Jackson’s HBO special.

Since then Espinosa has danced and choreographed for several popular artists, including Britney Spears, Pink, Rihanna, Mariah Carey and Miley Cyrus.

“The reason why I feel like I have been so successful is because of my passion,” said Espinosa in an interview with Latination. “I live and die by it!”

Meanwhile, Espinosa is excited about sharing her work on Magic Mike with the world.

“I don’t think any of us, except for Channing Tatum, really understood what we were getting into.”

Magic Mike opens in theaters this Friday, June 29.