Saturday night in Los Angeles at the Creative Arts Emmys Awards was a big night for dance. Not only was the Outstanding Choreography Emmy awarded to Mandy Moore for Dancing With the Stars and to Travis Wall for So You Think You Can Dance, the four nominees — including Fred Tallaksen for The Real O’Neals and Derek Hough for DWTS — got together for the first-ever production number at the Creative Arts Emmys.
For Moore, who won her first Emmy after six nominations, the award caps off a whirlwind 12 months that began with the premiere of La La Land at the Venice Film Festival last fall.
“It’s the culmination of a lot of work — you’re in your business and you’re doing your craft and you try and get better and better every time you do it,” says Moore to Dance Network backstage at the Creative Arts Emmys. “It’s really nice to be awarded and rewarded for hard work.”
Wall, who won his second Emmy, felt this particular submission was a sweet one because it was so personal to him.
“I think the creative and the concept of the stories I was telling were heavy emotionally. I didn’t use many props and I didn’t use theatrics in the three numbers,” explains Wall. “I think I pulled from a very emotional place and the stories were three huge pieces of myself and stories that have happened to me in my life. When I watch those three pieces, I know exactly where I was coming from.”
The win also quiets the naysayers who said that the young contestants on Season 13 of SYTYCD wouldn’t be able to pull off emotional pieces.
“We had a hard task with The Next Generation. With kids, we weren’t sure if we were going to be able to create the mature beautiful stories that we usually do on So You Think You Can Dance,” says Wall. “That was my task — If I have a kid, how can I make this mature? How can I make this worthy? It was definitely one of my favorite seasons because it was the most challenging.”
What makes this category one to watch in the upcoming year is the fact that possible nominees might come from World of Dance, proving that dance is seeing a huge amount of growth for dancers and choreographers. With Keone and Mari Madrid’s names already being tossed around as possible contenders for the 2018 awards, it’s going to be a competitive category.
Moore and Wall certainly aren’t resting on their laurels. Moore will be back on SYTYCD on Monday, filming the Season 25 opening number for DWTS and polishing a number for Stephen Colbert for the Primetime Emmys. Wall will be back on SYTYCD soon while prepping for his upcoming fall tour with Shaping Sound.
An artist never rests, they continue to create.
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