As we continue onto our next legendary dancer who has been a shaker and a mover in the industry we turn to our Mr. Michael. Mr. Michael Littlefield teaches one of our most popular contemporary classes at Dancer’s Gallery in Cooper City, Florida. We asked Mr. Michael who his person was and after a few seconds he said Mia Michaels! He then procedded to tell us a few fun facts about the well know dancer, choreographer, judge, author etc. Everyone knows Mia Michaels mostly from her time on SYTYCD.

“Seek the uncomfortable” is a teaching Mia Michaels often goes by. A place where a lot of people do not dare to go. Could this be one of the keys to her success? We think maybe…it is definetly a factor. Of course Mia’s upbringing and journey early on helped as well. Mia was born in Coconut Grove, Florida, to a family of dancers. Her father and dance teacher, Joe Michaels, taught her jazz, tap and ballet, while her sister, Dana, taught her contemporary dance. Though she began her training with members of her family, she also trained at Miami Conservatory, the Miami Performing Arts Center and Michigan's Interlochen Arts Academy, as well as, the New World School of the Arts. Her first work experience was with her father at the Miami Dance Center, even though she began choreographing at the age of 11. She still works with her father at Joe Michaels Miami Dance Center. She has also taught dance in several schools, including the International Dance Festival of Italy, Harid Conservatory in Boca Raton, Florida, and as a guest jazz teacher at the Broadway Dance Center in NYC.

She has choreographed for Madonna's "Drowned World Tour," Ricky Martin, Gloria Estefan, Prince, DK 96, Jon Secada, PYT , and Jimmy Ray. She has also worked with Debbie Allen and Dreamworks on an AMC cable series "Cool Women."

She has choreographed a series of commercials, some award-winning, for the WNBA, Mike's Hard Lemonade, Bacardi, Coldwell Banker, Ziploc, Lady Luck Casino in Las Vegas, MTV's "Hot Properties," Star TV and VISA.

She is the founder, artistic director and choreographer of RAW (Reality At Work), a critically acclaimed New York-based dance company begun in 1997. Mia's contemporary dance company "Mia Michaels R.A.W." has performed in Seoul, Korea, the Jazz World Congress, the International Dance Festival in Amsterdam, the Gypsy Project, Jacobs Pillow, and the New York City '99 concert season. In 2001, the dance company went on a 6-week European tour.

In 2003, she was Director of Choreography for Cirque du Soleil's "Delirium." She has created commissioned-work for Les Ballet Jazz de Montreal, Gus Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago, Oslo Dance Ensemble, and Rhythmek Lightbody. She's worked for the American Music Awards, Celine Dion's "A New Day" and "Taking Chances World Tour," "West Side Story" and "Hello, Dolly!" on Broadway, and off-Broadway with "If These Shoes Could Talk" and "Fort Chaffee".

We suggest to hop on youtube and take a look at a least some of this legends work and then come and stop by and take one of our contemporary classes by one of our many Dancers Gallery instructors who have been influenced by Mia. We have classes for all levels.