Dan Knechtges

Dan Knechtges is a director and choreographer, for musicals, opera, television, film and music videos.^[1]

Life and career

Knechtges is from Grafton, Ohio and is a graduate of Midview High School and Otterbein College, with a degree in musical theatre.^[2][3] As a child, he took dance lessons in Elyria, Ohio, where his sister was taking lessons.^[4] Immediately after college, he moved to New York where he began to work as a dancer and teacher, and soon he was getting choreography jobs.^[2]

Knechtges' work on Broadway as choreographer includes the musicals The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (2005), Xanadu (2007), 110 in the Shade (2007 Revival), You May Now Worship Me (Special benefit concert, 2008), and Sondheim on Sondheim (2010). He received nominations for the Tony Award, Best Choreography and Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Choreography for Xanadu. Knechtges' choreography for Sondheim on Sondheim "is very good. He makes excellent use of multiple layers offered to him by set designer Beowulf Boritt."^[5]

Knechtges choreographed the music video for Fatboy Slim's "It's a Wonderful Night. ^[1] In 2008, in Berlin, Germany, he choreographed Der Schuh Das Manitu.^[6] He has also choreographed many Gilbert and Sullivan operas for New York City's Blue Hill Troupe.^[1]

His off-Broadway work includes Nerds (2005); The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (2005), for which he received the Lucille Lortel Award nomination, Outstanding Choreographer; Vanities: A New Musical (2009) (also at Theatreworks, California); and Citizen Ruth (New York International Fringe Festival, 2009).^[7] In regional theatre, he choreographed The Girl in the Frame at the Norma Terris Theatre in Chester, Connecticut (2005)^[8] and both directed and choreographed Give It Up!, with a book by Douglas Carter Beane at the Dallas Theater Center, Dallas, Texas, from January 15 to February 14, 2010.^[9]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} "Dan Knechtges biography" wrightwaymasterclasses.com, retrieved April 21, 2010
2. ^ ^{a b} "Talking With Choreographer Dan Knechtges". Playhousesquare.org, retrieved April 21, 2010
3. ^ "Dan Knechtges biography". Playbill.com, retrieved April 21, 2010
4. ^ "Xanadu? Can Do!". The News-Herald, February 28, 2010, accessed April 21, 2010
5. ^ Sondheim on Sondheim. Brian on Broadway, accessed April 21, 2010
6. ^ Dan Knechtges at Playbill.com, accessed April 21, 2010
7. ^ "'Citizen Ruth' listing". Citizenruth.info, retrieved April 21, 2010
8. ^ Dan Knechtges at BroadwayWorld.com, accessed April 21, 2010
9. ^ "'Give It Up!' listing. Callastheatercenter.org, retrieved April 21, 2010

External links

• Official Site
• Internet Broadway Database listing
• Internet Off-Broadway Database listing
• "Otterbein College Dance Department 'Dance 2009'"

Persondata
Name	Knechtges, Dan
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death