Artist Bio

(Bio as of July 2016)

Lainie Sakakura received the 2002 Jeff Award for Best Choreography for Damn Yankees  and a 2003 Jeff Award nomination for Best Choreography for Hot Mikado, both at Marriott Theatre. Ms. Sakakura received the 2015 Joe A. Callaway Award for Outstanding Choreography, with co-choreographer Alex Sanchez, for Red Eye of Love off-Broadway. On Broadway, she performed in the original companies of the 1996 and 2015 Tony Award-winning revivals of The King and I, Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life, Tommy Tune’s The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public and the 2002 revival of Flower Drum Song. For Fosse, she recreated 70 Bob Fosse dances with four years pre-production, two Toronto workshops and a six month pre-Broadway tour. She also performed a featured duet of “From This Moment On” with Andy Blankenbuehler, served as the dance captain and contributed dance reconstructions. Additional New York credits include work with Ballet Hispanico; the Radio City Rockettes and as associate choreographing and performing in the City Center Encores! productions of Fiorello, Where’s Charley? and The Pajama Game. She also appeared in The Metropolitan Opera’s premiere of Armida, directed by Mary Zimmerman.