Sergio Trujillo: The Power of Dance On Broadway

By Leora Kanner, Broadway Magazine

Sergio Trujillo, the choreographer of "Jersey Boys" and "Next to Normal," tells Broadway.tv and Broadway Magazine about his unlikely transition to the life of a dancer in a new video interview. He initially went to university in Canada studying sciences and to be a chiropractor. While in chiropractor school, Sergio fell in love with dance. Once he auditioned for his first Broadway show, he says: "Bingo, that was it." 20 years later he still in love with dance.

Sergio believes that dance is one of the most difficult art forms and is not anything like the glory one sees on reality shows such as "So You Think You Can Cance." Mr. Trujillo sacrificed and worked extremely hard to succeed as a dancer: he slept in cars and ate very little in order to pay for his dance classes. He also worked in what he calls "heavy duty maintenance." After dancing all day, Sergio would stay in the studio at around 11 pm and clean the toilets and floors. Despite these hardships, Sergio attributes his great opportunities and the shows he has done to the sacrifices that he made.

Sergio relates how one day he got a call about a new show, "Jersey Boys," the story of the hit group The Four Seasons. He did his research and felt that this show was the "right show, with the right group of people, at the right time." Sergio praises the people who worked on Jersey Boys as contemporary "masters" of the theater.

At the opening of "Next to Normal," the third Broadway show he has choreographed, Sergio described himself as "thrilled" and "elated." The show had quite an unpredictable path to Broadway, much like his own, and Sergio was "over the moon" about it. This piece was particularly challenging for Sergio because he had to choreograph for actors, not dancers, and create movement that would be appropriate for each of their characters.

Sergio also choreographed for "Guys and Dolls," a show that he describes as an "American treasure." Interestingly, Sergio danced himself in 'Guys and Dolls' in 1992 and finds himself needed to reinvent the show in order to put his own unique stamp on the choreography. Sergio talked about how he never reads performance reviews because in his job his vision must be something that he is proud of. If he paid attention to all the opinions offered to him he would have given up "long ago." Instead, his own hard work has substantially paid off.

Sergio's advice is that one needs "heart and passion" in order to succeed. Had he stayed as a chiropractor, he would have had an easier life and more money. However, he followed his heart and soul and pursued dance, and his "long hard battle" has reaped extensive rewards.