Local Dance Company Joins Janet Jackson

As a dancer, getting a callback after an audition is great. Getting a callback to dance with Janet Jackson?

Exhilarating. Especially if you’re still in high school.

Ten dance students from Raleigh’s CC & Dance Company (nine girls and one boy) were asked to dance with Jackson and her regular dancers September 17 at her Walnut Creek show.

An impromptu dance lesson led to the surprise invitation.

“Someone contacted me about hosting it at my studio,” says owner Christy Curtis-Kopcsak. “They wanted to do a workshop and an outreach for kids who wanted to be in the business. One of the assistant choreographers came in to teach ‘Rhythm Nation.’ A lot of kids took the class, and he asked 10 to stay after.”

Those 10 danced the entire number with Jackson the next night.

“The thing that surprised me the most about dancing with Janet Jackson was the amount of hard work it takes to get a performance concert ready,” says Alexa Robertson, 15, a sophomore at Heritage High School. “Everything had to be perfect.”

Alums

These local dancers were either students or instructors at CC & Company.

Martha Nichols: Touring with Madonna. (Nichols has also toured with Rihanna and Kylie Minogue.

Ariana DeBose: In “Hamilton” on Broadway. Also in the original cast of “Bring it On” and “Motown.”

Robert Green: Touring with Taylor Swift.

Alums of “So You Think You Can Dance?”:

Martha Nichols

Noelle Marsh

Ariana Debose

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