Sergio Trujillo

Sergio Trujillo

Sergio Trujillo, dancer, choreographer (born at Cali, Columbia 1963). Sergio Trujillo came to Canada with his family when he was 12 years old and grew up in North York, a suburb of Metro Toronto that is now amalgamated into the City of Toronto. He is best known as the choreographer of the 2005 Broadway musical Jersey Boys, based on the story of the 1960s musical group, the Four Seasons. Although the Four Seasons did not actually dance, Trujillo created a period dance vocabulary that was true to the masculine characters. Jersey Boys has been produced and toured in many cities around the world. It opened at the Las Vegas Paris Théâtre with the original Broadway creative team on March 6, 2012.

Trujillo discovered dance at age 19, inspired by The Best of Broadway, a performance he attended at Canada's Wonderland amusement park. He began studying dance formally the same year he enrolled at the University of Toronto. After studying science, he was accepted into chiropractic school; however, he could not give up dreams of a professional dance career. In 1989, halfway through his second year of chiropractic studies, he travelled to Los Angeles and successfully auditioned for a dance role in Jerome Robbins Broadway. After committing to dance over medicine, his career followed an upward spiral.

Throughout the 1990s, Sergio Trujillo danced in many on- and off-Broadway musicals. In 1992 he performed in the award-winning Broadway revival of Guys and Dolls, under choreographer Chris Chadman. In 1999, he danced in the original Broadway cast of Fosse, choreographed by Bob Fosse.

Trujillo transitioned into choreography by assisting well-known choreographers such as Debbie Allen and Jerry Mitchell. While still dancing for Fosse, he created his first full-length dance work for the 1999 production of West Side Story at Canada's Stratford Avon theatre. He returned to the Stratford Festival in 2001 with choreography for The Sound of Music and recreated choreography for West Side Story again in 2009.

In 2005 Sergio Trujillo was invited to Chicago to assist on the choreography for the Broadway musical All Shook Up, alongside primary choreographer Ken Roberson. Soon after All Shook Up opened, Trujillo met Canadian-born theatre director Des MCANUFF, who hired him as choreographer for Jersey Boys. Trujillo has often collaborated with McAnuff; he choreographed the 2009 Broadway revival of Guys and Dolls, directed by McAnuff.

Other choreographic credits include The Mambo Kings (2005), Romeo & Juliet (2007), Next to Normal (2008), Memphis (2009) and The Addams Family (2010). Trujillo states that he is most comfortable with the dancing he created for Memphis because it has a funky, soulful quality.

Internationally, he choreographed the West End production of Peggy Sue Got Married (2001) and the Disney's European production of Tarzan (2007).

Television credits include re-enactments for Broadway: The American Musical, a PBS 6-part documentary exploring the uniqueness of the Broadway genre, and guest choreographer and guest judge on CTV's So You Think You Can Dance Canada 2011 season.

Trujillo has choreographed 2 Broadway musicals that were adapted from films: Leap of Faith (2012), based on the 1992 film of the same name, and Flashdance the Musical (2012), an adaptation of the 1983 film.

Sergio Trujillo is the 2003 Los Angeles Ovation Award recipient for outstanding choreography in Empire: A New American Musical. He has received nominations for the following: the 2006 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Choreography on Jersey Boys; the 2009 Lucille Lortel Outstanding Choreographer Award for Saved, an off-Broadway musical; the 2009 Olivier Award for best theatre choreographer for the London production of Jersey Boys; and 4 nominations for the DORA AWARD for outstanding choreography.