Nick Lazzarini (born August 4, 1984) is an American

dancer Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoi ...

. He is best known as the first season winner on the

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

reality show Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

So You Think You Can Dance ''So You Think You Can Dance'' is a franchise of reality television shows in which contestants compete in dance. The first series of the franchise, created by '' Idols'' producers Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe, premiered in July 2005 and has ...

''. He is a trained dancer in

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

, lyrical, hip hop,

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

and

modern dance Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert or theatrical dance which included dance styles such as ballet, folk, ethnic, religious, and social dancing; and primarily arose out of Europe and the United States in the late 19th and early 20th ...

styles.

Early life

Lazzarini was born to

Italian American Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, ...

parents. Lazzarini grew up in

Mountain View, California Mountain View is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. Named for its views of the Santa Cruz Mountains, it has a population of 82,376. Mountain View was integral to the early history and growth of Silicon Valley, and is the ...

in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

. He graduated from Springer Elementary in

and Blach Intermediate School in

Los Altos, California Los Altos (; Spanish for "The Heights") is a city in Santa Clara County, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 31,625 according to the 2020 census. Most of the city's growth occurred between 1950 and 1980. Originally ...

.Ridgeway, Eliza (October 26, 2005)
"Nick Lazzarini, star of FOX's 'So You Think You Can Dance,' returns home for a visit"
. ''Los Altos Town Crier''. Lazzarini began attending Showbiz when he was 8 years old.Walker, Marisa (October 2001)
"5 Days, 5 Nationals"
''Dance Spirit''. 5 (8):66 In the early 2000s, he travelled every other weekend from San Francisco to Fresno to dance at Dance Rage. He was trained under Keith Banks. His performance at Showbiz in 2001 caught the attention of '' Dance Spirit'' magazine, and they featured him on the cover of their October 2001 issue. At the time of his appearance on "So You Think You Can Dance," he was living in

Van Nuys, California Van Nuys () is a neighborhood in the central San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Home to Van Nuys Airport and the Valley Municipal Building, it is the most populous neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley. History In 1909, ...

Early career

Lazzarini has been dancing since age four and began teaching and doing choreography at age fourteen. In 2003, Lazzarini, competing as part of a dance group called Hot Under The Collar, appeared on CBS's "

Star Search ''Star Search'' was an American television show that was produced by T.P.E./ Rysher Entertainment from 1983 to 1995, hosted by Ed McMahon, and created by Al Masini. A relaunch was produced by 2929 Productions from 2003 to 2004. On both versio ...

" remake. Prior to competing on the Fox reality show, Lazzarini spent two years at the Dance Company of San Francisco and also toured Europe with the RAW dance company, which was founded by choreographer

Mia Michaels Mia Michaels Melchiona (known professionally as Mia Michaels; born February 22, 1966) is an American choreographer and judge on the television show ''So You Think You Can Dance''. She has worked with Tom Cruise, Celine Dion, Gloria Estefan, M ...

, one of the judges on "So You Think You Can Dance".

''So You Think You Can Dance''

Lazzarini was the first person who auditioned for the show before it even began. Nigel and Bonnie Lythgoe approached him to see if he would be a good match for a show they were then planning.Arnett, Lisa (January 2006), "America's Favorite". "Dance Spirit". 10 (1):58 For his win on the first season of the show, Lazzarini received a cash prize of $100,000 and the use of a

penthouse apartment A penthouse is an apartment or unit on the highest floor of an apartment building, condominium, hotel or tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distingui ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

for one year. According to judge

Nigel Lythgoe Nigel Lythgoe OBE (; born 9 July 1949), also known as Nasty Nigel, is an English television and film director and producer, television dance competition judge, former dancer in the Young Generation and choreographer. He was the producer of the ...

, Lazzarini chose to exchange the value of the apartment for a cash equivalent.

Post ''SYTYCD''

Lazzarini became the first person ever to appear on the cover of ''Dance Spirit'' twice, with the January 2006 issue. Beginning in March 2006, Lazzarini became a founding member (of 15) of the Evolution Dance Company, which debuted at the OC Pavilion in

Santa Ana, California Santa Ana () is the second most populous city and the county seat of Orange County, California. Located in the Greater Los Angeles region of Southern California, the city's population was 310,227 at the 2020 census, making Santa Ana the List of ...

, alongside ''SYTYCD'' alumni Melody Lacayanga and Craig DeRosa. Choreographers in the company include Liz Imperio and Mia Michaels. Lazzarini was formerly a faculty member of Jump Dance Convention (www.breakthefloor.com). In November 2011,

Oxygen Media Oxygen (branded on air as Oxygen True Crime) is an American television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming unit of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast, through its Cable Entertainment Group subsidiary. The channel primar ...

announced that Nick, along with fellow dancers

Travis Wall Travis Michael Wall (born September 16, 1987) is an American dancer, instructor, and choreographer specializing in contemporary and jazz dance styles. He rose to international attention in 2006 as a competitor on the second season of the Fox t ...

, Teddy Forance, and Kyle Robinson, is part of a series in development titled ''All the Right Moves''. This docu-series follows the four dancers as they work to start a new dance company in LA called Shaping Sound. He is co-creator of Shaping Sound, a traveling dance company that was still active in 2017.

Personal life

Lazzarini is best friends with Melody Lacayanga, and they have been since their teens. He is also best friends with dancer and choreographer

, whom he has known since he was 9 years old. He was fired from the dance company Break the Floor for posting then removing a video of himself online masturbating.

Awards and honors

*Junior Mr. Dance of America *Teen Mr. Dance of America

References

External links

Star Search bio page
*

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20080828173448/http://www.richmondermet.org/reaf10.1/events_7.30.06/CastDetail7-06.html Help Is On the Way, Cast Details, 2006br>"Team Of Young Dancers Learns From Moves Of Professionals," Megan Boswell, Southern Maryland Newspapers Online, November 28, 2007
* ttp://www.dma-national.org/National_convention/2006/Convention-Faculty-2006.pdf .pdf document, "DMA 2006 Intensive Ballet/Convention Faculty," Dance Masters of Americabr>"So Let's Dance! The Winner Of Fox TV's 'So You think You Can Dance?,'" Kaustuv Basu, The Saratoga News, October 26, 2005
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lazzarini, Nick Living people American male dancers So You Think You Can Dance winners 1984 births Gay dancers American LGBT dancers American gay artists LGBT people from California Modern dancers American jazz dancers American people of Italian descent So You Think You Can Dance (American TV series) contestants 21st-century American dancers People from Mountain View, California