School of Dance Alumnus Choreographed for ABC Drama Series “American Crime”

Andy Noble

School of Dance MFA Andy Noble choreographed a recent scene for ABC Network’s drama series, American Crime, along with Dionne Sparkman Noble and their company NobleMotion Dance.

Article courtesy of Nancy Wonzy Arts and Culture Texas.

It’s not every day that Texas choreographers get a shout out from Felicity Huffman on Twitter. But that’s exactly what happened to NobleMotion Dance co-directors Andy Noble and Dionne Sparkman Noble after the fifth episode of the ABC drama American Crime aired on Feb. 3, which featured four uninterrupted minutes of their outstanding choreography.

The Nobles, both on faculty at Sam Houston State University, spent the month of September preparing for this project. They gathered dancers from NobleMotion, Bruce Wood Dance Project, as well as alums from Sam Houston State University, Booker T. Washington Performing Arts High School and HSPVA for the makeshift troupe they put together for the show. A + C editor Nancy Wozny visited with the Nobles to talk about their experience bringing dance to network television.

Dancers surround “American Crime” executive producer John Ridley, standing, third from left.
Photo: Ryan Green, ABC

Nancy Monzy: We don’t often see contemporary dance on network television, which is not attached to reality show. How did American Crime director John Ridley learn about you?

Andy Noble: My understanding is he asked folks in the dance community for recommendations. Apparently our name came up several times. They started doing some research on NobleMotion Dance and after a few phone conversations decided to make the trip to Houston to see our August show Storm Front at The Hobby Center. We were sold out, but managed to finagle a couple of seats for them. It was probably our most successful show to date, so they picked a good one to see. Things just took off from there.

To read the full interview visit Arts and Culture Texas.