The man behind the moves

As the opening night of “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” fast approaches, The Samohi lends a peek into all business that goes into making a show a success, a vital part of that being the dancing. This year’s production was choreographed by Miles Crawford. Although he’s a familiar face among students, due to his involvement in middle school theatre, this is his first musical with Samo. Crawford has been working with Lincoln and John Adams Middle School productions for over seven years to put on their annual school plays.  Outside of SMMUSD, Crawford has been working as a professional choreographer and percussionist since 1996 in the Greater Los Angeles area.  Crawford first came to LA in 1996 to pursue music school. Through this musical immersion he found his love for percussion. He plays several types of drums and studied percussion. After graduating, he left LA but then came back in ’99, mostly doing acting at the time. Following that he toured internationally as a percussionist/actor/dancer for several years. However in 2007, he decided a final time to return and settle in LA.  “I was focusing on music at the time. My teaching started in 2010 and coincided with directing and educating,” Crawford said. Crawford first got into SMMUSD productions with the musical “The Wizard of Oz” at Lincoln Middle School in 2011. He was brought onto the crew as the choreographer by director Chad Scheppner. Scheppner and Crawford knew each other primarily through the community theater company, Theatre 31.  Since joining the Santa Monica theater community in 2011, he’s been an integral part of over fourteen musicals and intends to continue his involvement in years to come. “The students are what keeps me coming back. There’s a thing that happens when you work in the professional realm. There’s many compromises made on your artistic visions/goals. You do gigs that are for money and then ones that are for love but even in both of those it feels very self-involved. I think that working in education, it disregards what my needs are vision-wise, and  puts it into the needs into the students. It forces you to check your ego at the door and so it provides a healthy emotional balance between working in the entertainment industry,” Crawford said.