Judges
Jason Coleman
JASON COLEMAN
Jason Coleman has been a fixture of the Australian Dance scene for more than twenty years.
Jason’s engagement as Choreographer for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games was a career highlight – watched by over 3.8 billion people across the globe.
Following this success Jason was chosen to choreograph the highly acclaimed handover ceremony for the Commonwealth Games in Manchester.
Jason subsequently acted as Director of Choreography for the Opening and Closing of the Asian Games in Doha, Qatar. This was one of the largest and most expensive shows made anywhere on earth. As well as choreographing himself, he was also responsible for directing an international team of choreographers for this event.
Jason’s musical theatre credits include Chicago, A Chorus Line, Saturday Night Fever, Little Shop of Horrors, Dancin’ Man, Dancin’ Dynamite, Sweet Charity, Fame, Hair and many more. His TV and music credits are numerous having worked with Tina Arena, John Farnham, Chaka Khan, The Bee Gees and Chrissy Amphlet amongst others.
Jason has worked as a choreographer, dance consultant and in a motion capture performance role in the animated film Happy Feet.
He currently runs his own dance studio “Jason Coleman’s Ministry of Dance” located in Melbourne, which is billed as the largest private dance studio in the southern hemisphere.
Bonnie Lythgoe
BONNIE LYTHGOE
Bonnie Lythgoe is an entertainment industry success story. With a career spanning more than 20 years, Bonnie’s achievements as a dancer, choreographer, TV presenter, TV producer and Broadway producer are second to none.
Bonnie started her dancing career at the Corona School for Performing Arts. While studying, she won a role in the feature film ‘To Sir With Love’ starring Sidney Poitier.
Seven months later she was offered a presenter role on a children’s television series in the UK.
Bonnie then auditioned for a BBC dance series called ‘Young Generation’. The choreographer for the series was Nigel Lythgoe who Bonnie later married in 1974.
A variety of choreography and directing roles followed including Snow White [London], Seven Brides for Seven Brothers [London], The Best Little Whore House in Texas, The Real Monty, Cinderella, Peter Pan, Aladdin and Royal Variety for HRH Queen Elizabeth.
With ongoing success in musical theatre, Bonnie was then approached by the BBC to produce a 100 years of music special. BBC were so impressed with her that they asked her to produce and appear as a judge on a new series called S Club Juniors created by Simon Fuller.
After working with Simon Fuller on this series, Bonnie then flew to the United States to join a new Simon Fuller venture - American Idol. Here she was reunited with Nigel Lythgoe who was the Executive Producer on the series. Bonnie was a producer on the first three series of American Idol before moving on to a new project - So You Think You Can Dance where she was judge and producer for the first two series.
Bonnie has worked with numerous well known entertainers throughout her career including Gene Kelly, Sammy Davis Junior, Sir Cliff Richard , Victoria Beckham, Dudley Moore, Sidney Poitier, Olivia Newton-John, Black Eyed Peas, Sarah – Duchess of York, Rolf Harris and Jerry Lee Lewis.
Matt Lee
MATT LEE
Matt Lee is an Australian dance prodigy who first began his dance career at the age of five.
A graduate of the Brent Street School of Performing Arts in Sydney, Matt is now a seasoned performer at only 27 years of age.
Matt recently performed with the Australian tour of Miss Saigon, recently appeared in Hugh Jackman’s The Boy From Oz and has played roles in the musicals We will Rock You [Japan and Australia], The Witches of Eastwick, Oh! What a Night and Rent. He has also performed in Happy Days - The Arena Spectacular, Grease - The Arena Spectacular and Hot Shoe Shuffle.
Matt performed with Caroline O’Connor as a feature soloist in her stage to screen show with performances at Sydney’s Taronga Zoo, The Adelaide Festival and the Sydney Opera House.
Matt made his film debut in 2000 when he played a supporting role in Dein Perry’s Bootmen. Most recently he played a key role in George Miller’s Golden Globe and Oscar nominated animated feature Happy Feet.
Besides performing, Matt is a dance teacher and choreographer. His credits include – choreographer for Human Nature, Guy Sebastian, Marcia Hines and Christine Anu.
Nigel Lythgoe
NIGEL LYTHGOE
Lythgoe started in dance at the age of 10. He studied tap and jazz, and European folk at the Hylton-Bromley School of Theatre Dance on Merseyside. He also trained in London under Joanne Steuer and Molly Molloy. Beginning in 1969, Lythgoe performed with and choreographed for the BBC Young Generation dance troupe.
During the 1970s and into the 1980s, Lythgoe had the opportunity to perform with dancers from Cyd Charisse to Gene Kelly. He also choreographed for Ben Vereen, Shirley Bassey and (most famously) the Muppets. Lythgoe, in an interview with People said that he “was the only person to dance, choreograph, produce and direct the Royal Variety Performance” for the Queen of the United Kingdom.
Lythgoe has been the head judge for all SYTYCD America seasons, and guest judges during the top 100 week for this Australian season.
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By asian, February 9, 2009 @ 8:07 pm
Jason, are you races to asian. like throughout the show all you did was stir up the two asian. (brother and sister) isn’t this a dance competition? or is it a show where we see you give shit to asians only. RACES!!! and you Nigel or is it nigga? ain’t this a dance competition to see who is the best? if it was a yes from the point he had finshed dancing why not keep it a yes. This ain’t no dance competition this is about who you LIKE MOST, NOT WHO CAN DANCE BETTER.
By kay, February 11, 2009 @ 8:33 pm
when is jason colemans birthday, i suspect a cancer !
By Samantha, May 25, 2009 @ 5:48 pm
what are some achievments that Matt Lee had?
By J, February 4, 2010 @ 5:05 pm
Sexy Jason~ xxoo