Dancing his Way from Cyprus to Los Angeles!

Michalis Schinas

Michalis Schinas, a dancer in Jubilee!, the longest running show in Las Vegas, at Bally’s Hotel & Casino, was born and raised in Limassol, Cyprus. He started dancing when he was quite young. He took his first folk dance class at the age of 6 and continued classes for another 10 years. Meanwhile, he started taking hip hop classes and felt even more love and passion about dance. Growing up, he was part of one of the most famous choirs in Cyprus. He was also asked to be part of the professional hip hop dance crew “StreetBeats” of the company “Evi’s School of Dance”, with which he traveled and competed around the world. As a teenager, he never stopped learning. He learned to play the piano and took voice, acting and musical theatre. At the age of 16, he decided he wanted to be a dancer so he took ballet, jazz and contemporary.  After graduating successfully from high school and serving in the army he left his home country and moved to NYC to pursue his dreams. There he studied Dance theatre at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy.

Starting In September 2014 Michalis began as a male dancer in Jubilee!, the longest running show in Las Vegas, at Bally’s Hotel & Casino. Through a selective audition process in New York City Michalis was the only Male chosen to fill one of the 5 open positions for male dancers. Through Jubilee! many opportunities are offered to the dancers. Recently Britney Spears asked the Jubilee! dancers to perform In a special event announcing the continuation of her show and her acceptance of the key to Las Vegas. Jubilee! has won Best Showgirls every year since its inception (34 years).

Michalis Schinas

Michalis was chosen for the musical “Bollywood Dreams” before he had even graduated his program at AMDA NYC. “Bollywood Dreams” is a two hour musical spectacular told with high energy, poetic dance numbers, vibrant costumes and music that tugs the emotions. It took place in New Brunswick, NJ. Michalis was an ensemble and featured dancer. He worked with the director Anil Diwakar who is very established as a choreographer as he has choreographed for Michael Jackson. Bollywood Dreams was one of the highest rated off Broadway productions in New Jersey with the possibility of becoming an International tour.

Another one of Michalis’ favorite projects was being a guest artist in the Ballet Arts Ensemble production of “Nutcracker” in 2013 at Chenery Auditorium in Kalamazoo, MI. He was a lead dancer for the Snow Pas de deux with another ballerina from NYC. Michalis also had the pleasure of working with Gregory Brown and Michelle Joy who are very established in the Ballet industry. The collaboration of the well renowned Ballet Arts Ensemble and the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra made this one of their best productions yet and brought in a full house every night.

Michalis Schinas

“Get on Stage” a competition similar to “So You Think You Can Dance” for Cyprus was Michalis first televised dance competition. Michalis and his brother were on “Get on Stage” 2009 on Mega TV from September to December making it all the way to the Semi-finals. “Get on Stage” received a lot of Media attention as it became the most popular dance competition on TV. Michalis was asked to be interviewed on live TV for «Για σένα» which is an entertainment talk show as well as being mentioned on popular websites including YouTube. Michalis felt very privileged to meet and dance for Panos Metaxopoulos who judged the competition. He is one of the most famous directors but also a choreographer and producer in Greece.

Michalis’s next step is to move to L.A where he will collaborate with his really good friend Loukas “Leeco” Kosmidis and make his way in to the Commercial World. He is very excited to continue on making big moves in his professional career and becoming an important asset in the American Pop culture. He hopes through his unique style of dancing and his performance career that he will inspire and encourage dancers like him to follow their dreams and take risks.