User:MichaelQSchmidt/workspace/Shawn Welling

Shawn Welling (born December 12, 1964) is an American choreographer and dance instructor and founder and current owner of the Planet Funk Dance Academy in Houston, Texas. an organization whose dance teams have toured globally. As a filmmaker, Welling features dancers from Planet Funk in documentary, feature length, and web series films.

As choreographer
Welling's 'Planet Funk' had its beginnings in Dallas 1992, and grew from interest in rap and hip-hop music. Shawn Welling's earliest dance influence was Michael Jackson, and he has choreographed, taught, and performed with his Planet Funk teams worldwide. Welling was invited by the Bilateral US-Arab Chamber of Commerce to bring a Planet Funk team to perform at the 2009 inauguration of the RasGas facility in Qatar. Contacted by Nina Ridge of BUSACC, Welling acted as both choreographer and chaperone to 10 American children, ranging in age from 8 to 15, who performed a montage of the history of American dance genres for the celebration. Once selected by Welling, his young team had two weeks to perfect their performance about five decades of American dance styles. He and his teams have also performed for festivals such as Dance Houston's second annual Urban Dance Festival Winter Formal in 2008, as well as performing on Good Morning America, shows for the Houston Rockets, NFL, and NHL, work with Cirque du Soleil, and perfomances on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Deborah Duncan, and Great Day Houston.

Recognition as choreographer
In 2011, Patti Parish-Kaminski, Editor in Chief of Focus on Woman Magazine wrote that Welling is a "world-renowned dance instructor, choreographer, photographer and now award-winning film maker", who is the "go-to guy for performers for the NFL, Cirque de Soleil and Broadway" and who "has made a name for himself in the arts", concluding that "his visionary talent is taking the dance world by storm". Good Morning America'''s Diane Sawyer has noted Welling's Planet Funk Dance Studio as "legendary".

As filmmaker
Welling's first ventured into film when he was involved in proceedings with the city of Houston to protect his Planet Funk Dance Academy and decided to document the issues on film. The footage became his documentary film House of Dreams, which film earned Welling 'Best Director' awards at both the 2006 and 2007 WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival.

His 2009 documentary film The Messenger: 360 Days of Bolivar, chronicled the life of four men living on the Bolivar Peninsula during the year leading up to the devastation of Hurricane Ike,

In 2011, Welling's feature film Project Aether, earned Critics Choice Awards for 'Best Feature', 'Best Actor', and 'Best Overall World Premier' by the Houston Film Critics Society, as well as a 'Best Local Fimmmaker Award' from Houston Press. In 2011, Welling also began the web series AXI: Avengers of Xtreme Illusions, featuring the I.aM.mE Dance crew in a series of web films in the vein of The Twilight Zone, but "infused with dance and lyrical movement that have never been seen before." Also in 2011, he began filming The Legend of DarkHorse County, a feature film starring Olivia "Chachi" Gonzales. The film began as an episode of AXI, but upon finding out Gonzales was strong enough as an actress, Welling decided to create the project as a feature film.

Filmography

 * Director
 * The House of Dreams (2006)
 * The Messenger: 360 Days of Bolivar (2009)
 * Project Aether (2011)
 * AXI: Avengers of Xtreme Illusions (3 seasons, 2011-2015)
 * The Legend of DarkHorse County (2013) (filming)
 * Writer


 * The Messenger: 360 Days of Bolivar (2009)
 * Project Aether (2011)
 * AXI: Avengers of Xtreme Illusions (2011-2012)
 * The Legend of DarkHorse County (2013)
 * Producer, editor
 * The House of Dreams (2006)
 * The Messenger: 360 Days of Bolivar (2009)
 * Project Aether (2011)
 * Actor
 * Project Aether (2011)
 * The Legend of DarkHorse County (2013) as Jon Ford

Filmmaker awards & nominations

 * 2006, won 'Best Director' Gold award at WorldFest-Houston for The House of Dreams
 * 2007, won 'Best Director' Platinum award at WorldFest-Houston for The House of Dreams
 * 2009, won 'Best Director' Gold award at WorldFest-Houston for The Messenger: 360 Days of Bolivar
 * 2009, won 'Best Documentary' festival award at Gulf Coast Film & Video Festival for The Messenger: 360 Days of Bolivar
 * 2011, won 'Science Fiction' Gold Award at WorldFest-Houston for Project Aether
 * 2011, won 'Best World Premiere - Critics Choice' Special Jury Award at WorldFest-Houston for Project Aether
 * 2012, won 'New Media Web Series Remi Awards' Grand Award at WorldFest-Houston for AXI: Avengers of Xtreme Illusions
 * 2012, won 'Screenplay' Gold Remi Award at WorldFest-Houston for The Legend of DarkHorse County