User:Taraandkara1/sandbox

Biography
Alex Wong was born in Canada and began his tap and jazz traning at the age of seven. At age ten, he started his ballet studies with the Goh Ballet Academy in Vancouver, Canada. In 2000, Alex won two Junior World Titles in Tap and Showdance. Awarded with the Royal Academy of Dancing Solo Seal, Alex won the Audience Choice Award and was a Bronze Medallist in the 2003 Genee International Ballet Competition. In 2004, he became the first Canadian to win the Prix de Lausanne competition in Switzerland, and later that year joined the American Ballet Theatre Studio Company.

In 2005, Alex danced briefly with American Ballet Theatre before joining Miami City Ballet. In early 2007, Alex was promoted to the rank of soloist at MCB.

Alex’s repertoire of leading roles include Balanchine’s “Symphony In Three Movements”, “Agon”, “Western Symphony”, “The Nutcracker”, Twyla Tharp’s “Push Comes to Shove”, “In the Upper Room”, “The Golden Section”, Mark Morris “Silhouettes”, Edward Villela’s “Don Quxiote”, Paul Taylor’s “Funny Papers”, Bournonville’s “Conservatory”, Stephen Mills “Hush”, Anton Dolin’s “Variations for Four” and “La Fille Mal Gardee”.

In 2009, Alex chose to audition for the FOX dance series, | So You Think You Can Dance. He breezed through Vegas week and was chosen for the final Top 20 but was forced to withdraw due to contractual issues with the Miami City Ballet. However after his SYTYCD season five audition, Alex was promoted again to the rank of principal soloist at MCB.

In 2010, Alex was offered yet another promotion to principal dancer at MCB but declined the offer in order to pursue another shot at SYTYCD. He went through another grueling Vegas week, but again made the Top 10 contestants for season seven, competing for the title of America’s favorite dancer. On the fifth week of the season, Alex injured himself during a Bollywood rehearsal, snapping his Achilles tendon, which would unfortunately take him out of the race as America’s favorite dancer. He then received surgery in Los Angeles and was given a timeframe of a year to fully recover. Later that year, both pieces Alex danced on So You Think You Can Dance choreographed by Mia Michaels and Tabitha & Napoleon both won Emmy Awards.

Following the surgery, Alex signed with Bloc Talent Agency in New York. By February 2011, Alex booked commercials and several print jobs as well as his first television job since SYTYCD as part of the dance ensemble for NBC’s new TV series “Smash” directed by Steven Spielberg. In the summer, Alex appeared on “The Ellen Show”, “The Voice” danced with LMFAO and was asked to re-join “So You Think You Can Dance” as an All-Star. Days before starting SYTYCD, Alex was sidelined with another Achilles injury to his other leg and had to withdraw. During recovery, Alex focused on singing and acting and auditioned for American Idol, making it to the semi final “Hollywood” rounds. Alex was also invited as a guest speaker to several universities including Yale, Northwestern, Dartmouth and Columbia. By early January, through his sheer determination, dedication and optimism, Alex returned to dancing professionally despite the two potentially career-ending injuries. Following his recovery, Alex released his first dance single “Crave” on iTunes and Amazon, filmed his music video, starred in a short film shot in Los Angeles and had his Broadway debut, playing the role of “Sniper” in the Original Broadway Cast of the Disney musical “Newsies” which won two Tony Awards and received six other Tony nominations. Alex also won the ACCA Award for Outstanding Original Chorus for the Broadway 2011-2012 season. In 2012, Alex returned to SYTYCD as an All Star and has since worked on Dancing With The Stars, Choreographed and Starred in the Buick Car Launch in China, SYTYCD Vietnam, Glee, ABC DisneyWorld Christmas Parade and the Microsoft “Surface” commercial.

Alex also won the ACCA Award for Outstanding Original Chorus for the Broadway 2012-2013 season and the cast recording received a Grammy nomination for Best Musical Theater Album of 2013.