Edmonton choreographer nominated for Emmy Award

An Edmonton choreographer has been nominated for an Emmy Award.

Jeffrey Mortensen was nominated alongside Louise Hradsky, who originally hails from Calgary, for choreography work on the Paramount+ musical TV show Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies.

The nomination is one of five for outstanding choreography for scripted programming. Mortensen’s and Hradsky’s routines of Pulling Strings, Hit Me Again and High Rollin’ earned them the nod. The 75th annual Emmy Awards are slated for Sept. 18.

“A form of validation from your peers, to me, matters a lot,” said the 35-year-old, a former Shumka dancer and artistic gymnast who went on to perform with Cirque Du Soleil and on TV show So You Think You Can Dance. “I think in any labour or in any workforce, to be respected by your peers is one of the highest compliments you can receive. To have that recognition from my peers, it means a lot both personally and professionally.”

Mortensen, who moved to Vancouver in 2009 and has lived there full-time since 2018, has a number of credits in choreography, from assistant and associate to lead efforts.

His first move into large-scale choreography came in 2014, when Mortensen was a part of the choreography team for the Descendants franchise.

“That was the first sort of foray into big-style musical theatre television shows,” he told CTV News Edmonton. “That was really what laid the groundwork for the last 10 years effectively of my career, because since then, I’ve been working in sort of big-format musicals for film and television.”

Paramount+ cancelled Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies after just one season and it is no longer available to stream on the service, said Mortensen

He said the showrunner is actively looking for a new home for it.

“I do know that Paramount will be releasing this series on DVD and some sort of digital copy at some point soon,” said Mortensen. “But if people want a Season 2 of Grease, there is a petition at change.org for a Season 2, so you can find it.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton`s Katie Chamberlain