Tessandra Chavez is a 2-time Emmy Award and 4-time World Choreography winning choreographer with her work spanning across the entire entertainment industry. Some notable television broadcasts that you can see her work on are So You Think You Can Dance, Dancing with the Stars, World of Dance, American Music Awards, America's Got Talent, Disney Specials, American Idol, X-Factor USA/UK, MTV Movie Awards to name a few.
In addition to her award recognition and plethora of television work, Tessandra has created masterful work for the legendary band MUSE as well as pop icons such as Jennifer Lopez, Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson, Paula Abdul and Justin Bieber. She is the mastermind behind much of the work that Derek Hough and Julianne Hough perform. Tessandra has also been supervising choreographer for several television shows as well as the film "Heartbeats" directed by the pioneer of dance films, Duane Adler. You can see her work live annually in the 'Magic Happens' parade at Disneyland which features music by Todrick Hall and a cutting edge take on the classic Disney parade.
Tessandra started dancing at the age of 5 in Tap and Jazz and quickly fell in love with the art form. That led to her wanting to train in all styles in order to fully be able to express herself. With a fierce passion to express, she began choreographing at the young age of 11 and then started her dance company Unity Dance Ensemble in San Diego (her hometown) at the age of 15. She then began producing, directing and choreographing her own season of concerts annually and Unity quickly grew a devoted cult like following that lasted 10 years. Tessandra moved to Los Angeles in 2004 and started UNITY LA in 2005 which was a home for seasoned professional dancers to have a place to train, perform and be pushed to their fullest potential. UNITY LA and Tessandra quickly made their mark in LA and garnered a lot of respect from the dance community. At the time, Tessandra was one of the first people to bring an intricate hybrid style of contemporary dance to the scene. Many consider her a pioneer of the style called "contemporary fusion."
In 2010, Tessandra's professional career as a choreographer took off and her company UNITY LA went on a hiatus. In 2018, after her personal commercial success, she felt a calling to be able to express herself fully through her company again and decided to put together a new generation of UNITY LA. She entered her ensemble in the reality television dance competition show World of Dance season 3. Tessandra's second Emmy win in 2019 is from the body of work that she created for UNITY LA on World of Dance. Although they placed second to "The Kings" (a hip hop group from India), UNITY LA was highly praised by celebrity judges (Jennifer Lopez, Derek Hough and Neyo) for the ensemble's refined, masterful storytelling and innovative approach to contemporary dance and left a lasting impact on the show and its viewers.
Along with being a seasoned master choreographer, Tessandra is a highly respected figure in the dance industry and serves as Governor for the Television Academy Choreographers Peer Group as well as being on the executive board of the Choreographers Guild. She still proudly mentors and trains many of the top working professional dancers in the US. She is known for her ability to bring out the best in all of the dancers she guides by pushing them to their fullest potential mentally and physically. She exclusively teaches for the highly regarded national touring convention, Radix Dance Convention.
Tessandra is grateful to have been blessed with all of the success she has had thus far. She looks forward to continuing to create meaningful and timeless work while chasing the mastery of her craft. She hopes to be the example for anyone from a marginalized group who has faced challenges that anything is possible with hard work and determination!
