The lights are dimmed in Dolby Theatre. The movie industry’s biggest stars are rubbing shoulders in the audience, but Sean Santhon is 80 feet below. The opening chords of “All That Jazz” kick in and suddenly the stage, and his adrenaline, start to rise.
This was the Oscars. And this wasn’t even his first dance of the night.
Santhon, a first-year dance student, is both a working commercial L.A. dancer and a full-time UCLA student. With gigs that have included a stint on “Hart of Dixie,” a season dancer on ABC Family’s “Bunheads” and, most recently, a key dancer for the 85th Academy Awards, in just a few short months the 18-year-old Santhon has already broken into the industry.
One of nine males selected out of 500 dancers, Santhon was the youngest dancer to be selected to perform at the Feb. 24 Academy Awards, where he was featured in Seth MacFarlane’s opening “We Saw Your Boobs” and “Be Our Guest” dances, as well as the “Les Misérables” and “Chicago” homages.
“None of (the other dancers) were in school – most were married, had kids and were in their late 20s,” Santhon said. “They had all done jobs previously where they’d been exposed to these high-profile celebrities, but it was the first time I’d really been in a room full of celebrities.”
Aside from a few star-struck moments, including meeting Daniel Radcliffe for the first time when the “Harry Potter” star asked where the bathroom was, Santhon said his favorite memories of the night came from the dances themselves.
“My favorite dance was ‘Chicago’ by far,” he said. “It was the original choreography from the movie, and just watching that when I was younger, it was cool to be a part of it now.”
Santhon said he got his start in dance early, running around the house and making up new choreography when he was a kid.
“My parents decided they needed to put me in a (dance) class,” said Santhon. “I took my first class and after that I was like, this is all I want to do, I’m done with everything else, I’m ready to do this every day. … That’s how it’s been since I was little.”
Jeanine Mason, a world arts and cultures and dance student and the Season 5 winner of “So You Think You Can Dance,” first met Santhon while speaking at a panel for prospective world arts and cultures students, where she had been specifically selected to speak about being both a student and working commercial dancer.
“He jumped off the stand as soon as we finished speaking and he beelined to me,” Mason said. “Immediately I could see that this guy knew, ‘This is the one girl on the panel that can answer my questions and convince me that this is the place for me.’”
Mason and Santhon met again when they both booked jobs on “Bunheads,” often coming to rehearsal in their matching UCLA sweatshirts.
Mason said even when Santhon has to study for a midterm the next day during a 12-hour rehearsal, he always gives 100 percent when it’s time to dance.
It is this passion, Mason said, she believes that has helped Santhon find so much initial success.
“I’ve seen so much good talent go to waste because they’re people who aren’t good to work with and you don’t want to be around them for that many hours of rehearsal,” Mason said. “Marguerite, our choreographer, would always say to Sean: ‘I just can’t get enough of you, I just want to keep hiring and hiring you.’”
Santhon also dances with NSU Modern and is a member of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. He said being involved on campus has always been important to him.
“A lot of times, dancers in Los Angeles have a lot of time on their hands between gigs, (but) that’s not my personality at all,” Santhon said. “I enjoy the stress of waking up, rehearsal, homework, NSU, going to Lambda for like an hour – I enjoy the fast pace of trying to balance it all.”
Olivia Schafer, a third-year world arts and cultures and dance and communication studies student, and the executive director of NSU Modern, said it is Santhon’s attitude and work ethic that allow him to be manage everything so successfully, in addition to a style that people can’t help but be drawn to.
“I think the combination of talent … and the fact that he exudes happiness when he dances, that’s (what) causes all the choreographers to be drawn to him and hire him. And I also think that since he’s come to college, he’s gained a maturity that reflects in his dancing,” Schafer said.
Mason said it is this strong presence Santhon has as a dancer that has helped him stand out in such a competitive crowd.
“He has this manliness and strength to him that reminds me of the Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly time, men who held themselves up and had such a grace but a masculinity and strength in their movement,” Mason said. “ I think that is the reason why he works so much too – he has the whole package.”
Whether it’s with NSU Modern or on the set of a job, Santhon said it all goes back to what he can give other people through dance.
“That’s one of my favorite things to do with dance: use it to get other people excited and change the energy,” Santhon said. “I like creating that kind of energy that dance brings to people.”