Robin Merchant is an internationally recognized

choreographer Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A chor ...

and

dance instructor Dance education is a practice whereby students are taught a broad understanding of dance as a form of art and who are trained professionally in many different genres of dance. Dance education consists of specialized dancers who conduct original r ...

. Notably, she has danced for

Grammy The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

winning artists including the Black Eyed Peas, and MIA. She has choreographed China's international dance festival,

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

, Stunt Mania, and

Dancing with the Stars ''Strictly Come Dancing (widely known as Dancing with the Stars)'' is an international television franchise based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing,'' itself a successor to the show ''Come Dancing'' (1950–1998) ...

(India - Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa).

Career

Robin began working as a dancer, dancing on stage for several Grammy winning artists, and in movies such as Disney's, The Cheetah Girls One World choreographed by

Fatima Robinson Fatima Robinson (born August 29, 1971) is an American dancer, music video director and choreographer. Career Robinson has choreographed dance routines (for live performances and music videos) for several musical and pop artists, notably for Mi ...

. Robin began her leadership career as a master instructor at internationally recognized dance studios such as:

Broadway Dance Center Broadway Dance Center is a dance school located at 322 West 45th Street west of Times Square in New York City. It was founded in 1984 as one of the first "drop-in" dance training schools in the world, offering classes in jazz, tap, ballet, conte ...

( NY),

Pineapple Dance Studios Pineapple Dance Studios is a dance studio complex, performing arts school, and associated dancewear, clothing, and eyewear brand, based in London, England. Origin Pineapple Studios was founded by former model Debbie Moore, who had started dan ...

(

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

) and the

National Ballet of Canada The National Ballet of Canada is a Canadian ballet company that was founded in 1951 in Toronto, Ontario, with Celia Franca, the first artistic director. A company of 70 dancers with its own orchestra, the National Ballet has been led since 2022 ...

. From these specialized roots, she traveled and debuted in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, bringing a high caliber of expertise and form to a market that was traditionally under represented in western styles. Robin's strong knowledge of dance quickly led her to become India's most sought after instructor in

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

, contemporary, and

urban dance Street dance is an umbrella term for a large number of social dance styles such as: breakdancing, popping, locking, house dance, waacking, voguing, etc. Social dance styles have many accompanying steps and foundations, created organically fro ...

styles and allowed her to pioneer

jazz funk Jazz-funk is a subgenre of jazz music characterized by a strong back beat, electrified sounds, and analog synthesizers. The integration of funk, soul, and R&B music and styles into jazz resulted in the creation of a genre that ranges from pur ...

within the country. Production houses and corporations such as

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

Lay's Lay's (, ) is a brand of potato chips with different flavors, as well as the name of the company that founded the chip brand in the United States. The brand is also referred to as Frito-Lay, as both Lay's and Fritos are brands sold by the ...

, and

Reebok Reebok International Limited ( ) is an American footwear and clothing brand that is a part of Authentic Brands Group. It was established in England in 1958 as a companion company to J.W. Foster and Sons, a sporting goods company which had bee ...

began vying for Robin's

choreography Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A chor ...

for their Indian

TV commercials A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...

. Given the extraordinary demand that India generates for new art forms, Robin also established a dance institute in Mumbai. It specialized in western technique, and those that trained at her studio became some of the most sought after dancers in the country.

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

cinema took notice and Robin was commissioned to choreograph dance songs within hit films such as "

Game (2011 film) ''Game'' is a 2011 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film directed by Abhinay Deo and co-produced by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani of Excel Entertainment. It stars Abhishek Bachchan, Kangana Ranaut, Sarah-Jane Dias, Gauahar Khan, J ...

" and reality TV shows such as

(India). Now as a seasoned artist, Robin travels frequently bringing her unique perspective of multimedia, dance and technique to the rest of the world. RobinM

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Merchant, Robin Canadian choreographers Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Canadian women choreographers