Holly Cruikshank
Encyclopedia
Holly Cruikshank is an American dancer, born June 18, 1973, in Fountain Hills, Arizona. She is best known for her role as Brenda in the Billy Joel
/Twyla Tharp
musical Movin' Out
, but she has also danced lead roles in two other Tony-award winning Broadway musicals: Fosse
and Contact
. She most recently appeared as one of the recurring dancers on the NBC
variety-competition show, The Singing Bee
.
. She started ballet at the age of 3. By her teen years, she was rehearsing four hours a day and dancing with Phoenix-based "Ballet Arizona". Finally, after a year at the North Carolina School for the Performing Arts in Winston-Salem, she began professional auditions in earnest. Unfortunately, her attempts at a professional ballet career were unsuccessful, culminating in an audition for her "dream company", the Hubbard Street Dance Troupe
in Chicago, where founder Lou Conte told her she was too tall to succeed as a professional ballerina (she is over 6 feet).
A dance teacher suggested she consider a career on Broadway instead. Pursuing the suggestion, she obtained her first role (a showgirl in Tommy Tune's The Will Rogers Follies) at the age of just 18. She would be continuously employed as a Broadway dancer for the next 15 years until leaving to pursue a television career.
That led to a role in the Broadway run of Contact, understudying for Deborah Yates in the Tony-award winning role of "The Girl in the Yellow Dress". When the Contact touring company formed in 2001, Cruikshank obtained the role and toured for a year, though frustrated in the early going as some show posters went out bearing Yates' image instead of Cruikshank's. Ultimately, Cruikshank would earn rave reviews in the role; Playbill, for example, called her "a stunning dancing dynamo."
In 2002, while touring with Contact, Cruikshank and partner David Gomez auditioned together on a whim for the upcoming Movin' Out, and were selected for the original Broadway cast. Initially dancing the lead role of Brenda in matinee performances, Cruikshank took over lead billing for the role on Broadway in 2003 after Elizabeth Parkinson
left the show, then continued it with the touring company from 2004–2007, again to rave reviews. The London Daily Telegraph, for example, said, "Holly Cruikshank as Brenda has the most impossibly long legs you are ever likely to see and does things with them that seem to defy the basic laws of human anatomy."
Billy Joel
William Martin "Billy" Joel is an American musician and pianist, singer-songwriter, and classical composer. Since releasing his first hit song, "Piano Man", in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States, according to...
/Twyla Tharp
Twyla Tharp
Twyla Tharp is an American dancer and choreographer, who lives and works in New York City.-Early years:Tharp was born in 1941 on a farm in Portland, Indiana, and was named after Twila Thornburg, the "Pig Princess" of the 89th Annual Muncie Fair in Indiana.she spend hours working on it to help her...
musical Movin' Out
Movin' Out (musical)
Movin' Out is a jukebox musical featuring the songs of Billy Joel.Conceived by Twyla Tharp, the musical tells the story of a generation of American youth growing up on Long Island during the 1960s and their experiences with the Vietnam War...
, but she has also danced lead roles in two other Tony-award winning Broadway musicals: Fosse
Fosse
Fosse is a three-act musical revue showcasing the choreography of Bob Fosse. After 21 previews, the original Broadway production, conceived and directed by Richard Maltby, Jr...
and Contact
Contact (musical)
Contact: The Musical is a musical "dance play" that was developed by Susan Stroman and John Weidman, with its "book" by Weidman and both choreography and direction by Stroman. It ran both off-Broadway and on Broadway in 1999 - 2000. It consists of three separate one-act dance...
. She most recently appeared as one of the recurring dancers on the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
variety-competition show, The Singing Bee
The Singing Bee (US game show)
The Singing Bee is a karaoke game show that originally aired on NBC and now airs on CMT. Combining karaoke singing with a spelling bee-style competition, this show features contestants trying to remember the lyrics to popular songs...
.
Early life
Holly Cruikshank envisioned a career as a dancer from an early age, when she idolized the dancing of screen legend Cyd CharisseCyd Charisse
Cyd Charisse was an American actress and dancer.After recovering from polio as a child, and studying ballet, Charisse entered films in the 1940s...
. She started ballet at the age of 3. By her teen years, she was rehearsing four hours a day and dancing with Phoenix-based "Ballet Arizona". Finally, after a year at the North Carolina School for the Performing Arts in Winston-Salem, she began professional auditions in earnest. Unfortunately, her attempts at a professional ballet career were unsuccessful, culminating in an audition for her "dream company", the Hubbard Street Dance Troupe
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago is an American dance company based in Chicago. HSDC performs in downtown Chicago and its metropolitan area and tours nationally and internationally throughout the year....
in Chicago, where founder Lou Conte told her she was too tall to succeed as a professional ballerina (she is over 6 feet).
A dance teacher suggested she consider a career on Broadway instead. Pursuing the suggestion, she obtained her first role (a showgirl in Tommy Tune's The Will Rogers Follies) at the age of just 18. She would be continuously employed as a Broadway dancer for the next 15 years until leaving to pursue a television career.
Broadway career
Following her role in The Will Rogers Follies, Cruikshank had a series of increasingly visible successes, landing company roles in Hello, Dolly, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and finally a small featured roll in Fosse.That led to a role in the Broadway run of Contact, understudying for Deborah Yates in the Tony-award winning role of "The Girl in the Yellow Dress". When the Contact touring company formed in 2001, Cruikshank obtained the role and toured for a year, though frustrated in the early going as some show posters went out bearing Yates' image instead of Cruikshank's. Ultimately, Cruikshank would earn rave reviews in the role; Playbill, for example, called her "a stunning dancing dynamo."
In 2002, while touring with Contact, Cruikshank and partner David Gomez auditioned together on a whim for the upcoming Movin' Out, and were selected for the original Broadway cast. Initially dancing the lead role of Brenda in matinee performances, Cruikshank took over lead billing for the role on Broadway in 2003 after Elizabeth Parkinson
Elizabeth Parkinson
Elizabeth Parkinson is an American stage actress and dancer. She is best known for playing Brenda in the original production of the musical Movin' Out. For this performance she was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical, the Drama Desk Award for...
left the show, then continued it with the touring company from 2004–2007, again to rave reviews. The London Daily Telegraph, for example, said, "Holly Cruikshank as Brenda has the most impossibly long legs you are ever likely to see and does things with them that seem to defy the basic laws of human anatomy."
Screen career
Cruikshank has played small parts in several movies, and can currently be seen as one of the "honey bees" on CMT's The Singing Bee.Awards
- Nominated: LA Ovation Award, Best Featured Actress in a Musical, 2001
- Won: Helen Hayes AwardHelen Hayes AwardA Helen Hayes Award is a theater award named for the famed actress Helen Hayes to recognize excellence in professional theater in the Washington, D.C. area since 1983. The awards are managed by Linda Levy Grossman. and presented by the Washington Theatre Awards Society.-Awards:The Helen Hayes...
, Outstanding Lead Actress, Non-Resident Production, 2005