THE CHOREOGRAPHERS

Follies dance routines are so extensive and demanding they require the work of two award-winning choreographers, each with extensive experience on stage and screen.

Joan Palethorpe

JOAN PALETHORPE

”The cast always laughs when I call them kids, but actually they are—and they always will be!”

Joan Palethorpe, 64, brings skill, flair and a wealth of experience to her ninth year choreographing at the Fabulous Follies. She is internationally known as an extraordinary and brilliant dancer.

She began her dance training at the Royal Ballet School in London before moving on to the Italia Conti General Stage School. By the age of sixteen, she was touring Europe as a featured dancer, leading the way to roles in several London West End shows. She danced in two Royal Command Performances and spent five years as a dancer with both the BBC and the ITV television networks in Great Britain.

Palethorpe came to the United States in 1965 and worked with Ron Lewis in the highly acclaimed "Vive Les Girls" and "Casino de Paris" as dancer, lead and, later, assistant choreographer. During that time, she won two AGVA Awards for “Dancer of the Year.” In 1974, she began teaching at the Backstage Dance Studio, and became owner and president in 1977. She and a partner recently opened a second dance school for children.

In 1979, Palethorpe began a creative alliance with Miller-Reich Productions and has since choreographed shows for major U.S. resorts including Las Vegas, Reno, Lake Tahoe, Atlantic City, New York, Miami Beach, Montreal, Nassau and Puerto Rico; for Royal Caribbean and Carnival Cruise Lines; and for national television commercials.

She also choreographed several numbers for the stage act of the incomparable Liza Minnelli and was selected as the first female co-choreographer of the "Lido de Paris" in France.

Carri Burbank Glen

CARRI BURBANK GLEN

“Each cast member has such a unique history! I’m inspired by their star-studded stories."

Carri Burbank Glen, 47, who is choreographing her third edition of the Follies, began her dance career at age 3 with her mother and the Joyce Burbank Dancers. She began teaching and choreographing recitals at the age of 16 at the Mesa Verde Dance Center in Costa Mesa, California, run by longtime Follies’ dance captain and creative consultant, Leila Burgess.

Today Burbank Glen is an award-winning choreographer, having worked for resorts in Japan, the Latin Quarter West Coast revivals, and industrial shows for Yamaha, Redken, F.T.D. and Modafini. Her own dance company, “Star Quality,” has toured both domestically and internationally.

She danced in films such as “Grease II” and “Pennies From Heaven,” as well as in “Mad TV” on the small screen.

Moreover, Burbank Glen is a master teacher of all levels of tap and jazz, and is past president of Dance In Action. For eighteen years, she was the owner of The Dance Factory in Orange County, with over 500 students (recitals required two shows a day for a week)! She produced the first “Student Choreography Concert” through the Joyce Burbank Memorial Dance Scholarship Program and staged a benefit show sponsored by the Anaheim Angels.

She and her husband, Special Events Producer Sean Glen, consider their greatest accomplishment, however, to be their nine-year-old daughter, Chanelle. Burbank Glen enjoys staging musicals and puppet shows at Chanelle’s school.