Napoleon and Tabitha D'umo

'''Napoleon Buddy D'umo** (born October 17, 1968) and **Tabitha A. D'umo** (née **Cortopassi** born September 11, 1973), also known as **Nappytabs'*, are husband and wife choreographers who are often credited with developing the new style of hip-hop dance known as lyrical hip-hop. They have been working together in the dance industry since 1996 and are best known for their choreography on the TV show *So You Think You Can Dance''. They were nominated for a 2009 Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography for their work on the fourth season of the show. Napoleon and Tabitha were also supervising choreographers on MTV's ''America's Best Dance Crew* for the first five seasons.

Napoleon and Tabitha started their career in Las Vegas while they were still in college choreographing industrial musicals for large businesses. After moving to Los Angeles, they began teaching hip-hop dance classes and choreographing for professional basketball and football dance teams including the Orlando Magic and the Dallas Cowboys. Their career improved to choreographing music videos, commercials, movies, television shows, and concerts. Napoleon and Tabitha have worked with entertainers such as Missy Elliott, Celine Dion, Kanye West, Ricky Martin, and Jennifer Lopez. They have also choreographed for Cirque Du Soleil. In addition to choreography and teaching classes, they direct concert tours and live events and have their own dance clothing line called *Nappytabs''.

## Early life
While growing up in Victorville, California, After graduating from Apple Valley High School, Napoleon joined the US military and was sent to Germany. In college, Napoleon started taking jazz dance and modern dance classes. He eventually received a full scholarship as a member of the university's dance team. Jennifer Lopez, Also in 2008, Napoleon and Tabitha joined the choreography team on Fox's *So You Think You Can Dance* (SYTYCD). In an interview with DanceInforma.com Tabitha stated that they do not create choreography without a story because the story determines the movement and the feeling they want to show: "We listen to the song over and over and over and finally we find that skeleton and then we can start preparing some steps."

In April 2009, Napoleon and Tabitha choreographed three dance routines for the second season of *So You Think You Can Dance Australia*. SYTYCD Australia judge and choreographer Matt Lee called their "Dead and Gone" lyrical hip-hop routine the best routine of the season. Later that year in September, Napoleon and Tabitha choreographed the opening dance performance on the season seven premiere of The Ellen Degeneres Show. The performance featured both DeGeneres and the top 10 dancers from season five of *So You Think You Can Dance*.

In February 2010, Tabitha and Napoleon choreographed Cirque Du Soleil's *Viva ELVIS* show at the Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. In July, they choreographed a hip-hop routine for Seattle Theatre Group's 12th Annual *DANCE This* concert. In September, they choreographed a pilot episode for another dance television show called *MOBBED*. The following year, *MOBBED* expanded to a series and Tabitha and Napoleon choreographed another ten episodes.

### Teaching
Napoleon and Tabitha spend a lot of time teaching classes at dance studios and conventions—regional educational events hosted by professional dancers. They have taught hip-hop dance at Millennium Dance Complex, the Edge Performing Arts Center, Xtreme Dance Force, Shock the Intensive, Coastal Dance Rage, iHollywood, and Monsters of Hip Hop dance conventions. They were guest instructors at Project 818 in Moscow, Russia and judges at the 2009 Australian Hip Hop Championships in Sydney.

### Directing
Most of Napoleon and Tabitha's work is in choreography and teaching but they have also provided creative direction for tours and live events. Creative directors are responsible for the design, vision, and theme of a show. In 2006 and 2007, they served as assistant creative directors for Christina Aguilera’s *Back to Basics Tour* and for Ricky Martin’s *Black and White Tour*. They were the lead creative directors for *Monsters of Hip Hop: The Show*, the *So You Think You Can Dance Tour*,

In 2009, they directed the second *So You Think You Can Dance Tour* In 2013, Tabitha and Napoleon directed a new show for the Jabbawockeez called *PRiSM*.

### Projects
Napoleon and Tabitha have their own line of dance clothing line called *Nappytabs*. *Nappytabs* is the first line of hip-hop dance clothing. They decided to create it because of the lack of appropriate dance clothing for urban hip-hop dancers. For this reason, it is only sold at selected regional dance clothing stores, major dance conventions, online through the *Nappytabs* official website, and at their only retail location and dance studio in North Hollywood.

In 2007, Tabitha was the host of an exercise DVD titled *Drop it with Dance*.
The video is split into six 10-minute routines that gradually increase in difficulty; movements from all six routines are combined in the finale "Showtime" segment. Tabitha also appeared in *Rock Your Body*, a dance/fitness DVD hosted by choreographer and creative director Jamie King who is known primarily for his work with Madonna.

Napoleon and Tabitha appeared in the dance documentary *MOVE*. The movie is about dance as an art form and how notable choreographers were able to go from dancing as a hobby to dancing as a career. There are over fifty dance professionals who appear in this movie including director and choreographer Kenny Ortega.

## Awards and recognition
In 2009, Tabitha and Napoleon were nominated for an Emmy Award for the lyrical hip-hop routine "Bleeding Love" that they choreographed on season four of *So You Think You Can Dance*. On September 10, 2011, they won an Emmy Award for three routines they choreographed on season seven—"Scars", "Fallin'", and "Outta Your Mind". Three months earlier, *Entertainment Weekly* magazine made a list of the "25 Best Performances Ever" on the show. Tabitha and Napoleon choreographed four routines on the list.

On July 3, 2013, Tabitha and Napoleon won a Dancers' Choice Award for their work on the television shows *Mobbed*, *American Idol*, and *So You Think You Can Dance*. The same month, they were nominated for another Emmy Award for three routines they choreographed on season nine of *So You Think You Can Dance*: "Love Cats", "Beautiful People", and "Call Of The Wild".

On August 17, 2014, they won their second Emmy Award for their work on season ten of *So You Think You Can Dance*.

## Collaborations

1 Tabitha and Napoleon choreographed Ellen's "Outta Your Mind" performance on the season seven finale episode in 2010.
2 Tabitha and Napoleon choreographed Jennifer Lopez's guest performance.
3 Tabitha and Napoleon choreographed the season seven premiere of The Ellen Degeneres Show in 2009.
4 The film featured only Yunho in a cameo performance.

## References
## Other websites
*Napoleon and Tabitha D'umo at Facebook
*Napoleon and Tabitha D'umo at Instagram