Stephen Mear is an English dance

Dance

Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....

r and choreographer best known for his award-winning work in musical theatre

Musical theatre

Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...

. In 2005, Mear and co-choreographer Matthew Bourne

Matthew Bourne

Matthew Bourne OBE is a British classical and contemporary ballet and dance choreographer.-Biography:Matthew Bourne was born in Hackney, London in 1960. He went to William Fitt and Sir George Monoux School in Walthamstow, London...

 won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Choreography, for their work on the new West End

West End theatre

West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...

 musical Mary Poppins

Mary Poppins (musical)

Mary Poppins is a Walt Disney Theatrical musical based on the similarly titled series of children's books by P. L. Travers and the Disney 1964 film. The West End production opened in December 2004 and received two Olivier Awards, one for Best Actress in a Musical and the other for Best Theatre...

. This production later transferred to Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 in 2006, being nominated for the Tony Award

Tony Award

The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...

 for Best Choreography

Tony Award for Best Choreography

-1940s:* 1947: Agnes de Mille – Brigadoon / Michael Kidd – Finian's Rainbow* 1948: Jerome Robbins – High Button Shoes* 1949: Gower Champion – Lend An Ear-1950s:* 1950: Helen Tamiris – Touch and Go* 1951: Michael Kidd – Guys and Dolls...

in 2007. Most recently, Mear choreographed the new Broadway musical of Disney's The Little Mermaid

The Little Mermaid (musical)

The Little Mermaid is a stage musical produced by Disney Theatrical, based on the animated 1989 Disney film of the same name and the classic story of The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen...

(2007–08). In recognition of his achievements, in 2007 Mear was the recipient of a Carl Alan Award, an award voted for by leading dance organisations in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. In 2010, Stephen Mear won a Laurence Olivier Award for best Theatre Choreographer for his work on Hello Dolly at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park

Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park

Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, in the City of Westminster, London, is a permanent venue with an annual sixteen-week summer season. It was founded in 1932 by Sydney Carroll and Robert Atkins.-The theatre:...

, he was also a choreographer for So You Think You Can Dance (UK)

So You Think You Can Dance (UK)

So You Think You Can Dance is a televised dance competition and reality show that launched in the United Kingdom in January 2010 and similar to the version of the program that has began airing in the USA in 2005. The show is broadcast on BBC One. The content of the show is similar premise to the...

, in the category broadway

Jazz dance

Jazz dance is a classification shared by a broad range of dance styles. Before the 1950s, jazz dance referred to dance styles that originated from African American vernacular dance. In the 1950s, a new genre of jazz dance—modern jazz dance—emerged, with roots in Caribbean traditional dance...

.

Mear is openly gay. His partner is dance teacher Mark Smith, who is deaf. Mear who was co-choreographer for Mary Poppins, created the entire "sign language" combination/idea for the show's hit musical number Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious is an English word, with 34 letters, that was in the song with the same title in the 1964 Disney musical film Mary Poppins. The song was written by the Sherman Brothers, and sung by Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke...

, because of the knowledge of sign language he had.

External links