Born and raised in Los Angeles, Helene started to move to the music at the age of 2. At age 6, she started formal training, and by age 18, she was awarded a dance scholarship to the world renowned Roland Dupree Dance Academy.
At age 21, Helene was called in to audition for the TV series, Solid Gold. By then hundreds of dancers had already auditioned. The day after her audition, Helene was selected to be one of the original Solid Gold Dancers. Soon after, she was written up as one of the top dancers of her time!
In a progressively challenging career, she has worked with legendary performers and directors for the past 20 years, among which were Madonna (Who’s That Girl Tour), John Travolta (Stayin’ Alive), James Brown and Dan Aykroyd (Dr. Detroit), Michael Douglas (A Chorus Line – the film), John Candy (Going Berserk), Rosie O’ Donnell and Penny Marshall (all Christmas holiday spots for K-Mart), Christina Applegate and Jay Mohr (Mafia), Charlie Sheen and Anna Faris (A Spelling Bee), Peter Gabriel and Sting (live benefit concerts), Denis Leary and[read]Elizabeth Hurley (Dawg), and the list goes on and on. Helene has been nominated for an Emmy for her work on Papa’s Angels starring Scott Bakula and Cynthia Nixon. She has been a key directing and choreographing force behind such artists as Karyn White’s Love the way you love me, Klymaxx’s Meeting in the ladies’ room, Jack Wagner’s The Weatherman Says, and Was Not Was’ Walk the Dinosaur. She has also conceptualized, directed, staged, and choreographed Main Showrooms for such cruise ships as the QEII and the Oceania Riviera. Helene is connected to the most influential people in the industry. Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas, while working on the largest production of its time, a 3-D film called Captain EO with Michael Jackson, turned the direction and the choreography over to her because they felt she was the only one who knew what she was doing. Anjelica Houston requested Helene to direct her for the same reason. Helene was handed over the microphone and would yell Action and Cut. She collaborated with every department working on this project and directed Michael Jackson in the recording studio. The team knew they could count on her. This is what has led her to be known as the Working Dancers’ Teacher: because this has been her life. Helene understands what it takes to make a living in the dancing world. With great care, she prepares her dancers to be successful by teaching Performance Jazz; i.e., how to be seen, how to hit a line, how to make the most of a move. She teaches the Art of Auditioning as well, that is to say, how to get the job: how to present the best you, which entails diet, hairdo, and how to network among other topics. When a choreographer needs only 5 people out of a room filled with 300, you need to know how to stand out. Even though the bulk of her work is as a director and choreographer, Helene continues to be asked to work as a dancer. She can be seen on the 2017 VMA’s dancing with Miley Cyrus as well as a promo for The Voice and on the series Code Black. Other appearances were in The Muppet Movie and a series of Tropicana orange juice commercials.[/read]
