Marquis Cunningham, a former Mr. Dance of America 2008-2009 has been dancing since 2004 at the age of 14 and started his training in under Robin Dawn Ryan and her staff at Robin Dawn Academy of Performing Arts in Cape Coral, FL. There he studied techniques in Ballet, Jazz, Lyrical, Contemporary, Hip Hop, Acrobatics, and Tap. Marquis attended and graduated in the class of 2007 from North Fort Myers High School Center for the Performing Arts and majored in the dance and drama departments.
He took on many lead roles in the musical and review productions put on by the performing arts center. Staring as “Lumiere” in Beauty and the Beast and “Jo Jo” in Suessical the Musical. After graduating high school in 2007 Marquis moved to New Jersey/ New York and began working on his professional career in dance. Marquis has gone on to make national TV appearances in 2008 on “Dance Wars Bruno Vs. Carrie Ann” on the ABC Family Network where he made top 30 and went on to [read]Hollywood to fight for a spot on the show in the top 14. He did not make the final cut, but that did not slow him down. Marquis Cunningham auditioned that same year for Season 4 of “So You Think You Can Dance” on The FOX Network and landed a spot in the top 20 and ended in the top 18. Marquis has made other small TV cameos in such credits as “Gossip Girl” on the CW Network and in a couple of Indie films. In 2009 Marquis went on to work with Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas, NV dancing as a part of the creation cast of “Viva Elvis” 2009-2011. After two years in Las Vegas he moved to the city of Los Angeles, CA where he moved to further his career in the dance industry. Marquis went to travel the world performing with the Contemporary Ballet company, “The Bad Boys of Dance” on the new show “Rock The Ballet 2” from 2012-2015. In 2016 Marquis toured Asia with their premiere pop diva Jolin Tsai and performed the David Bowie tribute for the 58th Annual Grammy Awards with Lady Gaga. Most recently in 2017 performed the Super Bowl 51 Half-Time show with Lady Gaga. Marquis Cunningham as of fall of 2016 resides back in Las Vegas, NV where he dances for the resident “Donny & Marie Show” at the Flamingo Hotel and Casino, teaches at Millennium Dance Complex Las Vegas and other studios in the local are sharing love and education for dance and other artists.[/read]
