Career

Early career

Robson was in a talent troupe called Johnny Young's Talent School and the group did 14 shows a week, usually at venues like shopping malls. When he was nine, Robson moved to the United States with his mother and sisters. Michael Jackson assisted them in the move and recruited Robson to appear in three music videos: "Black or White," "Jam," and "Heal the World."

At the age of 11 Robson had an agent. Along with friend DeWayne Turrentine, he formed the hip-hop duo Quo and by the end of the year released an album on Jackson's MJJ Music label through Epic/SME Records. The following year, he was teaching dance classes in Hollywood. He formed a troupe of dancing children which performed internationally. He received his first choreography job for the R&B group Immature at 14. The job led to others, for artists such as Britney Spears. Clients were sometimes reluctant to take direction from Robson, a self-described "skinny little white kid". When Spears first interviewed Robson to choreograph her tour, she exclaimed, "He's a friggin' baby!"; she had expected him to be in his 30s or 40s.

During the late 1990s, while still a teenager, Robson choreographed Spears's Pepsi commercials including one which aired during the 2001 Super Bowl. He choreographed the performance by NSYNC and Spears at the 1999 Video Music Awards and he co-directed Spears's 1999-2000 world tours as well as NSYNC's 2000 No Strings Attached Tour. In 2001, he choreographed Spears' I'm a Slave 4 U video and was choreographer and director of NSYNC's 2001 "PopOdyssey Tour". In the NSYNC music video "Pop", Robson had to fill in for NSYNC member Joey Fatone during several of the dance sequences because of an injury that Fatone sustained at an NSYNC concert the night before the video shoot. That same year, he directed Spears' Dream Within a Dream Tour.

Professional career

Robson was the creator and host of MTV's The Wade Robson Project, a talent search competition for hip-hop dancers. The program was sponsored by Juice Batteries.

In 2002, Robson was named one of Dance Magazine's "25 to Watch".

Dance clothing company Power T Dance developed a line of name-brand consumer dance shoes with Robson. The shoes were distributed in the U.S. through the Ralph Libonati Co.

Robson appeared as himself in the 2004 urban dance film You Got Served, which won "Best Dance Sequence (Feature Film)" at the 2004 American Choreography Awards.

Robson has joined several other choreographers such as Mia Michaels and Shane Sparks on the PULSE Tour, a series of nationwide weekend workshops designed to give dancers the chance to train under top choreographers.

In 2007, Robson began choreographing the American Idols LIVE! Tour. He has also choreographed both group and partner pieces for the second and third seasons of So You Think You Can Dance.

In September 2007, Robson was awarded a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography for the dance number "Ramalama (Bang Bang)" on (Season 2) of So You Think You Can Dance. The choreography continues to be one of the show's most memorable and favorite group performances to date.

Robson was awarded his second Primetime Emmy Award the following year in 2008 on Season 3 of So You Think You Can Dance for the jazz routine "Humming Bird and the Flower". The performance was lauded by the show's executive producer Nigel Lythgoe calling it "absolutely genius, brilliant, and one of those routines that we will remember on this series for a very long time."

In 2008, Cirque du Soleil hired Robson to choreograph "Believe", starring illusionist and magician, Criss Angel. It debuted to rave reviews at the Luxor Hotel.

Robson and NSYNC's Justin Timberlake partnered in 2001, co-writing the hit singles "Pop", "Gone", and "See Right Through You" on NSYNC's final album Celebrity. Robson had initially written "Celebrity" for his own album, but was persuaded to let NSYNC record it instead. They also co-wrote Britney Spears' "What It's Like To Be Me", on which Timberlake sang back up vocals. The song's copyright is held jointly by Robson and Timberlake's respective companies, WaJeRo Sound and Tennman Tunes.

Robson co-wrote the song "Movin' On" for the Backstreet Boys' album Never Gone with Backstreet member Howie Dorough. The song was released as a bonus track.

Robson has also written songs for the singing groups Dream and Youngstown. He also remixed two of Mandy Moore's songs from her album I Wanna Be with You.

Robson choreographed the animated feature film Happy Feet Two, which was released in 2011. He was originally set to direct Step Up Revolution, (released in 2012), but dropped out of the project for personal reasons. He was replaced by Scott Speer.

In 2011, Wade was hired to direct his first theatrical motion picture "Step Up 4".

In 2012, Robson was the creative director for Demi Lovato's "Summer Tour 2012".

Routines for So You Think You Can Dance

Season	Week	Dancers	Dance style	Music	Routine title	Notes
2	6	Top 10	Group routine	"Ramalama (Bang Bang)"—Róisín Murphy	Ramalama	Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography 2007
	8	Heidi Groskreutz Travis Wall	Afro-Pop	"W'Happy Mama"—Zap Mama	W'Happy Mama
	9	Top 4	Group routine	"SexyBack"—Justin Timberlake	SexyBack
3	1	Sara Von Gillern Jesús Solorio	Pop-Jazz	"Cabaret Hoover" from Les Triplettes de Belleville	Vagabond Cabaret	Chosen as Tony Meredith's favourite routine of the season
		Top 20	Group routine	"Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See"—Busta Rhymes	Busta Mod
	3	Jaimie Goodwin Hokuto "Hok" Konishi	Jazz	"The Chairman's Waltz" from Memoirs of a Geisha	The Hummingbird and the Flower	Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography 2008 Chosen as Nigel Lythgoe's favourite routine of the season
	4	Lauren Gottlieb Neil Haskell	Jazz	"Night of the Dancing Flame"—Róisín Murphy	Good VS Evil
	6	Top 10	Individual solos	"Waiting on the World to Change"—John Mayer	Peace
	8	Top 6	Group routine	"2:19"—Tom Waits	Swamp
	9	Sabra Johnson Lacey Schwimmer	Jazz	"Koyal (Songbird)"—Nitin Sawhney	Foxes
4	1	Top 20	Group routine	"Cobrastyle"—Robyn	Cobrastyle
	9	Katee Shean Joshua Allen	Lyrical Jazz	"Slow Dancing in a Burning Room"—John Mayer	Slow Dancing in a Burning Room
		Cirque du Soleil	Guest performance	"Homage to the Rabbits"—Éric Serra	Homage to the Rabbits
5	1	Ashley Valerio Kūpono Aweau	Jazz	"Felt Mountain"—Goldfrapp	Crash Test Dummies
	5	Janette Manrara Brandon Bryant	Jazz	"Ruby Blue"—Róisín Murphy	Ruby Blue
	6	Top 10	Jazz	"So Much Betta"—Janet Jackson	So Much Betta
	9	Top 4	Pop-jazz	"Boys Boys Boys"—Lady Gaga	Boys Boys Boys
6	1	Top 20	Jazz	"Comanche"—The Revels	Comanche
	2	Pauline Mata Peter Sabasino	Jazz	"Little Green Bag"—George Baker Selection	Little Green Bag
	4	Top 14	Group Routine	"Aha!"—Imogen Heap	Aha!
7	1	Top 11 + All Stars	Group Routine	" Fame "— David Bowie	Fame

Personal life

On Michael Jackson's death: "His music, his movement, his personal words of inspiration and encouragement and his unconditional love will live inside of me forever."

Robson, June 2009

In August 2005 Robson married Amanda Rodriguez, a former fashion designer and creative directing partner on So You Think You Can Dance. The couple have a son, Koa, and live in Maui, Hawaii.

Robson testified in Michael Jackson's defense at the People v. Jackson trial in 2005. In 2013, Robson stated Jackson had sexually abused him as a child, and he is suing the Jackson estate.

Career credits

Discography

• 1994: Quo
• 2006: Wade Robson's Project: Dance Beats Vol. 1

Videography

• Michael Jackson's "Black or White" (1991) Music video — dancer (uncredited)
• Michael Jackson's Dangerous: The Short Films (1993) (V) — dancer ("Jam"/"Black or White")
• Britney Spears' "Born to Make You Happy" (1999) — choreographer
• A*Teens' Upside Down, choreographer (2000/2001)
• Britney Spears' "Oops... I Did It Again" (2000) — choreographer
• Britney Spears' "I'm A Slave 4 U" (2001) — choreographer
• Britney Spears' "Overprotected" (Worldwide Version) (2001) — choreographer
• NSync's "Pop" (2001) — choreographer & dancer

Filmography

• Kazaam (1996) — Elito
• EDtv (1999) — teenage boy
• You Got Served (2004) - Himself

Television

• Full House, "Come Fly with Me" (1992) — Terry, traveling choir member
• Picket Fences, "Elective Conduct" (1994) — T.J.
• Nothing Sacred, "House of Rage" (1997) — Garner Cole
• Pacific Blue, "Users" (1998) — Brandon Jeter
• Will & Grace, "A.I.: Artificial Insemination" (2002) — Backup Dancer for Cher (uncredited)
• So You Think You Can Dance, U.S. TV series (2006-?) — Himself

[ Source: Wikipedia ]