DREAMGIRLS Choreographer Shane Sparks to Stand Trial on Child Molestation Charges

As BroadwayWorld has previously reported, Dreamgirls co-choreographer Shane Sparks was arrested last year, December 18, 2009, on eight counts of felony child molestation charges. Sparks was arrested at his home in Hollywood and taken to a Van Nuys, California jail.  Bail is set at $590,000. Said LAPD spokesman, Richard French, to TVGuide.com, Sparks has been the "subject of an ongoing child molestation investigation."

The incident in question is nearly a decade old.  The alleged victim's identity is being withheld, as she was a minor at the time.

Today, the Associated Press reports that Shane has been ordered to trial for the charges and will be arraigned on November 15, 2010 at the Van Nuys courthouse. 

Sparks rose to fame as a co-choreographer on the 2004 movie You Got Served before becoming a part of Fox's So You Think You Can Dance, for which he received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Choreography.  He then became a judge on MTV's dance-themed competition, America's Best Dance Crew, which just completed its fourth season. Most recently, he co-choreographed the current tour of Dreamgirls that kicked-off at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem on November 7 and ran through December 6.  The tour is currently playing cities across the country and buzz has begun surrounding a possible Broadway finale stop.

Dreamgirls has played Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Chicago, Boston, Columbus, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, Costa Mesa, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, and more.  For information on the tour, visit www.dreamgirlsonstage.com.