Tonight, Beach native dancing for the stars

VIRGINIA BEACH

Amid all the glitz, glamour and celebrity fanfare tonight at the Academy Awards will be a face from right here.

Virginia Beach native Travis Wall, 22, is an assistant choreographer for the show and will dance in its biggest number, a medley of the nominees for best original score.

Wall said the Oscars will be a highlight of his career, which started at the age of 3 with classes at his mother's dance studio, Denise Wall's Dance Energy on Bonney Road.

"I'm excited," he said. "This will be the largest audience I've ever danced in front of."

The opportunity to help with the Oscars came through Wall's 2006 stint on the reality show "So You Think You Can Dance." He was runner-up during its second season then began choreographing for the show last summer.

Adam Shankman, a judge on the show, is producing and choreographing the Oscars and asked Wall to be an assistant choreographer. So Wall left for Los Angeles in mid-January and has been auditioning dancers, choreographing and rehearsing since. He spent Saturday in the dress rehearsal, he said while on his way to the Kodak Theatre.

While Wall is used to the spotlight - his resume includes commercials, movies, music videos and Broadway - he's still a little nervous about tonight, he said. After all, Meryl Streep, George Clooney and Sandra Bullock will be in the front row.

"We're literally dancing on top of them, which is really cool," Wall said. And, "There's a camera lens that's going to 8 million homes, so that's a little freaky."

But he won't be alone. Local dancers Taja Riley, 18, and Jaimie Goodwin, 21, also are performing. They trained at Dance Energy, too.

"It's great to have them in there," Wall said. "I grew up with these people. We're going to look down at this when we're 30 and 40 and say, 'Remember when we did this job?' "

Denise Wall said that when her son was a toddler, he danced for hours to the "Batman" soundtrack. Tonight, he'll dance to scores from "Sherlock Holmes," "The Hurt Locker," "Avatar," "Fantastic Mr. Fox" and "Up." The number features a variety of dance styles, including contemporary, hip-hop and break dancing, Travis Wall said.

When she watches the Oscars tonight, Denise Wall said she'll look for her son.

"It's been amazing," she said. "I'm just so proud."

Kathy Adams, (757) 222-5155, kathy.adams@pilotonline.com