childhood friends, palermo and diggs have worked together for twenty years. natives of rochester, ny, they are proud graduates of the school of the arts. in rochester, they had the opportunity to study under internationally renowned choreographers garth fagan and timothy draper. taye went on to receive his bfa from syracuse university, while andrew earned his degree from the university of cincinnati-college/conservatory of music. their continued education experience was rounded out by such notable teachers as milton myers and original alvin ailey company member, james truitte.

artistic director palermo conducts residencies and masterclasses in contemporary dance, musical theater, hip-hop, jazz, acting/audition techniques and movement therapy for individuals with special needs. he's provided instruction and/or built new work at the university of cincinnati-ccm, university of michigan, syracuse university, pepperdine university, wichita state university, suny potsdam, oakland university, rochester school of the arts, oklahoma arts institute, st. paul conservatory for performing arts, music theater italy, dance new amsterdam, broadway dance center, edge pac, millennium dance complex, and numerous national conventions, studios, performing arts camps and intensives.

in conjunction with and support of beyond.words, a full-length dre.dance work that focuses on autism, palermo provides movement therapy classes for individuals on 'the spectrum'. these classes have been well received at manhattan's jcc, brooklyn autism center, heartspring (wichita, ks), minnesota autism center and autism society of minnesota.

outside of dre.dance, andrew's stage direction and/or choreography credits include great joy at new amsterdam theatre, kristin chenoweth at carnegie hall, esther demsack at the public theater, x'posed/jai rodriquez at hudson theatre, journey to the west at 37 arts, new york city festival of dance 2005 featuring idina menzel, 1969 a year in review at douglas fairbanks theatre, ace at the old globe, repertory theatre of st. louis and cincinnati playhouse in the park, bright lights, big city at prince music theatre, aida at music theatre of wichita, man of la mancha at sacramento music circus, two gentlemen of verona (director/choreographer) at university of cincinnati/ccm, she loves me at westminster college of the arts, the wild party (lippa) at wichita state university and hair (director/choreographer) also at wsu. for the camera, andrew has choreographed for tracey ullman's "state of the union" (showtime), comedy central's "stella" and the film holey habits, as well as commercials for g-shock and the showtime network/apple computers.

as performers, andrew and taye have appeared on broadway, off-broadway and in touring productions of carousel, how to succeed in business without really trying, rent, annie get your gun, west side story, the wild party, little fish, chicago, a soldier's play, and wicked.

additionally, taye has numerous television credits to his name, including "kevin hill" (upn), "ally mcbeal" (fox), "daybreak" (abc) and currently, "private practice" (abc). his feature film credits include how stella got her groove back, brown sugar, chicago, rent, and many others.