Yuku free message boards

As the ball drops Thursday night in Times Square and Jennifer Lopez performs her hits on "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2010," Galloway native Tabitha D'Umo is behind the scenes, supervising and choreographing the superstar's routine with her husband, Napoleon D'Umo.

Working on Thursday night's production for millions of people is nothing new for D'Umo, whose mother, Cynthia Cortopassi, lives in Egg Harbor Township. The Absegami High School graduate and Los Angeles resident can be seen on Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance," where she and her husband earned an Emmy nomination this year for outstanding choreography on the show and choreographed a number for the Emmys that was performed live.

The D'Umos also serve as supervising choreographers for MTV's "America's Best Dance Crew," choreographed Lopez's highly buzzed-about routine on this year's "American Music Awards," worked on a video for Carrie Underwood's recent Christmas album, and performed with and choreographed major tours for artists that include Celine Dion, Christina Aguilera and Ricky Martin.

D'Umo and her husband have been credited with inventing lyrical hip-hop, and they even have their own hip-hop clothing line, Nappytabs, a conglomeration of their names.

The new year may prove to be even brighter for the duo as they will appear in the dance documentary "Move" and are assisting with choreography on "Viva Elvis," the new Cirque du Soleil show at the Aria Resort & Casino at CityCenter in Las Vegas.

"It's all kind of crazy," Tabitha D'umo said. "My mom sent me to dance classes, singing lessons, acting lessons, piano lessons, everything under the sun in hopes that I would gravitate to something, and it was always dance. I didn't even think of it as a career choice - I was a communications major at UNLV - because in the era I grew up, dance was not as popular as it is now. But when I met Napoleon, who was in pre-med, I loved what we shared in common. We started doing it together, worked in Vegas and realized that this could be our big job. Before we started 'So You Think You Can Dance,' I never even thought of something like an Emmy nomination. But it was totally thrilling, unexpected and appreciated. To be nominated with all of the other great choreographers from all the dance shows out there was amazing. It was a great year."