OCU Graduate Rick Twombley was honored August 5th when he was awarded the Silver Leo Award for Outstanding Jazz Choreography at the 2000 Jazz Dance World Congress in Buffalo New York. Twombley joins the ranks of past Leo winners Mia Michaels and Ray Leeper, whose amazing careers both blossomed after receiving this honor.

Each year, hundreds of professional choreographers submit videos of their work to a panel of judges, who then adjudicate and name the top 21 finalists. These finalists come from all over the globe, including Russia, Japan, Germany, South America, and of course the United States. These choreographers and their dancers travel to the congress, where they perform in a series of concerts and are judged by another professional panel. The Gold, the Silver, and the Bronze Leo Awards are then awarded to the Top Three Choreographers, much like the Olympics. At least one OCU graduate has been a finalist every year for the past several years. An OCU record was made this year when 4 of the 21 Finalists were OCU graduates: Twombley, Kim McCullom, Lauren Gaul and Beth Dukleth. Twombley, however, is the first alumnus in OCU history to make it into the top three.