ABOUT
Producer, choreographer, singer & Hostess,
Nicole nadine holst
Impresaria extroardinaire, Nicole Holst, has produced SOLD-OUT shows in NY and CA since 2006 at well-known and Off-Broadway venues.
Her work has been commissioned by the American Folk Art Museum, Firestone Walker Beer, and by Billi Shakes for a Brooklyn Bowl performance with her Phakespeare Orchestra.
Nicole has independently produced everything from choreographed music videos for well-known NYC bands to dance theatre collaborations, as well as several themed concerts/fundraisers to benefit non-profits like the Save Coney Island organization.
To date, Nicole has created 7 original production concepts and several site-specific, special event pieces.
Her first full-length work, Never Give a Lady a Restive Horse, premiered at Merce Cunningham Studios in 2006 and was a collaboration with live actors, musicians, and dancers based on a hilariously outdated Victorian etiquette book.
In 2010, she created a Ziegfeld Follies-inspired spectacular with a modern twist called, Brooklyn Follies, at the unique Galapagos Artspace. This featured 12 dancers in 12 different lavishly costumed numbers choreographed by Nicole.
In 2019, Nicole created an original dance troupe called, Cabaret Menagerie, that performed along with a local circus company at the well-known CA music venue The Siren in Morro Bay, CA. The troupe also performed in the Glitterotica burlesque show and Firestone Walker's popular Everything from the Barrels event.
When Nicole relocated back to NYC in 2021, she produced her first burlesque and variety show, the Monday Melange, with top NYC artists at Delia's Lounge in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.
Recently in 2022, she created the Vintage Vortex Lounge series, featuring live vintage bands and aerialists, as well as the Anachronist Cabaret variety show inside an immersive, escape room venue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Always open to collaborating with other artists, you never know what Nicole will conjure up or create next! She welcomes all collaboration opportunities, so please reach out if you want to put something spectacular together that is truly one of a kind!
How It All Began:
It all started with The Wizard of Oz . . .
Believe it or not, Nicole planned her first show at only 4 years old!
She became hooked when she saw The Wizard of Oz for the first time. After seeing Dorothy walk from the grey, monochromatic world of Kansas into the sparkling wonderland of Oz, Nicole's life would never be the same . . .
All her future shows would be based on this moment - the moment we leave the often bleak reality of everyday life behind for something more colorful and glamorous. She was so inspired she carefully planned out the cast, scenes, and music to recreate her favorite movie as a neighborhood musical with reluctant neighborhood kids at the age of 4. It never came to fruition, but a budding producer was born!
Luckily, she rediscovered her love for dance through a high school dance program after getting taken to a rehearsal by a friend. By the time she was a Senior in high school, Nicole was already a full-fledged choreographer getting paid gigs, her first being Fame the musical for her rival high school.
She was also teaching dance for a local gymnastics studio and collaborating with the local community college to mount her first spectacular for her high school senior project. After receiving a scholarship for the "Most Likely to Succeed in the Performing Arts," she studied dance full-time at California State University, Long Beach, where she received her B.A. in Dance in 2005.
One month to the day she graduated college, she took the biggest risk of her life and moved to the glamorous world of NYC. It was in NYC that she realized her childhood dream of producing a full-length show and becoming a dancer/choreographer and singer/songwriter.
Her life seems to have paralleled Dorothy's in many ways. Nicole hopes life continues to be an exciting adventure where the path unfolds one step at a time. She plans to live in the land of fantasy for as long as she can get away with it and she's thrilled to be back in NY creating the work she loves with the performers that inspire her. She believes everything happens for a reason and we all have a unique, destined path, if we're brave enough to follow it!