A Chapman Panther is on the road as a cast member in celebrated entertainer Cher’s Here We Go Again Tour, her first world tour since 2005.

Ben Bigler image

Ben Bigler (’16)

Chapman dance alumnus Ben Bigler (B.A. in Dance and public relations minor, 2016) auditioned as a replacement dancer for the tour in April 2019, in a small, private call of roughly 80 male dancers. Three days later, he was on a plane to the east coast to join the Oscar, GRAMMY, Golden Globe, and Cannes award-winner’s team!

“I’m LEARNING SO MUCH,” said Ben. “I had to learn the whole show in four days and it had to be perfect. No exceptions. I performed for the first time for 16,000 people in an arena in Pittsburgh. I’ve learned to stay fresh for every show we do because you don’t want to be the performer who settles.”

Cher’s Tour began September 21, 2018, in Auckland, New Zealand and will finish on December 19, 2019, in Dallas, Texas, after 67 shows around the world. The Tour group made a surprise appearance at the 2019 Met Gala on May 7, performing a few numbers from their tour program. Bigler shared some of the colorful highlights of the evening on his Instagram account.

Since graduation from Chapman, Ben has taught, danced, and choreographed for Hollywood Dance Connection as a Pro Assistant at dance conventions and competitions across the U.S., performed around the world in a variety of dance productions, and appeared on a number of TV shows including NBC’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and America’s Got Talent Finale and Holiday Show; ABC’s Speechless with actress Minnie Driver; HBO’s West World; the 2019 BET Awards; RuPaul’s Drag Race on VH-1; and The Talk‘s “4th Annual Lip Sync War” on CBS, to name just a few.

“My next career plans are to hopefully keep dancing for her (CHER),” said Ben. After that, he wants to “go back to L.A. to work some more TV/film jobs, and then eventually go on to own my own touring dance convention for children.”

Photos courtesy of Ben Bigler.