U OUGHT TO KNOW KISHAYA.

Byline: - Sandra Barrera

Age: 26

Profession: Choreographer

Why U ought to know her: This San Fernando Valley-based choreographer counts her role as a dancer in the 2001 Michael Jackson short ``Rock My World'' as a high. She puts it up there with choreographing the new Gwen Stefani music video for ``Hollaback Girl'' and teaching Bow Wow to boogie on roller skates for the fall theatrical release ``Roll Bounce.''

But Kishaya Dudley - who goes by her first name - is still early in her career.

First steps: Kishaya comes from the Bronx, where she began pursuing a career in dance at age 12. After time with the Repertory Dance Company of East Harlem, she made a name for herself as a performer in music videos, including one for Lil' Kim.

``I became a really popular dancer,'' she says. ``But I always knew I wanted to do choreography.''

It was an appearance on the TV show ``Soul Train'' that led to choreographing her first music video for Def Jam-recording artist Foxy Brown. She's since choreographed music videos for Ashanti, Mya and Q-Tip; TV commercials for Mountain Dew, Coors and Old Navy; concert tours for 'N Sync, Christina Milian and Shorty.

At the moment, this mother of a 2-year-old girl is plotting stage moves for singer Faith Evans' forthcoming tour.

Absolute favorite dance: ``West African, because there's always a very spiritual, deep meaning behind what you're doing when you're doing the movement and ... it just takes over your body. I don't really get to incorporate it because what I do is mostly hip-hop oriented and you're not going to get the full vibe of what it is. When I do an African piece, I want to do a full African piece with musicians and costumes. I don't want it to just blend in with something else.''

'Hollaback Girl': ``The video is just a fun, happy, big production with different styles of dancing. You see a little bit of hip-hop and then everything else is drill team, cheerleaders, marching band and flag team doing what they're doing. You know, the director had very specific things he wanted to see, and (Stefani) had very specific things she wanted to see. So, I just took both inputs into rehearsal and just got it going. Yes, I was stressed doing the video. I'm like, 'OK, how am I going to pull this together?' But once you put your best creative foot forward, then it just flows.''

'Roll Bounce': ``I choreographed everything on feet ... because me trying to skate wasn't going to happen. I don't skate, interestingly, but I knew what I wanted to see. The movie is a period piece set in '78 so it's got really old music. I like old music. I paid attention when my mom played ... Luther (Vandross), Chaka Khan, Spinners, O'Jays, Commodores. I'm still listening to that.''

Commercial work: ``When I did the Old Navy spots, they were comedy- driven. So you listen to the music and you read the treatment, and you say, 'OK, this is supposed to be funny. What would make me laugh?' If I saw somebody doing something like a thumbs-up and smiling really hard, that would make me laugh because, like, that's dumb.''

The future: ``I'm so interested in directing and producing. I'm interested in any kind of girl-struggle story because I'm a girl who struggled. And so, it hits home for me.''

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KISHAYA