An homage to Billy Elliot and the New York lifestyle, a reincarnation of a night in a Costa Rican discotheque and a piece originally done in wheel chairs by paraplegic dancers are just some of the numbers that make up choreographer Mark Sharon’s repertoire.

Sharon, a graduate student at St. Edward’s University, recently presented highlights of his work over the years as his masters thesis.

The thesis, which was a concert titled “An Evening of Choreography with Mark Sharon and MJS Movement,” took place on Nov. 6 in the Mabee Ballrooms in Ragsdale Center.

Sharon showcased multiple styles in his concert, including tap, pointe, jazz and soft shoe musical comedy.

Sharon’s thesis also featured Melissa Corpus, a New College student at St. Edward’s. Corpus recited poetry while acting out the poem in choreographed movements – which is known as a choreopoem. The piece, “Lady in Green,” was taken from the Grammy-nominated play, now a motion picture, “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf.”

Sharon, a native Texan, began dancing at a very young age and aspired to one day become a professional dancer. He danced at the Joffrey Training Center in New York but later suffered from brain cancer and was debilitated for a period in his life, which led him to become a choreographer.

“It’s not so much what you physically show your students, it’s what you are able to convey verbally and emotionally,” Sharon said.

Sharon later left New York for southern California, where he began at the West Coast Performing Arts Center, where he worked for more than 20 years. Afterward, Sharon returned home to Texas, where he has since directed and choreographed “West Side Story” for Lamar University and “Fiddler on the Roof” for Beaumont Civic Opera.

Now a graduate student finishing up his Masters degree, Sharon said he plans to enter the world of academia as a professor of dance.

“I’ve never had a real job, never exchanged money with people, never woke up to an alarm clock or driven in traffic, so I’d say that I’ve had a pretty cushy life” Sharon said. “I’m 54 years old, so what happens past this, I want to do some international things, then teach at a college.”