Meet the Choreographer of Tonight's Opening Ceremonies

They’re here! They’re here! The Olympics are FINALLY HERE!

OK, yes, fine, the Sochi Games officially started yesterday. But tonight we’ll get to see the splendiferous opening ceremony. And that makes it all so much more official.

The ceremony is also an opportunity for some pretty serious dancing. (NBC: Let’s actually air the dancing this time, OK? Nobody wants a repeat of the London dance debacle.) And the choreographic mastermind behind tonight’s sure-to-be-showstopping spectacle is actually a familiar face: Broadway’s Daniel Ezralow, best known for his work on Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.

Ezralow strikes a pose in Sochi (photo via thewrap.com)

Ezralow told People that he’ll be using about 80 professional dancers and hundreds of volunteers to create a performance about “20th-century Russia.” Here’s the interesting thing: Though his grandfather fled Russia in 1905, Ezralow is pretty far removed from the country these days—he lives in L.A. So we’re curious to see what kind of cultural-fusion choreography he’s come up with. (We’re picturing Bolshoi ballerinas flying through the air, Spider-Man-style…which actually sounds kind of awesome, right?)

Tune in to NBC tonight at 7:30 to see the show!