Long-time international performer, dance educator
and swing dance choreographer, Brian has been offering dance
workshops and assembly programs through Young Audiences of
Connecticut since 1983, and he was their Performance Artist
of the Year in 1999. Brian can claim a Masters Degree in Education;
guest lecturing in dance at Yale and Wesleyan Universities;
Adjunct Professor of Dance at Naugatuck Valley Community College;
and teacher-trainer at the National Dance Association annual
conference.
During Brian’s dance workshops and
stage performances, students feel history come alive by learning
authentic dance steps from American history in a high-energy
atmosphere filled with positive reinforcement. Students gain
confidence to improvise steps and to perform choreographed
routines while exploring the joys of solo, partnered and team
composition. Brian also explores the many dynamic facets of
culture and music that have accompanied and influenced the
way people have cut a rug over the past three hundred years.
Dance
in America:
(grades K
– 6):
Seen your students dance lately? Your students will be dancing
for at least half of this program. Originally a touring “hoofer,”
Brian performs the only dance program of its kind, demonstrating
over thirty-five dances from ballroom,
roaring ‘20s, country, jazz, Latin, American Bandstand,
MTV and more: waltz to watusi, charleston to cha cha and lindy
hop to hip hop. Brian trains seven students to help him perform
many of the partnered and group dances for this presentation.
History, humor and period music accompany each selection.
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Brian is an accomplished
student of piano, percussion and voice. He has toured Denmark,
Austria, Russia, England and Wales as a singer with the Waterbury
Chorale and the Yale Alumni Glee Club. He is a regular piano/vocalist
at senior centers and retirement communities throughout Connecticut.
Brian has produced three CDs of original songs at his recording
studio in Connecticut. He has been a member of the Connecticut
Songwriters Association and BMI.
Salute
to Song in America
(grades 1 –
8, adult):
Brian’s musical history of America’s glorious
and outrageous songs, singers and composers since 1620. His
exquisite voice and the amazing, multimedia mix
of live and prerecorded music, biographies and history
combine for a masterful teaching and performance experience
that guides students through the Revolution, minstrelsy, Civil
War, ragtime, roaring ‘20s, blues, swing, Broadway,
rock and everything in-between, all with live instrumentation,
impersonations and an audience that’s the supporting,
sing-along cast.
History
of Rock ‘n’ Roll: 1950 - 1965
(grades 4 –
12, adult):
Unlike any history lesson you will ever see, it’s
Brian’s impersonations, costumes, props, original
sound bites, stand-up piano-playing, radio commercials
and attitude which reveal the story of rock’s origins
through gospel, rhythm and blues and country and western.
Meet the personalities and songs shaped the music of doo-wop,
Motown, girl groups, surfin’, soul, novelty tunes
and much more: Little Richard to Beach Boys, Chuck Berry
to Beatles, Elvis to Supremes. The Rock ‘n’
Roll Hall of Fame delivered to your space
Sh BOOM!
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Song,
Dance and the Possibilities
(grades k –
6, families):
Share in Brian’s ultimate, anyone-can-write-a-song and
anyone-can-invent-a-dance experience. Learn the predictable
ingredients that make a song or dance a “craze,”
but then dare to break the rules to create something
extraordinary: change the rhythm, lyrics, melody
or style of a radio favorite; sing a ragtime classic in a
doo-wop style; add rap rhythms to a jazz tune; or try “Hound
Dog” as a waltz. Then dance a charleston to Latin music;
perform hip-hop moves to a piece by Mozart; try a dance that’s
half disco and half polka. Students learn to trust self-expression
when they realize that anything is possible.
Song,
Dance and the Possibilities – the Holiday Version
(grades K –
6, families) :
Flying reindeer? Dancing snowmen? Students invent outrageous
new versions of some old, holiday song favorites and then
create a hip, holiday dance to a funky seasonal tune; all
this while exploring language, poetry, music and pop culture.
Ho Ho Ho!
A
Grand Night For Singing and Dancing
(grades K –
6, families):
Parents and kids share in the joys of song and dance, Gillie
style, with Brian’s original songs and dances, all requiring
some audience participation to help complete a lyric or a
funky move. Brian has selected the best songs from his radiant,
family CD, Different Drummer, for
a fun-filled program that’s got “the
potion to set ‘em in motion.”
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