Brian’s extensive experience as a dance teacher, choreographer and international dance performer make him the teacher of choice for your next dance experience. Each workshop session, in addition to introducing friendly, sequential patterns of traditional dances and improvised choreography, fosters an atmosphere of positive energy, historical context, team accomplishment and respectful evaluation. Even the “average” student will master and create soulful moves far beyond what they believed possible.

Connecting Poetry, Rhythms and Dance
(grades 3 – 6 and teacher training)

Can all three disciplines be absorbed in one residency? You Bet! Brian is a multi-disciplinary musician, poet, drummer and dancer who successfully employs today’s music and moves as the perfect catalyst for exploring elements of creative writing, drum patterns and dance in the language of contemporary youth, dynamically using all three to accommodate multiple ways of understanding.

Hollywood and 5th Avenue employ elements of today’s hip hop and pop rock culture to reach this generation of students. They are on to something important. As teachers, let’s channel the music and lyrics to our educational advantage. This also gives students a chance to express personal and social issues in safe and acceptable ways and with greater depth of emotion and understanding.

Students paraphrase fables, rewrite stories and create poems; develop hip, notated drum patterns (we use buckets and sticks) to accompany their new poems to create raps; invent melodies to create songs; and design original solo, partnered and group dance phrases and choreography. Hidden talents come alive through enhanced emotional and kinesthetic vocabulary. As a final performance piece, each student gets to recite/sing, drum and dance at each of three stations. All residencies address state standards for music and dance.

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Swing Dance with a New Groove
(grades 3 – 8 and teacher training)

In today’s hip culture many of the time-honored Ballroom, Latin and Swing Dance styles need a contemporary boost to gain your students’ attention. Brian, long-time Ballroom Dance instructor, swing dance choreographer and hip hop practitioner, believes in the value and excitement of having students choreograph their own dances based on the question: how can this classic dance be “improved.”

First, students exercise analytical thinking skills as they learn: actual steps, moves, and partnering (as with the high-energy kicks, jumps and turns of swing dancing); tricks of leading and following; where the dances came from, how they evolved and what made them a “craze;” and the “math” that underlies dance rhythms and meters.

Then the FUN! Students manipulate the structure and stylings of time-honored dances, then turn them inside-out with their own funky stylings and music. Disco, Swing or Cha Cha, can become electrifying by adding elements of hip hop, pop rock or foxtrot. The workshop empowers students to exercise their inner vision and outward cool; and to trust their efforts.

Pump up the energy, dare to stretch the limits of creativity and choreography and chose from among many different American dance styles:

1900 – 1910: waltz • ragtime; 1910 – 1920: polka • blues; 1920 – 1930: charleston • tango; 1930 – 1940: swing • rumba; 1940 – 1950: rhythm & blues • samba; 1950 – 1960: bop/hop • cha cha; 1960 – 1970: rock • line • novelty dances; 1970 – 1990: disco • salsa • hip hop

Teachers usually record a performance video for school posterity.

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Just Move…and Learn It Better
(grades K – 3)

Research demonstrates the important bridge between movement and learning. Add dance to the equation and learning has a clear and solid pathway to your curriculum. Brian puts movement, touch, body sculpture, sound and fun into connections with the alphabet, reading, math, science, art and other curriculum challenges.

By moving the body low, large, in reverse, as a jellyfish, to tell a story, to express an emotion, students in the early grades experience an interactive world that opens the mind to new possibilities and to stronger neural connections.

Your youngest students learn basic loco-motor movements and accuracy in moving to a musical beat. They explore the joy of creating and memorizing simple movement phrases, working alone and with partners, learning simple folk dances and history; and evaluating dance styles and performance. Very hip!

There is no wrong way, only gentle parameters of self-expression that help students create, collaborate, evaluate, apply and understand.

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Teacher In-Service Training:
Teacher training and complete outlines and resource packets are available for all the above workshops. Feel the joy of dance, and learn sequential dance skills and teaching methods for effectively interacting with students and for providing a safe, respectful and energized environment.

“Our students were genuinely surprised by Mr. Gillie’s dance abilities and enthusiastic about their interactive roles.” North Center School, Southington, CT

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(culminates with the production of a complete, “hit” song)

Brian’s music and compositional skills, and his insatiable sense of wonder and humor make him the teacher of choice for getting the most out of a songwriting experience. Brian’s songwriting workshop emphasizes the varied structures and creative uses of rhythm, theme, lyrics, melody harmony and style. The classes explore how business, culture and the rules of grammar, poetry and music determine a song’s effectiveness. Brian offers an insider’s guide for effective live performance, a dose of intuitive “cool” and a little mischief to enhance the mood and break down inhibitions.

Teacher In-Service Development:
Learn insiders’ techniques and essential elements for successful songwriting: basics and fundamentals of music, creative writing, business and culture and their interdependent roles for producing the final product. Learn methods for sequential, effective and “hip” teaching.

“Dance in America,” “Song, Dance and the Possibilities,” “Salute to Song in America,” “Early Rock and Roll,” “Rhythm and Music.”

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