Mr. Chris Taylor

Welcome back. Today we continue to introduce our 2019 - 2020 staff. We are happy to have Mr. Chris Taylor back with us this season. Chris teaches tap, musical theatre, ballet, and jazz.

Q & A with Mr. Chris

Q. What is your favorite part about teaching?

A. My favorite part about teaching is watching students grow as young artists and well-rounded human beings.

Q. What inspired you as a dancer?

A. There is something about performing and moving that makes every fiber of my being come alive. That feeling made me want to study the art form and continues to inspire my life choices and career.

Q. Favorite snack?

A. Fruit, trail mix, or Reese’s

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Christopher Taylor

Christopher began dancing at the age of fourteen while he attended the Trollwood Performing Arts School summer program. Since then, he has studied dance through the lens of musical theatre. He has studied tap, jazz, ballet, and musical theatre styles of dance through classes and productions since high school. After graduating, he went on to receive his BFA in Musical Theater performance. Christopher has been performing professionally in the world of musical theatre and dance for the past seven years. His travels have taken him to all around the country, from Georgia, South Dakota, Minnesota, and New York, in the pursuit of honing his craft. This will be his second year as dance instructor at Gasper’s School of Dance.

July Intensive Guest Instructor

Today we want to introduce a second instructor for our July Summer Intensive. AND she is also celebrating her birthday today!! Coming back to the area is Aysha Upchurch. We met Aysha when she taught and choreographed at Trollwood many years ago and couldn't be more excited to have her energy at our studio for part of the July Summer Intensive.

Photo Credit: Ill-Digital

AYSHA UPCHURCH

Aysha Upchurch, the Dancing Diplomat, identifies as a seed planter, soil agitator, and curious and passionate artist. Professionally, this translates to her working as a dancer, choreographer, educator and arts administrator who is committed to social inclusion, community engagement and artistry development. While based out of Washington, DC, where she founded and directed the award-winning dance ensemble, Life, Rhythm, Move Project. Blending her dance training and professional backgrounds in youth advocacy and conflict resolution, she uses Hip Hop dance to entertain and educate audiences while supporting youth voices. Trained in Advancing Youth Development, she also facilitates movement and conflict resolution workshops for young people. The thread of Hip Hop culture and arts runs throughout her work as an artist, and deeply informs how she positions herself as a facilitator and instructor with students of all ages.

Aysha has performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the White House and has been selected as a US State Department Cultural Envoy in Dance in Bolivia, Honduras and Guatemala. In 2007, she won the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage Local Dance Commissioning Project and created Am I On?, an award-winning evening-length Hip Hop work about the space between youth and adult voices. Aysha holds an M.A. in International Peace and Conflict Resolution from American University and is currently on faculty at Salem State University – only the second college to allow dance majors to concentrate in Hip Hop. She received her Ed.M., concentrating on Arts in Education, from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she has served as Teaching Fellow and Project Zero Classroom faculty member and is a current Visiting Practitioner in Education, documenting and creating works as the Artist-in-Residence seeking to raise the profile on dance education and Hip Hop pedagogy. Key to all of Aysha’s work is the belief that an empowered body is a powerful liberation tool and that culturally responsive arts education is central to progressive and inclusive education reform.

Youth America Grand Prix

A week ago 7 GSD dancers and owner, Matt Gasper traveled to Kansas City, MO for Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP) ballet competition. We are so proud of these dancers dedication and hard work prepping for this competition and going on the Folly Theatre stage and sharing their passion with the judges and the audience.

YAGP is different than other competitions. There are only 2 categories: Variations and Contemporary. There are 3 age groupings: Pre-Competitive, Junior and Senior. And only the top 12 are recognized at the awards ceremony, which takes place the last day of the competition. This is a difficult competition with amazing dancers from all over the country. The dancers just getting to that stage and performing at their best is all we can ask.

This season Sofia Astolfi made top 12 for her Variation (as well as recognized for her 2nd variation in the top 24. 24 were recognized due to the mass amount of variations in the Junior age group). We are delighted for her recognization!

Mateo Leslie made the top 6 for male dancers in variations. He really commanded the stage this season and we are excited for his accomplishments.

But just because our other competitors were not recognized, doesn't mean they didn't give it their all. We are proud of each and every one of them, whether they were recognized or not. So Congratulation dancers, you work this season doesn't go unrecognized and each and every one of you have improved and continue to improve on and off stage. Your confidence level this season is also something we have been striving for and it is a pleasure to see how you feel about your abilities, and performances.

Below is a slideshow of images from the weekend. Enjoy!