He is a veteran jazz dancer, an innovative and successful choreographer, a respected dance teacher and coach. His involvement as teacher and operations manager for Powerdance spanned over 10 years and brought him around the world performing and training in the world of dance. He is currently teaching with Trumpets and Steps Dance Studio. He is James Laforteza.
Together, Sweet and James are blazing a trail for a different genre of performing. They call it Sing and Dance and this summer, the course will be developed by and offered only in Trumpets Playshop.
"Actually Sing and Dance is the brainchild of Trumpets president Audie Gemora," teacher James begins. "In 2000 my wife Liezl (also a dancer-choreographer) and I decided it was time for change and growth in our professional life. Providentially, we were invited to become involved with Trumpets," says James.
"It was God’s perfect timing," Sweet adds, "because Trumpets was doing The Little Mermaid and we had cast and prepared everything but the choreography. We didn’t have a choreographer and suddenly James and Liezl were there!"
"After Mermaid, Audie thought we should come up with a course that would train performers via the classical techniques of singing and dancing. Sweet would handle the singing part; I would handle the dancing," says James.
And what is Sing and Dance? According to James and Sweet, Sing and Dance was inspired by golden Hollywood legends Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Frank Sinatra, Shirley Maclaine and their contemporaries, who could belt out a tune or croon a serenade in perfect timing with their tap dancing or pirouettes.
"In the beginning, my goal for Sing and Dance was to develop a good dance foundation for singers," James relates.
Like teaching students how to become a total performer like Britney Spears?
"Let’s be honest about it, the Britney Spears and Christina Aguileras of today don’t really dance and sing at the same time. Have you seen those dance moves? They obviously have to lipsynch to get away with that," Sweet says, raising an eyebrow.
"What we teach in Sing and Dance is how to build a foundation, or develop your center – and in both singing and dancing the center is the stomach – to be able to combine singing and dancing smoothly," James says. "I take the students through basic dance warm-ups, but while they do the standing exercises, Sweet injects sound and vocals so that the students are trained from the very beginning to do the two simultaneously."
"We want our students to understand how their bodies work in terms of performing: breathing, sound, movement.Rhythm plays a very big part because that’s how we can get the students to sing and dance in perfect time," Sweet explains.
"We teach them to start from the very basic, classic techniques in singing and dancing. From there, you can progress to pop or whatever style you want," James stresses.
And what distinguishes Sing and Dance from Musical Theater? James and Sweet look at each other and agree: "We don’t do show tunes. We teach pop, rock, whatever – but we leave the show tunes to Musical Theater."
These two teachers have definitely developed a rhythm between the two of them that they can even answer in chorus! But what they both agree is the best part of their class is that they can impart lessons to their students, and at the same time, create a bond that makes the class uniquely fun.
"But we make sure to establish that when it’s workshop time, we mean work, no matter how much fun we’re having," Sweet notes.
"And we have a lot of fun because we’re both comedians," James adds, "although we really take the workshop seriously."
"It’s really different when you can teach, as opposed to being just a performer, because you learn so much," Sweet shares. James agrees, "I cannot not teach because that’s also how I grow as a performer. When I teach I feel like I’m taking something in me and giving it to my students."
"In the same way that I leave the course a better teacher or a better performer, I believe our students leave Playshop a better person, having learned discipline and love for their craft," Sweet concludes.
We couldn’t have ended the conversation more correctly.
(Trumpets Playshop also offers workshops for Children’s Theater for Pre-Schoolers, Musical Theater for Teens and Adults, Acting for Teens and Adults, Street Dance, Praise and Worship, Modeling, Photography, TV Newscasting, Hosting, Animation, Stand-Up Comedy and Tech-Shop, and Individual and Group Voice Lessons. Classes will run from April 1 to June 7 at Stageworx, 5th Level, Shangri-La Plaza mall, Festival Mall in Alabang, and Steps Dance Studio in Makati City. For inquiries, call 636-2842 or 633-5010 or e-mail them at playshop_ad min@pacific.net.ph.)