Dance is more than body movement. It is the embodiment of one’s very soul.
“Your life and dance reflect each other,” says dance educator Brandon Greathouse. “If you’re a peaceful person, it shows up in your dance. If you’re unsettled in life, it shows up in your dance. I help people balance their lives.”
Greathouse is the director of The Greathouse of Dance on Front Street in Old Town Sacramento where he teaches hip-hop and breakdancing. For the past five years, he’s also been commuting to InnerRhythms Dance nonprofit dance studio twice a week to work with local youth.
“I want students to learn that they can use dance and movement to express their emotions, feelings and views. I try to give them the tools, so they can best express themselves through their movement.” –Brandon Greathouse
“I fell in love with the kids, the parents and way of life in Truckee and never stopped coming,” he says. “I love the community here. When I heard they were going to close down, I didn’t want that to happen. I stepped up so we could keep it going.”
He’s now opening a Greathouse of Dance in Truckee after Executive Director Elizabeth Archer decided to shutter InnerRhythms’ Donner Pass Road studio in light of the pandemic. The longstanding nonprofit plans to remain active as a creative entity and has already helped secure funding for Greathouse to take over its educational programming and dance space.
“The goal is to get people back to dancing and help them get some of the mental frustration out,” he says. “There are a lot of people going through it right now because they are stuck and lost. It’s good to get people’s mental health back to a safe place. We want to be able to offer that to the community and the parents.”
This fall, Greathouse of Dance plans to provide in-person, physical distanced classes in ballet, contemporary dance, hip-hop, jazz, tap and DJing.
“I want to give students a safe place to grow and to learn and discover who they are,” says Greathouse. “I started off in the dance community learning everyone else’s style and trying to match them. Ten years in, I had to learn who I was and how I dance. It was a long process of understanding how to express myself the way I move. I want students to learn that they can use dance and movement to express their emotions, feelings and views. I try to give them the tools, so they can best express themselves through their movement.”
Greathouse first learned to dance after a Hawaiian crew performed at his church when he was 12. He trained with California youth crews Boogie Monstarz and Press P.L.A.Y., which stands for passion, youth, art, love.” His own students have gone on to dance with Beyoncé, Justin Bieber and world-touring phenoms Jabbawockeez, who performed on “America’s Got Talent” and during the NBA Finals.
“Just watching the way everything falls into place, it’s crazy inspiring,” he says. “To see them go from kids dancing in a studio to ‘[Randy Jackson Presents] America’s Best Dance Crew,’ I started seeing the power of what we do.”
As an artist, Greathouse specializes in a style called beats manipulation.
“It’s a technical term for trying to create a visual interpretation of what you hear audibly,” he says. “The basics of it were taken from the philosophy of Bruce Lee. It’s basically having the style be no style. Everything is useful at the right moment when necessary. When you eliminate a style, you can express yourself at the highest level without limitations.”
Before coronavirus hit, Greathouse was scheduled to host a national tour of NBC’s “World of Dance.”
“Everything happens for a reason,” he says. “I don’t want the legacy of dance to end with me. I want to be able to pass it on to the next generation who takes it on with the same love and passion. If you can express yourself regardless of what’s going on in the world, you’ll always have peace. I will always keep spreading love and helping people upgrade their lives.”
What inspires Greathouse most is seeing his students grow and change their lives for the better through dance.
“You can tell when they’ve had a bad day at school,” he says. “They’re just not with it. Once the music hits, all of that is gone. They feel it. I feel it. It’s healing for everyone.” | greathouseofdancetruckee.com
