Cambuslang dancer working with the Scissor Sisters

Feb 17 2010 by Jonathan Geddes, Rutherglen Reformer

IT WOULD seem a safe bet that there aren’t many Cambuslang residents who’ve found themselves dancing in front of over 30,000 people in Madrid with the Scissor Sisters.

Yet that’s what Scott Garvie was lucky enough to do as part of his job.

The 24-year-old, who lives on Cambuslang Main Street, found himself working as a backing dancer for the chart-toping group during their European tour.

Now he’s back home, and set up his very own dance academy, which has its first classes at St Bride’s Primary tonight (Wednesday), with Scott using his experience to teach musical theatre, jazz and hip-hop styles to anyone from two up to 16.

It’s slightly different from playing arenas throughout Europe with the glamorous American pop act.

“It was amazing, I did the European leg of their tour” he says.

“It was very big - we did a festival in Madrid. We hadn‘t had a chance to see the stage, as we were rushed there, and I could just hear loads of noise before going on. It turned out there was about 34,000 people there! It was ridiculous - I was a bag of nerves beforehand, but it was such a good experience.”

But although Scott cuts a relaxed figure, casually dressed in a black jacket and a T-shirt paying homage to Michael Jackson, he’s serious when it comes to his new StRz academy, which he thinks will offer kids a wide range of styles, and an equally varied amount of benefits.

“With StRz, I‘m just trying to do something that‘s a bit of fun - I want something that the kids will be excited to come to every Wednesday night. There will be a musical theatre class, doing things like Hairspray, there will be a class on jazz, keeping it very original and then hip-hop, which obviously the kids love and which is a style that I‘m really into myself.”

“There will be a good variety, and I just want to inject something a bit different into the area. The kids can choose to do just one of that styles, which is £3.50, or take a package and get all three classes, for £9.”

StRz will offer three different age groups, with the two to six-year-olds being classed as TwinklestRz, seven to 14-year-olds being placed in the RisingStRz bracket and 14+ going into the SuperstRz class. The classes themselves will be taken by Scott or his fellow accredited dance teacher Emma McCrystal, who both have diplomas in dance.

And the range of actual dancing styles on offer is a reflection of Scott’s own, diverse background, which saw him add more styles to his repertoire as time went on.

“I trained for seven years to be a dancer, starting with ballet, then a bit more jazz and then a bit of hip-hop and more street stuff, which is when I found my niche.”

He’ll also be running Dancercize classes for adults, helping them to keep fit at the same time.

A former Hallside Primary pupil, Scott was bitten by the dancing bug at a young age. It led him to pursue his dancing dream after his finished his studies at Cathkin High, and he went on to study dance at Anniesland College.

From there, he’s danced in numerous productions, although teaching was always his main interest, and he‘s taught in schools throughout South Lanarkshire. He’s also hoping that he can inspire more boys to take the leap into dance, and shed dance classes of their reputation as being mainly for girls.

“I’ve always been quite keen on the teaching side, not just performing” he says

“But my pet hate is how apprehensive boys can be of dance. Obviously when they’re teenagers they’re worried about looking cool in front of girls, but when I was teaching schools, every so often, you’d notice that the boys were totally loving it.

“So if you can get them into it, they do enjoy it. There was one class where it was 13 boys and four girls - it was a struggle to get them to do the moves at first, so I had to take a spin, and try and make it a boys versus girls type thing, and by the end of the six weeks they were phenomenal. That’s why it’s a shame boys don’t take to it as much.”

He admits he took some stick about his dancing growing up from other kids. But on the whole he says most people were always supportive, in particular his parents, who backed him to the full when he decided to make dancing a proper career.

“It wasn’t really your average Cambuslang boy’s kind of stuff! My brothers were all into football and rugby, and I initially struggled with the confidence to go and dance.

“My parents lived on Overtoun Road, and I remember at the Halfway Centre there was disco-dancing every Monday night, and I remember for weeks just listening to the music, before asking if I could go.

SUPPORTIVE

“But both my mum and dad have been so supportive, especially when I wanted to try and make a career in it -my dad was obviously thinking that a career is doing a job like a welder, but all my family supported me 100 per cent - my mum‘s still my biggest fan, and keeps clippings of all the shows I‘ve done!”

Scott has other projects on the go too. For instance, he manages and choreographs the routines of the Kittycat Dolls, the Scottish tribute act to Nicole Scherzinger’s glamorous dance troupe who’ve conquered the pop charts in recent years.

In fact, the Kittycat Dolls have proved almost too successful for Scott - as while he’s setting up Strz, they’ll be heading for Dubai for a week, to take part in various bookings there. But while he’s missing out on that trip, Scott’s delighted at how successful the group have become.

“I’d put them together as a simple tribute, thinking we’d be playing hotels but we’ve done things like support Olly Murs and Stacy Solomon from the X-Factor, and last year they were asked to front the campaign for the women’s 10K run in Glasgow.

“I happened to be doing a show, and there was a Sugababes tribute act on, and after watching them, I have no idea how people can get away with that! So that put me down the path of wanting to put something together, and because dance is something I’m so involved in, it’s basically my life, I wanted a group like the Pussycat Dolls because it’s very visual and intense dancing.

“85 girls turned up to audition, and I picked my top five. And since the word go it’s been non-stop. They’ve been touring the UK, they’re always doing charity shows and they’ve got bookings in Dubai and Magaluf. I’m a bit flabbergasted, but they work so hard, and have such a passion for performing.”

However, he jokes that he might need to be quick too.

“There’s a saying that a dancer’s life only lasts till he’s 30!” he laughs.

“But I remember that my ballet teacher in college must have been pushing 70 and he was still able to get his legs higher than anyone, so hopefully that‘s a good sign!”

The stRz Talent Academy will take place every Wednesday, at St Brides Primary, from 6-9pm.

More information can be found at www.strz.co.uk, or by calling Scott on 07875 508133.