Ep. 119- Jay T Schramek
Questions asked or topics discussed:
Do you have thoughts on the idea that Canadians tend to value the opportunities present in the States, rather than appreciating what we have here in Canada? - 10:05
Is it better if you have musical theatre and strong vocal training to jump into voice overs? - 16:40
What is your insight on the “soul sucking” side hustle realizations? - 18:43
Do you have to have a large entrepreneurial spirit in order to make a long term career in the dance industry? - 27:06
Did you have a mentor who has influenced your way of teaching? What started to switch the way you taught before to the current process you use now? - 33:26
When you look at your associate teachers, what are some powerful things that you do with them to empower them? - 34:24
How do you negotiate and manage the pay aspect of an associate teacher and for dancers who are wanting to get into assisting? - 36:10
Do you have any advice for both teachers and aspiring teachers learning what to ask for regarding pay and their value as a teacher? - 38:52
Do you have any words of wisdom for young dancers who are starting out and trying to figure out their worth? What are your thoughts on free work vs paid work? - 42:01
Jay’s view on copyright issues amongst dance teachers and choreographers - 45:48
As an adjudicator, what is the most common thing that you say that you wish the whole world could hear? - 55:17
What is one of the first questions that you should ask a potential agent? - 56:24
For the professionals or the post secondary students, what would you like them to research or experience more of? - 57:01
What is the most ridiculous thing you have been asked to do in an audition? - 58:08
Jay T is a Dora Mavor Moore Award nominated performer, educator and adjudicator. His twenty-five year teaching career spans Canada’s most prestigious post-secondary arts institutions and dozens of dance studios. A graduate of Ryerson University’s dance program and a former Mr. Dance of Canada, he has been a faculty member at the Randolph College, George Brown College and Saint Lawrence College. Jay has been a guest teacher at Sheridan College, Canada’s National Ballet School, Etobicoke School of the Arts, Pearson School for the Arts, the Eastern Arkansas Ballet, Duboforce Mexico, Metro Movement and the Charlottetown Festival Young Company. He is currently the Tap Director at Dimensions in Dance in Kitchener, a choreographer for the Canadian Tap Team of World Performers and the Director of Programming for the Toronto Dance Teacher Expo. His professional choreographic credits include: Singin in the Rain (Drayton), The Fan (Odyssey Theatre), The Time of My Life (Soulpepper), The Haunted Hillbilly (Sidemart Theatrical), Little Shop of Horrors (Magnus Theatre) & Dads II (Magnus Theatre). As a performer, he continues to work in theatres across the continent. He has performed for The Stratford Festival, Mirvish Productions, Capitol Theatre, Charlottetown Festival, Stage West, Drayton Entertainment, Clearchannel Entertainment and dozens more. Some of his favourite roles include: Cosmo in Singin in the Rain, Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast, Bobby in Crazy for You, Skimbleshanks in Cats, Nana in Peter Pan, Pepper in Mamma Mia, Jimmy in White Christmas, Ethan in The Full Monty, Jinx in Forever Plaid, Cecil in Anne of Green Gables, Batboy in Batboy the Musical, Action in West Side Story, Barnaby in Hello Dolly. An accomplished voice-over actor, Jay is the voice of Platy the Platypus on Arthur (PBS Kids), Data Bot, Build Bot & Garbage Bot on Space Ranger Roger (Family Jr), Mr. Security on Inspector Gadget (Teletoon/Netflix), Felix on Trucktown (Treehouse), Blinky on Willa’s Wild Life (YTV / Discovery), Satoru Kakuta on Slam Dunk and Tad in the animated feature Totally Spies-The Movie. His voice has been used by Royal Bank, Microsoft, Pfizer, Subaru, CBC, Aleve, Cepacol, Air Transat, and Motorola. He’s appeared on Netflix/Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Discovery Channel’s Mayday, Showcase’s Lost Girl, CBC’s Getting Along Famously, Showtime’s Queer As Folk and the Gemini nominated film From Time to Time. He also provided the motion capture for the lead character Hadyn in the PS4 game Dark Sector. Jay is one of North America’s most prolific talent adjudicators and has judged and hosted over 200 talent competitions, pageants and festivals across the globe. He is the Owner/Host of Dance Attack Competition. Jay is a member and contributor to the Professional Adjudicator Alliance manual, has written articles for The Agent’s Book and had a column in Dance Canada Quarterly. He is a recipient of a Tyrone Guthrie Award and a Maud Whitmore Scholarship. Jay is the owner of Tap Shoes Canada and is the exclusive Canadian distributor of Miller and Ben Tap Shoes.
