Former Coast kid Gordie Bruce has traded his gumboots for tap shoes in the Big Apple.
He has always dreamed of appearing on Broadway, and thanks to some big city schooling, he's closer than ever to that goal.Bruce, now 21, grew up on the Coast attending Halfmoon Bay Elementary School and later Elphinstone Secondary School. He always loved acting and dancing and made home movies regularly as a kid. Once in high school, Bruce received some formal acting training in drama class and fell in love with the art form.
"I was in some plays and I totally started to love it," said Bruce.
Bruce also took acting lessons in Vancouver, and once he graduated from Elphi, he was off to Capilano College in Vancouver to take two years of theatre.
While at college, Bruce heard the American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) was coming to audition students for their school in Manhattan.
"They take only one student from Vancouver a year, and I got in," said Bruce.
He spent the next year in Vancouver working to save the money he'd need for the transition to New York. The cost for four semesters at AMDA is $70,000.
Bruce now lives in Manhattan in a tiny apartment about 10 minutes from campus. "It's really tiny. There's basically enough room for a twin bed and me," said Bruce.
But the chance to study at AMDA is worth any sacrifice says the small town boy who spends his days learning musical theatre, acting, voice and speech, tap dancing, jazz and ballet. "It's really intense, but I was so ready for it," Bruce said.
His goal is to spend some time on Broadway appearing in various musicals, and he says he's also interested in film and television work.
In the spring of 2005 Bruce will get his chance to audition for any role he chooses. He hopes there will be an opening on a Broadway musical.
"We basically aren't allowed to audition for anything during the first three semesters of school, but during the fourth semester we can audition as much as we want," said Bruce.
He's been at school for six months and recently came home for Christmas. Though his family now lives in Vancouver, Bruce made two trips to the Coast to visit old friends and enjoy small town living.
He may be destined for something big, but Bruce says he'll always remember the little town he came from. "I love the Coast, it's my home," he said.
