Brandon Burks: A Dancer’s Life

BY CHRISTOPHER BYRNE

It began when he was in his stroller in the waiting room with his mom while his sister was taking a dance class. As he tells it, “I popped out of my stroller and joined my sister’s class. I don’t remember saying I wanted to be a dancer, but they asked my mom to bring me back, and that was it.” As the iconic lyric goes: “I got to class and had it made/And so I stayed the rest of my life.” In that long history of performance, Burks says he’s appeared in productions of A Chorus Line…twice. “It was written from real dancers’ experience, and you can truly relate to it because, as cliché as it sounds, that was life.”

After his impromptu debut, Burks discovered he really did love dancing. He started his formal training in San Diego and then moved on to work with the San Alijo Ballet Academy. “I trained with this incredible husband and wife team who set a beautiful Nutcracker every year, and so I had this really good foundation for ballet, jazz, and tap.”

When he was around 10, his mom and his teachers realized that Brandon needed more challenge. He won a scholarship to the Debbie Allen Dance Academy where he worked with world-renowned teachers “in every style you could think of. We were training intensively because [Allen] knew that to be a great at the discipline of dance, you have to understand all the facets of it. Working with Debbie Allen changed my life and helped me to see the possibility of a career in dance.”

After that, though, Burks said, he took time off to be a “normal kid.” He played sports in high school and went to Cal State Fullerton. He got back into performing when he appeared in Kathy Rigby’s Peter Pan in Canada, and he’s been a professional dancer ever since.

In Gotta Dance, Burks, along with an amazing company, is featured in almost every number. His breakout, though, is “Moses Supposes,” from the movie Singin’ in the Rain. It’s a recreation of the extraordinarily athletic dance originally performed by Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor.

Burks explains that a big part of the mission of American Dance Machine, which is behind the show is to create a living archive of musical theater pieces. He adds that a where possible they try to make sure that the original teams who set these numbers are part of the production.

With “Moses Supposes,” Burks said, he had to accommodate Gene Kelly’s style. “When I was setting (staging) “Moses Supposes,” I had to completely change the way our bodies movie because RJ Higton [Burk’s partner in the number] and I are both hoofers, with very relaxed arms, and then transporting back to Kelly’s style of movement, which is all about carriage [how the body is positioned]. It’s almost like ballroom carriage.”

Part of the thrill of the show is the ability to see so many styles of dance in the 90-minute piece. Burks says that that, too, has its challenges. He says that if you’re doing a Jerome Robbins show, or a Bob Fosse show, those styles are carried through the entire evening. However, in Gotta Dance, the performers are challenged to move from one style to the next in quick succession. “You are putting your body through so many different types of movement that we are all really exhausted. We’ve all maintained our body, but I mean by that eighth show every week, we are all picking up our legs just to get through the door because it is so demanding.”

It is, however, a labor of love. “We do this thing because we love it, and as artists we are tired sometimes. We are stressed sometimes, maybe we are underpaid sometimes, but we also know that the love of dance is going to trump any worry, fear, or doubt.

“I think when people ask how do you do this, I say I do it because I was put on this earth to do it, and I feel like I have no choice. It feels like an honor, and it’s really pushed me to understand what greatness is, and what discipline is, what stamina is. We do it because the joy is worth the temporary discomfort.”

As Burks says, “I think I was put on the earth to create things to make people happy.” And he does. When he’s not dancing—and presumably gets a little rest—he’s a creative director, a musical arranger, a cook, an uncle, and, recently, a dog dad again.

Burks—and the entire company—are certainly going all out to make people happy, and exhilarating piece is resonating with audiences who get the chance to revisit, or experience for the first time, some of the most exciting dance numbers of musical theater.

It’s what Burks calls, “pockets of joy.”

Gotta Dance!
Stage 42
422 West 42nd Street
Mon-Weds, Fri, Sat 7:30 p.m.; Sat 2 p.m.; Sun 3 p.m.
$49-$199 at Telecharge.com
1 hour, 40 mins, 1 intermission

Featured photo: The cast on the set of Good Day New York with Rosanna Scotto (center)
Black and white photos by Jenny Anderson, courtesy of Brandon Burks.
Photo on stage by Emilio Madrid, courtesy of Brandon Burks
Burks (r) Kate Louissant and Ahmad Simmons, performing “Sweet Georgia Brown” by Christopher Duggan
All photos provided by the production.

Published April 24, 2026