Dave Gardiner’s Got TrueMoves
Meet
Newfoundland-based B-Boy, certified yoga instructor and music producer, Dave
Gardiner. He’s the founder of TrueMoves, an educational hip hop, breakdance and
yoga company. With TrueMoves and other artists (including St. John’s’ East Rock
Crew) Gardiner has been all across Newfoundland and the country, performing and leading
programs for youth. For example, in the last year he’s teamed up with Blueprint
for Life in Salluit,
Nunavik; led dance and yoga workshops in communities around Gros Morne National
Park; worked with fellow B-Boys and B-Girls on a project with the Cowichan
Tribes in BC; and facilitated a group of 60 youth to perform a dance showcase
in Saint Pierre and Miquelon. More recently, he led a nine-week program for the
Naskapi Nation kids of Kawawachikamach
in northern Quebec located near the Labrador border.
Where are
you from and where do you call home?
DG: I was born in Vancouver, raised in
Halifax and I moved to St John's, NL in 2007. My mother is from Corner Brook. I’m
part Mi'kmaq from her side, so I just say I'm a nomad, but
Newfoundland is my home.
How did you
first get into dance, and what style did you start with?
DG: I started dancing in clubs when I
was 15 in the Halifax area. I wouldn't say I learned a particular
style at first because it wasn't in a studio / class environment. My
first actual so-called breakdance lesson was a workshop series
in Halifax that I produced and hired someone to teach.
What do you
love most about dance?
DG: I love the freedom
of expression, friends and getting to work with young people.
Do you
consider dance an art form, an athletic endeavor, cultural expression or….?
DG: All of the above. There’s
an opportunity in dance for your mind, heart and body to come
together in a powerful way.
How would
you describe B-Boying?
DG: B-Boying is a dance
and community I found myself feeling at home in. It’s a worldwide culture now
with B-boys and B-girls of various ages across the planet. At the same time for
me it’s very much my own. The dance involves finesse and power expressed
creatively to the music. Being unique, having flow and
keeping on top of your training are all important, but feeling the music and
having fun is most important to me.
How did
the 9-week dance program for the Naskapi Nation go?
DG: It was great! This was
my second year there and I brought a Grammy winning music producer with me
to add a musical component to the program.
Listen to the song composed and performed by the Naskapi Youth, and produced by TrueMoves and David Strickland, as part of the program:
What are you up to now?
DG: Right now I am executive producing a hip hop album for a group called Violent Ground, who I met in Kawawachikamach. We are in Toronto for a month in a makeshift studio we put together on Bloor St.
This
will be Violent Ground’s first album based on the music they’ve been writing
for the last eight years. To learn more about the group and to show your support
for the production of their album, visit:
For more information on TrueMoves, visit:
