The Elegant Workhorse
Now 35 and a principal dancer in ANOTHER SIDE OF CIRQUE DU SOLEIL's "Zumanity" in Las Vegas, Bernard's career began in Philadelphia. He joined The Philadelphia Dance Company (known as "Philadanco") at 17, was a principal dancer a year later and by 22, was the Founder, Choreographer and Artistic Director of Philadanco's second company, "D/2."
Quickly spotted as a rising talent, he was snapped up by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and spent the next seven years there as a principal dancer. During his sojourn at Ailey, he was privileged to work with prominent choreographers. There was Alvin Ailey himself, the venerable Judith Jamison, Ulysseus Dove, Jerome Robinson, Tally Beatty, Donald McKayle, Hans Van Manen, Milton Myers, Elisa Monte... the list goes on, seemingly for pages. He worked, he matured and he learned the value of pushing beyond his comfort zone.
"I think Tally Beatty was the hardest physically because everything he did was so demanding on the body physically....When we danced, it was always at a high rate of speed and he was an older gentleman, around his seventies, seventy-three, so he wasn't able to show any of the choreography. So we sort of had to rely on, I guess, his words in order to relate to the choreography."
But Bernard had never had trouble translating words into actions. He spent seven years in a superb learning environment and honed his understanding of his place among dancers, his place in Ailey's hierarchy as well. He said, "...when I went to the Ailey company, I was a new member. We sat at the back of the bus, we didn't have all the rooms to ourselves, we weren't on the posters, we weren't doing the lead ballets, but we had to work up to that, you know. We had a pecking order. We had the corps, we had the workhorses and we had the stars."
"I was a workhorse. I wasn't a star, and I realized when I left the company that I wanted to be the workhorse. I was glad I was a workhorse because everything I got, I got through hard work...Every time the stars were injured or whatever, Judith would go to the workhorses because she knew she could depend on them."
That's not to say that Bernard ever played second fiddle. He had, and has, a strong sense of self. "Dancers need to know their worth." And when they do, they inevitably draw attention--sometimes from unusual, but providential, sources.
"Cirque called me and I said, 'I don't hang from the ceiling.' I did. I told her, 'I'm sorry. I don't know why you're calling me. I don't hang from the ceiling; I don't do acrobatics; I don't do flips; I don't stretch my body to extreme amounts.' And she was like, 'No, no, no. We've seen you dance. We've heard about you. We want you in the company...I didn't realize how selective Cirque was originally. I did hear a lot about Cirque but again, that was sort of taboo for dancers. A lot of dancers did not think that it was as high of a caliber as performing with American Ballet Theatre or performing on Broadway. And when you put Las Vegas with it, most artists are like, 'Oh Las Vegas? No.'"
What he discovered, though, is that Las Vegas has been evolving into a first-rate entertainment venue for decades, just as Cirque has been evolving from a theatrical, acrobatic troupe to high-tech production shows that include both acrobats and dancers. "Cirque is just now, again, using dancers and they're learning that we're a different breed and we need different things other than the acrobats...It's the same sort of integrity and accolades as ABT or New York City Ballet and I hope that's the direction that Cirque will go, and I hope Cirque gets to that point where everyone sees that it's an art and you hold it just as high as you would the Metropolitan Opera House or the Boston Symphony or American Ballet Theatre. It's that high."
And it's that elegant. "I like understated elegance...Alvin Ailey always said that's what he wanted for his dancers. He said, 'I want for my men and women to have understated elegance.' That's what we aspire to be and I think that's what carried me through here to Cirque and I think that's what they see. I hope that's what they see - an elegant young man who happens to be a dancer." Bernard Gaddis, the elegant workhorse, has taken his prodigious talent, passed the pack on the outside and is nonchalantly outrunning the lot.