For the past 23 years, Richmond lawyer Perry Ehrlich has provided much more than just an outlet for young performers to display their skills. He’s created a safe and welcoming program where their self-esteem can be reinforced and their talents blossom.
Formed in the mid-1990s, Gotta Sing! Gotta Dance!, runs in July and August over two, three-week periods at the Jewish Community Centre in Vancouver and draws students from across the Lower Mainland.
“A lot of these kids, who love musical theatre and performing, are bullied,” he said. “When I look back at my own youth, I wish there was a Gotta Sing! Gotta Dance! where you could come and just enjoy being yourself.”
Does he see a little bit of himself in his students?
“Oh, of course. But most of them are more talented than I ever was,” Ehrlich quipped, quickly adding he understands the societal struggle some youngsters with a yearning to perform have to endure.
“I came from Yorkton, Saskatchewan, which had, at the time, 13,000 people. And it’s winter there about 11 months of the year,” he quipped. “It’s very much a football and sports-orientated town. And to be Jewish and play the piano was not mainstream.”
But it was a way to express himself and find joy.
“I don’t know if there was a defining moment for me growing up, but I took piano lessons at an early age and my Grade 1 teacher, Jean Adamson, prepared a song for me to sing at the Yorkton Music Festival. It was called Fishing. And a number of young boys sang it – there were maybe 25 of us.”
While Ehrlich placed second — the winner is now a professor of music at SFU — he took the result with good measure.
“The adjudicator told me that while I didn’t have the best voice in the group, I really took the lyrics to heart and made him believe that I loved fishing, which I can’t stand,” Ehrlich said with a smile.
Buoyed by his continued love for performing, Ehrlich was involved in singing groups and high school musicals. And he paid his way through law school by playing dinner music in restaurants.
“I was always active, even in law school,” he said, referring to the Legal Follies production at the College of Law at the University of Saskatchewan.
But for about 10 years, as he was starting to build up his law practice, Ehrlich hung up his performing hat, until his then 10-year-old daughter, Lisa, wanted to be involved with music.
So, in 1994 he co-founded Sound Sensation and rehearsed at South Arm Community and the Richmond Arts Centre.
“That group had enormous success. We performed at the World Figure Skating Championships, we were in a TV special and at gala (theatre) openings like Sunset Boulevard and other shows.”
Following that success Ehrlich founded the Gotta Sing! Gotta Dance! musical theatre summer program. Throughout the year he also directs ShowStoppers, a dynamic troupe of teenagers who perform in concert, on TV and radio, and at numerous awards dinners, galas, and corporate and charitable events throughout B.C., including this weekend’s Ships to Shore in Steveston.
Initially, the idea for Gotta Sing! Gotta Dance! was turned down by Gateway Theatre. So, he took the idea outside of Richmond to the Jewish Community Centre in Vancouver.
“They asked me how many kids I needed to break even and I told them about 25 or 30.”
That first time out he had 73 enrolled. Over the years the numbers have remained strong, with the odd dip here and there. But each intake of fresh talent fills Ehrlich with pride and happiness.
“It brings me a great deal of joy, not only working with the kids and faculty, but the fact that kids, aged nine to 19 from all faiths - the complete melting pot of Canada — can come together to make something special.
“I’m sort of an old-school parent who pushes kids towards excellence — I don’t accept mediocrity,” Ehrlich said. “But more importantly, I see kids become more and more comfortable to perform in front of a large audience.
“And when you can get on a stage in front of 300 people, you can walk into a boardroom, go into a job interview — you become fearless because you’ve got those skills.”
For more information about Gotta Sing! Gotta Dance!, visit online at TheImpresario.ca.
