Robert was born in Toronto of Guyanese ancestry. He has a diverse array of artistic knowledge with his extensive experience as a dancer in the commercial and contemporary worlds, passionately performing with dance for 20 years. He began dancing at the age of 14 under the influence of his two sisters at Performing Dance Arts (Brian Foley/A.D.A.P.T. Syllabus) where he competed in dance festivals throughout North America and was exposed to a grand variety of dancers and teachers.
His professional training occurred at The School of Toronto Dance Theatre where Kenny Pearl (a former member of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre) encouraged Robert to head to NYC to study. After attending the graduate program at Arts Umbrella in Vancouver he did just that and moved to NYC for The Ailey School. Milton Myers, a master Horton Technique teacher, was a strong influence in Robert’s time at Ailey and invited him to study at The School at Jacob’s Pillow. He has toured the USA and parts of the Caribbean with Ailey II teaching Horton and the world-altering choreography of Alvin Ailey in various schools and universities, as well as performing in such prestigious venues as The Apollo Theatre, The Kennedy Centre and The Radio City Music Hall. During his time in New York City he also danced with The Fred Benjamin Dance Company. In being part of these two companies, Robert was able to not only mesh theatrical rhythmic dance with the abstraction, but felt a celebration and cultural inclusiveness having Caribbean blood ties.
He then made history by performing the floor ballet duet alongside his sister in The Lion King on The West End in London, England, a first for any siblings in this musical. Other theatre highlights include The Radio City Christmas Spectacular, Copacabana (Mill Mountain Theatre), Cats (Drayton Festival), Wicked (Osaka, Japan), Iphaginie En Tauride (Canadian Opera Company), and Chicago (Mayfield Dinner Theatre).
Robert can be seen alongside Mike Myers in the closing dance sequence of the feature film, ‘The Love Guru‘, in Lizz Wrights’ music video for ‘My Heart’, and in two episodes of the TV show ‘HELLCATS’, one being a Fosse themed episode and the other a ‘Dance-A-Thon’ of which Debbie Allen directed that guest starred musical sensation, Ciara.
He has danced for the following Canadian companies, ProArte Danza, Judith Marcuse Projects, Kaeja d’Dance, REAson d’etre productions, Arabesque Dance Company, Dancers Dancing, Mascall Dance, Toy Guns Dance Theatre and Kaha:wi Dance Theatre (touring throughout North America, Japan, Mexico and Australia).
Robert’s passion and skills with dance has extended to his own creativity as a choreographer and teacher throughout the years, having taught in many varying urban and rural dance schools, First Nations communities and yoga retreats. He believes in the endless creativity and athleticism of movement and pulls from his many experiences and training styles to offer unique holistic and challenging classes. The past few years he has returned to NYC and studied Voguing with legendary teachers from the ballroom scene. An influence of vogue structure currently inspires and informs his creative language.
Robert’s background in dance has exposed him to many other modalities that have complimented his journey. These experiences have inspired him to further studies leading up to being a Kundalini, Restorative and Yin Yoga Teacher, Jin Shin Jyutsu Practionner and a Registered Thai Therapist (RTT) in Nuad Bo Rarn (Ancient Massage, more commonly known as Thai Yoga Massage). We are what we eat and Robert has found vitality through a vegan lifestyle. He is currently enrolled in a world renown plant-based cooking course at Rouxbe Cooking School. Recognized by the American Culinary Federation Foundation as a Quality Program.
Robert has awakened to see life as a continuous expression and how every moment holds wisdom and thrills for us to create and discover together. He celebrates this philosophy through his own podcast show called ‘QuestHands: The Empowering Playful Self discovery Show”, interviewing new guest week to week. Available on iTunes, Google Play Music and Stitcher Radio. www.questhands.com