About

Brief info

Brandon Carter-Chan has trained in Tap & Hip Hop to NZAMD Solo Diploma level. He is also an accomplished Vocal performer having won National and International competitions. Tap Dance however remains to be Brandon’s main passion in dance, which began with him winning numerous awards and championships including The New Zealand Solo Nationals (PACANZ), the Best Choreography Award at Auckland’s “Grounded Battle of the Arts”, the Brisbane Performing Arts Award (BPAC), the Overall Top Competitor at Showcase Regionals, and the Senior Tap Award at Showcase Nationals, Gold Coast all in the same year at age 16. He then went on to create dance items for professional gigs and events around Auckland from the age of 17, where he still continues to so today.

Previously, Brandon commenced his teaching career for Carter-Chan Dance in Auckland where he trained successful Tap and Hip Hop solos and duos, plus Junior and Senior Hip Hop Crews for the studio. In then joining with his younger brother Cameron, they collectively trained and took both these crews overseas, where they also lead the Senior crew and achieved international success of top 3 placings at World Supremacy Battlegrounds both with the Junior Crew and their own self choreographed Hip Hop Duo. Following that, they took all students to FYD Melbourne Nationals where both the Junior Duo and Crew, his Tap Soloist and their own Hip Hop Duo all took out the top awards overall at this competition in 2019. Brandon & Cameron’s partnership (“the CC Brothers”) is well known in Auckland and often collaborate in Tap and/or Hip Hop combined items, the latest being their performance at “The Blank Kanvas” last year which is presently on social media. Brandon also created and continues to train the Carter-Chan Dance Senior Tap group, as well as a number of soloists who have all won Championships, Best Choreography and Most Entertaining Awards, and where he sees most of his routines either always top 3 or in 1st place; one of his Tap soloist’s having won both the FYD Melbourne and Showcase National Finals titles.

Brandon has created and performed for professional events at Auckland’s Sky City, the Vodafone Events Centre, the Trust Stadium, the Langham Hotel, Coca Cola Christmas in the Park (3 seasons), Auckland's Tempo Festival, Short and Sweet, Y-Chromozome (2 seasons), Miss Cosmos Oceania Pageant and the Chinese Moon Festival.

Brandon took a year off from his University studies as he was invited to teach, choreograph, and share his love of Tap and Hip Hop with various studios in Australia. This experience helped extend his knowledge and passion for dance, as well as secure great contacts across the Tasman. Brandon is in the final year of his Master of Architecture (Professional) at Auckland University, currently completing a design thesis which aims to challenge the conventional theory of the theatre platform through Tap Dance.

“In my opinion, Tap can be defined as the magicians of dance. People hear what they cannot see. In other words, what you hear is not what you see. The invisible mystery of Tap often sparks a spontaneous connection with the audience, a feeling I can best describe as a shared intimate moment of vulnerability. This is the reason I dance.”

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