Savage Jazz Dance Company

Reggie Savage is genius. He is a maestro. And his classes are not for the faint of heart. Come to open to learn. Leave your ego and the door.

The performance this pass weekend was amazing!!! Mr. Savage you and your company ROCK!!! Looking forward to many more performances in the future.

All the people writing the reviews saying that he’s evil probably went into the class thinking they were perfect. They say he’s delusional but since their so mad I highley doubt they even listen to what he’s saying. He tells you the truth. Yes, he talks a lot. get over it. I take class from him and when you take to what he says you’ll go places. If he ‘destroys dancers’ then why have his students gone to places like Ailey, Julliard, North Carolina School for the arts, and many other places?

One of the best dance teachers in the Bay Area (and beyond) Savage teaches ballet-​based jazz technique. He is a serious teacher for the serious student (don’t show up if you don’t want to learn, and if you aren’t prepared to take criticism). I took his class regularly for 5 years, and found that his training was such that I could go take any other jazz, modern, and even ballet class with another teacher and be able to keep up with the «professional» students.
His choreography is innovative and inspiring, and his dancers are talented and well trained.

You either love Mr Savage or you hate him.
When I was 18 I took his class and I hated him. I thought he was really «mean».
10 years later I took his class again, and I can’t take lessons from anyone else. No one has the same passion and commitment for dance. He pushes you to be better, no matter what your level or experience. If he comes off as harsh, it’s usually because he expects more of you. How many of us get that kind of honesty these days? Someone who cares enough to not worry about hurting your feelings?
As long as you respect the class and the craft and give it your all, he will be there to show you the way. If you come with an attitude or an unwillingness to work, he wont’ tolerate you wasting his time, your time or the rest of the students time.
I always say that Mr Savage and Berkeley Bowl are the things I would miss the most if I left the Bay Area.

(Part 2 of previous post)
Don’t be fooled: dancing, that is to say, dancing and training to become better, is hard, painful, and monotonous work. Mr. Savage understands this and attempts to infuse his classes with, often off-​color and un-​PC, humor, stories, and metaphors and analogies – He does this in an effort to help break up the monotony of this arduous work, to help his students make a connection between their life and their art, and, often, to help get a point across in a more effective way than the more common overly-​censored, overly-​PC, and, subsequently, overly-​diluted, bland, and restricted manner in which many teachers feel they must speak to today’s overly sensitive students. If you are easily offended and don’t have a sense of humor, don’t take his class. Because Mr. Savage does not teach by rote, you don’t always know what you are going to get in a Savage class: you may get a class that is fast paced or you may get a class that includes more talking – I prefer to think of his classes more as workshops: there may be some classes where you are only focusing and working on one or a few concepts for the duration of the class, but you are truly working on them, practicing, drilling, and perfecting the concepts to get them into your body and to strengthen your body-​mind connection – this, if you actually think about it, and don’t just automatically judge it based on your prior class experiences, is a more effective and efficient use of your training time than just mindlessly getting through every exercise that you are «supposed» to get through in order to get to the center to «dance». If you come into class with an expectation of how that class should run, you are not the right student for this class. If you, as a student, are judging how the teacher is teaching the class, then you are way too arrogant and clearly not humble enough to be taking class to become better. If you, a student, are in a place to be judging how a teacher, an expert in their field, is teaching you, then you clearly are very unclear on the concept of «learning» and being taught in general. If you come to a class to be taught how YOU want to be taught, then you should just stay at home and take your own class.
Mr. Savage understands exactly what it takes to be a top dancer and is one of the best teachers around. He has accomplished a great deal in his dance career; starting late, he understands first-​hand what it means to truly be dedicated and work hard – he danced for Katherine Dunham herself, in her company, as well as in several ballet companies and musicals. Check the facts yourself. What is shameful is that some students are so delusional that they mistake teachers that just GIVE class and don’t correct students or take the time to follow-​up and make sure that students are actually taking their corrections, as good teachers, and teachers who actually TEACH class, taking the time to let students know when they are not executing something properly, investing their energy into their students by giving corrections and actually following-​up to make sure that students are actually TAKING the corrections, as somehow «cruel» and «mean». It’s so backwards and so disturbing.
Mr. Savage is one of the most inspirational teachers around. If he can’t motivate and inspire you to push your dancing to the next level, then no one can. Through his training and mentoring, Mr. Savage has changed countless students’ and dancers’ lives for the better. I have not only experienced this personally, but have seen him transform the lives of many, forever elevating their approach and integrity not only in their dancing, but also, and more importantly, in their lives. He advocates a victim-​less approach and philosophy, teaching young people to be responsible and accountable for their actions and direction in life. Clearly an approach and philosophy that some of these reviewers were never taught in life – they are more content to go through life blaming others around them for their own mediocrity, victimizing themselves so that they never have to accept responsibility for where they are or are not in life. Now that’s shameful.
I think the quote from K.C. Patrick of Dance Magazine (also posted by «YN») is worth re-​posting:
«Once in a great while a rare person comes on the scene — for whatever reason — who seems to reincarnate the lessons from his teachers and forebears. It is this quality in Reginald Ray-​Savage that gives the depth of heritage and authenticity to his company.»

I am quite shocked reading the comments. For me, I took years of classes as an adult and only got incremental improvements. Well, 99.999% of adult dance cleasses are not intended to drive and push you to really get better to become a «dancer». Come on, they are adults, they will never get anywhere with dancing! But, some of us would like to be able to do something to be proud of ourselves… after taking Mr. Savage’s class for 2 year, i was doing stuff i NEVER imagine i could do. Its baffling, but I am realizing a whole lot of people do not see it, Mr. Savage is like a Durian… ok never mind, y’all don’t know what that is… well, its a fruit whose look and smell scares people off but its the best thing on earth once you gone past the surface.

5 stars for, first and foremost, dancing that will transport you from wherever you’re at to wherever Mr. Savage wants you to be– and that place is likely a sexy, smoky jazz club in his head. Trust me, it’s a good place to be.
The dancing is technically amazing. Mr. Savage is a kick-​ass teacher and it shows. He’s the kind of teacher who pounds the floor with a cane, yelling obscenities if you’re doing *well.* It’s a pay-​with-​your-​blood-​sweat-​tears kind of deal. (Don’t take his classes if you’re not mentally prepared.)
And it works! Every dancer is rock solid, with a wide technical and artistic vocabulary that his choreography showcases. You can really see the music moving through their bodies.
The music selections are, needless to say, awesome. Miles, Mingus, Monk, etc. And Stravinsky in this most recent concert, which seems to fit perfectly with this company’s repertoire.
Shout out to the lighting designer too. Even in a small, intimate theater like at Laney, you’re transported to a dreamlike place as soon as the piece begins, and I credit much of that to the subtle power of the lighting design (as well as to the music and dancing).
Bottom line– don’t miss it when SJDC performs. And bring a couple of friends– they’ll thank you.

An AMAZING dance professor and colleague of his summed it up nicely: «Savage is a cruel, delusional person. He also has no real knowledge of technique. This is a common trademark of his– destroying dancers. I think it gives him a sense of power and he abuses it at every chance. If I had a dollar for everyone he has done this to I would be rich.»
Mr. Savage is a horrible person. That may sound like it isn’t much to say but it is 100% true. He is just BAD.
He takes joy in ruining dancers’ self esteem by obliterating their dreams. Although he is nothing great himself, he feels that he is the standard by which all dancers should be judged. If you take class from him expect to have your time wasted by 45 minutes of meaningless chatter, and then barre where you will be screamed at and ridiculed for your poor dance skills (you WILL be ridiculed for something, even if you are a prima ballerina).
Then, if you stay after class to talk to this man, he will talk to you for over an hour about how much you suck, how bad your training has been, and how you should give up dance all-​together (especially, according to him, if you want to be a «black artist in America»).
Overall, Savage Jazz is a delusional joke based on one man’s insecurity with himself.

Someone must have paid the first reviewer to praise Mr. Savages «jovial nature» or knowing Savage… held a gun to his newborn child. Reginald Ray-​Savage is evil in it’s most pure form. The man could make Hitler cry. I apprenticed for his company for a short time and it was disgusting the way he ran rehearsals. He spent most of the time belittling all of us and sucking all of the joy out of dance, which is pretty hard to do considering dance is the most amazing, fulfilling, rewarding thing in the world!

Over-​rated at One Star. Artistically and technically weak as a boy band.

Last night I got to see a preview of the SJDC performing «Everthing’s Everything featuring the Miles Davis Suite».
Just wanted to say that dance was fantastic, and the music was familiar and fun to hear. Overall a very entertaining performance. I highly recommend going to see them if you get a chance.
I was also fortunate also to meet the artistic director, Reginald Ray-​Savage. This guy has a great sense of humor, and I think his jovial nature translates to the good-​feeling of the group. You can really see that they love what they do.