He first trod the boards in a Great Lakes Secondary College production of Grease and now tours the world as part of the successful dance company, Phyl Crew.
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This year is only three months old and Phyl Crew founder and artistic director James Barry says 2018 has been a crazy busy year to date.
When the Great Lakes Advocate caught up with James he was waiting for a flight back to the United States following a national tour with burlesque show, The Empire Strips Back.
James played the character Chewbacca for what he described as a Star Wars burlesque show.
“It was a great tour and had a lot of great shows playing to 1900 people at the State theatre in Sydney, and similar size crows in many major cities in Australia,” James said.
Talks are in progress to take the show, and maybe James, to the US later in the year.
At the same time, Phyl Crew has put together a duo comedy dance show tailored for short stay cruise ships, expected to take off some time in late May.
To cap off the year to day, the group has launched the new series Outback Phyly’s on Youtube.
Due for release later this month, the skits include a hip hop routine performed to Men at Work’s Down Under and a dance routine based around shooing a fly away from a face.
“All the content is very Aussie, which was really fun to explore those characters and concepts,” James said.
A self-taught dancer, James has returned to the US for what he describes as additional training and research.
“This year will have a fair bit of back and forth as I attempt to continue my training and learning while trying to sort out a visa so that I can eventually work overseas.”
Phyl Crew was formed with Neale Whittaker back in 2012 after the duo made the semifinals of Australia’s Got Talent.
But it was the group’s second stint on the variety show in 2016 and a grand final position which brought them to prominence.
Later that year and in 2017 the group competed and won the World of Dance twice in succession.
In 2017 the group was place 15th out of 50 at the Work of Dance finals in Pasadena (USA).