Emmy winner (for NBC’s “Smash”) Joshua Bergasse teaches frequently at Broadway Dance Center, and his choreography has been seen on national and Broadway stages in productions like West Side Story, Gigi and On the Town. Currently he’s working on the Broadway production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, set to hit the stage next spring.

Bergasse’s love of musical theater began when he was a young dancer training at his mother’s studio, where he also first discovered his passion for teaching and choreography. When he moved to New York City to begin auditioning for Broadway, he frequently took teaching jobs between his performance gigs and choreographing for small showcases and benefits.

Bergasse encourages his students to pay attention to musicality. “I try to get them to really listen to the music and have that inform and inspire their movement in a way that they might not be used to or comfortable with,” he says. He generally teaches to big band or jazz music, preferring arrangements that are theatrical but leave a lot of room for performance. “I want dancers to be able to discover what’s special about them,” he says. “It’s about finding and developing a performance quality that’s unique to each dancer.”