DANCE WITH US.

6000 people, and then we rocked.”

He’s been very lucky. It’s possible to speculate that if his dad hadn’t moved Puckett and his three siblings to San Diego for a job, things might have worked out

His parents wanted him to go to college and get a higher education, so he started studying psychology, but then, he says: “I inherited music in my genes and certainly in my voice”. Fans will know what he means.

He started playing piano aged six or seven, around the beginning of rock ‘n’ roll, and immersed himself in the music of Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley and the larger-thanlife Fats Domino.

“I suppose you could call them the influences of my youth; I was in the midst of all that and I loved all of them,” he says.

Most of all, he loved Elvis, and he’s quick to praise Baz Luhrmann’s 2022 biopic of the

“I loved the guy, he was handsome, there was his voice, I loved his songs, it was all fantastic to me,” he says.

But Puckett was no copycat, and didn’t seek to emulate Presley.

Willpower” for his group Gary and the Remarkables, which was quickly renamed the Union Gap.

They had six consecutive gold records and sold more records in 1968 than The Beatles, also becoming one of the few artists whose first five releases went gold.

The group disbanded in 1971, but Puckett was later to reassemble the Union Gap and nowadays keeps up a cracking pace, with more than 150 performances a year.

And, yes, he says, he’s finding it tiring with a US tour to follow his Australian visit and then on to England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales in October and November. But knowing he needs a bit of downtime, they play the tour in segments with home-time in between.

“I keep fit. I’m a healthy guy,” he says. As for what we’ll see here in Canberra, Puckett says it’s a matter of “recapturing sounds”.

DANCE WITH US.

Major Performance Projects

“I thought maybe the key to success for the group was the visual image of Union soldiers. But it’s true that when we first went to perform in the south, we were a little bit nervous, so we bought a big Confederate flag, rolled it across the keyboard in front of

Major Performances with professional dance artists

Creative Development Programs

Training Programs

More info: QL2.ORG.AU

“I didn’t model myself after anybody, I was just being me and, fortunately, the genes gave me a signature voice.”

Success followed fast when he signed a contract with Jerry Fuller, a producer for Columbia Records in Los Angeles, who also wrote the songs, “Young Girl” and “Lady

“I’ve based the show around the first three Union Gap albums, everything the fans will know like ‘Young Girl’, ‘Woman Woman’, ‘Lady Willpower’, ‘Over You’, ‘Don’t Give Into Him’, ‘This Girl is a Woman Now’.” And they’ll do a few things “just for fun”… there’ll be a tribute to veterans of the military and a bit of Elvis.

Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, Canberra Southern Cross Club, Woden, Wednesday, February 15.

Creative Development Programs

Young Choreographers Programs

• Giant Steps (9-12 yrs-old) - create your own work with support from QL2 mentors. Rehearse and perform in June in our QL2 Theatre to family & friends.

• Stepping Up (11-14yrs-old) - create your own work with support from QL2 mentors. Rehearse and perform in August in our QL2 Theatre.

• Hot to Trot (Quantum Leapers) - Quantum Leapers create their own work with support from experienced mentors. Rehearsals Sept-Nov. Public performance season in our QL2 Theatre.

• On Course (Tertiary dance students) - Tertiary dance students return to create and perform their own work over 2 intensive weeks in Dec.

Training Programs

Our training programs are tailored to prepare our young artists physically and creatively for our performance projects and for tertiary study in dance should they wish to follow that path. Each program has a set schedule, from one to six classes per week, that includes some or all of the following classes depending on the number of classes per week in each program: Contemporary, Classical, Stretch & Conditioning and Yoga. Plus several workshops and masterclasses each year.

In our classes you will work on your technique as well as develop your creativity and collaboration skills in a caring and non-competitive environment. Our teachers are experienced working professional dance artists. Training programs for ages 5-26.

• Quantum Leap Youth Ensemble (14-26 yrs-old) - create a new dance work, contribute your ideas, add your voice, work with industry leaders and choreographers from around Australia, perform on the Canberra Theatre Playhouse stage. Auditions in November each year. Rehearsals Jan-May. Performance season in May.

• Chaos Project (8-18 yrs-old) - create a new dance work, connect and share with other young people, work with professional choreographers, perform at the Canberra College Theatre. Auditions in August. Rehearsals SeptOct. Performance season Term 4 week 1

• YGen to IGen - an intergenerational project in partnership with Australian Dance Party

• Festivals & Touring - Australian Youth Dance Festival, Meet Up, DaCI. Touring within Australia and overseas each year.