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George C Randolph Jr is the founder & president of the Randolph Academy for the Performing Arts in Toronto, Ontario. Born and raised in Red Bank, NJ, George is a renowned Dancer, Teacher, Producer, Director and now educator with over 25 Years of professional dance experience. He’s a former principal dancer with Alvin Ailey & has danced on many stages across the world including New York’s Carnegie Hall and City Center. George danced with Les Ballet Jazz and would later run the company before getting into studio teaching. Mr. Randolph presided over the Randolph Dance Theatre from 1985-1992 which would eventually grow into a College program and a kids program that make up the Randolph Academy. Prominent musical theatre/jazz/hip-hop choreographers such as Tracey Flye, Donna Feore, Danny Austin, and Shawn Byfield studied directly with George. He has produced and directed dance extravaganzas such as The T.O. Hot Shoe Show, at Toronto’s O’Keefe Centre (now The Sony Centre for the Performing Arts) featuring prima ballerinas Karen Kain and Evelyn Hart, members of the New York City Ballet, The Bolshoi Ballet, Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre, Desrosiers Dance Theatre, Toronto Dance Theatre, and the American Ballet Theatre. George is the Co-founder for Show Choir Canada and Co-Founder of the Stardust Academy and Stardust Productions in Amman, Jordan, the first performing arts Academy in Jordan.

Early Life
George Curtis Randolph was born in Red Bank New Jersey (Home of Count Basie) to his mother Alice Randolph and father George C Randolph Sr. George Sr is described by his son as “a career military man and a gentleman.” George was the first of two sons in his family, the older brother of younger sibling Gerald Randolph. George was known for being a standout athlete in his hometown playing Football and Tennis. He was also a wrestling Champion and followed in his father’s footsteps as a Military cadet. He was a high school student at Red Bank high & attended the Hampton Institute (Now known as Hampton University) for Post secondary studies were he earned a Bachelor in Psychology.

Growing up in Red Bank, George never saw dance as an activity, much less a career. Dance was not a common male activity in his hometown, however during his time at Hampton George was looking for a way to improve his Tennis game. He decided to improve his flexibility, agility, balance and all around conditioning by taking dance. Soon George fell in love with the thrill of dance, but it wasn’t until his friend Carol Penn took him to see and Alvin Ailey show that he was truly hooked. “I was amazed at the athletic men that moved like Gazelles.” His interest in the performing arts shocked his family, but George told his family and himself that he would finish his degree, and then go for it. His family supported that.

Alvin Ailey Dance Company
After his graduation from Hampton, George went on to pursue the dance company that impressed him so much and auditioned for a Scholarship in the Alvin Ailey Dance Company. Though the company thought he was too old to receive a full scholarship they saw potential in him and offered George an opportunity; a working Scholarship. George would clean the studios in exchange for classes. He worked 6 hrs a week, 6 days a week for 2 years while dancing & training the rest of the day. He was then invited to the Apprentice Company on a full scholarship and would soon make the full company. George’s Work ethic combined with his raw talent paid off and his dreams had been fulfilled. While dancing with the Apprentice program as part of the 3rd company a pas de deux that George performed in New York received great praise. So much so that reviewer for the New York Times Clive Barnes mistook their performance for that of the first company members. George recalls dancing in that pas de deux (‘Fix Me Jesus’ from the show ‘Revelations’) as one of the “crowning moments” of his young career. Quote: “I suddenly flashed on the fact that a year ago I had no idea, no hope of ever being on stage actually doing this piece.” George recalls his time with Alvin Ailey fondly, he danced with the Alvin Ailey company as a principal dancer from 1977-1980. During that time George toured the world, (from Europe, to the Caribbean to South America) while dancing with some fantastic chorographers including Alvin Ailey and Talley Beatty protégé of Modern dance innovator Katherine Dunham.

Les Ballet de Jazz
In 1980 George decided to leave the Alvin Ailey dance company. He recalls it being a tough decision but one that he felt he had to make. The demands of constant touring were strenuous and George was looking to land bigger, major roles in the spotlight as well as showcase some of his own Choreography. It was around this time that he caught wind of the up-and-coming Canadian dance company Le Ballets de Jazz in Montréal, Quebec. George decided to make his next move with this company, dancing, teaching and choreographing with them through Spain, France, Venice, Budapest and Hong Kong. During this time George also represented the United States at the ‘’Rosella Hightower International’’ Centre for Dance in Cannes. Between Le Ballet de Jazz and his time at the Rosella Hightower dance centre George was gaining worldwide acclaim as a Choreographer. He described his style as “Strong & Dynamic extremely passionate-Even sensuous-but at times it can also be very lyrical.”

The Hot Shoe Show
Building on his success as a choreographer and the relationships that he had built around the world George produced the T.O Hot Shoe Show in Toronto Ontario at the O’keefe Center (now know as Sony Centre for the Performing Arts). The show ran for one night in May of 1982 and again in 1987 both times selling out the Okeefe center and garnering critical acclaim. It was a combination of Tap, Ballet, Music and Poetry with some of the bigger names in Dance featuring dancers from Alvin Ailey, the National Ballet and the National Tap Dance Company. George was able to invite his friends Evelyn Hart, Andre Lewis, Carl Bailey and Deborah Manning to dance. The show featured Choreography from Jiri Killian, Paul Draper and Elise Monte.

Le Ballet de Jazz had schools all over Canada as a way to help fund the Company in Montréal. George began to teach at the Toronto division named Le Ballet Jazz in the early 1980’s. When the Toronto division was closing in 1985 George took over that business and started his own studio named the Studio Dance Theatre. The studio offered drop in classes that were geared to working professionals in the industry.

The Randolph Academy
In 1989 the Studio Dance Theatre was renamed The Randolph Dance Theatre. The Dance Theatre attracted many different high-profile talents such as Bette Midler, Neve Campbell, Alanis Morrissette, Paula Abdul, Lolita Davidovitch, Gloria Reuben, and Robert Duvall. The school made the shift to a College program in 1992 when George saw the need for triple-threat training in Toronto. That year Livent producers were casting Kiss of the Spiderwoman and used Randolph’s faculties to hold auditions. Livent decided after seeing tons of talent that they would have to cast the show in New York because Toronto had lots of people who could dance, sing, or act-even some who could do two things well-but no one who could do all three. Thus George went into executing a strategic plan with members of Livent, Mirvish Productions, and Disney to research the feasibility of a triple-threat program in Canada. With the help of the Ministry of Human Resources & the accounting firm KPMG it was concluded that no other College or University was offering this type of programming in Canada. Thus the Randolph Academy for the Performing Arts was born. Today the Randolph Academy is recognized as one of the top performing arts schools in Canada with Alumni working all over the world including Sergio Trujillo, Paul Nolan, Lisa Berry, and Carlos Bustamante. Along with the College Program, Randolph Academy has a kids program that runs after school giving children 3-17 a platform to train in Acting, Dancing and a Triple Threat kids program that puts a production once a year. There is also a Randolph Glee Choir and a Randolph Dance Crew in the kids program. The Randolph Kids program was developed and is run by George’s Wife Lauren Randolph.

Show Choir Canada
George is the co-founder of show choir Canada, an annual Glee Club inspired competition that takes place in Toronto Ontario. Randolph along with his wife Lauren and business partner Peter DaCosta (Owner of DaCosta Talent) conceived Show Choir Canada in 2010 & it was launched in 2011.

The Stardust Academy, Stardust Productions & Amman Jordan
In 2011 George Randolph teamed up with Alaadin Khasawneh to form the Stardust Academy in Amman, Jordan. Stardust operates out of the sports complex at the Modern Montessori School and is a training ground for performing arts students based around the Randolph Academy’s curriculum. There are classes in Acting, singing, Dance, Acting for the camera and there will soon be classes for musical instruments.

Filmography
George was one of the spokesmen for the OLG’s Lotto Super 7, playing the Character of “Relaxo Man.” Relaxo man’s Catch phrase was “Because you can!”

Personal Life
George Randolph is married to Lauren Randolph. They have two children, Curtis Randolph and Thalia Ayres Randolph.