Bryant Cash-Welch, Long-Time Dance/10 Instructor, Dies of Apparent Heart Attack

Bryant Cash-Welch, a long-time instructor with Alameda's Dance/10 Performing Arts Studio, died Thursday morning after a heart attack, according to a message from the studio. He was 48.

"He has been an integral part of Dance for over 15 years and has worked with Pamm [Drake]for over 34 years," said the emailed messge to students at Dance/10 and their parents.

"There are so many wonderful memories of dancing and working with him.  They will always bring a smile to each of us. 

"We are all saddened by this loss but we know that his youthful energy and spirit will live on forever at Dance/10."

At Dance/10, Cash-Welch taught hip hop, jazz, musical theater and Boyz Club to children and adults.

He was also a choreographer whose credits West Side Story (Harmony Players & Co, 1999), Babes in Toyland (Bay Area Educational Theater Co., 2001),  Grease (Head Royce Academy, 2003), Peter Pan (Harmony Players & Co., 1999) and Hairspray (St. Joseph Notre Dame High School).

Cash-Welch also did Michael Jackson impersonations, performing at venues in Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe as well as locally.

Cash-Welch began performing as a child. By the age of 16, he had been on stage with Kim Fields, Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Shanice Wilson in the Chip Fields production of In Command of the Children. He studied tap, jazz, ballet, modern dance and musical theater at the Hollywood High School of Performing Arts and later Los Angeles Valley College.

He then went on to perform in numerous shows including Ben Vereen's Seattle production of Get Your Boogie Down, and Minnie Madden's Minnie's Boys at the Shark Club in Las Vegas.

His career kicked into high gear when he was chosen as one of four male dancers for Whitney Houston's "I'm Your Baby Tonite World Tour."

In a 2010 interview with Alameda Patch, Cash-Welch told writer Cecelia Leong that he enjoyed all aspects of his career — teaching, performing and choreography.

"What do I like about performing?" he said. "Applause is addicting! People clapping and saying 'I like you. You're fabulous.' I like putting a smile on people's faces.

"Choreographing is one of the best ways of being alive and totally engaged in the world—to be able to create something from nothing. When I choreograph, I get that joy. You start out and there's no music, no costumes, no place to perform. You create all that."

Cash-Welch said in the interview that teaching was especially rewarding when a student called and said they got a job.

"A lot of the kids I've taught over my 20 years of teaching have gone on to Broadway, to Beach Blanket Babylon in San Francisco."

Cash-Welch's assistant, Megan Gravenhise, will continue his classes, the Dance/10 message said.

Services are pending. 

Related article:

"Light on His Feet: Bryant Cash-Welch"

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