About Moi
This is the short version of the adventure of the French Canadian guy who wanted to sing in English and learn to "Song & Dance"!
I am originally from Drummondville, Québec (actually, an even smaller place called Saint-Germain-de-Grantham) and I have have been living on the West Coast since 1999. How time flies!
I started piano at the age of 9, then played clarinet through high school, always involved in concert bands, jazz ensembles and music festivals (my gosh, I was a band geek!), and eventually made it to Cégep where I studied classical singing. It is at that time that I saw my first musical, The Phantom of the Opera, and discovered musical theatre, and that, well, changed everything!
From there, theatre and the performing arts took a bigger place in my heart and my life! I continued my training at the University of Montreal, working on my degree in vocal performance, while also taking drama classes at the Conservatoire d'Art Dramatique de Montréal and dance classes at École de Danse Louise Lapierre and Maison De Ballet-Théâtre Reflet. I was in school full time and working on stage and television projects, but that wasn't enough. At the end of my university program, I auditioned for the Canadian College of Performing Arts to fulfill my desire to pursue musical theatre and was offered a place. That would be the beginning of my West Coast adventure.
From there, I completed a very intense year of training in the performing arts, followed by a year-long acting internship at the Chemainus Theatre and from there, performing with companies such as Pacific Opera Victoria, Belfry Theatre, Langham Court Theatre, Butchart Gardens, Theatre North West, and Kaleidoscope Theatre to name a few.
Over the years, while still enjoying some performing, I started doing more and more teaching and directing, which I had always done and enjoyed. Eventually, a natural progression for the entrepreneur in me, I opened my own studio, the Yanik Giroux Performing Arts Studio, specializing in Musical Theatre training and Contemporary Commercial Music. I'm happy to have my own space where I can share my performing experience and help others achieve their vocal goals and performance ambitions.
I have continued my training by attending pedagogy conferences such as the CCM Vocal Pedagogy Institute in Virginia and the Eurovox 2018 in The Hague Netherlands, reviewing vocal technique books, completing a Certification in Somatic Voicework™ The Lovetri Method, and being an active member and leader in the National Association of Teachers of Singing.
Performing will always provide its thrill of jumping on stage and facing an eager audience, but teaching provides me with a greater rewarding feeling that I can share my passion for music and the arts and hopefully make a difference in the lives of my students by providing opportunities for them to grow through music.
Oh and through all that, I finally got a half decent grasp of the english language! :)