We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mike Bright a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Mike, appreciate you joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

Well to accurately give an answer to that question, I need to let you know a little about how I got started on this path of performing. I have been interested in music and dance and all things related since the age of 5, at least from what I can remember on my own. That is when I taught myself how to dance. I continued on that route and in middle school, a few other guys who were like minded reached out to me and that is when I began performing on stage in front of live audiences. That took me through high school performing during talent shows and things of that nature and when I got college, I realized that as much as I enjoy performing, I still have a lot to learn and some growing to do. I began performing solo in local bars and venues around the city of Nashville and then I happened upon a dance group that was performing with a live band outside on the street corner.

The man leading group goes by the name of Ron D the Referee and the show was totally different than anything I was used to or had experienced during my time of performing to that point. It was more spontaneous and less rehearsed and it felt organic. I was curious to know what it was like and since it was an open environment, I tried my hand and joined the show. The feel of the band, the energy from the crowd being so close, it was exhilarating. I came back from time to time in between my solo shows to perform with Ron just to get that different feel and learn how to apply that to my own shows. At one point, Ron was the only guy left performing out there and carrying the show on his own. It felt natural to stick around a little bit more.

There was one summer night; the moon was full, heat was high, but the energy was amazing and myself and Ron D danced our hearts out from about 10PM to almost 3AM the next morning and the crowd was out there with us the entire time. People had completely cancelled their personal plans for that night just to see us dance. At this point all the bars are closed and there isn’t much else open in the downtown area around that time so we were THE show. After we cut the music, the people were so excited, so into the show, no one wanted to leave. They wanted to know about us, how we got to that point. It was everything I had once wondered before I let go of my initial fear and just danced. That night was the moment I decided, this is what I want to do seriously. Prior to that moment, dance was more a casual “hobby” that I enjoyed. That night, I fell in love with the art of dancing and I asked to officially be part of the crew. From that point I decided to do everything in my power to make that experience accessible to as many people as possible so I began helping push our shows by doing the most natural thing: social media. From there, the passion took over and I began making our logos, our merchandise, and just pushing the brand that was now pretty well known as Music City Soul alongside Ron D.. We gained more dancers, and more importantly, more support with the different style of show that we presented.

We call it “interactive entertainment” meaning instead of just watching our show, we make the audience a part of our show. We celebrate anyone having a birthday, we celebrate groups that are celebrating special occasions like weddings, we bring people out of the audience just to dance with us is in the middle of dance floor. It’s truly and experience and that is what we hang our hats on. Since then we have traveled across the country, giving everyone the Music City Soul experience. We spread positivity through the power of music and dance because music transcends all barriers amongst people. Being able to share my passion alongside Ron D, the guy who allowed me to flourish in this environment and handle all the business for the group, has been incredibly fulfilling. I don’t think there is a stage in Nashville we haven’t been on at this point and we just want to continue the success we have had over the years.

And it all started on one summer night in Nashville, Tennessee.

Mike, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

The name of my dance group is called Music City Soul. We put the “soul” in Music City which a lot of people have associated with Country Music, and understandably so. We are dancer/entertainers with a unique brand of entertainment. I mentioned before we call it “Interactive Entertainment”, as we make the audience an active part of our show as opposed to just sitting around watching us dance. The crew is comprised of several individuals from Chicago, to Florida and every in between, including Nashville. We perform every Friday and Saturday night in beautiful downtown Nashville, Tennessee right in front of Guy Fieri’s world famous restaurant,

So that’s the preliminary stuff right? What do we do? We put on the greatest show in Nashville, TN. We make everyone feel at home and give them an experience they can share with friends and family. At it’s core, the show is a group of dancers giving an improv performance so you never know what to expect. Since the show is out in the open on the street corner, anyone can walk by, and anyone could be part of the show. The spontaneous nature of our shows is what truly set us apart from anything you’ve ever seen. The idea is to simply put smiles on everyone’s faces and make sure they have a great time in the process. We have old school dancers to new school dancers to acrobats and we dance to any and every genre of music you can think imagine. We do our best to bring everyone together, if only for a few hours no matter your race, religion, beliefs, issues, etc. Because, who doesn’t like music? So why not listen to your favorite songs and watch a show while hearing that song? That is who we are and what we do.

We also host events, we are part of several annual events in the city, and we provide entertainment ANYWHERE we are asked to be. We are entertainers whose passion is sharing our passion with everyone else, but as I said before, we are simply, THE BEST SHOW IN NASHVILLE.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The best part about what we do is the immediate feedback we get. If the people like it you will know, if they don’t, you will certainly know. That is the beauty of performing live in an open environment. I can honestly and wholeheartedly say the most rewarding part of being an artist/creative is the immediate impact we have on the younger generation. In a world that’s driven by online engagement, that is one of best ways for us to communicate with out supporters if we’re not face to face. I receive so many messages from parents thanking us for allowing their children to be part of our show. It really is fulfilling seeing that we are in some way making a difference in the community. There have been some cases where we’ve encourage a child to dance with us and it’s the first their parents have ever seen them do such a thing. To know that we help make that happen is an amazing reward and makes this so much more fun.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

That’s an easy one. The internet. I didn’t embrace it fully until a few years ago, but with social media being what it is now, it would have been a huge help starting out. The ability to communicate with anyone, anywhere at any time is incredibly beneficial when it comes to entertaining. For the longest time, we thrived and even depended on word of mouth to help our shows grow. No we just ask anyone taking the time to record us to just send us the video or give us a tag and we can instantly reshare it to the masses. A huge tool and one that I wished I embraced just a bit sooner than I did originally.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musiccitysoul/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musiccitysoul
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/_MusicCitySoul_
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/mbright1

Image Credits
De’Angela Alexander James Minor Courtney Hoke Sam Wise