About Me
Dani Iannarelli [http://www.tango-la-dolce-vita.eu] has an extensive arts background in acting, song and dance [the latter including (Argentine)Tango, Tap, Lindy Hop (/Jitterbug), Swing, Jive and Stage/Character ] covering 30 years.Italian (although born in Edinburgh, Scotland... of Italian parents, and possessing an Italian passport) by bloodline (check out ), Dani has a deep cultural connection with Italian music (particularly Napolitano) and strives for a similarly romantic style in his application to his Jazz/Swing singing.A full member of British Actors’ Equity, Dani has considerable experience in cabaret, dance revue shows and on the musical stage (in 1987 taking on the role of ‘Riff’ in ‘West Side Story’, to an acclaimed review– to name but one of the many stage musicals in which he has featured – at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh). His stage and general acting work has kept up throughout the years with many parts on both stage and in television. Although starting in an ‘amateur’ basis, latterly he has done considerable work both semi- and fully professional. A great influence on Dani's acting, stage, dancing development was dancer/choreographer/director/producer Rita Henderson.By the age of 19, Dani and three friends (taking bass, drums, lead guitar) formed a 1950s (‘latter-day Teddy-Boy’) rock’n’roll band called “Mustang†with Dani singing lead and playing rhythm guitar… playing the songs of his new-found heroes such as (primarily) Elvis Presley, Eddie Cochran, Buddy Holly, Billy Fury, Little Richard, Bill Haley, Dion & The Belmonts and many other rock’n’roll and rockabilly legends.After his Rock’n’Roll excursion, in his early-20s, Dani teamed up with five other like-minded friends. There were six of us… three gals and three guys. We formed an, almost, ‘Manhattan Transfer’-style sextet with two different names for two different interests… ‘Besonder’ and ‘Company B’. ‘Besonder’ (an olde German word meaning “especialâ€) saw us dressed in Mediaeval costume (yes, tights etc!) and, although primarily close-harmony singing, also some Mediaeval dancing, skits and storytelling. The songs included old Scots songs, classical pieces, adapted nursery rhymes etc (mainly ‘a capella’, but occasionally with a single acoustic guitar backing), all in close-harmony with occasional soloing between us, at Mediaeval Banquets and Mediaeval Fayres. In both aliases, we also participated in the singing/vocal category in many Competition Festivals... achieving numerous awards at 'Honours' and 'Merit' standards.‘Company B’ was our ‘jazz/swing’ side. Again, this was primarily very close-harmony ‘a capella’ but also included solos, dancing (tap and character). Eventually, we ended up as three guys and no gals…! We then started to include close-harmony barbershop singing along with everything else. Besonder/Company B ran about 5-6 years.Dani also sang 1st Bass (Baritone) for 9 years in the Edinburgh Festival Chorus (doing national and international tours), and with the New Scottish Concert Choir with, additionally, chorus work in operas. There was also a 'one-night-stand' at the Edinburgh Playhouse as a backing singer for the band 'Foreigner' in their song "I Wanna Know What Love Is".In 2003, Dani was pointed towards the Fionna Duncan Vocal Jazz Workshops and attended a week-long course, therewith becoming influenced by attending guest teachers/modern jazz/blues legends Sheila Jordan, Freddie King and Barbara Morrison.Greatly influential in the development of Dani's jazz/vocal development were and, indeed, still currently ARE vocal coaches Lorna Brooks and Freddie King... and also, previously, the late Dorothy Robertson (the latter, classical).Dani has also been practicing Tango (Argentine, of course – the only tango) for ~12 years (performing and teaching for 7 years) and has visited Buenos Aires 10 times (8x for the Fabian Salas CITA International Tango Festival and 5x for Gustavo Naveira's Masters’ tango seminars). He has danced and taken workshops/lessons in numerous other worldwide locations, and with many of the world's leading tango exponents/teachers. In 2005, Dani (with his then partner) got to the second round of the BBC's 'Strictly Dance Fever' TV programme. He is also a 36-year experienced (I hasten to add that I started as a very young kid!) exponent of Wado-Ryu style karate, having attained rank of 4th Dan Black Belt and participated in numerous National Championships, 6 European Championships and 2 World Championships (the latter in Tokyo, Japan).Dani is now embarking on a solo jazz/swing singing career. Watch this space... MySpace!
