By: | June 15, 2025 | | Colts Neck
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by Emma Sylvia
Not many 15-year-olds can boast that they’ve traveled across the world to compete at an international level – and won. But that’s exactly what Matt Gugliara – better known as Matty Googs – gets to announce as his claim to fame. Born in Staten Island and now a Colts Neck local, Gugliara is chasing his dreams, going from competing at national levels to being announced as the newest performer on the Kidz Bop national tour which is also making stops in the UK.
Gugliara has been a dance aficionado for as long as he can remember.
“One of the ways I got really into dancing was because of the Nintendo Wii game ‘Just Dance’,” he recalls. His favorite song to listen to and recreate the moves of was “Who Let the Dogs Out” by Baha Men. From his love of “Just Dance,” his parents, Sherri and Sal Gugliara, began to play music videos for their son to follow along to. It was through this that Gugliara discovered his two main inspirations: Justin Bieber and Justin Timberlake.
Gugliara’s professional name, “Matty Googs,” came from when he was attending conventions when he was younger, and found that many people across the country, (especially those from communities that weren’t largely Italian) couldn’t pronounce his last name. Gugliara’s father was nicknamed “Goog” when he was younger, which became the inspiration for his son’s professional moniker.
“He gave me that nickname, and I fell in love with it. I have teachers that call me ‘Googs,’” he says.
His dance career began at age three, when Gugliara joined the studio ICON. Since then, he’s been training with conventions, like Monsters of Hip-Hop, a weekend dance convention that hosts multiple classes with world-renowned choreographers, the likes of whom have worked with top artists like Britney Spears, Sierra, and yes, Justin Bieber. Through this schooling, Gugliara learned many different styles of dance, from ballet, tap and contemporary, before falling in love with hip-hop.
“Hip-hop has helped me express my feelings,” Gugliara says.
To hone his skills, Gugliara has trained with Justin Timberlake’s choreographer, Marty Kudelka, who has also served as Timberlake’s artistic director for nearly two decades, working on music videos, tours and more.
“It’s been really good to know him; he’s a big mentor in my life,” he notes.
Having a working relationship with Kudelka doesn’t hurt to keep Gugliara motivated as well, as his dream is to dance on tour with Justin Timberlake.
That’s not to scoff at who Gugliara has toured with already. At six years old, he got to dance with Justin Bieber. Nick DeMoura — the creative director and choreographer behind Bieber’s Justice Tour — teaches at Monsters, and selected Gugliara to join other dancers for Bieber’s tour stop at the Prudential Center. The dancers were all ages 6-15, and Gugliara was the youngest.
Gugliara also placed 8th in the world when competing for Team USA Hip Hop in Bremerhaven, Germany. “I got to audition for the US Team,” he recalls, “and I ended up making it and competing for solo and for a group. I ended up finishing 8th place in the world as a soloist. That was in October of 2019, so I had just turned 10,” he remembers.
In the summer of 2019, Gugliara was selected to be in the Monsters Rebirth Show. He was nominated for the kids cast, and later that summer, the directors announced that Gugliara made the show.
“It was one of the best experiences of my life,” he says. “I was in Los Angeles for two weeks of training for the two-hour show. It’s a beautiful piece of dance to watch. I was so grateful to be part of the cast.”
Gugliara’s father, Sal watches proudly from the sidelines. “The theme for him is that he’s always the youngest in the stuff that he’s done,” Sal says.
But being the youngest dancer in a group or cast never seems to intimidate Matt.
“It only motivates me more. I love the pressure; any pressure involved with dance makes me happy, because of how much I love dance.”
Gugliara attributes his positive attitude to his father. “My dad always told me, ‘Don’t let other people affect how you feel.’ That’s always been my motto. I always let everything motivate me. My love of dance is so strong that pressure doesn’t get to me at all. I’m so happy with what I’m doing."
Aside from participating in Monsters, Gugliara has assisted choreography for a routine for the Washington Commanders NFL Dance Team, performed for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (and many other televised appearances) and danced for celebrities like DJ Khaled. And now, his sights are set for the Kidz Bop national tour.
“This January, my agency, Bloc, approached me with a Kidz Bop audition. I was really excited to audition; but they only have a few members for the tour, so they were only looking for one boy.”
Originally, the auditions were to be held in LA – but due to the recent wildfires, they were relocated to Woodbridge,NJ, just a half hour away from Colts Neck.
With a Kidz Bop show happening in London in just a few months after the audition, a new dancer had to be picked immediately. After initially narrowing it down to 10 kids, the next day, Gugliara got the job.
“It was so exciting,” he says. “Going into this year, I thought I would just be training; this wasn’t on my radar. The audition came and changed everything, and I’m so grateful for that.”
Now homeschooled to accommodate the new schedule – which includes training for seven weeks before traveling across the country and in the UK for months – Gugliara is ecstatic for the new endeavor.
“It’s going to be a completely new show. I’ll be learning choreography, having vocal lessons and recording the songs. It’s a great process, and I’m super excited for all of it.” The tour will have 63 stops in North America and another eight stops in the UK.
The process to prepare is a rigorous one. The Gugliaras have a full studio in their basement, with Gugliara having school for three hours with the certified teacher that travels with the dancers, followed by another five hours of lessons with the choreographer.
“He picks it up very quickly,” Sal Gugliara says. “He learned 24 dances in the matter of a week.”
Aside from performing this tour, Gugliara is looking forward to inspiring fans.
“When I was young, I was very inspired by people older than me, so I know how it feels. I love inspiring kids. I love dancing on stage. I’m a big performer. I really enjoy making people happy.”
For the future, Gugliara aims to be a choreographer with the ultimate goal of being a creative director for a tour. Currently, though, he’s enjoying teaching his own classes. For others that want to break into dance, he says: “If you fail to prepare, then prepare to fail. If you want something, work hard for it – because it’s never gonna get handed to you.”
To follow along with Matty Googs’s career and learn about dance lessons, follow him on Instagram @mattygoogs
