Professionally, Bugler has been a dancer with the Muny Opera in St. Louis; the Harkness Youth Dancers (performing at the White House); the Harkness Ballet (touring all over Europe); Joffrey II; the Eglevsky Ballet; and the New York Metropolitan Opera, where he was dancer, Dance Captain, Ballet Rehearsal Assistant, and finally Repetiteur in 2001.
In 2003 he moved to Las Vegas to become Artistic Coordinator for the Cirque du Soleil production of Zumanity: The Other Side of Cirque du Soleil. He was brought in as a guest artist of the Chicago Lyric Opera twice, first as Assistant Choreographer to restage the dances in the opera The Great Gatsby and in 2006, as Choreographer for Robert Carsen’s production of the opera Orfeo. Before joining Cirque, he was invited in 2003 and again in 2008 to Japan to choreograph the dances for the Ongaku-Juku production of the opera Die Fledermaus, and in 2007 for the Saito-Kinen Matsumoto production of the opera Queen of Spades, all conducted by the brilliant Seiji Ozawa.
With a dance knowledge covering a wide range of techniques, including Modern, Jazz, Ballet, Flamenco and Ballroom, Marcus teaches master classes, gives workshops, adjudicates and choreographs in dance schools, camps and conventions across the country; notably Lindenwood University and Utica College as guest faculty, Chautauqua Summer Arts Festival, Ballet School of Stamford, Steps and Broadway Dance Center in New York City, Eastern Virginia School of Performing Arts, Ballet Tennessee, the Sawnee Ballet in Georgia, South Carolina Summer Dance Conservatory, Las Vegas Contemporary Dance Theatre, the Dance Educators of America, and Soulfire Dance.
Bugler still performs on stages: as a stepsister in Peter Anastos’ ballet Cinderella and as Herr Drosselmeyer in The Nutcracker.