Episode 5: “What About Dance?”
Dante talks to Nick about different dance styles and how to get started when it comes to dance.
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[MUSIC]
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[INTRO]
DANTE
Dante’s Acting Adventures!
[THEME MUSIC]
Hello everybody, and welcome to Episode 5! This episode marks the half-way point of my podcast. I’m actually really enjoying being your host. I hope you are learning new things, because I sure am. Today I have the pleasure of introducing Nick! Nick not only can act, and sing, but he can dance! A true triple threat! Nick’s favorite halloween movie is-
NICK
Coco
DANTE
When Nick isn’t dancing, another thing that he is passionate about is-
NICK
Nature
DANTE
Let’s get dancing!
[TRANSITION MUSIC]
DANTE
Hello Nick!
NICK
Hi Dante!
DANTE
Welcome to my podcast today, how are you doing?
NICK
I’m doing pretty good, how are you?
DANTE
I’m doing pretty good. I have to confess, I’m not the greatest dancer.
NICK
Oh, that’s okay!
DANTE
My best dancing is when no one’s watching!
NICK
Oh, I agree. I think my best work happens when I’m alone as well.
DANTE
Well, Nick tell me a little more about how you got into dancing.
NICK
Well that’s a really good question. I got into dancing when I was younger, basically from watching other people dance. There is this really well known dancer, from a long time ago, his name is Gene Kelly and he did a lot of movie musicals back in his day, and my family loved to sit together and watch those. Watching Gene Kelly dance inspired me to start exploring how my body moves, and how I could be like him and it just kind of inspired me to start taking dance classes because I enjoyed watching him so much. I wanted to be like that.
DANTE
That’s really cool. Gene Kelly. Was he the actor in the movie, ‘Singing in the Rain’?
NICK
Yes! That is the same actor.
DANTE
Wow, he’s a really good dancer.
NICK
He is, I agree.
DANTE
Well, how old were you when you started taking your dance classes?
NICK
Well Dante, I was thirteen years old.
DANTE
Thirteen? Hey I’m twelve! Maybe it’s not too late to get started!
NICK
Oh it’s never too late to get started Dante. I was in middle school at the time and the only dance class they offered was modern dance, contemporary dance, which wasn’t exactly what I was interested in but since it was the only thing offered to me, I just decided to go ahead and take the leap and jump in. I was the only boy in the class-
DANTE
Oh no!
NICK
[Laughs] But that’s okay because it kind of prepared me to be my own artist, to exist in a space where I’m different and it really just taught me about how dance is really about how your body moves and it’s all about how you want to express yourself and the things that make you different in dance are the things that could set you apart and really make you a good artist.
DANTE
There’s nothing that feels as good as just being able to let your body move.
NICK
I agree whole-heartedly Dante.
DANTE
Did you take your classes at school?
NICK
Yes, it was at school. Yep.
DANTE
Huh. I think I should look into my school and see if they have any dance classes.
NICK
I think that would be awesome.
DANTE
You said that modern and contemporary dance wasn’t exactly what you were looking for. What styles of dance do you like best?
NICK
Well, I’ve kind of learned to love all of the styles. In musical theater it’s really important that you learn a little bit of everything, but I would say my favorite style is probably tap dancing.
DANTE
Tap dancing is the best. My favorite too!
NICK
Yeah, it’s so cool right?
DANTE
So fun!
NICK
It is.
DANTE
Why do you like tap so much?
NICK
I think the thing I like the most about tap is that it’s so integrated with the music that you’re listening to. It’s really easy for you to come up with tap choreography that goes really well with the music but at the same time, it’s also easy to mess up if you’re not exactly on with your steps, then you can tell because it’s off with the music. I think one of the reasons I like that is because I also just love music so much and rhythm is something that just really makes me feel alive and gets my blood pumping. I love to hear a good drum beat-
DANTE
Yeah.
NICK
And then getting your feet to move along with that is just really invigorating.
DANTE
That’s so true. Tap really is one of the most fun dances to watch on stage.
NICK
I agree, yeah. For ballerinas, they are typically told to be as quiet as possible but when it’s tap, you’re not only watching the dancers but you’re listening to them as well.
DANTE
How cool. Tap shoes seem slippery. Do you slip a lot when you’re tapping?
NICK
It depends on the kind of floor that you’re on. Sometimes they’ll put special floors on a stage if they know that there’s going to be a lot of tap dancing in that show so that you don’t slip as much, but I have been on a lot of floors that are slippery. I’ve taken a couple of spills.
DANTE
Man, I think I have a couple spills in my future too. Well let’s keep talking about some other parts of dance. You talked about how dance goes along with the music and how challenging that can be. What are some of the hardest things about dancing?
NICK
I think something that is really difficult that people struggle with and that I struggled with a lot, is coordinating several of your limbs all at the same time to do different things. Often times you have your arms going in one direction and your feet going in another direction and you have to think about so many things at the same time and so it really is mastering your coordination and multi-tasking so that you’re getting the right picture, which is something that I think discourages a lot of people if they don’t get it right away. I myself struggled with tap in the beginning, but if I practiced a lot, I realized the more that I practiced, the better I got.
DANTE
Okay. So dance is pretty accessible to anybody who just has a little patience to keep practicing.
NICK
Yeah, I would agree.
DANTE
Well that’s good to hear. Tell me about what it’s like to be a dancer vs what it’s like to be a choreographer.
NICK
Oh, that’s a very good question. It’s a very different experience in my opinion. When you are a dancer, you’re taking someone else’s idea and trying to show that to the audience, whereas when you’re a choreographer, you have to come up with the picture that you want people to see. You’re more integrated in the creative process and what the final product is supposed to be.
DANTE
Wow, that sounds kind of stressful.
NICK
It can be stressful, but it’s also a lot of fun when you work together with your dancers and you see that they’re bringing about the picture that you wanted, it’s really exciting.
DANTE
That’s so cool. Now, a little birdie told me that you’re actually currently choreographing a show!
NICK
I am! I’m choreographing a show called ‘White Christmas’.
DANTE
‘White Christmas.’ Is that the one like the movie?
NICK
It’s very similar, yeah. It’s based on the same story.
DANTE
That’s really cool. And really quick, what is a choreographer?
NICK
A choreographer is a lot like a director, who has a vision and they communicate that vision with the dancers and help those dancers learn about all of the moves that they have come up with so that they can tell a story on stage.
DANTE
You mean, a choreographer makes up the dance moves for everybody?
NICK
They do.
DANTE
Wow. Tell me more about the styles of dance in ‘White Christmas.’
NICK
Well there are two basic dance styles that are in ‘White Christma.’ One of them is tap dancing.
DANTE
Oh nice.
NICK
Yep, and then the other one is jazz dancing.
DANTE
Oooh, jazz dancing. What’s jazz dancing?
NICK
Jazz dancing is kind of a derivative of ballet. It’s a little bit more explosive and grounded in its energy, whereas ballet is really held and really controlled, jazz lets it be a little bit more loose.
DANTE
Hm. I think I’m hearing that you’re saying that jazz is a more fun version of ballet.
NICK
[Laughs] I guess you could say that. For some people they enjoy jazz more than ballet, but I do know a few people who prefer ballet.
DANTE
Hm. Interesting. I haven’t met those people yet.
[SAD TRUMPET SOUND]
Well so far on this podcast we’ve talked about acting and the job of an actor and you and I today have done a lot of talking about dance. But since you have experience as a dancer and a choreographer, tell me about how dancing and acting come together to make musical theater?
NICK
That’s a really good question and I think it’s an important question to be asking. And I think the way that they come together is to express the emotional state of the actor, of the character that we’re watching. I’ve heard before that when a character is feeling so much emotion that they can’t talk anymore, they’ll start singing. And then when they’re feeling so much emotion that they can’t sing anymore, they start dancing. So it’s a heightened form of expression of the emotional state of the character.
DANTE
Wow. I never thought about it that way before. It’s kind of what we do in real life too.
NICK
Yeah! You’ll notice if there is someone who is in a heightened emotional state, like they’re really angry, they’ll start moving a little bit more, they’ll stop their feet. You can really tell they’re feeling all those feelings because they physicalize it.
DANTE
That’s really cool. Put it to music and you’ve got musical theater. Well Nick, what is one piece of advice you would have to say to somebody who’s feeling a little shy about getting started with dancing?
NICK
I think my main bit of advice would be, to be kind to yourself and understand that your body and everybody’s body is different. We don’t really have any two bodies that are exactly the same and so every body is going to move just a little bit differently. So if there’s something about yourself that you think is keeping you from being a good dancer, then I would suggest you look up some of the really famous choreographers in history. One of those being Bob Fosse for example. Bob Fosse is a really well known choreographer, who had really turned out feet and he had a hard time studying ballet and all of those kinds of things. And he could have taken the things about his body that were different and just said, ‘I quit. I give up.’ but instead he created his own style based on his own limitations and he’s now super well known for his choreography because it was so unique and it was so different. So I would say, embrace your differences and find how you feel most comfortable moving and there will be someone out there who appreciates that.
DANTE
I’m feeling like I want to turn on some music and get started right away! Well Nick, thanks so much for coming onto my podcast today and talking all about dance.
NICK
Thanks for having me, it was a lot of fun to talk to you.
DANTE
I had a lot of fun listening and learning some new things too. Oh hey! Before we leave today, would you be willing to help me with this week’s fun-fact?
NICK
Sure!
DANTE
Alright. Take it away!
[FUN-FACT MUSIC]
NICK
Great! So one fun-fact about how tap steps get their names is that they’re often named after famous dancers who danced those dance steps. For example there is one dance step in tap called the ‘Shirley Temple’ and some people also call it the ‘Elenore Powell’ and both of those names are names of famous dancers who are well known for that dance style.
DANTE
Did they make up that dance move?
NICK
A lot of the dance moves were kind of made up by a lot of different people. That was a cool thing about tap – it wasn’t one institution coming up with ideas that were saying ‘this is tap’. It was lots of people in a community coming together to create this new style.
DANTE
Wow, that’s really neat. It kind of gives meaning to all of the tap moves.
NICK
It does.
DANTE
I’m going to have to go learn one of those after this episode.
[THEME MUSIC]
I’d like to give Nick a thanks for joining me on this week’s episode. Tune in next week for episode six! I think we’re going to have some pretty cool things for next week. You won’t want to miss out. See you soon!
[MUSIC FADES]