7/5/10

Getting to Know Tony Waag-- Part II

by Nicole Harris

As Tony Waag's TAP CITY Festival kicks off today, I wanted to take a moment to share with you another part of my interview with Tony from this winter.  Keep an eye out this week for more information about Tony, TAP CITY and Friday's performance (which I'll be dancing in!)

NH:  Who are some of your favorite choreographers?
TW:  Brenda Bufalino, Jerome Robbins, Bob Fosse, I love Fred Astaire's stuff with Hermes Pan.  I have a really hard time with the word favorite because I really do like variety.  I could say anything from Busby Berkeley to Balanchine.

NH:  Are you doing any performing right now?
TW: 
No, not really.  Every once in a while.  I felt bad about that for a while but then I realized that I'm just taking a break.  I didn't feel like performing for a while, so now when I do I totally love it.  I don't NEED to perform, although I might feel the need to perform again.  Eventually there's a conflict.  There just isn't time.  You can't do everything.

NH:  What about choreography?
TW:  No, I would say I'm kind of revisiting choreography.  I have concepts that are going around it my head but I don't get into the studio much.  I have a piece in Thank You, Gregory.  I had never put a solo of my own on anyone else before.  We made it into a duet and I got a kick out of it, seeing my choreography on these two guys.  I changed it a little bit, but it was really just dipping back into it.  You know, you're never really done with a piece.  I'm never satisfied.

NH:  I hear you've been teaching an Absolute Beginner class?
TW:  I just started teaching again and I'm having a ball because it's just so...  I'm fascinated with it, really.  I feel like I'm looking at it completely different than I have before.  You look at these people and think, why can't they figure this out?  And then you think, well maybe if I try this...  After just three or four classes someone that you thought was hopeless has improved by 50%.

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