Tony Phillips Interviews Dance Makers

Jerry Mitchell: Finesse and the 4 D's
Tony in hand, Mitchell finds himself as director and choreographer for the upcoming Broadway musical version of Legally Blonde. We caught up with Jerry just before that show's first Equity table read and he cited inspirations as varied as Ginger Rogers and the Holla Back video, had a few choice words for The New York Times and found the boundaries of the ever-changing commercial theater taking him next to Las Vegas, where he's sure to continue his winning streak.

Bourne Again, Matthew Returns
The ingenious director and choreographer Matthew Bourne talks not only about the genesis of his Play Without Words, but also his neighborhood Our Gang-style productions of Mary Poppins, the reformation of his fifteen-year-old production company and the birth of his latest project, the Edward Scissorhands Ballet.

Julio Bocca Just Wants to Dance
The idea of a ballet dancer, albeit one at the tip-top of his game, filling up Yankee Stadium with fans screaming their adoration for his gorgeously precise execution of the classical vocabulary sounds like the butt of a joke here, but in Argentina it's business as usual for dancer Julio Bocca.

Tony Winner Kathleen Marshall Doubles Down
On Sunday night, June 6th, her name was called as the best choreographer of 2004 for her work on Wonderful Town. It capped a year of pairs besting even Noah. She has two shows up on the boards -- Wonderful Town and Little Shop of Horrors -- simultaneously, but this double vision isn't unusual for Marshall.

Visualizing Vaslav: Interview with Filmmaker Paul Cox
The year is 1919. Kiev-born, Warsaw-baptized Vaslav Nijinsky--arguably the greatest male dancer of the 20th century--is a mere 30-years-old and fleeing Paris with his wife and young daughter Kyra. Nijinsky's severed ties with his overbearing svengali and lover, Serge Diaghilev, also meant a break from the famed company Ballet Russes where his star ascended.

Curran Events: Interview with Sean Curran
Choreographer Sean Curran began his training with traditional Irish step dancing as a young boy growing up in Boston. From there he made his way to Manhattan where he attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. After graduation his dance career began to most closely resemble a kaleidoscope, from dancing with the Bill T. Jones / Arnie Zane Dance Company to his four year as an original cast member of STOMP!

Feld Forum: Interview with Eliot Feld
Feld starred as Baby John in the film version of West Side Story. Those opening dance sequences were shot on the ruble that was to rise into the largest cultural compound in the world. He almost single-handedly revived an old porn palace on 8th Avenue, turning it into a world-renowned dance venue, The Joyce Theater, years before Disney made this kind of gentrification de rigueur. He also helms one of the tightest and most innovative dance companies in the US called Ballet Tech.

Rubsam The Right Way: Interview with Henning Rubsam
Henning Rubsam is a sleek German import that handles better than a Mercedes sedan. He made his way from Marburg to New York after he enrolled in the Juilliard School. During his time at Juilliard, he toured with the Limon Dance Company and starred in the dance film Prufrock that was commissioned by the Sundance Institute.

Neither World: Interview with Doug Varone
I meet Doug Varone on a barren street corner on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The wind is tearing down the city and a group of hesitant New Yorker’s huddle together for warmth. Doug is laying down a few ground rules about entering the Lower East Side Tenement Museum. Safety is a concern.