The Royal Gazelle
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Travis dances his way to success
Travis dances his way to success
Travis Wall is a fast-moving bundle of energy – charming, direct and hyped on Life. But then what else would the runner-up to the title ‘America’s Favourite Dancer’ be? Fresh from three months of intense competition in the hot Fox TV show, ‘So You Think You Can Dance’, Travis was whizzed to Bermuda by the National Dance Foundation for a whirlwind appearance at the end of the workshop performance presented by participants in the Foundation’s summer intensive.Lifestyle’s Nancy Acton caught up with Mr. Wall in his dressing room at the Ruth Seaton James Centre for the Performing Arts to talk about his participation in the popular TV dance competition
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Dancer Travis Wall has been “a competition child” since he was five years old, and holds many regional and national titles.He actually began dancing at age three, thanks to his mother Denise, owner of Denise Wall’s Dance Energy in Virginia Beach, who recognised his talent and spent the ensuing years nurturing and developing it. Further guidance and support has also come from older brother Danny Tidwell, whom he regards as “the best professional dancer I know.” So when Travis decided to become a contestant in the TV show, ‘So You Think You Can Dance’, it was a case of “doing what comes naturally” with all his familiar drive and ambition, ‘though perhaps surprisingly not with the thought of winning.“All I ever wanted to do was reach the finals,” he says. And reach them he did. While it seems that presentation and presence rather than technique is what tipped the fans’ votes in favour of the winner, Mr. Wall has no quibble with the outcome.“By the time you got to the end there were Benji (Schwimmer) fans and Travis fans, and it started becoming a popularity contest,” he says. “Benji is very entertaining and talented, but we have two different styles. A lot of Americans didn’t really understand what I was doing. On TV Benji is more goofy and geeky. He is a great performer who never let his performance down, but in the dance world all of the dancers were backing me.” This is because their professional training leads them to place greater emphasis on technical proficiency, in which the runner-up excels.Whichever of the finalists won, however, Mr. Wall had placed himself exactly where he wanted to be. Besides, he had garnered many accolades from start to finish, one of which particularly impressed him. Celebrated contemporary choreographer Mia Michaels had declared on the programme that she would be happy to work with Travis for the rest of her life.“Mia is a highly respected choreographer who choreographed Celine Dion’s Las Vegas show,” Mr. Wall notes.Revealing just what was involved for contestants on the show, the runner-up says that everyone was required to come to Los Angeles, where they spent the first five weeks learning a new dance routine with a new partner each week. Having trained in all forms of dance except ballroom meant that Mr. Wall was comfortable with this arrangement. Thereafter, the gruelling schedule began with learning a new dance each Friday, going through a “dry run” on Sunday, filming on Monday, starting to learn the opening routine for each show on Tuesday, finishing it off on Wednesday, and then going live on Thursday.“We never had a day off in three months,” Mr. Wall says.For the first two weeks of competition the dancer said he “felt safe” in getting through to the next round. With each successive week, however, contestants were eliminated, which put him on an emotional roller coaster right to the end.“I noticed that the judges were eliminating contemporary dancers, which is my style, so I started getting nervous. One week I was bottom and had to perform a solo for the first time on the show to stay in competition. That was nerve-wracking. The next week it was ‘Top 10’ and we switched partners. The next week I was bottom again and had to do another solo of my choice. I had to show why I was there in my dance. Well, I got safe again. After that I was bottom once more and thought I was going home.”Not surprisingly, when his name was the first of four announced to go through to the final round Mr. Wall was ecstatic. “I jumped and screamed on camera. (My reaction) was genuine. I freaked out because that was my only goal for the entire show – to make it to the end. It was really tight.”Adding to the tension was the fact that he and his fellow contestants became addicted to the website where bloggers did not hesitate to record their comments, good or bad, for all the world to see. “We were all into that every two seconds, even though the producers told us not to look,” Mr. Wall remembers. “It was really hurtful reading some of the comments. We heard what the judges saw, we heard what our families saw, but what other people were thinking were opinions. At the beginning of the competition they (the bloggers) thought I was ‘boring’, so I started to think, ‘Should I do this or not?’ I changed my music choice as a result of what bloggers were saying.”By the time the “fab four” got to the final round Mr. Wall says he was “done with the competition” aspect because he had reached his personal goal. “I was not really competing or performing. I had a good solo and three good duets, and one group routine, and the judges said I really stood out over the other three competitors.”When it was all over, over a week would pass before the winner was announced.“I really wasn’t nervous, and I honestly didn’t care,” Mr. Wall says of the interim. “I knew there was no possible way I could win, and I also knew that after the show things were going to go crazy and the exposure would help me so much.”And so it has proved, for all indications are that Travis Wall is well on his way to becoming a household name. First, however, he will join ten fellow contestants and two alternates on a North American road tour that begins on September 12 and visits 35 cities before ending in Canada on October 31.“I can’t wait to start,” he says. “We’ll be playing in 5,000-seat theatres.”Now that’s a star performer!
Travis Wall, runner up to the title 'America's Favourite Dancer' on the popular Fox TV programme 'So You Think You Can Dance', gave a guest performance during DanceBermuda's workshop finale and award presentations at the Ruth Seaton James Centre for the Performing Arts. Mr.Wall was a guest of the National Dance Foundation of Bermuda
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