GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

FEBRUARY 21, 1997

GAY PEOPLE'S Chronicle

CHRONICLE

FEBRUARY 21, 1997

Evenings Out

A hunk-a hunk-a

burnin' sole hits the

Ohio stage

by Kaizaad Kotwal

Columbus-Mention the words tap dancing today and most people will think of the mythic lore of Gregory Hines, Sammy Davis Jr., Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly. They might think of precocious five year olds and their stage mommies on the road to early entrees into dysfunction rehab centers and lifelong disappointment.

Mention tap dancing and six sexy studs from Down Under in the same sentence and one might be accused of inventing oxymorons. But it's true-Columbus will be witness to 8 nights of a hunk-a, hunk-a burnin' sole when the Tap Dogs explode on the stage of the Ohio Theatre.

Tap Dogs is a group of six Australian guys in well-worn Levis, body hugging T-shirts and Blundstone boots who tap their way through the on-stage construction of a steel and wood set. When the going gets sweaty, the tank tops get going. Tap Dogs is headed for an extended run in New York but not before blazing a trail through select cities across America.

Tap Dogs was the brain child (or “sole" child if you will) of Dein Perry, a choreographer from Newcastle, north of Sydney, who tired of being unemployed and decided to take things under his own feet. He created what has now become an international phenomenon. He has won two consecutive Olivier Awards (the Tony equivalent in England) for his choreography which always blends brute strength with poetic grace and humor.

Chris Horsey, one of the dogs, spoke in a telephone interview of the vision the group had when they founded Tap Dogs.

Horsey, Perry and the others met doing 42nd Street in Australia. While the show was good, Horsey said that they were all itching for a greater challenge to match their tapping talents. To escape what Horsey called "the challenge of monotony” the tap pups began to "jam in between rehearsals and after shows."

Sitting in pubs, the group came up with the concept of a tap company because there was no "dance company of its sort in the dance world." Horsey said that "there are many dance companies all over the world and they have pretty much, in my opinion, been doing the same thing-abstract dance, reinterpretations of classics, etc. No one was doing this."

Thanks to a $20,000 grant from the Australian Arts Council, the pups matured into dogs through a four week workshop resulting in a marketing video. The rest is being written as history on this current tour.

Tap Dogs is aided by the direction and design of Nigel Triffit. Triffit has gained wide acclaim for directing and designing diverse genres from opera to Hair which had a recent revival tour in Australia and the Far East. Triffit's work with The New Rocky

Australia's Tap Dogs

Horror Show is breaking all records in Australia and New Zealand.

Perry and Triffit are joined by Andrew Wilke, who composed the original score and tours as the musical director.

Horsey said that the Nicholas Brothers have been a major shaping force in their work alongside Sammy Davis Jr., Hines, and Astaire. Horsey hopes that the resurgence of the art form through Tap Dogs will be shape future generations.

"The hope," Horsey added, "is that lots of men and boys will be inspired to go out and do tap or at least something else artistic."

While Tap Dogs is regenerating an interest in modern tap dancing, like the recent phenomenon "Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk" on Broadway by whiz kid Savion Glover (an inspiration for Horsey and the others), these six hunks also reinvent classical tap. Take for instance their foot stomping number on the ceiling reminiscent of the famous film clip of Fred Astaire doing the

same.

In the show there's a lush segment in which these dogs stomp in a water trough, evoking Gene Kelly's classic number "Singin' in the Rain." Lovers of water sports with six hunks may want to grab seats in the first few rows! (Fear not, it's all very safe. Protection is provided by the management.)

Coinciding with the recent reemergence of Travolta mania, one of the Tap Dogs pays homage to the cult classic Saturday Night Fever. If that is not enough fire for viewers, watch real sparks fly as they tap while grinding metal.

If all this sounds too butch, rest at ease. These blue collar blokes get to show their sensitive sides also, taking us from the innocent to the erotic, and from brute power to gentle humor. Lewis Segal of the "Los Angeles Times" claims that “it's an amazing achievement celebrating male energy and muscle power with enough intensity to hook a mass audience, and yet staying thoughtful and pertinent."

If the winter's cold has chilled you to the bone, Tap Dogs' testosterone-filled evening is a guaranteed scorcher. If women were so moved as to throw their hotel keys, phone numbers and panties to a marvelously crooning, albeit drugged and bloated Elvis, think what riches these six Aussies might reap in the way of Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, or Tommy Hilfiger underwear. (No cell phones or BMW car keys please!)

Horsey said that the Tap Dogs didn't set out to do a show about explosive and overt sexual chemistry. While Horsey didn't know definitively what made the Dogs so

immensely popular with gay crowds (although we can all well imagine!) he said it was possibly because there "just aren't too many all male companies."

"And when you get six blokes on stage who are very chummy on stage, with great camaraderie and lots of one-upmanship and competition, and we do a lot of work so the testosterone is bound to flow and the sex appeal is inevitable," Horsey said.

What adds to the Tap Dogs' intense mass appeal, to both gay and straight audiences, is the fact that these dogs have been mates way before they were a cast. "That makes us a little more advanced, a little more personal on stage," Horsey said, “and we take off our shirts and show a little leg, and everyone likes that!"

From all accounts, these guys are so hot that it would be no exaggeration to say that audiences are in for a very energized

ride.

Tap Dogs plays at the Ohio Theatre in Columbus from February 25 through March 2. Show times are 8 pm Tuesday through Friday, 5 and 9 pm on Saturday and 3 and 7:30 pm on Sunday. For tickets call 614-431-3600 or 614-469-0939 or visit any Ticketmaster location. Tickets are $34, $27 and $21. All opening night tickets are $15.