Published: December 16, 2007 8:53 PM EST
By: Isaac Joseph Davis Junior (Juniorscave.com)
Tom John
Remember when you watched the video to Michael Jackson’s Thriller. The one thing that stood out was the intense choreographed scene in the video. But, the King of Pop is known for his amazing moves. Moves like those take a good choreographer to really bring out the essence of a dancer’s style.
For those who have watched MTV, BET, FUSE, or even VH1 have seen countless of music videos of some of the best choreographed dance moves around. Well, Tom John, a choreographer, best known for his innovative choreographies to music videos, has built up a solid resume. In fact, this hot choreographer has worked with such names as Quami Dela Fox (Beastie Boys), Timbaland, Alisa Apps, Cassidy, TMB, Delta Goodrem, Bow Wow, and too many more to name in this interview.
With a resume like his, it is no wonder that Tom John is HOT at this moment with no signs of cooling off anytime soon. I had a chance to do an Interview with this young man as we went one on one to learn more about Tom John.
Isaac-Joseph: How are you doing today? I am pleased that you took the time to do this interview with our magazine.
Tom John: I am doing great today, yourself? The pleasure is all mine, I love your magazine and I am honored to be a part of it.
Isaac-Joseph: Thank you! We are honored to have you.
Isaac-Joseph: You have choreographed many of the dance scenes in music videos. What have been some of the best moments about working with music artists who come with their own experience of dancing? And the most difficult?
Tom John: The best feeling in the world is succeeding something that you knew it was hard and almost impossible for you. Therefore, the best moment for me is to see a recording artist breaking his own limits and after years of being incapable of dancing, now, he is dancing like pro. The most difficult moment for me was working with a recording artist in a dance studio and he came with his rude entourage and they just messed up the whole place, broke equipment and disrespected the entire studio staff; I am still embarrassed to show my face in that place since then.
Isaac-Joseph: You are from L.A. Describe how you first begin to dance and what drove you to want to become a choreographer:
Tom John: Actually, I moved to LA from Israel – where I started my dancing hobby and made it into a career. I began as a street break-dancer, a kid performing in parks for money, just dancing in the streets all day long, I started my own crew, and we called ourselves “Take a Break”. We started to do promotional tours for corporations with my choreographies, I started to teach dance classes, and one day I just got a call from a recording artist asking me to choreograph his video and it just went on from there.
Isaac-Joseph: Have you ever had an experience where a dancer could not learn the moves? How do you handle this?
Tom John: Yes, it happens from time to time, if I have enough time I will help this dancer personally and guide him until he learns the moves. Sometimes because of time limits, I have to change choreography or I just let that specific dancer go, but usually the best thing is just to audition dancers prior to the project.
Isaac-Joseph: In your opinion, how hard is it to break in as a choreographer? What are some pitfalls that you had to overcome yourself to make it?
Tom John: If you are really good and talented, it can be very hard for two reasons. The first one is budget, you have to prepare a product, which is your choreography reel, you have to hire a video editor, if you are just starting and do not have any other footage you will have to hire dances, studio space and a film crew to shoot your reel. The second thing is the big issue. After you have your final product – your reel, and even if it is great, you have to make the right people see it and that can be though to reach to those people high up in the industry and make them sit for a few minutes to watch your reel.
Isaac-Joseph: What advice can you give to young dancers who may want to get into the business of one day becoming a choreographer?
Tom John: Be creative; do not be afraid to do something else, to do something different. It is better to define mainstream than to follow mainstream. Choreography for me is just to show the world what goes in my head when I hear the song.
Isaac-Joseph: What have been some highpoints about being a choreographer and some down points?
Tom John: The highpoints is that I do what I love and I interact with amazing people everyday working with the finest artists in every field – pure fun. The down points is just working with difficult & rude people, and the worst thing is turning people down in auditions people that work hard to be dancers and every auditions 95% of the dancers getting out disappointed.
Isaac-Joseph: What has been one of the most challenging decisions you have had to make as a choreographer?
Tom John: The most challenging decision I had to make and I still encounter is when I do a choreography the way I think I should be and the artist comes and changes it into something different - that from my experience I know that it wouldn’t work and sometimes, can even destroy the whole entire project. When I was younger, I used to fight for what I believe in and it usually ends badly. Nowadays, I just advise once and I go with the will of the client trying to make the best out of it, because as a services provider my clients desires is the most important thing for me.
Isaac-Joseph: Your Company: TAB Dance Company INC —what can we expect from this company and what type of dancers are you looking for?
Tom John: TAB Dance Company is not like a usual theatrical dance company, the direction of the company is more towards the recording artist. The corporation gives the client piece in mind and a package deal as far as dancing. From booking the choreographer, making the contract for the choreography copyrights, auditioning the dancers, booking rehearsal space, making a video presentation and live pre-project presentation and just covering the entire dance aspect of the production in the music video/project.
Isaac-Joseph: How do you handle an artist that does not want to listen to your direction or is difficult to work with?
Tom John: As I was referring to before, I cannot force my ideas on no one that does not want to listen. What the client wants is what the client gets. However, usually after those artists develop a working relationship with me, they also, learn to trust me.
Isaac-Joseph: In the next few years, what are you hoping to achieve with your choreography?
Tom John: I can go on and on forever on this but for now I’ll have to say that since the day that I actually said to myself “I want to be a choreographer for the rest of my life” was the day I saw Usher 8701 tour, I would say choreographing a tour for Usher to close a circle =)
Isaac-Joseph: Describe the feeling you get when everything falls into place with a new dance sequence that you choreographed:
Tom John: It is an amazing feeling to see your final project completed to see down at home and watch the video you choreographed for the first time is just looking at your baby when he walks for the first time. Then seeing the video becomes “Video of the day”, “Video of the Week” & “Video of the Month” and being nominated for all kind of choreography awards is like to see your baby growing up and becoming the successful man he wants to be.
Isaac-Joseph: How does the music serve your choreographic intent?
Tom John: Well the music is my inspiration, it is the guide to my creations, I’m not the kind of choreographer that create a piece and then finds the right music, I have to be inspired from a song to create and when I do create it is very specific to that music & lyrics.
Isaac-Joseph: How do you assess your communication with your dancers regarding your choreographic
intentions and movement during live performances?
Tom John: At first I had a hard time to explain my dancers what goes in the picture of the dance that I see in my had, I had to struggle to explain exactly what I want. However, lately after teaching for the past 5 years more than a 1,000 Dance classes I find easy and quick ways to explain to dancers and even non-dancers my choreographic intentions exactly as is see them.
Isaac-Joseph: How have your family and friends help with you staying on track with your goals?
Tom John: Since I was little, I received a lot of support from my family and my friends, from going to my talent shows as a kid to recording music channels all day long to see my video premieres to going to big showcases that I choreographed and of course for always believing in me.
I would like to invite the readers to come and see my choreography reel at www.TomJohnDance.Com
Isaac-Joseph: Shameless plug time! Give the readers of our magazine any new updates about you.
Isaac-Joseph: Thank you for taking the time to do this interview for Juniorscave.com.
Tom John: See the Official Choreography Reel below:
Tom John - Official Choreography Reel
Junior's Cave Online Magazine/JC Internet Radio Staff Team,
