Gone Crazy

Stacie Strong | Jul 21, 2008 | there are 0 comments

Tiffany Mehling performing with Chicago Tap Theatre last December in "Santa Baby." Photo by Josh Hawkins.

How many of us ever feel like we've gone crazy over dance? One professional dancer - Tiffany Mehling of Chicago Tap Theatre - has done just that for a role in the recent Chicago production of "The Hourglass and the Poisoned Pen," which will appear in the New York Musical Theater Festival on September 26-28, 2008. Read on to hear about how Tiffany went a bit psycho on stage.

Tiffany Mehling took her first dance class at the age of three, but didn't make it to her year-end recital (which she regrets to this day) and didn't take up tap again until she was in the third grade. She's been doing it ever since, studying a variety of styles from many different teachers, including a former Rockette and one of Henry LeTang's proteges. She went on to become a dance major at Northwestern University, where she studied tap with both Billy Siegenfeld of Jump Rhythm Jazz Project and Bril Barrett of M.A.D.D. Rhythms. She has generously made time to answer some of our questions.

SS: Wow! It sounds like you've had the opportunity to take from a lot of different people. What would you say is your personal style of tap?
TM: Well, I have always been a little loud (if I had a penny for every time my teacher told me the floor is my friend, I'd be rich). Because I liked to kill the floor, I had an affinity for a more hoofin' style of tap but I've always appreciated the performance quality of other styles, so I've always been eager to try new things.

SS: How did you get involved with Chicago Tap Theatre?
TM: My senior year at Northwestern I took a few classes at Giordano's Dance Center from Mark [Yonally, Artistic Director of Chicago Tap Theatre]. His technique was so different from anything I'd ever done, and it was great to finally have a challenge. Not only is his technique different from the technique I had learned previously, but his musicality was different as well. I was used to hearing the bass line of the music when tapping, and growing up playing the trombone certainly enhanced this. Mark is very focused on the melody - what a big change for me. It has been a challenge to retrain my ear to listen to the melody instead of the bass, but I love a challenge.

SS: What did you know about the company before you auditioned?
TM: I knew a little about Mark's style from taking classes, and I had seen a couple of the company's shows ("Liaison Deux" and "Changes: A Science Fiction Tap Opera").

SS: What was the audition process like?
TM: CTT's audition was pretty intense - I think it was at least three hours long. There were a number of combinations, some rep, and a combination that focused on acting. Mark was really picking on me. He knew that I spent four years studying with Billy at Northwestern, and he was really pushing me to show him that I can do more than just that style. It felt good to know that he was paying attention to me in the audition, but I was also worried that I would not show him that I was a versatile performer.

SS: Which part of the audition process was easiest/hardest for you?
TM: The hardest part was probably the acting combination. In order to really act, you can't think about the feet, they just have to be in your body. But, when you've just learned a combination (especially one of Mark's combinations) it's difficult to not think about the feet.

SS: What is it like, rehearsing and performing in a professional company? Is it what you expected?
TM: Dancing with CTT has been a dream come true. When I graduated from college and moved away from Chicago to work in politics, I thought I was giving up on my dream to dance professionally. When I moved back to Chicago and was able to dance with CTT, it was amazing! The everyday stuff is pretty much what I expected (it's not all that different from my experiences as a dance major in college), but there have been a few really memorable experiences. Dancing in front of over 15,000 people at Lollapalooza was definitely a rock star moment, touring in France was unreal and seeing your picture or name in a magazine or newspaper is pretty cool. Although these unexpected opportunities were really great, my favorite part has just been the fact that I'm able to keep dancing. I can't imagine life without tap dance, and I'm sure I'll find a way to keep it a part of my life for a long time.

SS: What part of your training prepared you best for CTT?
TM: This is a hard question. I don't know if there's any one thing that prepared me the most. I think we are who we are because of the culmination of all our experiences, so I guess a little bit of everything.

SS: What kind of training do you wish you would have had to make dancing with CTT easier?
TM: I definitely wish I had more acting experience prior to dancing with CTT. I have never taken an acting class and I really wish I had. Also - tap dancing has always been pretty easy for me. I never really had to practice to learn or to remember steps. This certainly was not the case when I started dancing with CTT. It was kind of like in college when I had to learn to study. It's a skill, and because it was a skill that I never needed before, it took some time to learn.

SS: What's the hardest part of performing with CTT?
TM: The hardest part for me is that they're all such great actors - I have to really step it up to work alongside them.

SS: What do you do to help yourself with that?
TM: It's funny where you find your inspiration. I'm currently in graduate school studying clinical social work, and last quarter I took an adult psychopathology class. In the Hourglass, I play a worker in a newsroom and was charged with creating a quirky character for the scene. I was able to use my study of psychopathology as inspiration for my character. When I'm that character, I'm a little agoraphobic, paranoid and I think I may even hear voices. It's fun to be crazy! Who would have thought grad school would help me with my tap dancing?

SS: What's your favorite role or piece to dance with CTT and why?
TM: My favorite piece thus far was "I Fall in Love Too Easily" [by Chet Baker] in Mixology this year. I have done a lot of happy tap, and I really enjoyed doing something more melancholy with that piece. Overall I think I'm a pretty happy/high energy person so I really like cheerful numbers, but I really related to "I Fall" and hope to get to do more work like this in the future. It reminded me of some of the modern work I did in college that I like so much.

So, that's Tiffany Mehling's take on the rigors of professional dance. Thanks very much for sharing your insights and telling us about a whole new way of going crazy for dance!