Grover Dale: Introduction to `Answers for Dancers' - Brief Article

Dance Magazine, August, 2000 by Grover Dale

Answers for Dancers, a new column by Grover Dale answering your questions about dance careers, will appear regularly online at http://www.dancemagazine.com. We asked Grover Dale to tell us a little about himself, and this is what he wrote.

IN 1953, I was a skinny young tap dancer in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, feeling the urge to try my luck in New York. I boarded a bus with $130 in my pocket and a dream in my heart. I was totally unaware that the career I was about to embark on would one day catapult me from the choruses of Broadway musicals into principal movie roles alongside Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds and George Chakiris.

It never would have occurred to me that I'd be cast in the original company of West Side Story, be discovered by Noel Coward in Paris, be praised by Judy Garland in London or be fired by Agnes de Mille in New York. Little did I imagine that I would beat out Dustin Hoffman for an acting role on a daytime soap, swim with Esther Williams on CBS's first color broadcast, teach Barbra Streisand the lindy for The Way We Were, splatter a rotten tomato on Debbie Reynolds's face in The Unsinkable Molly Brown, dine in the south of France with Orson Welles and Marlene Dietrich, or collect a Tony Award for co-directing a musical--Jerome Robbins' Broadway--with Jerome Robbins.

In 1954, I showed up at Bob Fosse's audition for The Pajama Game. I thought that it didn't matter that I was dancing in the back row. I was certain that good dancers get noticed, regardless of which line they're in. I was wrong. I didn't make the cut. For a skinny young man destined to have a lengthy career, I had a lot of learning to do.

My inexperience may have kept me hidden from Bob Fosse, but it didn't get in the way of my being cast by Michael Kidd the following year for the Broadway musical L'il Abner.

After a full season as an "employed" dancer, I auditioned for the legendary taskmaster Jerome Robbins. Forsaking my tendency to dance in the back row, I stepped forward and competed with hundreds of other dancers eager to be cast in West Side Story. Robbins not only chose me, but cast me in the featured role of Snowboy as well. Five days after signing a contract, I arrived at the first rehearsal with Snowboy's eight lines of dialogue memorized. That, I assumed, was the only preparation necessary. Once again, I had more lessons to learn.

Overwhelmed by Robbins's demands for acting skills, I realized I was in trouble. "Applying objectives" and "motivating the movement" were foreign territory to me. My natural energy and enthusiasm weren't enough. Taking on the task of saving my job challenged every resource I could muster. But by the time WSS completed its tryout in Philadelphia, my role as Snowboy was no longer in jeopardy. In fact, my name was added to the show poster.

WSS marked a turning point in my education. In the years that followed, I came to understand that preparing for the next opportunity never stops. There's always a new skill to be mastered or a new technique to be learned. Frankly, a dancer who isn't willing to stay on the path to growth might as well pick another profession.

Exposure to artists like Jack Cole, Joe Layton, Tony Charmoli, Michael Bennett, Peter Gennaro, Gwen Verdon, Onna White, Graciela Daniele, Herbert Ross, Ann Reinking, Rob Marshall, Susan Stroman and Gillian Lynne have given me as many growth opportunities as one formerly skinny young man could wish for. And as I pass along what I've learned, I hope that my "Answers for Dancers" column online at dancemagazine.com, as well as in my own magazine, Dance & Fitness, will help jump-start your dance career.

On your mark, get set, grow!