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Tony knows tap. Tony knows gymnastics. Tony knows percussion.
And Tony can put it all together through choreography. Tony's
choreographic credits include commercials for McDonalds and
Autolite, as well as the Superstars of Gymnastics for USA
TV Network, John Tesh Live at Red Rocks for PBS, The Mystery
and Magic of Nadia Comaneci for ABC Wide World of Sports,
and the World God Gymnastics Tour. Tony Coppola, Mesa State's
new dance instructor hopes to integrate his many talents into
the college.
Integrating Real World Experience into Education
In April, Tony is bringing in a guest choreographer who graduated
from Juliart, has his own dance company in Chicago, and has
worked on Broadway to work with students on a number for the
dance concert. Tony feels "this is a great opportunity
and provides a professional contact for our students. By bringing
in professional people from the real world we give the students
experience to simulate the professional arena. The guests
can give students the straight story on what the real working
world is like." The guests come in for less than one
week, just two weeks prior to the concert. Tony points out
"that is the way things really work. You come in, hold
auditions, pick your dancers, choreograph at a high-pace and
you are expected to learn absorb this into your minds and
bodies quickly."
Integrating Dance Into Higher Education
Mesa State has an opportunity to offer a side of dance that
other schools don't offer. For example, commercial dance is
a communicative form of dance that reaches out to people by
entertaining them. According to Tony, " The top dance
schools in the country with successful graduates are those
who are in a versatile groove. We can do that here. We have
good facilities, a nice energy building and a direct link
to contacts who can provide exposure to the real world. We
need to expand into our strong areas, commercial, jazz and
tap. In that league, we would be competing with 2-3 colleges
in the U.S., all private schools. We are blazing new territory
in the public school arena." Once a major is in place,
in the next year or so, Mesa State will attract students who
have previous training and are looking for a springboard to
their career.
Integration of Music and Sports
Tony was actively involved in sports as a kid, gymnastics,
wrestling, baseball. He even attended college on a full gymnastics
scholarship, which opened lots of doors for him. Tony's degree
is in music-percussion. He likes to see music and dance link
up and co-produce. That is exactly why Tony was highly sought
after when the big name gymnasts decided they wanted to entertain
an audience with their routines. Tony was Nadia Comaneci's
choreographer and personal trainer.
Tony feels "playing in sports was a big payoff. I now
use that experience to improve children's coordination through
different rhythm games. I use a lot of sports drills to teach
people to dance. I take activities people already know, throwing
a baseball, slam dunking a basketball, throwing a jab in boxing,
and simply time them to music in such a way that they have
to move from one move to the other. It turns into dance. "
Needless to say there is a small group of people who are working
in that genre. Tony sees his forte as integrating knowledge
from different areas to put it all together.
Tony came in the back door and reversed the order of the
dance forms that he learned. Drums led to jazz then tap. He
then filled in the gap with ballet, then modern dance. When
he wanted to go on and improve, he went out and studied with
top name performers but was disappointed when it came to tap.
Tony had an affinity for tap. Soon it became apparent that
he was better then the people he was trying to learn from.
Tony worked for three years as a tap soloist and was featured
on the Marilu Henner Show and in Las Vegas.
Integrating Cultures
Tony is half Native American and half Italian. For much of
the country those two cultures seem to clash. In conjunction
with the student council on campus, Tony is attempting to
bridge the gap with a local Columbus Day event to blend the
cultures. The event will feature Native American music and
dancers, and Italian philosophers.
Integrating Education into a Career
Tony would say to a kid coming out of high school, "You
can get there from here. We can springboard you to being a
skilled professional. Instead of kids feeling like they are
recycled into academia, they can graduate from college and
go into the real world and compete professionally with people
trained to do the same type of thing. When students graduate
they need to understand, the piece of paper or degree is important
but the training you receive is more important. How do you
stand up against someone else? What can you do? How quick
a study are you? How are your professional ethics?. What do
you know?. Who did you study under?" Take it from a guy
who has danced professionally, choreographed Nadia Comaneci's
gymnastic performances, All-American Gymnast, master teacher,
professional percussionist, internationally renowned in tap
and even has a tap shoe named after him. If he says you can
get to where you want to go with a degree from Mesa State,
then he's probably right.
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