Joe Tremaine Bayou to Big Time
Louisiana, famous for its Cajun cooking and Mardi Gras, made a significant contribution to dance as well. It gave us Joe Tremaine. As inextricably bound to jazz as Bourbon is to Street, he's every bit as spicy and colorful as the food and festivities.
Joe was born and raised in northern Louisiana in a tiny plantation town with a population of about 250. Joe, much like the bayous he grew up around, was placid on the surface but teeming with energy and life underneath. Drawn to Louisiana's indigenous blues and to the emerging sounds of Elvis Presley, his enthusiasm continually rippled to the surface in a manner discouraged by his Baptist parents. Their son, it seems, wanted to dance. When parental disapproval didn't deter him, however, Joe's father decided that the prudent thing to do would be to enroll him in some sort of structured class. That way, he could at least keep tabs on what his son was picking up. Then his mother chipped in as well, pinching pennies to pay for costumes.
So there was Joe, enthusiastically shuffling and flapping his way through tap classes. "Tap helped me most with rhythm and footwork. My stuff was always very fast." (Still is.) He was also experimenting with the new, intriguing dance moves his teachers brought back from their conventions in Chicago and New York, styles attributed to names like Luigi and Gus Giordano. Joe said he didn't know what they were but he loved them. They were (to turn a song title into a description) "Le Jazz Hot!" - bluesy, sensual, soulful and intoxicating.
Eventually ready to try his luck professionally, Joe moved to New York and took any "B-list" summer stock jobs he could find to gain recognition. His big break into the big time, he said, came when June Taylor hired him. Although a member of a cast of 100, June favored eight of the dancers - Joe among them. The gig landed him the coveted Equity card and a reputation as a talented, hard worker.
One year later, Nick Castle, the famous Hollywood choreographer who worked with Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly and Judy Garland, selected Joe to be a part of his television specials in Europe. Once again, Joe stood out and it wasn't long before Nick brought him back to the States, to Los Angeles, to work on the Jerry Lewis telethon, where he spent the next two years.
L.A., of course, was a hop, skip and a jump from Las Vegas and how could he resist? Joe put together a well-received nightclub act at Caesars Palace and "played Vegas" from 1969 to 1971. He had his own backup dancers - nineteen of them - and a soon-to-be-famous country singer named Lee Greenwood as his bandleader.
Having firmly established himself as a dancer, choreographer and director, Joe returned to Los Angeles and tackled a new title: teacher. It was not until then, he said, that his own style emerged. When he opened his own studio and had the time and space to experiment, to create his own moves rather than adapt to someone else's, things began to take off. His style, he said, was a blend of disco and "funky street style."
It was popular enough, it turns out, for Hollywood to come calling, too. Dabbling in television and movies, Joe found them to be very different venues indeed, restricting dance and making his movements "strictly for-camera choreography." Although everyone else seemed pleased with the results, for Joe it was a sort of jambalaya without the spice; it was bland. Nevertheless, it cemented his stature in Hollywood and brought out the A-list stars, all eager to learn this new Tremaine jazz and incorporate it into their acts. He enjoyed working with the stars but tolerated no prima donnas. "I never had any problems with them. They knew I could make them look good." The potential troublemakers? Among the most difficult were Raquel Welch, Diana Ross and Debbie Reynolds. But, he said, he only walked out on one - Tina Louise. "I told her, 'Tina, I think you know more than I do.'"
Turning to a new venture, Joe then went into business with Julie Adler. Together, they established Tremaine Dance Conventions. Still actively involved in the competitions, Joe said he is "one hundred percent hands-on." Now in its 25th anniversary year, the ambitious national tour is gearing up for a huge gala event in Orlando in July, 2006. Joe is hoping to include former students Liza Minnelli, Paula Abdul and Oscar winner Helen Hunt in his star-studded celebratory line-up.
Then maybe, when he returns to L.A., he can take some down time and focus on his greatest passion. No, not jazz; not even another dance style. It's his dogs. A self-described "dog freak," Joe currently has three: two curly-coated retrievers and one wirehaired fox terrier. So, with this self-described dog mania, would he ever show up as a judge at the Westminster Dog Show? Although he laughed when it was suggested, don't put it past him. He already knows a thing or two about judging and whether two-legged or four-legged, he knows quality when he sees it.
Which leads us back to dancers. Quality, he believes, stands out but it also can't be faked. He advises dancers not to cut corners to try to get ahead or impress. The worst mistake a dancer can make in trying to establish a career is "being dishonest in any way. Don't pad your resume. It always comes out."
His second piece of advice? "One word - education. There's nothing worse than an uneducated dancer. Choreographers want smart dancers. I wish I'd studied a thousand more different things." And he wishes more dancers would do the same. "Nine out of ten dancers should go to college."
"List what your interests are and pretty soon you'll see a pattern. Major in that and minor in dance or vice versa." Ideally, major in dance and minor in business because, as Joe said, "It's show business. If you want to have a show, you must have the business."
Joe Tremaine has both. He blazed a path in the jazz world that took the small-town, southern boy from the bayou to the big time. "Sometimes I feel very, very selfish because it feels so good to be able to do what I do." And, he added, "If I die today, I've had a good time." Yes, well so has the jazz world. n
Names with whom Joe Tremaine has worked and/or taught:
June Taylor
Nick Castle
Jerry Lewis
Goldie Hawn
Liza Minnelli
Regis Philbin
Diana Ross
Debbie Reynolds
Paula Abdul
Raquel Welch
Cameron Diaz
Christina Applegate
Jamie Lee Curtis
Oscar winner Helen Hunt
Partial list of honors:
Lifetime Achievement Award from the Palm Desert, California "Dance Under the Stars" concert series - 2001
Award for Dance Education - 1994
"Joe Tremaine Day" in Louisiana American Choreographers Award for dance education
Best Instructional Video in the World
Professional Dancers Society Tribute Award
Dancer Educators Award
Jazz Dance World Congress award
Preliminary judge for Miss America - 1998
Preliminary judge for Miss Louisiana - 1999
National spokesman for National Dance Week - 2000