Dancing Circles Around the Box
Will Wingfield, currently in Celine Dion's "A New Day" at Caesars Palace Colosseum in Las Vegas, started out slow but caught up fast. Just nineteen years old, he didn't dance a step until he was twelve but he worked hard and learned his lessons well (somewhat an understatement, considering where he is). In fact, he attributes his versatility to his mentor, Debbie Allen.
He said, "I saw the movie 'Dirty Dancing' one day...and at the end he came and jumped off the stage and I thought that was just the most fascinating thing I had ever seen and so I just wanted to go and move and have some rhythm and take some dance classes."
The classes led to a dance team and from there to competitions. "And after that, I really fell in love with dance. Something about it touched me. Something about it spoke to me. It was something I hadn't experienced before."
Soon thereafter, a scholarship took Will to L.A. and, he said, "It was out there that Debbie Allen saw me dancing and that's where my big break came. After scholarship, she ended up asking me to move out to L.A. full-time and be a part of her academy. There, you have no option but to focus on everything. See, that's the difference between her and a lot of other places. The competition world is so sectioned off; it's in its little box. But when I moved to Debbie Allen Dance Academy, there is no box. She believes in you knowing every possible form of everything you possibly can."
Debbie became Will's legal guardian and presided over his education. "We had to finish high school, so I finished high school. I would go to high school during the day and then I would dance all evening and all weekend. And you had to maintain an A-B average or she would send you home. It's not an option. I've never worked that hard in my life."
Upon graduation, he began auditioning and landed gigs in "Dreamgirls" and "Stomp the Yard." Then one day, his agent called to tell him about an invitation-only audition for Celine Dion's show in Las Vegas. "It turned out to be a lot longer audition than I thought. You know, in L.A., you're used to auditions being two, three hours tops, sometimes maybe four. But it turned out to be a nice, hard core audition and by the end I was completely drained."
But, he said, "I loved the style right off the bat. I had been exposed to so much that I no longer had my box." And he was good at asking questions. "Most people are willing to help you or tell you. You just have to take the first step and let them know that you're interested...I think the art world all in itself is a big creative pool and you just have to tap into it. And there's so many people in this cast who have their hands in all different parts. Like in this cast, you can find somebody who writes well and has had practice writing; you can find somebody who directs well and has had practice directing; you can find somebody who's good at photography and has a great eye; you can find somebody who has the HD [high definition] camera who can tell you the best angle in the shooting; you can find the man upstairs to help you with lighting if you want to light a show in the future. You just have to reach out and touch, but you know a lot of people don't."
No matter. Will reached out and has learned lessons that he's already giving back through advice of his own. He said, "It's going to get hard and after it gets hard, it's going to get harder. And then after it gets harder, you'll probably hit a spot where you think you can't handle any more, you know. You're going to go through different phases. You're going to go through ups and downs. You have valleys and peaks, but you have to have the tenacity to succeed. You have to believe in yourself. You cannot lose sight of what it is you're trying to do. Whatever it is that you are trying to do, you have to do it but you cannot half-step. You have to do it to its fullest extent. You have to do everything that you do all the way. If you start something, you finish it and then you move on. Do not get stuck in a box. Do not be afraid to venture out and learn from each and every person you come in contact with." You have to be like Will - learn to dance circles around the box.