|
It's probably fair to say that Tonya Kay is currently best known for her
appearance as "Creature" on the TV show "Who Wants to be a Super Hero"
(Sci-Fi Network) or NBC's "America's Got Talent". Or perhaps it's due to
3 years with STOMP or touring as a dancer with Panic at the Disco. Or
maybe it's the recent appearance in the Trace Adkins music video for his
song "I Got My Game On" or in the Progressive Auto Insurance TV
commercials as a gremlin. 
Or perhaps you've not heard of Tonya at all, but suddenly realize that
you've seen her everywhere.
Tonya Kay is a fascinating woman. Dancer, musician, stunt-woman,
actress, writer, director, producer, environmental activist...the list
goes on. To sum it up, she is a one-woman cyclone of creativity, always
at the brink and always in motion, boldly dancing at the
chaotic but cutting edge of art.
It begins years ago when this 4 year old little girl from southern
Michigan started taking tap dance. She spent a few years doing local
musical theater and then, at the ripe old age of 15, snagged her first
professional gig in Detroit, performing in "The Music Man" (and still
managed to be valedictorian of her class). She hasn't stopped moving
since. In addition to the above-listed credits, Tonya toured with
country music legend Kenny Rogers, danced with the Broadway production
of the Rugrats, wrote & directed Xtreme Rhythm Theatre to rave reviews,
Mark Goodman's Tap Company (LA), played "NitroGrl" in the CBS show
"NUMB3RS", a stint with Deca Dance Hip-Hop Theatre (NYC), the favorite
"target" of knife-thrower Jack Dagger, internet-TV host, popped up in a
Rob Zombie video, has been seen across the country cracking whips, flag
dancing, & stilt-walking, produced an instructional video "How to Spin
Poi with Tonya Kay", and much, much more.
A vegan since her teens and now well-known in raw foodist circles, Ms.
Kay is a practicing pagan (& Chaote) and environmental activist who
drives a modified car (2001 Jetta) that runs on waste vegetable oil. A
prolific writer, Tonya has written almost as many articles/essays as she
has been the subject of, on topics ranging from raw food to spirituality
to environmental concerns to dance to health to teenage obesity to marketing.
She carved out a bit of time to chat. Below is part one of our 2-part
interview. Afterwards, be sure to check out her official home on the
web: www.TonyaKay.Com !
=====
1) Hi, Tonya. Welcome to Tinfoil Music. How's the weather in LA today
(or are you even in LA today)?
Tonya - Merry meet, David! I am indeed in Hollyweird this evening and
it is chill, like the breath of moist midnite itself. The perfect time
of year to rest and regenerate, as winter implores us so to do.
2) You spent most of your adult life living as a gypsy - I think at one
point you mentioned that you hadn't paid rent anywhere in 5 years.
Recently, however, you moved to LA and moved into an apartment. Now that
you've been there for a few months, I guess it's fair to ask: Do you
prefer your current "nomad from a home base" approach, or your former
"gypsy" approach?
Tonya - Well aren't you delving deeply into my psyche right from the
get-go, David.
Freedom is what I am after. The true test of a strong mind, or an adept
Chaote, is the ability to adhere to a system fully without owing
allegiance to it. The Buddhists call it non-attachment. Well, from the
outside, my gypsy personality appeared free to onlookers, and for the
most part I was - I (still) haven't paid rent in 7 years, I own very few
possessions, in fact, I don't really have a concept of ownership at all,
I have successfully liberated my identity from finances and ... to a lot
of people that is freedom. But at a certain point, when your body is
dropping out from underneath you from years of living so without a plan,
so trusting in the Universe, so in the flow that you literally call
whatever friend in whatever city you are in only 4 hours before you hope
they'll allow you to sleep on their couch that nite - at that point, I
had to stop and ask myself if freedom wasn't my cage. There's a time
when you are adventuring and really living life, and there's a time when
you are just running. In my case, from commitment and intimacy. As
soon as I saw that pattern might be manifesting, I decided that I was
"good" at carpet-bagging and didn't want to loose that prowess, but I
also wanted to be "good" at committing and being available, as well.
And wow - watch how the career alters when you are perceived as
available and committed - especially in LA film and television! It's an
interesting way of doing business, this highly social talent search.
People really do invest in someone they feel they feel will be there
next week. It's been a spiritual journey for me, this forced exploration
of loosing my elusiveness. It has been painful and an extreme burden at
times, too. But one day last year, I broke through: I placed 5 books
on a a shelf in my dining room and didn't feel like that meant anything.
It didn't mean I had to stay where those books were. It didn't mean
the books' contents represented something about my lifestyle. It didn't
mean that I had to work a job I didn't enjoy to make sure there was a
shelf always there for holding books. It didn't mean anything at all.
That is when I realized true freedom. That is when I successfully broke
the location/dislocation cage. Now I can be somewhere or be anywhere
and know that I am...neither of those two things. I am not a gypsy and
neither am I stationary. But I am "good" at both, owing no allegiance
to either, able to shift with ease between the two according to the
situation that serves each identity best.
Get the freedom in this: in 2007 I was "committed and available" to Los
Angeles and my career bloomed because of it, yet somehow I still
explored Kauai twice, Japan once, and seven United States! Committed or
elusive - or either at the exact right time?
Now that I've broken the location/dislocation cage, I am working on the
space/time contingency. What freedom will be reached when I know, with
physical authenticity, that I can choose to adhere to the alarm on my
cell phone or completely disregard the aging process altogether? Freedom
is what I am after.
3) You've done a lot of TV work lately: Progressive ads, Trace Adkins
music video, Sci-Fi Channel's "Who Wants to be a Superhero?". This is in
stark contrast to a career primarily based around live performance, from
early local theater gigs to 3 years with Stomp to your recent tour with
the band Panic! at the Disco. Are you consciously shifting your focus to
studio projects, or is it just a bit of serendipity?
Tonya - I need to grow. Growth is motion and stagnancy is death. I'm not
ready to die yet, so...I guess I'll grow.
I feel fortunate and fulfilled that not only have I been blessed to lead
successful careers in Chicago, New York, and San Francisco, but my
venues have been as varied as my wanderings: from dinner theatre to rock
and roll tours, from concert dance to performance art. Heck, I even got
to work my "big dream" gig: STOMP. It was the "big dream" - you know the
one that you always fantasized about in highschool? How many 25 year
olds can actually say they've lived their "big dream"? And what does one
do afterwards, where there is no "big dream" left to work towards?
You start doing whateveritisyoudo for the pure fun of it! I could have
been ruined or spoiled, but instead I developed a performance mentality
that accepts only people who intrigue me, situations that excite me,
material that engages me, or some combination of adventure therein so I
can elicit the most fun.
4) Let's go back in time for a moment. You started tap-dance lessons at
age four, and had your first performance at age six in local musical
theater at home in Michigan. Was tap-dancing your first study in dance,
and do you remember what the production was?
Tonya - Tap dancing is the foundation of my performance journey. And
today, it is my second language, next to English. I filmed a music video
in Japan last year and on set, there was a definite communication
barrier between the 5 Los Angeles dancers and the other 30 Japanese cast
and crew. Then I arranged a gig teaching tap at a local Tokyo studio
and...we all finally spoke the same language: rhythm. There was no
communication barrier at all in my tap classes. We spoke, laughed,
understood, applied, and developed relationships through the music we
made with our feet. Bless the universal language of tap dance. I am
still a hoofer today.
The first production I did at age 6 in my local community theatre, was
"Oliver!" and I remember it well. I joke that my family was into
theatre and just didn't want to get a baby sitter while for the duration
of the run. But really, I could have asked for nothing more growing up -
imagine a family singing and dancing around the house to "practice"
their roles, but really, just having a good time in the arts from the
get go. My introduction to theatre established performing as a very
family-oriented, expression-supporting, silliness. Let's face it - if
you aren't having a good time doing something, why are doing it anyway? 
5) After that, it was a series of gigs until, at age 15, you landed a
job in "The Music Man" in Detroit - your first professional gig. How
long after that until you went on the road, and what was your first
touring project?
Tonya - Imagine a community theatre/dance studio raised farmtown girl
getting an actual professional job at the Fischer Theatre, a major
venue, in Detroit, MI. I had just seen "Cats" on that stage the year
prior and now, definitely no stranger to the stage, was getting to share
my passion and talents to 2,500 audience members, rather than the 250
back home - what a rush! And what does a 15 year old farmtown girl do
with a real paycheck every week? I honestly had no idea what to do with
it so I bought myself a CD player (the first one in our home) for my
birthday and an Alice In Chains CD.
After I graduated valedictorian of my high school class, I opted to not
continue on with college or University. I ironically moved to a
neighboring city and while teaching aerobics and working a slew of
factory jobs I inevitably got fired from after only two weeks'
employment, I made weekly roadtrips to the big city of Chicago. It took
three hours for me to drive there and the auditions I would attend
usually lasted about an hour and a half. With the return trip, that's
six hours of driving for one little audition and a whole lot of
determination. Determination (or denial!) paid off quickly though, when
I booked my first touring production, "The Tap Dance Kid". I was 17
years old and out on the road with a professional musical theatre
production having the time of my life. Discovering that this heart and
soul is made for gypsy wanderings and getting to tap dance and be
applauded for it.
On a side note, the costume designers of the "Tap Dance Kid" tour really
wanted the entire cast in tap shoes all colors of the rainbow for one
number. But no manufacturer makes such a thing. So the costume
designers went through several mock ups before deciding on rainbow
Converse sneakers. However, the rubber soles on the kicks disallowed
any application of tap screws, so the designers hot-glued thin pieces of
wood to the toes and heals and attached the taps to to those.
Unfortunately, the hot glue tap shoe design held up for a week of
rehearsals, but not a second more. On our opening nite during the big
full-cast production number, those taps were shooting off our shoes like
silver bullets aimed at any high-price ticket holder in the first four
rows! You can't write situational comedy like that!
6) One word: Stomp.
Tonya - STOMP for me, was that show that I always dreamed of doing when
I was a teenager living in rural Michigan. Everyone has one: the big
dream. And you use that big dream to fuel your path in life. When I
was 18 and tap dancing in a Chicago musical theatre production of "Crazy
For You", I was dreaming of making beats in Off-Broaway's STOMP. When I
was 23 and performing in the New York City modern dance company, Axis
Danz, I was still seeing myself someday in STOMP. STOMP was the big dream.
A tapper since age 4, I know I was good with rhythm and a professional
dancer since age 15, I knew I could handle STOMP's choreography. Out of
1,000 people at the Manhattan open call, they hired 3 women - one was
little old, farmtown me. The world's most proficient percussionists and
dancers were there to snag a spot in STOMP and that day I learned
tangibly that what gives one the right to make music is honing of a
technical skill, but what gives one the right to stand on stage in front
of 3,000 people performing said skill, is the honing of the "spark".
There was not a day in my STOMP career, when the lights came up after
the grand finale, the entire cast dramatically lying on the stage chests
heaving from the finale's exertion, that I did not think to myself, "I'm
in STOMP. I'm really in STOMP." Gratitude is an euphoric state.
7) In addition to working as a hired gun in various TV, video, film, &
touring projects, you've tried your hand at producing & directing. Can
you tell us a little about your project Xtreme Rhythm Theater, and will
you be exploring more creation/production in the future?
Tonya - Xtreme Rhythm Theatre is a full-length all-rhythm production I
wrote, choreographed and directed in 2001. I had just finished my
training with the Off-Broadway aerial production, "De La Guarda", when
the Theatre For Youth in southern Michigan contacted me for a creative
residency from New York. Thanks to grants from the Theatre For Youth's
local and state support of the arts, a three-week rehearsal/creation
process and a two week performance process was funded.
There was a lot of multi-tasking going into bringing a part of my
imagination to life on stage, from holding auditions to casting each and
every of the 22 performers, ages 5 to 23. There was set design,
lighting design, and production advertising. There was scheduling,
costuming and...oh, the whole making up a full-length all-rhythm
theatrical script and then teaching it to these talented young
performers who were more skilled at traditional song and dance than say,
expressing a story-line through beats on their bodies, like a human drum
kit.
The story of Xtreme Rhythm Theatre is literally the story of my
escolades living as a street dancer in New York City. Again, told
without words entirely through rhythm. Xtreme Rhythm Theatre is an urban
drum circle, a glo stick rave, a live rock concert and is available
still for universities, fine art camps and semi-professional theaters
for production even now. After seeing the way this material changed 22
young performer's lives through rhythm, I think it essential that every
young performer truly experience that "they, too, are a star". Xtreme
Rhythm Theatre is a challenging magickal experience that does just that.
I fully intend on exploring more creation/production in the future, as
well as right now. I am always doing something creative and at this
point in my life, I really enjoy collaborating with other artists. I
don't have to be the writer, choreography, director, designer and crew
member, too. I would prefer to connect with others who are really good
at something and allow them the freedom to do their role in our project
far better than I could or would have time for.
I am really proud of a project I just released called the Raw
Nutritional Analysis eBook (http://kayosmarket.com). As far as creative
projects go, it is an inspiring example of three vastly diverse talents
offering their expertise to one masterpiece. I focused on philosophical
writing with a powerful emotional/intellectual appeal. I also added the
image that would present this eBook as noteworthy to the media or press.
Joanna Steven, co-author, added her nutritional science expertise with
solid facts and research. The graphic designer, MC Miller, tied all the
information together visually in a way that allow the reader to be
affected most deeply. In that way, the Raw Nutritional Analysis eBook
has been overwhelmingly successful for me as a project producer. Right
now, I am working on a project far larger: comic book publication!
8) Despite the wide range of projects in which you've been involved -
that includes many extremes like stilt-walking and bubble rolling and
knife-throwing and whip-cracking and even flying (De La Guarda) in
addition to the more traditional roles - all things seem to revolve
around Tonya Kay, the Dancer. Deca Dance, XRT, Axis Danz, Peggy Spina
Tap, and more. Is this an accurate notion, and can you talk a bit about
how dance has prepared you for the other creative endeavors in which
you've been involved?
Tonya - When asked to identify my career, I choose the words "performing
artist". It does not matter to me if I am singing, acting, dancing,
reading poetry or playing leap frog, as long as I get to affect an
audience. To be a performing artist, it is not enough to have a talent.
You must also have the impetuous need to powerfully communicate that
talent with other people. You've seen famous musicians who won't even
look up from their drum kit while on tour: talented musician, but not a
performing artist. You've seen dancers who can do 8 pirouettes en
pointe center stage, but then an ensemble dancer will simply take a
cross downstage and you can't take your eyes off her. Why? Because she
has the spark of a true performing artist. I consider it my job to hone
in on and nurture, explore, develop the spark. For true performing
artists, every role revolves around their talent and then the unique
something the personalize it with. When you say that my roles revolve
around "Tonya Kay", I am flattered because to me, that means my spark is
shining brightly as a recognizable and memorable aspect of my performance.
So what is dance for me? Dance is my passion. Dance is my self
expression. Dance is my therapy. Dance is my exorcism. Dance is my
mojo. Dance is my fitness. Dance is my language. Dance is my reason
for living. When the whateveritis speaks through me, it is while I am
dancing. It does not matter to me if I am getting paid to dance or not
(though I have been extremely lucky that others enjoy watching me dance
and therefore I do get paid). Even if I am making my money acting in a
feature film, or forsaking "work" altogether and taking holiday in the
southern Caribbean, I will be groovin at the club, jammin in my hotel
room, tap dancing on the escalator, or taking class at the studio. Dance
has nothing to do with my career. And everything to do with it. Dance
is the reason I know I have a spark to share at all.
9) You also produced an instructional DVD, "How to Spin Poi with Tonya
Kay". How did that come about?
Tonya - I personally became addicted to poi as a dance form at a pagan
festival in Indiana, 2002. A group of grungy young witches pulled me
into their private circle and left my jaw agape as I beheld the
dangerous and sensual circles of fire they spun in intricate patterns
around their muscular bodies. Immediately I began practicing the
technique of spinning poi and as a professional dancer, noticed right
away a new power in my body's core and a noteworthy definition of my
deltoids and upper back. To my delight, the act of spinning weighted
circles around oneself not only creates a space in which, while the body
is fully engaged, the mind is lulled into meditative trans, but also is
just so much genuine fun, I don't even realize I've "worked out".
Poi spinning originated in New Zealand where the Maori Tribe warriors
spun rocks tied to rope for strength training before battle and the
Maori Tribe women spun poi to increase dexterity and coordination in
their fingers for weaving. Though poi's roots are certainly documented
in New Zealand, the Western amalgamation seen at beaches, bonfires, drum
circles, warehouses and rooftops across the globe today, likely draws
also from the Argentinian self-defense using bolederas as well as the
Polynesian food preparation where the taro root is tied in leaves and
dashed against rocks until it reaches the paste-like consistency of the
finger food we know as "poi".
Ironically, a hobby/workout that I literally taught myself by spinning a
consistent 15 minutes a day for several years, is now what friends make
a big deal out of me doing at parties and what audiences pay me to do
professionally. I've spun fire poi in Vancouver Canada, on the Turks
and Caicos Islands, at Hollywood's Paramount Studios and on NBC's
America's Got Talent. I felt so strongly as an artist and an athlete
about this exercise, that I began teaching others how to spin in
workshops across the country. Then, when a critical mass of students
and fans had suggested, "you need an instructional dvd", I listened. The
How To Spin Poi DVD (http://kayosmarket.com) has helped the people I
can't reach in person, find the core strength, self-expression and the
magick poi has offered me for themselves.
 10) You're also known in raw food and environmental circles. Let's start
with food: You were a vegetarian at age 8, a vegan by age 17, and then
switched to raw vegan a few years ago. Why did you stop eating meat,
then animal products (dairy, etc.), and why have you recently stopped
cooking your food?
Tonya - I remember reaching into the cage and petting her. Her nose
softer than kitten paws, her eyes magnificent brown without the ability
to lie. Grandma then took my hand and led me back through the
slaughterhouse where vividly I remember realizing, in an eight year
old’s way, what went on between the holding cages and the freezer. I’m
glad my grandparents, beautiful and loving people, owned a
slaughterhouse in addition to farming their 130 acres. I wish everyone’s
grandparents owned one.
So at eight years old I became vegetarian by default. I was not yet
mature enough to have opinions on animal liberation or environmentalism.
I was not old enough to comprehend mortality and therefore desire
health. But I was emotionally developed enough, even at eight, to know
that when I saw meat on my plate, I felt nauseous. I became vegetarian
for emotional reasons, the great side effect being a feeling of freedom.
Even an eight year old can digest spiritual lessons.
I dove into veganism in much the same unconscious way. This time as a
test of late teen will power and desire for experimentation (experience
being the only valid way I have found to gain wisdom). In the first
month after cutting out dairy and eggs, I lost 10 pounds off my already
thin, 19 year old dancer frame, experienced again the unexpected side
effect of a new level of spiritual freedom, and for the next 2 years
existed as what I call an “uneducated vegan”: completely unaware in the
Midwest farmlands that substitutions such as rice milk, soy burgers or
wheat gluten even existed, while the mainstay of their ingredients were
being grown by the acre in my very back yard.
Hence began my true health quest marked by years of personal
experimentation. Protein smoothies and apple cider vinegar fasts,
homemade herbal tonics and in-depth aromatherapy, organic urban
gardening and daily ritual added to my wisdom. At 23 I had eliminated
refined sugars and grains, and was consuming a 50% raw diet already,
based on intuitive health practices.
Raw food as a lifestyle came again completely by accident when I was
performing aerial stunt work in the Off-Broadway production, "De La
Guarda" in Las Vegas. A dear friend took me to The Raw Truth Café and
mentioned how the raw diet had cured her of a major health concern. I
was challenged that a health seeker such as I, had never heard of this
raw food movement, and I was inspired when I tasted The Raw Truth’s
cuisine – how colorful, how flavorful, how nourished I felt right away.
Determined to not become the “uneducated raw foodist”, I took the next
year to read books on the subject and note in my daily life what would
soon be changing. I started the raw food diet in August of 2001 as
another personal health experiment. I thought I was healthy as a whole,
cooked vegan, but transition to raw foods has brought miracles to my life.
(Stay tuned for part 2 of our interview with Tonya Kay!)
|
I'd like to read another!!