Jeff Hyslop Articles

Canada is not an easy place to be a dancer. Just being able to eke out a living as a dancer here is a sizable achievement. To go beyond that and to become a successful dancer � without becoming a member of a dance company � is close to miraculous!

As a child, dancer Jeff Hyslop always saw himself becoming part of a large, supportive company in order to earn a living. In Canada dancers are not encouraged to think otherwise, but when the opportunity to join dance companies occurred Hyslop found he didn't want it.

"I was afraid a company would want to mold me to its standards rather than let me develop my own. From as far back as I go I always wanted to do more than any dance company's repertoire allowed."

Hyslop's approach to dance now is what it always was, instinctive and natural. He embraced dancing indiscrimi-nately � all forms of dance: ballet, jazz, tap � it made no difference.

"As a child I'd go from my latest favourite dance style to my newest favourite dance style. Now I do what the job calls for."

Jeff Hyslop never set out to be a free-lancer. He only set out to do what he wanted to do. He explains this calmly. He seems almost too relaxed for a dancer. Perhaps it's because he's nursing a cold � again! Hyslop hales being sick because he doesn't slow down. He's always working. He loves to work.
Canada, it seems, is reluctant to encourage stars
Jeff shuns such labels as "prodigy" or "gifted child" but he fits the definition perfectly. He grew up in Vancouver on what appears to be British Columbia's answer to Walton's Mountain. It was Mom, Dad, Sis and Jeff� a happy, close family with no drunks, drugs or divorces. His family, of which he speaks lovingly, was supportive without being pushy. "They had no particular vested interest in my being in show business. If I had wanted to be a fireman I'm sure my parents would have enrolled me in a pole-sliding class.�

But it was dance class instead � a combination of ballet, jazz and tap � every day after school for 11 years. His teacher was the gifted Grace Macdonald of Vancouver. He remembers her with warm nostalgia. She was his mentor. �Miss Grace,� as she was respectfully addressed by all her pupils, (including her star Jeff), ran her classes rigidly � "the iron toe in the velvet shoe.�

Grace Macdonald recognized Hyslop's natural dance ability right away. After he'd been taking classes for two years, the Bolshoi Ballet visited Vancouver and Grace Macdonald arranged for Jeff to audition for them. He was chosen among dozens of hopefuls to perform with the Bolshoi across Canada. When the tour was over Jeff was offered a scholarship to travel to Russia and live, study and dance with the Bolshoi. He was only 11 years old.

For anyone wanting a career as a dancer, joining the Bolshoi was like starting at the top of the dream heap. But even then Jeff Hyslop couldn't visualize himself as a company dancer, although he accepted the Bolshoi's invitation eagerly. Learning has to be a selfish act � Hyslop wanted to learn as much as there was to know about dance � and the Bolshoi! Even at age 11 his career was his first priority.

Jeff Hyslop is lean and boyishly handsome with curly reddish brown hair faintly reminiscent of a young Garfunkel. He pulls a wayward curl unconsciously as he remembers preparing to move to Russia as a little boy. His parents were ready to let him go but only if Jeff�s mother could accompany him.

�The most amazing thing for me about that whole Bolshoi experience is not the Bolshoi itself or that scholarship. It was that my mother, at her own expense, was totally prepared to redirect the course of her life � leave husband and daughter behind and move to Russia with me! But the Russians wouldn't go for it. I guess they'd heard about Mom!"
The free-lancer's blessing is also his curse. Independence can be as much a burden as a boon. For dancers, in Canada especially, it is a fight, often to the professional bitter end, not to be typed to one style.
"Sometimes faking it is an art in itself. I'm often confident but terrified"
And if you want to and can do more than simply dance, the fight is yet more complicated. Too often a double or triple talent is a double or triple curse. A famous Canadian critic once said with all sincerity: "If you can dance � don't sing. And if you must dance and sing � don't act!" Canada, it seems, is reluctant to encourage stars � as if to succeed in show business were somehow a gaudy achievement. And to be able to do more than one thing well is considered "showy."

Jeff Hyslop, like so many others, had to leave Canada to be "recognized".

"I Can Do That" � even before the song became one of Jeff�s signature pieces from A Chorus Line it became his personal philosophy. Jeff still suffers from one weakness. He hates to turn down work. The only criteria Jeff uses in accepting jobs is that they be different from what he's done before. When Jeff toured with A Chorus Line from 1977-79, he played three different roles in London, England, Toronto, New York, San Francisco and other major US cities. It was in this blockbuster-hit musical that Jeff Hyslop burst into the national and international limelight.

"I Can Do That" was one of Jeff s front-flipping, show-stopping solos. His jubilant voice easily reached the back of the theatre as he sang the story of a little boy who knew he had to be a dancer.

His earliest stage engagements were in the chorus of Rigoletto and Aida for the Vancouver Opera. Then Jesus in Godspell, Dick in Dames at Sea, the lead dancer in Gypsy, Carousel and many more � all in Vancouver.

Jeff wanted to do more and be more.

"I'd still like to meet the people who think they know what Canadian audiences want � especially at the CBC"
"I Can Do That" � it's an apt motto, one that any free-lance performer has to be able to say and believe. Dancers especially must be able to do it all. It's an attitude for Jeff Hyslop that teeters between confidence and bravado. Any artist who doesn't believe in his own self-worth will never convince an audience he is worthy of their time and money. Jeff, who is known for his high kicks and smooth moves on stage, both as a dancer and as a choreographer, never appears to be in a hurry offstage. Sometimes you wonder if this outer calm reflects total inner control or its opposite, a precariously repressed panic.

�Sometimes faking it is an art in itself. I'm often confident but terrified. Whenever I've been scared to do something I've always known that's exactly the right thing for me to do, it's like an internal dare. Cowardice is something I've always hated the most in my life.�

Being a free-lance dancer means living an unglamorous gypsy existence � hotels, airplanes, buses, trains, bad food, loneliness and fatigue. It soon stops being exciting. It's taken its loll on Jeff in different ways. He had an earlier bout with pneumonia and now has a frustratingly low tolerance to illness. Jeff is often feeling less than in tip top shape but has never missed or diminished a performance because of it.

"Fortunately I love to travel. I would like to do it with 14 trunks and three servants. But one smart suitcase is more my style � for now!"

From 1968, at age l7, to 1971, Jeff gave up the free-lance life and joined the Charlottetown Festival. It allowed him the greatest scope in performing � and to fresh audiences. He played Gilbert in the Festival production of Anne of Green Gables at Expo '70 in Osaka, Japan and at New York City Center.

Jeff Hyslop grew up in television's golden age and was an avid fan, but not of the usual kids shows such as Lassie or Flipper. Jeff loved the entertainment show, Ed Sullivan, American Bandstand, the amateur talent shows.

"I knew I could do what they were doing on these shows. Thank God other people thought so too!"

Jeff was the lead dancer in a number of TV variety shows -- The Tommy Hunter Comedy Hour, Miss Teen Canada. He was a regular on The Raes series.

"Some of the TV shows I was on were real turkey meat -- but I don�t like to think my contribution to those shows was."

"If I told him to dance on his fingers and sing with his toes he'd be able to do it... and beautifully"

Hyslop has appeared as guest star on many TV specials in Canada, the US and England. He has worked with Anne Murray, Andre Gagnon, Rene Simard -- and Karen Kain.
"I really admire Jeff and the scope of his talent," says Canada's favorite ballerina. "I enjoy working with him a lot. He accomplishes what all dancers, all performers, aspire to do -- make it look easy, whether it s ballet or jazz. He basically just likes to have a good time. When we first worked together on the Genie Awards some five years ago we were Fred and Ginger. We started to laugh the first day we worked together. We just finished working together (in The Soldiers Tale at Roy Thompson Hall) - we're still laughing."

Jeff's dancing has been influenced by many people - Astaire, Kelly and two other gentlemen he had the pleasure of working with -- Ray Bolger and Donald O'Connor. And by a contemporary hero of Jeff's who worked with him in the Burt Bacharach Special in London - Bette Midler.

Jeff was finally given his own CBC Super-special in 1980 - the internationally acclaimed Dancin' Man.

"I had always dreamt of performing on television, and when I did that I dreamt of performing on a national special with big name stars and when I did that I wanted it all to happen on my own special! It s important to have that challenge, the stimulation of the next hurdle. But I had to push and push for it. I wanted Dancin' Man to be something I had seen very little of on CBC -- pure entertainment! I'm very proud of Dancin' Man."

The show was produced in 1980 with guest stars Karen Kain, Frank Augustyn, Ann Reinking and recent Tony award winner, Honi Coles. It was also nominated for two Actra Awards, for best writing and (Jeff) for best performance.

Ironically, Dancin' Man was an instance of when the show almost didn't go on. The pas de deux Ann Ditchburn choreographed for Hyslop and Karen Kain was a steamy duet of writhing bodies. One week before the show was to be aired the censors pulled it. Only fine negotiations saved it.

"We nearly lost the Prairies on that one. It was a very hot issue over a very hot pas de deux. There should have been a camera at rehearsals -- we would have lost the Maritimes too. But the audiences loved it. I'd still like to meet the people who think they know what Canadian audiences want -- especially at the CBC."

Dancin' Man has since been sold to over 18 countries, from Ireland to South Africa and including the United States and England.

Not many performers can cross media the way Jeff Hyslop does. Whether with the National Tap Dance Company as the lead in The Tin Soldier or as the star of his own Ritz Cracker commercials -- Jeff can do that!

Currently he is capturing the hearts and minds of pre-schoolers everywhere as the star of his own successful television series Today's Special, produced by TV Ontario, and recently sold to the United States.
The "performance bug" is different from the dance bug." Some dancers hate to perform; some performers hate to dance. Some hate the stage; others hate TV.

"I love to do it all. Television allows me to move far more people and do more of everything I like."

"Cowardice is something I've always hated the most in my life."

Today's Special is set in a department store after closing. Jeff plays Jeff, a department store mannequin who comes to life when he is wearing a magic hat. It's sort of a cross between Frosty the Snowman and Sesame Street -- teaching basic concepts and definitions in an entertaining way.

In 1982 Today's Special won the Gold Plaque for Best Educational Children's Program at the Chicago Film Festival. Having done approximately 70 of these shows, Jeff shows no sign of slowing down. "It's one sure way my daughter gets to see me."

The free-lance life has taken its toll on Jeff Hyslop, husband and father. Jeff is married to Vancouver-born singer and actress Ruth Nichol. They have one daughter, Gemma, aged 7. It has not been an easy road for the Hyslops keeping two show business careers and a family together.

"Ruth and I have a very difficult dilemma resolved in the easiest way for me. Ruth has always sacrificed her career for mine, for our family and for the kind of life we want for us with Gemma."

Jeff's earliest heroes were Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly. It's no surprise that Jeff always wanted to be in the movies. He has been in two films so far. The first was as a lead dancer in Jesus Christ Superstar, filmed in Israel and choreographed by Robert Iscove.

"Jeff Hyslop," says the Canadian-born choreographer, is one of the most facile dancers I have ever worked with. If I told him to dance on his fingers and sing with his toes he'd be able to do it.... and beautifully. And more than that, the camera loves him."

Jeff�s second film is the soon-to-be-released The Wars directed by Robin Phillips � formerly director of the Stratford Festival and now the director of Theatre London in London, Ontario. The Wars was another new challenge for Jeff. There was no dancing or singing � just straight acting.

�Of course I was very scared so I knew it was the right thing for me to do. I knew I'd turn in a performance I would be proud of with Robin directing or I'd still be out in that mud field with Robin yelling �Do it again please, Jeffrey�.�

The curse and the blessing of the free-lance life. As soon as Jeff and family were settled in their beautiful Rosedale, Toronto apartment they had to move to Vancouver � to go where the work is. They have moved six times in the last two and a half years. Just as they were settled in Vancouver Jeff accepted Robin Phillips' invitation to join Theatre London as actor, choreographer and dancer. Ruth knew she unpacked too soon.

Dancers know their performing careers are more finite than most. The mortality of every dancer looms just behind them like a shadow you can always see out of the corner of an eye.

Jeff Hyslop has now embarked on a whole new dimension in his career, as a stage actor in a repertory company, a company which, at last, may enable him to have the freedom to do it all.

�As long as I'm honest with myself and with the people in my life, it will reflect in my work. It's all just a matter of responsibility and not being afraid, isn't it?"

Taken from:
Dance Canada Danse
Autumn 1983

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