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Hines Doesn’t Sidestep UCI Students’ Questions

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You can’t say that film star and tap artist Gregory Hines didn’t ask for it when he dropped in on dance students for an informal question-and-answer session Monday at UC Irvine.

“I want you to ask me anything, no matter what it is,” Hines told about 150 students sitting on the floor of Dance Studio 128.

Three hours later, Hines, who appeared without fee, was still answering questions, ranging from his age (43), to his film work with Mikhail Baryshnikov in “White Nights,” from his wife and children to career advice.

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Wearing a gray T-shirt and loose-fitting black pants, Hines answered every question without hesitation, with directness and modesty, leavening many answers with humor.

His muscled biceps prompted a question of whether he lifts weights.

“Yes,” he answered, saying that he began pumping iron in 1986 when he was making the film “Running Scared” with Billy Crystal.

“Billy had read the script and found out that we had to take our shirts off on page 80,” Hines said. “(Immediately) he got a trainer.”

Because they were supposed to play “really close friends,” Hines started hanging around with Crystal. “But every day he went to the gym. So I started going.”

Hines also began lifting weights.

“I liked it. I gained 15 pounds. My wife said she really liked the added weight,” he said with a bit of sly innuendo that popped up frequently during his session.

Hines called working with Baryshnikov and choreographer Twyla Tharp on “White Nights” “one of the most enjoyable experiences I had.”

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“They dance every day,” he said with admiration, since he doesn’t. “Up to that time, I thought anyone can do modern dance. I was wrong. I would sit and watch (Tharp) for an hour. She would do amazing combinations--and remember them.”

Hines, of course, created his own amazing dance combinations--his tap style has been called innovative and muscular--even before he achieved a new level of national prominence by appearing in the Broadway company of “Eubie” in 1978 and starring with Judith Jamison in the musical “Sophisticated Ladies” in 1981.

His film career has included “Wolfen” (with Albert Finney) and the Mel Brooks comedy “History of the World--Part 1,” both in 1981, Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Cotton Club,” in 1986, and last year’s “Tap.”

Of his own approach to tap, Hines said: “I (am) an improviser. That’s my theme--make it up as I go along. I dance, but not every day. I like to have a ragged edge. I don’t like to be very clean.”

Hines is even willing to let people see his mistakes, and pointed to one such sequence in “White Nights.”

“We shot it three times,” he said. “The first time, it was right on a dime. The second time, I came out of a spin a little off . . . lost balance a little. I like that.

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“The character was not taking class every day. He’s not sharp. He’s not clean.”

But Baryshnikov was horrified, Hines said. “He said, ‘You’re going to let this go on the video?’ ”

In fact, that is the version in the film.

“My style is something I’ve fought to keep,” he added. “I want to be as naturalistic as I can be.”

Hines credits Henry Le Tang, one of the country’s top tap teachers and choreographers, as his inspiration.

“Henry was my first real teacher,” he said. “He was very charismatic. I idolized him.”

The traditional way to teach tap, Hines said, was to break down the steps and learn to count them.

“Henry’s way was very different,” he said. “You learned an act, a routine. He would take us by the hand and do the steps the first time, sing the steps. We would do the steps with him. It was so easy, so natural. . . .

“The key thing with any art is in the doing. Try to get around people doing it. . . . Get around tap dancers--and steal steps. Stealing steps is crucial.”

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Although the comment drew a laugh from the audience, Hines was serious: “You only need one step. One step a week, and at the end of a year. . . .”

“The best way to steals steps is by hearing it and singing it. To this day, I steal steps from anybody. . . . Ultimately, the steps become my own. You change the shape of it. It’s a great thrill.”

Hines knows that his life as a dancer is limited and is expanding his film work as an alternative career. but he also sees family life as critical.

“I figure I have 5 years at this level. Then I would have to stop or change my style of tap. The life of a dancer doesn’t last very long. I enjoy dancing, but I also enjoy family and the life that implies.”

Although he said a love scene in “Tap” bothered his wife a little, he said it made an important statement for blacks.

“Blacks very rarely get to see ourselves in those situations--a love scene that is tasteful and passionate.”

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College, he said, “is the greatest opportunity you have to expand yourself. The longer you can wait before committing yourself, the better. I regret not doing more jazz class, more ballet.”

Hines advised the young dancers to gain as much experience as they can and suggested that they learn some business skills if they are serious about a professional career.

“Business people have very little regard for actors,” he said. “From a business point of view, I really had a lot of work to do.”

He told the students to “believe in your talent” and prepare to be aggressive.

“I try not to wait for something, but go after it,” he said. “I got very aggressive, like right up to the point of being obnoxious. . . . A lot of times, that didn’t work.”

So why did he persevere? Was it, as one student asked, because he always had visions of being a star?

“No, not being a star,” he said. “What I really wanted was to get the job.”

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