Jazz Dancer Extraordinaire

By Nancy Galeota-Wozny

Performer, master teacher, and convention director–Joe Tremaine is in a triple-threat class of his own.

What do Paula Abdul, Mary Tyler Moore, and Helen Hunt have in common? They all studied with jazz dance legend Joe Tremaine. The list of Hollywood royalty that learned their smooth moves from Tremaine is mind boggling. His influence is everywhere—from TV to film and live shows. After building a reputation as the dancer trainer to the stars, he reigns as one of the West Coast pioneers of conventions. His company, Tremaine Conventions, recently celebrated its 25th anniversary.

This revered dancer’s office is filled with plaques, trophies, and other honors. His impressive list of accolades includes the Fosse Award for dance education from the American Choreography Awards (1994), the Gus Giordano Award from the Jazz Dance World Congress, and Dance Educators of America Jazz Award (1992). In October, at the Professional Dancers Society’s annual Fall Ball, he will honored for his lifetime contribution to dance.

It’s a long road from a tiny town in northern Louisiana to Los Angeles, but Tremaine recalls every step of the way. When he was teenager in 1955, his mother used to drive him 35 miles from his tiny hometown of Oak Ridge to Monroe for a weekly dance class. She scrimped and saved to afford classes. “Back then it was jazz, tap, and some ballet,” he says. “I sat on my back porch and learned ballet terms from a book.”

Tremaine credits his Monroe teachers, Mary Lou and Pat Young, for an early exposure to jazz dance. “They would attend conventions in Dallas and study with the likes of Gus Giordano and Al Gilbert,” he says. “They would return and teach us these wild isolations using every part of the body; it was the best stuff ever.”

An avid reader of trade magazines, Tremaine found a summer-stock ad for apprentices for Little Theatre on the Square in Sullivan, Illinois. With a homemade photo and resume, the 18-year-old made the cut. “I had all the wrong clothes,” he jokes. “And I looked really stupid.” That summer he sang, danced, and sewed curtains, sharing a room with none other than actor Alan Alda. Big names from New York came to star in the musicals, and the experience gave the budding performer his first taste of show biz. He claims it changed his life.

With his interest in dance intensified by that experience, the young man wanted to go to New York to dance. His father, however, insisted that he go to college, and New York had to wait. It was a dilemma he has much to say about even today. “Some kids need to head straight to New York, but most need a college education.” In retrospect, Tremaine is glad he got one. He majored in sociology and psychology and danced in musicals all through college (he still sees every musical he can) and ran a studio to help pay for his education. That was his first taste of teaching.

After college he headed to New Orleans to perform and address the gaps in his dance training. There he received top-notch ballet training from Valerie Smith, a former Ballet Russe dancer. The State of Louisiana is proud to claim him as one of its own, creating “Joe Tremaine Day” in 1993 to honor its famous dance son.

Tremaine finally hit New York at age 22 with $250 in his pocket and not a single contact. With a room at the YMCA on 34th Street and a temp job at the Olsten Agency (he could type 100 words per minute), he was able to afford classes with the best teachers in town. The ’60s were the heyday of jazz dance, and Tremaine studied with all the greats: Luigi, Matt Mattox, June Taylor, and Claude Thompson. “Thompson was my mentor,” he says. “I identified with him, and he was working with Alvin Ailey at the time and connected me to that whole world.” Eventually he found an apartment with Earl LaMartiniere; they have been friends ever since. LaMartiniere was working with Chita Rivera at the time, and thus began Tremaine’s lifelong friendship with the Broadway star.

A summer-stock job doing musicals along the Cape Cod circuit ramped up his career. “Once I got my Equity card I never stopped working,” he says with pride. He never had to temp again.

Tremaine’s next move would again change his life. In 1966 he auditioned for a show called Mardi Gras, directed by the queen of TV dance, June Taylor. With a cast of 100 and Louis Armstrong, Guy Lombardo, and Joel Grey starring, Tremaine knew he would be up against some stiff competition. “It was the hardest audition I ever did, and it lasted two days, but I nailed it,” he says. “Taylor loved people with ballet training who [could] tap and freestyle.” Tremaine could do it all—ballet, tap, jazz—and look great doing it. Later, Taylor cast him as one of eight male dancers on The Jackie Gleason Show.

“I loved June; she influenced my career tremendously,” Tremaine says. “She was a mentor of mentors to me. Working with her was a turning point in my life.” Years later, when he was well entrenched in his own success, he wrote Taylor a letter thanking her for her profound influence. It took him nearly a year to do it. “June [said she] cried when she got the letter and read it over and over,” he says. “If I ever did anything right in my life, that was it.” Taylor died four months later. Nowadays, when Tremaine has to make a tough decision to make, he imagines Taylor sitting on one shoulder and Rivera on the other.

Dancing for Nick Castle’s TV specials in Europe provided the next challenge. Hired on the spot in 1967, he set off for his next destination: the Netherlands. After the first day Castle called him into his office. “I was shaking in my boots,” Tremaine says. “I figured I was doing something wrong.” On the contrary, Castle loved his work and asked a question that would change his life forever: “Would you move to L.A.?” Tremaine flew to Louisiana, bought a car, and headed west. And thus began his ascent as a leader of West Coast jazz dance.

Dancing in several variety shows, Tremaine crossed paths with Donald O’Connor, Carol Burnett, Jonathan Winters, Jack Benny, and other big-name actors. In 1969 he formed his own act, “Black, White and 14,” with Claude Thompson, opening at the famous L.A. nightclub The Factory, with a memorable introduction by Jerry Lewis. The show played in Las Vegas for two years.

Meanwhile, people in L.A. were begging him to start teaching. His performing career was being to wind down and he had already been coaching famous entertainers, so teaching seemed a natural progression for him. In 1971 he opened the Joe Tremaine Dance Center in the famous Moro Landis Building. “Everybody who was anybody rehearsed there,” he says. “It was the nucleus of dance in L.A.” His school catered to adults and professionals, although he admits letting Paula Abdul and Helen Hunt take class as teenagers. Famous for haunting the nightclubs and learning the latest disco steps, Tremaine would incorporate this fresh material into his classes. “I would watch what people were doing and put it into a theatrical form,” he says. “If you wanted to know the hottest new steps, you came to me.” For 27 years professional actors, dancers, directors, choreographers, and singers took classes at his studio. It was the place to stay on top of your game. Eventually Tremaine became known as the dance teacher to the stars. He’s worked with Cameron Diaz, Diana Ross, Goldie Hawn, Debbie Reynolds, Connie Stevens, Barry Manilow, and Raquel Welch, to name a few.

Tremaine’s reputation spread across the country during the 1970s, and offers to teach came pouring in from Dance Educators of America, Dance Masters of America, Dance Caravan, and Dance Olympus. He claims he was the highest-paid dance teacher in the U.S. during those years. After a few years of working at competitions, he decided to start his own company. In 1981 he paired up with savvy businesswoman Julie Adler and started Tremaine Dance Conventions.

Tremaine’s company was a first-class operation with an upscale edge right from the start. His plan was “to take the real world to the hinterland,” and for the past 25 years his mostly sold-out conventions have proved that it’s working. He uses a state-of-the art music system, prefers ballroom hotels to high school auditoriums, and hires only the best teachers. Participants are exposed to working professionals during the convention, who then serve as judges for the competition. His teachers are so much in demand that the convention’s roster changes from city to city to accommodate their busy schedules. At the end of the weekend the faculty does a 30-minute show for the participants. “The kids get to see us doing what we are teaching,” says the master of jazz. “Nothing can replace being so close to the real thing.”

Tremaine likes the chemistry between competition and classes. “My philosophy is to have the students experience classes with top award-winning dancers and choreographers. If they just win a trophy, what have they accomplished?” he asks. “But competition is important. Something clicks in a dancer’s head when they compete; they progress much faster.” However, competing isn’t mandatory. The company’s rules state that if you compete, you must also participate in the convention, but those who do not wish to compete can sign up for the classes only.

Tremaine Dance Conventions now travels to 25 cities and serves more than 30,000 dancers annually. “I must be a crazy person,” Tremaine laughs. “I [have] never missed a city—and we do 21 cities a year—in 25 years. I have been there for every number.” Eventually the success of his convention company and the rigors of road life required him to close his studio in 2000. The current generation of Tremaine-trained dancers is thriving in L.A., and many serve on his convention faculty. One of his best known protégés, Barry Lather, choreographs for big names like Mariah Carey, Ashlee Simpson, and Usher.

In July 2006, during his national finals in Orlando, Florida, Tremaine threw the dance party of the century to celebrate his company’s 25th anniversary. It included a gala dinner for 1,624 people dressed to the nines (even the youngest dancers donned gowns and tuxes), four multimedia screens, and a red carpet. Etiquette classes during the week helped students show off their best gala manners. The star-studded show included Broadway legends Ben Vereen, Christina Applegate, Chita Rivera, and Liza Minnelli, a special appearance by the hot hip-hop group the Groovaloos—and Tremaine, who performed a tap number. Several of his peers sent congratulations, including fellow jazz dance icon Gus Giordano. He wrote in a moving tribute, “I have known Joe Tremaine for many years. He has been an essential part of Jazz Dance World Congress since it began in 1990. I’ve always thought of Joe as my West Coast counterpart. Of course, his teaching, his influence, and his importance are international. He has trained many dancers at all levels and the standard has always been high.”

Tremaine was moved beyond words by his friends’ tributes. “It was the most amazing event I have ever been to, and I have been to a lot,” he says with justified emotion. “When Liza sang ‘The Music That Makes Me Dance,’ I almost fell off the stage. We have been friends for 40- something years.” Minnelli spent four days at nationals and even taught a routine from Liza With a “Z.” It was an affair to remember for all who attended.

As long as there is music, Tremaine believes, people will love to dance. He is grateful for the ever-expanding dance competition business and shows like Dancing With the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance for keeping the competition element in the public eye. He advises young dancers to stay versatile by studying all forms of dance, and to keep growing and discovering new things. “Know your forte and make the most of it,” he advises. “And remember, dance training is life training.”

Photo captions (top to bottom): Joe Tremaine (center), surrounded by the current “core” faculty members (photo by Gilles Toucas Photography); Joe Tremaine at Debbie Reynolds Studios in North Hollywood, CA, in the late 1970’s (photo by Rudy del Campo); Helen Hunt (left) and Darcy DeMoss (right) with Joe Tremaine at the the Professional Dancers Society Fall Ball 1995 at the Sportsman’s Lodge Hotel in Studio City, CA; Cameron Diaz and Joe Tremaine on the set of The Sweetest Thing in Chinatown in Downtown Los Angeles, CA; Ben Vereen, Chita Rivera and Joe Tremaine at the Tremaine Convention 25th Anniversary National Finals Gala on July 10, 2006, in Orlando, Florida; Joe Tremaine’s Las Vegas lounge act, “Black, White & 14” (from left to right: Bert Woods, 14 Smith, and Joe Tremaine); Joe Tremaine with Chita Rivera (right), and her daughter, Lisa Mordente (left).