Travis Wall Shapes Dance with New Show

In 2006, 18-year old Travis Wall appeared as a competitor on the competition reality show "So You Think You Can Dance." Wall's humble air and spectacular talent made him an instant fan favorite. Since Season 5 of the popular summer show, Wall has returned as a choreographer and has since earned four Emmy nominations for his work.

In the meantime, he appeared in the Disney film "Bedtime Stories" directed by "So You Think You Can Dance" judge Adam Shankman, assisted in choreographing the Academy Awards with celebrated choreographers Mia Michaels and Brian Friedman, and choreographed and performed in a piece on ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" with New York City Ballet principal ballerina Tiler Peck. He has also choreographed numbers for the MTV Video Music Awards, the film "Step Up Revolution," and a floor routine for Olympic All-Around Champion Nasita Liukin. Not to mention he starred in the Oxygen reality show "All the Right Moves" which documented the beginning of the dance company he launched with friends Teddy Forance, Nick Lazzarini, and Kyle Robinson called "Shaping Sound."

With "Shaping Sound" out on a national tour, Wall has his work cut out for him. Aside from his continued work teaching with the NUVO Dance Convention, he has a new dog and a long term boyfriend to work into his busy schedule. We sat down to talk to him about "Shaping Sound's" latest show, what inspires him to create a routine, and how he is able to maintain a relationship among it all.

Still living together?

EDGE: You started 'Shaping Sound' with your friends Teddy Forance, Nick Lazzarini, and Kyle Robinson; a process documented on the Oxygen reality show 'All the Right Moves.' Do you guys have a philosophy or vision for your company and has it changed since its inception?

Travis Wall: At first it was definitely driven by the fact that we wanted to showcase our work in Los Angeles. At the time I was a choreographer on 'So You Think You Can Dance,' but it was still the very beginning of my career on that show as a choreographer. And we wanted to stage dance in L.A. and we had this idea that since we were living together we should start a dance company together. The boys wanted to get their choreography and their voices out there. So, that was a huge stepping stone for us. Did we want to go on tour? Of course we did. But at first it was just - start in L.A. and see what happens. At that time there was a lot of interest in doing a reality show about it and obviously that got picked up and we did that. And then it became something bigger than we ever thought it would be. Because of the realty show we got producers on our side to do a tour. Which was the coolest thing ever! When we did the first tour we really didn't know what was going to come out of it. We were constantly learning and constantly changing. Now that we're on our second national tour, we have evolved 100% as people, as part of the company, and as artists. The capacity of artistry has really grown out of the roof. It's really cool all of us coming out together.

EDGE: Do the four of you still live together?

Travis Wall: No no no no no! [laughs]. I never went to college and a lot of the boys didn't either. So that was kind of like our frat boy years. It was fun, but then some of us got into serious relationships. That was the point where we said 'okay I need my own space now.' I still look back at all that and I cannot believe we all lived together at some point.

Taking the lead

EDGE: How do you divvy up creative responsibilities of the company between the four of you?

Travis Wall: It's hard to explain. I guess these days I can say I definitely take a strong leadership role trying to get things done on time. We've all changed as we've gone through the years, but I feel like with dancers they are looking to me for direction. But when it comes to the movement, it's all four of us. Teddy is dancing 24/7 and ideas come out of him like nothing; but I'm definitely more of the director in a way because I help direct [the actual show]. And then we have [choreographer ] Mandy Moore who is our creative consultant. But when it comes to the movement and it comes to the dancing, it's spread out among all four of us.

EDGE: Tell me about the new and evolved show. How would you describe it to somebody?

Travis Wall: We have this female character who is completely broken and completely so hurt and insecure. And you don't know why she's this way in the opening number until you realize she's in a terrible relationship. And then she falls asleep and it becomes about completely changing this girl's outlook on life and trying to teach her about love. Teach her how she really should be treated. Her entire dream is how she falls in love with somebody and when she wakes up at the end it's her choice to take the experience she's had and everything she's learned in the dream and apply it to her life; and whether she decides to leave the situation she's in or not.

EDGE: Did anything in particular inspire this idea?

Travis Wall: I'm a huge dreamer. I had a huge nightmare last night that I was kidnapped and held at gunpoint, so that was fun. [chuckles] I dream vividly every night. You know, we have a lot of different styles in the show and we wanted to combine all of those. And we thought - anything can happen in a dream. I felt it was the best way to showcase all of the things that we do together and have a huge variety. So we started with the dream idea and that was really the first tour. And then we had to ask ourselves who's dream is this and why do we care about her and what are we going to learn from her?

Challenges?

EDGE: You've worked on 'So You Think You Can Dance' many times as a choreographer since being a contestant on the show and have been nominated for Emmys for four years running. What are the challenges in coming up with routines for that show and how does it compare to the work you do with 'Shaping Sound?'

Travis Wall: In SYTYCD you're by yourself and I put a lot of stress on myself, but all I have to worry about is myself and my two dancers. Usually the routine is a minute and a half. It's very stressful. But with 'Shaping Sound' it's completely different. This is eight hours a day. We have a month to put together an hour and a half show and it's not just a little piece. This is a staged show. Not only that we're dealing with fourteen people constantly, but they are also best friends. So you're not just dealing with 'dancers' and putting a show together. I care so much for everybody so I'm dealing with everyone's feelings. There are a lot of feelings on who goes where and trying to divide the share of wealth of performance space as much as I can so everyone gets featured in some way. There are so many dancers I want to make sure we are able to do that.

EDGE: How do you come up with a routine? Is it music first or idea first?

Travis Wall: Seventy-five percent is music. With this show there was an idea and sometimes we're still switching the songs. But usually I hear a song and I say 'I want to create to this' which is pretty much all the time on SYTYCD. And then you try to find the idea that goes along with it. Or you have a personal experience you want to portray, so I try to find a song that explains how I'm feeling.

Balancing work and a relationship

EDGE: For this new show, what kind of musical styles are you using?

Travis Wall: It's a mixture. The music really goes with the tone of the show. There's an entire 15-minute section that has a speakeasy/prohibition feel. Then there's a lot of beautiful strings and classical music that we're dancing contemporary to. And there are a couple alternative songs. I mean, there's so much music. The music is supposed to sound like it's one track. I can't even count how many songs are in it.

EDGE: You've been in a long-term relationship with gymnastics coach Dom Palange for a while now. How do you manage a relationship while maintaining and building the career that you have?

Travis Wall: Usually when I'm doing SYTYCD is when I'm spending the most time with him. I'm in L.A. and CBS (where SYTYCD is taped) is really close to my apartment and its summertime so he's not working as much. But right now he has two jobs - he's coach at UCLA gymnastics team and the season is about to start up so he's so busy and I'm so busy and we're constantly trying to find friends that can walk our dog! I didn't know it was going to get as busy as it is putting the show together. This is the hardest part. We barely see each other for dinner and then we wake up and we say 'see you later.' I go on tour for a month and then there's a huge break and I'm going to try and take as much of a break as possible. His life has changed a lot too. Because I was always so, so, so busy and he would come with me and travel with me sometimes, but now he's just as busy as I am. So we're still learning how to manage that. He's happy doing what he's doing. I'm happy doing what I'm doing. And we can be happy together. That's the part that makes it the best.

"Shaping Sound" continues its national tour with dates in Austin, TX (10/18); Houston, TX (10/19); Daytona Beach, FL (10/21); Jacksonville, FL (10/230; Clifton Township, MI (10/25); Baltimore, MD (10/28); Raleigh, NC (10/29); Newport News, VA (10/30). For full dates of the tour that continues through February 2015 visit the Shaping Sound website.