In conversation with Dr Kris Kerr – Guest Tap Artist in Strictly Gershwin

The guest artist for Strictly Gershwin once stood at a unique crossroad, debating between a career in dance or medicine, eventually choosing the latter, graduating from medical school with first class honours. But the lure of dance never entirely left.

“I danced a lot as a child and taught tap dance during medical school but stopped completely while I completed my specialist medical studies. I thought that it might be a permanent shelving of the shoes, but I had this intense moment when I realised that I missed it,” Kris says.

It was a moment that led to Australian and US seasons of Strictly Gershwin with Queensland Ballet and Tulsa Ballet, as well as being listed in a long-list nominations for Australia’s Most Outstanding Professional Male Dancer via the Australian Dance Awards.

At the Thomas Dixon Centre for an afternoon rehearsal, fresh from a morning of saving lives (“I diagnose cancer under a microscope,” he says humbly), Kris tells the story of meeting tap choreographer, fellow dancer and now lifelong friend, Bill Simpson, mid 2014.

“I was looking for a vacant tap studio to teach in and Bill became my friendly landlord. We rarely saw each other, though he did my class once or twice,” Kris recalls.

“Then less than a year later he called me and said he had been approached to choreograph and dance a lead role with Queensland Ballet for a show called Strictly Gershwin. I thought he was calling to discuss the music because he knew I played the piano. But he explained it was like a Fred Astaire/Gene Kelly style routine where there were two lead male tappers and he needed a co-star and would I be interested?”

Kris says he was equal parts thrilled and curious.

“I wasn’t sure if I could get the time off work and needed more information."

“I did a live video audition with Bill and I also remember at that time I had a work trip to New York; there I coincidently saw a Gershwin production and at that moment I thought, I really want to do this. The next thing I knew I had an email from Queensland Ballet asking for my shoe size and that’s when I knew I was in the show.”

It didn’t hurt that he was familiar with Gershwin’s music. “I grew up in the arts - dancing and playing piano…Gershwin runs through my veins,” he laughs.

Together with Bill and Queensland Ballet former Principal Artist Rachael Walsh, Kris performed in the 2016 season with the Company and he’s thrilled to take up the role again this year. Highlights from his premiere season include the camaraderie with Bill, Rachael and the Company dancers and creatives, as well as working with choreographer and director Derek Deane and guest conductor Gareth Valentine.

“Everyone was so supportive and welcoming. Derek is an artistic genius, and Gareth is a musical wizard. Just being in their presence was really special and I’m very excited to be able to work with them again this season.”

One might expect nerves, performing with a professional ballet company, but instead he finds the experience of being onstage calming.

“We have this term in medicine - bradycardia, a fancy Greek way of saying slow heartrate,” he says.

“Even as a kid if there was something that was a nervous thing for me I would get this slow heart rate, and in that space in the wings on opening night I wasn’t nervous – I felt like I was back home doing something I was supposed to do.

“I remember being in a complete Zen-like state before I went onstage and I legitimately do not remember my first number on stage at all. I must have entered some kind of deep flow state because the next thing I hear is like someone turning up the volume on this really vibrant applause, and I’m standing there out of breath but with no memory of doing anything. I think I was just so connected that I became at one with the production.”

It's a fascinating insight into Kris’s connection with the artform, in comparison with the analytical nature of his day job.

“I think I straddle both worlds,” he says thoughtfully.

“I’m probably a little more creative than the average pathologist, and perhaps a little more analytical than a typical dancer. The two fields are more different than they are the same. The discipline required is very similar though. After high school, for me it was six years in medical school, two years in hospital wards, and another six years with my specialty training. It can be an equally long journey for a principal dancer, and I’m not sure the average human understands the discipline they have. Dancers go to a lot of effort to make it look effortless.”

He says his love of tap dancing probably originated from his love of music. He began ballet lessons at three-years-old and tap at four; tap dancing felt like freedom.

“Perhaps my long experience with piano music helps because tap is a unique style in that you’re also a musician,” he says.

“You are percussing with your feet to contribute to the artform. It’s audio and visual as well. That’s why I’ve always loved it. I mean, there’s rhythm in everything, and I know Gershwin was inspired to write Rhapsody in Blue on a train trip from New York to Boston, and I can see how one would get rhythmic inspiration from the world because it is everywhere. I really enjoy conveying that through the art of tap dance.”

He attributes the audio and visual nature of Strictly Gershwin to its popularity, too.

“If you are already a ballet lover, I think you’ll enjoy how the dancers transform themselves to Hollywood starlets very successfully. If you’re new to ballet then it’s a really good launchpad because you have a great variety of dance styles demonstrated – like the Argentine tango, ballroom, tap, over 50 musicians live onstage, an incredibly engaging conductor, and live singers as well. There’s something for everyone,” he says.

“Another reason to see the show is to support the arts. As an essential health care worker, it was very difficult to watch my dance colleagues unable to perform for a long period of time… the world needs art and artists, so please come along, and encourage everyone to come and see it!”

See Kris return to the stage with fellow Guest Artists Bill Simpson and Rachael Walsh in Derek Deane’s Strictly Gershwin at QPAC’s Lyric Theatre running 28 September to 7 October.