Zoehirst01

Interview Questions and answers: Interview by Zoe Hirst, talking to Gavin Hulm what was the first thing that went through your head when asked to be interviewed? I wondered , I was told it was for interesting people and I was quite nervous that I wasn't interesting enough From what I know of you you're a farmer, but also a dancer and a actor as I saw recently in life in the spotlight 2012 are there any other skills you have hidden away? no not majorly. as you said I am a farmer I have my own cattle stud, I am a dance teacher, I've competed in dance all across Australia and across in Singapore, I've done stage productions, played football, tennis and I was the president of the football club for a few years when I was 23. so yeah just a couple of little things. As an actor have you been involved in many productions? yeah I've been involved in quite a few productions, I've been getting more acting jobs lately. The first production I was in was sweet charity I got in there as a dancer. They needed a lead male dancer, and I was fortunate enough to get a few acting parts. I actually auditioned for a acting part in fame the musical last year in October and I got a lead role as the drama teacher. I was playing an eccentric bloody bloke like myself so it was a easy role. Also I've just got offered a acting job in a lead role in a new play so that's pretty exciting. In the recent life in the spotlight, What was your role? I auditioned as a dancer, plus I also did choreography, I was a assistant choreographer. I got to choreograph a couple of dances of my own, plus assisted the other two choreographers with all their choreography . Plus I got to sing in a few roles, which was fantastic I got a couple of lead roles, so I was really excited about that. it was also the first time id done a singing audition and I got a role so I was pretty excited yeah. where there any quirks? awh not really as such, ladies loved it, Good to charm the ladies, that's about it. But yeah your work gets recognised and that's quite a honour when that happens so yeah. life in the spotlight is a charity show, is this the only charity show you've been involved in? No I've done a heap of charity shows. I choreographed a dancing with the stars type thing out a Coolamon, I've done that for 3 years for the Coolamon hospital exhillary, to raise money for the hospital of course. And we have raised I think about $ 15 000 dollars so far, with just the dance thing that I did. I got to choreography it and it was just amazing. I've done a lot of dance shows for free, id do anything free for a charity I love it, just love it As a actor what is the weirdest thing you have ever had to do? oh gosh, I'm going to have to think about this, hmm I don't no, I haven't had to go naked thank god. I was actually asked to be naked on stage, I didn't do that play thank goodness. But no nothing majorly just they seem to get me to dress up as a girl quite regularly so, I'm a bit worried that might be stereotype now. I seem to get all the girl stuff so that's kind of interesting. I've done assless cowboy chaps with gold hotpants underneath, as a cowboy for a village people act so that's really yeah. But its mainly what costumes they make me do as I'm not afraid to do anything when I'm up on stage, they can dress me up however and I will dance and sing. When did you start dancing?/How long have you been dancing for? Well I started dancing when I was 9, so I'm 28 now so that's 18 to 19 years. It kind of scares me a bit I'm teaching kids who I've been dancing longer then they have been alive. But yeah it's been fantastic I started when I was 9 and I've been pretty privileged to pick everything up pretty quickly. I was really excited about that. The reason I go into dancing was my mate, his mother was a dance teacher and he said 'what are you doing this afternoon?' I went 'nothing much' he was like 'do you want to come to the studio', and I was like 'no way I'm not dancing', but yeah I went up to the studio and 9 years later and I haven't left, so yeah that's that story. What is your favourite dance and why? I love, I love the emotional dances. Call me a sooky but I'm a big person on when I choreograph I choreograph on feeling and emotion of the dance. Every dance has a emotion and theme. I love waltz and foxtrot, they way they move your body, tango has a beautiful passion about it, rumba. All the dances that just ooze out of your body. But all of them have a theme, like the cheekiness of cha cha. But yeah the emotional dances I'm a big fan of. Having a brother I know most men shy away from dancing, what is your opinion on this? The thing is with all my mates I've had no trouble all through school about my dancing, my family and all my mates who are typically football players have never shied away. They all come and see me dance. I've been really blessed that I've had such support. I know some males dancers have had a hard time at school and that but I'm very lucky that I haven't had a hard time whatsoever. if you could choose a dance for some ones wedding what would it be? I'm a big fan I've done a lot of choreography for weddings and the main thing I always say is pick your favourite song, what is the essence of you as a couple. Like wether it drew you together or that's your song and then choreograph a individual piece to whatever that music holds. But I'm a big fan of lovely slow dances like the waltz or rumba which is known as the dance of love, it's more like the dance of lust but you can tone it down a little bit. I feel waltz is more the dance of love the way you move with each other and it's just beautiful to see on the floor. But I've done dirty dancing, the time of my life at a wedding and I've also choreographed to Metallica so as you can see for wedding you have to keep your mind open, but I prefer the emotional sensual ones. What would be the hardest dance, for a beginner, to learn for a wedding?/ What would be the easiest? The hardest dance for a beginner to learn would be the foxtrot in the ballroom side. The way you hold your body and the technicality of that dance is extremely hard and just the style of it. The easiest dance if I'll be honest is probably cha cha , it's easy everyone kind of knows the cha cha its a faster pace dance. The slower dances are the hardest ones to learn for beginners Do you think more males should dance or are you happy handling the ladies on your own? (laughs) oh yeah the best thing about dancing the male to female ratio is ridiculous. But no I'd love to see more males dance. The funny thing is most guys get up to the age of late twenties early thirties were they will possible be married and have children and they go I don't know how to dance, I wished I had learnt that as a kid, as they go to weddings and they don't know how to dance. Plus my mother always said males who learn how to dance get a greater respect for a women as we are taught how to hold and how to respect them , there is a mutual kind of trust between you and your partner. It does a lot for respect towards women, and I'm a big advocate for that for respect towards women. What is the competition like? As country dancers I know I've been down to the city a lot and beaten the city couples, they were always really rude and nasty as they have all the good teachers and we would go down and beat them. when we win after them being so rude its very humbling. But no as country dancers we have to be natural dancers to get to the big time as we don't have the teachers or the access to the teachers as the city dancers do. What would be your main hobby when you're not working? My cattle. I've got a cattle stud, so I'm breaking in bulls, breaking in heifers for shows, I'm wrestling 800 kg bulls and stuff to try to break them in for shows. And just hanging out with mates and stuff like that. is there anyone you admire or look up to? My friends an family, I'm not one of those people that are like 'omg Johnny depp is so amazing'. no I'm a humble person I get a lot of kicks out of people who start from nothing and I teach them to dance and there looks of happiness on their faces and I actually look up to them, rather than those who have had everything they need to learn and are arrogant people. But I've had some magnificent dance teachers in my time, and even talking the cattle side I've had some amazing mentors in the cattle industry that I do look up to and there just normal regular people. I learnt a lot of regular people. so yeah in a nutshell I look up to friends and family. if you could meet anyone in the world who would you meet? and why? Andrew Llyod Webber, he composed two of my favourite musicals, Phantom of the opera and Love never dies. As a child what did you dream of becoming? As a child I was actually going to be a vet but then I realised what mark I had to get and was like definitely not. But honestly as a child all I wanted to do was be a performer be a dancer on stage and be a cattle farmer. That's all I wanted, cattle during the day and dance all night if you had to pick one word to describe yourself with what would you use? I'd hope something like happy to be around, id like people to look at me and think I'm a joy to be around, happy hopefully, humble even though that's about 10 words. Actually if I could pick one word I think it would be positive, I like to be positive. As a farmer do you ever find it difficult to fit in acting and dancing? I'm very lucky that I work with family, like it's a family farm plus I also own 2000 acres of my own, so yeah it is a juggling act, and sleep is probably limited most nights. When I'm in a show full time I run on probably 5 hours sleep a night for a month or more. When were in production because of my job I have to be up quite early. It is a juggling act but I have amazing support, but I do work hard so I have that lean time when I need to fit in stuff. So have you any big plans for this year? I have a few bulls I want to sell so I need to get them ready for shows and stuff. But no I want to promote my cattle I've been working hard with them for 5 years and they're starting to come really good and I just want to do the productions that make me happy. I want to really push myself and do different stuff in the theatre game and do some shows that I enjoy and do more choreography and really rush my boundaries. what's would be your best bit of advice that you would give someone? 'Life's not that hard'. Life is not hard, just relax and enjoy it I mean so many people stress over the minor things, take a deep breath and enjoy yourself, don't put the pressure on yourself if you can't do it just say no. It's not that hard just enjoy it, it's not hard.

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