Dominic Zito: Something Different Part 1
Maggie Nichols
Credit: USA Gymnastics on Facebook
Dominic Zito has gained a lot of fame as a choreographer on the elite scene after choreographing Jordyn Wieber's floor routine to Wild Dances. This was the routine that she used when she became the 2011 World Champion and 2012 Olympic Team Champion. Now, Zito is working with Kyla Ross, another member of the Fierce Five, who hopes to follow Wieber's footsteps and win the 2013 World Championships All Around crown. He has given her beautiful beam choreography along with an elegant floor routine. However, Zito hasn't just worked with Kyla Ross this past year. He had a total of 12 routines on display at Nationals, helped choreograph Jordyn Wieber's new routine (that we will hopefully get to see in the future), and Katelyn Ohashi's routine that she performed at the American Cup. I had the chance to chat with Dominic about his thoughts on choreography, artistry, and what it was like working with many of the elite gymnasts in the USA.
Arabian Punch Front: Tell us about yourself.
Dominic Zito: I started gymnastics at the age of 7. My baby sitter taught me back handsprings in the living room in 1 day so my mom came home and signed me up for gymnastics. I did that through 1999, Class 1 - now it's Level 10. I competed all over the US, did different regional meets, National Championships, AAU, UAA, all the different leagues. At the time, in the 90s, there were all these different leagues. I started dance at 5 or 6. I started with jazz, took tap, ballet, modern. I did that through 1997 when I was getting more serious with gymnastics. I wasn't sure if I wanted to do college gymnastics or not. At that point, I took a break taking classes with dance and I did some musicals in high school and different things like that to continue working on that craft.
In 1995, I started doing choreography for a local club and high school that the girls couldn't afford to work with the choreographer that was coming in. I said to the head coach that I can make up routines and they kind of laughed at me! I knew about gymnastics and the women's side. I don't think the other coaches knew that at the time so they said, "Show us a routine." So I just went in, they shut the doors and I showed them a floor routine and they couldn't believe that I could do what I was doing. So they gave me the opportunity to work with several of the girls whose families couldn't afford to work with the choreographer and the routines turned out really great.
The following year another gym contacted me. I think at that point, I was charging $50 or $75 a routine which is really nothing. Choreographers now charge a lot more than that. From there, I went to school. Dance started as my major. It was just too easy - what they wanted us to do and what we were doing. I just felt like I knew more about what I wanted and what I was doing and these people were just doing it for the fun. So I decided to minor in dance instead and got my major in Marketing. I danced in college for the Cleveland Opera. I studied everything. I graduated with a Modern base and I studied a lot of Martha Graham style and Twyla Tharp.
I've done every style of dance you can think of. I've taken classes. I love everything. I really enjoy tap. I didn't have a lot of opportunities to work on tap since I was doing so much gymnastics and once the choreography got started, that was my 2nd job while I was in high school and I worked at a pizza shop.
That's how I got into gymnastics. That's how I got into dance and now I'm working with Olympic gold medalists which is crazy!
Arabian Punch Front: How would you describe your style?
A lot of people ask me that question and I honestly don't feel like I have a specific style. I feel that I bring out an entertaining value in each athlete I work with and people will always say, "I saw your routine on TV" or "I saw your routine at Nationals last week." There's a musicality with it - the movements matching the music, I talk about a lot - and eye contact; I think people can pick out my work. And I use a lot of 'on the ground.' I like to do something different and interesting on the ground. That's where the modern base [comes out]. I use down on the ground, around on the floor, rolling into a pose. I try to do something interesting.
So, my style varies. You can look at Emily Gaskin's routine and then look at Lexie Preissman's. To me, they're completely different. I feel like the athletes I work with, I feel like all their routines I try to pull out their own character and utilize the music in a way their comfortable. I mean Kyla Ross, Jordyn Wieber - not everyone's comfortable moving the same as me or with one another. The artistry and the movement, I feel like I do so much differently with each girl and I don't feel like I have a specific style. People pick out my work because of things like the eye contact, the sharpness, and then it goes to supple, the level changes. I think I'm all over the board depending on what the athlete requires.
Arabian Punch Front: What does artistry mean to you and how do you relate that to the gymnast?
Well, I work with every level - level 6 to elite. I do choreography with the little babies that are 7 or 8 years old and just starting so artistry is different for me with each level. Overall, artistry is a component of the musicality - matching the music, the overall performance - engaging the movements and displaying that to the audience, the movement quality - making smooth transitions, going from high to low such as a jump to the floor. All of these are components of artistry. And then above it all is the technical aspects. Their stepping, their turnouts, their turns. All the technique needs to be within the routine as well as the entertainment of the movement and the performance. All the movements from the eyes to the fingertips. All of this has to be artistry and be brought together. So artistry is one word but there are so many components of it that people don't even understand.
How do I get the girls to be artistic? Obviously the technique is there. Their turns are usually perfect at the elite level or hopefully they are. The musicality - I help them match the music. Every pose they do, every step, I try to have it right on. Even if there's a subtle beat in the background, I do something big on that and it brings out that beat in the music. So it goes hand in hand - the movement and the music. The musicality is something that makes a routine unique and interesting. Like Jordyn Wieber, how she hit all those different beats. I don't know if another choreographer would have choreographed it the same, using those same beats. But I think that made her routine very artistic. The movement quality, the transitions going from smooth and supple to sharp. You'll see that a lot in Kyla's routine. That's artistry. Feeling the music, making it her own with the sharpness, the strong movements but still exhibiting the control within the routine to get in those good tumbling passes.
Creativity, obviously, is huge. You can't have the same pose over and over which we've seen from other choreographers, not just in the USA but internationally. It's important to not just use your arms and your legs... but your head! A lot of gymnasts don't turn their heads! They don't turn look out into the audience and make that eye contact. I really try to do that with a lot of the elite girls and bring in the crowd. Everybody wants to see that and it makes the routine, overall, artistic. So all these components create one word - artistry.
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