TOBIÁŠ KOŠIR - 9 Time World Tap Champion
It's always inspiring learning about fellow artists, especially ones with so much success at such a young age. Dancing Ox Coffee Roasters had the great opportunity in having a little "coffee talk" with Tobiáš Košir!
Your undeniable talent has been entertaining the world for many years. Congratulations on all your success! 9x World Tap Champion and counting. What we especially like about your dancing, is that the personality of Tobiáš shines through in all your performances. You are a joy, original, creative, always wear the coolest shoes and make anyone watching want to learn how to Tap!
Where do you dance and where is it located?
I am the founder of T-Group Dance Studio in Brno, Czech Republic and that’s also the place where I currently work, create and teach.
One of your many television performances was on Česko Slovensko Má Talent (Czecho Slovakia's Got Talent) in 2012 and you were pretty amazing then! How long have you been dancing and what prompted you to start?
I’ve been a tap dancer for almost 14 years. The first sport I tried was baseball, but that really was not my cup of tea, so I moved on to dancing. My first insipiration and the reason I started dancing in the first place was the Lord of the Dance show. Their frontman, Michael Flatley, was especially fascinating, his stage presence was absolutely overwhelming.
Can you explain your pre-show rituals? How do you prepare hours before a big show or competition?
I don’t have any particular rituals, I just like to relax, do a quick warm-up, joke around with friends if I am dancing with a group. I believe that dance performance should be natural and that goes for the preparation too. I usually don’t get too nervous so I just really enjoy it on the stage!
Dancing is “constant” to physically do and create. Where do you get your inspiration from?
I get my inspiration from everywhere. I think dancers today understand that other dancers don’t have to be the main source of your inspiration, it can be literally anything. Music, movies, video games, any sort of art and even the most mundane things can be the source of inspiration for anyone, you just have to look. Take normal chemistry class everyone of us had in high school. When you look at the shapes of some of the compounds, it’s astonishing how much material and ideas you can get just from that alone.
If you had to learn another genre of dance what would it be and why?
If I had to learn some other dance style, I would probably go for jazz dance. I think it most corresponds with my style of tap, it’s not very limited by rules and it gives you a lot of freedom.
If someone were contemplating whether or not to learn tap, why should they start at any age?
Tap is fun. And tap is the perfect combination. You have enough rules to have a system, but you can be flexible and always put a new spin on it. You are a dancer but also a musician. You can be a virtuoso or you can crush it in a tap battle, the choice is yours. It can be hard or it can be super easy, it’s up to you. I think the fact you have these choices make tap dance the ultimate dance style. You could say I am biased. Well, yeah, I am.
We would love to know if Tobiáš drinks coffee or tea? If so, how do you drink it?
I love both! I always drink tea in the morning, it really helps me start my day right, I usually put in a spoon full of sugar, you know what Mary Poppins used to say. I have two of drinking coffee - when I need to survive or when I want to enjoy it. I usually wake up early and go to bed late, so a cup of coffee at some point of the day really helps me to keep up the high energy. But sometimes you just want to sit down and enjoy your coffee without any stress or rush.
What’s next for Tobiáš?
We would like to make tap dance more popular in Czech Republic, I think so far we are doing great as through the first year, our studio got more than 160 new tap dancers. Our big dream is to create a tap show that would one day tour the world.
What’s your best piece of advice for aspiring artists?
Don’t be afraid to try new things, create, explore and don’t be afraid of failing. You will fail many times and you have to take that as an opportunity to learn and get better. And always take your work seriously and never stop working hard!
In the mood for Tobiáš Košir dancing and green tea?
Follow Tobiáš!
Facebook: Tabiás Košir
Instagram: tobiaskosir
Studio: T-Group Dance Studio