Artist of The Week: Tyler Burk

Photos by Haley Laningham

Senior Tyler Burk is extensively involved in on-campus theater, dance, and music performances. With many student performances of various genres under his belt, he takes his experience to an off-campus studio to teach dance.

Q: What is your favorite means of self-expression?

A: For me, I need to do it all. I love to act, sing, dance, paint, write. I’m never just fulfilled by one art form. I like to get my hands dirty with them all. Watching the arts interact across different mediums and tell a cohesive yet intricate story is what really motivates me. My goal is to make musical theatre my career.

Q: How long have you known that it’s a passion of yours?

A: I knew I needed to perform after my first taste of the stage. It was in the fifth grade, and I played a young Ben Franklin. I even had a song about inventing electricity and building a kite. It was absolutely strange and ridiculous, but it instilled in me that I need to tell stories. It’s the most thrilling thing to me.

Q: Do you enjoy it more because it’s a challenge, or because it releases you from daily challenges?

A: Every performance brings a new challenge. But what stays the same is the goal. The goal of each and every performance is to fuel the audience. If you don’t have an audience, then you don’t have an art. As long as you’re in tune to the story you are telling, the reason you are telling the story always lies in the hearts and minds of your audience.

Q: What actors, dancers or singers have inspired you in the past? Who do you try to follow in terms of artistic mission or style?

A: Michael Bennett, Bob Fosse and Jack Cole have been huge inspirations. I only hope one day I can come close to how specific and detailed their choreography is … They are masterminds of style and storytelling.

Q: How are you involved in your passion on campus, and how can someone reading this get involved or support you?

A: On campus, I am involved in the Theater Department’s musicals and plays, the Music Department’s opera and choir, I’m the Director of the Student Musical Theater Showcase called Contempo and I’m a fourth-year member of Dance in Flight.

Q: What are you involved in off campus that support your passion?

A: I teach dance at a performing arts academy in Oak Park called Protege Performing Arts. I work with students from ages 7 to 13 in various styles of dance and choreography. Off campus at the moment, I’m rehearsing a musical at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza. I like to keep myself as busy as possible.

Q: What’s your favorite thing to do that you think helps clear your mind?

A: Getting my body moving is what recharges me. I need to sweat out any and all bad thoughts and refocus. Dance is a huge refresher.

Q: Any post-grad plans?

A: After graduation, I’ll be staying in Los Angeles for a short while. I’ll be following wherever the wind takes me, wherever I can continue to make my passion my career.

Q: What is the achievement you are most proud of so far and why?

A: Teaching and directing make me extremely proud. It’s a new thing for me and I have so much to learn as a teacher and director, but I’m proud of making something through the lens of another person. It’s riveting to watch people find elements of themselves they didn’t know existed, and it’s even more fulfilling watching those elements touch a live audience.

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Follow Haley Laningham on Twitter: @haleylanz