Moonlighting on the West Side

By Lisa Intrabartola, excerpted from Rutgers Today

Look for percussion faculty Javier Diaz performing in Steven Spielberg’s much-anticipated West Side Story remake, released in December. Diaz plays congas during the “Dance at the Gym” mambo number that relies on dance more than dialogue to foreshadow the impending bloodshed between the Jets and the Sharks.

While playing West Side Story rehearsals with the New York Philharmonic (and percussion head Joe Tompkins) eight hours a day, six days a week for three months, Diaz also worked on Broadway’s Ain’t Too Proud, recorded Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights soundtrack, and taught at Mason Gross.

Throughout the process, Diaz shared his experiences on set with his students.

“I want my students to be better than me and dream of opportunities I never dreamed,” he says. “What I tried to communicate to them about this experience is the passion I was putting into my rehearsals. The oomph I was bringing to the process is the same as when I’m playing a batá session in the Bronx or with Ain’t Too Proud, or with the Orchestra of St.Luke’s at Carnegie Hall. It’s all part of the same continuum.”

Read the full article at go.rutgers.edu/WestSideStory