The band has yet to come on, but the crowd is deafening. A lot of screaming, a few criers, a lot of punters standing on their seats. Within the sanctuary of the sound desk, one of the crew hands me some earplugs. \u201cProtect your ears \u2013 a lot of squealers in today,\u201d he says, with a wink.<\/p>\n
The Wiggles\u2019 audiences are not known to hold back their enthusiasm, or ever put down the bubble guns, but there is a noticeably loud roar when a certain green man comes on stage: 31-year-old Dominic Field, AKA the Tree of Wisdom. After the show ends \u2013 their second of three that day alone, all sold out \u2013 Field shakes my hand as he\u2019s wiping himself off. \u201cI am a big sweater,\u201d he says, affably. It is easy to see why.<\/p>\n
As the Tree of Wisdom, Field\u2019s wild dancing, with hip thrusts, mad shimmying and the occasional worm, has taken both the world\u2019s stages and TikTok by storm, inspiring thousands of copycats \u2013 from giggling parents to US college kids on a night out.<\/p>\n
On their recent tour of the US, Canada and the UK, Field spotted \u201clike 10 trees in every audience \u2013 that was when I was like, I\u2019ve made it\u201d. He has unexpected fans in Khlo\u00e9 Kardashian, Jessie J and Robert De Niro \u2013 an ardent Wiggles fan of many years, who recently hugged Field backstage at one of their New York City shows. \u201cHe\u2019s very softly spoken,\u201d Field recalls. \u201cHe sat next to me and said in a very gentle tone, \u2018I really appreciate what you do\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Field is now so famous for his moves, he\u2019s sometimes recognised even without the big green wig and leafy costume. \u201cUsually playing the tree is a bad thing, you know what I mean?\u201d he says. \u201cStanding at the back in the school play. This is the complete opposite.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018It just got bigger and bigger, and funnier and funnier\u2019 \u2026 The Tree of Wisdom is now so big that the Wiggles\u2019 next arena tour is named for him, with an album to go with it. Photograph: Jessica Hromas\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
Why the Wiggles have a tree in their lineup might be mystifying to some, until you remember that their entourage includes a pirate, a dinosaur, a dog and an octopus in a boater hat. How the tree became both wise and such a good dancer takes some explaining, but Field does his best:<\/p>\n
A couple years ago, the Wiggles were on tour in Newfoundland, Canada, an island with strong cultural ties to Ireland, Scotland and Celtic traditions. The locals seemed to love it when they played folk songs \u2013 the Wiggles are big on covers \u2013 so Anthony Field, the OG blue Wiggle and Field\u2019s uncle, suggested they perform Rattlin\u2019 Bog<\/a>, an Irish song that speeds up with each verse and, most crucially for this story, is about a tree.<\/p>\n The group\u2019s musicians were so intently focused on learning to play the notoriously difficult song that Anthony only gave his nephew brief instructions: you\u2019re the tree, dance onstage, do whatever you want.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I was like, \u2018Great,\u2019\u201d Field says, laughing.<\/p>\n At first Field\u2019s moves were \u201cquite tame\u201d. But as he got used to Rattlin\u2019 Bog\u2019s fast pace he began performing moves he had, in his words, perfected in Sydney\u2019s nightclubs. \u201cAs I got comfortable with the song and started having more fun, the more phones I started to see come out,\u201d he says. On YouTube alone, Rattlin\u2019 Bog has now been watched 9m times.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n So Field was now a tree and his uncle had big plans for him. \u201cAnthony called and said, \u2018We\u2019re going to expand the tree character!\u2019\u201d Field remembers. \u201cWho knows how his brain works, but he was like \u2018You\u2019re the Tree of Wisdom! You are this all-knowing tree! So that\u2019s how it started \u2013 then it just got bigger and bigger, and funnier and funnier.\u201d<\/p>\n Field has never had any professional dance training \u2013 which shows, but not in a negative way; I suspect it is his buzzed uncle vibe that people love so much. \u201cI\u2019m always that guy at a wedding who needs to get the dancefloor started,\u201d he says. I suspect you knew how to do the worm before you joined the Wiggles, I say. \u201cOh, I was worming before I was walking,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Field\u2019s career trajectory has inspired the birth of the term \u201cnepo tree\u201d, but the Wiggles is very much a family business, albeit one worth an estimated $50m. His father, Paul, was in rock band the Cockroaches with two of the four original Wiggles \u2013 his brother Anthony and Jeff Fatt. But in 1988, Paul\u2019s first child, Bernadette, died of SIDS at eight months, which devastated the group. Anthony left the band to study early education, then founded the Wiggles, bringing in Fatt, Murray Cook and Greg Page; their first album was dedicated to Bernadette. Paul became their manager in 1996.<\/p>\n