DAVID WOODS, choreographer for Diablo Light Opera Company's production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Carousel," has a comment that perfectly encapsulates his life at the moment: "You could say I have many hands in different pies."

When the Kentucky native isn't choreographing or teaching aerobics, the recent Walnut Creek transplant has a knack for making pastries. Woods initially moved here a year and a half ago to learn the fine art of pastrymaking at San Francisco's Culinary Academy, but ended up finding his way back to the dance arena. Before that, Woods, who originally began his career in musical theater, danced with a professional ballet dance company in Salt Lake City for 15 years.

You can catch his dance creations in "Carousel," through Oct. 6 at the Dean Lesher Regional Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek. For information, call 925-943-7469.

How did you begin dancing?

"I can go all the way back. I used to get my cousins together and we would do skits in the back yard. I would tell them to do this and go there. As far as professionally, I didn't start studying until I was 21. Before that, I did more theater and was planning to go on, but (dancing) was like a vortex; it just sucked me in. I was very fortunate: I had two important teachers. Sometimes it's hard to get men into dance, so teachers will be, like, 'I'm not really going to require too much technique with them. I'm not going to make you tow the line.' But they expected just as much out of me as they did the women."

Any history of dance in your family?

"No. Everyone in my family is either a chemical engineer or an architect. But I've been told my choreography is mathematical. It comes through in the way I pattern things or design things with my dancers, in terms of geometry; in the movements, it's very symmetrical."

What do you enjoy most about choreographing?

"To see the dancers you've worked with take your steps, and see them more and more able to execute a step in the correct way."

Do you miss dancing?

"Once you're born a dancer you're always a dancer. There's a point, though, when it's time to let others be the material which my ideas can be presented."

How did you get the "Carousel" gig?

"I'm not a big person who toots my horn. I was working at Walnut Creek Sports and Fitness, and as I was there a little bit longer, more and more people liked the way I moved them. A former performer with DLOC mentioned they were looking for a choreographer, and asked me if it was something that grabbed me. I was beginning to want to branch back into my first love."

What specifically sparked your interest in doing "Carousel"?

"'Carousel' is endless in time. It has a lot of meaning in relationships in it."

How did you approach its choreography?

"I did research. Agnes de Mille originally choreographed 'Carousel'; she also did 'Oklahoma!' I researched her style, what her intentions were. I let my more creative side come through to give it a more showy, modern-day feel. When you choreograph a musical, there's a story line, so you have some restrictions. But you also have some creativity; you've got story lines and characters to play with."

Any goals for your choreography?

"To do all of them -- no, just kidding. It would be neat to have my own little production company, but to have the diversity of excellently trained dancers of all different body types. If you always have a cookie-cutter body there, it's going to be boring."

And what inspired you to become a pastry chef?

"I have a sweet tooth. I'd rather go straight to dessert and skip the main course."