Interview: Chelsie Hightower of 'So You Think You Can Dance'

Latin ballroom dancer Chelsie Hightower basically did as well as anybody could expect to on So You Think You Can Dance - except for the fact that she didn't win. However, she never landed in the bottom groups and she never had to dance for her life. She formed a strong fan base early on, who voted for her and took her all the way to Top 6. On last night's live elimination episode, she was sent packing, along with her original partner, Mark Kanemura. They didn't head home, though. The two got right to work, rehearsing for next week's finale and soon, she'll start rehearsing for the tour.

Hey everybody, this is Gina from BuddyTV, and today I'm talking to Chelsie from So You Think You Can Dance. So it must have been pretty crazy last night to get eliminated, because you never really had to dance for your life. Were you surprised how well you did this season?

Oh yeah, definitely. You go into this competition expecting to have numerous bad nights and numerous times you have to dance for your life, so I was really very, very blessed and excited that I didn't have to, because I think I'd freak out.


What was the hardest style of dance for you to learn as a ballroom dancer?

I think it was hip-hop, just because it was so different than ballroom. I felt actually more grounded and more stable in my ballroom stuff than I did trying to do hip-hop. It was kind of [blank] and it was opposite, but just the way it felt totally different and the opposite of what ballroom is. I think that was the hardest for me.


When you and Twitch danced the mambo, they talked a lot about the counting during the number. Was that very difficult for him to pick up?

Yeah, it was difficult for both of us. We were probably sitting in the rehearsal room for half an hour just trying to figure out the counts for that dance. I'm a ballroom dancer, and I couldn't pick up those counts. It was really difficult. Twitch did a really, really good job in finding that.


Do you have a favorite routine that you got to perform this season?

I think my favorite dance was the jazz, because it was really no stress, and it was really just being ourselves and just having fun. I think that was our favorite to perform, and then I really liked "Bleeding Love" also.


Mark also said that the jazz routine was his favorite. How was he to work with as a partner? You two seemed to get along really well.

Mark was great. He kind of put up with me. Sometimes I can get kind of [blank], and he put up with me really well. We really bonded, we really clicked really well, and yeah, we had fun together.


Did any of the judges have a chance to talk to you after you were eliminated last night?

No, we didn't get to talk to any of them.


Has it been difficult to be separated from your friends and your family for this long?

The first couple weeks it's a little bit difficult, but once you get into the groove of things and you're so focused on what you're doing, you really don't have a lot of time to think about how much you miss other people and whatnot. It got a lot easier after a while.


Are you excited to get out on tour and travel the country?

I am for sure, yeah.


I know you have a lot of fans. Is there anything that you want to say to them?

Thanks for all the support, and always being there to vote and whatnot.


Is there anything that you're going to miss the most about being on So You Think You Can Dance?

I'll miss all the people, definitely. I'll miss seeing all the people, and I'll miss performing on the stage, and just learning new things, learning new dances, and just pretty much the whole [blank] for sure.


Do you have any ideas about what you want to do once the tour is over and you can do your own thing?

I kind of want to perform, so wherever that takes me. I want to perform on stage.


Thanks a lot, Chelsie. I really appreciate it.

No problem.

by BuddyTV.

Interview: Mark Kanemura of 'So You Think You Can Dance'

He may not necessarily think so but Mark Kanemura was quite the underestimated dancer this season on So You Think You Can Dance. He didn't have a built in fan base from last season the way Twitch did. He didn't have a big name choreographer backing him the way Will did. He didn't start off this season with memorable routines the way Josh did. Yet, Mark brought something to the table that kept him alive through much of this competition: he was unique. His individuality was a quality his fans appreciated and they catapulted him all the way to Top 6 before he was eliminated on last night's episode. Today, he spoke to BuddyTV in an exclusive interview about the tour, his partner, and living in a bubble for the last few months.

Below, you will find the complete transcript and mp3 of the interview.

Hey everybody, this is Gina from BuddyTV and today I’m talking to Mark from So You Think You Can Dance. Can you tell me a little bit about your dance background and how you ended up where you are today?

I started in musical theater actually. My voice started to change so I got really uncomfortable singing, so I got more into dancing. I went to this performing arts school and I studied modern and ballet and jazz and tap and hip-hop there. From then I’ve just been training and whatnot. One of my teachers actually gave me the opportunity to start choreographing and whatnot, and I think when I started choreographing I started to experiment more. I think that’s kind of how I got into my weird self.


Was this your first time trying out for So You Think You Can Dance?

It was, yeah, it was.


What was the experience like for you from the beginning through Vegas? Was it very stressful?

Yeah, it was stressful. From the very beginning it was a lot harder mentally than it was physically, just because there’s so much going on as far as there’s so much -- like, from the beginning there was so many people at the audition. You have to constantly be telling yourself that you can do this and not hyping yourself self or anything, or stressing yourself out.


Is there a particular style of dance that was the hardest for you to master this season?

All of the ballroom stuff was really, really hard for me. All of it is such a foreign language. You think it would be really simple or anything, but was all really, really, really difficult. I know particularly the country two-step was probably the worst and the hardest dance style that I had to do.


You got to work a lot with Chelsie this season, how was she as a partner?

It was awesome, Chelsie was super, super, super awesome. The cool thing about working with her was that I think she was like the last person that I would have guessed that I would have ended up with, but I think we really, really found a groove as far as working with each other and I think we also developed a very brother sister type relationship, which is awesome.


Is there a dance that the two of you did that you hope ends up on the tour this year?

I really, really enjoyed the jazz number that we did with Mandy Moore, I think we both had a lot of fun on that one. Just because there wasn’t a lot character-wise, there wasn’t a lot to it, so we could just have fun with it and really dance and whatnot. That was really, really fun for me to be with her.


Last week when you were safe you looked so surprised -- you did, it was such a good reaction! Do you think that people underestimated you this season?

I’m not sure, I’m not sure if people underestimated me or not. Yeah, I’m not too sure -- how do I explain it. I didn’t know a lot that was going on outside of the little bubble that we’re in, just because we’re so busy and whatnot. It was more of a personal thing that I really wanted to overcome the obstacles that they were putting in my way and whatnot.


Are you satisfied with the experience that you had on So You Think You Can Dance?

I am more than satisfied, way, way, way more than satisfied. Just with everything that we’ve had to overcome and the challenges that we’ve been through, I kind of feel like in my own sense like I won, so it’s all good.


What are you most looking forward to about going out on tour, because it’s coming up pretty soon?

Oh my gosh, I know. I think I’m excited about visiting all these placed and I’m also really, really exciting about meeting all the people that supported this show and supported me on this journey and everything, I’m really, really excited about that.


Well, I’m buying my tickets tomorrow, so I hope that when the tour comes through my town we’re going to get to meet up and say hi.

Fun, that would be awesome, that would be awesome.


Good luck Mark, thanks so much for your time, I appreciate it.

Of course, of course, you’re welcome.

by BuddyTV

So Joshua Can Dance

He had the build of a football player and began with the skills of a street dancer.

But in the end it was untrained teenager Joshua Allen, 19, who won the fourth season finale of "So You Think You Can Dance" Thursday. He's the first from a hip-hop background to win the show, though he proved to have kind the kind of versitility and athleticism that recalled Gene Kelly.

After "nearly 60 million votes," according to host Kat Deeley, the Ft. Worth, Texas, native edged out another untrained dancer in Twitch Boss, 24, of Montgomery, Ala. for the $100,000 prize, the title of "America's favorite dancer" and a part in the upcoming film, "Step It Up 3-D."

A nearly speechless Allen, whose most recent dance partner, Katee Shean, was also in the top four, finally said amid the confetti drop: "Never let anybody tell you can't do anything. No matter what you do, you can always go far. the sky is the limit. Don't let amybody tell you can't do anything. Because God is the control. And with God you can do anything."

The two 20-year-old women finalists in the final four were picked off first: Spitfire Courtney Galiano of New York first and then Shean of San Jose, who was surprised with a first time prize of $50,000 as last remaining woman .

It capped a fairly entertaining two-hour finale for a fairly entertaining summer series.

Along with marquee performances form the Jonas Brothers and Cirque So-leil Think You Can Dance, it brought back the Top 20 together and apart, and a series of favorite dances from the season as named by the expanded panel of choreographers sitting on the judges' panel.

Judges got to hoof it as well, with Mary Murphy managing not to scream during her routine and toothy producer/judge Nigel Lythgoe out among the young Debbie Allen Dance Academy of tap dancers in the show's most superfluous dance.