In my first So You Think You Can Dance interview before the show hit the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, I talked to Jesus & Sara about practicing their routines, the stereotypes about dancing and what their favorite performances were.
Murtz Jaffer: Hey guys. I’ll start with Sara, I wanted to ask you what motivated you to try out for the show.
Sarah VonGillern: Um actually, the previous season, a bunch of my friends were willing to buy me a plane ticket out there and they were like ‘you really have to do it,’ but I was still finishing school so I thought it would be smart if I just waited and then this year, my mom actually bought me the plane ticket actually out to Chicago and she’s kind of the one who gave me the motivation and the support to go and audition. Just kind of went out there with no expectations and ended up on the show. So it was actually really cool.
MJ: And for you?
Jesus Solario: Yeah, I actually remember because we had that Vegas connection. That was so cool. We were sitting next to each other, just talking. That was really cool. I had auditioned the previous year as well (2006) and I made it to the Top 40 and I didn’t make it onto the show, obviously. I didn’t really know if I wanted to do it that year so I wasn’t sure. I was like it’s not real and it’s dumb, but then I was like ‘okay, I didn’t make it,’ so it made me want to train a little more and then come back for this year. It paid off.
MJ: I am sure you have heard the stereotypes about how ‘real guys don’t dance.’ Do you get that a lot?
JS: Coming from a Latin background, I got that a lot. A lot when I was growing up. Now? Not so much. Because we have been able to prove that it is not just a girls thing. Everybody can do it. I mean guys dance salsa, ballroom… and it’s all dancing still. You know what I mean? It’s just about different styles and it’s more about personality coming out. You know? Expression than ballroom. That’s why I like to do it. Because I like to express myself.
MJ: You came from a breakdancing background right?
SVG: Well actually…
MJ: First, I want to ask you about that because I don’t understand why they always said that Dominic was a B…
SVG: A B-boy. B-boy and B-girl.
MJ: What does that stand for?
SVG: The B stands for Bronx ’cause that’s where hip-hop began. Bronx.
MJ: I would have had no idea. The whole time I thought it stood for ‘breakdancing boy’ or something. I have never heard the ‘B’ term before. But you obviously came from that background. Was it hard for you to adopt to the more formal styles of dance?
SVG: Ew, honestly? They like to kind of put me in that category but I honestly had training like my whole life. I started when I was four years old and I was in the whole studio thing. I did a little bit of everything. Jazz, tap and began as a cheerleader. Did a little bit of everything. Figure skated. I most recently picked up breaking though like four years ago.
MJ: So then why did they keep referring to it? They were always like Dominic and Sara. Sara and Dominic. The breakers.
SVG: I think that was just the typecasting and that’s fine. That’s cool. That’s pretty much all I study now, like that’s pretty much all I do is break so it worked for the show…
JS: And for you!
SVG: Like for me, I had never done any partnering though so that was completely new. Nothing in high heels. Nothing like that. So that all was new to me.
MJ: What was your favorite performance because the one that stood out to me was the hip-hop routine to Salt & Pepa’s “Push It.”
SVG: Oh my god!
MJ: With the outfits and Nigel going crazy about the outfits.
SVG: It was so bad!
MJ: You didn’t like it?
SVG: That was my least favorite. Like me coming from a hip-hop background you know what I mean, there’s like so much more that we could have done with that whole like early 90’s type feel but you know, it was the choreographer’s choice.
MJ: That’s interesting.
SVG: I don’t know. My favorite performance would probably be my vegabond/cabaret with Jesus, just because there’s a lot of character in it. And also, Pasha and I’s West Coast Swing just because it was the most difficult partnering with tricks and everything. So those were my two highlights for sure.
MJ: When you guys work with a choreographer, is there any disagreement or is just like them telling ‘dance this way,’ ‘step here,’ ‘step there.’ Do you just listen or is there any bit of back and forth with you saying ‘listen, I don’t think that’s going to work well?’
SVG: I think that they come up with a routine but they also make compromises for each dancer. Like if it’s not going to happen in the five and a half hours that we are given, then it is better to clean it up.
JS: I mean we have never had to do with that, luckily. We do have room to say that something doesn’t feel comfortable without having to make the choreographer’s upset. Like ‘oh, I hate your stuff.’ It’s not like that. We do have some room to say something but we never.
SVG: I think that’s make it more of a competition. That’s part of the challenge to take the choreography and actually do what they wanted with what their idea was instead of like dumbing it down to what you can do. It’s not really what the competition is about.
MJ: Finally, I wanted to ask you this. I am looking at the show and I am how do these guys like prepare all these steps so quickly? On American Idol, it’s just singing. You could memorize the lyrics, like good for you guys. But here, there are so many steps and every dance is so different. Is it just like riding a bike? Once you learn to dance, you can pretty much pick up anything?
SVG: I don’t think so. The partnering for me was definitely the hardest part. Like working with another person and like making it look clean and easy when it’s not. (Laughs). I think for every style of dance, especially like the ballroom, there’s like a basic step that was seen in like every routine. You know what I mean? They are trying to bring out that whole feel but for like the hip-hop and stuff like that, there’s so much freedom.
JS: You’ll never be able to learn something like that quick unless you have some training, because every step and every dance is different. Every style is different. New moves keep coming up that you haven’t seen so that’s what makes it hard. Like ‘oh, I have never seen that move so I don’t have it yet in my body’ so it is hard sometimes to learn it. It’s not that easy.
MJ: Thank you guys so much.
Here are the remaining dates for the So You Think You Can Dance tour:
Nov 12 Grand Prairie, TX – Nokia Theatre
Nov 14 San Antonio, TX – AT&T Center
Nov 15 Houston, TX – Reliant Arena
Nov 18 Glendale, AZ – Jobing.com Arena
Nov 19 San Diego, CA – San Diego Sports Arena
Nov 21 Los Angeles, CA – Nokia Theatre
Nov 23 Oakland, CA – Oracle Arena
Nov 24 Sacramento, CA – Arco Arena
Nov 25 San Jose, CA – HP Pavilion at San Jose
Nov 27 Portland, OR – Rose Garden
Nov 28 Everett, WA – Everett Events Center
Nov 30 Reno, NV – Reno Events Center
– The third season of So You Think You Can Dance aired on CTV this past summer.
– The third season of So You Think You Can Dance aired on FOX this past summer.
Sir Linksalot: So You Think You Can Dance
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