Undoubtedly two of the most charismatic dancers on the show, Dominic Sandoval and Shauna Noland both stood out for me from the very beginning. I liked the breakdancing that Dominic did and all of the memorable moments he provided. I definitely though that Shauna was underrated and was eliminated far too early. I enjoyed speaking to them both as part of the press hour for the Toronto leg of the So You Think You Can Dance tour.
Murtz Jaffer: So let me start by asking you what your favorite performance was during the season?
Dominic Sandoval: Does it have to be ours, or can it be someone else’s?
MJ: It can be someone else’s, whatever you like.
DS: I think starting the week off with Lacey and Kameron’s contemporary, I think that really set it off for me. It’s still one of my favorite routines of the whole season, so I would have to stay with that one. The Mia Michaels one.
Shauna Noland: I would have to say that one of my favorites was Dom and Sabra’s rumba. I liked it. I thought it was cute.
DS: I’d have to agree.
SN: Dominic did his cute little walks.
DS: And I had these pants on that showed my booty. You would have liked it too!
SN: It looked nice Dom. It was great!
DS: Got me some votes.
SN: Yeah.
MJ: (To Shauna). I was stunned when you got eliminated because I never saw a weakness. Then again, I am not Mr. Ballet. I am watching it and I always say ‘that looks pretty good.’ Were you surprised at all?
SN: I wouldn’t say I was surprised. That whole week, I kind of had a feeling. It was getting down to who was going to make it to the Top 10 and everything and there are a lot of other things beside dance that go into it that I don’t think a lot of people realize. There is so much more. And so, I don’t know what it was. I guess it was just my time to go and I was okay with it and things happen for a reason.
DS: I was pretty sad too.
SN: I know, Dominic came to me crying.
DS: Don’t say that!
SN: I am sorry. I won’t tell him.
DS: They’re recording this.
SN: He doesn’t cry, he doesn’t cry.
(All laugh).
MJ: Speaking of Dominic’s personality, that seemed to come out every week. Oh, he shaved his toes. Oh, he wore heels. Oh, he took his shirt off. Was keeping the atmosphere light, was that kind of like Dominic’s role on the show?
DS: I think that’s probably why they had me on there, but I mean it wasn’t a role for me because that’s just who I am. But I think if I didn’t play me, I would have never been on the show or gotten as far as I did. Looking at these dancers, it’s really intimidating for me because I don’t have a studio background so I was saying ‘what could I use to add more flavour to it?’ I was like I can just be a complete jackass! (Laughs). AKA, a ham. Sorry Canadians.
SN: And he totally did!
DS: So it worked.
SN: And it worked.
DS: And it worked.
MJ: They kept saying that you and Sara were the B dancers, the breakdancers. Did you find that you really had to break that stereotype? Like that’s all you could do and was it hard for you to pick up the more formal stuff?
DS: It seems that the stereotype is that and it’s sad. Not just for breakdancers but for street dancers because we don’t have that technical background so they kind of expected her (Sara) to do well, but for me, I think I used that for momentum more than anything. Like the first week, I know I was reading polls and it was like ‘who is this guy? Why is he on the show? Blah, blah, blah, blah.’ So it’s like, that right there, even my friends back home, they didn’t think I could do it either so I used that and just tried twice as hard. First rehearsal, me and Sabra rehearsed like ridiculous amounts of time. It was definitely hard. It was definitely a challenge. But thank god for our choreographers because they made it look like we knew what we were doing but really…I have got two inch heels on. I am looking kind of Danny Tidwell-ish!
(Shauna laughs).
MJ: I wanted to ask you both this. This is a competition that is a lot about pairings and working with your partner well but at the end there is only one winner. Do you think it is fair to say ‘oh, maybe that pairing is good but America voted for Dominic to leave.’ In an individual competition, do you think it should just be solos and individual dancing or does the pairing work for the show?
SN: I definitely feel like the pairs work for the show, although it is a solo competition in the end. It really can show…
MJ: Versatility?
SN: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Versatility and how you feel with each other. For instance, if me and Dom were together and we got hip-hop, it would help me out because he knew what he was doing or if I danced with Pasha and we got samba, it would help me there. I think that there are ways that they could have done it.
MJ: Maybe one male winner and one female winner?
SN: Yeah that, or I have seen the ones where they switch partners every week. I thought that was fair too because really, you weren’t just with one person the whole time, you switched around and really showed what you could do with different people.
DS: I think in the majority of dancing, there is a lot of couples dancing so you kind of have to have that couples part. In the first week, just because of the rules of the show, it is voting by couples so I think that’s like another test in itself beyond dancing. If you can get past that, trying to become America’s favorite couple on top of dancing, that’s just harder and that’s more of an accomplishment later. So I kind of like that because you achieve more than just becoming a dancer. And I think also, we’re not really competing against each other. We’re all here to learn.
MJ: And I think that is one of the major differences between this and American Idol. No matter what they say on American Idol, they are competing against each other.
DS: Yeah they are.
SN: Oh yeah.
MJ: But on this one, I really don’t think so. It’s just a different sort of style.
SN: Oh really?
MJ: Yeah, like Sabra won but she is very different from somebody who could have won.
SN: Yeah, like not once did we ever feel that tension between any of us.
DS: Never, never.
MJ: And finally just to follow up on my previous question, you know when you watch the doubles ice skating, and let’s say the guy falls and then when they get the scores, the scores are for both of them, even though the guy is the one that fell.
DS: Yeah.
SN: Right.
MJ: So do you think that sort of plays a role on So You Think You Can Dance or do you think that when America votes (let’s say for example that you made a mistake) and you did fine, do you think that they are going to punish the team or do you think the voters are cool enough to say ‘accidents happen, it wasn’t her fault?’
DS: I don’t even think like falling, even though it does happen… it’s not really a big thing. I think that America knows who… they’re going to vote for their favorite couple.
MJ: No matter who they are paired with?
SN: Right.
DS: Let’s say they like Neil, they are going to vote for Neil. So I mean when it comes down to it, America knows what they like. They know what they want and they know what they want to see in the end. Plus the majority, like 95 percent of them aren’t even dancers so they are going to fall in love with whoever they want to fall in love with.
MJ: Or who looks the hottest.
DS: Exactly.
SN: That’s true!
DS: So are you saying that’s why Neil made it to the finals? Because of his physical capabilities?
SN: Is he over there? (Laughs). Is the coast clear?
MJ: Too funny. Thanks a lot guys.
SN: Thank you. Great interview!
DS: Thanks!
Here are the remaining dates for the So You Think You Can Dance tour:
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
Please credit Murtz Jaffer & RealityDish.com when using this interview. If reposting, please post just an excerpt and link back to the rest of the piece.
