So You Think You Can Dance Special Wednesday: Murtz Jaffer Interviews SYTYCD's Pasha Kovalev & Anya Garnis

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I had a great time talking to So You Think You Can Dance competitors Pasha Kovalev and Anya Garnis. I talked to the pair about whether the show is fair in terms of how much importance is placed on chemistry between each pair of dancers when really there can be only one winner at the end. Did they agree with my suggestion that there should be one male winner and one female winner? Read on to find out!

Murtz Jaffer: I wanted to start with Anya. I think I read something really funny on your bio where it asked you what your favorite hobbies were and you said ‘none.’ It actually says that. I guess you are so busy with dancing that you don’t have time for anything else. I wanted to see if there is anything else that you like (besides dancing)?

Anya Garnis: Oh no. They must have changed it because my answer was like ‘I was studying speech and acting’ so yeah, I am doing some different things on the side. Dancing is how we work and how we support ourselves, but besides that I have been taking acting classes as well as… (turns to Pasha). What’s that face?

Pasha Kovalev: I was messing with Neil while you were answering your question!

AG: Yeah, I have been taking speech classes, working, you know, being from a different country and all. That’s my hobby, I guess! (Laughs).

MJ: I wanted to ask you about how the judges always described you as a ‘real gentleman.’ You were the ‘gentleman dancer.’ I wanted to ask you if being nice was part of your strategy going in or is that just who you are. Are you just generally a nice?

PK: I don’t know if it’s a nice guy. Everybody says that. I guess… I guess that’s who I am, I guess. I never thought about being a gentleman or being nice. It’s just what you do. Growing up, back in Russia, there’s certain things that you’re supposed to do like hold the door for a woman or stuff like that. Etiquette and stuff is very important and your parents tried to teach when you were growing up. So I guess it’s somewhere inside and coming out all the time.

AG: I think I can answer this question better than he can. (Laughs). Just because I have known him for such a long time. I think coming into this competition, he had such great partnering skills and just being personality-wise, a reality TV show. It’s hard to pretend to be someone else. You know I mean? Just because the camera always follows you. It’s the typical, what you see is what you get. It’s just that I would say that he (Pasha) has the most partnering skills so maybe that’s why people related to that more than with anyone else.

PK: Yeah, exactly. That explains it.

MJ: One of the questions that I had for you both was that obviously a lot of this competition is based on how you coordinate yourself with your partner. At the end, there’s only one winner. Is that fair and would it be better if it was just solo, solo, solo because it’s not like two people win. It’s only one. What do you think about the whole partnering scheme of the show?

PK: I think it’s kind of interesting the way it’s done, because you’re right. It’s all these people dancing together and at the end, just only one wins and it’s hard to see who is better. So that’s why on the show, we had a lot a lot of solo’s and final show was all about switching the partners so people can see everybody dance with everybody and then they make their choice. For me personally, dancing together with a partner, that’s what I do. So it is easier for some people, but most of the people in the Top 20… it was hard.

MJ: Yeah, because Dominic and Sara came from a breakdancing background where there are more solo’s.

PK: Yeah.

AG: That’s thing about a partner in dancing. The thing is, it’s a little bit confusing on the show. After you start in the Top 20, they (the judges) always comment on how you relate to your partner.

MJ: Exactly, the chemistry.

AG: Exactly, the chemistry. You have to have the chemistry or you don’t have it. I would say either that they should change the format. Maybe start the solo at the very beginning of Week 1, doing the solos so people can see right away.

MJ: Or maybe have a male and a female winner.

PK: Exactly.

AG: Exactly. That’s good. It would be more fair to a couple because you have been competing and trying to achieve that together.

MJ: But you could argue that if you are a good dancer, it doesn’t matter who you are paired with, you can still do well. So I guess that is their argument.

AG: Yeah. But that’s a good question. I like that one!

MJ: Well, thanks a lot for your time. I think it’s time for the switch. It’s kind of like speed dating up in here!

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.

Murtz Jaffer is the world's foremost reality television expert and was the host of Reality Obsessed which aired on the TVTropolis and Global Reality Channels in Canada. He has professional writing experience at the Toronto Sun, National Post, TV Guide Canada, TOROMagazine.com and was a former producer at Entertainment Tonight Canada. He was also the editor at Weekendtrips.com.