So You Think You Can Dance Special Friday: Murtz Jaffer Interviews SYTYCD's Kameron Bink & Jaimie Goodwin

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Undoubtedly my favorite interview, talking to Kameron and Jaimie shed a lot of light on the So You Think You Can Dance phenomenon for me. Jaimie was very open about the way that she was portrayed on the show and displayed a side of her personality that I definitely did not see when I screened all the episodes. Kameron also talked about the new respect that dancers are getting because of shows like this and Dancing With The Stars. This was the longest interview that I conducted so if you ever wanted to know everything about So You Think Dance, sit back, relax and enjoy the ride.

Kameron Bink: Hey Murtz.

Jaimie Goodwin: Hey Murtz.

Murtz Jaffer: Hey, how are you?

KB: Good. How are you doing?

JG: I am good, how are you?

MJ: Good, good. Ready to get to get started?

KB: Definitely.

JG: Ready.

MJ: You always seemed to have a lot of fun on the show. Is that generally how your personality is?

KB: Yeah, I mean while we were on the show, you know I didn’t want to get caught up in the competition so I just tried to have as much fun as possible so I could enjoy the experience rather than stress about ‘am I going to go this week?’ or ‘am I going to stay this week?’ I just tried to stay as positive and happy as possible just so I could enjoy it.

MJ: You always danced very elegantly on stage. Did you prefer the classic dances like the waltz to the more contemporary ones?

JG: No, I actually didn’t. They just kept giving me those.

MJ: Is there a lot of typecasting? I kept asking Sara and she was saying that she had a lot of experience yet she was always referred to as “the b-dancer.”

JG: Right, yeah. I don’t know if they planned that or if they just wanted to just categorize the dancers. I don’t know if it was so-called “type-casting,” but I know that when we first went to the audition, they asked us to categorize ourselves. Like ‘are you a contemporary dancer?’ ‘Are you a jazz dancer?’

MJ: Right, right.

JG: So maybe with that, they just wanted to stick to that because I know that a lot of people might not know much about dance and could be confused by it, I am not sure. But yeah.

MJ: Do you think that is kind of synonymous with reality television? Just to get the audience more familiar with you? Like they’ll remember you as being the “elegant and classical dancer.”

JG: Oh yeah, like I’ll get ‘you’re the girl who does ballet.’ And what I did wasn’t really ballet, but they remember you by that.

MJ: Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

JG: I think it actually could be to our benefit. Because people remember us by what we do.

MJ: And after the show ends, you still have the opportunity to show that you can do other styles.

JG: Right, yeah.

MJ: I have to tell you that I would love to see you try krumping because I just cannot picture it for the life of me!

JG: (Laughs). You know what? I can’t picture it either! I am going to be honest with you. And I actually joked around saying that if I had stuck around for another week, they would have given me krumping because they kept giving me things that like just didn’t fly with the audience. Like the waltz twice. No one likes that!

MJ: Yeah, they don’t like the slow stuff!

JG: No, not at all. And even like my Broadway, they gave me “Mr. Bojangles.” They didn’t give me like an upbeat number or something fun that the audience would want to like stand up and clap for you for. I kept laughing because I just kept getting like awful numbers.

MJ: Yeah, because I had never seen the show before and I screened like the entire season to watch in the two days before you guys got here and so I am watching this whole So You Think You Can Dance marathon and everytime I saw that Jaimie was up next, I was like let’s grab the pillow because the slow song is coming!

JG: Right, and people were like she’s not versatile and blah blah blah. But I have trained in tap. I have done Broadway. I have done jazz. I specialized in all of those growing up. Just recently is when I started going the more contemporary route. So then when I auditioned as a “contemporary” dancer, they were like giving me everything contemporary, everything slow and I am like “I have done jazz and Broadway for my entire life” and not once did I get a number like that.

MJ: Even just the interviews that you did on the show, I just found that almost all the questions were about “The Hummingbird” or some other slow dance…
JG: Right, yeah. I know. And they kept asking stuff like “so, at the beginning of the show you said you liked writing so why don’t you talk about your writing.” It was kind of like they wanted you to be that person that they kind of made for you.

MJ: That’s actually really funny. You keep saying that “they gave it to you.” Can you tell me about that? What does that mean? Did they just keep giving you those songs or those dances? I thought it was just random. You pick. Is that not how it was?

JG: Well yeah, I mean you pick it out of the hat what you get. For instance, when I got jazz, they gave me “The Hummingbird” which I am so grateful because I loved that piece, but that’s not really jazz. And then when I got Broadway, they gave me “Mr. Bojangles.” It’s Broadway, it’s classical Broadway but it’s not like TV Broadway.

MJ: But when you say they gave it to you, do you mean that they gave you the song, the choreography?

JG: Yeah, as in like what the producers and the choreographers had planned for the dancers. So like say the choreographers pick a song and they picked the choreography like before the dancers come in. So it’s not really like they cater to that dancer, they’re supposed to give you the choreography and you’re supposed to pull it off. Doesn’t matter what it is.

MJ: Gotcha. So whatever they have choreographed, it doesn’t really matter what pair they get… that’s the contemporary that they are doing for that week that they are scheduled to do contemporary.

JG: Right. So I just always got the slow pieces and so it just didn’t work to my benefit.

MJ: You also seemed to enjoy every moment while you were there. Do you think that shows like this are finally giving dancers the respect that they deserve?

KB: Yeah and it’s funny. I really do think that because of the show that dance is being… that there’s more opportunities opening for dance as a career. You’re seeing dance more in movies, more in commercials, in TV now probably with help from the show because now it’s being more respected as a career. Like you can say that you’re a dancer and now people will respect because there’s actually a career path that you can take now.

JG: It’s actually funny because I talk about that all the time. I used to kind of be, not embarrassed but kind of hesitant to tell people just simply “I am a dancer.” A year or two ago, it wasn’t highly respected and when people on the streets would ask you, ‘what do you do?’ And you said “I am a dancer,” they would totally picture something naughty. Like pole-dancing. You know what I mean? Or club dancers.

MJ: (Laughs).

JG: And now they see that dancers are trained and they are professional and there are so many different types. People now have a different perspective and so we’re all really really proud of what we do.

MJ: I am sure you have heard the whole ‘real men don’t dance’ line. Is it hard combating that or do you think that the guys are now getting the same respect that dancing in general is?

KB: Oh definitely. I mean from you know So You Think You Can Dance and Dancing With The Stars you’re seeing famous and well-respected men like Emmitt Smith and Jerry Rice going out there and dancing now so I think it’s definitely helped the guy image as a dancer, you know?

MJ: I think that there’s a parallel when people say ‘what do you do?’ And I say, “oh, I work on the internet.” It’s the same face that you get if you say that you are a dancer. It’s like what box do you live in?

JG: Right, right. And nowadays, it’s just totally different.

MJ: What motivated you to try out for So You Think You Can Dance?

KB: For the two years prior to me trying out for the show, I wasn’t dancing. I was just going to school and I had watched the past two previous seasons and just wished that I was dancing but I just didn’t have time. I was going to college and then after my Fall semester 06, I decided, you know what? Let me take this next Spring off and let me just go back to dance and so I started dancing in January and then I heard that the auditions were in April so I was like ‘you know what? Let me go do it. Why not?’ And it’s been a rollercoaster ever since.

MJ: Yeah because it’s literally show and then tour. It’s just one after the other.

KB: It’s been amazing and I have just fallen in love with it all over again, you know?

MJ: Was there any specific partner that you preferred working with?

KB: I loved working with Lacey. We just had great chemistry on stage and we just really worked well together. And my last partner, Sabra, she’s just a beautiful person. I loved working with both my partners.

JG: I only had two partners and they were both breakdancers. I mean it was hard because we always got the technical waltzes and stuff so it didn’t come naturally to either one of us. For me, I have trained in ballet so waltz is okay, like I could get into it but it was hard working with my partners because they weren’t technically trained. But also, I am really grateful for it at the same time because I think that’s what the show is about and I definitely got the full-fledged version. I became really close to Hok and really close to Dominic and they’re honestly the two most amazing people like on the show. I hang out with them all the time on the tour. I loved my partners. It was just a whole different scene because when I was growing up, you were paired with your partner because you both have the technical ability. You were on the same level. When they are trained in breakdancing and I know nothing about it (I couldn’t do it for my life).

MJ: And you didn’t even get the krumping that they could have pulled off with you.

JG: Yeah, they could have taught me the krumping and for me, we kept getting things that neither one of us have ever done. It was definitely a challenge every single week.

MJ: You never worked with each other did you?

KB: No, I never worked with her. But we did get voted off the same week so we got kind of close after we both got voted off and we just had a lot of fun together, those few days after we left the show.

JG: We were really really good friends. You know Lacey and Hok are together and Lacey and Kameron were partners and Hok and I were partners so Lacey and Hok would hang out all the time and it kind of left me and Kameron hanging out.

MJ: You know, I never actually pictured that until you just said that and you’re totally right.

JG: Yeah, so that’s really what happened. They would go off together and then Kameron and I would be like ‘so what do you want to do?’ So we would always watch movies and we baked all the time for some reason. We loved baking! We made cakes and brownies in our apartment.

MJ: (Laughs). I am like please make sure you say the right kind of “baking!”

JG: (Laughs). That’s awful! Yeah. I know, but we had a great time together!

MJ: What do you do when you leave the show? Do you just go back home or is it just like wait to see who wins?

KB: There’s media the following day. You have a whole bunch of press. Just talk shows, reality shows. I actually stayed in LA for an extra few days with one of the other contestants (Shauna). Me, Jaimie and Shauna we all just stayed together for a few days and just hung out in LA. Then I went home and saw my family that I hadn’t seen in awhile and I did a few classes back in my hometown just to get back to the dance studios that had always like been there for me and stuff.

JG: It was so much fun and actually it was really convenient because Kameron and I were so close. When we got eliminated the same night, we went through a lot of crap trying to get home. We changed our flights because we wanted to spend time with Shauna and Shauna and I were teaching at a summer intensive that weekend, so we went over to her apartment and we stayed the night with her and we hung out and went to Universal and Citywalk. It was kind of crazy because we had been in a little box for three months and all of a sudden we could do anything we wanted. So we saw movies and we went out to eat and then Shauna and I went to teach the next day. Kameron and I had the worst time trying to get home. Like we couldn’t find flights and we were calling the companies saying ‘can you get us a flight?’ It was crazy but it was cool going through that because we were already so close and so it was kind of more of an adventure, but yeah, we had a lot of fun!

MJ: In your FOX bio, it said that Travis Wall was your favorite professional dancer, so when did you find out Danny was his brother and what did you think about that? I am sure you knew before you got there right?

JG: I actually grew up with Danny and Travis. When I was 11, I started training under Travis’ mom and Travis was actually moving to New York to do Music Man on Broadway. So he was gone for a couple of years and then he came back and I became his dance partner. We were dance partners for five years and he left me and went on the show. We were dance partners up until the time that he auditioned for the show and then he actually told me to audition for the show and Danny was like ‘that sounds like a lot of fun, we should both do it together.’ So Danny and I went to the audition together in New York.

MJ: Why didn’t you audition the first time with Travis? Were you just not feeling it at that time?

JG: I wasn’t old enough. I graduated highschool the month before I auditioned.

MJ: What are your plans after the tour? I think a lot of people go into teaching?

JG: I know I have the teaching thing to go to. I have a lot of offers. People want me to come and teach a class. I am also working with a convention on the weekends which is a lot of fun. Like I usually go there (like I have done that before the show too) so I plan on doing some of that, but really, I would love to start auditioning and branch onto other things too like theatre work like in New York. I am moving to New York and I want to kind of get more into the company.

MJ: And Kameron, you don’t live in LA now right? There’s no plans to move there to follow up on this stuff?

KB: There are plans to follow up, just not in LA. I have been dancing in Florida and Miami for my whole life and a bunch of us are actually going to move out to New York.

MJ: Oh really?

KB: Yeah. So I am really looking forward to this next year because I haven’t been dancing for the past few years so there’s so much that I need to catch up on. I need to like keep learning and keep growing and whenever opportunities come, just try to grab them.

MJ: Where would you say the biggest dance market is? Is it in New York, LA? Is there a place where dancers should go if they really want to do it? I would think Broadway right?

KB: There’s two different roads. LA is where video and more commercial work is whereas in New York, it’s more theatre work. When you’re doing videos, you’re never going to get like an instant gratification whereas when you’re in theatres and you have like people cheering after every number… that’s basically what we are doing now. We’re in arenas, we’re on a much bigger scale but when you’re done dancing and you feed off the crowd and you feed off their energy, there’s no experience like that. I am not really looking to jump into working. I really just want to keep learning for this next year and teach. Just keep growing you know?

JG: I think it depends on what you want to do. You can TV and movies both in New York and LA, but LA is more prominent for that. And also LA is more hiphop and commercial work whereas New York, you can go and you have Broadway and you have the theatres and it is more theatre work.

MJ: Is that more of what you are into? The theatre work?

JG: I want to get into both of them. I love doing the work on TV and all that stuff but I don’t know. Honestly? People have been telling me that I am a lot better live. Everyone on tour seems to think that. So I guess I am smart by moving to New York. I want to get more into company work. I just feel like the hiphop scene obviously isn’t really my scene but if I were going to get to TV, I could totally commute to LA whereas I think that I have more of an opportunity to do other things while I am living in New York.

MJ: In a competition where there is only one winner, do you think that the random selection of partners is fair (in the sense that so much of what you are judged on is based on chemistry and who you work with)?

KB: No, I really think that they know exactly how to make it as fair as possible. Because when you go on a job like later on in your career, you’re never going to know the person you’re dancing with and we all have to be dancers but we all have to be actors at the same time. It’s preparing us.

JG: I feel like in the beginning they pair with your partners so that it will be a challenge for you, but they try and pair you with someone that you can grow the most with. You’re with that partner for the most amount of time. I think you’re judged mainly on that. And then when you split up and you have the random partners, they’re judging based on you. By that time, partner-by-partner, you’re already just being judged just as an individual. It’s kind of cool because I feel like that random selection helps with the whole growing process and I think that’s what the people want to see.

MJ: And then when you’re dancing professionally, obviously you’re not going to have the same partner. You’re going to be working with different people so I guess from an experience perspective, it’s good too.

JG: Right, exactly.

MJ: They are launching a Canadian version of the show here soon. What advice do you have for people who want to audition?

KB: I would say go out and learn as many different styles as you can. From ballet to Latin to ballroom. Just be as versatile as possible and to always remember to be yourself because they want to see an individual so if you are trying to be somebody else or you’re trying to be somebody that you’re not, it’s not going to be you out there. If they do decide to use you and you’re somebody else, you wouldn’t be happy with the result. Make sure you be yourself and just remember to have fun on the air.

MJ: And before we go, let me just get your favorite performance. Was there one that stood out to you? Was it “The Hummingbird?”

JG: Yeah. Definitely.

MJ: That was like an ask and answered question. I knew you were going to say that. (Laughs).

JG: Yeah, I mean you really didn’t have to ask me! (Laughs). I liked some of my other numbers, but nothing really was a hit in my book (or in anyone else’s!) (Laughs).

MJ: And yours?

KB: Honestly, my very first contemporary with Lacey was by far my favorite dance that I have probably ever done. Just because the response that we got. I believe that the next day after the show was aired, it was like the #1 video on the internet. Just to know that many people and just to see all the love and support that we got after that first dance, that pretty much set us up for the rest of the competition.

MJ: Now I have heard the distressing news that you aren’t single and are dating Ivan from Season 2. Confirm or deny.

JG: Confirm.

MJ: Oh, and the hearts of Canada sink slowly in their chests as they read this.

JG: And the girls are really sad. They’re like “are you dating Ivan?” And I am like “yeah.” And they are like “awww.” Like the girls outside. They are like “will you tell him that I said hi?” People thought that I was going to be with Hok because of that whole thing where they made it look like we were with each other and then people thought that I was with Kameron because we were so close.

MJ: Yeah, everybody thought you guys were together!

JG: Yeah, I heard that there were forums online. People were like sending us pictures. They would email us poems about how we love each other.

MJ: I am sure you have heard about those YouTube tribute videos. They have these tribute videos to like Lacey and Hok and I am sure there are at least a couple with you and Kameron. I’d have to go and check. They just like splice all your dances together but they make it look like you guys are totally in love.

JG: No way!

MJ: Yeah, and I am positive because I was going through them and I am pretty sure I saw at least a couple.

JG: That is hysterical, I am going to have to look at them.

MJ: They play the cheesiest Eric Clapton music.

JG: Oh my gosh, that’s so funny! (Laughs). I think Ivan at first was like ‘who are you the closest to on the show?’ I was like “Kameron.” He of course heard all the rumors that Kameron and I were together, blah, blah, blah.

MJ: When did you get together with Ivan? Was it before the show or after?

JG: No, we have been together for almost seven months? It’s been awhile. So he kind of went through the whole process with me.

MJ: I heard your name with everyone. I heard it with Hok and then I heard with Ivan, and then I heard it with Travis and then I heard it with Danny because you were at the same school.

JG: I actually went on the Idol forums the other day because they are so supportive and they are like ‘go on and look at your site’ and I took the time to go on and I have like a fan thread… like me and Neil. Neil and I have never even partnered together. And me and Kameron. And then one for me and Travis. And then one for me and Ivan. I am in one with like every boy.

MJ: You know what’s funny too? They made Lauren do all that stuff where she had to kiss Dom and stuff like that, and it’s weird because I thought Lauren’s name would come up more but it’s always your name that comes up in all the romance rumors!

JG: Right, but they made me look like the most innocent person!

MJ: Yeah, it doesn’t make any sense! Why do you think that is?

JG: I have no idea. I have no idea! That’s a great question!

MJ: I honestly don’t know either. The way they were editing you, they were just making you seem like the soft-spoken girl who liked to waltz. The last one you would expect to engage in that sort of activity. It’s weird that people just jumped on it.

JG: Yeah, I thought that too. I would look at the show and be like ‘they had me look like an angel!’

MJ: (Laughs).

JG: It’s so funny. And they would always ask you what a quirky thing about you was, and I was thinking about it and when I told them the thing about basketball, they asked for like a couple of different options and I was like you know… this is so weird but I have this huge fetish for buying underwear. I love buying underwear! I think that’s so funny! But of course they’re like ‘no, do you have anything like you were on the church choir.’ And I was like ‘no.’

MJ: That is classic! You know what I do for a living right? Do you know what my primary job is?

JG: What are you?

MJ: You’re going to freak out laughing!

JG: What, what?!

MJ: My job primarily is to spoil reality TV shows. And so I have a team of 20 people and what we do is we sit down and we analyze editing. So we know who is going to win Survivor three months in advance. Who’s going to win The Amazing Race. We can predict American Idol in two seconds. It’s just weird in terms of So You Think You Can Dance, when I am watch 15 episodes, I didn’t want to know who won. I wanted to see if I could figure it out just from the first three episodes and the only one that I noticed with really weird editing was you. I think that everybody else came off as multi-dimensional. Even Dominic, they focused on him being a breakdancer but they kept giving him other stuff to do. Like a coming-of-age type edit. He is learning these other dances with Sabra and stuff, but with you it was just the waltzing. She’s very good at waltzing and the elegant stuff but that’s it.

JG: You know what? We joke around all the time like as soon as we were all eliminated and we were back together for the finale, we were talking about the show and everything and all the girls were like ‘do you know how hard they tried to get you off the show?’ Like every week they gave you like the worst hair and the worst make-up. They want you to talk about your life in the youth group. (Laughs).

MJ: I just don’t understand! It’s like you were the milkman’s daughter! I remember when I was putting the questions together for this, I was like ‘what am I going to ask her?!’ Like ‘what kinds of dresses does she pick when she dances the tango?’ I didn’t get a sense of who you were. Just that you liked slow dances and slow music.

JG: I don’t like slow dances and slow music!

MJ: And that’s why it’s so baffling!

JG: I don’t think the viewers understand that they put us in those costumes and they pick our music for us. They think that that’s us. There were times when I just wanted to beg the choreographer just to give me one upbeat number.

MJ: One upbeat number! Just one! I do agree. My professional reality opinion is that we definitely didn’t get a sense of who you were. And I say that in all objectivity. The thing is that always kind of remembered everybody else. You’re obviously going to remember Lacey because of the Benji connection. And you’re going to remember Hok because you’d never seen anyone like him before. And you’re going to remember Danny because of Travis. I never got that character from you.

JG: I totally agree!

MJ: So did you hear about this party in LA that I am throwing?

JG: I did! When is it?

MJ: It’s in December. It’s going to be the greatest party of all-time. All reality people. You HAVE to come.

JG: I am working up until the second week of December, but I’ll try. Lauren’s excited about it!

MJ: Awesome. Well that’s everything from me! Thank you so much.

KB: Thank you so much Murtz.

JG: Thank you so much!

MJ: Alright, take it easy.

KB: Take care.

Here are the remaining dates for the So You Think You Can Dance tour:

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.