I do not think I need to elaborate on how upset I was about missing the So You Think You Can Dance Canada finale on Sunday. Unfortunately, because I had to be at the Amazing Race finale in New York (that was also scheduled for Sunday), I could not change my travel plans and stay in Toronto to watch Nico Archambault do the expected and win the title of Canada’s Favourite Dancer. With that being said, I definitely wanted to make sure that I was back to talk to the four finalists and in an Amazing Race moment of my own, I literally landed at Pearson and went straight over to 299 Queen St. W in downtown Toronto to watch the Dancers Live @ eTalk and interview them directly after. Here’s what went down.
Murtz Jaffer: Nico winning was predicted from Day 1, just based on the reactions of the people who went to the live shows. I wanted to know what it was like to compete against that from the rest of you.
Miles Faber: Want me to go first? It was definitely apparent that Nico had a fanbase early on and all that stuff but you’re there not because you’re competing against each other and trying to take each other out. You’re there trying to do the best you can and try to make Canada love what you do. Do something you do. Not do something that you’re doing better than someone else. Just you for being you. We’re all friends and we love when people scream for Nico. We scream for Nico too. It’s all good.
Allie Bertram: I never thought of it as a competition. It was always me trying to do my best performance. Everyone loves to scream for Nico. Everyone loves to scream for Miles. We all love to scream for each other. And yeah, his were a little louder sometimes but by the end, it really did get quite close with all the screaming. And you know, the fans in the audience are only so many of the general public that come to the show.
Natalli Reznik: I feel like we all love to dance and that’s why we came to the show. Whatever happens, happens.
MJ: On other shows like this (American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance in the States), it was never this case of one guy getting all these cheers. Everybody kind of got an equal amount. I wanted to know if it affected you during your performances at all. Like did you go in with the mindset of ‘oh, if I can get Nico-level response then I have done a good job’ or were you just trying to focus on what you were doing?
Allie: But see, this is the thing… on shows, if you listen to the cheering it’s equal! You don’t know on Canadian Idol or American Idol if there was one that was bigger because I never saw any of those shows live. On TV, it all appears the same. It appears equal.
MJ: That’s a really good point because we don’t know what that atmosphere was like at all.
Allie: Exactly.
MJ: How does it feel to win?
Nico Archambault: (Laughs). Feels surreal. It feels good. I feel like it was predictable to everyone except to me. Because I am not at home, I am not outside watching TV. I really… I promise you… wasn’t expecting it. I didn’t enter the competition for that. I wasn’t focusing on that. I was focusing on dancing and every week it was just to make the next dance as best as I could and if it was a partner dance, to make my partner look good and make the whole thing happen and the story happen on stage. It was a big surprise. Honestly, when I was there with Allie and they named me, I blanked out. I think I had a whole body and brain shutdown for a couple of minutes.
MJ: A lot of people are talking about that reaction. When you heard that you won. Some people are like ‘wow, he really was surprised!’ and other people are like ‘oh come on, he had to know.’ Did you really have no idea at all?
Nico: No…
Allie: We had no idea. Going on there, they tell us our marks of where to stand and that is it.
Nico: I really had no idea. Honestly, I heard the cheering but I am half-deaf. To me, it is just loud all the time. It’s a big mesh of sound. The two last weeks, I didn’t hear any difference at any moment.
MJ: Between you and the other dancers?
Nico: Yeah. It was loud for everyone. I didn’t hear any difference and I wasn’t expecting anything. I swear I didn’t know.
MJ: Another interesting that happened on the finale was when it came down to Nico and Allie. A lot of people seemed to think that on a dancing show, it’s probably girls that are voting so it was likely that it would come down to the two guys. Did that surprise you?
Allie: I was actually really surprised. I probably shouldn’t say this but back in the day when I used to compete, we always used to call it ‘penis points!’ (Laughs). As horrible as it sounds! I was surprised but honestly standing there, when it was all four of us, you could have taken any two of us. It could have been any mixture of us. I think that it was really even across. It could have been anyone of us and I was just happy to be standing there with the final four people. It didn’t matter if it was Miles and Nico, I would have been just as happy as I am right now.
MJ: What surprised me when I was at the live shows is that I expected it to just be a sea of girls in the audience (like it is at Canadian Idol) but on this show, you actually had guys coming out. Did that surprise you? The fact that there were guys there and guys voting?
Natalli: No, it didn’t really surprise me because I think that in addition to young girls watching the show, there are also a lot of adults and boys.
Allie: Boyfriends came to the shows…
Natalli: Yeah, boyfriends were there. It’s not surprising. It’s all ages from young to older.
Nico: Dance is a common theme which reaches everyone.
MJ: I think the biggest difference that I found between this show and the U.S. version was the fact that you guys really are so different. I know they kept plugging that in the promos. The ballerina and the bad boy etc. It’s true though because on the American version, you had Twitch and Josh who were both the same kind of dancer. Did that surprise you that four completely different dancers made it all the way to the end?
Allie: It just shows how diverse Canada is eh? (Murtz note: How great is it that she said ‘eh?’) And how many different people are voting.
Nico: I think it reflects Canada really well.
Natalli: And I think too, we were all versatile. I think that while we came in as casted a certain way, we showed that we could do every style. So I think that we’re dancers and you shouldn’t really put us in a box.
Nico: The four of us, I think we really managed to get out of this…
Natalli: Box…
Nico: Box and character. The “bad boy” Nico. I am not a bad boy! (Laughs).
MJ: Do you think you were cast in a certain way?
All: Of course!
MJ: Because we couldn’t have a show with 20 ballerina’s could we? Otherwise it would be The Nutcracker.
Allie: You gotta have characters.
Nico: This guy (points to Miles) transformed every week. And she did (points to Natalli) doing quickstep and I did as well. I took off the piercings and shaved. It’s not because you have a specific look one day that you can’t change. We’re all unique dancers and you fit the role that you are given.
MJ: This is obviously experience that changes you. I wanted to know what the toughest part of the entire thing was. Now that it is all over and is there a moment that you can reflect on where you honestly didn’t think that you could get through it and you did?
Allie: Final four week. We went into that week and we were all exhausted but we knew that it was our last week but really it wasn’t because we had this final week as well and I think all of us were exhausted going into it but we just knew that we had to push. We’re like ‘okay, one more week… we just gotta push it.’ It was insane for all of us but I think all of us helped each other out.
Nico: We just kept taking it one rehearsal at a time. I just remember that between rehearsals we saw each other for a 10-minute break. Just to see all our faces. There was no talking. It was just like f******-A. (Laughs).
Allie: And you have to give it all in the rehearsals because if you don’t, you can’t put on the show. You save your energy and just use it in the rehearsals.
MJ: It was a different case for you guys because you all had to compete on the last show and then when you come back to the finale and you had to do all your old routines again… did you get a chance to practice them or were you so focused on the finale that you were like ‘oh, what did I do with Izaak that time?’
Allie: No, we had a week of training…
MJ: For both shows?
Allie: Yeah.
Nico: We had more time than we were expecting, than we needed actually.
Allie: For our duet. Exactly. For the recreations of all of them. They come back so easily because you drilled them for a week when you were doing them on the show and all of a sudden when you put on the music, it’s back in your body. So it was easier to prepare for that one than it was for the other ones.
MJ: I think that’s what surprises me the most. The fact that you can remember so many steps. Does that come with just being a dancer? Do you just automatically pick up the 8-count for every dance? There’s no way I could learn a dance six weeks ago and remember it now…
Allie: It’s just like when you are singing a song in the car and you remember lyrics. For some reason, it just comes naturally to you I think.
Nico: It’s different for everyone. It doesn’t come easily. We all have something to struggle with. For some people, it’s the learning process. It’s not natural to everyone.
Miles: It’s also practice. Some people…I don’t come from a very choreographed-based background. I have done it before but I think it is something that I knew I was struggling with (is remembering all the choreography). When the Top 4 had to learn five dances, my brain was just fried. It was just done.
MJ: Is there any part of the competition that bothers you? If it is a dancing competition and there’s only one winner at the end, a lot of it is random (based on who you’re partnered with).
Nico: Yeah.
MJ: Did that bother you? That you could be stuck with someone you didn’t want to be in an individual contest? I know you had the solos… but still, people remember the partner performances.
Nico: I just saw every partnering as a new occasion. Every dancer on the show, I wish I had the opportunity to partner with. Because they all have something unique. They all have something to bring. Sometimes it might not come easily, but you have something to learn from that person and you have something to bring to that person too. I think you just have to put all the energy and effort into making that happen. And you have to think of it as a team.
Allie: And of course it’s hard because if you have a partner that’s not doing your style and you’re both out of your element, but more than likely there’s going to be another couple like you. That’s part of the whole show. That everybody is out of their element unless you get really lucky one week and you get two contemporary dancers doing a contemporary piece. That’s luck. That’s pure luck and hopefully the next week they would get something completely random.
MJ: But you know what? It’s like if I was picking a team for basketball in school, and I am picking out of a hat, if I got the guy that couldn’t play at all, I’d be like (slaps forehead). You guys always seemed happy with your picks and I wanted to know if you genuinely were or were there cases where you preferred to pick a name out of there?
Miles: That’s part of the game though and that’s part of the reason for why we are here. We have to make it work. As dancers, individually we may be strong at what we do but the show is partner-based. You both have to work together (as Nico said) as a team and no matter who you draw, that’s part of what people want to see. That’s part of the fun of the show. Who is dancing together.
Allie: If you can bring out the best. It’s great when you get a partner that was in the bottom one week and then the next week, they aren’t. You’re just like ‘wow, like maybe I helped them out a little bit.’ Maybe I helped them learn something. It’s always great to work with different partners because everybody brings something different to the table.
MJ: Do you think that there is any point that this stops being a dance competition and turns into a popularity contest? It is always about the dance?
Allie: It’s the whole package.
Nico: It’s a mix. It’s the whole package.
Allie: I think that Canada needs to fall in love with you as a person and they are going to fall in love with your dancing and your attitude. Everything about you. That’s what they are watching for. That’s what they are judging us on.
Nico: You can be the most beautiful person, the most stunning-looking person, the nicest, the funniest guy but if you can’t dance and if the emotion is not coming across, it’s not going to work.
MJ: When I talked to Izaak, one of the things that I brought up was whenever he did his solo, he would always look at the camera….
Allie: He knows where the cameras are…
MJ: Is there a strategy that you can use on a show like this? Do you look at the camera instead of the crowd because ultimately how many people are in the crowd versus the number that are voting at home?
Allie: They do tell us to play to the cameras. But at the same time, we’re performers and you play outwards. You play to your partner as well.
Miles: It depends on what kind of dance you are doing as well.
Nico: This guy (Izaak) just has a sense for the camera. I don’t know how he does it.
Miles: He looks at the camera really well.
Nico: He is looking at one camera and the second it changes, he’s there. I don’t know. Maybe he’s got the earphones with the tech calls. Switch to 3! We’re aware it’s a TV show and you do perform for cameras but naturally you play to the audience as well. It’s like a mix of both.
Allie: Lots of times they tell you not to focus on anything and just to focus on your partner because that takes up one camera.
MJ: I don’t know if you guys knew about this, but in that last week before the finale, two of the dancers fell and couldn’t dance because they were so tired from all of the rehearsing. I am sure you heard the story.
Nico: They told us, when we met them.
Allie: Some of them went to the hospital, we heard that.
MJ: Based on how many times you (points to Natalli) danced on that finale, I cannot even imagine how you weren’t tired. How hard was it?
Natalli: For me physically, I feel like I am in the best shape. I wasn’t even tired in dress rehearsal when we went through it a few times. It’s just mentally, I had no days off and for myself, I feel like I need to have a day off. It’s so important for me. I was okay physically, but mentally and emotionally I needed a day off.
MJ: The same for all of you?
All: Yeah.
MJ: I mean you were kind of conditioned to it too right? Because you had been doing it for the entire show?
Nico: So many injuries happened. We’re just lucky that nothing happened that was bad enough to send somebody to the hospital. There were some cracked bones and some funny stuff happening.
Allie: I think we just all knew that it was our last week. That was our last competing show. The last show that really mattered and that Canada was judging us on and it was kind of like our main motivation to go on. Second –last day, last-day, come on! You kind of had that countdown going on and it kind of helped mentally.
MJ: Finally, I know I asked you this on the conference call before the finale, but the question that everybody keeps e-mailing me to ask is…
Nico: Oh, so you were on the conference call?
MJ: I was the one who was talking the loudest. When I started doing those, I would never get a question in because you don’t know who’s going to ask a question at what time because there isn’t an order. We were on the phone just like you. This time, I was just like I am going to say it loud. Block everybody else out!
Nico: (Laughs). Yeah, yeah.
MJ: But the question that I asked you then is the same one that I want to ask you now. When you watch a show like dance. Everybody is wearing such little clothing and I know I asked you this before, but it is what everybody wants to know. Do you eventually get comfortable doing that? Did you know before you went on the show those were what the costumes were going to be like?
Allie: They are standard costumes for a dance performance.
Nico: Yeah.
Allie: For a Latin performance, that’s very standard. For hip hop, that’s very standard.
MJ: So there’s never a case of you going in there and saying, “I am not wearing that…”
Allie: Well, if we weren’t comfortable, they wouldn’t put us in it.
Nico: They never forced anything on us.
Miles: I have never danced in tight pants before in my life and I wore some pretty tight pants.
MJ: Was that hard for you? (Murtz note: I realized the hilarity of that question after I asked it)
Miles: Yeah. It was really weird.
Nico: But when it fits the piece, it’s okay. I don’t like tight pants either but if it fits like disco, they were wearing tight pants. I could have pulled it off in the 70’s…
MJ: You gotta tell me about the writing. What was up with the writing on your body that one time?
Nico: The writing… it was Natalli’s idea. I was trying to figure out something original to do. You do all these solos and you try to stand out and do something different. She’s like you should go and do something visual with your energy. Maybe you should do like a drawing or something. Then I was like, “I can never talk about my tattoo on air” (because they didn’t clear the rights of Jim Morrison’s lyrics) so I kept her idea because the song I was using and the kind of movement I was doing, I wanted them to see my body. I remember I answered you. The one thing that’s really beautiful about dance is the body of a dancer. I mean there’s nobody else in the world that has a body like a dancer has. I want to see these muscles moving and the joints. I just didn’t want to do plain and boring shirtless. I asked the make-up artist Lynn to draw them.
MJ: When somebody wins Survivor, they get a million dollars or when somebody wins American Idol, they get a recording contract. I know you won a prize and you won the car but what does a dancer do after this show? I mean after the tour.
Nico: Same old, keep training and keep waiting for jobs to come in. Just hope that the exposure you get is going to bring you more experiences.
MJ: Tell me about these jobs? I know nothing about them. Do they just call and say ‘I am doing this show on Broadway, do you want to be on it?’
Allie: Or “ I am doing this movie, I could use some more dancers” or “hey, I am doing this Broadway show, I would love to have you.”
Nico: I don’t think we’re going to get the job right away. I think we’ll get called to do the auditions!
Allie: But what an amazing way to meet new connections. When I was leaving the wrap party last night, I was walking out with all these cards and I was like ‘wow, how lucky am I right now that after all my hard work for 9 weeks, that I am walking out with all these cards and people genuinely are asking me if I need and agent or anything.”
MJ: You have been in the business for awhile. It’s a tough life being a dancer isn’t it?
Natalli: Very tough. Especially because there are choreographers out there and they have their dancers so for us to come out into the real world, there are so many dancers out there that are still there and are working who are amazing. I think after the show, you need to kind of look at it as an experience for yourself and not necessarily for what work you are going to get. Whatever’s meant to be.
MJ: Do you guys see yourselves as trailblazers? They say that the magic of a first season can never be repeated and you have carved a path for all future seasons of this show.
Allie: We’re the originals.
Nico: I feel blessed.
Natalli: I remember Sandra (Faire) even mentioning us if they need choreographers for next season.
MJ: Did the right guy win?
Natalli: Yes. He fit the part. From day one, we said it to him but I don’t think he believed it. I think he accepted it slowly but surely.
Miles: He definitely deserves it.
MJ: That’s perfect, thanks.
All: Thanks.
