Hypable spoke with this week’s eliminated contestants from So You Think You Can Dance, Alexis Juliano and Curtis Holland, about their experience on the show, what they think led to their elimination, and some of their favorite routines.
Eliminations
Tappers have been pretty notorious in previous years for not making it very far in the competition. Were Alexis and Curtis worried about that? “I think that sometimes tappers do get the lower hand,” Curtis says, “but I think we’ve had an amazing run because of the dancers and choreographers that we’ve been able to work with.”
Did they see their eliminations coming? “I think once I found out I was in the bottom,” Alexis says, “I kind of prepared myself for the worst, but hoped for the best. You never really know, so you just have to hope for the best, and that’s just not what happened that time.”
She believes her tough competition is what worked against her: “I just think I was up against amazing dancers, and all the girls and the guys are just amazing.” About her fellow bottom two female contestant, she says: “I just think, when it comes down to me and Jasmine Harper, Jasmine Harper just is phenomenal. She’s amazing at her craft, and she’s amazing at other things as well. She’s an amazing woman and it’s just how the judges feel.”
“I don’t think that I knew that it was going to happen,” Curtis says, “but…I considered it, just because I considered the fact that I wasn’t able to show the judges anything this week because of my injury and I prepared myself for going home.”
Representing tap
The two tappers are proud of how they’ve represented their style on SYTYCD, and the effect it’s had on publicizing tap around the country. “I’m very proud,” Alexis says. “Just the fact that there were three tappers this season is so amazing, and Curtis and I have made it far, and this top 14 is a big accomplishment.”
Their appearance on the show is helping to increase the style’s popularity. “Tap is definitely growing in the world, and I think more people are starting to love it and try it,” Alexis says. “It’s amazing to see where tap is going.”
Curtis enjoyed the experience of sharing the stage with other tappers: “It’s such a great thing when you go into a competition, and you’re not the only one in your style there, because you feel like you have other people by your side.”
He continues, “I feel like we’ve all been able to help each other grow…especially in our solos, we’ve been able to help each other.” He adds, “I think think that’s why we’ve been able to make it as far as we did, because we’ve had the support of others in our same style.”
What do Curtis and Alexis think of each other’s tapping styles? “I think Curtis’ style is very fun and energetic and just full-out all the time. He’s just so amazing at what he does, and the stuff that he does…even though they’re small intricate steps, he just makes them so big and so full-out, so no one’s ever bored watching them.”
“I think that Lexi’s style is very fast,” Curtis says, laughing. “Very fast and very clear and crisp. I think that she’s very smooth and poised with what she does and she never looks like she’s about to break a sweat, and I think that’s a great thing.”
Memorable routines
Alexis and Curtis have had plenty of memorable routines on the show, both in and out of their chosen style of tap.
“I definitely loved my contemporary piece with Sonya,” Alexis says. “She pushes you and she knows everything about you. She just knows who you are and the kind of person you are, and the way she talks to you, she can definitely change you as a dancer for the better, and to get to do that piece with her was an amazing way to leave the show.”
It was a very difficult routine for her, both emotionally and technically. “That was a very sad and devastating one, to have to play the part of someone that’s heartbroken, and who’s dying inside.” From a technical standpoint, “there was just so much on the body, and it was just so full-out all the time, and there were just a lot of things that you had to do in that piece that I definitely think just made me grow as a person and a performer.”
Curtis named Dee Caspary’s ladder piece as one of his most memorable routines, “because I feel like I had to reach a farther place than I usually like to go, and Dee helped me bring out something in me that I knew was in there.” The routine “pushed me emotionally, because it made me go to a place where I don’t usually explore and feelings and thoughts that I don’t usually like to think about. So it made me be able to be vulnerable and to dance from my heart.”
Curtis was also challenged by the Argentine tango he was learning this week before he injured his shoulder and was unable to perform. “Technically it’s very very very tough, because it’s the Argentine tango. I really just had to get grounded…and pick up on the technique very quickly. It was tough, but I was doing well before my shoulder gave out on me!”
Alexis, Curtis, and fellow tapper Aaron Turner, were introduced to America as part of the top 20 with an awesome Anthony Morigerato-choreographed tap routine. The routine was a fun and exciting showcase for each tapper’s individual style, and was the best tap routine on SYTYCD to date. “It was amazing just to be able to tap with Curtis and Aaron…they are amazing people and they’re so energetic, so it was just amazing to get to work with them and Anthony Morigerato, and just getting to tap dance on the big So You Think You Can Dance stage was amazing.
“And the boards were awesome too,” Curtis laughs, “Sliding all around the floors was awesome.” He adds, “It was just all about pushing ourselves, and it was great to push ourselves and just tap and do what we love, because that’s one of the only times that we get to [tap] on the show, so we tried taking advantage of it.”
Learning to adapt
They’re not just tappers, however. Both Alexis and Curtis have trained in other style of dance. “I trained in all the other styles, except for ballroom, just as much as I trained in tap,” Alexis reveals, “but I think that was definitely my strongest suit and it was just what I really loved.”
“I feel the same way,” Curtis adds. “I’ve had training also. I trained at a studio my dad actually owned, since I was four. And so, just like Lexi said, I just liked tap more.”
Focusing on styles other than tap did present some challenges, however. “It wasn’t specifically hard,” Curtis says, “but it was just certain techniques and certain things that I usually did not get exposure to because I trained in tap more diligently than I did in other styles.” He continues, “Some of the moves were pretty hard, but I think the work ethic that both Lexi and I have, we were able to try and pick up as much as we could.”
Alexis ran into some specific challenges, as a tapper trying out different styles: “I definitely think my biggest challenge as a tapper was more the partnering work just because I’m not used to the major lifts that we did on the show, and to have to connect with a partner.” She explains, “When you’re tapping, you’re usually by yourself, and you don’t have to connect so much with other people on the stage, just the audience.”
Harsh criticism
Both dancers received some tough criticism from the judges last week: do they think the judges’ comments affect the way America votes? “I definitely think they affect the way America thinks about how the dance was and how we portrayed the dance. They have to give America something to go off of, so I definitely think that when Nigel says, ‘You kind of died towards the end,’…they might say ‘Oh, well I kind of agree with Nigel.’”
But she continues, “I definitely think that some of the corrections that we get go into play, but I also think, it’s “America’s favorite dancer,” so it’s really whoever America wants, and if Nigel kind of went a little hard on your favorite dancer, maybe you’ll vote for them a million times more…it just plays both ways.”
Nigel regularly criticized Curtis’ performance, particularly his core strength, and his shoulders. But were those just typical of his tap style? “I don’t even think it’s because I was a tap dancer, but I wasn’t usually told when I was dancing about my core, and so when I got here and I was told about it, definitely I took that into consideration and I tried to work on that. As I walk away from the show, I just remember to keep things like my shoulders and my core in my head as I perform.”
Did Curtis think the judges were too hard on him? “No, I think it’s all constructive criticism, and to be honest, I never take criticism as a battering session or anything like that. I can’t honestly say he was out to get me or anything like that, because all the criticism, no matter how bad people think it is, I always take as a chance for me to grow.”
Sidetracked by injury
Host Cat Deeley announced at the beginning of this week’s show that Curtis would be unable to dance this week, as he had injured his shoulder in rehearsal, and his doctors advised him to hold off on dancing.
“I sprained my rotator cuff in a rehearsal about three days ago, and I got an x-ray, and there were no bone fractures, so I have to get an MRI and then we’ll be able to see from there.”
Did he try to dance through the pain? “It was just bothering me, and it was a point of pain that I could not ignore, and I could not push through…so I wasn’t able to dance because of that.”
Love connection?
Host Cat Deeley tried to stir up some drama last week by prompting Curtis’ partner, Hayley Erbert, to confess that Curtis had asked her out on a date to work on their chemistry for their Dee Caspury contemporary routine.
Was there any ulterior motive behind his invitation? “Oh no, it was just for our connection onstage,” he laughs. “Our ladder piece was about a relationship, and in order for us to actually pretend that we were in a relationship, I felt like we had to go out on a date and be in a relationship. So it was all for the piece.”
So there’s nothing romantic going on between Curtis and Hayley? “No, she has a boyfriend, actually.”
So what now?
“I definitely think I took away confidence with me,” Alexis says of her time on the show. “Going into the show, I didn’t have a lot of confidence in myself. I never thought I’d even make top 20. To make top 14 just shows me what kind of dancer I am, and America does like me enough to make it this far.” She continues, “I definitely think it was good for my confidence, and it just makes me want to keep dancing for the rest of my life.”
Curtis agrees: “I’m definitely taking away a lot of confidence also, just in myself and what I’m capable of, and I think I’m taking away a lot of self-evaluation about myself. I’m learning more about who I am, what I can do and what I cannot do, and working on what I cannot do.”
Still reeling from their recent elimination, do they know where they will go from here? “I would love to go to New York and dance there,” Alexis admits, “whether it’s shows, or tap companies, or any companies. I’ve always wanted to be in New York, dancing, so wherever the show can take me, wherever life wants to take me, I’ll go. But right now, New York is my next dream.”
Curtis agrees with Alexis. “I’m the same way, I just want to dance.” He laughs. “For now, I’m going back to Miami and I’m just going to teach and dance down there, and then hopefully I just get a call and I’ll just go wherever I’m needed.”
Alexis is grateful to have been able to bring remind viewers how wonderful tap is. “I feel like tap was kind of dying as an art form, and it’s just getting to be a very small world for tap dancers, and I just want it to keep growing. As the next generation of tap dancers are coming up, I just want it to be a big group and I definitely think that that’s happening, because people have been tweeting me, ‘You’ve inspired me to learn tap!’ and ‘I’m going to get tap shoes now!’ It’s an amazing thing to know that the reason I wanted to be on the show is actually happening.”
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