Showmance?
There has been a lot of romantic rumors about the season 10 contestants, many of which were started or encouraged by host Cat Deeley and judge Mary Murphy. This week, Mary felt Paul and Hayley had such chemistry onstage, that they should investigate that chemistry together offstage.
“That’s so funny,” Paul says. “Well, throughout the season there have been so many accusations and relationships that people would want to see. A lot of people would constantly tell me and Makenzie to get married, and I mean, I love Makenzie, and I love Hayley, but I don’t know if I love them in that way, you know what I mean?” He adds, “Really, behind the scenes, everyone has their own personality, everyone has their own things towards who they like and whatever it is. It can go any way, I just don’t know. Relationships just don’t happen because they look right, it has to be that other things are going on personally.”
Hayley’s answer was a little cagier. “I have a boyfriend right now, so it wouldn’t happen anytime soon if it were to happen. But we’ve all been trying to get to know each other over these last few weeks and I mean, it could be a complete possibility. Anyone in the top 20 could end up in a relationship. We’ve just been getting to know each other, and so we don’t know everyone’s full personalities or anything, like going through a serious relationship or any of that.”
She did go on to say, “Paul is a gorgeous person, so that would be great… [They both laugh] But I’m not. So I guess you never know, but as of right now I don’t really see anything, ‘cause I have a boyfriend.”
And how does she deal with Cat’s and Mary’s repeated comments about her hooking up with Paul, or going out on a date with former partner Curtis (which they claimed was to develop their chemistry for a particular routine)? “I mean, I know what’s going down, and I know that they’re just pretty much kidding about me and Paul dating, and the Curtis thing was sort of taken out of proportion, but it doesn’t really bother me as much as it bothers my boyfriend. But I’ve told him it’s just for the show, and he knows I’m just friends with all of these guys. It really hasn’t caused any problems or anything, so I think its fine.”
Partners
Hayley has had the privilege of working with several of season 10’s male contestants throughout the course of the show: Curtis, Nico, and then Paul, not to mention several all-stars. “Dancing with different partners definitely was amazing, because everybody has their own strengths, so it was great to experience, because there was never once that I was feeling the same way with a partner.” She adds, “In dance, you have to connect with a partner very fast, so I think that was kind of to my advantage, because I was just given the opportunity to connect with so many partners so quickly. I feel like that’s really going to help me out in the future.
She continues, “Every partner that I’ve worked with was amazing, and I had such a great time with all of them, so I think it really just added to my experience throughout the entire thing.”
While Paul danced a routine with Hayley this week, and shared the stage with a few all-stars, he spent much of the season dancing alongside Mackenzie Dustman, who was eliminated two weeks ago. They made a beautiful couple, and were technically beautiful dancers to watch.
“I was so shocked that Makenzie got cut so early in the competition. Not early, but that she didn’t go all the way. I seriously think that she definitely deserved to be in the finale at least,” Paul says. “She’s such an amazing person, and working with her was so different, because we connected on a different level and we became so close and we became such good friends.”
He continues, “She’s been really supportive of me in this journey, even after she got cut. She is such a great person and such a great dancer, I respect her so much for that. I know that it’s not the end, we’re going to be dancing together in the finale and on tour, and I just love working with her. I know she’s got such a bright future ahead of her, and I know she will be successful in what she does.”
The suspected reason for Makenzie’s elimination is that America just didn’t connect with her personality, and felt she was too pretty. “I just wish America saw what a great personality she had, because backstage she was so goofy, and she was so much fun to be around. Not only beautiful in terms of her looks, but beautiful on the inside too.”
“I just wish her the best and I thank her for being such a good partner. In the time that I spent with her, we never got my genre, Latin ballroom. We always got contemporary or jazz, mainly her genres, and she just helped me so much throughout those genres, and made it such a great work process. It was great working with her, her work ethic is amazing, and I wish her the best.”
‘We’re still human, after all.’
Has the show changed their perspective on life or dance at all? “Every single day changed my perspective about dance and changed me as a person, because every single day it was literally this obstacle that we had to overcome and pass, and just going through practices that were literally draining of not only your physical self, but also your mental self. Being able to overcome those challenges and being able to just do the best that you can every single day, even though you know that you have no energy in your body. Especially in this last performance that we had: everyone was really drained, even if we wanted to continue and we had to fight to continue to do our best. Our bodies were literally not complying with us. I mean, there were moments where it was like we would fight to finish the routine to the end, but your muscles just give up. I mean, we’re still human, after all.”
He continues, “The fact that we had to overcome these challenges, it really made us grow and mature as people, and it’s a great experience. So You Think You Can Dance is an amazing experience, and I truly wish everyone could experience it, because it makes you grow so much as a person, and of course it makes you grow as a dancer. I will be dancing for many years continuing after the show, but I know that what I will take with me even more is how much I grew as a person, and the experiences I gained, and the knowledge and maturity I gained throughout the show.”
Future plans
Both dancers are looking to stay in L.A. for the indefinite future. “I’m planning on moving out to L.A. to start my dance career and whatnot, and I’m gonna try to sign with an agency and just kind of figure out my dancing career in that way.” But she also has other aspirations: “I’ve also always wanted to kind of get into the acting field and kind of be in movies or even commercials. So I would love to go into acting, but I would also love to be a backup dancer for Justin Bieber or someone, just really anything right now. This show has opened a ton of doors, so I’m just kind of excited to see what my future’s going to be like now after this.”
Paul shares similar Hollywood dreams: “I would definitely want to continue dancing. It is something that I love to do, and I would love to be on like Dancing With The Stars or any of the ballroom shows that are going on right now.” He adds, “Like Hayley said, I’ve always wanted to act and I would love to get into acting and just be out in the entertainment industry and just take any opportunities that come from this. It’s such a great opportunity to start off your career, and It’s really not the end, it’s the beginning.”
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