Tour travels
Both dancers are really excited for the 42-city SYTYCD tour: “I’m just really excited about that, like to go travel, and just to go see different places, because I don’t travel much,” Fik-shun says.
What stops are they most looking forward to? “I think, Canada, for both of us,” Amy says “The first city [Detroit] is my hometown, so I can’t wait to come back home and see everyone.”
Amy and Fik-shun named Aaron and Jasmine’s hip-hop and Paul and Makenzie’s Viennese waltz as routines they would love to see again on tour. Paul’s performance in that routine stuck out to Fik-shun when it came time for him to tackle the waltz himself: “I had the waltz later on, and the choreographer [asked] me, ‘If you could be like anybody, sophisticated, that waltzes presently…’ I said Paul. When he does his ballroom, I feel like he’s just a Prince Charming, he has ‘it,’ and that was the ‘it’ that I had to look for and find for my waltz. So I would definitely like to see that one on tour.”
They have to carry their energy over from the show to the tour. “Hopefully it’ll be a lot of fun, but I feel like we’ll feed off of each other’s energy,” Fik-shun says. “I feel like that’s how we’ve made it this far, throughout the season, season 10 as a whole. The top 20, we were all so close, anytime we had to go through the long days and whatnot, we always huddled up, and we always came together and talked about what we had to do, and focus. We just gave each other everything we had of ourselves, and I feel like that’s the same thing we’re gonna do on tour.” He continues, “I feel like it’s gonna be fun, it’s gonna be less pressure, because it’s not a competition. We’re gonna be able to just enjoy it, just enjoy ourselves, and just give each other the energy that we need to boost our spirits.”
“But after the tour, I don’t know, I think it’s gonna suck, that we’re not, I don’t know, like, the dance family?” Fik-shun says. “We’ll still be a family and everything, but just to not perform with everybody again is gonna be a little bit of a downer.”
Future plans
This isn’t the end of the dance journey for either dancer: “I definitely just want to just keep pursuing dance in whatever way I can, and try to stay out there,” Fik-shun says. “And I’d really like to go into movies, or any kind of commercial work would be amazing. And possibly, I don’t know, some choreography.”
Amy agrees: “I guess, yes, keep pursuing dance. I want to keep training, I want to keep getting better, I want to keep growing. And I think I don’t want to close any doors, I want to open as many possibilities: I want to do movies, I want to do companies, I want to be in a music video, I want to go on tour with someone, I want to do it all. And I don’t know, I just want to dance! It’s just the beginning, we’re only done So You Think…, we’ve got to get ourselves back out there, ‘cause now it’s on us, to get ourselves into the dance industry.”
Nigel has stressed the importance of using the show as a platform. “He’s just trying to let us know that it really is only the first step to a bigger world, because there’s more out there than just So You Think You Can Dance,” Fik-shun says. “So he just reminded us of that, and just re-informed us that we can do so much more with that we have, with our talent, so we’re really gonna take those words into consideration and just go for it.”
‘If I’m not dancing, I’m probably talking’
Both Amy and Fik-shun were college students before being caught up in the SYTYCD whirlwind; Amy taking online classes, and Fik-shun studying at community college. Do they plan to continue their studies after the tour?
“I’m planning on still studying,” Amy says. “One of the things that I’ve always wanted is to never put my dance career on the side for school. I want to do it all at the same time, I want to make room. And I know that’s a lot to put on my plate, but if I just relax…I mean I only have one life, so I’ve got to do it all now.” She adds, “Major-wise, it’s not related to dance, it’s more computer graphics. I want to major in that as well, but dance can be my true true passion.”
“When I was going to school I was studying in communications, because I figured, if I’m not dancing, I’m probably talking, so that was definitely what I took up,” Fik-shun jokes. But his approach to continuing his education is a little different. “I’m gonna probably put school on hold until after the tour. Honestly, my goal or dream was always just to be just a dancer first. Not that I don’t appreciate having a good education. I feel like it’s probably good, I probably should go to school, but I feel like I should just go as hard as I can in my dance career, just focus on plan A.”
Moments of realization
They got a lot of feedback from a variety of different judges this season, between regular judges Nigel Lythgoe and Mary Murphy, and guest judges ranging from Paula Abdul to Carly Rae Jepsen. But there were some comments, both good and bad, that stuck out for Fik-shun and Amy.
“There was a point, especially with ballroom, where Nigel would basically talk about my shoulders, how I have to move forward with the technique, I can’t just get through with performance. So that’s one of the things I really thought about after hearing that, and it really made me go hard as far as any technique genre that I got, that I really had to point my feet and straighten my legs and keep my shoulders down.”
“As far as the good comment, when [guest judge and director, producer, choreographer] Kenny Ortega said that he believed if a choreographer asked me to fly, I’d find a way to do it. That just made me so…it made me tell myself, ‘Dude, you can find a way to fly. Even if it doesn’t last long, even if you just soar for a little bit.’ I feel like I would try it. That definitely made me feel really, really good, and that’s definitely one that’s gonna stick with me for a very long time.”
“I think the bad was just that we were given characters that were kind of similar in a row, and they were just kind of wanting a little bit something more from us,” Amy says. “A little something deeper, a little something not so happy and cutesy, because that’s how we are in real life, we’re just happy-go-lucky people. So they really wanted to see a different side, and see if we could go there, and we were finally given the opportunity, and I think it was pretty awesome.”
“As far as the good,” she says, “one thing I’ll always remember is Paula Abdul saying that she would hire me, and put me front and center for one of her tours or one of her music videos, and I was like, that’s kind of what I’ve always wanted to do! Just be in the dance world, and start working, and working with artists, and working with people that celebrate art. So it was just kind of a realization moment of like, oh, yeah, that’s what I want to do, and you want me to do that! Okay, yay!”
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