So You Think You Can Dance Wrap-up and Check In

I'm not back!  It's admissions and SAT season so I've been working 7 days a week and am pretty stressed out.  But I wanted to wrap up So You Think You Can Dance Summer and bring you your Sophia Hangs with a Celebrity photo of the month.

I was very pleased that Team Ballet won 2012 SYTYCD!

But here in L.A. animation stole the show.  Dragon House, home of finalist Cyrus, was in town for their SYTYCD performance and I got to dance with Brian "Chibi" Gaynor.

Chibi tears it up at a Hollywood club

Then the same day Chibi performed on the SYTYCD finale, my buddy's band Monsters Calling Home played the Jimmy Kimmel show!  It was a friendly night on TV last month.

Here's Ellen Oh's fangirl post on Monsters Calling Home, who are an all-Asian-American folk band.

Back to my revision and work cave now!

More Day in the Life to come, plus an account of the 2012 Los Angeles Pie Tour I've been hosting.  To keep up to date, find me on facebook where the latest controversy is my Am I A Hipster? photo album.  (Friends say yes.)

How I Became A Dancer

So You Think You Can Dance Summer continues with the story of how I fulfilled my dream to work as a dancer late in my career.

When I first got to Hollywood, I wanted to be Christina Aguilera's back-up dancer.

I threw myself into ballet and hip-hop classes, even this thing called Pilates until I developed bursitis and had no idea how to rehab it.  So I put my dream away.

Then The Universe Happened
In 2005, FOX debuted a reality show called So You Think You Can Dance.

I saw a Paso Doble for the first time, with a real Russian ballroom dancer. I finally realized the genius that is Wade Robson, who at that time was little more than a bleach-haired white kid from Orange County who purportedly danced like a black guy. I cried after every piece, in awe that this kind of dance was finally on network TV.

Something in me stirred.  I wanted to dance again, bad.

Getting the Call
The Universe has a way of responding to requests.

I received a recommendation to a trainer who knew exactly how to rehab my bursitis (as well as a car accident injury I had further accumulated in Hollywood.) I went to the gym every day.  In months I was stronger than I had ever been.

And that summer, as I dreamed in front of the TV, I got the call.

My agency phoned me with an audition for an untitled film directed by Julie Taymor (Frida, Broadway's The Lion King) featuring songs by the Beatles.

For a dancing role.

"But these are professional dancers!"

"You're a professional dancer," the agent replied.

After two sets of three-hour auditions and an amazing phone call later, I was indeed, a professional dancer.

That movie, you may have guessed, turned out to be Across the Universe, starring Evan Rachel Wood.

Stay tuned for Part 2, where I inadvertently work with Desmond Richardson.

National Dance Day

The Dizzyfeet Foundation (created by the So You Think You Can Dance team with Katie Holmes) is hosting National Dance Day again this Saturday, July 28th.

As I mentioned in my kickoff post, SYTYCD inspired me to connect with my charity of choice.  Because of NDD, I decided to contact the Asian Pacific Women's Center to lead movement workshops for the children at the shelter.

This year, a massive celebration will be held at Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles, replete with food trucks and my SYTYCD favorite, Season 5's Brandon.

Food trucks and Brandon don't have anything in common other than I love them both.

You can learn the zumba or hip-hop routine that the country is doing en masse (I fear for us all), by visiting their facebook page.  And if you're brave, please share a video of yourself shaking it.

Happy So You Think You Can Dance Summer

Happy So You Think You Can Dance Summer here at Sophia the Writer!

A hearty welcome to our Asian contestant, Hawaiian-native Cole Horibe.  His precision and muscle control will make you think un-YA thoughts.

click me and regard the glory of my arms (photo downloadable at fox.com/dance)

SYTYCD is more than a show.  It inspired me to :

1. Fulfill a childhood dream of being a professional dancer
2. Which resulted in my working with Desmond Richardson, possibly the best contemporary ballet dancer right now and a SYTYCD choreographer
3. Lead movement workshops for kids and recovering battered women at the Asian Pacific Women's Center

As you can see, my life has been altered forever by this show in the most amazing ways.  I hope that by sharing my experience with it over the next two months, you too will find inspiration.

Or at least enjoy the topless boys.

July Dance Crush of the Month

Whoops, I went 48 Hours Dark before I could post my July Book Music Dance crush of the month: Marko Germar from So You Think You Can Dance.  By far Marko is the sexiest of my crushes.

For those who don't follow SYTYCD, here's why Marko makes me weak in the knees:

• When the store he worked in was held up, he stood up to the gunman.  He was shot in the shoulder and the bullet is STILL there.  The guy still dances like a master.
• He's Filipino from Guam.  My previous crushes should've made clear I'm all over the Asian-Spanish thing.
• While his multi-genre dancing is RIDICULOUS, I didn't develop my lust until this tango:

Something about that open-collared shirt and the dominance.  Watch just the first 10 seconds of this dance - the little flick of the sleeve before he stalks Melanie.


Melanie  Marko - Tango by choco-intense

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Congrats to everyone who finished their first 48 Hour Dark Experiment!  You can still sign up HERE for the marathon.  I'm beginning my second session as soon as this posts.