Cat Deeley Dancing act

[Photos: © 2009 FOX Broadcasting Co.]

so you think you can dance is the one of famous  reality genre TV program in the America. The sexy pretty lady Cat Deeley  at the season 6 showing his marvelous dancing  talent. Young active dancer cat deeley  done beautiful act for her audience.

Every one looking who will going to the top 12 ? pretty impressive dancing talent own with cat deeley becoming so popular more than ever. As she was little concern about what her wears always. Let’s see how she goes with the other dancers on Thursday night elimination shows

Cat Deeley

So You Think You Can Dance: Cat Deeley

It’s no secret that So You Think You Can Dance is one of my all-time favorite shows. Not only because I’m a lover of dance, but because I love to watch people triumph and succeed with hard work and determination.

Interestingly, Cat Deeley, the host of SYTYCD tells us in this clip that is pretty much the same reason she loves the show. She also talks about the dancers’ charisma and what makes a winning dancer. This is a great clip, and it makes me very eager for tomorrow’s new episode of the show:

Tags: Cat Deeley, dance, So You Think You Can Dance, SYTYCD

So You Think You Can Dance 5: Interview With Cat Deeley

[Photo: ©2009 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Michael Williams/FOX]

I had a chance to take part in a conference call interview with So You Think You Can Dance host, Cat Deeley. And in case you hadn’t guessed it, she really is as sweet on the phone as she seems to be on the show. What a delightful person!

In the conversation, she lets us all in on the fact that there will be a sixth season of the show that will start in the Fall, soon after season 5 ends. Hurray!! This is truly spectacular news for all of us who absolutely love this show!!

Here’s what else she had to say:

Q: This show always kind of surprises me with all the old stereotypes of dancing wiped away. I thought one of the interesting ones was, I used to think that the winning dancers would be kind of long and lean or short and gymnastic, and last year you had this guy who had this very football-type, athletic build, and he came out on top. Does that kind of surprise you, how diverse the dancers are in style and type and so forth?

C. Deeley: Actually, that’s the very nature of the show, and that’s what we like to celebrate. We like to celebrate people from all different races, religions, backgrounds, colors, creeds. You know, that’s the whole idea of the show, is that anybody from any background at all with any training can come on the show, and as long as they’ve got the talent and passion and they’re prepared to work hard, and also show their personality, of course, they are more than welcome to be on the show. We’re looking for stars. We’re not necessarily looking for a certain body type or a certain style or anything like that. We’re looking for America’s favorite dancer, which doesn’t necessarily mean the best. I’m certainly not asking people to fit in certain boxes. We’re not asking people to fit in certain molds. We’re kind of all-encompassing. We want people who the American public are going to identify with and are going to pick up the phone and vote for, and that’s what’s so special about our show.

Q: I’m a layman’s observer of this, give us an example of a style or type that just dazzled you when it came on, because it wasn’t a particular kind of dance you were familiar with and all of a sudden there it was in front of you.

C. Deeley: You know what got me the very, very first time I saw it was Crumping. … came on to our show, who’s a choreographer, and did Crumping for the first time, and it was absolutely incredible. It’s almost like fighting and sparring, and there’s so much kind of pent-up aggression to it, but it’s in the form of dance, which I just think is incredible, you know, that real energy.

So, since then, we’ve had other people on the show perform the dance by themselves, and I remember from last season, it was Twitch and Kerrington. They did an amazing routine, and it was so different. I mean, Kerrington was kind of a contemporary dancer, and normally it’s all about lines and elegance and flowing, and this was hard-hitting and tough and street, and it’s great to see people take on different styles like that and really own them. I think that’s what’s so interesting about our show, you know, we do take a street dancer or a breaker and we go what you do is absolutely amazing, your specialty is incredible, but now we’re going to put you in a sparkly shirt and some tight, black pants, and you’re going to have to perform a salsa.

I mean, it’s interesting to watch, because some really step up to the plate and really go for it and kind of slick back their hair. I talk to them at the end of it, and they go, “I would never in a million years have thought I could do a waltz or a salsa or a Paso Doble, but I bloody enjoyed it,” you know? So, that’s the really interesting developments in the show.

Q: There’s a rumor going out that since Season 5 is airing this summer, and then Season 6 is going to air immediately following in the fall, is that true?

C. Deeley: It is true, yes. We have been given Season 6 dates already, and they’re almost directly following Season 5, which is just great, you know? It means that the show is so popular and Fox is 100% behind it, and it’s great.

Q: Do you have those dates for Season 6?

C. Deeley: I don’t have the exact premiere dates, but I do know that we’re auditioning in Boston on May 28th for the next season.

Q: Regarding the other rumor with you leaving the show, that sort of came out during auditions of this season. Any truth to that or are you going to be sticking around as long as the show goes?

C. Deeley: To be honest, I haven’t even heard of these rumors, so you’re one up on me. No, at the moment, I am more than happy doing the show, and I love it and I feel very passionate about it. So, yes, I’m doing both Season 5 and Season 6.

Q: During the audition process, did you notice that one city produces better dancers overall?

C. Deeley: You know what, it’s not that they produced better dancers, but definitely some cities produced more dancers, you know? It’s more of the numbers, really, and it tends to always be on the east coast and on the west coast, because naturally that’s where dancers that are professionally trained, they always kind of gravitate to those areas because that’s where they go for work and for jobs and Broadway and all those kinds of things. So, we always tend to pick up quite a few people in New York or around there and also LA., but the other cities that we visit, it’s amazing when you just get this real kind of gem that just shines from out of everybody else, in places like Utah, in Salt Lake City. They really produce some great dancers, too. So, I would say the only real difference is the numbers.

Q: As the host, what’s the best part of the show for you?

C. Deeley: The best part of the show for me is seeing the grace and being involved in it in a very kind of organic way. If the kids are lining up on the street when it’s 7:30 in the morning and the snow’s coming down in New York and so am I, and it’s really interesting to follow their journey and see how they grow and see they do transition into these kind of stars that are incredibly professional and know what they’re doing. It’s a real growth, and to be part of that is actually really, really mesmerizing to watch.

Q: Would you ever consider being a judge?

C. Deeley: Oh God, no. I have absolutely no kind of technical training whatsoever. I mean, I can see people’s star potential, you know? You can’t describe that and you can’t describe what makes somebody a star, but it’s that certain special quality, that certain je ne sais quoi, that X factor that you can’t quite put your finger, and quite often I can identify that. I can see somebody walk onto the stage, and you don’t know why but you just can’t take your eyes off them. I can definitely tell that. Also, if there’s a particular dance or a particular piece of choreography that moves me, I can appreciate it. I can’t tell you the technicalities of it. I can’t tell you was that … done exactly … I can’t tell you any of that, but I can tell you that some of the routines that we’ve had on the show choreographed by the likes of Mia Michaels or Wade Robson literally gives me chills. I mean, the hairs on my arms stand on end. So, I can tell when something’s magical and wonderful, but I can’t tell you why. So absolutely not, I’m definitely not the person to make comments.

Q: I just wanted to tell you we love the show in this house. It’s one of the few shows I can sit down with my kids and watch it together.

C. Deeley: Well, that’s what we want, you know. We’re looking at producing family entertainment, particularly in the current economic crisis we’re in, it’s kind of great that you can sit down as an entire family and sit on the couch and everybody can enjoy the show. So, I’m thrilled that that’s the case. Thank you, Cindy.

Q: One of my questions was about street dancing versus trained dancing. Are you seeing an increase in the amount of people that are auditioning who have not been classically trained in dance, especially … last year?

C. Deeley: To be honest, there isn’t really a trend. We always get a real, real mixture of different people, and it always tends to be, okay, can you step up to the plate when we take you out of your specialty, when we take you out of your comfort zone? Can you step up to the plate? Some of them really can because they have this musicality and they are very physically aware, so absolutely they can. And some really, really just can’t. It’s almost as if their brain doesn’t compute other people’s choreography.

I haven’t really seen a definite shift. There hasn’t been something where I’ve really seen it, but I mean, that’s what the show is all about. We want people who haven’t necessarily been professionally trained. We are looking for people who are just, we want to give them a moment so that they’re elevated for this position, because quite often, … team players, you know, they’re the people who aren’t necessarily in the spotlight. So, to elevate them to this position and gives them that platform is a great thing.

Q: One of the highlights from last year was seeing Joshua do the Bollywood routine. Is there a chance to putting more of an international flavor on the show?

C. Deeley: Actually, we’d like to embrace all different types of choreography and styles and nationalities. To be honest, the Bollywood choreography was such a huge success, and actually what we … kind of a universal world at the moment, we do have all these different cultures available to us and all these different art forms and we absolutely should embrace it. I know that Nigel is very adamant that we should bring these new styles to the show and put them in people’s homes where they wouldn’t normally have their eyes opened up to it. So, to give them something new, whether they’d like it or whether they’d hate it is great, just to have people slightly educated and to have an opinion about it is brilliant.

Moderator: I just wanted to clarify one thing that Cat said about the auditions. She meant auditions for Season 6 are starting right after the premiere of Season 5. We do not have a confirmed airdate for Season 6 yet. We can move onto the next question.

Q: Well, speaking of Season 6, I understand auditions are going to be coming to Atlanta on June 1, which is where I’m located. So, I’m wondering, what advice can you give to those who would like to come and audition for the show. Any tidbits that help.

C. Deeley: Yes. You know what my advice would be? It would be yes, prepare your audition, and yes, be great at what you do and have confidence and all those kinds of things, but I think also a really, really important thing, and I think actually now we’re about to embark on Season 5, we’re heading into Season 6, I think the dancers have realized as well that they have to bring their personality.

With our show, dance is the narrative that runs through the show, but the thing that all the audience connect with is the human element to the show. They want to know people’s stories. They want to know people’s trials and tribulations and successes and failures, because that’s what people really identify with. If you’re a funny guy, bring your humor, you know? If you’ve got an incredibly courageous story, then tell us about it. Don’t hold back. We want to know everything about you.

We don’t want to do a thing where all of a sudden you turn around and you suddenly give us your personality when we’re six weeks into the show, and by that point the audience has identified with certain characters and not with others and you’ve kind of missed the boat because people aren’t voting for you. It’s all about making yourself as accessible to the American public as possible, because they’re the guys who are going to get off their sofas and pick up the phone and vote for you. That’s what the judges are looking for. They’re looking for that star quality. They’re looking for the personality. They’re looking for people who can be stars, so don’t hide it. Bring it and show us the all, you know?

Q: It is an utter delight every summer that you guys come back, and I’m thrilled to hear that you are coming to fall and mirroring in many ways the success of Dancing with The Stars, they kind of splurged on the scene that way. I also wondered if you’ve seen any reaction or response or you felt any difference to the auditions this year because of the success that Chelsea had on Dancing with The Stars this year, making the final four.

C. Deeley: Do you know what? I think just in general every year it seems to get bigger and better. Everybody always says to me, “What’s different about the show this year? What’s different?” And I’m always kind of like it’s the same show you know and love, but back bigger and better. The stunts are bigger. The choreography is more impressive. But all these different things happen in the show, and that’s great, and I think that’s what people really appreciate. Therefore, because the show comes back bigger every single year, the dancers are elevated to an even higher position once the show finishes, you know.

It’s not just people who were on TV that are on, say, Dancing with The Stars. I mean, on Dancing with the Stars we’ve had Lacey and Dmitry and Chelsea, there is a career after the show, I think, which is what people are really, really seeing now. Even if it’s not on another TV show, it could be that somebody like Mariah Carey rings up or Avril Lavigne, and goes, “Okay, we’d love you to come on tour. We’d love you to be a featured dancer.” Some of them even become backing vocalists as well, and it’s kind of that real sense of adventure and this could lead anywhere. The world is my oyster.

So, I don’t think it’s just down to the one particular show. I don’t think it’s just down to Chelsea or just down to Dancing with The Stars, but as So You Think You Can Dance gets bigger, I think people realize that the opportunities grow, too, and they’re opportunities that don’t very often come along for them. But like I said before, normally they’re backup guys, they’re the team players that aren’t necessarily in the spotlight themselves, so if we can elevate them to that position and they can go on to have a phenomenal career after this, that’s amazing. It’s genie-in-the-lamp time.

Q: Can you tell me what the most challenging part of being the host of the show is?

C. Deeley: The most challenging part without a shadow of a doubt is Thursdays and saying goodbye to people. I hate it, because my whole thing with the show is that I get so close to the dancers. I see them every single week. I see how they grow. I go through rehearsals with them. I see things that even the audience at home don’t get to see, you know, I see when they’re really tired. I see something’s going on with their family. I see if they’ve got some kind of injury. I’m also part of their journeys right from the very start. Like I said before, as they’re lining up outside the theater to do their auditions and nervous and they’re scared, I see them then. I see them grow to be the stars that they are and performing in the way that they do. I also see how the audience in the studio react to them and this amazing buzz they get.

So, to me, to say goodbye to one of them every single Thursday is just a nightmare. My makeup artist is always like, “Okay, the waterproof mascara is going on today, and, by the way, do not cry, girl, because if you come off looking like a member of KISS, I am going to kick your ass.” So, that’s always, always, always my hardest thing.

Q: You mentioned that behind the scenes, you see what the viewers don’t see.

C. Deeley: Yes.

Q: Joe does a really good job of portraying the dancers and showing that they have compassion for one another. Is there a lot of behind-the-scenes drama?

C. Deeley: You know what, there’s always drama, because what we’re putting them through is so difficult, doing two shows a week, at certain points in the show they’re learning two different routines, they’re being paired with different people every week, which just in terms of trust issues and … spin them around above their heads. I’m always incredibly in awe of how trusting and they have to form this chemistry together almost instantaneously. So, you do see things that go on. I’m just left incredibly in awe.

I have to say, when I first started the show, I thought it would be incredibly competitive between all the dancers, particularly when they’re lining up to do their auditions or whatever, I thought it would be really kind of cutthroat and highly competitive, but in actual fact there is a complete sense of camaraderie between them all, because in actual fact, when we get to the studio, nobody understands what they’re going through, the emotional and physical pressures on them as much as they do each other. So, they can tell their families, they can tell their friends, they can try and express how they’re feeling. When they have to see someone go home every week, it’s not the nicest feeling in the world, because they automatically become so attached to each other. They’re taking ordinary people and putting them in this extraordinary situation.

So, it’s definitely difficult for them, but you know what, they’re team players, and that’s what we see behind the scenes. You see the friendships that are formed., and all I see is friendships that are formed for life, because it’s like a pressure cooker, what we put them through. We put them into the studio with lights and cameras and it’s live and it’s different routines every week and someone has to go home every week and it’s like a pressure cooker. So, I think they have these relationships that will be with them for life.

Q: Tabitha and Napoleon and Sonya were just some of the really great new choreographers last season. Will we see any new choreographers this season, perhaps some of the old dancers coming back, like Dmitry and Benji have in the past?

C. Deeley: You know what? I think quite possibly they’ll all be. We haven’t confirmed any choreographers yet for the show, because … our schedules and their schedules, and also getting the right balance of all different styles every week. It’s a bit of a juggling act that we have to do, so we haven’t confirmed anybody yet, but you know our whole mission on the show is to entertain, surprise, and delight. So, the people that you mentioned like Tabitha, Napoleon, and also Sonya will definitely be back.

We’d also like to see some old faces that are back on the show, because the whole idea of the show is that it is a family and it very much is. We don’t fake that for the screen. That’s what happens. All the dancers know each other. On the Fourth of July, the dancers from the previous season come around to my house for a barbecue, and that’s what we do and we capitalize on that. It is a family atmosphere. There are a lot of friends there, and like I said before, friends for life. So, absolutely. We’d love to see some of the old contestants back.

Q: You got totally robbed for the reality show host Emmy.

C. Deeley: Oh, that Seacrest …I’ll get him, if it’s the last thing I do.

Q: I know that you said that you do keep in touch with the dancers, and I wanted to know if you’ve been talking to any of last season’s recently, if you know of any news on what any of them are up to.

C. Deeley: Yes. I know that Neil is in a movie, I think is in High School Musical 3. I know that different people have had auditions. I know … has been cast as the lead in Footloose. Basically, they all go on to do great things. If it’s not something like Dancing with The Stars and go on to do choreography there, they’re in movies, they’re on Broadway, and then some of them don’t want to do that. They want to go and do dance conventions and help other dancers and all that kind of stuff, and that’s the platform we give them. So, we give them platform, we give them the tools, and it’s up to them to make their own decisions and go their own way.

Q: I’ve noticed in Season 2 that the prizes keep getting bigger and bigger and bigger. For Season 5, what does the winner receive in addition to the money?

C. Deeley: You know what, we haven’t confirmed that yet, actually. We really haven’t confirmed that. I think that of course there is always the cash prize and of course there’s other things that come with it, too, but I think the most important thing, and this is what the dancers love about the show, is it kind of elevates them to that position, makes the public aware of them. They then become up for tours and conventions and Broadway and movies and all that kind of stuff. So, I think, yes, the cash prize and any other prizes that we give them are important, but I think that the thing that money can’t buy is the positioning that we give them across the entire United States.

Q: So, the exposure aspect.

C. Deeley: Yes, absolutely.

Q: I don’t mean to put you on the spot, but how would you rate your dance skills?

C. Deeley: Terrible. Did you notice how I didn’t even hesitate?

Q: Yes.

C. Deeley: Literally, if I started dancing, most people would bleed from their eyes, I think.

Q: I assumed you would have picked up a few things along the way.

C. Deeley: Oh, don’t assume anything. Don’t assume anything. No. Absolutely not. Listen, what I lack in talent, I make up for in enthusiasm if I’m on a night out. Don’t get me wrong, I love to have a dance. Can I actually do it and am I actually impressive? Absolutely not.

Q: My question is about your wardrobe on the show. I love to see the dresses and the gowns. Do you choose those yourself? Do you have a wardrobe person that does that?

C. Deeley: I have had a wardrobe person, but I also get very heavily involved myself. Like, I love vintage clothes, so I often go to flea markets or vintage shops and find things and change them or take straps or raise the hem or put a belt around. I’m very, very involved, and this season, I’m going to be doing it all myself, because actually it works better like that, I think. I love the fact that people wait to see what I’m wearing. I know sometimes it is silly and sometimes it’s extreme and sometimes it’s completely out there, but I would much rather people either love it or hate it, but have an opinion about it, rather than just saying, “Oh yeah, I don’t really care.” You know? I would much rather people either love it or hate it and sit there and wait to see what I come out in.

I also think it would be ridiculous if I was in a vest and jeans, I would just look ridiculous next to some of the costumes that the dancers have to wear. Sometimes they’re dressed as matadors or angels and devils or clowns or whatever it is. So, it would just look like the weirdest thing when they have to come over to me and I kind of put my arm around them and we go to the judges. So, I embrace the silliness and the joy and the fashion and all that kind of stuff. So, I hope the people at home do, too. Love it or hate it, at least I make you have an opinion about it.

Tags: Cat Deeley, interview, Season 5, Season 6, So You Think You Can Dance