So You Think You Can Dance @SYTYCDtour @PlayhouseSquare features 2015 winner Gaby Diaz

SOYouThink

Tue 1/24 @ 8PM

So You Think You Can Dance is a 13-time Primetime Emmy Award television dance competition show which has just completed its twelfth season. Each year, after the winner has been named, the top 10 contestants go on an extensive national tour.

The show will include the season’s most popular routines, as well as original pieces created specifically for the tour, and will reflect this season’s new format where dancers were divided into two groups of ten dancers each, Team Stage and Team Street. Stage included those trained in styles such as ballet, modern, tap, contemporary, Broadway, jazz, disco, swing, ballroom and Bollywood. Street dancers were those proficient in formats such as hip-hop, breaking, krump, stepping and waacking.

Avid viewers will be excited to know that the Stage dancers, Edson Juarz, Jim Nowakowski, Hailee Payne, Derek Piquette and the competition’s winner, Gaby Diaz are scheduled to be here, as well as Street dancers Megz Alfonso, Neptune Eskridge, Virgil Gadson, JJ Rabone, and Jaja Vankova (the runner-up). Also along will be Moises Parra, Marissa Milele, Yorelit Apolinario and Aleia Meyer.

A recent interview with Gaby Diaz revealed that she grew up in Miami, Florida and attended college for a semester but dropped out because she wanted to concentrate on dance. Her training was at the Roxy Theatre Group in West Miami-Dade county working with Jillian Togas-Leyva. She is trained mainly in tap, but has had experience in classical ballet and modern dance as well as some commercial hip-hop.

A long time fan of the show, Gaby was first rejected for inclusion, but came back to try again — obviously with positive effect. She thinks that in spite of the fact that tappers have been in the final four for the last three years, it is an underrated dance form. She indicated that many students start in tap, but due to its difficulty, they drop their training. Tappers, she noted, tend to stick together and respect past history, especially the styles of the 1930s, but that the form, much like other dance formats, is evolving.

Her personal favorite routines of the season were her hip-hop number, where she got to show her street skills, her contemporary presentation and her tap duet. The latter was her big moment as it was her only chance to show that she was the only one of this year’s contestants who could perform proficiently in that style.

The dancers were challenged weekly to perform a variety of styles, working with award-winning choreographers.

“We needed to often work outside our styles which necessitated asking questions and not being afraid of the choreographers,” she says.

How long do the contestants get to learn new routines? According to Gaby, “It’s  about two-and-a-half hours the first day, a night to sleep on it, and then five hours the next day. Hallway rehearsals are used by partners to practice beyond the studio time.” Sleep? “Sleep wasn’t that important — getting the routines down was.”

Gaby’s prizes for winning included participation in Jennifer Lopez’s Las Vegas show and $250,000. She isn’t sure what she will be doing in the Lopez show yet. “That will be taken care of after the tour concludes,” she says. As for the prize money, she indicated that she “is too young to make decisions about dealing with the money,” so she has hired a financial advisor.

Her future? The 19-year old hopes to still be dancing or doing something related to dance in Los Angeles, where she plans to
move after her Vegas gig. Her advice to those who watch the show and dream of being Gaby Diaz? “Don’t dream of being Gaby, show who you are, audition, it changed my life. You don’t want to wonder what would have happened if you didn’t audition.”

Want to see Gaby and the rest of the Season 12 top ten? They’ll appear at PlayhouseSquare’s State Theatre. Tickets range from $10-$75, with VIP tickets from $150-$750. Call the box office at 216-241-6000 or go to playhousesquare.org/so-you-think-you-can-dance

[Written by Roy Berko, member, American Dance Association]
 

Cleveland, OH 44115

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