Tapping into a trend

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/12/2009 (6071 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Yes, she thought she could dance.

And an entire TV-watching nation agreed, crowning Lethbridge, Alta., native Tara-Jean Popowich "Canada’s favourite dancer" at the end of So You Think You Can Dance Canada‘s second season.

A few weeks, a hundred hugs, a thousand joyful tears, a $100,000 first-prize cheque and a handful of SYTYCD Canada tour dates later, the 21-year-old contemporary dancer says she still hasn’t fully grasped the magnitude of her accomplishment.

"It’s taken a long time for it to sink in," Popowich explains. "That whole day, I thought Vincent (Desjardins, the show’s eventual runner-up) was going to win. But now, looking back, realizing that I just won the biggest TV show for dancers in Canada is the biggest lifetime achievement ever. And now that it’s kind of kicked in, I honestly feel that I can do anything."

The show may be over, but the music and movement haven’t stopped. Just one month after SYTYCD Canada‘s Oct. 25 finale aired, Popowich and the rest of the series’ Top 10 embarked on an 18-city coast-to-coast tour, which stops in Winnipeg on Friday (7:30 p.m., MTS Centre).

During a telephone interview this week from the tour’s fifth stop, Saskatoon, Popowich said being on the road with her nine new best friends has proved to be as entertaining for the dancers as it is for the show’s fans.

"For me, being on the show was mentally exhausting, and every day was ‘Can you get through this?’" she recalls. "Being on the tour is hard work, but it’s more fun — we’re dancing in front of thousands of people, and we can feel the floor rumbling because they’re cheering for us. It’s completely different, but we’ve all grown as people and dancers as a result of both experiences. I’m really happy to be on tour.

"We really are a family; everyone is so different, but for some reason, we all work really well together, we have so much fun together, and we dance really strong together, which is a huge thing for this tour."

The tour, like the series, has forced the dancers to stretch far beyond the genres in which they’ve been trained and feel most comfortable. Popowich recalls how the televised competition stretched on for eight difficult weeks before her chosen style — contemporary dance — figured into the mix.

"I didn’t dance my genre until Top 6, so the whole show was a challenge for me," she said. "I would sit and look at YouTube, trying to figure out what dance styles I was dancing. I think the hardest for me was the house routine, because the footwork was so fast. I cried in rehearsal, but the choreographer, Sho-Tyme, made sure I had the confidence I needed."

The tour showcases some of the best — and, more importantly, most popular — dance routines seen in SYTYCD Canada‘s second season, and provides these 10 young stars with a well-deserved opportunity to step out of the background and into the centre-stage spotlight.

"Dancers are used to being behind the singers, being sort of second grade and struggling to get work," she explained. "Shows like So You Think You Can Dance and Dancing With the Stars are showing people how hard it is to be a dancer, and how hard it is to make it. Finally, dancers are being respected, and that’s so great, because we love what we do so much that we’ll take just about any job, dancing way behind the singer.

"Now the people are here to see us. We’re the main act. It makes me so happy that the dance world is coming on strong."

She isn’t sure how far her "favourite dancer" notoriety will carry her, but Popowich is absolutely certain of this: So You Think You Can Dance Canada has changed her life, forever and very much for the better.

"It’s been completely life-changing," she said. "It has given me so much confidence in what I do. … I know I can be a professional dancer, and I know I’m going to work as hard as I need to to get any job or to do anything I want.

"I wake up so happy every morning. It’s the craziest feeling in the world."

Clearly, the girl now knows she can dance.

brad.oswald@freepress.mb.ca

Best feet forward

 

So You Think You Can Dance Canada 2009

The rest of Season 2’s Top 10:

 

Vincent Desjardins (Runner-up)

Hometown: Trois-Rivières, Que.

Favourite dance style: ballroom

 

Everett Smith (Top 4 finalist)

Hometown: Glen Morris, Ont.

Favourite dance style: tap

 

Jayme Rae Dailey (Top 4 finalist)

Hometown: Montreal

Favourite dance style: contemporary

 

Amy Gardner

Hometown: Calgary

Favourite dance style: contemporary

 

Austin Di Iulio

Hometown: Mississauga, Ont.

Favourite dance style: contemporary

 

Cody Bonnell

Hometown: Unionville, Ont. Favourite dance style: hip-hop

 

Emanuel Sandhu

Hometown: Vancouver

Favourite dance style: contemporary/ballet

 

Kim Gingras

Hometown: Montreal

Favourite dance style: hip-hop

 

Melanie Mah

Hometown: Richmond Hill, Ont.

Favourite dance style: contemporary