Last night, on So You Think You Can Dance, Comfort Fedoke and Thayne Jasperson were sent home just before making the Top 10. Reaching that milestone is a goal for every dancer on the show, as it means that they will get to head out on the wildly popular national tour once the show is over. After a disappointing performance Wednesday night, judge Mia Michaels said that she would have to back off from supporting the hip hop dancer. When she found herself in the bottom 3 for the fourth time in a row, the judges couldn’t save her any longer and eliminated her from the competition. Today, Comfort spoke to BuddyTV in an exclusive interview and dished on her partners, her training, and what she thinks of the judges.
Below, you will find the complete transcript and mp3 of the interview.
Hey everybody, this is Gina from BuddyTV and today I’m talking to Comfort from So You Think You Can Dance. I heard you say last night when you were eliminated that you’ve only been dancing for a few years. What made you start and how did you get into dance?
Really, what made me start is because I got hurt doing sports, I would have actually been in track. I got hurt so I found the next thing I love to do, so I just started dancing in the streets mostly with my brothers and doing different stuff like that. I was such a fast learner when it came down to learning little stuff, like little routines that me and my homeboys do, that my dad decided to put me in a school so I could learn more stuff. I hated it, I was so mad that I had to do it, so my dad took me to a school called Booker T. Washington and I got accepted there. That’s how I got my training for ballet and jazz, but that was only my sophomore to my junior year, no my sophomore to my senior year, and that was about the only kind of training I had.
The judges talked this week about how it was obvious that you lacked training as much as the other dancers. Is that because you haven’t been doing it as long?
I really wish that I had more years of training. I pick up quick, so I think that if I had more years of training I think I’d be more versatile than if I was just doing this for, what, just two years in a row. That’s probably it.
When you first tried out, because you haven’t been doing this as long as everybody else, what was the goal for you? Was it to get to Vegas, to make the show, to make top 10?
I think my goal when I first came was to just be this hip-hop dancer and this street girl, I wanted to definitely get past Vegas. I didn’t expect to, I really just thought I’d show them what I got and just blow them like that, but I actually ended up getting further than that and I wanted more. I think mostly my personality and my want for this showed to them, and they did see I had a little technique so I was workable. Regardless if I didn’t have as much as everybody else, I was still able to be taught. So me getting on the show was even better, which was ridiculous. I am just blessed to even get this far, it’s crazy.
Well I know most of the dancers on the show this season have been doing this a long time. Did they accept you and did you get along with everybody?
Oh yeah, I got along with everybody. I got along with all the girls, all the guys. I’m very much more closer to the guys since I am such a little tomboy. I am closer to the guys, but my roommate Katee, that’s like my little roll dog right there. Yeah, I love them all.
Well, you were paired with two different male contemporary dancers, and it seems like the judges have been so tough on them this year. What do you think, have they been tough?
Oh yeah. It’s kind of hard to switch partners and them say, “Oh yeah, you need to find chemistry.” Because my first partner, I love him to death, Chris, it was hard for awhile because he’s so much more taller than me. And then when he left and then me and Thayne left, we were getting there, we were really about to get there. It was coming, but we just switched partners, it was so hard to find that chemistry right there. Even though we felt like we had it, I guess it didn’t show to them. It is what it is, because everybody else has been together since the very beginning, so they’re going to have chemistry regardless. So they’re going to have chemistry more than me and Thayne is, we’ve only been together two weeks.
Was it hard for you when Mia said that she needed to pull back her support for you after your performance this week?
I love Mia to death, but me I believe also that Mia says that only to make me work that much more harder. I feel when the judges say some harsh things, you kind of got to take it in and do the opposite of what they’re thinking. Regardless of if they’re telling you that you suck and you did this and you did this, just come back and tell them that what they just said last week was ridiculous, and how you’re ten times much better right now. That’s why I went out with a bang with my solo, so they would have nothing bad to say about me.
Was there a choreographer or a style of dance that you wish you got to perform before you left the show?
I actually wanted to do some Latin, because I’m good with the hips thing, I do well with hips. I probably would have got them in the dress too, yup.
Well what’s in the future for you now, Comfort, what are you planning to do with dance?
I’m such into entertainment, I’m not just wanting to stick only with dance. Of course I would like to, since dance is my number one thing, I would like to have a studio and have the money to make it so. Definitely teach kids, have my own studio, because that’s what I always wanted. And then be more in the entertainment side, if it’s acting or music, like the music scene, rap, whatever. I think it’s any door that opens to me. I like to write, I’m a journalist, so anything like that, it’s not just dance that I’m going to stay focused on.
Well I hope you find lots of success, Comfort. I loved watching you on the show and I just wanted to wish you good luck.
Thank you so much
– Gina Scarpa, BuddyTV Staff Writer
(Image courtesy of FOX)
Staff Writer, BuddyTV
