It’s really kind of impossible to not like Hok Konishi. The Japanese-born Hok grew up in England and started learning hip/hop and breakdancing at a young age. Hok is one of the more unique finalists So You Think You Can Dance has ever seen, and it is a testament to his persistence that he made it into the top 20 this season: he had tried out the two previous years, but failed to make the top twenty both times (last year, he only had a student visa and could not be employed). Hok, partnered with Jaimie Goodwin, was eliminated from So You Think You Can Dance last night and was kind enough to stop by and speak with us earlier today.
Below you will find both the written transcript and full mp3 audio of the interview.
For various reasons, it’s been a long road for you to get on So You Think You Can Dance, so how good did it feel to finally make that top 20?
It felt really good actually, it feels really weird because the first year when I first tried it it was just really random, my mate Ryan came to my house two days before I was going to go back to Japan for good and I randomly just went and the second year I just wanted to try again for my own sake but I still was a student so it felt like I couldn’t give it my all and then this year I had finished with school and I was able to just give my all so I was really happy I was able to experience it again.
One of the things I was wondering about you and people like Dominic and all of you hip/hop dancers, coming into the show you knew that the judges knew who you were and liked you, did you prepare at all for partner dances?
As much as I could, it was really hard just cause I didn’t know that many people in that scene or any of my friends that were used to it, so it was really hard to get in practice like that. But, yeah I tried as much as I could and had friends help me out.
Let’s talk about Jaimie for a second. What were your first impressions of her as a partner?
Well, she’s…OK, everyone knows she’s an amazing dancer. She’s beautiful, she’s used to working with a partner, so I was a little worried if I was going to be good enough support for her, if I’m going to be able to pick it up as good as her. Hopefully, I was able to do alright for her.
I’ve got to ask: Is there something going on between you guys?
Yeah, everyone asks me that, but no it’s just…we have a great partnership and for me, just cause I’m not used to working with partners, it’s really hard for me to just switch on when I go on stage. So, I thought we needed to spend time together, just little things like maybe going to eat dinner after practice or spending time before we go up on stage. That would help us with our connection because we wouldn’t have to actually like think of it, focus on the dancing and have the connection naturally.
Lets talk about the performance show this week. It seems that a ton of people loved your Mr. Bojanlges routine, especially fans on the internet, were you surprised by the judges reaction to it?
I don’t know if I was surprised. It was very, very hard actually, because you’re really feeling good cause you’re dancing with the music, you finish your piece and then all of the sudden they smash you to the ground. It is really hard to take and it’s hard cause you’re just really feeling good and they knock you down like that, but then again all the stuff they say…they’re professionals too and it does make sense. I just think that if I was a better dancer they could have been happy about the piece.
Last night when they eliminated you, you said you were expecting it, is there a particular reason for that?
Well, yeah just from the critiques I got from the Waltz and from this week’s piece and just sort of figuring out the math, I kind of started getting the picture of what the judges wanted in their top 10, and as sad as it may seem I just didn’t fit in there. I already just knew it was coming. Yeah, it was really sad.
Obviously, it’s a big disappointment to not make the top 10 and the tour, but looking back on the whole experience, what are you going to take away from it and was it all worth it?
Yes, definitely. This, honestly, has been the biggest thing in my life and it has been just a short amount of time that I was actually on the show but I’ve learned so much and not just about dance. I could feel myself grow as a human being, so I just really want to thank the judges and everyone on the show for having me and friends, family and my fans for supporting me all the way.
(Interview Conducted by Oscar Dahl)
(Image Courtesy of FOX)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
