This morning I had the pleasure of interview Phillip Chbeeb, the latest male dancer to be eliminated from So You Think You Can Dance.
From the moment he stepped on stage with his seemingly bone-less popping and locking style, good natured goofiness, and infectious passion for dance, Phillip Chbeeb was an instant fan favorite. Though he struggled with choreography outside of his genre, Phillip remained an inspiration to viewers, judges, and his fellow competitors because his performances and time on the show were all about conveying his love of dance. And his touching goodbye speech last night will go down as one of the most genuinely touching moments in a show that’s often filled with tear-jerkers.
Phillip and I chatted about starting his own hip-hop studio, teaching himself how to dance, how exciting it is for him to learn he’s be an inspiration to those of us watching So You Think You Can Dance, and how he hopes to come back to the stage one day as a choreographer. Chbeeb even got a little choked up talking about his fellow competitors, if you thought you loved Phillip before, just listen to this interview!
Be sure to listen to the full interview with Phillip here:
Here are a few of the highlights from our interview:
On a previous So You Think You Can Dance contestant he admired and now relates to:
Hok, he actually got cut in the exact same place I did, we actually talked last night about it and were sharing the emotions behind it. He was just one of those people who I really looked up to but got caught right up before the Top 10.
On the fear and expectations of making the Top 20:
I think I always knew it was going to be difficult. Even when I was on green mile and i was waiting to find out if I made the Top 20, I was already scared of making the Top 20.
On the highlight of his time on the So You Think You Can Dance stage:
I think the greatest feeling that I had on stage, was during the “Love Lockdown” piece, just because, oh my gosh the things that went wrong with that piece that people didn’t get to see. Is outrageous. Even in the dress rehearsal, like 20 minutes before, the chain broke. It looked easy on the video, because we never made a mistake on it, but one step on that chain and we were out. It was definitely one of the most stressful, but the coolest feeling to push through that.
On what he’s most disappointed to miss now that he’s out of the competition:
I was really excited to see if Wade and Mia could use the way I move and pull something out of it and make something beautiful.
On the closeness of the cast:
We’re more close than i think people realize. This season for sure, the top six guys are like best friends. So it was really sad to say goodbye. You become closer than you could even expect, in such a short amount of time it’s kind of outrageous.
On his advice for whoever works with his former partner Jeanine:
Let her be her, because she talks through a lot of things. Listen to her and enjoy her presence.
On learning of his fan favorite and inspirational status:
Honestly, this may be surprising, but none of us actually catch wind of all the craziness here. But we don’t really understand the depths of what we’re doing here. We’re so caught up in this world that we don’t see the influence we have on other people until we get out.Which I’m starting to see now. It’s nice to hear actually…
I’m really glad, because honestly that’s the main reason why I came on this show. I feel like there are certain people made perfectly as a vessel for someone to choreograph, their strength is adapting. I feel like I cam on this show knowing I’m a mental, more mind oriented person. I’m more of a creator type person. I know that choreography is more of my avenue, I’m definitely going to be perusing that and hopefully getting back and choreographing hip hop in a couple of years.
–Abbey Simmons, BuddyTV Staff Writer
(Image Courtesy of FOX)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
