So You Think You Can Dance Top 10 Finalist Jaimie Goodwin started training in dance at the age of seven. Having trained in numerous styles such as tap, ballet, jazz, musical theatre, pointe, and contemporary lyrical dance, Jaimie immediately became a fan favorite on the show and a strong competitor week in and week out. Jaimie took some time to talk with us at BuddyTV earlier today about her experience on the show and how satisfied she was to make it as far as she did. Although she’s done with the show, this young and talented dancer has a bright career ahead of her and she’s looking forward to going on tour with the rest of the finalists.
Read the full interview and listen to the mp3 audio below.
This is Royce from BuddyTV and I’m here with Jaimie – Top 10 Finalist from So You Think You Can Dance. How’s it going Jamie?
It’s going well, how are you?
Doing great. Thanks so much for taking the time to talk to us.
Yeah, no problem. I’m enjoying it.
And congratulations on making it as far as you did.
Thank you.
So maybe you can start off by telling us a little bit about your background and why you wanted to try out for the show?
I’ve been training in dance since I was seven, so I’ve been in love with it for a very long time. I’ve been training with Travis actually, he was from last season, he’s been my dance partner for five years. He actually wanted me to audition last year, but I was too young. And then I watched the show, the whole season and thought it was pretty cool. But what really made me want to audition was when I saw the tour, it came to my city and I went and saw it and it just really inspired me to do the show because I thought it was one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen and it was just so much fun and it was such a great environment for the dancers to be in. And you never really see dancers have the opportunity to get to do something as big as that. So, yeah, I audition this year and I just took it one step at a time. I knew I wanted to make it to Vegas, and when I made it to Vegas, I wanted to be in Top 20, and when I made it to Top 20, I just took it one week at a time hoping to be in Top 10 because ultimately that would put me on tour and that’s really why I fell in love with the show in the first place. So once I made it there, I was so satisfied…I think everyone on the show was so satisfied with making it in the Top 10, we said to each other Wednesday night when we watched the show, that no matter what happened, no matter who went home, it would be okay because there were only a couple more weeks left and we would all be going on tour together. So everyone on the show was just so ecstatic to be on tour, of course they wanted to try their best to get as far as they could, but everyone is just so satisfied with what we’ve done so far.
Well throughout the entire course of the season, you’ve been a very strong competitor. Did you have any idea that you would make it as far as you did?
You know what, lately I’ve been thinking I’m psychic because the first three weeks I felt ok and I wasn’t in the bottom three at all the first three weeks, and then the next two weeks, every Thursday, I was having really weird feelings and this week was the strongest. Actually Monday night after we taped the show, I was so I don’t know, I was so content on it, I knew I was going to go home. And I don’t know why but I didn’t feel bad about my performances, I felt great about my performances despite what the judges said, I was just really happy with what I had done. And then I just still had this feeling that it was my week to go, and I don’t know why, but the entire week I kind of just tried to step back and take it all in and take deep breaths. And I looked around and tried to appreciate everything I had because I know that when we keep going and going and going with our fast schedules, we all forget where we are sometimes and how grateful we should be for it. So this week was that feeling in my stomach, I just really wanted to take it all in, so every day until Thursday, I was that person that was sitting back and just trying to appreciate everything. So I’m glad that I did because I had the most fun ever this week especially with switching up the partners and having a new show routine. I’m really grateful that I got to experience that aspect of the show with it being so crazy like that. And so Thursday when I was in the bottom two, I just knew I was going home. And I think that I just prepared myself so well, that when I found that I was going it, it was almost more of like a relief than a disappointment cuz I had really accepted it long before I knew. And then I just knew that I could go home and see my family and I could rest a little bit and I still had tour to look forward to. So I’m just really, really happy at this point in my life.
Well speaking of switching up partners, for Wednesday’s performance show you got paired up with Dominic and performed the Viennese Waltz. Him coming from a hip-hop background, what were your initial thoughts going into this particular routine with him as a partner? Did you anticipate that there might be some problems…
You know, I had Hok before Dominic. So I had been partnering with a hip-hop partner for the past five weeks. I haven’t been with anyone other than a hip-hop partner so far. So it really didn’t feel…I wasn’t anymore worried about it. I feel like with Hok and Dominic, they were both such great workers. They had such great work ethics and no matter what happened, whether their technique was great or bad or whatever, they’re great performers and I think that’s what it’s really about on the show because ultimately American viewers don’t really know the correct technique to everything. They’re watching it because it’s fun and they’re watching it because people make them smile when they perform. And so I think that to me, after I had worked with Hok, getting Dominic as a partner knowing he was from a hip-hop background, it didn’t really worry me at all because I knew that he was a great performer and I had seen him with Sabra and that’s what it’s about.
In terms of a competition like this, in your opinion, how big of an impact do you feel that each of your partner’s performance has on your own individual success?
I think that it has a good impact. I think that it’s pretty significant. However, I don’t think that anyone this season has anything to worry about because everyone is so strong. I mean, I know coming from a background where I partnered a lot before, if you’re doing a duet and one person is off, you have to be able to adapt to that person’s mistake or you have to be able to pick it back up if you mad that mistake. You have to be able to work with each other on the spot very quickly like that. And I think for some people who haven’t had that experience it may be hard it may be hard to learn that so quickly on the show. But for the Top 10 and the Top 20 who have been on the show, being so incredibly talented and so easily adaptable to new things, I don’t anyone who’s had that problem of having a partner bring them down or anything.
Did you have a favorite choreographer during the season?
My answer is going to be a pretty common one this year. I loved Wade as far as our duo and our opening number. As far as duets for me, Wade was by far my favorite. I had hoped I would get Mia for a duet for the entire show, I was just wanting her so bad because of course contemporary is my specialty and she’s just been someone I look up to so much since I first started training in contemporary, she’s been a huge idol. And so, when we got to do the group number with Mia this past week, I have to say, she’s been another one of my choreographers this season definitely.
Well you are obviously extremely talented and gifted. What’s in store for you now? What can your fans expect to see from you?
Well now I would really love to do more commercial or television work. And I know that whether or not that has anything to do with dancing or not, that’s something I want to do, preferably with dancing cuz I know that that’s really my main passion and I know that nowadays, there’s so many spots for dancers in TV, movie, and stuff like that, and it’s just growing in the industry, the need for dancers. So that would definitely be something that I would want to jump into. But also I always have this love for theatre work. That’s really where I started out, just theatre. So I would love to do a company, a contemporary company or something like that. Ideally I’d love to do it all, to be honest with you because as a little girl, I was never interested in just one particular thing, but you know, I wanted to act and I wanted to dance on a big stage in front of hundreds and millions of people and I wanted to get all the experience. For me now, being on television for the next four months is just going to give me the opportunity to really kind of schedule myself out as far as what to do after tour so that I can make the best use out of my time and my goals.
Do you have any final words for your fans out there?
I just thank you guys so much for supporting me because I wouldn’t have even made it to the Top 10 if it wasn’t for them because there were all those weeks I was saved with Hok and I really thank everyone for that and I appreciate them so much and I dunno, I’ll talk to them on MySpace and Twitter and stuff, it’s my favorite place!
Thanks again for your time Jamie, and from all of us at BuddyTV, good luck to you, we’re excited to see how your career unfolds.
(Interview conducted by Royce Yuen)
(Photo courtesy of FOX)
Interviewer, BuddyTV
