Post by ericcantona203 on Jan 3, 2007 18:54:14 GMT 1
There's a dancer in us all
By Stephen Downie
03jan07
DONYELLE Jones did not feel like dancing. One of the star contestants in So You Think You Can Dance had thrown in her shoes prior to auditioning for the US talent quest.
Although she had a resume which included strutting her stuff in videos for hot acts such as the Black Eyed Peas and Missy Elliott and touring with Snoop Dogg, Jones was constantly hounded by comments about her figure.
"I was going through a lot. I'd been working my butt trying to get work as a dancer but I was told I don't have the dancer body type and I got tired of fighting that fight," the 27-year-old Californian says.
Jones got work in a restaurant and contemplated starting university until a friend convinced her to audition for So You Think You Can Dance.
"I realise I'm happier actually dancing," she says. "Hopefully being on the show opens the eyes of casting directors, that people should appreciate somebody who is not stick build."
The talent show owes much to Idol. Not surprising, then, that it was created by Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe, the pair behind the Idol phenomenon.
Australians are watching the second series of the show, which is hosted by Britain's Cat Deeley. It has fared surprisingly well for Ten since first airing, regularly pulling in close to one million viewers.
Jones believed in So You Think You Can Dance from the outset. She set herself a small goal to start with.
"I didn't want to leave first or second," she says. But at this stage of the show, and with just a few performers left, Jones has set her sights a little higher.
"My ultimate goal is to have my own performing company and tour the country," she says. Of course, this may have to wait should she actually win the series, as contestants are competing for a place in Celine Dion's Las Vegas show.
While the dancers who have made it through the series are at the top of their game, Jones believes there is a dancer in everybody - regardless of whether some of us might think we have two left feet.
"Everybody, in some form or another, can relate to dancing. When you're sitting in a car and a song comes on the radio and you start bopping your head, you're dancing. It's just something that makes you feel good."
* So You Think You Can Dance, Sunday, Ten, 7.30pm