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By Suzanne

Interview with Alexander Fost and Ryan Ramirez of "So You Think You Can Dance" on FOX 7/15/11.

FBC PUBLICITY: So You Think You Can Dance
July 15, 2011/10:00 a.m. PDT
SPEAKERS
Gina Sorial - Host
Alexander Fost
Ryan Ramirez

ANALYSTS
Gina Scarpa - RealityWanted.com
Lindsay Dreyer - Wet Paint
Mike Hughes - TV America
Sammi Turano - TV Grapevine
Casey Navarro - YakkityYaks.com
PRESENTATION

Moderator Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the So You Think You Can Dance Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question and answer session. Instructions will be given at that time, and as a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to our host, Gina Sorial. Please go ahead.
G. Sorial Hi, everyone. Welcome to the So You Think You Can Dance conference call. On today’s call we have Alexander Fost, 21 years old, contemporary dancer from Pasadena, California. Also Ryan Ramirez, 19 years old, contemporary dancer from Morgan Hill, California. We ask that you keep your questions limited to one question with one follow up, and take it away, Roxanne.

Moderator Our first question comes from the line of Gina Scarpa with RealityWanted.com. Please go ahead.

G. Scarpa Hi, guys. So my first question was for Ryan, and last night Nigel said that you seemed “down and out,” and I was wondering what your response was to that and if there was any truth to it?

R. Ramirez Yes, when he said that I was actually not surprised, but I definitely didn’t feel that way at all. I guess, I don’t know, when I got the comments on Wednesday about the duets, you could say I kind of thought that I might be in the bottom, but I never was down or out about the competition. I was still fighting, and I still thought that I had a chance to stay, and I was excited to do my solo so that I could dance on the stage again. So I never felt down or out. I was still excited and still fighting and still pushing, and it’s weird that they felt that way but I never felt that way. I was still excited to dance.

G. Scarpa Okay. And, Alexander, I don’t know if was just me, but I felt like a lot of times in this season they were comparing you and Sasha to one another, and I was wondering if you would have preferred that they judged you more as a couple and not always put you up against each other?

A. Fost I feel like as if they kind of forgot a little bit that being a couple is being team work, and every single week I know for sure that Sasha and I worked extremely hard. During rehearsals and the way we ran the show, all the choreographers, nobody ever said, “You know, so and so is better or is this.” It was just basically only when we went live and the show actually started to air that I started to get those comments. So it was really confusing, because you hear one thing during the rehearsals and during the dress run, and then when the show aired it’s something completely different. But, you know, it is what it is and sometimes you just have to make the best of it.

G. Scarpa Well I hope I see you both on the tour as alternates. Thank you so much.

Moderator Our next question comes from the line of Lindsay Dreyer with Wet Paint. Please go ahead.

L. Dreyer Hi, Ryan. My question is for you first. So after not making the top 20 last year, you came back and you came back strong and really showed the judges that you were worthy of a spot. Was your experience everything that you thought it would be and everything that you thought it was cracked up to be?

R. Ramirez Oh my God, yes. It was everything I thought it would be and more. I didn’t know that I would learn so much about myself through the experience. It really pushed me to my limits physically but mostly mentally, I think, just because with the show you go through so much critique and then not sleep and then having to learn so much choreography, and I think I realized that I can push myself more than I thought I could.

Yes, it was just as amazing as I thought it would be. Relating to the choreographers was just as great as I thought it would be. I would say that it was better actually. Other contestants were very inspiring. It was amazing to be on the show. I still wish that I was there, but it was amazing.

L. Dreyer And for Alexander, so you said before that even though you’re listed as a contemporary dancer that you’re a ballet dancer through and through. And as a classically trained ballet dancer, which was the hardest style for you to pick up and master?

A. Fost I think for the most part the hardest style had to have been probably contemporary. I know I was listed as a contemporary dancer, but hip hop was hard as well because there’s a certain type of attitude and a style of what we call “swag” that you need to be able to perform it to a certain level, but most importantly I think contemporary was a challenge because, as a ballet dancer, we don’t roll ourselves on the floor. We don’t go down on the floor. It just felt like every time I touched the floor I got a bruise or something because I’m not used to it. I didn’t know how to really maneuver my body in that way. So every time I got a contemporary, which was a very big of a challenge, and because I was listed as a contemporary dancer there was high expectation. So the choreography was hard, the critique was hard, and that was probably one of the most challenging dances yet, for sure by far.

L. Dreyer Well I think you both proved yourself and you did an excellent job.

Moderator We have a question from the line of Mike Hughes with TV America. Please go ahead.

M. Hughes Hey, Ryan, I got a kick out of two things. One was that you mentioned that you’ve been dancing forever, since you were born almost, and one was that you just got around to getting your driver’s license now. And I was wondering are those kind of related in some way? In other words, are you so obsessed on dancing you just don’t get around to a lot of other things?

R. Ramirez You know actually that is correct, for the most part. The reason why I just kind of recently got my driver’s license is because I was traveling a lot with dancing and really focused on dancing and moving to L.A., and so I never really got around to taking my test just because I was always so busy. I’ve always been focused on dance. I don’t know, it’s just been a priority for me and other things I just realized that I could make them happen later in life. Yes, I guess I haven’t really thought about it that way, but yes.

M. Hughes Sure sounds cool. Also, Alexander, I just wanted to ask you for a minute, you’ve had a chance to work with guys who learned ballet in Russia. Is that right? Old Russian ballet masters, is that right?

A. Fost Right. That’s correct.

M. Hughes So just tell me, what is that like to be with guys who learned it from kind of the heart of ballet like that? What’s that like to study with them?

A. Fost Very, very, very intense, and with that said this show is very intense, but that opportunity I was received was very intense only because I feel like the European dancers are very different from the American dancers and the way they approach it even more so. Ballet, it’s not just an art form but the passion that they have towards it, it’s tremendously--

With that said, I was not a ballet dancer at the age, 17 or 18, it wasn’t until almost 19. Almost two years ago is when I got strictly heavily into ballet, and they were competing. I won competitions and I had traveled and stuff in a matter of months only because of the tremendous amount of training that was given to me. They just show no mercy. But it was amazing. Not only that I feel like they also showed me a sense of elegancy that ballet has that I normally wouldn’t get from training here in the U.S. So that was great.

Moderator Our next question comes from the line of Sammi Turano with TV Grapevine. Please go ahead.

S. Turano Good morning to both of you. How are you? My question is is there a dance you haven’t learned yet that you would like to learn still?

R. Ramirez Yes. For me there are a lot of dances that I would love to learn still. I always wanted to get krump on the show just because I think that style is really interesting and entertaining, and I really wanted to learn what the mechanics are with it and about it because I love the passion with it. And also still some of the ballrooms. I would love to learn how to waltz and tango and stuff like that, but definitely krump and more of the ballrooms.

A. Fost As for me, I have to agree, the ballroom is something that I really have opened my eyes to. The last dance I was able to do was the paso doble this week. It was very similar to ballet in certain areas, but because of the structure involved, but it was probably one of my favorite pieces, dances, I was able to do. Also tap. I know they don’t have tap dancing on the show, but as a dancer I really have been wanting to take tap for a while. I think that’s something that I might be doing. So that’s exciting.

S. Turano And who’s your dream choreographer to work with?

R. Ramirez Out of like the whole world?

S. Turano Yes. Out of the whole world, not necessarily that was on the show but anybody in the world you can work with.

R. Ramirez Oh, God.

A. Fost As for me, I think Tyce was one of them that I really enjoy working with. Since I’ve started dancing and have heard about him, he’s one of a big inspiration. Jamie King is one of my other all time favorite choreographers. I have actually close friends that know him personally, and I’ve heard that he’s such a great person and a brilliant mind and he’s by far one of the greatest choreographers that I’d probably want to get involved with for sure.

R. Ramirez For me I would love to work with Wade Robson. I think he’s a genius. And then, I don’t know, for me I was always aiming to work for Mia, and so I’d still say that she is one of my favorite choreographers to work with. I mean, there are so many amazing people. I would love to work with Jaquel Knight actually too. He’s a hip-hop choreographer. He choreographed Nicole Scherzinger’s performance last night, and I think it would be fun to work with him too.

S. Turano Wonderful. Well thank you so much, and I’m proud of the both of you.

Moderator We have a question from the line of Casey Navarro with YakkityYaks.com. Please go ahead.

C. Navarro Hi there, you guys. Hi, you both are stunning dancers and our members were very sad to see you go last night. My question is for both of you. You both had extensive dance training and experience over the years. What about this competition, in particular, did you find most difficult or most surprising based on what you expected it to be?

R. Ramirez Alex, you want me to go first again?

A. Fost I think the hardest part in the competition is not just working with a group of people that you’ve never danced with before, not just learning the dance in two days and going live the day after, but I think the hardest part is having to perform it on live television and getting critiqued, and then from there being judged on television. Because whether it is a dance competition, it is a popularity contest as well. Yes it’s very entertaining, but people at home will simply not vote for you because they don’t like your costume or because you said something in the package that they found you to be odd with. So I think that’s the hardest part.

And with that said, being on the show you have to just keep remembering how much you love dance and why you keep doing it and that this was just a chance to perform on one of the biggest stages any dancer can perform on, and that’s So You Think You Can Dance, the TV show.

R. Ramirez Mine is similar to what Alex just said. I think the hardest thing was just being in the public eye so much. Just because I didn’t realize how much people really analyze your every move on the show. I just realized that you have to keep your mind focused on why you’re there and not get caught up in what people are saying about you, good or bad, and that you have to keep a level head and just do it because you love dance and want to grow as a dancer.

But I’d say that that was definitely the—what was the biggest shock for me was just being in front of—I mean, I guess I knew I was going to be on TV, but just not knowing I guess the power of the show and how many people it reaches.

C. Navarro Yes, that sounds hard. Well thank you for your time you guys, best of luck to both of you. Hope to see you in the future soon.

Moderator And at this time there are no other questions.

G. Sorial Thank you, everyone, for joining this morning, and we wish everyone best of luck with Carmageddon.

Moderator Actually we do have one more question from the line of Lindsay Dreyer with Wet Paint. Go ahead, Lindsay.

L. Dreyer This is for Ryan. I just wanted to ask if moving forward, since you’ve already worked with Mia Michaels and you’ve assisted on some other seasons, do you plan to pursue choreography rather than performing as you move forward?

R. Ramirez Yes. Actually becoming a choreographer is one of my main goals in life. I still want to be a performer because I love performing and being on stage. I think right now I want to continue performing while also developing my skills as a choreographer, and then hopefully as I get older and not able to perform as much as I would like to, I want to move into choreography and more the directing side of things. Working with Mia has helped me with that and I’ve learned a lot about behind the scenes work, which I’m very grateful for, and I’m hoping to continue to develop that. So yes, definitely, I want to be a choreographer.

L. Dreyer Okay. Great. Thank you so much for answering that last question.

G. Sorial All right, thanks, everyone. Have a great weekend. Thanks, Ryan and Alexander.

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