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An Interview with Joshua Allen from SYTYCD
He's So Much More Than Dancing

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Original Publication Date:
June 2009

"Let's be real. Let's not be stupid to the fact that, yeah, I took classes when I could. I kept saying that. It was always stop and start. It wasn't sustained like William or Mark. Since I was an athlete, I took classes in the summer. We didn't have a lot of money so there were times when I would trade chores for class time. I took modern. I took ballet. I took some jazz classes. Debbie Allen has a dance institution in Texas that I attended, and I got a month scholarship for her school in L.A. for intense dance from about age 10 on. That was only for one month and that month was like a getaway. Ms. Allen was such an inspiration to me and I looked up to her. I always wanted to be chosen for her year's program to live there. I almost begged for it, but I didn't get it. I was back home crying. I would just go in my room and cry. I would ask myself, 'Am I doing this for no reason? Am I going to be 20 or 21 and still not make it and living in my mom's house?' I was hard on myself. I felt like I should have been in the industry singing at the age of 15 or 16. I would pray every night just for a chance. This was my prayer, 'God please just give me the opportunity, a chance, to show the world what I can do.' Right before the round in Vegas I took a bunch of classes because I didn't want to show up and not know anything. Not knowing all the terminology, I would never go first. I would always watch and catch on that way. If you tell me to do a certain combination I might not know what it is. If you show me, then I can do it. Danny and Travis and William and Marquis are technically trained. I'm not like them and didn't have that kind of on-going training. Me, Will, and Twitch had a talk—not an argument but a good talk. Will feels that we really are trained because we stand in the mirror and we study our bodies enough to where we're trained. Whereas, Twitch says we aren't because we're not told where to put our bodies or where to put our leg at and all the techniques and phrasing dancers in class are taught. So what they said, that I was untrained, I never hid that I was. I did know certain stuff and different styles, but it wasn't the same or sustained as most of the others on the show."

On the Tour:

Having never been anywhere to speak of outside of Fort Worth, Texas the tour was major for Joshua. The 40-some city stops spanning from Tacoma, WA to Tampa, FL were as rewarding as they were exhausting. Being the winner and part of the favorite pairing of the season, it could have easily been called the 'Joshua Allen and Friends' tour. Between group numbers, paired routines, and his solo, Joshua found himself included in 15 of the numbers each night. Not until an unfortunate slip and fall, resulting in Katee being sidelined, did the schedule of dances change and new dances were added. The mishap took place in the worst of all places, in front of his hometown crowd, and it forced a juggling among the dancers to accommodate Katee's injury. Being the consummate warriors, Joshua and Katee did whatever it took to make the show go on and still be enjoyable for the paying fans. Thankfully, it wasn't too long before Katee's condition improved, and they were able to once again shine. Joshua recalls snippets of his time on tour with fondness and appreciation.

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Photos

Joshua Allen
Photos of Joshua Allen from the shoot with Pz and photographer Cory Sorensen.

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