In a stunning turn of events, So You Think You Can Dance provided a season four shocker when it simultaneously eliminated the field’s least-trained dancer, Comfort Fedoke, along with one of its best, Will Wingfield.
Fedoke, a 20-year-old hip-hop dancer from Lagos, Nigeria who currently resides in Dallas, TX, had the unique experience of being eliminated for a second time from the competition. Two weeks ago, she found herself in the bottom of the pack, narrowly missing an opportunity to be among the final 10 contestants, but when contemporary dancer Jessica King injured her ribs and was forced to withdraw from the competition, Fedoke landed an opportunity to return and prove her worth.
Fedoke admittedly had the least amount of dance training out of the contestants. After the first elimination, she said, “I’ve only had two and a half years or three, maybe, in what these people have been doing, you know, the other contestants, [have] been doing for like forever…it was something that I had to like definitely try to grasp on…I’m so blessed to get this far.”
Fedoke managed to escape elimination last week, but succumbed to the voters last night. Was it more painful to be eliminated a second time? “It was harder the first time, because, honestly, I really wanted to make top 10. More than anything...so the first time was definitely hard to take in. I was absolutely shocked. I was devastated.”
On her return to the competition, she said, “I took it as a second chance. Me just going back out there and doing my thing…I went totally different because, then, after that, I started dancing with more passion. I think I was more comfortable with myself up there because when you get up there and you feel like you're doing your solo, sometimes you blank out and you freak out and you’re so frantic your nerves get to you. So I think I went there with a whole different kind of perception of what I want the world to see of me and it was my personality. It was how I am me, how I am different from every other person in this competition.”
Will Wingfield, on the other hand, was not thought to be among the bottom vote getters in the competition. Generally thought to be one of the most technically proficient dancers on the show, the 21-year-old contemporary dancer from Nashville, TN, was praised lavishly each week by the judges. Even his mentor, Debbie Allen, appeared in the audience one episode to admire her apprentice. He seemed destined for a long residence on the show, but performed an uncharacteristic solo for a contemporary dancer – an impromptu tribute to James Brown - on Wednesday night.
Wingfield explained, “One of the things that people don't realize is that when you’re doing a solo, you want to turn in your music ahead of time and it takes time for your music to clear and I had a problem really getting any of music of mine to clear all the artists and producers and writers and things like that. So when your music won’t clear, there’s a little list built up of songs that have already have cleared that you can just pick from. When I saw the song on the list, I was like, James Brown, okay. You can’t help but dance when you hear that song. I mean, you put that song on and everybody knows it and everybody wants to move to it. So it was more one of those things where it was like, I didn’t really have the time to make up choreography and, I was like, I don't want to stress about another freakin’ solo. I just want to get out there and dance and move, and, ya know, have a little bit of fun. So the idea just came, one thing lead to another and I decided, I gotta have a wig! It won’t work unless I have a wig. So I sent my girlfriend and my mom at the last minute to try and find me a wig before the show and it ended up turning out.”
Whatever the reason, Wingfield found himself among the bottom four vote getters after Wednesday’s telecast. When host Cat Deeley announced Wingfield’s name as the eliminated contestant, even his rival onstage, fellow contestant Twitch Boss, embraced him and bowed as he left in honor of the technician.
“Of course, when you learn something like that on national television, it’s a lot to take in. You look at all the hard work you’ve put in and realize that it’s all about to kinda slow down and stop for a second, but I'm so happy for Twitch. I’m so, so happy for Twitch that he's able to stay another week and really show America what he’s got and I’m happy for the other kids as well because we’ve become such a tight unit, such an awesome family, that, no matter what happens at this point, that, yeah, you’ll be bummed out, but you have so much love for your other family members, that you only want to see them continue on and do well.”
Wingfield praised the dance competition in a conference call with reporters. "It’s hard to say, in a couple of sentences, what you’ve learned from the show. I mean, it exposes you to so much behind the scene information. Your work ethic. You learn an extremely [he emphasizes the word ‘extremely’] strict work ethic. You learn how to maintain stress. You learn to how to overcome any obstacle that is thrown in your way. You learn so many different things that I feel are so vital to human behavior.”
Later, he went on, “Working with these master choreographers is something priceless, man, something priceless. I definitely learned from all of them. From Tyce, his life lessons, to Jean-Marc and his analogies to every body we took from, had their own specific way of teaching and pushing you to the limit.” For the fans, he heaped his highest praise. “I appreciate the love and the support so much and it does not go unnoticed or unappreciated. I love all.”
Wingfield then outlayed his future plans. “I want to keep my choices open, for sure. This national exposure and this exciting opportunity are all so much to take in. Who knows what God has in store for me. I just want to keep working my behind off and make sure that I’m ready for whatever it is that comes my way because, as a dancer, you know, there is no off season. You don’t have time to just sit around and chill. You gotta be ready whenever that audition comes your way... I wanna be ready no matter what comes and then I want to explore it all. We're so much more than dancers. I feel like we're artists. Acting, producing, directing, writing - it all has its part in the artistry world and I want to tap into all of that.”
