SYTYCD Season Four winner Joshua Allen spoke about his plans for the future, his quarter million dollar cash prize and his chemistry with partner Katee Shean in a telephone interview this morning.
“I represent for all of the hip hop and street dancers out there. It was so cool that we took it this year,” he told reporters. “Nigel said I was a benchmark for next season. Hip hop dancers that are untrained will have to step their game up.”
Allen said is looking forward to possible collaborations with runner up Twitch Boss, a singing career, the So You Think You Can Dance tour and a featured role in the upcoming film Step Up 3-D, but when pressed about his most immediate plans, he quipped, “Sleep for a whole day! Go kick it with some of my friends and family back in Forth Worth.”
Last weekend, Allen and another dancer were sent to Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles for dehydration after lengthy rehearsals. “It wasn't that big of a deal. We forgot to drink and replenish our bodies. We were just concentrating on doing a good show, but everything is fine now.”
Allen was a judge’s favorite from the beginning, lauded for his seemingly effortless ability to inhabit any dance style with sporadic training. A running back and track athlete in high school, his talent for sports always competed with his dreams of performing. “I started taking [dance] class when I was 10, but it was only in the summer. I was a sports fan." The rest of the year was devoted to football and other athletic pursuits. His lack of training had been questioned throughout the competition when he performed so well in a diverse range of dance styles. He addressed this directly with reporters saying “I took modern class, ballet classes and jazz classes, but I wasn't technically trained like Will or Mark or Matt… I took class so I knew what everything was so I wasn't dumbfounded.”
His natural talents were apparent when he was paired in the competition with what could have been a potential mismatch – Katee Shean, one of the most technically gifted dancers–was his Top Twenty partner. The pair performed everything from jazz routines to a Bollywood-infused number that became a judge’s favorite. The chemistry between the two fueled not only their dancing, but much of their popularity, though Allen confirms the two are “just really cool friends. When we get on stage we're really not ourselves.”
Shean was the recipient of a new award in this season’s finale– a $50,000 cash prize for the top female contestant. Allen was among her biggest supporters. “Katee, we've been through a lot together. I was so happy for her. I really wanted her to walk away with something.” As for his own $250,000 nest egg, Allen says, “I'm gonna save it. I"m gonna invest it and save it so I'm comfortable in the near future.”
With a new smile (he had his braces were removed in time for the finale–"I went at 6 in the a.m. and got 'em off…it made me feel a lot more confident") and so many projects on the horizon, it looks like Allen will be comfortable for a while. “My mom always told me the sky’s the limit!”
