Season 2 of So You Think You Can Dance SA premiered on SABC1 on Saturday night (24 July) at 18h30. Sunday Tribune's Colin Roopnarain recently caught up with co-creator and producer of the global series Nigel Lythgoe and shares their chat with us.
Dancer, choreographer, actor, writer, director, producer .... and a whole list of other fancy titles. Nigel Lythgoe is also the man behind reality show juggernauts like Pop Idol, and So You Think You Can Dance.
Rumours of his cantankerousness (it’s a word), and the fact that his nickname is ‘Nasty Nigel’ had me expecting all sorts of drama when I was offered an interview with him.
Instead he turned out to be one of the sweetest men I’ve interviewed, so much so that I couldn’t help but picture him as a younger Rod Stewart sitting in front of a fireplace, smoking a pipe and laughing as his grandkids played. Which is mostly good.
Here’s what we chatted about before his ‘people’ cut me off:
Colin: What’s been the most unexpected thing about doing So You Think You Can Dance?
Nigel: For me, it’s been watching the show grow, watching it impact pop culture and become something big.
Colin: What do you find yourself looking forward to the most?
Nigel: The auditions! They’re great fun. I enjoy the locations as well, and then the actual journey of the dancers.
Colin: Have you ever been wrong about someone - who then went on to make it big?
Nigel: *Laughs* All the time!I forget my own predictions - and am often amazed that I can get it wrong - but I like to watch them grow again. It happens in spurts.
Someone can go from not seemingly having the X factor to suddenly unleashing an inner light. Elizma (Wildschutte, SA Season 1 winner) was in the bottom once - and had to be saved by the judges.
You can’t teach someone charisma, that quality is either there or not, but sometimes it’s not evident the first time. And it changes as it goes along.
That’s why we say “the country’s favourite dancer” and not “the best dancer”, because it turns into a popularity contest. The people are not just voting for the choreography, it’s the person they’re voting for.
Colin: Which star would you most like to see dance?
Nigel: Star? I’ve never thought about that. I enjoyed watching Tom Cruise dance at the MTV Film Awards - he was absolutely fabulous. Jennifer Lopez was lovely as well. I think maybe the new lot. I’d like to see maybe a musical version of Twilight. Get Robert Pattinson and what’s his name, Lautner to sing and dance.
Colin: And who would you pay to never dance again?
Nigel: *Laughs* Ben Stiller! I worked with him, and a few others, and while he’s an incredibly hard worker, bless him, he’s got no rhythm whatsoever.
Who was that new Sherlock Holmes? Robert Downey jnr. Yes, he was so serious. He wanted to know what his motivation was before he would dance. They were fantastically interesting characters.
Colin: What would you say to your harshest critics ....?
“Hi, Colin, I’m sorry to interrupt but time’s run out,” - suddenly says one of his ‘people’. “Maybe just ask one more question?”
Colin: What would you say to your harshest critics, and what would you say to your biggest fans?
Nigel: The same thing, actually. I expect them to understand that I love what I do and I am very passionate.
Ends
Fast facts
Nigel was in South Africa for the first season of the show. This season he isn't - he's currently in the US judging Season 7 of the American series.
He recently launched National Dance Day in the US, coming up this Saturday, 31 July. The aim of it: to promote health and self confidence through dancing - the whole of America's being encouraged to mobilise to do a particular dance on the day.
Nigel co-created the series with Simon Fuller (creator of Idol)
.
The US version has received five nominations for 2010 Emmy Awards
:
- choreographer Mia Michaels has three nominations for Outstanding Choreography,
- choreographer Stacey Tookey has one for Outsanding Choreography;
- and the make-up department has been nominated for Outstanding Makeup For A Multi-Camera Series Or Special.
Other countries that have their own version of the show include Poland, Greece, the UK, Australia, Netherlands, Canada and Malaysia.
Season 7 of the US version will be on M-Net Series in September.