11:15 PM
Salsa Circuit
We said goodbye to Ashley and Chris in the fourth week of competition on So You Think You Can Dance. Shortly afterward, the dancers spoke to reporters about their experience on the show, the elimination and their future plans.
On their elimination in Week 4:
On being eliminated instead of Ryan and Ricky:
Chris Koehl: "I think the main difference between me and Ricky would have to be just the technical training. Ricky, he just took a different journey through life. He has so much under his belt. And so, I think, with all the training he has the judges feel that he's going to be able to pick up some of that choreography in the future runs better than me."
"I definitely didn't see it coming. But I tried to prepare myself, either way. I went out there, and I think we both gave amazing solos. I think we both worked really hard in every single routine that we had. It was just somebody had to go and it happened to be me. As far as reaching the expectations of the judges, I think that there's always room for improvement and I think I grew each and every time and I'm extremely proud of where I've come. But I guess the judges just wanted and felt like they needed a little bit more from me in order to stay on the show and I just wasn't quite there yet, which is okay because I'm still pleased with what I was able to do."
On their final "Dance for Your Life" solos:
Ashley Rich: "Whenever you have to dance for your life you definitely have to do your best. There's a lot of pressure. But you can't really let that affect you. You just have to give it your all."
Chris Koehl: "Most definitely, anytime you're on that stage it is a blessing and you never know when that time's going to end. So we always bring our A-game, even if you're not dancing for your life we always do our best. But definitely, when that moment kicks in you give it your all and I feel that me and Ashley both did and I'm definitely pleased with what ended up happening, as far as my performance I'm very happy."
On their winning and losing dances:
Ashley Rich: "I definitely was excited about that jail dance and I thought it was a real cool opportunity to show a different side to us. I think me and Chris are normally the cutesy ones, so it was kind of fun being a little bit different than we normally are portrayed. This week, I actually loved the salsa. I didn't really think of it as we were doomed. I thought of it as another challenge and that we were lucky to be given another challenge and being able to dance this week. So I'm not trying to think of it as we were doomed. It was a good experience."
On Chris' self-motivated training before So You Think You Can Dance:
Chris Koehl: "I was trying to get as much training in every style as I could. I found some ballroom teachers that, basically, it was a cram course. We did like an hour of ballroom for like six or seven days straight and they just tried to teach me a little bit of the basics in everything. But unfortunately, salsa isn't really, technically, one of the main ballroom ones, so we never touched salsa. So I walked in without any sort of preparation for that. But it was okay. It was definitely a lot of fun doing it. But, yes, I had no idea as far as what they would be looking for. So I walked in, kind of, blind eye just trying to have as much fun as I could, and just like Ashley said tackle another routine."
On pressure to dance in a "sexy" style:
Ashley Rich: "I came into this knowing who I was and I told myself I'm never going to change no matter what. I'm always going to be me and how I dance is pretty much like my personality. So, I think the fun thing about dancing is you do get to change sometimes and change your style and do different things. This week we had our group, our girls' group routine, we were a little bit sexier, which was fun too. So, I pretty much love every type of dance. But my style is my style for a reason because I love it and so I would never change it."
On the impact of Chris' dyslexia:
Chris Koehl: "The dyslexia, I think, the main thing that it did more than anything is it was a big wall that I wasn't able to knock down for a long time. And for me, I've always been one of those people who wanted to conquer anything that came in front of me, at least to some degree, so it was kind of, for awhile, something that held me back and it was the one thing that I had kind of given up on. But I definitely don't think it had anything to do with my personality."
"Now, from friends and some family pushing me forward, I feel like that wall has been knocked down and that's part of the reason why I am able to be on the show because I feel stronger and I feel like I can believe in myself. But I've always just been crazy active Chris from just a toddler."
On Nigel's woodpecker mistake from Week 3:
Chris Koehl: "I was a little thrown off. I didn't know whether I should correct them or just stay quiet or what. But, no, it was later explained to me that he had just said the wrong routine. He had meant to say the jail routine. Although, the judges clearly enjoyed both of those numbers. So it was just a little slip up. It was no big deal."
Ashley Rich: "I definitely heard it. I was just a little confused. It just caught me off guard. But I just figured, oh, he just made a little mistake. It's no biggie."
On this season's elimination only of couples:
Ashley Rich: "I just think the judges know best and they know who they want in the competition. And they know what we go through every day and we're working hard, so I feel like it's ... it ends up being. I don't think there's a conspiracy behind it."
Chris Koehl: "I don't know that there's a conspiracy behind it at all. It's just the way that the show happens to be going this year. I find it interesting. But yes, just like Ashley was saying, the judges, they know what they're looking for. They know what's best for the show. This is their eighth season and this is just how the cards are falling out this time."
On advice for younger dancers:
Chris Koehl: "Well, I particularly love this question because, for me, I auditioned three times and I had to find what I needed to make on the show. I didn't originally have it. And at least for me, what I needed is confidence not only in my dancing but confidence in me as a person. And so that's one of the things that I really harp on when people want to know what it does take to get to that next level. It's you've got to believe in yourself. You've got to believe that the training you have is good enough. I mean, you can always be better in everything but you have to recognize it's what you have."
Ashley Rich: "So my answer to that question is just to never give up and always put your best foot forward and stay true to yourself, because I think that the thing about dance is that you don't necessarily have to be like everybody else. You can be yourself and bring your own special quality to it. So I think staying true to yourself as a dancer I think is my most important thing for advice."
On how they got into dancing:
Ashley Rich: "I started dancing when I was three. So it wasn't so much my interest, it was my mom's. So she put in dance probably to keep me busy... And I just loved it. I never felt like my mom was pushing me. I always was like begging her, 'Can I go back to dance class?' So definitely, I'm grateful that my mom put me in dance."
Chris Koehl: "My first dance experience was actually kind of funny. I was at a small school and we had a period where we had to pick an elective and all they had to offer was three different book clubs, a ballet class and a jazz class. For those of you who know, I've struggled a lot with my reading being dyslexic, so at that time I really, really did not want to do a book club, and I wasn't going to do ballet because I was kind of a little bit of a jock and a little bit too proud for that at the time."
"So I was like, 'So what's jazz, mom?' And she's like, 'I think it's like hip hop.' And I had already started to love hip hop just from watching some videos on the TV and I was like, okay cool, I'll do hip hop. I'll give that a shot. And I walked in and so my first dance experience was actually jazz. And it hit me hard because it wasn't hip hop. I was like, what is this. But it was good because it opened me up to so much more than hip hop. And as time went on I took that one class and I started doing hip hop on my own because I realized how much I liked dancing. And at the time it started with hip hop. But it's definitely grown over the years now. I just love dance, in general."
"But it started off way back then just trying to avoid taking some reading classes."
On what they've learned about themselves during So You Think You Can Dance:
Chris Koehl: "I think the greatest thing I learned is how much more I have to offer. You know, when it comes to dancing it's a really tough journey. There's a lot of competition and there's a lot of obstacles you've got to fight as far as injury and just constantly working hard. And I didn't realize how much I could put out and this show, each week, bringing a new challenge that was just so foreign to my body and always trying to push through the best I could. I don't know that I necessarily knew that at the beginning of the show I had that in there. I like to think I did. But coming out now, I feel that I realize that there's so much more that I have. And I feel like I can do anything as long as I just keep pushing forward."
Ashley Rich: "I feel like I have grown as a dancer in every way. I feel like I have more confidence as a dancer. I'm not really nervous to try anything new now. I kind of feel like I can tackle anything, any style of dance, so I just feel like, all around, I'm just a better dancer and I'm grateful for it."
On other dance styles they want to try:
Chris Koehl: "I really wanted to do contemporary on the show. It's something I've admired so much and I think almost every contemporary team up there either gave me chills or made me want to cry based off of the story. So that is something I really want to expose myself to. But even more than just that, there's a lot of choreographers as well that I would like to work with like Napoleon and Tabitha and Travis Wall, and I could keep going. There's so much out there."
Ashley Rich: "I would like to dive a little bit more into ballroom. It's not like I don't want to change my whole direction into ballroom. But I definitely would like to learn a little bit more about the salsa because I had a blast doing the salsa."
On their post-So You Think You Can Dance plans:
Chris Koehl: "At the moment, I'm going to be pursuing dance. I'll probably be doing some online classes to try to continue my education. In general, it's always good just to keep learning. But, I'd like to also have a backup plan just in case for whatever reason I need more money or whatever. But right now, dancing is definitely my main focus. I definitely can't see myself focusing on anything else."
Ashley Rich: "In the near future, I definitely want to dance. No matter what, dance will always be a part of my life. I think this is just a great opportunity and a beginning of great things that me and Chris can accomplish. So, right now I'm pretty open. I'm just trying to see where this is going to lead me."
Source Laurel Brown
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