So, Do You Think You Can Dance?

Published May 14, 2024, 4:00 AM

JoJo tells us everything about the newest season of SYTYCD and We. Can't. Wait. JoJo tells us some crazy BTS memories (someone broke their pinkie in a prank war?!) & admits this season could change the dancing world forever... 

You're listening to Jojosua now with me, Jojo Ciua and iHeartRadio podcast. Oh, welcome back to Jojo Sua. Now. I am laughing my head off right now because as I'm starting this podcast, I was checking my TikTok because I did a bit of an experiment today. I posted a TikTok of me doing literally nothing because I was like, I want to do nothing and see if people will hate on it. And long story short, people are hating on it. And that, to me is just so freaking funny that thousands of people can figure out a way to hate on a video of me sitting at my kitchen counter doing literally nothing. I freaking love the world. Anyways, Welcome back to Jojasia. Now. If you guys remember a few weeks ago, I was talking about how I moved to Atlanta. I was filming a show down in Atlanta. I was leaving alone for the first time in Atlanta. Now I can finally freaking talk about what that all was about what that all was? Four So you think you can Dance? Season eighteen. I was so honored that I got the call to be a part of season eighteen to come judge the top ten be on the judging panel again. For anyone that doesn't know, I was a judge on season seventeen of So You Think You Can Dance, and I, I mean, I freaking love that more than anybody ever knows. That season it was me, it was Twitch rest in Peace and my brother, and it was Leah Remoni. That was our panel that season, and then this season was me, Max Schmerkovsky, which Max is actually Jenna, my partner from Dancing with the Stars, her husband Val. Max and Val are brothers, so Jenna's brother in law. And then Alison Holker, who of course is Twitch's widow. She is the most amazing woman in the world. I did not know I could love a human so fast, so much. I love that girl with all my heart, and her and I became so close while filming So You Think You Can Dance. She literally became my number one human. Anyways, I got to be a part of this season and it was so fun. This season is full new, full new format. It's airing right now on Fox next day on Hulu. The top ten starting off was incredible. Let's see if I couldave everybody. We had Braylin, we had Roman, we had Jalen, we had Anthony, and we had Easton. Then for girls, we had Olivia, we had Avery, we had Mariah, de Kayla, and of course Madison and that top ten. Right there is such a powerful group of dancers. They're also talented, also unique, also special, and also adaptable. This season's new format was all about, you know, putting the dancers into the real world of dance. How are you gonna do on a music video set, How are you gonna do live on tour? How are you gonna do on Broadway? The real job that dancers are booking, in the way dancers are working and being a professional dancer. What it's all about. That's what this season was. And honestly, there's been a mixed review on the new format. Personally, I love it. I think it's way more twenty twenty four. I think it feels like this version of the show should have existed for the last couple of years. But people are afraid of change, and that is very normal. They are used to so you think, being basically an elevated dance competition and that is a very normal, okay thing. People are just scared of something different, which is totally fine. But for me, seeing these dancers in this element is I mean, it is so special. Week one started off so strong with music video weeks. You're seeing five dancers do a video to Lizo song and the other five doing a music video to a Justin Bieber song. They're totally different, choreographed by some of the most legendary choreographers. It's such a unique opportun tunity now and a unique way to see dancers and the light and also the struggles that dancers go through because it is not easy and you're as a dancer, you are doing one of the most physical demanding jobs every single day, physically demanding jobs on your body every single day, and these dancers put so much hard work and do it. What's really fun though about this season is you get to see that aftermath. You get to see them go back to their house at night and ice their knees. You get to see them, you know, if they get sick and rehearsals. You get to see them struggle. You get to see their hip out of place. You get to see them go to the chiropractor. You get to see all of that which you've never seen in so you think it's called like shiny floor. They took it off the shiny floor this season, and they made it the real gritty world of professional dance, which I think is something that the world doesn't know because anytime you see professional dance, professional dancers, you know, you just see the final performance. You don't see what it takes to get there. And so this season for it to truly be about the dancers and about the choreographers, were the best dance necessarily it is about the best dancers and the cast themselves, and it is It is just incredible. I came into this season blind because I did not do the audition episodes. I just came in at top ten, and I don't know how they got it down to these ten because the dancers that auditioned that I just saw on TV, I mean, so talented, so beyond amazing, some of them, I am just like in utter awe of and so to get it down to this top ten, I don't know how they did it. At the time, it was Alison Max and Comfort and they they did. They did the Lord's work because well man so hard. But then truthfully, every week for us, we went from top ten to top eight, to top six to top five, four, three, two, and Oh fuck, is that a spoiler. No, it's not a spoiler. It's fine. Might be a spoiler, but we're gonna be it. It's fine. No one's gonna know anyways. So that's kind of how the structure was this season and our deliberations deciding because typically So you Think you Can Dance in the past has been an audience vote, but this season it was judges vote, and we weren't picking America's favorite dancer. We were picking so you Think you Can Dance the winner, And so that was a lot of pressure and we took that into account, but we also took into account the new format. And a big thing that I've seen online is like you you're sending some of the best technical dancers home. That's not what this season is about. This season is about the most adaptable dancers, the most hiable dancers, the most workable dancers, the hardest working dancers, the dancers with the greatest attitude, because truthfully, all of these dancers are freaking brilliant. I mean they are brilliant technical dancers. But your attitude, the way you carry yourself, all of that matters on this season, and it's your rehearsals it's your work ethic, it's just everything that we can take into an account. We do. But it is so hard because everyone is so good and so talented and so nice, and no matter what you know, you're sending somebody home and crushing their dreams. And that is something that as a judge, because I've been on the other side of it, and I've been the one standing on stage waiting for elimination, and it's it's so hard because it is your dream right in front of you. But what I told all the cast on week one is I said, no matter what, you got here and you can do whatever you want after this. I said, only one of you is going to win. Nine of you are going to lose. More are losing than winning. But in the reality, all ten of you won. All ten of you are here, and now all ten of you have this platform. Use it to your advantage. If you get tenth place, you can still be the most successful one off of this show. If you get first place, you can still be the most successful one off this show. It's what you're gonna do with this now. And I think that really got across to all the dancers and they, I mean, week after week brought it outdid themselves. They truly brought something to the show every single week that I don't think me, Alison and Max thought they could get better. I mean there was a few standout moments where we would be watching someone solo and we would just be like, there's no way this is happening right now. I mean, I have watched dance for twenty years of my life. Now I've I've grown up. I higher dancers, and I saw things that I didn't know the human body could do. I mean, the numbers on this show, the numbers in the finale just freaking wait, the finale numbers are actually crazy. They are so fucking good. They they're This season of this show, dare I say, will change the dance world, will change the way people compete, will change away. People dance, will change away people dress while dancing. There's so much that is going to influence the dance world that I think, once people aren't scared of the new format anymore, they are gonna jump on board with it and it is going to be so insanely success full. Man, the cast of the show, watching them work and watching them focus and dial in and fight, I mean the fight on this show is actually crazy. I will say I had the time of my life off film, and I was so unstressed until it was show day. When it was show day, fucking hell, it was the hardest day ever. It was a long, long, long day. But then also you're making the choice that is altering these people's careers. It is so freaking hard. We typically, as judges, we filmed two days a week. We filmed their day where they were either on side of the music video during the Broadway performance, and then we filmed show day, which is where they would do an opening number, and then we would get to watch whatever we had watched on set the other day. We'd get to watch like the glossy version of it and see how it ended up turning out. But man, when I tell you, those show days were so tough. They were so hard because you have to take so much into account that I would just go home at night and just be mentally drained. There was There's one story I I love when like random stories come to my mind. And as close as Ali and I got, Max and I, we also got so close. Max actually kind of came became like an older brother to me. I used to be super close to Val of course, because of Jenna after something. I'm so much closer to Max that boy. I love him so much. I love him both so much. But Max and I we we actually kind of got into a little bit of a prank wore. He like jokingly pulled my chair out from under me one day and I was like, Max, you knock it off. And then he actually did it to me one day and when I tell you, I fell to the ground in slow motion. It was so funny. But then when he caught me, because he kind of caught me as I was falling down, his pinky actually bent backwards and he broke his pinky. So what did we say to that? Karma is a bitch. But then on the Finance, we were sitting and I used to keep trying to pull his kept trying to pull his pull his and I could never get it because he would always see me. Finale, he was talking to Alison as he was sitting down, and when I tell you, I kicked his chair with all of my might to get it to move, and this man plopped on the ground. Oh my god, I literally tinkled like, I laughed so hard. It was so fucking funny. It was so funny. You just had to be there. You just had to be there, but everybody knew how funny it was. Anyways, I we didn't really get to interact with the cast much on the show, the dancers, but every so often once the ones that were safe, they got to go into the pit, and so while the ones who were in jeopardy of going home had to prepare for their solos, we got to go chit chat to them for a little bit, And it was always so interesting to hear their perspective on things because they're in a position where like this is the biggest thing of their life right now. They are devoting every second of their living to this, and so to get to hear their hard work and to get to hear their stories, it truly put so so much into perspective. I always just tell them though, like literally every week we did the music video week, and I was like, well, I can't wait to film another music video because all y'all are gonna be hired. Next week we did freaking Broadway. I don't have anything to do with Broadway. Next week tour week, I was like, I can't wait to hire all of you guys. Get ready like you're going on door with me, like they we got to see them in such a positive light, which was just so freaking cool. One of the things I never know if it's that I love so you think you can dance so much, or I love living in Atlanta alone so much. I cannot put my finger on it, but I literally it was my favorite TV show filming ever besides Special Forces. I just something about it was so fun. There was no stress. There was no I mean, okay, I'm saying that, but there was stress, but there was no like pressure on me to like have to dance and do a good job. It was like I just had to like mentally be there, and I got to kind of allow myself to basically take a little bit of a break, which was fun at the time, but now that I'm like not taking a physical break anymore, I'm like, Okay, shit, we gotta really really kick this in the high gear. But I got to go home at night and just like chill and eat dinner and cook. I taught myself how to cook in Atlanta, Like, I got to really like experience growing up, which was kind of fun. Also, while I was in Atlanta's when we started to come up with the Karma Release plan, and so I got to devote a lot of my time to working on that as well, and it worked out perfect because I just had so much time on my hands. Essentially, I could get work done and then those two days on set, everything else will pause. But then the other five days a week we were cooking with other work. Alison and I actually we always used to joke about that I love Alison so much. That girl literally from day one, we like colllicked. She is family to me, older sister to me. I adore her with all my being. We used to joke about that, like we were our days that we were at work being so you think you can dance? We were like, fuck yeah, we gonna like tell all of our other jobs like piss off for a little bit because we're at work today. And because she's the same way I am. You know, she has all her fifty thousand projects that she's working on, and she also has three kids that she's tending to, and so you know, when we got to be on set, we would just be like, oh man, this break is so nice. And then like one of our team members would call it happened to both of us and we'd be like sorry on set working, can't talk, and but we'd be like on a frank on set all the time. It would happen. Man, I'm trying to think of a fun story with Alison. I used to scare Alison a lot. She was in the trailer next to me, and so I would bang on her door all the time, or she would go film tiktoks. I'd hide around the corner and I'd scare her. I got Alison into Celsius and Ghosts energy drink. She'd never had one before, and I was like, boom, bam boom. Alison and I we actually we always agreed on everything. There was one time where we didn't agree, and so we were like, let's make this the biggest deal in the world, because we didn't care that we did agree, Like we weren't trying to convince each other otherwise, but we were like, we've never disagreed before, Like, let's freaking go with this. So I'm excited to see how they end up airing that it's gonna be really funny. Hopefully it ends up making it to air. We don't have any control if it does or if it doesn't. Yeah, I uh There was this one super fan. I believe her name is Britney. I think it's Brittany. She kept coming to the tapings, and the first week I noticed sir, but didn't really think much about it. And then the second week she came and I was like, hey, you were here last week and she's like, yeah, yeah, I gotta show you something and I was like, sure, what's up? And she had a tattoo actually of my logo and I was like, whoa, this is sick. And then she was like, and I have seven candy hearts next to it. And I was like, oh my god, stop it does that for EXOMG and she was like, yeah, it's for the seven original XOMG pop members. I was like, that is freaking precious. And then she had me sign her arm, and so I signed her arm. It was my first time anything with my new signature. And then she went that night and got that tattooed. So this girl has like oh, but I mean it was big. It was on her whole forearm on the inside. But her and I believe it was her mom and sister always came to the tavings. They were always so sweet, they were so fun. They always brought the energy and the audience. The audience was also just so fun. There was one time. It was one time there was somebody a little bit creepy in the audience, so we had them escorted out because I was like that Parsonal's given me a weird vibe. Every bo's eight and the set was like, I don't worry, we'll handle it. And so then they got escorted out and I was right, there was a not they shouldn't have been in there, and so you know, sees something, say something, and I wanted to protect the cast of the show, and of course, so I mis said something got them out of there. The last thing that I want to talk about is the incredible crew behind so you think you can dance. What people don't see about a TV show is there is hundreds of people working behind the scenes. I for the last day on set of a rap day, I wanted to get everybody a little something something and just like a little treat to just say thank you. And so I got the crew members. I did grumble cookies. Crumble you can do catering and get these little mini cookies, right, So I did that. So I texted and I was like, hey, do you know how many people are on the crew of so you think you can dance? And or I also did something for the dancers. I'll talk about that next, But there was two hundred crew members on this one show, two hundred and so that really puts into perspective, like how much goes into making a show like this possible? I mean just feeding two hundred people and that's just cru It's not including cast. I mean, so you think doesn't have the biggest cast. Oh my god, Kat Deally. I gotta talk about Kat Deally. She is Melissa English mother. I love her so much. But yeah, me and me and Kat actually we have a lot of fun on set. Cat's kind of like my like she's aways got my back. I've always got her back no matter what, because it's like me and Alison, me and Max, like we all mix with Then me and Kat we got like a little special something on she I think because I'm the age of the dancers and she really is like used to relating to them and so she can relate to me. That's actually something that I struggle with while judging the show. Of course, people come at me saying I'm not credited enough to be a judge on that show, which it just shows that people don't know my career, which is okay, and I don't have the energy to fight it online. But somebody today was like Jojos was a judge just because she was on Dancing with the Stars and got second, I don't buy it, and I was like, oh, my fucking hell, no, JoJo's a judge because she a has done so many dance shows, b is an Emmy nominated choreographer. CE has employed thousands of dancers like let's let's find it. But you know, people, I'm young, and so I get it. And that is something though that I even last season like struggled judging with and this season was a little bit better because I'm a little bit older. Last season, though, I think actually everybody there may have been one person that was younger than me, but I'm pretty sure everybody was actually older than me, and that was a strange dynamic for me. So even though I may have more experience than them, they're still older, you know what I mean, And so it's a definitely a respect thing for me, and I also respect the people that are younger than me, of course, but there's something to be said about being on the judging panel and judging someone that's older than you. It's just it's a weird. It's personal thing. But this season I actually was older than most. It was literally split right down the middle is older than half and younger than half, and so I of course judged fair. I mean, that's my job. I'm gonna be a fair judge. But it was always so strange to me, being like, even though there's only one year older than me, it is such a weird I don't know, put yourself in my shoes, and I think you would know what I mean. It's not like an explainable feeling, but it is like this is this is you know what I mean? Oh my god. My truck was my favorite part about Atlanta. I actually had three trucks while in Atlanta had a Ford F one fifty. I had a Chevy Silverado, which I highly recommend, and then I had a ram truck, a four by four. And man, those trucks. So you think it was like, hey, we're gonna vnd you a car, Like what kind of car do you like? Do? Like a big car, a small car? And I was like, well, actually, sons, I'm only gonna be here for a few weeks. I've always wanted like the gayest truck you can find, and man did they provide. I freaking loved driving that truck so much. I drove on set with my truck felt so gay. It was so fun. Living alone in Atlanta was actually so fun. I really enjoyed it. I struggled the first few nights, being like, I have no one to say good night too. I was so sad about it because for the last twenty years I would go in my parents room and say good Noah, I love your eyes, and then I go in my room and go to sleep. And so the first night I was like, oh, who do I? Oh, I just fall asleep. Okay, cool, tight, got it. But uh, at the end of the day, it was it was such a good experience for me. I was really happy to come home to my family and have them and have my puppies. And I missed my dogs like no freaking other. But uh, it was really fun and it was good eye open up for me that like, oh, this is this is okay, this is an okay thing to experience. Now that the show we are done filming, I have become so close to the cast, the dancers, and they are all such lovely human beings. They all deserve every single bit of success that is coming to them, and they all have so much success that is coming to them. I mean I've I've personally hired a few of them already. I know a lot of them. Somebody, one of my friends actually asked me who they should put in a music video, and I was like, oh, this one, one hundred percent, this is what you're looking for. Like they they all deserve the world. They are the greatest, most talented human beings. I mean, they're in the top ten. So you think you can dance? Course, they're brilliant. Man, I don't have enough good things to say. I literally I don't think I would ever run out of good things to say about so you think you can dance? I'm trying to think if there was anything that was hard. I mean, the first week we had a three hour judges deliberation because we could not come to an agreement, but we eventually did. Everyone heard each other out, and then we realized it was best for us to actually deliver our deliberation separately, because then we just said said our opinion and that was it. And then it was somebody told us how it was all voted, and of course we all made sure with each other that that's how we all voted properly. Yeah it was. There was not one week where it was easy. It was always so hard, but always so much fun. And at the end of the day, everyone's alive, everyone's breathing, everyone's happy, everyone did it. They are all a part of the Top ten, and man, I can't wait for everyone to see the rest of the show. It is truly such a gift to the world. I think Fox for keeping this show on air because it truly, it truly is a masterpiece of the show, and I am happy that it made it to its eighteenth season. I think if we can get past this season and really push with the new format, and we can do another season with the new format, I think it'll be even greater. Clue on the show is incredible cast all the show's incredible bias, of course, but the judges on the show pretty freaking incredible. And uh yeah, that's my little So you think you can dance rundown? I hope everybody enjoys. You can watch it Monday nights on Fox, next day streaming on Hulu. Watch it. I think you're gonna like it. I really do. It's such a great show. I'm so proud to get to be a part of this season as well as last season, and uh hopefully part of next season. I love y'all. Thanks for listening to Jersey Now and I will see you next time. Deuces, thank you so much for listening. Everybody. Be sure to follow us on Instagram and TikTok at Jojesua Now podcast. Be sure to write us a review, and maybe if you're feeling to leave us five stars. I'll see you next week. M

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High side ponytail and Bows. That was then, THIS is NOW. She's a recording artist, actress, prod 
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