Interview with Jeanine Mason

Season 5 Winner of So You Think You Can Dance

Sep 16, 2009 Alex Hoffman

On Sept. 9, Jeanine Mason chatted about preparing for the upcoming tour, the stresses of the season and her reluctance to audition in the first place.

One of the highlights of TV’s now-concluded summer schedule was witnessing Jeanine Mason’s hard-earned win on So You Think You Can Dance. Jeanine took some time to reflect on the season, bookended by anticipation of the 40-city tour.

AH: Are you back in dancing shape or did the time off kind of do a number on you?

JM: It really did, actually. The funny part is we had about two weeks, and it was like five days into it that we all started calling and texting each other like, OK, I’m ready to get back to work. When you spend your entire summer with the same group of people and have been working so hard, it was weird just relaxing and not having a schedule.

So it took us a couple days to get back into it, but it was definitely much more physical than the show was. The show’s a lot of mental stress, and you’re fighting for your place in the competition the following week. Whereas now, it’s just all more at peace, but trying even harder to make sure we put on a good show for all the fans.

Audition in Miami

AH: Why did you decide to audition? What was your frame of mind?

JM: I really didn’t want to audition, actually. I was very hesitant to. Honestly, I think I was just afraid more than anything.

AH: Afraid of what?

JM: That I wouldn’t make it and that I would fall flat on my face in front of literally all of America. That was the main reason why I was so scared. I also thought, you know, I just turned 18 a week before my audition, so I really didn’t think I was ready to be a part of the competition. I wanted to come at my greatest potential. I didn’t think I was there yet.

But it was mainly my family and the little girls from my dance studio that were like, just go. If you don’t make it, then you know what you have to work on for next year. Finally I was like, alright, fine. I’ll go.

AH: OK, begrudgingly.

JM: Oh, yeah, I was hiding from the cameras at my Miami regional audition. That first preliminary audition I was absolutely hiding.

The Infamous Russian Folk Dance with Philip Chbeeb

AH: Someone, if it hasn’t been done already, needed to make t-shirts for you and Philip that say, “I Survived the Russian Folk Dance.”

JM: Oh, my gosh! I know, right? We had such an experience with that dance. I was mortified when we pulled it out of the hat, and I had a couple breakdowns that week. But at the end of the day, I’m really glad it happened, because it’s been like the gag of the show. It was so funny, and I loved that all of America was right there with us – like, I’m so sorry, but that was hilarious! It was nice to be the butt of the joke.

Vegas Week and Top 4 Week

AH: What was the most physically, mentally taxing part of the whole experience? Was it Vegas week? Was it from Top 5 onward?

JM: Well, Vegas week was actually really hard. They do it to see if you can take the show. It really is a great measure for it, because I lost five pounds that week just because you go through about three rounds a day. What’s televised doesn’t really do justice of how exactly difficult the week is. That was definitely really hard, but it was also such a bonding experience. It was really nice to have that introduction to the show.

But definitely the hardest week was Top 4 week, that final week. We did the full dress rehearsal, and we were just running late. There were technical difficulties. It was a new stage, so we finished the dress rehearsals, ran up to our dressing rooms, had hair and make-up touches and came back down to do the show.

I remember we were in the elevator, the four of us. I just remember looking at their faces and feeling my body and thinking, how are we going to do this? Because we were just beat up. Destroyed. It was scary to think that we had to do it.

But then, we were standing backstage and we do this little tradition – like a hands-in, pump-up thing we do – and I remember we all took a peek at the audience, and it was just so loud and it was so overwhelming to see 3,000 people sitting there, just layer upon layer. Each balcony looked like it never ended. Oh my gosh, we were all like, OK, we can do this. We just had this shock of energy. We can do this. We’re going to do this for them.

AH: What are you most looking forward to on the tour?

JM: I’m excited for everything, for every aspect of it. Right now we’re so ready to be in front of a live audience. These pieces…we keep performing them for each other in rehearsals, but when you get to perform them for a new person or somebody who’s a fan of the show and they get to see it live, it’s such a reward for ourselves. We want to see their faces and we want to see the reactions and feel their connection to the piece.

We’ve unfortunately been stuck in the studio for the whole summer. We had an audience of about 200, which is always overwhelming. To think that we’re going to have an audience of 13,500? It’s so exciting. My heart started pounding just saying that.

More from the Jeanine Interview

Update: The So You Think You Can Dance tour with the Five Alive crew (for Season 5, natch) has finished its 40-city run. But Season 6 is in full swing on FOX. Read on for more about Jeanine’s thoughts on the Travis Wall-choreographed contemporary piece with Jason Glover.

The copyright of the article Interview with Jeanine Mason in Reality TV is owned by Alex Hoffman. Permission to republish Interview with Jeanine Mason in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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