Interview With Eliminated So You Think You Can Dance Contestants Asuka Kondoh and Jonathan Platero

The ballroom dancers had a rough go of it this week on So You Think You Can Dance: Latin ballroom dancer Asuka Kondoh and salsa specialist Jonathan Platero headed home Thursday after the judges decided their solos weren't strong enough to keep them around another week. Earlier today, the two hopped on the phone with reporters to chat about their experiences on the show and what comes next. Here are highlights:

• Jonathan, on the challenge of doing a solo as a salsa dancer: "A lot of the times, there's just so much to think about. Especially being a ballroom dancer, there's only so much you can do with it. [I tried] to kind of incorporate some mix of salsa and acrobatics to try to save my life like I did the first time."
• Asuka, on the same issue: "If [my solo] looked a little bit strange, I guess it was probably because I didn't have a partner — the whole time I was imagining I was holding my partner's hand."
• Jonathan, on Nigel's comments that he and Karla would be in the bottom three: "It hurt a little bit for him to say that. I didn't think he was going to be as tough as he was. . . . I can understand where he was coming from. I think we could have taken more risks, especially with the lean. We could have taken that further."
• Asuka, on which style was the toughest for her: "Probably the most difficult for me was jazz. I think everything was just against what I normally want to do — it was lots of level changes, I was trying to dance in jazz shoes for once, being in bent knees, being lifted. Everything was just completely not what I'm used to doing."

To hear what they thought of their partners and what they'd each like to do next, read more.

• Jonathan, on working with Karla: "I think [Karla and Vitolio] are going to do great. She was amazing — she was easy to get along with, and she could adapt to anyone."



• Asuka, on how her relationship with Vitolio grew: "It was a journey with Vitolio. I've only been there for three weeks, and we've had our ups and downs. At first, it didn't seem like we had much of a connection, but during the waltz we seemed to blossom."
• Jonathan, on which styles he wished he could have tried: "I was actually really looking forward to working with Sonya [Tayeh] for jazz."
• Asuka, on the choreographers she wanted to work with: "I would have been looking forward to Tabitha and Napoleon for hip-hop [if I'd stayed]. Louis [van Amstel] for Latin — I got him for a waltz, but I was looking forward to Latin."
• Jonathan, on performing in dance movies like High School Musical: "That's something that I always look forward to doing, being able to perform acrobatics and dancing in different types of movies, and I love to act as well. [Also] I've always wanted to be in music videos. I would love to be a Janet Jackson dancer, a Britney Spears dancer."
• Asuka, on what's next: "A week-long vacation for my body and mind."

Photo courtesy of Fox