Another Donny Article

Thanks for finding this, Nony : )

Not too fat to dance on TVSiobhan Duck

January 03, 2007 12:00am
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FED up with being told she was too fat, Donyelle Jones was ready to hang up her dancing shoes forever when she suddenly found herself in the spotlight with a Mormon swing dancer by her side.

Jones says auditioning for the US reality television series, So You Think You Can Dance, was to be her last attempt at the big time before she gave up and returned to university to finish her child psychology degree.
"I had not danced for six months," she says. "People kept telling me I was too huge to be a dancer and that can be tough to hear.

"As a dancer you get a fairly thick skin, but it can be frustrating and hurtful to keep getting rejected.

"I was struggling for money because I couldn't get a job, so I decided it was the end for me after this audition.

"I was all ready for Nigel (Lythgoe, a judge on the show) to cut me so I could go home, but I made it."

So instead of packing her bags for university, Jones found herself among the 20 dancers selected from thousands of hopefuls to compete for a place in Celine Dion's Las Vegas stage show.

The show producers teamed Jones, a hip hop dancer, with Benji Schwimmer, a champion swing dancer.

Though the pair had nothing in common on or off the dance floor, Jones says they will now be "lifelong friends".

Jones says the physically and emotionally gruelling schedule of the show had brought all the dancers together during filming.

Though competition was fierce on set, Jones says there were no dirty tricks or attempts to upstage one another during routines.

"We had good camaraderie," she says. "You depend on your partner and you help each other because if they look bad, you look bad. You have to work together, even in group performances.

"Obviously it's still a competition so you want to look the best you can and make good use of your camera time."

Jones says being part of the reality television series has also been a painful experience.

Seriously injuring her big toe in the first few weeks of the competition, Jones was forced to compete - and smile - through pain week after week.

"I was in a lot of pain but you have to just get on with it," she says. "Most of the dancers were injured at some stage during the show.

"When you are working that intensely every week, it is natural for there to be injuries. The human body just isn't meant to work that hard.

"My foot was so swollen I had to wear shoes that were a size too big. And I would put my foot in an ice bucket as often as I could."

Normally a hip hop enthusiast, Jones says being part of the show has opened her eyes to new disciplines of dance.

Though she will be happy to never dance another quickstep routine in her life, Jones is keen to hone her skills in Latin dancing.

"It was a great experience. I learned so much," she says.

Compared with some of the others on the show who have been training since they could walk, Jones started dancing relatively late in life - at age 18 - when choreographers were impressed by her moves in a university production of Hair.

"Luckily I didn't have to take off my clothes - they cut that bit out - or I may never have gone in it," she says.

"I have been really lucky with how things have turned out.

"I believe it's a God-given gift that I was given the opportunity to do this."


Lurv to all!

~ Moosey ~