SEATTLE — Lynnwood’s Casey Askew returns home next week for a performance with the top dancers from this past season’s “So You Think You Can Dance” TV show.
The SYTYCD tour drops the dancers off on Feb. 5 at the Paramount Theatre.
When Askew was home for a visit at his folks’ house at Christmas, he talked on the phone about the 79-city tour and his plans for the future.
“The tour has been really crazy, just nonstop,” Askew said. “It’s nice to get a break, catch up with old friends and hang out with my family. I’ve really missed them, so it’s been nice to feel normal during this visit.”
For the last third of the tour, performances are primarily on the West Coast.
Askew, who is paid a professional wage for the tour, said the tour audiences have been different.
“In some cities, people have been staid and rather quiet. In others, the crowds have been very loud and high energy. We love that energy and we feed off it,” he said. “I’m looking forward to the Seattle show because I know people are going to be great and scream for us. I am counting the days.”
Now that he has lived away for most of two years, Askew said he misses south Snohomish County.
“I guess I took living there for granted.”
His fellow dancers on the tour have become lifelong friends, Askew said. Along with Askew, performing will be Bridget Whitman, Emilio Dosal, Jacque LeWarne, Jessica Richens, Ricky Ubeda, Rudy Abreu, Tanisha Belnap, Valerie Rockey and Zack Everhart.
“We’re having the time of our lives,” he said. “When will we ever again be in a show that’s a show crafted just for us?”
After the tour, Askew plans to audition for spot on the dance team for singer Taylor Swift’s next national and international tour.
“I hope to book another tour of some kind,” he said.
Otherwise he will be back in school in the fall at Chapman University in Orange County, California, where he is a sophomore dance student in Chapman’s College of Performing Arts.
“I want to graduate, pursue a dance career and dance until my body gives out,” Askew said.
A former athlete who loves sports, Askew’s dance style accentuates his strength.
The Meadowdale High School graduate began dancing at age 8, studying first at the former Camille’s Dance Edge studio in Lynnwood.
During high school, he flew to Los Angeles each weekend to study ballet, jazz, contemporary and lyrical dance.
His parents, Lisa and Dale Askew, supported his interest from the start and were in attendance each time the SYTYCD show was taped last year.
“Casey had quite a ride on the show. He said it’s the most difficult thing of his life thus far,” Lisa Askew said this past fall. “But he is so passionate about dance. Everything he does is sort of an homage to all of his teachers and other people he’s met on his journey. Casey has had a privileged life so far, but he’s a truly humble and gracious kid.”
Askew received some of his best comments from the judges Christina Applegate, Nigel Lythgoe and Mary Murphy on July 30 when he and fellow contestant Jessica Richens performed a contemporary dance choreographed by Travis Wall to the song “Like Real People Do” by Hozier.
“Jessica is having fun on the tour, too,” Askew said. “People can look forward to seeing us perform a duet together. Come out and see us, everybody.”
Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; gfiege@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @galefiege.
If you go
So You Think You Can Dance touring show, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 5, Paramount Theatre, 911 Pine St., Seattle.
Tickets: $36 to $66 and are available by calling 877-784-4849.
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