Denys Drozdyuk, Season 3 winner, So You Think You Can Dance Canada / Photo courtesy of CTV Inc.
>> by Jacqueline Hansen
Denys Drozdyuk was voted Canada’s favourite dancer for the third season of So You Think You Can Dance Canada (SYTYCDC). Drozdyuk, $100,000 richer and owner of a new Mazda 2, wasn’t confident his dancing was what Canada wanted: “I just tried to be myself and dance. I wasn’t sure if people would like that, but I guess they did.” His win was the result of 1.5 million votes cast for the final show. Born in the Ukraine and raised in Toronto, Drozdyuk brought an extensive background in ballroom to the stage, but also postsecondary dance education: he is a graduate of Julliard, and a master’s student in Dance Education at NYU. “I want them to know I’m serious about dance,” says Drozdyuk. He wasn’t always sure that SYTYCDC should be his focus; Drozdyuk was skeptical whether TV shows could cultivate “real dance”. “It’s really hard to combine entertainment and art together, but that was my goal,” Drozdyuk explained, “to still be artistic and not let the show get a hold of me.”
The top four dancers, including runner up Amanda Cleghorn, left the finale with cheques for at least $5,000. Top 12 dancer Claudia Primeau, back for the finale favourite performances, went home with a ring on her finger and a fiancé by her side: Top 12 dancer Francis Lafrenière, from Season Two, proposed on stage during the live show.
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