Arts & Entertainment
'So You Think You Can Dance' Contestant Fights for Top Spot
Dearborn dancer Amy Yakima's mom says she needs viewers' votes to continue on Fox's reality TV show.
Northville is getting national attention as the hometown of Fox's So You Think You Can Dance contestant Amy Yakima.
Yakima, 19, of Northville and 2011 graduate of Northville High School, is now one of the top eight contestants on the show's 10th season.
"She says it’s really not about the winning; it's being a part of it. She feels she’s a winner already," said Mary Beth Yakima, Amy's mom, before she caught a flight at the airport to see her daughter on Tuesday's show.
This week's episode, and viewers' votes, will determine if Yakima remains on the show. Yakima and her husband, Dan, will be in the show's audience Tuesday in L.A. She said they flew out almost every week to support their daughter.
"We fly out Mondays and fly back Wednesdays. It’s been exciting and so exhausting," she said.
Yakima said Amy's schedule is so grueling that she barely has time to talk to her. Amy has early call hours and works six to nine hours each day, she said.
Dancing became Amy Yakima's passion at early age
Dancing has been a part of Amy's life since she was 3 years old. Yakima said she took her daughter to dance class during her work break.
"I would take her for an hour to dance and then take her back to daycare," she said.
When the family moved to Northville when Amy was in kindergarten, she continued to attend classes at Noretta Dunworth School of Dance in Dearborn, Yakima said.
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Amy has been dancing for 16 years and was on Northville High School's dance team. "So You Think You Can Dance" isn't the first opportunity she's had to work with dancers from around the country. Yakima said she traveled last year to 17 cities in the West Coast Dance Explosion as an assistant to a dance instructor.
"That was a great growth year for her," she said. "I think it was a great experience for her to do that. So when she auditioned for 'So You Think You Can Dance,' it gave her stronger foundation for the show."
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Tuesday's votes determine if Amy Yakima stays or goes
Amy made it into the top 10, which secures her spot in the So You Think You Can Dance 2013 Dance Tour. The 42-city tour will kick-off Oct. 1 at the Wharton Center in East Lansing, Mich. That was a huge milestone for Amy; the next is getting into the top four."This week she is going to dance with an All Star who is also choreographing the piece," she said.
All Stars are past contestants of "So You Think You Can Dance" who are paired with current contestants for certain performances. See what judges had to say about her performance from last week.
"Hopefully she won’t be in the bottom from last week," she said.
Since season nine of the show, contestants are eliminated at the end of an episode when voting from the previous week is revealed, but only after the dancers have performed the new week's routines and been given another chance to impress the judges. If Amy is not voted off from last week, the vote that is open from 10 p.m. until midnight Tuesday will determine her continuation to the top 6.
"We just hope people will watch the show," Yakima said.
Amy's supporters can vote without limit by texting the word "Amy" to 83676, calling the number that will be posted on the screen after her duet, or going online.
Catch Amy Yakima on "So You Think You Can Dance" 8 p.m. Tuesday and follow her progress on her Facebook and Twitter pages.
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