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July 4/2008

Mark Kanemura Can Dance!

There’s no question about it: Castle High grad Mark Kanemura can move it, as he’s proving on the hit Fox TV show So You Think You Can Dance. As one of the final 14 contestants left on TV’s hottest!

By Yu Shing Ting
Midweek

As one of the final 14 contestants left on TV’s hottest show this summer, So You Think You Can Dance, local boy Mark Kanemura has proved to America that he can move.

The show, which airs on Fox Wednesday and Thursday evenings, is in its fourth season and draws an estimated 10 million viewers per show.

This week, Kanemura and dance partner Chelsie Hightower of Las Vegas will perform two choreographed dances with hopes of earning the public’s vote to avoid elimination and ultimately be named America’s favorite dancer, taking home the $250,000 cash prize.

“It hasn’t really hit me yet - being on national TV,” says Kanemura, 24."I feel bad because I’ve been getting e-mails from people but we’re so busy that I’m not able to write back. I have so many friends who have been calling me and leaving me messages, but there’s really no time. But I want to thank them for their support.

“From what I’ve heard, the people in Hawaii have been really supportive and I’m really grateful for the support and love I’ve been getting. And I hope I’m representing Hawaii well.”

After thousands of auditions in six cities and grueling callback performances in Las Vegas, Kanemura - and viewers - discovered the dance instructor at 24-VII DanceForce in Kaneohe and a server at Kochi Restaurant and Lounge was named to the top 20 finalists.

From there, the top 20 were paired into 10 couples and each week they work with top choreographers to learn a dance routine from a wide variety of genres including hip-hop, Broadway, disco, ballroom, jazz, contemporary and more.

After the Wednesday performance shows, phone lines open and viewers can call in or text their vote for their favorite couples. The three couples with the lowest number of votes are announced on Thursday’s show, and each dancer in those three couples has one last chance to impress the judges with a solo performance of his or her choosing. From there, the judges offer their critique and then send one male and one female dancer home.

Once the series is down to the top 10 finalists, it’s solely up to America to decide who remains in the competition.

Now in his fourth week of taping in Los Angeles, Kanemura hopes to continue to win praises from the judges and, more importantly, win enough votes to keep him away from the bottom three - something he has been able to achieve since the start of the show.

“We have five-and-a-half hours to learn and memorize each dance, and that’s not that long at all,” says Kanemura. “So, it’s a challenge and it’s really pushing me out of my limits, and, personally, out of my comfort zone.”

Kanemura, who grew up in Aiea, has been dancing since he was 13 years old, performing in various shows at Diamond Head Theatre and Manoa Valley Theatre.

Shortly after, Kanemura says his voice started to change and he got uncomfortable with singing, which prompted him to focus more on dancing.

As a seventh- and eighth-grader, he attended Mid Pacific Institute, where he enrolled in its award-winning School of Arts program.

He then transferred to Castle High School and joined the school’s DanceForce program before graduating in 2001.

From there, Kanemura’s dance resume quickly grew to include dancing at Tokyo Disney, directing and choreographing performances on Norwegian Cruise Lines, dancing on and winning the $25,000 group grand prize with 11 other dancers from 24-VII DanceForce on the television competition Destination Stardom, dancing for Na Leo Pilimehana in the PBS national television broadcast of Songs of Aloha, and making multiple appearances with 24-VII DanceForce at the Miss Hawaii Scholarship Pageant as well as working alongside 24-VII DanceForce director Marcelo Pacleb in choreographing for the show.

“My goal with dancing is to choreograph and teach,” says Kanemura. “I would love to choreograph for stage shows or tours and work with companies like Cirque du Soleil.”

While competing on So You Think You Can Dance, Kanemura says, he’s “definitely grown as a person and as a dancer. I feel like you have to be strong with who you are.”

Kanemura says his favorite part of being on the show is working with different choreographers, such Mia Michaels, whose work includes choreography for Celine Dion’s A New Day at Caesar Palace in Las Vegas.

“The people (on the show) are really, really supportive of each other,” adds Kanemura. “We’ve kind of become our own support system and family. It doesn’t feel like a competition. It’s more of an intensive summer dance camp. I feel really blessed.”

So You Think You Can Dance airs Wednesday at 7 p.m. on Fox and Thursday at 8 p.m.

Friends of Kanemura have organized a Wednesday “Watch and Vote” party at Chiko’s Tavern on McCully Street. There’s no cover and the party starts at 6 p.m.

“It’s a fun happy hour that I call ‘Marky Hour’ with great pupus and drink specials and, of course, all the screaming and applause for Mark,” says glamour photographer Russell Tanoue. For more information, visit www.rtpvip.com.

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