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Aug 4/2008

Mark Kanemura really happy about 'So You Think You Can Dance'

By Christopher Rocchio

Mark Kanemura came up just short in his bid to perform for So You Think You Can Dance's fourth-season title, however he still had a sunny disposition about the way the competition came to an end for him.

"I'm feeling really, really happy actually. I just feel like everything lined up for me to leave on an awesome, awesome note as far as who I got to work with this week," he told reporters during a Friday conference call.

"I'm really happy that I was able to stay true to myself this whole process. I'm proud of myself and -- in my own aspect -- I feel like I won."

The 24-year-old contemporary dancer from Honolulu, HI was eliminated from So You Think You Can Dance's fourth season based on the "more that 11 million" home viewer votes cast immediately following Wednesday night's performance episode, in which each finalist performed two couple routines and a solo.

Kanemura reiterated comments he made after his ouster that he's glad America allowed him to grow before giving him the boot.

"One of the things I guess I will really take with me is I've learned to be more confident in who I am and the voice that I have -- just because I think that's the thing that got me on the show, my uniqueness," he told reporters. "It really helped me be more secure in it."

In addition, Kanemura said he's thankful the show gives contestants the opportunity to show themselves as people and not just dancers.

"I'm really thankful that they were able to hear me and able to understand me and what I was trying to do," he explained. "One of my biggest things entering the competition was that I really wanted to stay true to myself, and I hope that it encourages other people to be who they really, really are and not be afraid if they are a little different."

Kanemura was quite the ladies' man during So You Think You Can Dance's fourth season simply because he found himself with four different female partners at various stages of the competition. He started with Chelsie Hightower as a partner.

"Chelsie is the last person that I ever, ever, ever would have guessed that they would have paired me with," he told reporters. "I thought that it would have been based off of height, and Chelsie is one of the shorter girls. So she's the last person."

However once they were paired together, Kanemura said he was pleasantly surprised at how well they did.

"The crazy thing I guess with an unexpected match is it can either go good or it could go bad," he said. "With Chelsie, we really, really found our groove as far as how to work with each other. I think finding that -- even though you have your ups and downs and everything -- Chelsie and I really developed this brother/sister type relationship. We really supported each other and grew close to each other."

Somewhat ironically, both Kanemura and Hightower were booted during Thursday night's penultimate results show.

"I think it's kind of cool," he told reporters. "I think it's neat to end with the person you started with. It was very sentimental."

Kanemura was also briefly paired with both Kherington Payne and Comfort Fedoke.

"I really, really enjoyed my time with them," he told reporters before adding, "it was so short though."

Kanemura also echoed comments made by Payne after her ouster -- that the country two-step the couple performed was by far the most difficult dance of the competition.

"Probably my worst dance on the show was the country two-step. I can't explain to you how hard that was," he said. "I think that we did the best we possibly could with what they gave us."

However home viewers gave Payne the boot after the country two-step and Kanemura found himself with Fedoke.

"She just had this awesome, awesome energy," Kanemura told reporters. "The week previous to [being paired] we were both in the bottom two, so I think we both just came in with this fire that we really wanted to work as hard as we could and show America why we were still in the competition."

Kanemura found himself paired with Courtney Galiano during Wednesday night's performance episode, and he enjoyed their brief time together.

"As far as our chemistry, we didn't have to work on that," he explained. "I feel like it just came naturally. It was totally smooth-sailing with her."

Kanemura said he's unsure what's next but doesn't want to limit himself.

"I kind of want to see where everything takes me on a non-dance level too. It would be awesome to get into movies and acting and whatnot," he said. "I also love the work of Cirque du Soleil. I'm open to so many different things right now."

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