Talia Fowler
09 winner
So you think you can dance Australia

Talia took the leap of faith to enter So You Think you Can Dance series 2 as she had to resign from her position with the Queensland Ballet in order to audition for the show. Wary at first risking so much for an unknown outcome led her to give everything she had throughout the auditions and the show. The result we all know this gorgeous unbelievably talented gal took the 09 title and yes SHE CAN DANCE!

Why did you audition for the show?
I was looking for a change within my dance career, and a new challenge.  I like to be pushed out of my comfort zone, and this show is the perfect opportunity for that to happen.

What’s the most difficult thing to deal with, being on the show?
I think the emotional pressure of knowing that you want to stay for the entire time.  There’s so much pressure to perform at your best in every single thing that you do.  You’ll do an interview it’ll get put up on the website. People will watch that and you’ll need that to be your best. There’s a lot of pressure to be absolutely perfect at every point of the competition. 

How did your body cope learning the different genres and the rehearsal demand?
Physically my body is actually probably in probably the best condition that I have been in. Mentally I am tired and exhausted. It’s the emotional pressure of having to show your personality, I think, more than just rely on technical ability.

How do you turn a bad day round?
We have this thing in the show called Switch. And as soon as like you’re thinking too negatively or anything like that, you would have to tell yourself to Switch and you had to change instantly. 

Why do you think Australia they voted for you?
I think because of my technical ability and also because I continued to improve and grow all throughout the show.  I always changed things and wanted to show people something else every week.  I think they connected with the fact that I’d grown so much throughout the show.  And obviously then how much hard work I put into what I’d just done.

You’ve experienced a huge amount of styles of dance.  Have you got some close contenders to the ballet that you’d like to pursue more of?
I love doing ballroom. Love it, especially the Latin areas.

Which is your favourite number?
The Salsa routine that I did with Ben choreographed by Natalie Lowe.

In the dance world in general, a pecking order usually develops between who’s the best and who’s next in line. Does that come up on the show? 
I think with a few competitors that definitely happened.  Once that starts to happen, you lose your concentration on yourself.  When I saw this happen to other competitors I thought, ‘I don’t want that to happen to me’. I needed to stay focussed and I learnt that from last seasons winner, Jack . He made sure that although it’s great you have so many friends, you have to make sure you stay focused on what you’re doing, and not get caught up in the whole politics of the voting system and who was the most popular, and things like that. 

By the end of the show, top four, everybody in the competition was like Charlie, Charlie, Charlie is going to win. There was a lot of pressure on me to accept that maybe it’s just already done. And then you just say to yourself, No, Switch.  ‘I really want to fight for this.’

Is being a soloist in a classical company still the dream?
I think that’s definitely still the case, but it’s not the only thing that I want now.  I want to make sure that I’m now experiencing everything that dance has to offer. I was very narrow minded before.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever heard?
Stay positive because once you start to lose it, then you don’t believe that you can do it anymore.  And that’s when you can start to go downhill. If you start to go downhill then it just keeps going.

“unless you’re serious when you’re auditioning, then you’re not going to perform at your best. “