BWW Interviews: SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE's Cat Deeley

The search for "America's Favorite Dancer" begins on the tenth season of SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE! Watch what happens when the most gifted dancers - skilled in a variety of dance styles, including jazz and krumping - all compete for a prized spot on the live shows in Los Angeles. See who impresses the judges in the "Auditions #1" season premiere of So You Think You Can Dance airing Tuesday, May 14 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. More incredible dancers audition on Part two of the season premiere on Wednesday, May 15th.

Host Cat Deeley spent time with reporters last week to talk about what's on tap for the exciting 10th Season of the dance competition!

What is the format going to be for this season of the show?

We are definitely going to do a couple of nights for the premiere. Then, I think we're going to kind of see how it plays out, in all honesty. When we come to the studio show, there won't be a results show as in the last season. I think some of them might be two hours long and all those kinds of things. It's a big moving feast, as they say.

Since you've been through all kinds of different formats that Nigel's tried the last few years, what do you prefer?

Well, I actually think that combining the results and the performance show, I think makes for a better show. I think there's more jeopardy, because you know who's in danger and who's not before they perform. Also, I like the idea that the results are quite-it's quite a short process rather than being a long drawn out one, because quite often when we had that hour show for the results show, it could feel as though it was really kind of going so slowly. I know that we have to build the tension and I know it's obviously, it's that critical moment when you reveal who's going home. It's not that we throw it away, but it just doesn't feel quite as laborious.

Do you find that you're going to go in and say, 'okay, this season I'm just not going to be blown away by the performances.' Or instead will you say, 'Wow, I can't believe I found a favorite again!'

You know what-I have to be honest, you always go in to a season with a little trepidation because you always think to yourself, are we going to find people with the same incredible talent as last year? Will we be able to find another tWitch, or another Dominic or another Kathryn or Travis, whoever it is? Then, you start the season and you suddenly go, actually it's not about finding another tWitch or another Dominic or another Allison. It's about finding another unique individual with their own creativity, passion, interpretation of music.

I think that's one thing that I've definitely really seen this year is people are getting very, very creative with the different styles and their choices of music. They know now that we are in Season 10, so we've seen people run up walls and do back flips. We've seen, you know, ten pirouettes all in one go, so they've got to do something that's a little big unique and normally that involves doing something with the music, so say putting a hip-hop routine to a classical piece of music or giving the dance a story. It's about their own creativity.

Also, the big thing for me that I've seen this season is we've got lots of newbies. We've got lots of people trying out for the very, very first time, which is great. It means that within the dance community, we're still a relevant show. We're still a relevant part of their career process, which I think is brilliant.

The thing that I don't think is so brilliant is when I say to them, a little 18-year-old, and then I turn around and I go, "So why do you want to be on this show?" "Well, I've been watching the show since I was nine and I've just been waiting until-." I'm like, "Get out. Get out of here. Don't knock on my door again." I feel like a dinosaur. It's kind of nice to see these newbies come through again, you know?

How much of Gangnam style will we be seeing in the auditions?

I actually don't think we saw any Gangnam style, you know. I think it's very much its own entity. I don't think anybody would rival the main man himself. Do you know what I mean? I don't think there was any Gangnam style. Maybe Nigel will break in to it at some stage or another. Probably, knowing him.

Is there something you can tease about, maybe an audition that made you cry, or really touched you? Or made all the judges cry?

There were definitely moments that did. There were. It always tends to be if somebody's got a story-there's a really cute moment between a girl and her father, and the father brought the girl up on his own. He was like a total dance dad and followed her around, and then took her to dance lessons and ended up falling in love with her dance instructor and marrying. Now they're all like one big, giant family, and he takes her everywhere.

In amongst this gaggle of kind of dance moms, stage moms, there was always the dad. He'd sit there and go with his daughter and it was just a lovely-I don't know, they kind of really stuck together, you know, through thick and thin, and then the outcome of it all was so lovely. The whole fact that he got together with her dance teacher was incredible.

If you can think back to when you first became associated with this show, did you honestly think that it had this much staying power? If you did, why did you think so?

No, of course not. I had no idea. You know, for me it was one of those things where I'd seen the show and I loved it. They'd done Season 1, so I went to see the show and I absolutely loved it. Loved everything about it. Loved the fact it was celebrating the American dream.

I thought the kids were amazing. Loved the whole fact that it was going to be live. Loved it, loved it, loved it. But you just never know. You know? You can only go with your head and your gut.

My head was telling me it was a great show, and my gut was telling me you're going to love doing it. I kind of packed up my bags and moved over here, so for me it was a really, really big step. Of course I had faith in it and I really hoped it was going to be a success, but you never know. I couldn't envisage that ten seasons later we'd still be going.

Like I said earlier, the great thing about the show is that there are newbies coming to it now as well, like 18 year olds, which means that we're still relevant and we're still very much embraced by the dance community. Then, the people at home that watch the show are so passionate about it. Our show is one of those ones where it doesn't get the ratings of American Idol or The Voice or whatever, but it does really, really well; and our audience is a real hard-core passionate audience.

Our show is one of those that if you don't know it's on, you probably don't know it even exists. But if you like it, you love it. That's the great thing, it's while people keep watching it, we'll keep giving it to them. Our core audience has stuck with us and stuck with us and stuck with us.

In it's 10th Season, how do you keep yourself fresh and not blasé?

That's a really good question. It's essentially two parts; firstly, the adrenaline kicks in. The adrenaline kicks in, somebody performs, and it just-it's your body kind of pumping this chemical. You know, it's almost like you're putting your body in to fight or flight mode where you could really screw up and so what your body does is it's actually a chemical reaction where it pumps adrenaline to help you cope with the heightened situation you're about to put yourself in. There's a chemical reaction that happens by your body, and if you embrace that, you kind of get there anyway.

Actually, it's really funny. I actually did an interview with U2 and I asked them the very same question, Bill.

Really?

You go touring all the time and you do all these things, and I mean bear in mind they're playing stadiums so their adrenaline goes through the roof, but even still it must sometimes get-and Bono actually said a really smart thing and he goes, "You know what you do? He says, "You fake it until you make it a little bit." I go, "What do you mean?" And he said, "Get it going, your adrenaline pumps, you go with it; go with it, go with it. Then you start it and you just get yourself in to the gear of it, get yourself in to the-you know, for him, it's like, "Hello, Wimbly," or "Hello, London." Do you know what I mean?

You get yourself there, and then your body takes you to the next place, because actually you're doing something that you absolutely love that you get so much enjoyment out of. Your body's helping you out at the same time you get there. It's the funniest thing. It happens.

It's like fake it until you make it. You fake it just to start it off, and then your body shifts and you genuinely go in to performance mode and you're like, I am having a blast. Nobody on this planet loves what they do more than I do. Do you know what I mean?

Anything else coming up for you that you want to mention?

Yes. We're doing a show on TLC as well called My Dream Wedding. I give budget brides the day that they've dreamed of, which is kind of amazing. I get to be a fairy godmother for a day, which is lovely. It's going out in the autumn sometime. I haven't got an actual date yet. I will be hosting.

What's the most challenging part of being involved with So You Think You Can Dance?

You know what it is? It's about making-when we're live and in the studio, it's about making decisions live on stage as to what to do next. Because so often you know things can get funny. Things can get out of hand on the judges table. Things can be emotional. People can cry. It's all these different things that are brilliant for the people at home to see and to watch and to make the show.

You know, the idea behind this show is to surprise, delight, and entertain. That's what we want to do. As a host, it's about knowing the timing. It's about knowing where to take the show. When to move on. When to change the subject. When to hold on a subject. When to push the clock over. You have to kind of make those decisions on the spot, you know, immediately. That, for me, is about-it's about making those calls and about-you've got to be in the moment but at the same time, you've got to remove yourself slightly from it.

Just for an example, say for instance there was a routine and everybody was crying and it was incredibly emotional, undoubtedly, I will feel emotional too, but I can't fall apart and I can't allow the moment to just Go On and on and on. I've got to be able to rein it in and for it not to feel self indulgent and for us to be able to move on to the next thing. That for me, it's about being in the moment but also being out of the moment too and being able to look at the show in its entirety. I don't know if I've explained that properly, but I hope I have.

About Cat Deeley

Birmingham, England native Cat Deeley is one of the foremost television presenters both in the U.S. and the U.K. In 2005, Deeley broke into the world of male-dominated television hosts when she began hosting SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE, earning her second Emmy Award nomination this year for Outstanding Host for a Reality-Competition Program. This past summer, Deeley won the 2012 Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Reality Show Host.

She was the first ever Brit to host "Live! with Regis and Kelly." She was Jay Leno's first regular entertainment correspondent on "The Tonight Show" and she performed the same duty for "Good Morning America." Deeley is a double BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) Award winner and has won many other awards for her work on some of the U.K.'s hottest Primetime shows, including "Stars in Their Eyes," "CD:UK Live" (on which she appeared weekly for six years), "SMTV: Live" (which she hosted for three years), "Comic Relief Does Fame Academy," the "V Festival" (2004, 2005), "The Brits," "Record of the Year," "Elton John Live from New York," "The Latin Grammy Awards" and a one-hour special with U2, "When Cat Met U2," for ITV. She also served as host this summer of FOX's celebrity dating game show THE CHOICE.

In addition to her television hosting endeavors, Deeley is The Face of Pantene both in the U.S. and the U.K. She produced and hosted a two-part special, entitled "Royally Mad," as well as a web series called "In The Dressing Room." Deeley also joined Anderson Cooper and Piers Morgan as a special correspondent to cover the U.K.'s Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Deeley recently hosted the 2011 BAFTA's Brits To Watch event in Los Angeles, which was attended by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

Deeley also lends her time to London's Great Ormond Street Hospital, as well as UNICEF, for which she was named High Profile Ambassador in 2008. She divides her time between London and Beverly Hills.

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