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An interview with Sasha Mallory

This summer on Fox’s reality competition series So You Think You Can Dance, the girls ruled the stage, right up to the very end when favorites Sasha Mallory and Melanie Moore were the last dancers standing. While Moore took the title, this definitely isn’t the last we’ll see of Sasha.

First up is the SYTYCD tour, which kicks off September 17 in Orlando, FL, and then the sky’s the limit for the out Mallory, who recently talked to AfterEllen.com about her experience on the show, why she didn’t talk about her sexuality, her celebrity crushes and, most importantly, is she available?

AfterEllen.com: Was dancing always your path? You started dancing when you were really young, right?

Sasha Mallory: I always loved to dance since I was five years old but I was also a wanderer. I wanted to do everything! I wanted to build planes, wash windows – you name it and I wanted to do it! I was just everywhere! I was 12 or 13 when I actually got serious about dance and wanted to be a dancer and do that for the rest of my life. My mom got me into it so I was doing ballet and doing all the technique classes and then I branched out to doing hip-hop and doing more stylized things.

AE: Looking back on the experience on the show, it must be so surreal. Has it sunk in what happened to you over the last few months?

SM: It’s so weird! I really haven’t sat down to watch the show yet and take it all in because I’ve just been going and going but we sat down to watch it and were like, “Wow, that actually happened.” We’re so excited to be on tour but it’s crazy. I’ve been online a few times looking at all the videos and the comments and it’s breathtaking. It’s really mind-boggling! It’s ridiculous. I can’t believe what a big deal this show is and how much we got out there. It was kind of like a slap in the face, a wake up call! Wow, you’re actually being seen!

AE: What would you say was the hardest dance you did physically and emotionally on the show? I can guess which ones but you actually lived it so what do you think?

SM: I think the hardest dance for me to do, technique-wise, was the Cha-Cha. Wow! That was definitely the hardest one for me. It was just hard getting all the steps and they had to make it a lot easier! It was a lot harder than that because it was super fast and every single count had a step or a hand or something and I was freaking out because for some reason I couldn’t retain all the choreography. I couldn’t keep it in my body. Usually with me in rehearsals I try to get it right away so I can sleep on it and it gets into my body even more but by the third rehearsal that we had I was still, “Oh my God! What is going on?”

I think the hardest dance for me to get emotionally out – they were all pretty challenging but I loved them all. Anything where I could tell a story, I loved being able to be in any situation onstage and tell a story. I really loved getting into the characters and having to act them out. All of them were pretty challenging but not at the same time.

AE: I would’ve thought it would be the one you did with Kent Boyd (“Fool With Me” by Me’Shell Ndege’Ocello) because you had everyone crying and it obviously hit you personally.

SM: That was a pretty tough one. Not to dance but I’m not really an outspoken person all the time. I don’t really talk about my personal life all the time because it’s not really a big deal for other people to know about my personal life. On the show I didn’t want to say so much so it wouldn’t be a huge deal but, yeah, that dance was really – it kind of hit a spot for me. It wasn’t just about being in a relationship with one person. I think that dance, for me, was just a journey through my life. I didn’t really look at Kent as just one person. I looked at him as just everything that has ever hurt me in life and anything that has ever brought me up and pulled me down. I kind of looked at him like that and not as an actual figure, like a person in my life. I’ve been through a lot and it wasn’t hard to get out my emotions across the stage but I think it was hard to keep one story. I have so many stories! Everyone has a lot of stories. Life is so crazy with the ups and downs.

AE: Doing a dance like that one, would you say it was cathartic? Like you feel better just to express those feelings and get them out?

SM: It wasn’t really like that because I’m kind of past the grieving stages of my life. It’s more like I’m just telling a story and telling who I am. I am really glad that I got to make a lot of people cry [laughs] and show people how much dance means to me and what telling a story means to me and getting something across to another person. It wasn’t like a relief that I got to do it but I’m just trying to tell a story. I really love doing that piece a lot. It felt really good.

AE: Have you heard about the recent brouhaha about people being out on reality shows like American Idol and The Voice?

SM: Yeah.

AE: What was your experience on So You Think You Can Dance like since you didn’t put your personal life out there?

SM: It’s not important for America to know that personal side of me. They just needed to know if I could dance and if I had a personality. They didn’t really need to know if I was gay or straight. Who I’m sleeping with is not important. This is my craft, my art, it’s what I do and who I sleep with doesn’t really change that, I don’t think. I’m not afraid to tell people I’m gay. I’m proud all over the place. Ask anyone! [laughs] It’s just something that never needed to come up because it would just take the focus off of my dancing and it will put it into “I’m gay,” ya know? But I’m happy to talk about it. I’m totally open about it and I’m a very open person.

AE: Also, you would think in the field of dance, it’s a pretty common thing to have a lot of gay dancers, right? It just comes with the territory.

SM: It’s a lot more on the male side than the female side in dance. I actually haven’t been around a lot of girls that are gay in dance. Well, actually, I might have but maybe I didn’t notice. I used to have a really bad gaydar but it’s gotten a lot better. [laughs] It’s a lot better now but I don’t even think about being gay or straight or anything. I just think about being with whoever makes me happy. I’m attracted to girls and that’s what’s going to make me happy. I don’t even like to label myself. I’ve flirted with guys before and I’ve done stuff with guys before. I’ve actually had two boyfriends but I know at the end of the day who I want to come home to and it’s going to be a girl. That’s what I like.

AE: It’s a testament to your talent that a lot of the dances are about the chemistry with another dancer, who often is a guy. Even that dance you did with tWitch (“Misty Blue” by Dorothy Moore). It was so hot! Was there a different preparation involved there?

SM: To me, I just look at it as another thing that I’m doing. I don’t really look at a guy or girl. If I have to connect with a person onstage then I connect with them. It can be a dog [laughs] and I’ll connect with them. I don’t really analyze it too much. I just do it. I don’t know how to explain it but it’s hard for some people to get that concept in their mind but I just kind of go for it. I don’t really think about the past or the future or anything. I focus on who this person is now and what I have to do to make a story out of it and tell the story.

AE: You and tWitch had such a great connection. Would you call him your dance soul mate?

SM: [laughs] Not really. I can dance like that with anyone but he’s an awesome person and I can text him and call for anything. We really got to be really good friends but I wouldn’t say he was a soul mate. He’s such an open, honest person and I feel like it’s really easy to connect with someone that’s so good and can act also. It’s all about selling the story and it’s clear that we sold the story!

AE: If you could pick one of the girls from the show to do a racy, sexy number, who would you pick?

SM: [laughs] That’s awesome! Probably Missy or Jordan or, you know what? They’re all really sexy so why not make it a sexy group dance! I’m so down with that!

AE: What can you tell me about the tour? Is it basically the numbers we saw on the show this past season or some new numbers, too?

SM: Yeah, there are a lot of favorites from the show that you probably saw in the finale. I’m not going to say exactly what because I’m not sure I’m allowed to but it’s really, really, really intricate. It starts out strong and it ends strong. We have a some brand new dances that we’re learning and I’m learning one now that is really cool. We also have a totally new piece ending the show and it’s really exciting. It’s really cool.

AE: We all came to love your sister Natalia during the audition part of SYTYCD. Was she also dancing along the way, too?

SM: She actually started younger than I did because she’s always been there just doing the dances and I always used to teach her at home but, yeah, she’s always been dancing ever since she was born! Natalia and I have always been dancing.

AE: Even though she didn’t make the cut this season (she had an injury that cut into the audition process) will she audition next year?

SM: Yeah, she’s actually training right now. She bought a spin bike and is on that everyday to pump up her stamina and she’s going to be taking more classes. She teaches a lot and she wants to get herself more into shape so she can be more of a dancer than a choreographer and teacher but she really wants to try out next season.

AE: Do you have a favorite junk food?

SM: French fries and chocolate shake!

AE: Do you have a favorite TV show?

SM: I don’t have a lot of time right now but when I do my favorite show was Grey’s Anatomy! I could not miss an episode of Grey’s Anatomy.

AE: Who is your celebrity crush?

SM: I really had a crush on Hayley Williams for awhile. She’s pretty hot! And who else? Rihanna is hot, too, obviously!

AE: Do you have a significant other right now or are you single?

SM: There was but it’s kind of not happening anymore but I am speaking to someone right now so I’m not really single but – [laughs] I’m not throwing myself to anyone, I don’t think. Yeah, I’m pretty much on the taken route, I think. It’s kinda still in the talking stage but I don’t want to throw myself out to anyone else because I really like this person.

For more on Sasha, check out her Tumblr. And to see when the So You Think You Can Dance tour will be in your area, visit Fox.com.

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