'So You Think You Can Dance' judge Mary Murphy warms up

By Hanh Nguyen

    

February 20, 2008 2:46 PM ET

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So You Think You Can Dance won't be back on until May, but auditions are already in the works. Choreographer-judge Mary Murphy, aka The Queen of Scream, took the time from her busy schedule to chat with Zap2it on the phone about how the auditions are going, what to expect this season and of course, the hot tamale train.

Have you caught any other dance shows?
MM: I have not caught Dance War. I've been so busy that I haven't had a chance to catch that. Of course, a lot of my friends are on Dancing With the Stars. I know a lot of them personally and was able to go to quite a few shows during the first two seasons. To be honest with you, I just got so busy myself I didn't have time to watch it.

SYTYCD is my favorite.
MM: Well, it's real life for one thing. These kids aren't going to get an opportunity to go to a celebrity lifestyle afterwards. This is their life, and it means everything to them. I know that. Being a dancer myself, I have to say I really feel for a lot of these kids and certainly want them all to do well. I don't think any of us want to see them crumble or have a moment where they totally black out or fall down or anything like that. It's not what it's all about. I think dancers are naturally nurturing to others just because if you've been in that before, you know how hard it is. You've definitely had those moments yourself where you've crumbled or had a blackout and just passed out or whatever.

Are you busy with auditions now?
MM: I've been doing a lot of the auditions. We're getting ready to do our last few cities. We have Washington, DC coming up this week, LA March 6th and Milwaukee will be our last audition stop before we bring probably close to 200 or over 200 into Las Vegas for the -- That's a very brutal cut there. We're going to go from probably 250 down to 40 in probably three days.

How difficult is it to cut these people?
MM: It is a huge amount of talent. We don't wait and watch them for three days either. We start cutting immediately. So let's say we start with hip-hop in Las Vegas and after that hip-hop choreography. We look at them and we may lose 50 percent on that first day. Then they have to get on an airplane and go back home. I know that they're all excited, but the fact of the matter is that it will all hit them so fast, they don't even know what's happening. It's especially difficult when you've gone the distance to at least the Top 40 and you don't make the final cut. Last year, I can only tell you that the Top 40 were so good, any one of them could have been in the Top 20. So we really had a tough time, and I anticipate having the same thing this year. We've had so much talent out of Salt Lake City and some great dancers out of Dallas and Charleston so far. Plus, we added two more cities this year, so it's going to make it even tougher.

But this gives more people a chance to try out who may not have before?
MM: A lot of people don't have the opportunity to travel or don't have the money. So the more cities we can do, we're going to get somebody who's just amazing and maybe never even had training but they're so talented, we brought the opportunity right to their doorstep. I think we are going to see some people we wouldn't have otherwise had the opportunity to get our hands on, so it's is great the more cities that we do.

Will we see familiar faces of people who didn't quite make it to the Top 20 last time?
MM: Absolutely, we definitely have some people that were just almost there that will be here at Las Vegas. Last year, Jimmy Arguello was one of the perfect examples that I cried over when he left the show because I had seen him in every single audition from Season One and we would tell him and give him tips, "Hey Jimmy, you need to do this and this. Come back to us next year." And he did. And then he did it again. "Oh, almost, Jimmy. Do this, this and this. Come back to us next year." And then finally Season Three he makes it, and then we say, "Oh how fabulous you are. Oh how great. All the judges love you. Oh, by the way, you're leaving now." Oh, it's horrible for me. I just couldn't stop crying because I didn't feel at that point that Cedric should have stayed in the competition because he wasn't doing everything good. And here's this kid has been there every single year. So I mean I really felt his pain.

Perseverance does pay off though?
MM: And he made it. He didn't give up. This was what he felt like was going to be his last year. We get kids too who if they don't make it in one audition city, they try out again in another city. That happened with Travis two years ago. Travis didn't make it in front of the judges, didn't make it past the line producers in Los Angeles, then he went to South Carolina and made it in front of the judges and actually went all the way to almost winning the whole thing. So he didn't give up. And we've already seen people that have tried out in two cities now and have made it to Las Vegas. Sometimes you just have a bad moment, and if you believe in yourself, they'll get to that next audition city somehow. Of course, Milwaukee will be our last stop so I anticipate quite a lot of dancers in Milwaukee. (laughs)

Is "Sexy" back?
MM: We have not seen him, and we're not going to New York City. He does have quite the little following, you know. I've heard that on the Internet he's got his own little fan club. We are not going to be in New York, but we are going to be in Washington, DC, so I'll be very curious to see if he made that train ride down there to be in front of us once again.

Which choreographers are returning?
MM: Well, as far as I know, we're going to be seeing Mia Michaels, Wade Robson. Of course, Shane [Sparks] is on another dance show right now (MTV's (America's Best Dance Crew), so I'm not sure we're going to see him because of exclusive rights or whatever. But we're going to see all the choreographers back. And you'll see some new, exciting ones that I hear are in the works that have been doing a lot of the dance movies that are out there right now. So that will be exciting. I can't wait to see what celebrity judges they put in next to me.

So do you know for certain the identities of any of these guest judges?
MM: There will be. I don't know who they're going to be just yet, but there will be some new ones, and there will be some other choreographers that have been on the show that you'll get to see this year that have not had an opportunity to judge.

Any trends with the new styles of dance? In auditions?
MM: Somebody always comes out with something new that we've never seen before, and sometimes you never want to see it again. What we see a lot now I think because of the show is some fusion going on, people that are doing a hip-hop and lyrical together or they might do lyrical and you might see some samba through it. It's been very interesting to watch these fusions start to happen. You'll get to see karate dancers, karate and mixing dancing with it. So it's been very interesting. I think it's a kind of anything goes. You definitely don't have to blend into different styles to get on the show. If you're extraordinary in what you do, you'll make it.

So some dances not seen on the show like tap because it's too hard?
MM: Yeah, the one thing about tap too is that it takes somebody to be extraordinary for the average person to enjoy [watching] it, and that's myself included. If you're not really good, if you're not almost like The Nicholas Brothers, I just don't enjoy it that much. You have to be so good and be able to do so many different kinds of rhythms to make it interesting. So I don't know for sure, but I could probably guarantee that tap is not going to be on that bandwagon this year. I think you might see a little bit more touch of some classical-type pieces, except for going into a toe-shoe. You really can't expect somebody who doesn't have a classically trained foot like that to be in a toe shoe. That would be another show. (laughs)

What do you think about your reputation as the "Queen of Scream"?
MM: I just am who I am and I've always been that way. It's funny to me that it's caught on all over the world, that I'm known for my laugh. I mean I laughed someplace, in a restaurant or somewhere like that, and people will come from behind the wall or curtain and say, "I knew that was you." It's hysterical to me. It's not I've been running around screaming my whole life. I do scream when I get really excited, and that just happens. For whatever reason, it took off and it's taken off all over the world. It's just interesting to me. When I said the phrase, "the hot tamale train," how that wasn't just the United States. I get it in interviews all over now when I'm heading to Australia, Norway, Iceland, Canada and do their shows. I guess I'm known as Mad Mary in Australia. I guess it's fun to be known for something. To me, being happy in my life and of course, me along with everybody else, we're going to have a certain amount of tragedy in our life -- but if I didn't and was not able to laugh in my life, I don't know how you would make it. So, the fact that people enjoy it, that makes me happy. There are people out there who say, "If she laughs one more time, I'd just like to kill her." I don't really care what they think. I'm just being who I really am and luckily, for whatever reason, that has caught on. I couldn't be more grateful. If I'm known as the Queen of Scream, at least I'm known for something.

Anybody request that you laugh or record a scream for their voice mail?
MM: Actually, I do have ringtones coming out. There's the laugh, the scream, probably a song. I mean, it's crazy right now. So yeah, those are going to be available later this year, if you don't get enough laughing and screaming on the show.

Any new phrases like the "hot tamale train" coming this season?
MM: I never know what I'm going to say. I've always called dancers hot tamales. I'll say, "Oh, that's a hot tamale." For the guys I'll call them "hottie potottie" and girls are "cutie patooties," different things like that. But the "hot tamale train" came flying out of my mouth. I never really think to far in advance what I'm going to say. Nigel [Lythgoe] is always looking at me like I'm crazy because of my American slang or sayings I was brought up on. Half the time he doesn't know what the heck I'm saying and neither does Cat [Deeley]. One time she was like, "Well, Mary called you Seabiscuit. I guess that's a good thing." She's always saying things like, "Mary called you a floodlight from Heaven. I guess that's a good thing." She's got this look and a lot of times after the show, I'll have to explain to her what that means. But it seems that at least the average American knows what the heck I'm talking about. I thought "a floodlight from Heaven" was easy as pie. C'mon, we're not talking about just a regular light. This person is a floodlight.

Do you know how last season's winner Sabra Johnson or runner-up Danny Tidwell are doing? How about the others?
MM: I've seen Danny in San Diego doing The Nutcracker down there. Those guys just got off the [SYTYCD] tour in December, so I haven't really been up-to-date with where they've gone from there. I'm sure, I hope they took a very much needed rest because I'm sure it was -- this show is just extreme fatigue on their bodies, their cartilege, their ligaments. They have no breaks, no break after the show because they have to get ready and learn some new numbers. The tour, if you've seen it, it's a crazy the amount of dancing for just 12 dancers. It's insane. I'm hoping they took a break and I'm sure Sabra will be traveling all over the world as well as Danny. We're in 48 countries right now, and the kids are going to be asked to perform and probably go to the finale of most of those shows across the world. They'll be a very celebrated dancer here for a year or two before they settle down into and probably own their own dance company. I know Benji, who won two seasons ago, he's just been all over the world judging, choreographing and dancing. I just talked to him a few days ago. He had just gotten back from China. He was also working for Fox.com after the show doing interviews. So he's been getting a little bit into correspondence. It's interesting, it's fun to hear what they've been up to.

MM: I often have some of the kids down to my dance studio. I had Cedric down in October and hopefully at my anniversary bash. It's usually in May. I hope to have some of the dancers down. Chance to Dance is my children's foundation for underprivileged schoolchildren. I also own Champion Ballroom Academy in San Diego. This will be my 18th year anniversary bash. I'm trying to find the time to actually fit the bash in, in and around what the show is doing, so that's kind of been difficult because of all the other countries I'll be going to judge in also. So I'll try to keep my dance studio open in San Diego while I'm in the process of all this stuff.

So when the show ends, you still have more duties to fulfill?
MM: I also own a national dance contest that's now the second-biggest one in the world. I do all that administration. That's the second weekend of December, called Holiday Dance Classic, and that thing has just turned into a monster. All these dance shows have certainly helped. We have 13,000 entries for this event. This is in Vegas every year at the Luxor Hotel. It goes on for four days, from 7 a.m. till 12 midnight, people dancing in that ballroom competing.

When do you rest? How do you rest?
MM: To be honest with you I don't really rest. I was forced into rest by some kind of sickness. I finally was diagnosed this last week, thank God. They found out this past week because they've been giving me antibiotics for a year. Last season I had mono the whole season and it went straight into strep throat, bronchitis and of course in the fires in San Diego did a number on me. I just went to the hospital this last week, and I actually have asthma. I was like, "Well thank God because you keep giving me antibiotics and I just can't seem to get well." That was the main issue. I thought I was having a heart attack. I went to the hospital, laid down on the floor and said, "I think I'm having a heart attack." So now hopefully this season I hope to feel so much better because they finally got down what it is what is actually wrong with me now. The correct diagnosis. Don't just slap some antibiotics on it. (laughs)

Looking forward to the new season? What do you think about Mary? Have you heard news about the previous contestants?