MONDO EXTRAS

Daniel: How did you get from there to So You Think You Can Dance How'd you get noticed for that show?

Sparks: My manager's Chris Stokes, and Chris Stokes was the director/producer of the movie You Got Served, and he asked me, would I be interested in choreographing the movie, and also be an actor in it. And I was like, "Of course I would!" So we worked on that movie for maybe like two years before it even, like, you know, made it to the theatres, and after we did that movie, it was such a big success, [SYTYCD executive producer] Nigel [Lythgoe] saw it, and Nigel was like, "I want the guy who choreographed that movie," even though I didn't do it myself. But he picked me out of all, out of the two choreographers that was on that movie. And he set up a meeting with me and my agent. We went down to his office, we sat in there for like an hour, and just had a ball, talking about dance, talking about our influences, and what we wanted to do and how big this show would be. And the crazy part about it, after that meeting, it went so well, I didn't even get hired right away. They ended up going with somebody else. But his personality wasn't as good as they wanted, and they brought me in for one episode, and I just stole the show. And after that, I was on every episode; came back the second year as a judge and choreographer, third year as a judge and choreographer, and got picked up for a fourth year.

Daniel: I told your publicist that you're not going to find a whiter, non-dancer guy than me: I'm in my thirties, I'm Canadian, I grew up in the Yukon. [Shane laughs.] This is my first time watching the show. Can you tell me how the show has evolved from the first season to this season, speaking as a choreographer?