August 14, 2008

So you think you can dance

Katee Shean and Joshua Allen perform on Fox’s “So You Think You Can Dance” television show. Photo courtesy Fox Broadcasting Co.

Pioneer grad takes TV fame in stride

By Carol Rosen
Editor

If you got a “circuits are busy” when you tried to call out last Thursday night it might have been because many of San Jose’s residents were calling to vote for the hometown-dancing favorite, Katee Shean.

The 2006 Pioneer grad not only made the top 10 for “So You Think You Can Dance,” but was the top female in the contest, winning $50,000 and being part of a 42-city tour beginning in September in Seattle. She was one of the three top dancers in the show’s final episode. Her financial award was also a first.

With all the fame and attention, it would be normal for Shean to get a little stuck on herself, but that’s not the case at all. She’s the same kid who has loved to dance since she was 4, and while she’s proud of her accomplishment, she still has her priorities in order: she wants to dance and finish her college education at Chapman University in Orange, Calif.

This has been the most amazing event of my life,” she said on the show last week. “It’s opened me up to all the different styles and what kind of dancer I want to be. I can’t thank everyone enough.”

“It’s one of the best experiences of my life,” she told the Times this week. “And I can’t thank the citizens of San Jose enough for their huge support in watching and voting. It feels good having my hometown back me up.”

She said she’d wanted to be a part of the show since it first came out. “I saw people I’d danced with so I wanted to be a part of it.”

She auditioned in Los Angeles and wasn’t sure whether she had made the cut because the audition was rather hard. They gave the dancers about 30 seconds to do a solo showing everything they had to offer, Shean said. “I got in line at 3:30 a.m. with my pillow and sleeping bag and got about 30 seconds to one minute to show what I could do. I just danced and hoped they wouldn’t stop the music. I was working on nerves and adrenaline.”

After her audition, she was given a ticket to Las Vegas for a second audition, and they took the top 20 dancers from that group for the television program.

“I was dancing and practicing all day every day. We only had a few hours to learn the dances. We were rehearsing all the time.

“But it was really an amazing time. It took a crazy toll on my body and mind, but each week we got to work with a number of different choreographers and styles. We were pushed to new limits and it helped me grow really fast,” Shean said.

Katee in her first recital costume (above) and rehearsing some moves (below). Photos courtesy Gayle Shean

Another reason Shean decided to try out for the competition was to see what will happen given her recent experiences on the show. She plans to continue teaching dance in Orange where she works once or twice a week for a few hours.

And, although she is taking the semester off, she plans to continue her education once the tour has ended. She was the salutatorian of her class at Pioneer and managed to maintain a nearly 4.0 grade point while dancing, holding school officers (vice president of her junior class and ASB vice president her senior year) as well as spending time doing community service.

“It’s a matter of prioritizing,” she told the Times. “I have to work hard to maintain my grades, but I also love volunteering. I’ve grown up juggling things and learning to make time so I can do it all,” she added.

“Katee founded the Octagon Club at Pioneer,” said her mother Gayle Shean. Octagon is an Optimist Club offshoot for high school students. The elder Shean is active in the Optimists.

At the same time, Katee has also kept up her grades at Chapman, averaging between a 3.9 and 4.0 and on the Chancellor’s List each semester. She has a double major of dance and leadership and organization for nonprofits, hoping to work in the nonprofit field once she completes her career as a dancer. She still volunteers her time for community service.

“I’d like a career in dance and then go to work as an organizer or event coordinator for a nonprofit,” she said.

Shean has been dancing since she was age 4 learning tap, ballet—and pointe—jazz, hip hop, lyrical, contemporary and modern dance. She attended five different dance schools throughout San Jose, Santa Clara, Mountain View and Milpitas as well as Schallenberger Elementary, Willow Glen Middle and Bret Harte before moving on to Pioneer. Her parents live in the Palm Haven area of Willow Glen.

Among the scholarships she received when she graduated from high school was one of three that Beach Blanket Babylon hands out to arts students each year. Students submit videos and then are whittled down to three for each area. Katee won the $10,000 scholarship for dance.

“They [the folks from Beach Blanket Babylon] have been like family,” said Gayle Shean. “They keep in touch with Katee and have been great supporters. Each year they invite the previous honorees back. During Katee’s college freshman year, she came back and presented the huge cardboard check to the next dance recipient.”