This morning I had the pleasure of chatting with Jonathan Platero, the latest dancer to be eliminated from So You Think You Can Dance.

Jonathan, a cute as a button salsa dancer and tumbler, impressed Mary Murphy with what she said was a So You Think You Can Dance first: he performed far better outside of his genre. Despite his early elimination, Jonathan's contemporary routine with Karla to "Falling Slowly," will be remembered as one of the best of the season. (And yes, I feel completely confident saying that three weeks in to the competition.)  Ultimately, Jonathan suffered at the unenviable hands of the dreaded partner-less salsa solo, which he tried to spice up with one too many tumbling passes for the judges taste.

Jonathan and I chatted about our mutual adoration for Stacey Tookey's contemporary routine, the closeness of the cast of So You Think You Can Dance, Twitter, and what's next for him.


Listen to my entire interview with Jonathan, complete with your Twitter questions:




Here are some of the highlights of our interview:

• Jonathan's been watching So You Think You Can Dance since Season One, his favorite SYTYCD'er of all time was Blake McGrath.
• His favorite routine, was Stacey Tookey's contemporary piece. He thinks it's the best routine he's ever done and said it was very emotional, especially the connection he felt with his partner Karla.
  
• On the curse of the ballroom/salsa solo: "It's a little difficult trying to be a solo artist as a ballroom dancer. The most we can do is footwork, and I had tumbling, so I threw that in there a little too. Trying to make your solos dynamic without adding tricks or flips in there is kind of hard."
• He can't choose a single person to root or vote or because "The girls this year are phenomenal, their beautiful, their so talented and they each have their own unique style. The guys are just amazing."
• Jonathan is also a twitterer and will be rejoining the Twitter-Verse now that his time on So You Think You Can Dance is done. You can find and follow him at: twitter.com/xxsurfjonsurfxx

--Abbey Simmons, BuddyTV Staff Writer
(Image Courtesy of FOX)