‘Dance’ finalist’s dream continues with tour

October 14, 2014 at 12:05a.m.

IF YOU GO

What: “So You Think You Can Dance” tour

When: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 20 at Connor Palace, 1615 Euclid Ave., Cleveland

Tickets: call 216-241-6000 or to go playhousesquare.org.

Also: Oct. 29 at Byham Theater, 101 Sixth St., Pittsburgh; call 412-456-6666 or go to pgharts.org

Nearly a decade after watching Nick Lazzarini become the first winner of “So You Think You Can Dance,” Jessica Richens realized her dream this past season earning third place on the popular reality show.

“I remember watching the first episode with Nick Lazzarini,” said Richens, calling from Nebraska. “I think I was 8 years old when it started. I was like, ‘Oh my God, I want to be on the show.’ My parents said, ‘OK, you have a while so you better work hard in dance.’

“Since I’ve been into dance for my whole life, it’s always been a show that I watched. And it was always in the back of my mind to get on the show. So it was my dream but I also kept myself grounded because I knew how hard it is to get on.”

A Southern California native, Richens started dancing at age 3 and performing at 4. Her main dance focus is jazz, lyrical, contemporary and ballet. She is currently a member of Mather Dance’s Professional Company.

Fresh out of Orange County High School of the Arts, Richens has already appeared in television commercials and had numerous live performances, including touring with Radio City Christmas Spectacular.

The past year has been somewhat surrealistic for Richens, who finally was old enough to appear on “So You Think You Can Dance.”

“I always dreamt about auditioning for the show but I never really expected it would happen,” Richens said. “So many people I knew would audition and not even make it past the first cut, so I was like, ‘OK, I’m just going to try and see what happens.’ Actually, the goal was to get on the show and then hopefully make it on tour so the fact that happened is pretty crazy.”

Richens is referring to the “So You Think You Can Dance Tour,” which comes through our area with shows Oct. 20 at the Connor Palace in Cleveland and Oct. 29 at the Byham Theatre in Pittsburgh. The bill includes Top 10 finalists Ricky Ubeda (winner), Bridget Whitman, Casey Askew, Emilio Dosal, Jacque LeWarne, Rudy Abreu, Tanisha Belnap, Valerie Rockey and Zack Everhart.

As for not only getting on the reality show but also winning third place, Richens took a different approach from her peers. Knowing the majority would be specializing in contemporary dance, the teenager decided to focus on her jazz background, which in the end helped her stand out.

Ironically, it was just a year ago that Richens attended one of the performances of the “So You Think You Can Dance” tour. Now the 18-year-old performer is on the bill.

“I have about 15 numbers out of the 54 numbers, so it’s definitely really demanding,” Richens said. “My first act is a little bit calmer and my second act I just go from dance to dance to dance.

“I’m doing actually everything. Not all are duets. We’re doing a lot of group dances with hip-hop. The show has a really wide variety of genres in it.”

Looking ahead, Richens said she would love to follow in the footsteps of “So You Think You Can Dance” alum Allison Holker, who was recently announced as one of the 13 professional dancers on the upcoming 19th season of “Dancing With the Stars.”

“I mean, you never know, down the road I’ll train even more and that could be a possibility,” Richens said. “So definitely, I would be interested in doing anything where I’m dancing.”