Alex Wong unsure he'll return for next 'So You Think You Can Dance'

Alex Wong isn't sure whether he's going to accept So You Think You Can Dance's invitation to return and compete on next year's edition of the Fox reality dance competition.


"I really do want to return because I feel like I haven't finished my journey, but I really have to give it some thought," Wong told reporters during a Friday media conference call that followed his elimination on Thursday night's So You Think You Can Dance results show.

"So You Think You Can Dance takes so much out of your life.  And I have to start from Vegas, and then you don't know if you're going to be picked to be in the Top 20, and you have to kind of give up everything before you even know, right?  So it's going to be a tough decision."

Wong, a 23-year-old ballet dancer from Vancouver, Canada, was forced to withdraw from So You Think You Can Dance's seventh season after tests determined he had suffered a lacerated Achilles tendon while rehearsing for Wednesday night's live Top 8 performance show on Tuesday.

"I was doing a series of jumps at the end of my Bollywood routine on the Tuesday night rehearsal and it was actually the last rehearsal -- the last time I was going to do that -- and it was the last eight counts of the piece.  And I landed, and I didn't even land funny.  I just landed," Wong said about the injury, which will require surgery to repair and prevented him from being able to perform on Wednesday night's show.


"I thought I stepped on something.  I heard a crack.  I thought the floor buckled or something, which, when I looked down the floor was flat.  So it did not buckle.  And I was kind of shocked and I stopped, and then [the medic] came onstage and he looked at my Achilles and he said, 'Look, it's not there.  It looks like it's split in half.'"

Despite his uncertainty about his possible So You Think You Can Dance return, Wong acknowledged he feels a draw to the show -- which he left the Miami City Ballet for after being disqualified from the fifth season's Top 20 when he was unable to get out of his contract with the ballet company.

"I feel like I haven't finished my journey, and I feel like there's so much more to learn, and I was learning so much every single day.  And so, yes, it definitely is appealing to me to come back," said Wong, who had established himself as the seventh season's frontrunner prior to his injury.

"I feel like I've accomplished a lot of what I set out to do.  But I feel like I wasn't finished, and I feel like there was so much more I could learn.  And so it's very bittersweet because even though I have had a few great weeks, it's just not enough."

In addition, Wong told reporters he'll also miss his fellow seventh-season So You Think You Can Dance finalists.


"It was not something I really expected.  I had assumed that we would all get close, but I think this season was really special.  I think with just so few of us to begin with, we all kind of instantly clicked," he said.

"And it's luck of the draw when suddenly everything is amazing and the contestants are the most amazing people and we all get along so well.  That's going to be the hardest part for me, to leave them."

While he had been living in Miami, FL prior to competing on So You Think You Can Dance, Wong plans to recover in Vancouver following his surgery, which is scheduled for Tuesday.

"My family is there, and it's kind of the best place for me to just hang out while I have nothing to do for the moment.  So I'm going to get my surgery in L. A. and I'll stay here for a bit, and then I'll probably go back to Vancouver for a little bit," he told reporters.






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