What happens when a goddess of contemporary dance marries a charismatic hip-hop star? America’s favorite dance couple is born! Move over Fred and Ginger— Stephen “tWitch” Boss and Allison Holker are on the scene. If you’ve watched any dance on TV, in movies, or on YouTube over the last decade, then you’ve most likely witnessed their infinite talent on shows like So You Think You Can Dance, Dancing With the Stars, The Ellen Show, and movies like High School Musical, Magic Mike, Hairspray, and Step It Up.
Steel Gold which now features dance recognition”/>Although they were both top ten finalists on the highly acclaimed TV series So You Think You Can Dance, Stephen “tWitch” Boss and Allison Holker are the real-life champions of So You Think You Can… dance brilliantly in all styles, act, choreograph, DJ, teach, and design clothing and jewelry. Married with two children, this multi-talented couple is dancing their way through life together in Los Angeles.
Withings caught up with these two shooting stars to talk about dance, fitness, and family.
Withings: What moment did you fall you in love with dance?
tWitch: I fell in love with dance while watching Michael Jackson’s performance on Motown 25. This was the performance that made him doing the moonwalk famous. I was very little at the time, but I remembered that moment vividly. Every time I saw dancing after that I felt like my soul was on fire. I know that sounds super corny, but it’s the closest thing to passion I knew at the time. Any time music videos were on with dancing or a group doing choreography together I always obsessed over learning the steps. So really I have wanted to be a dancer, or better yet love dance, all of my life but didn’t start taking classes until I was 16. That was the moment I started to connect the dots and believe that I could really do this. I could be one of those dancers that I was studying on television.
Withings: What is one of your favorite SYTYCD memories?
tWitch: My favorite SYTYCD moment was making the show. I had tried out twice, the first time down to the last spot for guys and they did not take me. So the second time I went back I was on a mission, and making that so quite literally changed my life. Had I not made the show I would have gone to the Navy, so to say that my life would be different now is an understatement.
Allison: I performed a dance on SYTYCD called Fix You on season 7. This dance was dedicated to a very dear friend of mine who is a cancer survivor. It was an honor to share such a magnificent woman’s story with the world and share my support and love. It to this day is my favorite, most memorable time ever performing.
Withings: Do you prefer to dance on stage, TV, film or videos right now? Why?
Allison: I feel so blessed to be able to work and perform doing what I love every day on television. Dancing has always been a love of mine, but being able to perform it live for millions of viewers is just the greatest gift of all. Sharing my love of dance with everyone in their very own homes, and maybe even getting them up off their seats to dance along is just perfection.
Withings: In the tradition of many dancers, are you clumsy when you’re not dancing?
Allison: I’m extremely clumsy! I can spin, twirl, jump and what I imagine the closest thing to be to flying when I’m dancing. But standing still on my very own two feet—impossible!
Withings: What is the worst physical injury you’ve had so far and how did you heal?
tWitch: The worst physical injury I’ve had to endure was a torn ACL. It happened a couple of years ago, 2004 to be exact. During the physical therapy process, I also made it a point to go sit and watch dance classes even though I wasn’t actually able to dance. It felt like I was moving. The transition back to 100% was seamless.
Withings: What advice would you give to up-and-coming dancers?
Allison: Create your own work and don’t hold back. With where technology has come and capabilities with a YouTube and social media influence, you can start and share your own art from the security of your home. So if you can dream and do it, share it. We are all just waiting to enjoy what you can create.
Withings: What did you do on your first date? Did it go well?
tWitch: One of our first dates was a movie night. There are a lot of feature films that I missed out on in the past. Classic feature films! Critically acclaimed! Upon finding this out, Allison set on a mission to open my mind to the wonderful world of cinema. Movie night was a success. Now, was every single movie that we watched good? Maybe—I was just so giddy for the date that everything was awesome.
Withings: Did you choreograph a special first dance at your wedding?
tWitch: We did not choreograph a first dance at our wedding. You know, we do choreographed dance for work so we figured for our first dance we just want to be us. Besides, there would be many, many epic dance moments throughout the night, including everyone in the bridal party entering the reception to their own theme song, Travis Wall wearing Allison’s veil, and a choreographed dance that we performed with our daughter, Weslie.
Allison: We performed a special hip hop piece with Weslie. She choreographed the trio dance to her favorite Justin Bieber song, which then kicked off the night of dancing. We had the biggest, best, most lively wedding dance party you ever saw!
Withings: How do you balance parenthood and performing?
Allison: How I balance career and motherhood is by constantly reminding myself I am doing my best and dedicating myself to be fully invested with wherever I am. That means when I am at work, I submerge myself in the work I am doing and commit myself fully, and then the same at home. When I am with my kids I am 100% invested in my time with them. When I’m with my children I am cooking dinner, playing games, and engaged in conversation (well, as engaged as I can be with my 9-month-old, mostly consisting of lots of ohhhh, ahhhh bah bah da da). Be present in the space you are in. It’s about quality of time, not always quantity.
Withings: How many hours do you dance a day? What are your other favorite ways to stay active?
Allison: I adore dancing every day, but I also train my body with CrossFit, circuit training, weight lifting, cardio and yoga. I love living a healthy, active lifestyle. I believe in changing up my workouts and trying new types of activities to keep my brain working and keep it fun. Working out doesn’t have to be tasking and painful—it should be fun and exciting. So get up, dance, work out, and be happy to be healthy.
Withings: What feature(s) of Withings Steel is most useful to you?
Allison: I love that Withings Steel tracks my sleeping regimen. I have not always been the most consistent with the amount of sleep I get. In fact, I typically did not make time for enough sleep. But now that I have a device tracking my sleep, it helps me to have a more consistent sleep pattern. I receive a reminder every night from Withings to start my nightly routine to help me regulate my sleep. Now I have a regular nightly regimen and am getting the correct amount of sleep I need. Now I’m able to perform at my very best every single day.
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Withings: What do you do to relax and relieve stress?
Allison: There is nothing better than sipping a glass of Merlot cuddled up on my couch, getting caught up on all my favorite shows.
Thanks so much to tWitch and Allison for giving us a peek into their lives. If you want to get an even better idea of what it’s like to be them, take up dancing—and track your moves with Steel Gold, our 24k gold-covered activity-tracking watch.
Thanks to the new Activity Recognition feature, Steel Gold can learn to recognize your unique dance moves and then automatically track all your dance sessions. Snag one now at 25% off, now through February 14, 2017.
