Student is top of the body-pops in TV dance semi-final (From Watford Observer)
Get involved: send your pictures, video, news and views by texting WO to 80360, or email us
Watford student is top of the body-pops on Sky 1's Got To Dance semi-final
2:21pm Thursday 16th February 2012 in News
A 22-year-old Watford student is on the verge of stardom after making it through to the semi-finals of a Sky 1 dance competition.
Lee Putman, known to viewers of Got To Dance as body-popper Rikoshay, will feature in the competition’s penultimate phase on Sunday.
The University of Hertfordshire student wowed the judging panel, made up of Coyote Ugly actor Adam Garcia, former Pussycat Doll Kimberly Wyatt and street dancer Ashley Banjo, with his technical body-popping routines.
He said: “It is kind of overwhelming to be honest – I’m not really sure what to make of it all.”
The semi-finals are split over five weeks, this being the fourth, with two contestants going through from each episode.
Illustration student Lee, of Trinity Hall Close, got into dancing at the age of 17 and says a mixture of hard work and good luck has led him to success.
He said: “I got into it because I just thought it looked so cool. A mate told me about this popping class he found and it went from there really.
“It is about working hard but also getting the opportunities and I’ve been lucky with the competitions I’ve been able to enter.”
It is the second time Lee has taken part in the competition after appearing in last year’s series as one half of body-popping duo Blue Magic.
The pair made it through the initial auditions but were sent home at the call back stage and Lee admits that he finds himself in unknown territory having made it further this year.
He said: “I really don’t plan that far ahead. I know I wanted to get to the semi-finals so now I’ve done that I’m just taking things one step at a time.”
Sunday’s semi-finals at the Pinewood Studios will be the first time Lee has performed live on television but he remains confident he will keep his composure on stage.
He added: “I’m not feeling nervous yet, though I imagine I will be just before I go on. I’m pretty relaxed about it all and just taking it in my stride. My family and friends have been really supportive so I’m hoping to do well.”
Got To Dance will be broadcast on Sky 1 on Sunday at 6pm.
Comments(14)
David Willoughby
says...
8:45pm Thu 16 Feb 12
David Willoughby
says...
10:17pm Thu 16 Feb 12
wd40
says...
12:03am Fri 17 Feb 12
wd40
says...
12:10am Fri 17 Feb 12
LSC
says...
2:09am Fri 17 Feb 12
wd40 wrote:I'd say we need illustrators, yes. Do we need illustrators with a degree in illustrating? i'd say no. A qualification means nothing if you don't like the pictures, which is what he will hired and fired on. NOBODY ever on this planet will give you a job like that because you have a degree in it.
Sorry I meant to say he is not only a student but I happen to know he also works hard between studies. We do need illustrators dont we? Are you Doctors Lawyers or teachers?
The course may have improved his tecinique, which only suggests his tutors are more skilled than he is, in which case I'd try to hire them for a job, not him.
22 and still at Uni learning to draw. And people march against student fees?
garston tony
says...
10:13am Fri 17 Feb 12
We need people with all sorts of talents in this world and that includes dancers and illustrators as well as doctors and plumbers and teachers etc.
LSC
says...
12:29pm Fri 17 Feb 12
I was merely pointing out that a degree in 'illustration' isn't worth the paper it is drawn on.
garston tony
says...
2:02pm Fri 17 Feb 12
LSC
says...
4:04pm Fri 17 Feb 12
I had a wonderful application the other week; a degree, of course, and listed one of their main skills as 'attention to detail'.
Then they spelled the name of my company wrong on the envelope.
garston tony
says...
9:09am Mon 20 Feb 12
LSC
says...
8:32pm Mon 20 Feb 12
I know we all me make typo's on here, me as much as anyone, but on a CV?
With a degree in English or History?
I was watching the telly just tonight, and it appears an NVQ in 'horsecare' counted as 4 GCSEs. 4!
NVQs are, in my experience, brilliant qualifications. But they are NOT the equivilent of 12 years of schooling in 4 different subjects.
I took a degree in engineering in the 80s. It was hard work. I took another a few years ago. I did it by post, and the only hard part was paying for it.
garston tony
says...
10:18am Tue 21 Feb 12
There is the age old argument that rears its head every summer about the worth of qualifications. I think its harsh to blame those taking the qualifications if there is dumbing down taking place but also harsh to claim dumbing down in the first place if we dont know anything about the courses.
LSC
says...
11:15am Tue 21 Feb 12
As I said above, i have great respect for NVQs, I just don't think they rate as high as 4 GCSEs in differing subjects. If they do, then GCSEs are worth even less than I suspected!
I don't blame the kids at all; I blame league tables for schools and the modern era of 'learning' via cut-and-paste from Wikipedia.
Sadly I learned too late much of what education was for. I spent years pointing out to teachers that I simply didn't need to know when Henry 8th was born. It was only when I was asked to make my first report in my working life I realised I had been taught the skills of finding things out, retaining the information, working out what is relevant, then being able to tell other people in a way that is engaging and understandable.
From the youngsters I have interviewed, it seems those skills are declining rapidly.
theturpster says...
4:12pm Thu 16 Feb 12
No need for doctors, teachers and lawyers!