Las Vegas “SYTYCD” alum dreams of touring with Chris Brown
Anna Linstruth gets emotional every night on the “So You Think You Can Dance” tour.
The 20-year-old Las Vegan is still taken by the modern dance piece that Emmy winner Travis Wall choreographed to Harry Styles’ “Sign of the Times” as a way to confront the gun violence epidemic.
The number is met with standing ovations at every stop, Linstruth says, and the few seconds before the lights fade to black are the hardest.
“I’m always the one on the end of the line crying a little,” she says. “It hits home for sure. The Vegas shooting, really — it’s different when it’s your hometown.”
Born and raised in Lancaster, California, Linstruth moved to Las Vegas in 2010. After two years at Las Vegas Academy of the Arts — one of which overlapped with this season’s winner, Bailey Munoz — she graduated from Palo Verde.
The hip-hop dancer and former Jamba Juice employee didn’t train in any of the other styles required by the show, mostly because those lessons can be overwhelmingly expensive.
“I was just kind of hoping for the best,” she reveals. “Then when I made it through (The Academy Rounds), I was like, ‘Crap, this is more difficult than I thought it was going to be.’ ”
Linstruth was the second female finalist eliminated, placing her in the show’s top eight. Once the “So You Think You Can Dance” tour ends, she’s planning to relocate to L.A. to pursue her dance career and additional tours. Her dream job: touring with Chris Brown.
“Mostly because he’s a dancer himself, so his show is based around his dancers rather than other shows where the dancers are in the background.”
If that doesn’t work out, she isn’t terribly picky.
“I would also like to be on anybody’s tour,” Linstruth says, laughing. “Doesn’t really matter. But the dream is Chris Brown.”
Contact Christopher Lawrence at clawrence@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4567. Follow @life_onthecouch on Twitter.