Just a block away from the Morgan Hill Times office in downtown,
Tiffany Salon owner Tiffany Goller can tell you everything you want
to know about the FOX TV show
”
So You Think You Can Dance?
”
Her niece Ryan Ramirez is competing, after all. Watch tonight at
8 p.m. on FOX. You can vote for Ramirez two hours after the show
airs; check our Twitter @morganhilltimes for the number to call or
text.
Just a block away from the Morgan Hill Times office in downtown, Tiffany Salon owner Tiffany Goller can tell you everything you want to know about the FOX TV show “So You Think You Can Dance?” Her niece Ryan Ramirez is competing, after all.
“It’s so exciting! And it’s good news you know? It’s something the town can rally behind. Someone they can cheer on,” Goller said from her salon last week. She and her sister Paige Day went to Live Oak High School and still live in Morgan Hill, where Ramirez grew up and where their parents owned a boutique Marilyn’s Favorite Things for many years.
The Times checked in with Goller last Friday and even got to see a Ramirez artifact: curly, burgundy hair pieces she wore while dancing on stage at the studio in Los Angeles.
“These are amazing,” Goller said. “People come in and look at the hair. ‘Oooh, can I touch Ryan’s hair?’ they say.”
Watch tonight at 8 p.m. on FOX. You can vote for Ramirez two hours after the show airs; check our Twitter @morganhilltimes for the number to call or text.
Morgan Hill Times: So you’re going every week to L.A. to support Ryan?
Aunt Tiffany Goller: My sister and I have driven down every week. We go Wednesday morning at 7 a.m. and then fortunately Ryan has an apartment, but she’s not in her apartment, she’s with the cast. So we get to her apartment, change and go straight to the studio for the taping. And then Thursday we go back to the studio for the taping and after the show we drive home. We got home (July 7) about 3:30 a.m.
MHT: Who is doing the driving?
Tiffany: My sister does most of the driving mostly because I think it helps to keep her occupied.
MHT: Tell me about the actual taping of the show.
Tiffany: It’s exciting, but it’s stressful. It is stressful because it’s a competition and that’s still my little girl. Well, she’s Paige’s little girl but I claim her because I have three boys. So my sister has always shared her with me.
MHT: While you’re (in Los Angeles) is your family watching at home?
Tiffany: They do actually and everyone pitches in to help with my kids while I’m there. And to take care of the shop, too. It’s a huge effort so my sister and I can get there and go. It’s definitely a family project. We have good family support. It’s awesome.
MHT: Do you get to talk with her after the show?
Tiffany: Wednesday we get her all to ourselves. So we get to have dinner with her every Wednesday night.
MHT: Is there a special place you go?
Tiffany: We go to the Cheesecake Factory and that’s where most of the families go. So that’s fun. Thursday nights we don’t get any alone time with her after the show, after the elimination and stuff. They have like a family dinner after.
MHT: Have you become friends with the families?
Tiffany: Yeah. Because we’re all together and everyone becomes a group. You become a family because you’re in this pocket. You’re in the same boat week after week. Every week has gotten a little bit smaller and it gets weird. It’s hard. It’s scary. We just want to get her through this week for sure.
MHT: Are her spirits up? Last night she was in the bottom three.
Tiffany: It’s tough. Because it’s so exhausting and so rigorous emotionally. She’s a trooper. She’s such a good kid. She’s so grounded and for where she is and what she’s done she’s just a humble, nice hometown girl, for lack of a better word. She just is. If you met her walking down the street you would never guess that she’s had these experiences, because she’s just such a good kid. I’m proud of her.
MHT: Tell me more about Ryan’s involvement with your son (who has autism).
Tiffany: She’s helped in the classroom. And we do a fundraiser here, Cuts for the Kids, and we raise money for my son’s class locally at El Toro Elementary School. So she’s always here. We do it also at the Taste of Morgan Hill and she’s always helped out passing out flyers, walking the streets to support the kids. And she’s a great baby-sitter.
MHT: What do you think about the competition?
Tiffany: My personal favorite (second to Ryan) is mostly because my husband and I are Live Oak drama geeks, is Jess. I love him. And that’s my style. He’s very Broadway. His family is really good people. We talk with them a lot, and you know, they travel from New Jersey and they’re just staying there. You meet a lot of good people. I told his parents if Ryan wasn’t in the competition, he would be my favorite!
MHT: What was it like last year, getting that close?
Tiffany: That was really hard, especially to be right there. I was glad we were there for her. But I definitely think she needed this year to grow.
MHT: Is she able to practice outside the studio, like at her apartment?
Tiffany: They don’t have a lot of rehearsal time. If you think about it every week they have a duet, two group numbers and they have to do all the stuff that goes along with the TV show, so they don’t get a lot of time, which I can’t believe.
MHT: Judges always mention that, that they must learn the dances so fast.
Tiffany: I can’t believe it and then their apartments are, you know, they’re not huge apartments it’s not like you can practice a lift in an apartment. Sometimes there’s carpet so you can’t be spinning on carpet!
MHT: Did you dance?
Tiffany: Not really, my sister was a dancer. I was more of a cheerleader. In high school she was a song girl not a cheerleader (at Live Oak) and the song girls get to dance.
MHT: Is there anything quirky that viewers may not know about the show?
Tiffany: My husband was fascinated that they pre-tape the musical numbers. Those are not done live within the show. Like Florence and the Machine (July 6). When we got into the studio they taped that twice then they went live and then they slipped that in wherever they need it in the show.
MHT: When you go to Cheesecake Factory are people going up to her for autographs?
Tiffany: People are. It’s really cute. A lot of people who went to the taping will go there – a group of girls or whatever. So the first night a group came over once she sat down, “Can we get a picture with you?” It was funny to see that happen. And another group of girls with one guy pushing him up, “can you get a picture with him?” And she says “sure. I saw you during the show, you were in the front row …” So they take the picture and leave and she sits down and says “he was mouthing, ‘I love you. Will you marry me? The whole show.'” Later he brought over a love note that he wrote on a napkin. It was really cute.
MHT: Does she like that part of it?
Tiffany: She does. I mean it has to be exciting. I think also because she’s a little bit shy, it’s a little embarrassing. But it’s cute. It’s really cute to see. It’s fun to see her react to people who come up.
MHT: Now it’s up to viewers to keep her in it. Anything Morgan Hill should know?
Tiffany: You get 50 votes online and you have to count though because it won’t give you a countdown. Fifty votes online and unlimited texts and phone calls and they’re free phone calls and texts. So for the two hours after the show. I don’t even know I was rapid-firing texting until my hand was about ready to fall off. It’s crazy but that’s what you have to do because you have to sit there and vote away.
MHT: Are you voting straight for two hours?
Tiffany: Yes for two hours. I was guesstimating how many times I can text in a 10 to 15 minutes, it was like 100 times. Who knows how many you can get. If that is what everyone is doing that’s what you have to do. Even if everyone voted one time. Just go online and get the number. You don’t have to even watch the show, just vote. Just vote once for Morgan Hill.
