Famous hip hop dancer drops into DCHS dance team practice

November 28, 2018 | 3:00 am

Updated November 27, 2018 | 10:16 pm

DCHS dance team got a surprise visit from "So You Think You Can Dance" winner Fik-Shun. | Photo by Ashley Sorce

The Daviess County High School Dance Team had a surprise visit from a legend in the dance world. “So You Think You Can Dance” season 10 winner Du-Shaunt ‘Fik-Shun’ Stegall, dropped into a pre-game practice Tuesday night, before staying to watch the dance team during the basketball half-time.

According to dance team coach Debbie Connor, Fik-Shun dropped into practice on Sunday and helped the girls clean up their routine.

“I wish we could have had him for a month,” Connor said.

Fik-Shun and Cassidy Payne, a 2013 DCHS graduate. | Photo by Ashley Sorce

What brings the Los Angeles based dancer to Owensboro? The answer is his girlfriend, Cassidy Payne. Payne, a 2013 DCHS graduate, was on the dance team during her high school tenure, which was and still is coached by Connor, Payne’s cousin. Payne met Fik-Shun three years ago while attending a live airing of “So You Think You Can Dance,” in which he was an all star on the show.

Payne, now living in Los Angeles too, is no stranger to the dance scene or TV screen, appearing in DJ Khaled’s “I’m the One” music video, featuring Justin Bieber and also appeared on “Love and Hip Hop.”

Payne came home for a visit over Thanksgiving and brought Fik-Shun home to show off her old stomping grounds, which will include a performance of the Nutcracker by Owensboro Dance Theater, where Payne was a company member from 2011 to 2013.

Fik-Shun admits he didn’t know what to expect of the DCHS dance team, but the professional dancer says they are really good. And he’s not wrong. The team is currently ranked first in the state according to their coach.

“They asked me to watch, and I just kind of fell into it,” Fik-Shun said of his surprise visit during Sunday’s practice. “The choreographer in me came out to help. They get me hyped.”

Katelyn Ahart, a sophomore on the dance team, said she and her team were overly excited when their coaches told them about Fik-Shun’s visit.

“He was very helpful and I just loved getting the experience to meet the dancer I have always looked up to and being able to get great advice from him,” Ahart said.

Payne and Fik-Shun will be in town through Sunday. So far he is loving Owensboro food, and even tried mutton from Moonlite Bar-B-Q Inn, which he enjoyed. He was also pleased to find Owensboro recently added his favorite restaurant, Raising Cane’s, which he’s visited four times since his arrival.

November 28, 2018 | 3:00 am

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