The Dancer
Sydney Lotuaco on her experience as a contestant on The Bachelor, as a dancer, and her take as an Asian American in the entertainment industry.
Sydney Lotuaco is a multi-talented icon who is only just getting started. In addition to starring as one of the main contestants on season 23 of The Bachelor, she is a performer, fitness trainer, model, podcast host, and ex-NBA dancer. We had the opportunity to speak with Sydney about her experiences growing up, her thoughts on The Bachelor, and what she has been up to since. Read on to hear Sydney’s story!
You moved from Virginia to New York City for college, stayed there for a while, and then moved to California! Can you tell us a how your community has shaped you into the person you are today and what it was like moving from the East Coast to the West Coast?
I was born in Virginia and all of my moves are based around my career path — and that was dancing! So I started in Virginia dancing at about age three, and then when I started looking around for colleges, I had to audition for different schools.
So I auditioned for a school in North Carolina, a few in New York City, and a couple of other places as well, just to kind of get a feel. Finally, I got into a school in New York and went there for school.
So my community, growing up was, I went to high school and I had friends there but a lot of my community was based around the fact that I spent so much time at dance. So I had dances around me at all times. So generally my community has been artists and people like of all different ages, but the focus was always around the talent and rehearsing.
So I feel like I’ve always been around very hardworking individuals and then going to college in New York, I spent most of my days in class. My morning classes were all dance classes, and then we had regular school classes in the afternoon, and later, we’d have rehearsals at night.
So with that being our schedule for all of the dancers, we all just hung out with each other. We were running from class to class carrying leotards and we had a very different college experience. So I just kind of like was drawn to the dancers, but also in college, I was an RA. So I had that community as well. So again, like very hard-working, dedicated individuals that just tried to fit as much as they could. I just recently moved to California this past year, because I had been in New York for 10 years. I think I had built a strong friendship and stuff. So that was a hard thing for me to leave because I had such a strong core group of friends in New York and I had a good routine. It was more like New York itself was not doing it for me anymore. It was bogging me down and I just needed a change in my life to see what else was out there. So, which is why I decided to move to LA.
Right now, I’m still working on building my community there. I have some friends what was nice to me is that I had, as far as work goes the same job and in New York as I as I didn’t get the same agents.
So I at least had a base of people that I knew. And just like a strong yeah like base for me to hop over but I’m still figuring out my niche within LA.
What inspired you to start dancing and how has dancing influenced your life?
It’s been a major influence. I mean, I was inspired to start dancing when I started at three and my parents just wanted something for me to do. And I remember when I was really little, I would just dance around the house. They would put Barney on and I would jump on the table and dance or go to my parents’ room and dance around like that. So it was always a part of me.
When I was growing up, all my friends in school would be able to go play outside when I had to go dance. And I was like, “I want to just play!” So it was definitely brought like a strong friendship of people that want to dance, but also I had to sacrifice a lot of things and pick and choose like what I would do. So while it came with a lot of sacrifices, it brought a lot of great stuff throughout my life.
You’re so busy doing so many things — you’re a dancer, fitness instructor, model. What has been the greatest challenge you faced and how did you overcome it?
With the career path I chose, it’s definitely not a traditional one. I was always really good at school which was helpful for me being so busy that I was already had that kind of mindset. Honestly, it almost would have been easier for me just to go and do something like a nine to five job or something “normal”, but because I’ve always liked to challenge and I spent my whole life dancing. I didn’t want to just give it up right then. So I chose the harder choice and with being in the arts or anything like that.
It’s definitely not consistent and we can see that right now with COVID happening in the world. It’s very hard for the arts community and entertainment industry because there’s not a lot of jobs right now and all the ways we would normally do things like gathering in groups and producing art together, we can’t really do.
The first time I went through an audition process, I made it to the very end, and they were hiring a girl. I made it to the last day and I got cut and I was devastated. It was a week-long process of auditioning and so, when you’re auditioning for things, it’s hard to get your hopes up and believe that you actually got the job.
I was devastated and so it took me a little bit of time to build myself back up. But then, luckily, I reached out to the coach to get feedback because I decided I wasn’t going to quit. I picked myself back up and I decided the best way to go about it was to get the feedback that I needed to apply it to the next thing, or next audition.
I got really lucky and the girl that had been hired for the team had to move away because her husband was moving to a different state. So instead of giving me feedback, the coach ended up hiring me that day. It worked out in the end, but it was a full-circle moment for me.
What was it like being on The Bachelor, what’re the greatest things you’ve learned from being on The Bachelor? Why was Colton a bad kisser?
The whole experience of The Bachelor definitely changed my life. I feel like it pushed me in a lot of ways because I had been so career-focused my whole life, and this was the first time that I was ever really focusing on the dating aspect.
So it definitely took me out of my comfort zone, from obviously being on TV. Being in front of cameras while trying to do that as well, was not easy.
But overall, I had a great time! I met a lot of really awesome people and it made me grow in a lot of ways. I didn’t find my relationship on the show, but in a way, going on the show led me to my current relationship because we met through Instagram and he knew me since he watched the show. So, kind of a weird way that we got there!
Is Colton a bad kisser — it was just a matter of lack of chemistry. I could just tell he was really not into me and there was really never anything behind the kisses that we had. So, I mean, that’s not fun when you’re kissing someone you can tell that they don’t want to give you if that makes sense. Yeah, he could have been a little bit more effort into it. But, you know, he just wasn’t into it. So that’s fine.
How has being an Asian American woman affected you and your perspective? And do you find that there’s much representation, especially in the industries that you work in?
I’m half white and I’m half Asian. So I’m half Filipino. I grew up in a predominantly white area. I was one of two Filipino girls in my group of friends and every everyone else’s life so growing up I identified in a weird way as a white girl, even though I knew I look different and I just kind of go along with the jokes and things like that. I’ve been like a little bit of like an outsider within your group, but it was never a hostile environment.
There are two times where I felt like I was representing my race. Going to auditions, I would be typecast as an Asian person so they would be hiring Asian people and you look around the room and every single person in the room is Asian.
So it was like, “Oh, I’m representing a character or type here — this is the role they’re looking for, they’re hiring for.”
So that’s an interesting feeling, knowing that you’re there, just for a “race”. And then when I went to The Bachelor was when I really, really felt it because there were two Asian girls on my season and one of the other Asian girls was kicked off the show on the first night. So I was like, “Oh, I’m here to represent an Asian American for however long I’m here. Got it.”
So it’s interesting, and I feel like they’re doing better about this now, but the bachelor franchise in the past has not been great about representing people of color and because of that.
I feel like I was definitely under-represented within the show, like I definitely was there to play a role. A lot of my time on TV wasn’t featured and it wasn’t that often you saw me. I was there as like background or like to comment on things. But I never was the main character in anything. And that can do with a lot of factors, but I think race definitely had something to do with that.
Just looking around the room and knowing that you are a minority within a situation is when I really noticed it. Whereas before, I didn’t really notice that difference. It was never hostile, it’s just an interesting thing to notice being in part of a large group of people and being like, “Oh, I’m this specific person only and everyone else’s a different person.”
To young Asian Americans, what would be your advice to them?
There needs to be more people that look like us in whatever industry that is and don’t be afraid. If you look around the room and you’re the only person that looks like you, own that and make sure that you represent yourself well. Essentially, don’t be afraid to be the only person in a room that looks like you. Don’t let it destroy you or push you back from doing the things that you want. Be the first person that’s going to do it or be that person that you needed to see on TV or in that role. Don’t be afraid to represent that within whatever job or role that you’re playing!
