Utah b-boy Tadd Gadduang, who is one of eight finalists remaining in the "So You Think You Can Dance" competition, isn't married.

That band on his left ring finger is symbolic of a significant relationship in the dancer's life, although it has confused more than a few people.

"Even my cousins didn't know what it is," Gadduang said. "They're, like, 'Did you get married and you didn't tell us?' "

Nope. There was no wedding.

"The way I always explain my relationship with dance is I embody it as a woman," Gadduang said in a phone interview during a break from rehearsals. "And in a sense, I'm married to dance. I used to wear it on my right hand. But because I b-boy a lot on my right hand, I was getting scratches on the floor. So I switched it to my left hand."

Engraved inside the ring is this motto: "Find your medicine, make it work." The ring was a gift from a friend, given to him last year when he was considering giving up dance.

"A lot of stuff in my personal life was pushing me toward focusing on things outside of dance," Gadduang said. "But my friend gave this to me and she said, 'You cannot stop dancing.' When I put this ring on, it made me realize that I have to focus on what I love to do. And that energy and that motivation pushed me to get where I am today in this competition."

The Granger High grad has danced his way into the top eight of the "SYTYCD" competition, outlasting thousands of other hopefuls. And not just with his b-boy moves, but dancing the waltz and hip-hop and Broadway and every other combination that's thrown at him.

"I'm hanging in there, trying to keep up with the rest of the dancers," Gadduang said. "The game plan that I go into everything with is whatever movements they need me to do, I just relate it to what I do [when breaking]. Hopefully, I can find some strength of technique that works."

So far, so good. Gadduang and the other seven remaining contestants perform on Wednesday, July 27 (7 p.m., Fox/Channel 13); one male and one female dancer will be eliminated on Thursday, July 28 (also 7 p.m., Fox/Ch. 13).

"I've never, ever danced this hard in my life," Gadduang said. So far, he's held up without major incident. Just a few "bumps and cuts and scratches and little things here and there. But they're like war scars."

While he allows himself to occasionally think ahead and ponder the possibility that he could win this thing, Gadduang said he tries to be more "zen" about it.

"We never know what's going to happen and we have no control over anything," he said. "Except for dancing and making sure we do well with our routines, and then just having fun.

With a laugh, he added: "And eating. It's stressful to some extent, but I remind myself to just have fun no matter what."

Scott D. Pierce's column appears Mondays and Fridays in The Mix. Contact him at spierce@sltrib.com.