*Top 11 Spoilers*
Happy Monday everybody! Our good friends over at SYTYCDISM have uncovered the spoilers for the first performance show!
*spoilers after the jump*
contestant on the left, all-star on the right
Billy & Lauren – Broadway – Tyce Diorio
This should be fun. Lauren is Tyce’s go-to girl so it’s no surprise that she’s the first all-star dancing in one of his numbers. Billy’s a star in the making, and I think he’s really going to take advantage of his 2nd chance on the show.
Alex & Allison – Jazz – Sonya Tayeh
Interesting pair. Both brilliant technicians, no doubt about it. Sonya wasn’t a choreographer on the show during Allison’s season so I’m really intrigued to see the two of them working together. The thing with Alex is character and expression. During the Top 11 + All-Stars number last week, I felt like he was trying too hard.
Ashley & Neil – Contemporary – Tyce Diorio
For me, this one is kind of a toss-up. I haven’t seen Ashley dancing enough to get a sense of her as a performer. Last week, she and Courtney looked so much alike (skin tone, hair color/length, height) and the camera was moving around so much that I started to get them mixed up. Neil was great in “Mein Herr” (link below) Tyce’s top 4 routine during S3, so he will kill it, for sure, and it would be great to see Ashley keep up with him.
Adéchiké & Kathryn – Contemporary/Jazz – Travis Wall
Ahhhh, now this is a pair to get excited about. Travis didn’t get to choreograph Kathryn last season, and adding Adéchiké to the mix should be really cool combination. My hope for Adéchiké is that his confidence stays up. He’s a beautiful dancer (see: dance for his life solo in Vegas) and I think Kathryn will be a great partner for him, much as she was for Legacy last year.
Cristina & Mark – Jazz – Sonya Tayeh
Hmmm…another interesting one. Mark and Sonya back together is fabulous, they basically speak the same language of dance. Christina really held her own during contemporary in Vegas, but Travis and Sonya are very different choreographers. Fingers crossed for her.
Lauren & Ade – Contemporary – Mandy Moore
This could be a very cool pair. They’re very different dancers and I think Mandy could do for them what she did for Sabra and Neil during S3’s Table Dance/Business Deal. Mixing their mutual athleticism with Ade’s spinning skills/Lauren’s personality and it could be a great combo.
Robert & Courtney – African Jazz? – Sean Cheesman
Yesss, I LOVE Sean Cheesman. This could be so awesome. They’re both very good technical dancers, and I would love to see them get down and dirty with this number. The number from Courtney’s season that I’m thinking of is her Indiana Jones routine with Gev (link below). Afro Jazz really propelled Russell and Noelle last season, let’s see if it can do the same for Robert.
Jose & Comfort – Hip Hop – NappyTabs
Even I could have predicted this one was going to happen. I think this will be good for Jose, to get one more piece under his belt that’s in his style, to make him feel more confident, especially being the only “hip-hop” dancer in the top 11. I’d love to see something like Comfort and Mark’s “Kids in Detention” number (link below), cool moves with a lot of personality.
Kent & Anya – Ballroom – Tony Meredith and Melanie LaPatin
This is an interesting one too. Kent has a great teacher in Anya, I think she will do a lot to help him. And Tony and Melanie have been pretty consistent in their routines. I think this will definitely be a test for Kent, can he be that leading man?
Alexie & Twitch – Hip Hop – NappyTabs
Ooo I like this. Twitch brings so much personality to his hip hop, and he always hits it hard. I think Alexie will be great personality/humor-wise, and I hope she can keep up with him. He’s a big guy and she’s not very big, so her movements are going to have to be extra sharp.
Melinda & Pasha – Ballroom – Tony Meredith and Melanie LaPatin
Can I switch places with Melinda? I want to dance with Pasha! I’m not entirely sure what to think about this one. Like Kent, Melinda has a great leader in Pasha, I think he will be a very good teacher for her. But also like Kent, Melinda has to be able to stand out with her technique, otherwise she will get overshadowed in the performance. I have confidence in her; I think she’s be able to do it.
Mein Herr
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Kids At Detention
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Indiana Jones/Lost in the Jungle
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Okay, there are my thoughts. I’d love to hear from you guys. What do you think about performance show #1?!
@ margaret
“she and Courtney looked so much alike (skin tone, hair color/length, height) and the camera was moving around so much that I started to get them mixed up”
~~~ Well, I watched the Sonya Tayeh group number over and over and Ashley was dizzyingly good.
There’s a mystique about Ashley that has intrigued me ever since she was announced for top 11. Is she the Sabra, Jeanine or Kathryn of seasons’ past? These girls have in common the fact that they were not in the spotlight but generated momentum, then began to steal hearts across America and won SYTYCD (Kathryn winning top girl).
I remember thinking in the past when Kathryn was revealed for top 20 for season 6, ‘Who the hell is that that girl?’ Then she blossomed and I fell in love with her.
So now I’m more open-minded about Ashley and being paired with Neil will most likely get her a spot for Top 9 and give us another shot of getting to know more about her. (I know a lot of tween-agers will go crazy for Neil’s crooked smile and boy-next-door good looks and vote because of him) Besides that, I feel most of us want to follow in the same journey with the undiscovered dancer who rightfully earns the rewards of being in the limelight.
Only time will tell if my question about Ashley brings some truth.
Is there a dancer in the dark or a dark horse in the dancer?
@Dennis, I hope you didn’t think I was dissing Ashley, I think she seems awesome and Sonya’s piece was one of my favorites from last week, so I have nothing but good things to say about her. I think she could be a Jeanine or Kathryn, that would be very cool.
I simply meant that with her lack of exposure in Vegas, I don’t have as much of a sense of what kind of dancer she is, like we have of a Billy or Alex. I thought she was great in Sonya’s number, but dancing in a group like that is totally different than just dancing in a pair. I’m a big fan of Neil, and I think you’re right that Neil’s fanbase will definitely help her. Plus, Tyce’s contemporary pieces seem to be stronger than his broadway recently, so they’re in good hands.
@Margaret
Sorry, there was no offense intended. I just wanted to remark on what I saw and was just too excited to leave a comment. =D
I think you’re spot on with your thoughts on all of the pairings.
I like Ashley too based on Sonyas Routines…. she had much better lines than Courtney G. now I dunno how I feel about her dancing with Neil…. While I did not understand the neil Hype during Season 3…. I understand and appreciate his skill…. that being said I dont know If he can adapt to Tyce’s movement…. Tyce has really earthy choreo alot…. Neil only worked with Tyce in broadway but a contemporary number is completely different….
I can’t wait to see Alex and Allison. They definitely both stood out for me on the performance pieces last week. This has a potential of being something really special.
I just hope the show doesn’t tear Alex to shreds like they did to Danny Tidwell. That was disgusting in his season. I get that Nigel wants an unknown, but let’s not break the spirit of great dancers in the process.
@Margaret – I actually had the same problem during last week’s show, too. Courtney & Ashley looked almost identical to me – and they were moving around so quickly on that huge stage, so it was hard to tell them apart until the camera panned in closer. Thankfully, it will be a one-time thing, since they aren’t doing same-sex pairings this season.
@Brandon – I agree totally about Courtney. I remember Tyce telling her when she first tried out in NY that she needed to “finish her lines” – and she still seems to struggle with that, which stinks because as a more petite dancer she needs to move as fully as she can in order to really stand out. That was the one thing that distinguished her from Ashley in the Sonya number last week – Ashley was the one moving big and stretching every line, while Courtney seemed a bit more…compact. At this point I would have hoped she would’ve improved more, since she’s an all-star…but oh well. She’s there to help and not to take away attention from the contestants, so I guess it doesn’t matter as much that her lines are a little sub-par.
On the whole, it looks like this week’s show will be a bit heavy on the contemporary – three routines seems like a lot for one week. Wish they would have substituted one of them with something different, like Bollywood. I think the Jose & Comfort hip-hop routine is a bit of a “free pass” for Jose – kinda like Karen getting to dance her own style the first week of season 6. But Comfort was hitting the Nappytabs routine last week pretty hard, so Jose better bring it if he doesn’t want to be upstaged. Psyched about the Afro Jazz routine – for some reason, I have a feeling that Robert is gonna kill it. Poor Kent – I’m afraid watching the fresh-faced boy next door attempt to keep up with a sexpot like Anya is going to look awkward and mismatched. However, I think Pasha & Melinda will make it work – he doesn’t seem to overwhelm his partners as much as some of the other Latin guys that have been on the show, like Dmitry or Artem.
In other news, just found out that Fabian Sanchez from DWTS is going to be choreographing a mambo routine for next week’s show. Marlee Matlin (his former DWTS partner) tweeted it yesterday. Hopefully Fabian will finally fill the salsa/mambo hole left in the choreographer pool when Alex Da Silva was arrested!
Great job, Margaret. I love your analysis of the potential routines – I think you’re spot on. Most especially about Kent having to step up and be a leading man. I mean, Anya’s a generous partner, but she is a woman and he cannot be a boy dancing with her. 🙂
@Brandon, I know what you mean about the Neil “hype”, I went back and watched some of his earlier routines during his season and some of his later routines. I think he grew in confidence and became more than just a gymnast who can do really cool tricks. Sometimes we forget that he started out as a gymnast then switched to dance, and I thought he became a much better dancer over the season. Tyce’s contemporary could be as much of a test for him as it is for Ashley, but I think they’ll be okay.
@Courtney, I realized last week how much I miss the old stage, I wanted the camera to go in closer, go around, really get the full extent of the movements, but with the new stage you just can’t do that. The lights are better than the crazy image board from last year, but there was a point during Sonya’s number where I almost lost the dancers in the lights because they were so bright.
And thanks for the info about Fabian Sanchez! I really liked his latin choreography on DWTS, especially with Marlee Matlin being deaf, he created some great routines. “The Mambo King” as he’s called, should be right at home on the SYTYCD stage.
@Andie, I couldn’t agree more. Poor Danny, he took so much heat from the judges about being cocky that I think it just tore him up. Brandon took it too, but I think he had the personality to be able to take it a little better. Danny said in his interview during the S3 finale that it all kinda made him shut down, which made me sad. I hope Alex has got some tough skin.
in other news, there will be a GREAT pro dance on the June 17 results show. Two of the stars of the broadway hit “Come Fly Away” will be doing their signature number “That’s Life”. It’s a fabulous show, set to the music of Frank Sinatra with choreography by the great Twyla Tharp, that tells the story of 4 couples who meet in a club and their love, and it’s all told through dance.
http://www.broadway.com/shows/come-fly-away/buzz/152785/come-fly-away-stars-karine-plantadit-and-keith-roberts-to-soar-on-so-you-think-you-can-dance/
I watched the show perform on the Tony Awards on Sunday and was totally blown away by them. It’s going to be a treat.
will there be an all-star tour too?
or the top11 will go on tour with the all-star?
@Margaret You took the words right out of my mouth about the stage – I LOATHE the new, big, flashy one. The dancers just seem to disappear on it, and it somehow takes the magic out of a lot of the otherwise very powerful routines…case in point: Tyce’s cancer routine. Earth-shatteringly touching on the small stage, but it lost some of its sparkle and intimate feel on the big stage. Ditto for Mia’s addiction routine – the lighting seemed to really drown out Kayla & Kupono, to the point where I couldn’t see the tortured & sinister expressions that made that dance so riveting. It’s just bad…I really want the small stage from the days of yore back, lol 😀
And I’m pumped about Fabian too – mambo is right in his wheelhouse. And it’s high time they got a legit mambo/salsa choreographer in there to replace Alex! Can’t remember the name of the guy that did Mollee & Nathan’s salsa last season, but I was highly unimpressed with it – then again, maybe that’s because those two weren’t particularly great at that style. And I can’t even remember there being a mambo or salsa on season 5, aside from Jeannette’s (who, by the way, I think is wayyyy better than Cristina) solos. Go Fabian! Make us proud! 😀
@Courtney, the guy you’re talking about, Gustavo Vargas, is actually a very good choreographer. You should check out some of the pieces he’s done for SYTYCD Canada, they’re a little hit or miss, but when he gets the right dancers, they’re really good.
That’s an interesting point about Janette and Christina. I think the thing that put Christina over the top with the judges was her ability to hold her own in the comtemporary. Janette never really did contemporary during the show, but she had this fiery personality that never felt forced or over the top, it always felt real. I haven’t quite warmed up to Christina yet, something in me feels like she’s not quite comfortable enough to try and be herself. She doesn’t seem to have the personality of a Billy or Lauren Froderman who the audience is immediately drawn to and who seem to be totally comfortable going there with characters and dances. Time will tell, I guess. I have my fingers crossed for her.
@Margaret To Janette’s credit, she has performed a contemporary routine before but she was never given the opportunity to perform contemporary in the show.
here’s a link to one of her contemporary routines. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkLaZOBW-94
I also agree that Christina isn’t quite comfortable yet. But I would like to see more of her. I would like all the girls to stay at least for this round. I think all of them have something different to offer, but there are just way too many good contemporary men competing against them.