How SYTYCD Canada differs
So You Think You Can Dance Canada has a similar premise as SYTYCD USA, but some glaring differences. Executive Producer, Sandra Faire says diversity and risqué routines among differences between the American and Canadian shows.
The Toronto Star posted this article:
So you think So You Think You Can Dance Canada is just about dance? Think again.
For executive producer Sandra Faire, the show represents Canada in all its multicultural glory.
“A lot of people ask me what makes the show different from the United States or Australia or Britain. And I can say the dancers are more diverse, you know, Cuban, Asian, East Indian, whatever . . . the genres are more diverse, but . . . I would flip it around and say this show represents who we are,” she said in an interview.
Take this season’s top 22, just revealed on Sunday night. They include a salsa dancer who recently emigrated from Cuba, a ballroom dancer born in Ukraine, a contemporary dancer born in Kuwait, a Spanish-Haitian-Canadian hip-hop dancer, a French Canadian ballroom dancer, and a competitor who’s part Métis and combines ballet with breakdancing.
But it’s not just about the origins of the dancers. The Canadian show has introduced styles not seen on other versions of So You Think You Can Dance, including dancehall and Afro-jazz.
“Dancehall is Jamaican and Caribbean. It’s huge in the Jane-Finch area and I wanted to show it because it’s exciting,” Faire said.
“Sometimes we get criticized because it’s very down and dirty, but it’s part of who we are and it’s very much a part of our culture, and we want those kinds of things on the show.”
Since Calgary choreographer Sean Cheesman was invited to SYTYCDC to do Afro-jazz, he’s been hired on the U.S. and Australian shows, and all over the world for that style of choreography, Faire said.
She also believes the Canadian program has two of the best hip-hop choreographers in the world on its team: Luther Brown, who is also a judge, and Sho-Tyme.
Hip hop is “more than a dance,” Faire said. “It’s the culture of the streets. It’s about sex, it’s about violence, it’s about a lot of things and you want to show that authentically in the dance.”
Brown, who grew up in Jane-Finch, and Sho-Tyme, from Queens, N.Y., “show it the way it is. It’s not rhythm and blues, it’s not nice, pretty hip hop, it’s the way it authentically is and I love that about what they do.
“And I know we get criticized, but I don’t want to water it down. And Canadian audiences are more accepting for the most part.”
Still, Faire is careful to air more risqué routines after 9 p.m.
A longtime dance fan who has studied ballet and is a vice-chair of the National Ballet of Canada, Faire believes Canadians are more passionate about dance than Americans. And she notes that the Canadian show has more men in the studio audience than its U.S. counterpart.
“I think the American show is terrific and I have such respect for Nigel (Lythgoe, U.S. executive producer), but it’s a different show here, it’s a very different show.”
For one thing, the U.S. SYTYCD turned the format on its head this past season — its seventh — with a top 11 instead of a top 20 and competitors partnered with all-stars from past seasons.
Faire says there’s enough talent from past Canadian shows to support that change, but “I don’t think we want to do it yet. Maybe Season 7 or 8 if we’re lucky enough to get that.”
Besides, with so many great dancers auditioning for Season 3, it would have been excruciating to get it down to a top 10 or 11. “We could have actually had a top 26,” Faire said. “It was really hard paring it down and we had to turn down some really good dancers.”
Faire’s not taking the Canadian show live, either, as the U.S. did last season. Though it may seem counterintuitive, pre-taping episodes allows for “total spontaneity,” she said.
“We got some stuff, for instance, tonight that I think is a lot of fun and I want to leave in, and we never would have had time for it if we were live,” said Faire, referring to the Saturday night taping of Monday’s performance show.
Mind you, all that fun stuff meant producers had 20 minutes more footage than they needed for a two-hour show (with commercials) and Faire was facing an all-nighter to edit it down, but she wasn’t complaining.
“It’s a treat to be able to do something that you love, that you have a passion for, that you feel is your destiny,” she said. “How often does that happen? Not very often.”
I am glad Canada’s version is not going live and I agree it is not yet ready for an “all-star” season. I appreciate the diversity and “pushing the envelope” that happens on the Canadian show “after 9pm”
If you aren’t familiar with SYTYCD Canada’s reputation for risqué routines here is a summary:
Controversy
So You Think You Can Dance Canada has been known to push the envelope in some dances, and has set itself apart as being known to some as the sexiest version of any SYTYCD series, particularly with Bad Boy choreographer Blake McGrath’s Jazz Funk routines. In the first season Blake choreographed a Jazz-Funk number, as Nico Archambault and Lisa Auguste danced to The Pussycat Dolls hit “When I Grow Up”; it featured the two dancers to pose in some sexual ways. In Season 2 Blake’s Jazz-Funk took the form of Emanuel Sandhu & Kim Gingras dancing to the song “Love Sex Magic” by Ciara, with the routine ending with Kim in a red bikini in a magicians cut box. The most controversial routine was Blake’s Top 14 Group Jazz-Funk number to the song “LoveGame” by Lady Gaga; it involved the Top 14 dressed in leather with whips and chains in a Dominatrix theme. The routine also involved some minor guy on guy dancing with two men lying on top of each other. Hip-Hop king Luther Brown’s routines have also caused some controversy. One such routine had Daniel Dory and Jayme Rae Dailey dancing to the song “Pucker Up” by Ciara. The routine caused the dancers to lie on the ground with Jayme Rae’s face in Daniel’s crotch area; at the end of the routine Daniel ended shirtless and with his belt unbuckled. Another Luther Brown piece, in which Emanuel and Kim danced to the song “Respect My Conglomerate” by Busta Rhymes, involved Kim lifting up Emanuel’s shirt and grabbing his crotch.Also, in Johnny Bryns jazz routine Corynne Barron and Austin De Lello danced to the song “Papparazzi” by Lady Gaga where Corynne walked over Austin wth high heels.
Again, I know many of you can’t get SYTYCD Canada so here are a few of the routines mentioned…
“WHen I Grow Up”:
Here is the “Love, Sex, Magic” routine:
Here is “Pucker Up”:
Here is “Paparazzi”:
Personally, I think sex is part of dancing, not neccessarily all dancing but it shouldn’t be cut-out or censored and I feel like Canadian telelvision is more accepting of those kihds of routines. I have lived in the USA and Canada and notice USA telelvision has more violence, where Canadian television has more nudity.
Regardless, I love seeing the routines get down and dirty from time to time… rawr!
Thoughts?
I think it’s really cool that the shows are different, it would be really boring if they just tried to copy one another, but most SYTYCDs have their unique personality. The one that I think is still a bit lost is Uk’s, I don’t know how to fix it, but it’s not as good as US, CA or even AU (so sad it’s gone ;().
The one thing I don’t love in SYTYCD are the judges comments, they are too nice sometimes, and honestly having 5 judges last episode was way too much!
The problem is that US television is highly censored when it comes to nudity or sexuality… promicuous, etc. But when it comes to violence? As long as it doesn’t show blood, guts, and gore it’s ok…
Which honestly is odd to me, because I know in many other countries it’s a lot more open minded…. I wonder why that is.
Mandy you’ve just given me a fantastic reason to watch SYTYCD Canada… 🙂
In any case, dance can be very sexy and they should embrace that aspect of it rather than rein it in… but considering that many of the contestants are in their late teens… and the conservative mindset of Americans as a whole… “risque” isn’t exactly what parents would want to see their children doing… I believe.
Marianya, you brought up an interesting point about the age of the contestants, and I could be wrong, but I think that another difference between SYTYCD US and CA is that the contestants on the Canadian version are usually older. Of course, there were some really young contestants, but I think that the age average on CA is a bit higher.
I want to point out that SYTYCD Canada DID NOT introduce the world to Dancehall. In fact, the first season of SYTYCD Australia did Dancehall a full 8 months before Canada did. Australia also introduced the first House routine.
Just wanted to say because it irks me every time Leah says Canada was the first to do Dancehall and House.
If you REALLY want to show the blog readers a steamy routine find the dance hall performance from SYTYCD AU Season 1. I think it was Jack and Kate. Now that one was hot.
Julia – Hmm. I’m going to have to retract that last statement…
Canada in it’s first two seasons had an age average about eight months more than that in the U.S. (I’m not kidding I actually did the math… US: 21.65 years, Canada: 22.3 years).
One of these days I’ll do a breakdown of ages, styles and what not eventually. But yeah… not that much of a difference if you think about it and yet Canada is more open minded than the U.S….. WHY?
(that last part was rhetorical)
USA seems to have younger contestents, but that is just my perception (sorry but with characters like Kent, who I love, it’s hard to think of the boys as men ha ha)
I don’t think sexy is the way to go neccessarily but I don’ t think it should be cut out if it fits the song, choreo etc.
@Julia, yes 5 judges is way too many and I fast forward through a lot of the comments anyways – I can’t handle Jean – Marc’s VID gross!
@buffmetube I ignore 99% of the words out of Leah’s mouth anyways 😉
@nina I shall look for it thanks
Y’know, I felt really awkward reading that. But I don’t see anything wrong with it, because if Canada wants to do that, let them! If people don’t wanna watch stuff like that, they shouldn’t watch the show. Just deal with it. Although, the US version has had its moments, like Melody/Nick’s “All That Jazz”. Melody was barely wearing anything! Ditto Lauren in her rumba with Dom. Those routines were sexy, but not in a super risqué way. I think it’s because in the US the most people watching are, like, teens and stuff. And that the people who audition and are on the show are really young. If a teenager sees someone really young on the show do a sexy routine, they’re gonna be like, “Oh, that teen can do sexy and risqué stuff, so why can’t I?” And they go out and get pregnant or get a girl pregnant. The US seems to have a big problem with that kind of stuff. Canada has less people and they don’t have that kind of problem as much as the US does, so they have less worries. LOL, I find it kind of ironic how in the Canadian version has people show more skin, when over there it get FREAKING cold. HA HA HA.
Although, I may have no idea what I’m talking about, since I can’t watch the Canadian version here. IM SUFFERING FROM SYTYCD-WITHDRAWL.
Hey all,
So here is my opinion I’ve never actually watched the CA version of SYTYCD only the US version which I absolutely love. I did just watch those 4 clips to me they were not sexy at all, just a little awkward and a bit raunchy for no reason (and I am no prude I’m Greek trust me we don’t care) what I did notice though is the lack of difficulty in the routine itself. I’m sorry but I really could care less if a routine is “sexy” or not I’d rather see these amazing dancers do something that is more difficult with lifts and steps that ordinary people couldn’t do and I just didn’t see that (at least in those clips), but I can’t say that for the entire show since I’ve never seen it. I don’t want to judge an entire season on a few clips.