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Mary Murphy on 10 Seasons of SYTYCD and SYTYCD 2013

Mary Murphy has been one of the mainstays of SYTYCD, so it’s interesting to hear her thoughts about this upcoming season and her experience over the past 10 years (although she wasn’t on all 10 seasons). She’s right that the 10 seasons have passed so quickly. I haven’t seen the numbers for SYTYCD season 10 yet, but I hope they’re doing well so we get a SYTYCD 11.

An interview with Mary Murphy discussing So You Think You Can Dance 2013:

May 18, 2013 I Written By

Just call me Charlie...but where are my angels?

Adam Shankman Talks SYTYCD 2013

Adam Shankman is so successful in so many areas of entertainment, that I’m always interested to hear his perspectives. In this video Adam talks about what it means that SYTYCD has reached its tenth season and what SYTYCD has meant to dance. Enjoy!

An interview with Adam Shankman discussing So You Think You Can Dance 2013:

May 17, 2013 I Written By

Just call me Charlie...but where are my angels?

Nigel Lythgoe Previews SYTYCD 2013

SYTYCD 2013 Judge and Executive Producer, Nigel Lythgoe, discusses what we can expect on SYTYCD 2013 in the following video interview. He talks about how amazing it is that SYTYCD is in its tenth season. Nigel also talks about the most shocking thing he’s seen on SYTYCD. If you’re a SYTYCD fan you’ll enjoy this interview.

An interview with Nigel Lythgoe discussing So You Think You Can Dance 2013:

May 16, 2013 I Written By

Just call me Charlie...but where are my angels?

tWitch Discusses Being Guest Judge on SYTYCD 2013

Next up in our SYTYCD 2013 judges interviews is tWitch. That’s right, tWitch is a guest judge on SYTYCD 2013 in Detroit. Pretty amazing that he’s gone from not even making SYTYCD Vegas week, to being on the show, to being a SYTYCD All Star and now a SYTYCD judge. Plus, it seems that the world can’t get enough of tWitch. Plus, how great that him and Allison Holker are together!

Enjoy the following interview with tWitch where he discusses So You Think You Can Dance season 10.

May 15, 2013 I Written By

Just call me Charlie...but where are my angels?

SYTYCD Season 9: Top 20 Performances – Music and Instant Thoughts!

Here it is! The moment we were all waiting for! The Top 20 Performances… and a glimpse of what is going to happen throughout the remainder of the season.

First we open with a Group routine:

Group Dance: Top 20
Choreographer: Christopher Scott
Song: Kerry Muzzey – Architect of the Mind Architect of the Mind - Trailer Music 2

Now we are going through the individual introductions of the dancers that are part of the show.

Judges: Nigel Lythgoe, Mary Murphy, Kenny Ortega

According to Nigel, after all the votes are tabulated this week at the end of the episode next week two boys and two girls will be eliminated. Interesting.

Witney Carson & Chehon Wespi-Tschopp
Dance: Samba
Choreographer: Louis van Amstel
Song: The Cube Guys and Luciana – Jump Jump (Radio Edit) - Jump - Single
Thoughts: Considering this is Witney’s genre… this is really her thing, so she totally stole the show. I found moments that I really like watching Chehon, his technique in Samba isn’t all there yet, but there is something there that I can’t help but be drawn to. I have to agree with Mary, if he adjusts his foot placement he may actually excel in this genre more.

Tiffany Maher & George Lawrence
Dance: Contemporary
Choreographer: Sonya Tayeh
Song: Sleeping at Last – Turning Page Turning Page - The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Pt. 1 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) [Deluxe Version]
Thoughts: Considering that the music is from the Twilight: Breaking Dawn soundtrack, I am not surprised at the whole “star crossed lovers” concept. Sonya? Contemporary? Wuh? But… Oh Em Gee… look at it! That was breathtaking… I am really liking what Sonya came up with, but more importantly I really liked what Tiffany and George did with it when asked to dance. It was just gorgeous.

Janaya French & Brandon Mitchell
Dance: Hip Hop
Choreographer: NappyTabs
Song: Drake & Rihanna – Take Care Take Care (feat. Rihanna) - Take Care (Deluxe Version)
Thoughts: For some reason I felt like this was very a much “dance by number” kind of routine with a little bit of emotion mixed in there. Like they were concentrating too much on the choreo and steps and not enough with each other or the audience for that matter.

Alexa Anderson & Daniel Baker
Dance: Jazz
Choreographer: Sean Cheesman
Song: Dennis Ferrer – Hey Hey Hey Hey (DF's Attention Vocal Mix) [feat. Dennis Ferrer] - Avicii Presents Strictly Miami (Mixed Version)
Thoughts: I think I was too in awe of the choreography and the dance itself to really pay much attention to anything else.

Amber Jackson & Nick Bloxsom-Carter
Dance: Viennese Waltz
Choreographer: Jason Gilkison
Song: Tina Arena – Nights in White Satin Nights In White Satin - Songs of Love & Loss, Vol. 2
Thoughts: If I liked Nick before… I love him a lot now. He’s such an overthinker like me, so I can relate to his fear that he might not hit the expectations set on him, but personally I think he expects that much more out of himself as opposed to everyone else. This routine really seemed like it was floating on air a lot.

Amelia Lowe & Will Thomas
Dance: Pop-fusion
Choreographer: NappyTabs
Song: The Cure – The Lovecats The Lovecats - The Cure: Greatest Hits
Thoughts: Wow, this is a very good number. NappyTabs have managed to reinvent themselves so that they aren’t entirely hip hop… this is very very interesting. Will and Amelia did a very good job with this piece and to think I was a little bit worried… Silly me. Considering that I didn’t know much about Will before… what is there to know except that he is a fabulous dancer and really a good “balance” with Amelia. They really looked like they were having fun in this dance.

Janelle Issis & Dareian Kujawa
Dance: African Jazz
Choreographer: Sean Cheesman
Song: Hilight Tribe – Jungle Jungle - Drum Trance (Music Mosaic Compilation)
Thoughts: Geez, what is it with Sean Cheesman and his love for technically advanced routines? I mean seriously! But what Daniel and Alexa lacked emotionally earlier today, Janelle and Dareian were able to achieve here… their personalities shown and they have charisma for miles. You can tell they were having fun and enjoying the dance. It was great to see.

Eliana Girard & Cyrus “Glitch” Spencer
Dance: Broadway
Choreographer: Tyce Diorio
Song: Hairspray (Original Braodway Cast) – Run and Tell That Run and Tell That! - Hairspray - Original Broadway Cast Recording
Thoughts: As worried as I was for Cyrus in picking up choreographer I was pleasantly surprised just how well he was able to cope to picking up choreography. Granted one of Cyrus’ best assets is just how much of a performer and entertainer he is, which really works well with Eliana and her performing background as well. Based on this performance alone I would say that they are bound to be around for quite some time if they keep this up.

Audrey Case & Matthew Kazmierczak
Dance: Contemporary
Choreographer: Travis Wall
Song: The Righteous Brothers – Unchained Melody Unchained Melody - The Very Best of the Righteous Brothers - Unchained Melody
Thoughts: Can we have a Titanic based dance show that Travis choreographs, because this was awesome. I really really liked it. These two are a really good pair together. I don’t know what else to say about this particular piece.

Lindsay Arnold & Cole Horibe
Dance: Paso Doble
Choerographer: Jason Gilkison
Song: E. S. Posthumus – Unstoppable Unstoppable - Makara
Thoughts: Love, Love, Love this routine. Actually if rumors are to be believed, Cole apparently has done some ballroom dancing… then again considering this is the Paso Doble it really does cater a bit to his strengths. I agree with the judges, as long as this couple keeps this up they may be the pair to beat.

July 11, 2012 I Written By

My life can be summed up in the following two quotes: 1) "I am married to engineering and am its faithful wife by day, but at night my wanderlust takes hold and the arts becomes my jealous paramour." and... 2) "Engineering is my safety net. Writing is my passion. Acting is my escape when the other two become too much." So where does dancing fit in? Pretty much anywhere at this point... =)

SYTYCD Season 9: How will voting work?

The major question that has been on everybody’s mind is: how is voting going to work for Season 9?

In the past seven seasons (excluding Season 1 since that was a one-episode per week season and I don’t remember how that season went)
– performances commenced on Wednesday evenings
– the public call in their votes for an hour or two after the end of the episode
– on Thursday evening we find out who are the Bottom Three couples
– the dancers of the Bottom Three couples are asked to “dance for their solo”
– judges choose who to let go

Since Season 9 is only going to have one episode per week as opposed to two, how is that going to affect the flow of the show. In a previous post I mentioned the possibility that So You Think You Can Dance may run in a similar vein as that of America’s Best Dance Crew.

According to the following interview between Nigel Lythgoe and DancePlug :

So what is going to happen is the following:
On Wednesday, July 11th
1: The Top 20 will have their first partnered performances
2: After the show the public will be allowed vote for the dancers that want to keep on the show. All the dancers will be voted individually as opposed as by pairs

Then on Wednesday, July 18th (in order)
1: The judges will announce who are the bottom three guys and bottom three girls at the top of the episodes
2: The dancers (including all the bottom guys and girls) will dance their partnered routines
3: The judges will decide who will leave the show… if the judges are still unsure they would ask the bottom three guys and/or bottom three girls
4: The voting public will be allowed to phone in their votes for the following episode

Rinse and repeat.

Not exactly confusing, but definitely different from what we are used to. What might be noticeably different is that the dancers do not appear to be dancing solos to prove that they should be considered to be kept on the show. I think a major reason that the “dance for your life” solos are eliminated is that because the bottom three guys and bottom three girls are already announced at the top of the episode they have their partnered routines to prove to the judges that they should stay on the show. To me that kind of makes sense as to why having a solo thereafter would almost be overkill. But that’s my opinion.

July 4, 2012 I Written By

My life can be summed up in the following two quotes: 1) "I am married to engineering and am its faithful wife by day, but at night my wanderlust takes hold and the arts becomes my jealous paramour." and... 2) "Engineering is my safety net. Writing is my passion. Acting is my escape when the other two become too much." So where does dancing fit in? Pretty much anywhere at this point... =)

8 rounds of Vegas Call-Backs

It’s been a while since I posted, I used to cover the SYTYCD Canada show, until it was sadly cancelled.

I have been watching the SYTYCD USA auditions, but I have to say, Vegas week is my most favourite and it inspired me to write a little something about the eight rounds we watched tonight.

8 rounds:
Solos
Hip hop
Broadway
Jazz
Groups
Ballroom
Contemporary
Final solos

I appreciated seeing the various choreographers testing the dancers in a variety of genres, much like the live shows will go. I wanted to talk about each round a bit.

1. Solos
This is usually boring for me because it is mostly a refresher of what each dancer can do and a catch-up for judges who perhaps didn’t see them dance in their hometown auditions. There were a few stand outs and a few cuts, but as a viewer this part doesn’t interest me too much. Sometimes there is a new dancer who wasn’t highlighted at a previous audition, so it’s nice to get to know more about the contestents style.

2. Hip Hop
I love Twitch and Comfort, who choreographed this round. I hope we get to see more past contestents as choreographers this season. The routine was funky and as Comfort said, very “ATL” It had that Atlanta, southern swag and was fun to watch.

3. Broadway
Tyce DiOrio is intense. This routine had a great story. I loved the idea of the drink of “water” making everyone go a bit crazy. It was fun, but youc ould see who took on the character and who was just dancing the moves. Broadway certainly needs more character and the dancers who got that component were far more enjoyable to watch.

4. Jazz
Sonya Teyeh choreographed. She is so awesome! One of my favourites, I love her strangeness. What I adore about her choreography is the way it lets the unique, quirky stylistic dancers shine.

5. Groups
This is by far my most favourite part of Vegas. I really hope one day to go to the taping of this part of the show. I was disappointed that we didn’t get to see a lot of the overnight drama and practicing and brainstorming and idea sharing. It is entertaining to see all the drama that kicks in with lack of sleep and bubbling personalities. I am really upset we didn’t get to see more drama from the night, but I was impressed with the routines that aired.

They formed their own groups of 5-6 people then picked a piece of music at random and had all night to practice and perform in the morning.

6. Ballroom
Jason Gilkison takes the remaning dancers through choreography for the Cha Cha. It is challenging but the dancers do pretty well. I love seeing non-ballroom dancers take on this challenge. I can’t imagine how difficult it must be.

7. Contemporary
Travis Wall leads the rest of the dancers through a beautiful routine. I love Travis and this was stunning. Some dancers couldn’t handle it, but what I like about this round is that dancers who are so exhausted really push to make it through this final round… or they do not. It seems to show the most passionate dancers. Nigel announced that judges would not share who was going through and who was not until they had seen all dancers. It was intense.

8. Final Solos
Unlike the opening solos which I don’t care much for most of the time, these final solos are awesome to watch. You see some true superstars and of course they highlight the best of the best on air. There are, however, still some cuts to be made and it is sad to see some favourites head home… some of them, again.

Which round is your favourite to watch? Any stand out dancers? Favourite Choreographers?

What do you like best about Vegas week?

June 20, 2012 I Written By

I am a blogger and reality tv lover. I blog here for SYTYCD but mostly the Canada version, since I live in Vancouver BC. I also blog about other reality tv shows on my own blog www.mandysmind.com

NEW SYTYCD Pages Added! Trivia, Facts and More

Over the past few weeks I have been working hard at creating a few pages that would help compare and contrast all the dancers from the past seasons to what is going on in the current season. These pages would be continuously updated over the course of the season as well as during the off season as more information comes in… Since a lot of this is back tracking through all the past seasons there’s a lot of information to filter through.

If you look at the column in the far right under “PURESYTYCD” you will find the following additional pages for references:
SYTYCD “All Star” Choreographers
Before the “All Stars” came into being, past contestants of So You Think You Can Dance have been asked to come back and choreograph routines for a pair of dancers. Here you can find who has been asked to come back to choreograph a piece for the dancers on the show

SYTYCD “All Star” Dancers
When the “All Star” Dancers were first announced in Season 7 there was rampant speculation as to who would be chosen as the “All Star” Dancers. What was originally a pool of ten dancers grew to move due to availability for the show in Season 8. Here you could find out who was brought back as an “All Star” and when they were on the show as an “All Star” Dancer

Audition Cities
This is a table of all the cities that So You Think You Can Dance has visited before “Vegas Callbacks” (originally called “Hollywood Weekend” in Season One). This table is broken down by season.

SYTYCD Crossover with Dancing with the Stars
Several ballroom dancers that have been on SYTYCD have crossed over to the other major television dancing show: Dancing with the Stars. How those dancers have fared on the other major dance show are found here along with whom they were partnered with.

SYTYCD Top 10 Dance Style Breakdown
A common question for SYTYCD is what dance styles have been represented in the Top 10. Well now you can find out. Here are all the dance styles broken down by season for the Top 10 (5 guys and 5 girls) as well as Top 4. Since Season 6 was a Top 11, I kept it as a Top 11. A table that show a breakdown of the dance styles throughout all seasons is also here.

SYTYCD Top 20 Dance Style Breakdown
Similar to the above, this is a Top 20 breakdown of all the dance styles that have been represented on So You Think You Can Dance. Here are all the dance styles that are broken down by season for those that have made it on the show (10 guys and 10 girls). Again, since Season 6 was a Top 11, I had to include that too. A table that show a breakdown of the dance styles throughout all seasons is found at the top of the pages. Also of note: Season 1 had a Top 16 as opposed to being a Top 20.

SYTYCD Top 20 Show Trivia
This is probably the most involved information page… included is the following:
– Top 20 dancers that have auditioned in previous seasons
– Top 20 dancers that have gone through the choreography round in their audition city
– Top 20 dancers that have had to “dance for your life” during Vegas Callbacks
– additional notes that affected the dancers

What to expect down the road:
– Pages dedicated to the choreographers on the show broken down by dance style and a final accumulation page of all the choreographers and how many have come through the show
– Pages dedicated to the Top 20 Show Trivia including age breakdown, who was in the bottom, etc
– Pages dedicated to the season by season breakdown of the dance styles attempted

If you have any information (and please provide verification) that could help make the above pages even better feel free to comment or just Contact Us at PureSYTYCD.com!

June 18, 2012 I Written By

My life can be summed up in the following two quotes: 1) "I am married to engineering and am its faithful wife by day, but at night my wanderlust takes hold and the arts becomes my jealous paramour." and... 2) "Engineering is my safety net. Writing is my passion. Acting is my escape when the other two become too much." So where does dancing fit in? Pretty much anywhere at this point... =)

So You Think You Can Dance Season 9 Discussion with Debbie Allen

Time for a great discussion of SYTYCD season 9 with the famous Debbie Allen. Debbie Allen gives you some really big hints on some dancers that make it to Las Vegas, so listen for those comments. I also dig in a little bit with Debbie Allen about how dance has evolved and even ask her what she thinks about a Dancing with the Stars – Contemporary edition. Enjoy!

In case you missed it, be sure to check out my interview with Cat Deeley about SYTYCD 2012 and with Nigel Lythgoe as well.

May 23, 2012 I Written By

Just call me Charlie...but where are my angels?

Mary Murphy Discusses So You Think You Can Dance Season 9

Time for a great discussion of SYTYCD season 9 and ballroom dancing on SYTYCD with Mary Murphy. I think this interview does a good job of showing what Mary Murphy is really like. She’s much more calm and not playing it up for the big cameras. I liked talking with her about ballroom dancing on SYTYCD. Plus, Mary Murphy talks about the change from SYTYCD Top 20 to only 18 dancers making the finale. I also ask her what she thinks about having ballroom dancers “dance for their life” with a partner.

In case you missed it, be sure to check out my interview with Cat Deeley about SYTYCD 2012 and with Nigel Lythgoe as well.

May 21, 2012 I Written By

Just call me Charlie...but where are my angels?