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SPOILER!!!: Possible Choreographers in Tonight’s Episode

Found this on twitter:

So it would appear that the following choreographers are going to be on hand today:
– Jason Gilkison
– NappyTabs
– Travis Wall
– Sonya Tayeh
– Sean Cheesman
– Tyce Diorio
Of course we know about Louis van Amstel

I’m kind of curious to see how many of these spoilers are actually true.

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... =)

SPOILERS! SYTYCD Top 20!!!

Much like in last week’s post about spoilers for who made it through the end of Vegas Callbacks. Today is probably one of the most anticipated episodes of the season as the Top 20 is revealed.

Like last week, OMGDance has provided some spoilers as to whom could be in the Top 20

Nigel has mentioned a few times this season that Ballroom and Hip Hop is strong this season. Based off of last week’s spoilers there were three ballroom dancers that made it to the end of Vegas Callbacks and only one that we know of to be a hip-hop related dancers (there might be others, but none that we are able to discern based on the episodes seen).

If you look at the Top 20 Dance Style Breakdown page the season with the most hip-hop related dancers (this is including popping, locking, etc):
– Season One: 3 male / 1 female and 1 male breaker
– Season Two: 3 male / 2 female
– Season Three: 2 male / 1 female and 2 male breakers / 1 female breaker
– Season Four: 2 male / 1 female and 1 male breaker
– Season Five: 2 male
– Season Six: 2 male and 1 male breaker and 1 male krumper
– Season Seven: 1 male breaker
– Season Eight: 2 male and 2 male breakers
Just looking at the above list some of the hip-hop related strongest seasons occurred in the first four seasons of the series and then Seasons Six and Eight.

However, whenever Nigel and Co. talk about hip-hop dancers that have come onto the show they always go back to Twitch and Comfort both from Season Four. If they talk about strong breakers they tend to look at either Dominic from Season 3, Jonathan “Legacy” Perez from Season 6, or Jose Ruiz from Season 7.
Read more..

June 27, 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... =)

Some Interesting Notes from My SYTYCD 2012 Las Vegas Week Taping Experience

As many of you know, I was lucky enough to attend the first day of the SYTYCD 2012 Las Vegas week tapings. It was an amazing experience for someone who writes about SYTYCD and also loves SYTYCD. Since I have a number of reality TV blogs, I’ve been to quite a few tapings. In case you missed it, I also was able to do a bunch of SYTYCD video interviews at SYTYCD Vegas Week as well.

Disclaimer: I don’t find any of the items in this post to be real spoilers for the show. I don’t talk about who’s eliminated or anything like that. However, some people might consider some of the comments as spoilers. So, read at your own discretion. You’ve been warned.

I was really happy to see that the SYTYCD taping was quite authentic. Sure, they had a few retapings of dancers running up the aisles, but for the most part they didn’t try and contrive something that didn’t happen. It was pure dancing and they moved along really quickly. They also did a number of other seminars/talks that won’t appear on camera, but were designed to help the dancers understand the dance industry. It was a great example, that Nigel and company really do care about the dancers that participate on the show.

The SYTYCD Las Vegas week judges are: Lil C, Adam Shankman, Debbie Allen, Tyce Diorio, Mary Murphy, and Nigel Lythgoe. It was quite the crew. One funny thing about the judges is that a number of them changed into slippers when they were sitting at the judges table. I don’t blame them. That would be a long time sitting there in uncomfortable shoes that no one will see.

The big news that they announced while I was there and that was also mentioned in Mary Murphy’s interview was that they were only doing a Top 18 instead of a Top 20. Of course, since then they could have certainly changed their minds and gone back to a SYTYCD top 20. Considering Marianya’s SYTYCD Olympic schedule change post they have enough weeks for a SYTYCD top 20, so maybe they have changed their minds. Or maybe they just have something else up their sleeve for the extra week that Marianya didn’t know about when she created her post. It will be fun to see what they do.

For those keeping track at home, there were 86 girls and 86 boys that made it go SYTYCD Vegas week. I believe Nigel said that they didn’t require that there be the same number of boys as girls, but that it was nice that it worked out that way. 172 dancers all in one place was awesome. Although, you can imagine how many of them land on the cutting room floor. It’s unfortunate since so many of them are such good dancers.

A few other quick hits and quotes:
-Adam Shankman running (or trying to run) when he was introduced was hilarious. I hope it makes the show.
-Tyce offered some really sound feedback, “Have a likeability and you can do ball change, and we still like you.”
-“We’ve basically seen it all.” A great comment by Adam Shankman to remember.

Some other must see solos were from the blonde ballroom girl, the belly dancer, and the excorcist did his thing nicely as well. Although, of those three if they don’t show the belly dancer’s first solo I’ll be shocked. It was absolutely phenomenal.

After the first round of solos, 42 people were already cut from the competition. It goes fast for many. Although, that still left 130 dancers. So many that they had to divide them into two groups to learn the choreography. Speaking of which, the first choreography was Hip Hop by Comfort and Twitch.

A quick word about the choreography. The TV show does a terrible job capturing how quickly all of these dancers pick up the choreography. I was utterly amazed at how every single person was picking up the choreography that Comfort and Twitch put out there. Sure, some have a little more style or skill with that choreography, but all of the dancers I saw picked it up so well. It was astounding to watch live.

There you have it. A sneak peak into the first day of SYTYCD 2012 Las Vegas week. I think Marianya’s going to follow this post up with some spoilers she found on the internet. I know nothing about those and didn’t help in that post at all. So, take it for what it’s worth.

June 20, 2012 I Written By

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

Season 8 Tour Review with Pictures!

Hi Everybody,

So I wanted to do a short write-up about the tour (I saw it in Atlanta) and one of our readers sent us a link to her pictures from the Norfolk, VA show. Donna C. must have been on the front row because her pictures are ah-mah-zing! Clearly, her favorites are Melanie and Tadd, but she’s got a lot of great shots of everybody. 🙂 Well, done Donna C. and thanks for sharing them with us!

The tour shows are always high-energy, but Season 8 ramped it up about 100%. I don’t think a single dancer got to stand still for even 5 minutes during the show. Even when they were changing costumes, they must have been hopping and jumping back on stage. It was so much fun and so well-orchestrated that EVEN without the All-Stars and MARKO! it was a fabulous show.

I’d have to say that the best thing about this tour versus other tours I’ve seen is that those cheesy little bits with the dancers talking between routines were limited this time around. In fact, this was the only one, at the beginning (also the only time I can verify that any dancer stood still):

Melanie and Sasha do a little introducing

What they did this go-around was set up big sequences and incorporate several of the best (and new!) routines within the sequences. They would segue between routines with solos.

So, they would have a big group number, then a smaller group or pairs routine (often overlapping, with several couples on stage at once so there was no gap between numbers) and then a solo. Then, we’d have another big group number melting into smaller routines and another solo. It was always high-energy and entertaining. I didn’t feel like *I* had a chance to catch my breath all night, so I don’t know how the dancers did it.

My favorite moments:

-Melanie performed the statue routine on her own since Marko was injured and it was so gorgeous and poignant. She filled the space, but it also felt like she was dancing in his honor. She got a standing ovation in Atlanta (it was a hometown crowd, after all, but it was also spectacular).

-Ricky filled in BEAUTIFULLY for Neil (with Melanie in the “Total Eclipse of the Heart” routine) and also for Kent (with Sasha in the “Fool of Me” wall routine) AND Twitch (with Sasha again in “Misty Blue”). He was so good and not only filled the shoes of the All-Star who originally performed the routines, but made them his own.

-Nick was amazing. It was so good to have him on the tour and see him dance as much as he did.

-Almost all of the solos were awesome! They kept just building in intensity and I could see how much man of them had grown since the beginning of Season 8.

-The whole sequence that began with the wall of bars for “Please, Mr. Jailer” and also had the table on stage at the same time was so inventive and stellar. Some of my favorite routines were in that section of the tour (you’ll see it in the pictures) and there was some new stuff as well.

This may have been one of my favorite tours just for the sheer intensity. I didn’t get to meet and greet with the dancers afterwards due to weather, so I was really glad I got to meet them beforehand (and got all those hugs).

Check out some of my favorite of Donna C.’s pictures below and click here to see the slideshow of her photos.

September 28, 2011 I Written By

Top 10 Results Thoughts and Discussion

Here are my live thoughts on tonight’s Top 10/All-Star results episode. I hope you’ll join the discussion, too!

The Top 10 group Broadway routine was cool in some parts, but felt kinda loose and empty in some places. I’m not familiar with the choreographer’s work, so I don’t know if this is typical of his style. Anybody? Was it just me or was there a lot of little wobbles and out of unison moments? Was that Clarice off the the right in the back and really off in the beginning? I really liked the Chorus Line-esque gold hats and unison bits at the end, though.

I’m bummed that they’re still cutting 1 guy and 1 girl and Amanda is confused that the judges are still apparently in control of the fates of the Bottom 4 (got that wrong in the Power Rankings, yesterday).

Here’s a spoiler space as I start to talk about the results…

Read more..

July 21, 2011 I Written By

Introducing Your Season 8 All-Stars

Tonight’s Top 10 episode is going to rock, not least of which because it’s the first time we’ll see the Top 10 dance with the All-Stars.

First, we have Melody Lacayanga, the Season 1 runner-up. I chose her disco with SYTYCD Canada judge/choreographer Blake McGrath because I don’t normally go for disco and this Doriana Sanchez disco was fun. I didn’t watch Season 1, but looking back over the season, it seems like Melody’s partners tended to get eliminated a lot. I hope this doesn’t happen to her Season 8 partners!

Allison Holker from Season 2 was an All-Star last season and had some phenomenal routines. I’m going to resist my urge to find videos from last season and instead give you something from her original season. Here is her Alex da Silva Argentine tango with her original partner Ivan Koumaev.

Pasha Kovalev was also an All-Star from last season and I am NOT going to show you the phenomenal tango he did with winner Lauren Froderman. No, I am NOT. I’m going to stick with first seasons and show you him “out of his element,” dancing Mandy Moore jazz with Sara von Gillem.

Yet another All-Star from last season, Twitch Boss was originally the runner-up from Season 4. Chelsie Hightower, who was also from Season 4, was scooped up by DWTS along with Lacey Schwimmer, danced this fun Nappytabs hip hop with Twitch during their season.

Comfort Fedoke, also from Season 4 and also an All-Star last season, also danced with Twitch. Instead of showing you that video, I’m going to show you dancing with Mark Kanemura, Chelsie’s partner for most of the season, in another awesome Nappytabs hip hop.

Brandon Bryant was the runner-up of Season 5. I so want to show you his Wade Robson jazz with Janette, but Margaret showed that video in her All-Star post (same reason I didn’t show Pasha & Sara’s West Coast Swing). So instead, I’ll show you their Dave Scott hip hop, where they were both “out of their comfort zones.”

As an All-Star last season, Kathryn McCormick danced so much with Robert that I could just give you one video for both of them. However, let me show you Kathryn in her Season 6 glory (she came in 3rd), especially since her season didn’t get their own tour. So here she is, with runner-up Jakob Carr in a contemporary routine choreographed by Desmond Richardson and Dwight Rhoden.

Season 7’s Robert Roldan (3rd in his season) has already danced once in Season 8, with Caitlynn Lawson, so he was already an All-Star as far as I was concerned. Because the All-Stars started at Top 20 last season, most of his dances are with Kathryn or another All-Star. I wanted to show you his Dee Caspary contemporary with winner Lauren Froderman, but it wouldn’t embed. Instead, I’ll show you their Dmitri Chaplin (Season 2 and DWTS) samba because it’s fun and they were both out of their element.

Chelsie’s only going to be an All-Star for tonight’s episode and it sounds like they may switch up the All-Stars from week to week. It’ll be interesting to see who else they bring on board and all of the great routines that result. Also, I haven’t ever seen it confirmed, but Allison and Twitch may be dating and it’ll be interesting to see them together as All-Stars again. Also, I’m dying to see our Georgia peaches, Kathryn and Season 8’s Melanie Moore dance together. You know what else I’d love to see? I’d love to see a current contestant dancing with an All-Star and choreographed by another SYTYCD alumni. That would be awesome. 🙂

Are they any Season 8 contestant/All-Star pairings you’re dying to see?

July 20, 2011 I Written By