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Top 6 to Top 4: Thoughts

Hard to believe this season is coming to an end, I’m not quite ready for it to be over. Since there will be another performance show to determine this seasons winner, I figured I’ll wait till then to do a final power ranking.

Lots of dancing in this episode, two partner dances and a solo performances. Christina Applegate is back on the judging panel and I’m glad she is. The first round of dancing they were paired back up with there orignal parners. Casey and Jessica may not have been oringinally paired together, I really think they should have been. Jessican had a better connection with Casey and that disco was fun. I loved the rehearsal footage of Valerie’s dress getting caught on the swing.

All Star Dances.

Ricky and Anya: I don’t think that there is anything that Ricky can’t do. Keeping up with Anya can be a tough task but Ricky was able to “tame” her…well according to the Judges.

Valerie and Twitch: Loved that Valerie really got into the groove and character of the dance. Granted the costume wasn’t all that great but I really did enjoy the dance.

Zack and FikShun: So happy to see Philip choreographing for the show and boy did he put together an intricate dance. Zack pulled it off great and was able to match FikShun. Zack has pleasantly surprised me all season.

Jessica and Ade:  I agreed with Nigel on this one, just wasn’t feeling it. It happens sometimes but I think I was trying to figure out what club they were going to.

Casey and Makensie: Hands down this was his best dance of the season. To tap into that type of emotion can be difficult but Casey was able to do it.

Jacque and Will: I really loved this dance. Glad that they didn’t have any issues with the ball. I’m still not quite sure how they did what they did with the ball.

Overall I am happy with the top 4. I’m not sure but Cat only announce 3 all stars for next week, Kathryn, Robert, and Aaron. Call it a gut feeling but there will either be a tap trio or Aaron will dance with both of the tappers. So what are your thoughts on tonight and who is your pick to win just based on tonights show?

August 20, 2014 I Written By

Dance is one of my biggest passions. I grew up dancing at Augusta West Dance Studio (the same studio that Kathryn McCormick). I have a BFA in theatre/dance from Valdosta State University. Tap is my favorite style of dance.

Top 8 to Top 6: Power Rankings and Thoughts

It’s hard to believe that this season is almost over, the stage seems so empty with just eight dancers on the stage. This week was a Michael Jackson theme…well, just all MJ music. Jenna Dewan Tatum joined the judges this week. I really emjoyed this week and the All Stars were great as usual. Still don’t like that the All Stars have to leave the stage right after they dance.  So on to the rankings.

Top 3

Ricky and Jamie: This was a great pairing and I agree with Travis, Ricky is the one to beat. I really don’t think that there is anything he can’t do. Plus it was just another simplistic dance that was just beautiful.

Zack and Makensie: Spencer said it the best Zack is just a sponge, soaking up everything he is learning and growing every week. I did enjoy the dance but in the back of my mind I was think about on of the dances in Center Stage that was danced to the same song.

Valerie and Ryan: I wasn’t too sure if she would be able to pull this off. Thankfully she did and she looked like she was having fun out there.

Middle 3

Jacque and Twitch: I loved the smoothness of this dance. I thought the style of the dance suited her and she had the attitude right as well.

Jessica and Will: While I loved the dance, I’m just not liking Jessica anymore. While she is a fantastic dancer I just feel she started off great, had a few so-so weeks and then suddenly bloosomed again. So good to see Will.

Casey and Comfort: I was quite surprised that he did as well as he did. However, it was hard not to want to watch Comfort and even the cameras seemed to do the same thing. He did connect well with her but I think he could of gotten into it just a little bit more.

Elimnated Dancers

Tanisha and Nick: I honestly had Tanisha in my top 4. I’m not sure how she how she ended up in the bottom 2. Regardless she had another great dance. I love Nick as a dancer ever since the first season.

Rudy and Allison: I had a hard time trying to watch Rudy because Allison kept draw my attention away from him. Her facial expressions we a bit too over the top for me. I did think he left on a high note.

Next weeks pairings.

Ricky and Anya

Valerie and Twitch

Casey and Makensie

Zack and FikShun: this should be fun

Jacque and Will

Jessica and Ade

 

August 13, 2014 I Written By

Dance is one of my biggest passions. I grew up dancing at Augusta West Dance Studio (the same studio that Kathryn McCormick). I have a BFA in theatre/dance from Valdosta State University. Tap is my favorite style of dance.

Top 10 to Top 8: Thoughts and Rankings

I really don’t know where to begin, other than just start from the beginning. A very colorful hip hop routine opened up the show and I really did enjoy. Jamal Sims choreographed this number, he is also a choreographer for the Step Up movies. Speaking of Step Up the fifth installment hits this Friday with many familiar faces, including Emilio.

Back to the show, Tara Lapinski was the guest judge this week. We also welcomed back Tabitha and Napoleon, who just finished working with Derek and Julianne Hough on their tour. Oh and I can’t forget about the All Stars. Overall the show was probably one of the best this season. I almost don’t even want to rank them but I will try, with my thoughts on the eliminated dances at the end.

Top 3

Zack and Amy: The second time in the night the audience was completely silent while they danced. What can I say other than Sonya is amazing. There’s not much else to say other than I think Zack showed a lot of growth this week.

Jacque and Chehon: I have to say I was expecting a classical pas de duex not a contemporary ballet by Travis. It was a simple and beautiful routine.

Tanisha and Ryan: So good to see Ryan back and he was the perfect partner for this dance. Miriam and Leonardo choreographed another great argentine tango with amazing lifts.

Top 2

Ricky and Lauren: This dance suited their personalities. Ricky is just great at everything and I’m pretty sure he is at least one oth the top two boys.

Casey and Kathryn: Another great pairing and it is really nice to see Casey do well. Hope he can keep it up next week.

Bottom 3

Jessica and Twitch: I was worried about this but thankfully she proved me wrong. It’s like she finally realized that she needed to step up to stay in the competition. Oh and I so loved the concept too, old man Twitch is cute.

Rudy and Jenna: Well they definitely had the chemistry down and the dancing was great too. It just falls behind others that were slightly better.

Valerie and Ade: I could see where the judges were coming from, she didn’t quite get into the character but I still loved the dance though.

Eliminated

Emilio and Jasmine: Emilio went out with a bang and I wish the results show was still around. Love everything about this dance. Oh and Jasmine almost stole the spotlight.

Bridget and Brandon: A Bollywood disco, turned out to be a fun and fast fusion of two dance styles.

Next week All Stars are: Twitch, Allison, Ryan, Mackenzie, Comfort, Jamie (season 3), Nick Lazzerini, and Will (season 4).

August 6, 2014 I Written By

Dance is one of my biggest passions. I grew up dancing at Augusta West Dance Studio (the same studio that Kathryn McCormick). I have a BFA in theatre/dance from Valdosta State University. Tap is my favorite style of dance.

So You Think You Can Dance Season 9: Top 6 Power Rankings

TOP TWO ROUTINES:
Chehon Wespi-Tschopp & Anya Garnis – Argentine Tango
Oh Em Gee… Hot Hot Hot… I was WAITING for this… this… Argentine Tango, but not only that an Argentine Tango that was done really well. I love how the choreographers incorporated a bit of his classical ballet training into the piece (much like Danny Tidwell with Sara von Gillem in Season 3) it was just beyond hot. Definitely one of my favorites of the night.

Cole Horibe & Allison Holker – Contemporary
For some reason the choreographers are really latching onto his crazy, darker, psychotic side of his character / personality and who can blame them? He does it way too well. I like this piece, a lot, but honestly I am over the whole dark Cole thing… I want to see him try sexy again or even goofy and fun… please? Beyond that… he is a very strong technical dancer so I am not really worried about his dance ability.

MIDDLE TWO ROUTINES:
Eliana Girard & Ryan Di Lello – Quickstep
What’s there to say? I highly doubt there is anything that Eliana can not do… I mean she has been killing it for the most part with every routine up to date and she managed to help her first partner look good for the most part as well. She constant joy of being able to dance was consistent in this routine and she just seemed like she was having a grand ole time even while being in character.

Tiffany Maher & Ade Obayomi – Contemporary
For weeks I simply could not understand the draw that is Tiffany. Being a Jazz dancer I didn’t feel like she was challenged in this routine like she could have been, but I will admit even I liked her in this routine. She and Ade partnered in this routine rather well and I will begrudgingly agree that she has been fairly consistent when it comes to her work on the routines… I would love to see how she would fare in another routine that pushes her even further.

BOTTOM TWO ROUTINES:
Witney Carson & Stephen “tWitch” Boss – Hip-hop
There is no doubt that Witney is just oozing personality and charisma and she brings a lot of that to her dances, however, in regards to content I just felt that there wasn’t enough of it and as thus I felt like she wasn’t being challenged or pushed as far as I think she could have been. As thus, this was not a memorable routine for me in any capacity… and I just felt that she feel flat.

Cyrus “Glitch” Spencer & Melanie Moore – Jazz
There are some routines that pushed and prodded Cyrus in so many directions and there are others that kind of catered to his weakness and I think this routine did the latter more than the former. Yes Cyrus was being challenged… but it felt slow and sloppy in areas. Since I believed if he was pushed in every routine like he was in the Travis Wall routine last week it may have accelerated his growth a bit more… instead we are left wondering why he is still around and I don’t want to think that way because he really is superb at what he does and there is just a wealth of potential there for him to grow so much more.

ELIMINATED ROUTINES:
Will Thomas & Lauren Gottlieb – Hip-hop
This is the routine I was waiting for from Will, something that showed a side of him that we haven’t been able to get from him otherwise. It is unfortunate that he was eliminated because I feel like he had so much more left to give… if this routine was given to him earlier in the season I think it would have changed the direction of his development over the course of the show. If anything I believe he ended his time on the show on a high note… and me wanting more.

Lindsay Arnold & Alex Wong – Jazz
I really wanted to like this routine, I mean I am on the Alex Wong bandwagon… and Lindsay did a fabulous job last week in her routine with Jakob, but despite the incredibly strong dancing the connection / chemistry was not as strong as it could be. Based entirely on the routines of the evening this is probably one of the weaker routines overall… Not the weakest by any stretch of the imagination but not a strong routine either.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS:
Although I can understand letting Lindsay go… I would have much rather have seen Cyrus go as opposed to Will. But considering the votes were from last weeks’ dances I understand why the people voted Cyrus onward because his routine last week was beyond amazing in general.

I am not agreeing with the judges intervening in the eliminations from the Top 10 onwards. I miss having the audience choose how the Top 10 would be eliminated and felt that made for better television. Because Nigel and TPTB are trying to storyboard a lot of these dancers and their times on the show it loses a little bit of the integrity of the show in general and I hope that should the show return for a Season 10 we keep that little bit of what made the show such a wonderful piece of television. That and bring back the old stage!

August 30, 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: Top 8 Performances – Music and Initial Thoughts

Dancers: Top 8
Style: Contemporary
Choreographer: Peter Chu
Song: Woodkid – “Run Boy Run” Run Boy Run - Run Boy Run (Remixes) - EP

PARTNER DANCES
Dancer: Witney Carson
All Star: Stephen “tWitch” Boss
Style: Hip-hop
Choreographer: Luther Brown
Song: Lil Wayne feat. Big Sean – “My Homies Still” My Homies Still (feat. Big Sean) - My Homies Still (feat. Big Sean) - Single
Initial Thoughts: Well I wanted to see Witney try her hand at hip hop… and unfortunately I am not impressed by any stretch of the imagination. And that’s a bit disconcerting. I kind of felt that she was just being sexy, strutting around the stage shaking her booty and just added a few arm moments and voila!

Dancer: Cole Horibe
All Star: Allison Holker
Style: Contemporary
Choreographer: Sonya Tayeh
Song: Björk – “Possibly Maybe” (Instrumental) Possibly Maybe - Björk's Greatest Hits
Initial Thoughts: I have a sneaky feeling that the choreographers are tapping into Cole’s more psychotic, evil, dark side of Cole more often than not… and who am I to complain? He does that look and personality well. His partnering with Allison was off the charts not to mention their chemistry… one of my favorites.

Dancer: Eliana Girard
All Star: Ryan Di Lello
Style: Quickstep
Choreographer: Jonathan Roberts
Song: Caro Emerald – “That Man” That Man - Deleted Scenes from the Cutting Room Floor
Initial Thoughts: Well, I wanted to see Eliana to try her hand on a Ballroom routine… but I was leaning more towards a Latin number… I didn’t think of Quickstep and man I liked this, but I wasn’t all too surprised that she could pull off a Quickstep. Her chemistry with Ryan was very good too and they looked like they were just having oodles of fun.

Dancer: Lindsay Arnold
All Star: Alex Wong
Style: Jazz
Choreographer: Sonya Tayeh
Song: Gotye feat. Kimbra – “Somebody That I Used to Know” Somebody That I Used to Know (feat. Kimbra) - Making Mirrors
Initial Thoughts: Technically-wise this was a very good routine, chemistry / personality / character-wise it was ok… but I wanted to reach out and be thrilled with this routine… but instead just nothing.

Dancer: Will Thomas
All Star: Lauren Gottlieb
Style: Hip-hop
Choreographer: Christopher Scott
Song: Wye Oak – “Dance My Pain Away” (District 78 remix) Dance My Pain Away - Dance My Pain Away - Single
Initial Thoughts: Personally I really like this routine… it was difficult to create a chemistry when the dancers are not dancing with one another… but somehow it worked. We managed to see a whole different side of the goofy Will that I think a lot of people were getting a little annoyed with and this was a breath of fresh air.

Dancer: Cyrus “Glitch” Spencer
All Star: Melanie Moore
Style: Jazz
Choreographer: Mandy Moore
Song: Freddy Fresh feat. Fatboy Slim – “Badder Badder Schwing” Badder Badder Schwing - Badder Badder Schwing
Initial Thoughts: For me this routine felt slow and you know that he’s not up there technically with the other dancers. But I have to admit, he is doing his damnedest to keep up and that in and of itself is impressive.

Dancer: Chehon Wespi-Tschopp
All Star: Anya Garnis
Style: Argentine Tango
Choreographer: Miriam Larici & Leonardo Barrionuevo
Song: Jesse Cook – “Breathing Below Surface” Breathing Below Surface - The Ultimate Jesse Cook
Initial Thoughts: Hot Hot Hot… it is about time there is a sexy and smoldering Argentine Tango on the show and I am so glad that it was Chehon that got the honor of just that. I really loved his precision and footwork and his connection with Anya was palatable. Overall I really liked it… a lot… ok more than a lot.

Dancer: Tiffany Maher
All Star: Ade Obayomi
Style: Contemporary
Choreographer: Mandy Moore
Song: Celine Dion – “The Power of Love” The Power of Love - My Love (Ultimate Essential Collection)
Initial Thoughts: Ok… I am slowly beginning to understand what people like in Tiffany, and honestly in comparison with the other girls of the evening this was generally a strong routine. Was I impressed? No, did I like it… yes…

SOLOS
Tiffany Maher: Glee cast – “I Was Here” I Was Here (Glee Cast Version) - Glee: The Music - The Graduation Album
Will Thomas: James Morrison – “Better Man” Better Man - Undiscovered
Lindsay Arnold: Bond – “Señorita” Señorita - Classified
Chehon Wespi-Tschopp: Max Richter – “On the Nature of Daylight” On The Nature Of Daylight - The Blue Notebooks
Witney Carson: Rihanna – “Where Have You Been” Where Have You Been - Talk That Talk (Deluxe Edition)
Cole Horibe: E.S. Posthumus – “Arise” Arise - Makara
Eliana Girard: Max Richter – “Infra 8” infra 8 - infra
Cyrus “Glitch” Spencer: Excision & Downlink – “Existence” (VIP) Existence (VIP) - Existence EP

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... =)

Cat Told Letterman She Can’t Dance

I saw an article from The Examiner today about Cat Deely’s appearance on Letterman last night and her mom’s less-than-enthusiastic response to her growing presence as a tv presenter/host.

Here’s the full clip of Cat’s appearance on Letterman where she talks about modeling in Japan, covering the royal wedding, and doing the “baby lift” from Dirty Dancing after lots of Patrick Swayze practice. Is that Ade lifting her? What do y’all think?

 

 

August 3, 2011 I Written By

Podcast: SYTYCD Season 8 – Top 8 Performance and Elimination

Summary

This week’s judging panel featured director/choreographer Rob Marshall and pop music icon Lady Gaga, who gave constructive insight into the performance aspect of dance. Although we liked Neil Patrick Harris’s judging the most so far this season, the celebrity panel additions have worked a lot better in the second half of the season versus the first half.

The elimination show was tough for us to watch. Jess was one of our favorites from the competition and we were both expecting to see him make the top six and possibly the finals. We had a tough time seeing him cut after his growth and improvement in favor of Tadd, who has also grown but hasn’t felt as polished when you compare the two. We talk in-depth about Jess and Tadd and draw a line in the small details. Tadd has difficultly with fast choreography and when we consider his solos in total we don’t see a wide range in his dancing vocabulary and we don’t have these same issues with Jess. We admit, we’re biased here, but we try to quantify our feelings of disappointment as best as we can.

Jordan’s elimination was more straight-forward as her body of work has been hit-or-miss during the season and her solos have revolved around her leg movements. Caitlynn has been consistent and we feel like we still have more to see from her.

Marko and Melanie once again had amazing pieces and have solidified their place in the finals. As for who else is going to the finals, it looks to be a toss up when we compare Tadd/Ricky and Sasha/Caitlynn. We think it will depend on what routines they get next week and how well they perform. We consider their bodies of work and speculate on what may happen.

Please let us know your thoughts by dropping us a comment here after listening! We love to hear feedback and what you thought of the show. We also encourage you to check out our blog and twitter feed to keep up to date with us!

Episode Length: 30:01

Time Stamps
0:00 – The guest judging by Lady Gaga and Rob Marshall
1:45 – Discussion of Jess and his elimination
7:48 – Tadd, has he grown more than Jess to deserve a top six spot?
13:28 – Jess’s final solo and online fan reaction
15:40 – Jordan’s elimination (the Tyce kiss of death strikes again)
16:50 – Caitlynn’s work
18:50 – Sasha had a very good night
19:59 – Melanie had an excellent night!
22:10 – Marko continues to amaze us.
24:15 – Ricky: does he dance too tall? And is Anya heavy?
26:10 – Who makes the finals?
28:24 – Next week’s all-stars: Kent, Janette, Jamie, Ellenore, Twitch and Pasha!
29:23 – Wrap-up


Listen to the podcast

Episode 12 direct download

Subscribe to podcast on iTunes

 

July 30, 2011 I Written By

Over the past few years my fiancée Meghan slowly brought me into the world of television, turning me into a full-fledged fan of both scripted and reality shows. So You Think You Can Dance turned into one of my favorite reality shows as it is a competition that takes itself seriously, providing the audience with artistic choreography and talented dancers. It's certainly not something I ever expected to get emotionally invested in, but here I am! Meghan and I are very analytic when it comes to the things we enjoy. We constantly discussed and analyzed shows with each other and after doing this for a couple years, we decided that we should turn these discussions into a podcast. We created Reflections on Pop Entertainment, a podcast that provides commentary and analysis of popular entertainment as found in visual mediums, particularly television and film. So You Think You Can Dance Season 8 is the first television series we're covering with weekly podcasts and has allowed us to find our voice as well as actively contribute to the fan community. We hope that you'll enjoy our installments as they are posted to Pure So You Think You Can Dance!

Season 8 Top 8 Power Rankings

Sorry this is late! I’ve just caught up on the episode. Thanks for all your comments, y’all!!

I really wish this wasn’t going to be broken down into Top 2 Girls and Top 2 Guys vs. Bottom 2 Guys and Girls. I really want three girls in the top and I have to put one of my favorites in the bottom. :'(

Top Four

1. Melanie – While I agree she hasn’t been as challenged as some of the other dancers (she does tend to get contemporary/jazz) and never gets critiqued, I also love her. Her contemporary with Neil was the best of the night, I think and then she ended on a high note with Sasha at the end.

2. Sasha – She was stymied with a weaker partner at the beginning, but she’s gotten almost as much face time as Melanie since Vegas Week *and* she’s had to stretch herself more. Her routine with Twitch last week was maybe the best of the season. I liked her quickstep with Pasha, but it was the first routine. However, she and Melanie had that lauded Sonya routine at the end.

3. Marko – He had a stellar contemporary with Allison, has been part of the Power Couple with Melanie and had an alright hip hop with Rickey later.

4. Tadd – His heist routine with LoFro was great, despite his hat malfunction. He was very MJ-ish and had one of the more popular All-Stars, plus good chemistry. Also, his foxtrot with Caitlynn was really classy and elegant and I think might’ve surprised a lot of people.

Bottom Four

5. Caitlynn – I’d like to put her in the Top if this wasn’t broken down by gender. She had an alright hip hop early on with Ivan, but I really, really liked her foxtrot with Tadd. I think she’s grown enormously and she’s been challenged a lot, even just in tonight’s episode.

6. Jess – He surprised me in his hip hop with Lauren G., but his later number with Jordan wasn’t good. He was stronger than her, to be sure, and I know he’s got a fan base, but I think he’ll be in the bottom. I think he should be, anyway.

7. Jordan – She’s annoyed me more and more each week, with her “sexy” pouting and vamping, not to mention her leg extensions. She danced an alright jazz with Ade, but I think whatever strength the routine had was Ade’s, not hers. She didn’t connect with him or later, Jess, at all. Her rhumba with Jess really sucked. It’s time for her to go home, in my opinion.

8. Rickey – His jive with Anya was pretty good, but not nearly the most memorable routine of the night and then he was called out as the weaker link in his hip hop with Marko. He’s been in the bottom a lot and if he is again, it’s probably his week to go.

It makes me nervous that I didn’t get to vote, but I’m fairly confident that Jordan and Rickey will be going home tonight. What do y’all think?

Also, I BOUGHT MY TICKETS to the tour!! Whooo hooo! Has anybody else gotten theirs yet? I’m going to see it in Atlanta this year, with my mom and (I’m sure) Amanda.

July 28, 2011 I Written By

introducing the all-stars week 2

Happy Monday! Thought I’d put up some videos of our week 2 all-stars, since A. it’s fun to look back at some great routines and B. younger viewers of the show may not know about some of the all stars from seasons 2 and 3.

let’s go by season 🙂

season 2: IVAN
Ivan and Allison were the youngest pair in the top 20, and they definitely sometimes acted like it. But when they did “Why”, choreographed by Tyce in week 3, they suddenly grew up. A hip hop dancer, Ivan’s skills were definitely unusual and really really cool, but what I think held him in the competition so long (until top 6) was his personality, he just seems like someone who would be a blast to hang out with, and he’s a fabulous partner.

here’s his contemporary w/ Allison

hip hop w/ Allison (choreographed by Shane Sparks)

season 3: LAUREN GOTTLIEB, NEIL HASKELL, JAIMIE GOODWIN, ANYA GARNIS, PASHA KOVALEV

These 5 actually have a number of routines they did together, so I’m going to combine a few b/c they are some fun numbers. Pasha and Anya are just such spectacular ballroom dancers, and Pasha especially had a lot of success outside of his genre, part of the reason he and Lauren Gottlieb made it to top 6. Also, he’s just so darn hot!! 🙂

Anya/Pasha’s audition season 3

Pasha and Lacey’s hip hop-he just oozes personality and his hip hop was pretty darn good too!

Anya and Danny’s foxtrot

Neil, obviously, was an All-Star last year, and his charisma, incredible talent, partnering skills and just all-around All-American hotness definitely carried him to the top 4 during season 3. He was part of some of the best routines from last season so I’m quite excited he’s back.

Neil and Sabra’s ’80s power lunch (emmy nomination came for Mandy Moore)

Neil and Lauren’s “Night of the Dancing Flame”

Lauren has been assisting for Tyce, even before she was on the show, as well as a lot afterwards. Quite excited to have her as an All-Star again. She partnered both Neil (her original partner) and Pasha on the show and was really strong in both.

Jaimie was another of the very strong group of top 5 girls from season 3 (Lacey, Sabra, Lauren, Sara, Jaimie, not bad!!). She’s a stunning contemporary dancer, and spent a lot of time as Travis Wall’s dance partner bc her dance teacher was Travis’s mom. Just a personal opinion, I think she got dealt kind of a rough hand on the show, being partnered with Hok, who is unbelievable in his style but struggled somewhat in other styles. With the Hummingbird & the Flower (embedded below), though, Wade was able to meld their 2 styles into an Emmy-winning routine.

season 5: ADE
another returning All-Star, fans were pretty bummed not to see the supremely talented Ade in the season 5 finale (though I’m thinking that if Jess keeps in the competition, we might see Evan at some point). Ade is just so strong and consistent, he and Melissa (a partnership I think was one of the best ever made by the show) were so good at everything!! I’m embedding their first routine on the show, “Right Here Waiting” choreographed by Mandy Moore because I think it’s a great representation of the trust they had in each other and Ade’s incredible strength and gentleness as a partner.

season 7: LOFRO
Our first All-Star former winner!! Maybe poor Jess will actually get a partner closer to his height!! I’m really excited to see her back, Lauren really grew over the course of the season. Thinking back to her week 1 dance w/ Ade, it was pretty terrible and I totally thought she was going to get cut early. She really grew on me, especially because of the commitment she put into each of her routines. Though I was personally rooting for Robert in the finale, it was nice to see another girl win!

Lauren and Dominic’s lyrical hip hop (week 2)
a week after falling apart in her dance with Ade, Lauren redeemed herself in a BIG way with this number. She was totally committed and present, and she and Dom had a fabulous partnership (good thing now, since they’re dating!) It’s an emotional number done incredibly well.

July 25, 2011 I Written By

SYTYCD rumblings

What a great show last night!! I sprinkled my thoughts here and there on other posts but overall I was really impressed. I thought I’d bring you all a smattering of SYTYCD news that I’ve seen over the past couple of weeks. Much of it comes from our friends at Entertainment Weekly

*added 6/24
I haven’t had the chance to read some of your comments about the results last night, but Kate Ward, a writer at EW.com has written an article aptly titled, “SYTYCD results make fans angry. you won’t like them when they’re angry”

I have to admit, I was pretty annoyed to see them keep Ryan after her abysmal “dance for your life”. I was watching the live feed online and it shorted out so I missed Missy’s and Iveta’s but from what I’ve heard Iveta’s was better. I saw all the guys and I thought Ricky really made his case to stay, his solo was great. Frankly, it’s not his fault Ryan seems to rather look at the camera and mug than connect with him. One of the posters recommended that they should have let all three girls and one of the boys go and kept Nick and Ricky or Nick and Wadi. I agree that Nick had a great personality and I would have loved to have seen him do contemporary with his long limbs to really see what he can do.

thoughts on this? I think it’s pretty interesting…

————

They’ve recently released their list of the 25 greatest SYTYCD performances of the past 7 seasons.

25. Kathryn and Ryan’s cha-cha (Season 6)
24. Pasha and Sara’s “Rockafella Skank” (Season 3)
23. Lauren and Twitch’s “My Chick Bad” (Season 7)
22. Lacey and Kameron Week 1 (Season 3)
21. Jakob and Ashleigh’s “Hit Me With a Hot Note” (Season 6)
20. Tranji’s “Gyrate” (Season 2)
19. Melody and Nick’s “All That Jazz”
18. Ellenore and Jakob’s “Tore My Heart”
17. Jeanine and Jason “If It Kills Me”
16. Brandon and Jeanette’s Disco
15. Katee and Joshua’s Bollywood
14. Jaimie and Hok’s “Hummingbird and the Flower”
13. Robert and Allison’s “Fix You”
12. Brandon and Jeanette’s “Ruby Blue”
11. Chelsie and Mark’s “Bleeding Love”
10. Ade and Billy’s “Mad World”
9. Danny and Lacey’s “Hip Hip Chin Chin”
8. Allison and Ivan’s “Why”
7. Kayla and Kupono’s “Addiction (Gravity)”
6. Heidi and Benji’s “Black Mambo”
5. Allison and Alex’s “Hallelujah”
4. Neil and Sabra’s “80’s Power Lunch (the table dance)”
3. Travis and Heidi’s “The Bench”
2. Katee and Joshua’s “No Air”
1. Alex and Twitch’s “Outta Your Mind”

This is a pretty stellar list, I must say, but there are a few glaring omissions. Where is Will and Katee’s spectacular pas de deux from season 4? Or Kayla and Max’s incredible WEEK 1 samba from season 5? I know this doesn’t include solos, but I don’t think anyone has topped Blake’s amazing solo from top 6 week in season 1, I’ve rewound it 100 times at least and still can’t figure out how he switches directions in his back handspring!

any other routines that didn’t make the cut?
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June 23, 2011 I Written By