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America’s Favorite Dancer is…Season 11 Finale

** SPOILER ALERT** Just in case I finish this post before the west coast is done watching the show.

Season 11 has gone by way too fast, and no word just yet on if there will be a Season 12. Joining Mary and Nigel on the judges panel are Tara Lapinski, Jenna Dewan-Tatum, Debbie Allen, and Adam Shankman. Sort of hate that we had to wait till the end of season to see Debbie and Adam. Tonight was filled with favorite routines, new dances and a few surprises.

It’s always intersting to see what Judges, dancers and Cat choose as their favorite, usually I agree but there is usually one or two that surprise me.

Mary: Chose Jessica and Casey’s Travis Wall dance. This was something they both needed at the time, and they shined.

Debbie: She actually surprised me with her pick. I did love the Witch Doctor hip hop but was unable to enjoy it again thanks to the little brother distracting me…oh well there’s always youtube.

Zack: He chose his dance with Amy. This dance truely showed how good his is and how much he has grown over the season.

Nigel: While Dirty Diana wasn’t a personal favorite but this time the camera guys did a better job with less close ups. The fact that Nigel had to fight to get Allison back for the finale is ridiculous to me. I could go on about this subject but I’m just happy things worked out turn into GMA to find out who her DWTS partner is or just go on over to our sister site puredwts.

Paula Abdul: Well this was a surprise. Paula is a judge for the Austrailian version of the show. She also brought the most recent winner Michael Dameski with her. He is absolutely amazing, I remember seeing his solo video that went viral.

Valerie: Chose her tap with Zack which is one of my favorites. I still amazes me that they can do some of those steps on the stairs.

Ricky: Chose his first dance with Jessica. This quicky made him an early favorite.

America’s Pick: Um Carly and Surge? Wasn’t sure why this was chosen but I got my answer later in the show.

Jenna: Wasn’t a fan of her pick but I did like Rudy and Tanisha as partners.

Adam: I’ve missed him on the show…but thanks to twitter I did enjoy his commentary. Love that he chose Zack and Ricky’s hip hop.

Time for some Results: 4th place goes to Zack. I was honestly bummed about this but someone had to be there.

Tara: She actually picked the dance that I thought would have been America’s favorite. Loved everything about this NappyTabs hip hop. Emilio and Jasimine killed it.

I love Jesse Tyler Ferguson. I would give him a ticket to Vegas for sure.

Chris Scott and Sonya paired up to create a new dance for tonight featuring the top 10 and the All Stars. Loved seeing some all stars that we haven’t seen in a while on the stage. I loved seeing Dominic (D-Trix) and Emilio dance together. I also spotted Courtney and Marko.

The Crew winner was the Bollywood Crew…anyone else forget about the crews during the season.

Jessica: Not surprise she chose her dance with Robert, still a great routine but I like her hair down better this time around.

More Results: 3rd place goes to Jessica.

Before we get to the big annoucement Cat asked Ricky and Valerie to perform her favorite dance, their first dance as partners.

2nd Place goes to Valerie…if they kept the 2 winner outcome a tap dancer would have won dang it.

Which makes RICKY the winner of Season 11. Truthfully this was no surprise for me, he had the most consistant season and I thought he had in the bag long before we got to the top 10.

So now what, since we don’t know if there will be a season 12 yet…I guess we might as well go see the tour. I’m going to try to come up with fun post during the off season. I’ll be sure to post if there will be a new season but what would you like for me to post.

Congrats Again to Ricky!!!

September 3, 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 Power Rankings

Great night of dancing last night but with the All Stars joining the Top 10, I can’t say I’m surprised. Twitch, Marko, Brandon, Jakob, Robert, Neil, Kathryn, Melanie, Comfort, and Witney were the All Stars for this episode.

The bottom four was Jenna, Makensie, Nico, and Tucker (who was only there by default). There were no solos last night and looking back on it not sure if that was the right thing to do, but in the end Nico and Makensie were the two to say goodbye.

Since the partners were split up I figured I would rank the girls and guys separately.

Girls

Jasmine: Marko joined here for this fun dance to one of the songs of the summer. Jasmine gets the top spot cause she seemed to outshine her all-star partner; it was hard to take your eyes off her. To answer Nigel’s question, he was looking at two all-stars last night.

Jenna: I still have no clue as to why I just can’t connect with Jenna but she is a great dancer. I loved Mandy’s choreography and with Neil as a partner I say this helped Jenna.

Amy: I had to watch this twice cause the first time the song threw me off. Brandon to me is the perfect disco partner with all those crazy lift and that death drop at the end that was so close to the ground. Amy rocked this number keeping the energy up threw the entire dance.

Hayley: This is a perfect example of why sometimes dancing with an all-star isn’t such a good thing. Hayley and Twitch did have the chemistry and dance well with each other. However, even though Hayley did a great job, I think may people were watching Twitch.

Makensie: Paired with Jakob, they definitely have the best feet. This actually was my favorite dance out of all the girls so needless to say I’m sad she was voted off.

Guys

Tucker: What can I say; everything about this piece was just absolutely amazing. Travis provided us with a story that both Tucker and Robert could relate to. They have both survived life threatening accidents, I would imagine it was easy for them to tap into the emotion of the dance. I haven’t really cried while watching a dance on this show but this one came close.

Aaron: It’s crazy to think that he wasn’t part of the original top 10 guys; he has proven he deserved a spot on the show. Love watching him and Kathryn dance together.

Paul: Must have be the luck of the draw that he and Witney were paired together for this cha cha. Thankfully they did not disappoint, which I figured since this is Paul’s style.

FikShun: He is by far the most improved dancer on the show. He kept up with Melanie in this sassy jazz number. I’m excited to see what he has next.

Nico: Loved this reptilian hip-hop. I thought Nico and Comfort were selling not only the character of the dance but the choreography as well. Hated to see him leave but after Tucker’s performance I figured it might happen.

So Hayley, Amy, Paul, and Fikshun make up my bottom four but will the fans agree.

Next week should be interesting since the all-stars are choreographing and dancing with the top 8. Maybe we will get to see Travis dance on the stage again, or maybe even Dmitry.

August 14, 2013 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.

SYTYCD Season 9 Las Vegas Callbacks Thoughts

Now that the Vegas Callbacks have aired it was difficult to know for sure who made it to the end and who is left for the final cut that would air next week. The spoilers show only up to 30 dancers made it to the end of callbacks but according to the show 35 actually made it to the end of the Vegas Callbacks. Although the majority (if not all) of the spoilers seem to be correct it would still be difficult to see who actually made it. Nigel keeps insisting that we have some really strong hip hop and ballroom dancers this year and yet the only ones that we know of in the Ballroom genre are Witney Carson and Lindsay Arnold… while the ones in the hip hop genre is Cyrus “Glitch” Spencer… Interesting. Anyway let’s move on with the program.

Las Vegas Callbacks started out with 181 dancers who were invited back. As John mentioned earlier: What we see on television isn’t exactly what happens, sure everyone starts with a solo but in between sessions the dancers actually get a chance to learn more about what to expect in the dance industry. How to survive… this is truly an educational experience for anyone lucky enough to get a chance to be invited to be a part of the Vegas Callbacks experience.

DAY ONE VEGAS CALLBACKS: OPENING SOLOS
Sometimes the first solo is an advancement of what they showed in the city auditions, or it is a chance for the dancers to show more than what they displayed in the city auditions. Take Janelle Issis the belly dancer for example…
Read more..

June 21, 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

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.

I Written By

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

Podcast: SYTYCD Season 9 – Auditions: Atlanta

Listen to the podcast

Episode 46 direct download

Subscribe to podcast on iTunes


Time Stamps
0:00 – Introduction
2:51 – Dragonhouse Crew: Boris Penton, Andre Rucker, and Cyrus “Glitch” Spencer
9:02 – Other Hip-hop/Street Dancers: Tim Conkel, Jackson Alvarez, Asher Walker, and Damon & Deon
16:28 – Bellydancing: Janelle Issis
17:53 – Contemporary Guys: Joshua Alexander and George Lawrence II
21:31 – Contemporary/Jazz Girls: Audrey Case, Danielle Dominguez, Courtney Kirby, and Brittney Ortner
29:46 – Wrap-up

Episode Length: 32:18

After an exciting set of auditions in Los Angeles, we found ourselves disappointed with the turnout in Atlanta this year. That’s not to say there weren’t some standouts, and those standouts were pretty amazing. We were treated to some absolutely amazing hip hop from the members of the Dragonhouse Crew, with Boris Penton, Andre Rucker and Cyrus “Glitch” Spencer each offering us unique and draw-dropping takes on their “robotic” style of dance. It’s breathtaking what is possible with this style, whether it’s a fresh take on a character-based performance or melding two unrelated elements together, such as Boris’ movement atop a beautiful piano piece. Beyond the Dragonhouse Crew, Asher Walker surprised us with his self-taught brand of hip-hop dancing. While his dance vocabulary is limited, he overcame this with a great personality and sense of musicality, gliding to and fro across the stage without effort. George Lawrence II put forth a strong contemporary performance, putting every inch of his body into his extensions and balancing this with a tasteful routine full of contrasts in speed and quality of movement. Rounding out the dancers that impressed us was Danielle Dominguez, who’s Sonya-inspired style stood out and displayed a sense of power while maintaining a quirky character.

We wish we could say that we liked everyone from Atlanta, but many of the other contestants left us with mixed feelings. We felt lukewarm towards Tim Conkel, Jackson Alvarez, and Joshua Alexander, and we didn’t know what to make of Courtney Kirby. In addition, during her segment we wondered if having family members sit up at the panel is actually a good idea or if it carries a risk of biasing the judging panel. We discuss these things and more in the Atlanta audition episode of our podcast!

Let us know what you think after listening to the podcast! You can leave us a comment here or on our blog, Reflections on Pop Entertainment. You can also follow us on Twitter and tweet with us. You can also visit our Facebook page, like us, and leave a comment there! We love feedback and will respond either with a comment or in our next published show.

June 13, 2012 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!

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?

Vegas Week Thoughts

I loved the openning of the show with dancing mantages on the building of Vegas was really cool. With that said Vegas week is by far the toughest part of the SYTYCD audition process. There is a reason it is called hell week. Joining Nigel and Mary at the Judging table were Adam Shankman, Debbie Allen, Tyce Diorio, Robin Antin, and Jason Gilkinson (who filled in for Adam during a round). Also I was tweeting along with the show and sometimes miss some details…lol I’m the type that has to take notes so I don’t forget.

Round One Solos: The judges wasted no time getting to the point starting the first of two solo rounds. They cut 46 dancers from that round alone.

Round Two a NappyTabs hip hop: They challenged the dancers with an intricate and fast routine. Hiro, Patty Ann Miller, Kristin Dobson, Princess Lockeroo and the irish dancer Mary Kate Sheean…were among the dancers that got cut during the Hip Hop round. The first of many shocking eliminations.

Round Three Broadway with Tyce: Loved the routine and the song. I would love to see it on the live show. Tyce was great describing the character for the girls but I think he left the guys a little bit confused as for what there character was.

Round Four Ballroom with Jason: Jason chose to challege the dancers with the Jive. I was amused by all the girls getting really excited to take off their shoes. The Jive is no joke and I bet their feet and legs felt like they were gonna fall off.

Round Five Groups: I was quite impressed with the group round. There wasn’t much drama at all just one little break down with Arielle’s group. The Judges were impress too because they only cut 7.

Round Six Contemporary with Travis Wall: Joining Travis was Robert and Jamie. Looks like Mia has passed this round to Travis. Love seeing his work on the show. During this round the two favorites were lost Arielle Coker (who looked just as confused as I did) and Alexis Mason (who had to dance for her life).

Final Round: The final solo round for the dancers to prove that they are worthy of being in the top 20.

Looking forward to the Green Mile tomorrow night and we will finally know this seasons top 20

June 8, 2011 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.

SYTYCD Season 6 Cheers and Jeers

Here’s Season 6 in review. Y’all brought up a lot of this stuff in recent comments (Mrs. D’s comment in particular), which gave me the idea to do a review of the season, what we liked and didn’t like. If you disagree with me (or agree), feel free to put your two cents in, as it’s all subjective and I’d love to know what you think!

Jeer:

This season felt more rushed that any other that I can think of. Between baseball, the Presidential address, so many audition episodes and an early end to the season because of Christmas coming up, I feel like this year’s Top 20 got shafted on actual dancing time. But not just the dancers – the choreographers got fewer chances to wow us. And the audience lost out, as well.

Cheer:

I loved that I didn’t have to wait till the summer for a new season. While America’s Favorite Dancer gets a shorter reign if they continue on the two seasons a year model, we had a shorter wait, which was really nice. After Season 5, I just don’t know how I would have contained my SYTYCD longing. Are the producers hoping to follow a Survivor/Dancing with the Stars model with the two seasons a year thing? If so, they should be just as smart about scheduling and not hesitate to move the finale to a separate night (like Survivor’s Sunday finale yesterday).

Jeer:

The new stage, or at least the screen behind it. It seems like we’ve transitioned from utter hatred toward the new stage, which always threatens to swallow up the dancers, to an acceptance that we’ll probably never get our intimate little stage back. Many readers have begun to say that the screen and imprudent use of it, is actually the bigger issue.

Cheer:

The group numbers were able to utilize this enormous space in really pleasing ways. It’s nice to think that SYTYCD can now command (and fill) a larger audience space. Maybe it’ll end up being a wonderful challenge to the choreographers (as well as the production crew, especially camera folk) to recapture that intimate feeling.

Jeer:

It was awful having three static judges (Nigel, Mary and Adam). No new blood! Adam seemed to be the only one who had something to say, most reliably at least. And when the three additional judges (Debbie, Lil C and Tyce) came in for the finale, it felt like an eternity since I’d seen them and that they were given favorites to pick rather than choosing from their hearts. Maybe that’s not true, and I’m sure they still kept up with the season, but their involvement didn’t have the same feeling because they never rotated in and out during the season.

Cheer:

Adam Shankman is a wonderful addition to the judging panel. I didn’t mind him being a constant, I only minded that there was no new blood. You almost always knew what Nigel and Mary were going to say, so he was a breath of fresh air (especially at the beginning of the season). Adam is funny and honest (he called out choreographers for bad routines!) and you get the impression that he’ll actually hire the dancers he likes (i.e. when Noelle got cut, I was okay because I felt Adam wanted to work with her), so he’s a valuable part of the panel.

Jeer:

Shane Sparks and Alex DaSilva‘s arrests (both for sexual crimes related to their dance students) are not only damaging to the choreographer’s careers, but also haunt the dance community at large and threaten to harm SYTYCD’s image.

Cheer:

The Dizzy Feet Foundation and gala do wonderful things for the dance community, SYTYCD and for us, as it unites our favorite shows, dancers, choreographers, crews in a really positive mission. It raises awareness and gives our favorites work! We can help, too!

Jeer:

How many injuries did we have this season? Mia Michaels was rushed to the hospital at the beginning of the season. Then, Billy Bell had to drop out due to illness. Noelle was injured in the first competition show while Ellenore and Ashleigh were both hurt during the Top 8 week and Russell was injured in the finale. Did I forget anyone??

Cheer:

Despite the overly-produced and rushed feel of the season, despite all the injuries, we had a wonderful Top 20 this season. As John pointed out, they had a great mix of styles and backgrounds. We saw some consistent excellence (Jakob and Ellenore, namely) and some great growth arcs (arguably, everybody, but notably Kathryn and Russell, in my opinion). We had some “characters” to get behind this season, in Legacy and the DiLellos in particular.

Jeer:

America’s SYTYCD lost Mia Michaels this season and her absence was certainly felt. Our loss was apparently SYTYCD Canada’s gain, so while it’s good that she’s working within the SYTYCD family, there’s a great big gaping hole where she was in our shows.

Cheer:

Mia’s absence gave way to a ton of “new” choreographers this season. New to us, at least. Like Sean Cheesman, Jason Gilkison, Spencer Liff and a routine from Desmond Richardson and Dwight Rhoden. We had more Wade Robson, more Stacey Tookey, more Mandy Moore and more Travis Wall routines, which seriously rocked. More Sonya routines, many of which blew our minds, like the “Tore My Heart” Oona - Tore My Heart - Single - Tore My Heart routine with Ellenore and Jakob.  Hopefully, we’ll get to see special Mia routines, maybe one or two a season, in the future. I don’t want SYTYCD America to be completely devoid of Mia Michaels, but I’m glad we had so many standout choreographers, new and recurring, this season.

Jeer:

This season had some really awful costumes…

Cheer:

And some really amazing music. But these two things are pretty typical of all seasons, I suppose. 🙂

Jeer:

No mention of a Season 6 tour! Not even on the finale show! What are they thinking? There had better be a tour, or I will seriously cry foul. I’m keeping my feelers out, y’all, and using my contacts, to see if/when the tour will be.

Cheer:

I’m glad they mentioned auditions for Season 7 because it sounds like it’ll be another summer season. So that means that we’ll either have two seasons a year, or we’ll go back to our beloved summer format (probably the former). SYTYCD keeps motoring on, which is good news. And again, we don’t have to wait several months till fall, sounds like.

Jeer:

Hell no to the Top 6! I hope Fox and SYTYCD realize they can never do this to us again. This was the worst idea ever and I suspect the results might have been significantly different, if we’d had a normal Top 4 finale. Not cool.

Cheer:

The Meet the Top 20 episode was the biggest stroke of genius and the best of all the new ideas and concepts we dealt with this season. I hope they *always* do this from now on. It was sublime to see all of the Top 20 dancing within their styles without fear of elimination. Some of the best dancing of the entire season happened in this very first episode, as evidenced by how many of the judges’ favorites in the finale show were from this very episode.

I think that’s all I’ve got. I’ve run out of steam. But I’m sure I’ve forgotten something you hated or loved, so let me know what you think.

December 21, 2009 I Written By