This video does a spotlight on Laura, and then shifts its focus to Sarah and Patrick. I like that they focused on Laura a little bit, since she was cut from the tour. She is a sweet girl. It was also nice for Sarah and Patrick to have a bit done on them, since they weren’t selected for the duet piece. Toward the end, Sarah talks about how she was happy for David and Joni, and I felt like that showed how close all these people were. It would have been easy to be bitter about it, but I didn’t get that impression at all from Sarah.
This was such an emotional clip! It’s truly amazing how much a life can be changed in only a month. I loved watching these dancers reflect on their experiences and how it has affected their future. The dancers in this company are good people, and I’ve enjoyed getting to know them over the past month. I’m disappointed that the SYTYCD tour won’t be coming anywhere near where I live.
Katie Clark is a journalism student at Brigham Young University in her senior year. She is originally from Littleton, Colorado, and hopes to move back there after graduation. Reality television is her favorite to watch, and has enjoyed writing about America's Got Talent and A Chance to Dance. She is a stay-at-home-mom who enjoys writing (especially blogs), cooking and sewing (while spending far too much time on Pinterest finding inspiration) and being outside with her husband and son.
Well, the finale is finally here. That didn’t take long, did it? There’s been a few teasers that something “shocking” will happen, so I was excited/nervous to see what that was. I was thinking some of the dancers weren’t going to be able to dance in the gala (that would have been terrible). Luckily, that wasn’t it.
Overall, I thought the gala performance was beautiful. It was such an interesting combination of different dance styles, and all of the dancers really blended together well. Here is the full performance from tonight’s episode:
I was happy to see that Eldon was doing better from last week’s episode. His fate seemed up in the air, but he definitely did a great job.Here is one of his greatest moments:
And here is another one of my favorite clips from last night. This is David’s solo from the night, and I thought it was incredible.
Overall, this has been a great journey. Can you believe they put together this performance in just a month? I sure can’t. When I was in high school, I was in a show choir, and it took us a month to learn simple steps (then again…we definitely weren’t professional dancers — I’d never really danced until I was in it!) I felt so bad for Tanisha though, but she held it together so well. Not a lot of people would have been able to keep their emotions in, and pull it off some graciously.
I loved seeing everyone in the dressing room, the energy in there was so high. I’m sure they were all going on adrenaline. It was obvious that all of the dancers had grown close throughout this whole experience.
So the big shocker was revealed toward the end of the episode. Only eight of the twelve dancers would be in the opening act for the SYTYCD tour. I’m still trying to figure out why that is. You could see the hearts breaking of the dancers — both those that stayed and those that got let go. I think Laura’s was the saddest to watch. She looked so sad, and understandably so.
In the end, the ones that wouldn’t be going on the tour were Laura, Michelle, Jen, and Courtney.
This will be one of the last posts on a Chance to Dance I’ll be doing, and I have to say, I’m a little bit sad. I’ve grown attached to these dancers, and have looked forward to watching the show. I think this stroke of genius from Nigel Lythgoe has changed the lives for everyone that was on the show, whether or not they made it to the gala. Here are some final thoughts from the Ballet Boyz:
Katie Clark is a journalism student at Brigham Young University in her senior year. She is originally from Littleton, Colorado, and hopes to move back there after graduation. Reality television is her favorite to watch, and has enjoyed writing about America's Got Talent and A Chance to Dance. She is a stay-at-home-mom who enjoys writing (especially blogs), cooking and sewing (while spending far too much time on Pinterest finding inspiration) and being outside with her husband and son.
It’s down to the final few days before the Gala, and the final 12 left Jacob’s Pillow for New York in episode six.
Even though the stress of even making the company is passed, the dancers face a new sort of competition this week: Who will perform the coveted duet.
Before I get into that, I have to say, I’m so glad David Dorfman is coming back. I truly think he adds so much…spirit to the company. He takes them out of their comfort zone and introduces them to new styles. Michelle (I believe) talked about how he was having them do things she never did before, but how she liked them. It causes them to grow. And I think that is so important as well.
It was interesting how David pointed out that he usually has months (years, even) to work with companies, which once again emphasized the unique premise of this show. If you think about it, it’s incredible. These dancers have been together for less than a month. Yes, they probably won’t have the most polished, perfect performance, but really
And on Patrick — yes, I was a little surprised that he made it to the final. However, I decided that I like him. He seems so genuine. Another thing I like about this show is that it gave some people an opportunity they may not have had otherwise. I mean, look at Shepherd. I doubt he would have ever done some of the things he did at Jacob’s Pillow elsewhere. And I feel like with some of the dancers who did make the final company, such as Patrick, this was something that wouldn’t have happened otherwise. This doesn’t have to do with tonight’s episode, but I loved it. Patrick cuts his long hair:
Okay, enough my random musings. On to the duets. I’m going to post each of them, in case you missed it, and throw in my commentary. Two of my favorite female dancers, Sarah and Joni, were up for the spot, so I was excited about that.
So first off, Sarah and Patrick. Obviously they are at a disadvantage because they haven’t had as much experience dancing together. And I think that does show in their tryout. And I feel bad for Sarah, because it is hard to all the sudden not have the partner that you’ve grown to be comfortable with. But I think that emphasizes what Billy and Michael have been saying all along — they wanted dancers that can adapt, and work well with others. And in the end, I think they did a good job. In all honesty, I think I enjoyed it more than the other, but maybe that’s because I felt bad for Sarah.
David and Joni were absolutely flawless. They mesh together extremely well, and it was beautiful to watch. I think that everyone watching was in awe as well.
And last, but not least, the most heart wrenching part of the whole show (at least, I think it was). To see Eldon hurt so badly, after he has worked so hard to get where he is….Wow. Just re-watching this clip makes me tear up. I hope there is a way he can be the performance, but mostly, I hope this doesn’t ruin his career.
So next week is the season finale. It should be a pretty good episode (but aren’t all of them?) I can’t wait to see what the “big shocker” is. It sounds like it is supposed to be disappointing for everyone…maybe the gala was cancelled? Who knows. Don’t forget to tune in!
Katie Clark is a journalism student at Brigham Young University in her senior year. She is originally from Littleton, Colorado, and hopes to move back there after graduation. Reality television is her favorite to watch, and has enjoyed writing about America's Got Talent and A Chance to Dance. She is a stay-at-home-mom who enjoys writing (especially blogs), cooking and sewing (while spending far too much time on Pinterest finding inspiration) and being outside with her husband and son.
Another episode has come and gone, and the gala for the Dizzy Feet Foundation draws closer. In this episode, the reigns were handed over to David Dorfman, a famous dancer and choreographer, and Allison Holker, a mock/last chance performance was put on, and in the end, the final 12 dancers were selected for the company.
I think the visit from David was well-needed. I can only imagine the amount of stress these dancers must have been feeling at this point. In a moments time, any of them could be sent home, and their dream of joining this company would be over. He really helped loosen them up. Who wouldn’t be loosened up after doing a “silly pelvic walk,” and being accompanied by an accordion?!
Michael and Billy headed to New York City for the day and left the reigns to David and Allison — and with that, left them the ability to send home those felt were not up to par. The Ballet Boyz must really trust these two. I mean, what if they sent home a favorite of theirs?
The duets that David was in charge of were very fun to watch. I think it was nice for some of the dancers to be able to do a little more contemporary style. Shepherd seemed to take to this type of a dance a little better than in the past.
In the end, Allison sent home Kaitlin home, and David sent Chase. When I saw David’s bottom four, I had a feeling it was going to be chase. I’ve always liked him, but I felt like maybe he wasn’t right for the company. Kaitlin seemed pretty disappointed, which is understandable. I think it was hard for some of the girls to really stand out, just because there were so many girls! Here are their exit videos (they always make me sad! I could never be a judge.)
And, as usual, a portion of the show focused on Shepherd. Part of me thinks the show should have been called “Shepherd’s Chance to Dance.” In this next clip, it shows his “midnight practice.” To be honest, I think Shepherd has gone above and beyond. He has obviously had to work very hard to try and compare to the other dancers, because his style is so different from most of the others.
I loved watching the performance toward the end. It’s incredible — especially since the dancers haven’t been practicing together for years…or even months. I’m betting that Billy and Michael weren’t wanting to cut anyone at this point, especially because everyone seemed to work so well together.
In the end, we said good bye to Bayli, Kelly, Chelsea, Sydney, and . . . Shepherd. His time finally came to an end. I had a feeling it was going to, but it was sad to see him go.
Next week will be interesting, now that the stress of eliminations is over. However, with the gala only days away, the dancers are going to be feeling a new kind of stress.
Katie Clark is a journalism student at Brigham Young University in her senior year. She is originally from Littleton, Colorado, and hopes to move back there after graduation. Reality television is her favorite to watch, and has enjoyed writing about America's Got Talent and A Chance to Dance. She is a stay-at-home-mom who enjoys writing (especially blogs), cooking and sewing (while spending far too much time on Pinterest finding inspiration) and being outside with her husband and son.
From Salt Lake, there were 13 dancers. Five from Washington D.C., and six from Austin, Texas.
Obviously, us viewers knew that the company was only going to have 12 dancers, but I wasn’t sure if the 24 dancers that were flown to New York knew that. But at least they all were given a fair shot at making that top 12.
To me, this has been the best episode so far. I’m not a huge fan of the audition stage of any show. I like when it starts getting to the nitty gritty, and we can get to know the people.
I’ll be the first to admit, I don’t know a ton about dancing, but it was obviously a big deal when they arrived at Jacob’s Pillow. Even if someone didn’t make it to the final company, it seems like this opportunity would have made it worth the trip out to New York.
It made me laugh when one of the girls on the bus said they were hoping this whole experience would be “drama free.” Yeah right. Especially with the number of girls that are present — drama is inevietable. I have been surprised by the lack so far, but I’m guessing as it gets down to crunch time right before the gala, the fangs will come out. We can always hope their won’t be drama, but I’m seriously doubting it. The editing of a show tends to bring drama in anyways — isn’t that why a lot of people watch shows like this?
Anyways, I think my favorite part of this episode was the word exercise. I feel like it really gave all of the dancers an opportunity to put their best foot forward and show off their individual strengths as they created a dance that expressed a word they felt described them best. I absolutely LOVED Laura’s, and Shepherd’s was pretty cool as well. I was disappointed in Chase O’s though — he obviously has a lot of talent, but I felt like he fell short in this exercise.
They sure did focus on Shepherd a lot, didn’t they? He’s the dancer that has been most recognizable thus far. Are they focusing on him because he’s probably the least trained — classically, at least? Or because it’s obvious he is working hard? I’m going to be surprised if he ends up being cut in the end, because of all the air time he’s been given. Even though he’s probably not the most polished dancer, he’s actually probably one of my favorites. Because I do think he is very grateful for the opportunity to be there, and is willing to go outside his comfort zone to get there. This is one of my favorite clips that focused on him in the show:
It was a nice touch to include the BBQ that was put on by Billy and Michael. If anything, it showed some more insight into the dancers, and even Billy’s and Michael’s, personalities. I enjoyed watching it — a bit of comedic relief.
So obviously, at the end, the dancers got the news that six of them were going to be sent him the next day. Laura acted as if this was shocking news, but I kind of wonder why. I mean, they knew by this point that only 12 would make to the final performance, right? And seeing as there was only about 17 days left, cuts were bound to be made relatively quickly. It will definitely be interesting to see who goes through. I’m not sure how they are going to go about it — only select the most polished, precise dancers, or perhaps bring through some of the ones with less experience, such as Shepherd. This next video makes me wonder even more about him — sounds like he is on the brink of elimination.
We shall see. This show is starting to get really good, I can hardly wait to see next week’s episode, especially after watching the preview:
Katie Clark is a journalism student at Brigham Young University in her senior year. She is originally from Littleton, Colorado, and hopes to move back there after graduation. Reality television is her favorite to watch, and has enjoyed writing about America's Got Talent and A Chance to Dance. She is a stay-at-home-mom who enjoys writing (especially blogs), cooking and sewing (while spending far too much time on Pinterest finding inspiration) and being outside with her husband and son.
Tonight’s episode brought us to Washington D.C. and Austin. After finding 13 talented dancers in Salt Lake, it was interesting to see who was discovered in these two cities, and the differences in dance styles.
As, I think it was Billy, said, in Salt Lake there was a lot of talent and people, but the contestants didn’t have the best technique. Then after the D.C. tryouts, there was great technique, but not a lot of hopefuls showed up. I think that Houston definitely had great talent, technique, and a ton of dancers showed up. Perhaps, they saved the best for last? I do think that they might have been wishing they started in Houston, rather than end there.
At the beginning of the episode, Billy and Michael said they were going to some more unique areas in D.C., and they sure did! The pole dancing was a bit surprising, especially when Billy took the stage. But all I have to say is, dang. That man has seriously got some talent. While pole dancing isn’t usually (or really, ever) my favorite dancing to watch, but I will admit I enjoyed his impromptu dance. If you missed it, here’s a clip:
It was disappointing to see the lack of people that showed up in Washington D.C. I just wonder why that was, and why they chose to go to D.C. in the first place. They did seem to find a few good dancers here though, so it wasn’t a complete failure. It might have been good anyways, so Billy and Michael didn’t have to spend as much time deciding who should stay and who should go.
My favorites from D.C. were Kaitlin, a girl from Vienna, and Chase from Alexandria, Virginia. Chase stood out to me, obviously, because he had to leave early. I’m glad that he was there long enough to impress the judges and inspire them to select him to go on. I was a bit concerned about his heart condition, and that he recently had surgery, but I guess you just have to trust that the doctors gave him the O.K. Patrick, the hippy-ish guy, stood out to me as well. I enjoyed watching him.
I felt like the second half of the show was more interesting to watch, mainly because I thought there was a lot of great talent there. As soon as they visited the University of Texas dance studio, I knew we were in for a treat. I was instantly impressed with the dancers, and felt like they hit the gold mine.
It was interesting how they called out one dancer to dance at the second studio they visited. His name was Trevor Allen and was from Austin, Texas. However, I’m so glad they did! He had some awesome moves and technique, and I doubt they would have seen that had he just shown up to the auditions. I wasn’t surprised when they asked him to move on before the auditions even started. Hopefully he will make it through to the final 12 dancers who will perform at the gala. I really enjoyed him.
The auditions definitely packed a lot of material into a short amount of time. In some ways, that is good, because the dancers that can perform under pressure were able to shine. But it was unfortunate for those that may not have been showing off their best moves, because it wasn’t the type of dancing they were used to. It was interesting to see the dancers as they showed of their best moves to “Chaine Chaine Chaine”. I thought that was a smart move on the part of Billy and Michael, as it showed who could do a basic task.
I didn’t catch a lot of the names of those that went on tonight, but there’s definitely some to watch for. I loved the group number. It was so creative and fun to watch! Houston was definitely a success, and I feel kind of bad that some of the people didn’t make it through.
Well, the auditions are over and next week we will find out which of the 24 will go home, and which 12 will move on to perform at the Gala for the Dizzy Feet Foundation. I think it’s going to be intense, especially because there are only 22 days left til show time! This preview definitely makes it seem that way:
Katie Clark is a journalism student at Brigham Young University in her senior year. She is originally from Littleton, Colorado, and hopes to move back there after graduation. Reality television is her favorite to watch, and has enjoyed writing about America's Got Talent and A Chance to Dance. She is a stay-at-home-mom who enjoys writing (especially blogs), cooking and sewing (while spending far too much time on Pinterest finding inspiration) and being outside with her husband and son.
Nigel Lythgoe, executive producer and judge on SYTYCD, decided he wanted to create a company of 12 talented dancers from around the country and have them premiere at the Dizzy Feet Foundation gala in New York City. Easy, right? Maybe not — he wanted it done in 28 days. So he contacted the creators of the Ballet Boyz Dance Company, Billy Trevitt and Michael Nunn, to go to different cities to visit dance studios and then hold an open audition in hopes of finding talented, classically trained, dancers to make the final cut.
On the premiere tonight, Billy and Michael landed in Salt Lake City and were picked up by their host, Allison Holker, from season 2 of the SYTYCD, and were welcome by wonderful Utah traffic (which I know far too well) on the way to different dance studios in the surrounding area. At the first one, two girls automatically were given passes to the next stage because they impressed Billy and Michael so much, and everyone else was invited to attend the open audition the next day. They visited a few more studios before calling it a day.
But enough of the re-capping. If you’re reading this, you must have watched the show. So now I’ll just give my thoughts.
The show started off strong. We got right into the audition/scouting stage, which I liked. Most of these dancers were serious about what they were doing, and there weren’t any “spoof” auditions that we often see on dancing and singing shows. It also become obvious very early on that Billy and Michael meant business. I mean, someone left without saying anything, and you could tell it bothered them. I loved the speech they gave at that point — I would have been scared to even attempt to leave! They also didn’t waste time cutting people, which was unfortunate for those that didn’t have much a of a chance to show what they had, but it kept the show moving.
Here is a video from tonight’s episode that has Billy “showing how it’s done”:
Billy and Michael had three fears going into the open audition:
Nobody would show up
Those that showed up wouldn’t be any good
How could they know if someone was really as talented as they appeared after one day
There was definitely a huge turnout of a variety of people — a dance student at BYU, an organic gardner, and a guy in his mid-thirties.
Jaecey, more commonly referred to as the hoola hoop girl, stood out to me right away because of her less-dance like attire, and, of course, her hoola hoops. Unfortunately, turning the first part of the audition, she stood out…but not really in a good way. I commented right away that I felt like she didn’t seem to be picking it up very well, and my thoughts were quickly voiced by Billy and Michael. I definitely agreed with that cut.
I did wonder why they kept around A.J. He definitely had a very cocky persona from the beginning, and he just didn’t seem to be that talented. He blamed it on the nerves, but I think he just wasn’t really wanting to listen. I was relieved when he was cut in the end, especially after he made the comment about saving the girls in his trio toward the end.
The group pieces were pretty cool. I think my favorite was Jen and Jessica, who performed second. They seemed very connected and fluid, and it was a beautiful piece to watch. Another stand out performance was Sarah and Eldon, who went first. I think these two could make it to the end. Here’s the clip of their performance:
In the end, I agreed with most of their choices. I noticed that they focused Sarah quite a bit throughout the entire episode. She had several interviews throughout the episode, and it seemed like Billy and Michael singled her out quite a bit. I wonder if that’s a hint at the future — will she make the final cut? She was a bit emotional, so if she can keep that under control, I think she has a good chance.
They are leaving Salt Lake with 11 dancers, however, only two of those were men. Hopefully D.C. and Austin will prove to have more talented male performers. I didn’t catch all the names of those moving on, but among those 11 are Sarah, Jen, Jessica, Sydney, Joni, Megan, Chase, Eldon, and Savannah. In the individual pieces earlier on in the episode, I really liked Joni’s performance. Beyond her, Sarah, Jen, Jessica, and Eldon stuck out to me.
Don’t forget to tune in every Friday until September 28th to see more auditions and who makes the final 12. Plus, if you don’t have Ovation TV, remember that you can stream A Chance to Dance online. This is a competition like none other I’ve seen before. I’m excited for the upcoming episodes and to follow the journey of these dancers, and to see who makes it to the final performance. I love that there is more than one winner, and this is giving dancers an opportunity they may not have otherwise had. Just so you want to come back next week, here’s episode 2’s promo:
Katie Clark is a journalism student at Brigham Young University in her senior year. She is originally from Littleton, Colorado, and hopes to move back there after graduation. Reality television is her favorite to watch, and has enjoyed writing about America's Got Talent and A Chance to Dance. She is a stay-at-home-mom who enjoys writing (especially blogs), cooking and sewing (while spending far too much time on Pinterest finding inspiration) and being outside with her husband and son.
Rickey.org just posted some great pictures from the Dizzy Feet event in LA that happened Nov. 29th. It included the 5Alive kids as well as stars from DWTS (including S3’s Lacey) and ABDC (with S1’s Ryan and S3’s Hok and Dominic). Thanks Rickey for posting this, man I wish I could have been there!
here’s an interview with Qwest, with most of the questions aimed at D-Trix (Dominic) he’s awesome!
dances done included “No Air”, “If It Kills Me”, and “Addiction” as well as Ade and Melissa’s Breast Cancer routine, as well as performances from Cheryl and Derek from DWTS and Lacey’s samba with Lance Bass from S7 of DWTS. Qwest rocked it out, as did the three leading ladies from the Step Up films, as introduced by their male counterparts.
The night I’ve been looking forward to has come upon us! The music was incredible and so were the performances! My thoughts follow after the break. I hope you’ll comment with yours.
-I’m liking Ashleigh more and more each week and I really enjoyed this Nappytabs hip hop with Jakob. I’m still not sure how Ashleigh would fare without a strong partner like Jakob, but I’m slowly becoming convinced that she just might hold her own. She was fascinating in this routine and really surprising.
-I enjoyed seeing Karen do something besides “smolder,” and I think it’s really inappropriate for Nigel/the producers to keep trying to box her into this niche. I was surprised that no one said “if *Kevin’s* friends could see him now,” before Adam that is. I really appreciated Adam’s comments. It reminded me why I’m so glad he’s a permanent judge. It was a cute routine that didn’t quite gel, but I thought they did a solid job and they both surprised me. It was cute when Kevin leaned over to kiss her.
-Loved the foxtrot! Not even so much for the choreography, though I think Eddie Simon did wonders with the two of them. They just looked like they were having an obscene about of fun together, which made it really fun to watch. Adam nailed it when he said it had a lot of “joy.” It was so hard not to smile along with them while they danced. And you really could see the improvement Russell had made and that will get him far–demonstrating that he can improve that much just in a matter of weeks when given the same style. And Nigel was right that Noelle doesn’t disappear into Russell’s shadow. They’re very giving to each other and they both shine.
-Channing smiled! She really seemed to be enjoying herself. So, apparently she just has to pretend to be an animal to visibly relax and enjoy dancing. 🙂 In her package, she said who wouldn’t want to be a cat and in this, she was a bird. This was really fun and I loved the movement they achieved and the “characters” of the curious, playful birds. Adam was right that the music was really, really distracting though. Not my favorite version of “Blackbird.” I much prefer the Dionne Farris version that Kayla danced to last season. But their movement always pulled me back in when I got distracted by the music.
-WHOA on the paso doble! This may be my favorite paso doble on any season of SYTYCD. This was intense and sexy and soooo good. They had a little awkwardness at the end, with her wrapped around him, but this was just stunning. A really good moment for the two of them. It was like a movie. My impression of both of these dancers is changing dramatically, but Legacy particularly impressed in this one.
-I’m so sad I don’t live in L.A. after seeing that Dizzy Feet package. I’m so glad we got to meet some of the dancers the foundation is helping! But they need to figure out some way to enable fans who can’t make L.A. to see the gala! Maybe a Pay-Per-View release after the gala, or a DVD release? Come on, I’m dying to see all those dancers!
-LOVING Travis Wall!! He is incredible! He brings so much out in his dancers and he was *exactly* what Elleanore and Ryan needed after that disastrous routine last week. So beautiful and full. It was an entire relationship encapsulated in a few minutes and I thought they were both incredible.
-Again, I think Laurieann Gibson was *just* what Mollee and Nathan needed this week. They needed her crazy boot camp to get down to business and dig deep. I enjoyed the performance a lot, but it didn’t stand out as much as a few of the other routines. Mollee was a little sexy and she was definitely powerful. Nathan looked so confused at Nigel’s comments, kinda like, “He’s saying positive things, but he’s saying them in a really negative way.” I’d be confused, too, but I see Nigel’s point and I think he made it a lot more professionally this week. Still nearly made Nathan cry, I think.
-Cat was HYSTERICAL and adorable tonight. I loved it especially when she did a Travis Wall impression. Lol.
Keep your eyes peeled for my Power Rankings. Dunno how I’m gonna do this one.
