Welcome to Pure So You Think You Can Dance

The title pretty much speaks for itself. For all of us who wished we could’ve been at the Gala, Lyndsey Parker was there and interviewed several dancers on the Red Carpet. It’s a long video with, among others, Adam Shankman, Jeanine, Lacey, Quest Dance Crew, Derek Hough, Mary Murphy, Season 5 dancers Kayla and Melissa with Caitlin and Jason in the background, as well as Ade talking to Katee, Cheryl Burke and Mark Ballas. Enjoy!

Dizzy Feet Gala: Reality Rocks’ Red-Carpet Interviews from Yahoo! Music on Vimeo.

I’d like to share a bit of yet another conversation between me and John and see what y’all think.

Emilie: and this season, i’ve felt like a flip flopper.John: you are a flip flopperalthough, i think a lot of people have flip flopped this seasonEmilie: i haven’t flip flopped THAT much this seasoni liked my favorites pretty early the only ones i flip flopped on were ashleigh, legacy and mollee oh, i flip flopped on karen, too.

Yes, I’m aware that I flip flopped on whether or not I was a flip flopper. So, let me be honest with myself and with all of you.

-I liked Mollee and then didn’t. And then did again after she got to the Top 10 and switched partners.

-I liked Karen and didn’t like Ashleigh. And then I liked Ashleigh better and Karen a lot less. And then Karen left and Ashleigh peaked (in my opinion) and I was ready for her to go again.

-I didn’t like Legacy, but then I was impressed by him in a lot of his routines with Kathryn. And then less impressed (or at least less reliably so) when he switched partners.

But it’s not just SYTYCD dancers I flip flopped over this fall season. I disliked most of Louis van Amstel’s work on SYTYCD, but out of curiosity (and John’s peer pressure), I started watching Dancing with the Stars sporadically. Louis’s partnership with Kelly Osbourne on there made me fall for him and his work. I’m excited to see more of it on SYTYCD in the future. Will that happen?

However, I also had a few solid passions this season. Peter. Sigh. Really wish he could be on the tour. Maybe the tappers could be “special guests,” eh Nigel? Loved Ellenore since Vegas and love her more today. Grew to love Noelle and Kathryn quickly into the Top 20. While I admire Jakob and I’ll be satisfied if (if? ha!) he’s the winner, I’m much more passionate about the girls this season, especially Kathryn and Ellenore.

Did anybody else feel like a flip flopper this season? Who made you flip flop? Any of the dancers have your love from day one?

We’ve posted a couple of times before about the Dizzy Feet Gala Benefit to raise money for dancers. I loved the write ups about the event and wish that I could have been there myself. Well, this weekend I finally had a few free moments to catch up on some of the various video footage of the Dizzy Feet event. Here’s just a couple that I enjoyed.

Most of the Dancing with the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance performances:

A great set of videos on the “red carpet” with the dancers talking about why they are happy to support the Dizzy Feet foundation.

I’m really impressed with what they were able to put together and the number of people that they could get to perform at this event. I’d be interested to know how well the event did at raising money. I personally don’t think that Dizzy Feet foundation is doing enough for those dancers who have no dance experience. Sure, I love that they are supporting those dancers who want higher level training. However, I’d love to see them do more outreach to those who have had little or no formal training. In the future, I hope to possibly partner with Dizzy Feet to be able to address this issue.

I just wish I could find more details other that the ones we already know. The gala is scheduled for Sunday, November 29, 2009 at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. We heard from the Judges tonight who will be performing at this event. The season 5 dance are scheduled to perform, along with dancers from Dancing with the Stars, and America’s Best Dance Crew. Plus a first seeing all the leads from each Step Up movie dancing together. So we will see Channing Tatum and his wife and co-star Jenna Dewan, Briana Evigan and Robert Hoffman from Step Up 2, and of course Twitch and other past favorites from SYTYCD that are scheduled to appear in the thrid installment. Also performances by the first recipients of Dizzy Feet scholarships from Juilliard, Alvin Ailey and American Ballet Theatre. Plus a performance from Mary Murphy and Dmitry.

Unfortunaly this event will not be televised, which I personally don’t like and I’m jealous of those who are going. So if you live in the Los Angeles area and would like to attend this sure to be amazing show, you can buy your tickets on Ticketmaster.

So for those of us that can’t attend the Gala and still would like to support the foundation go to the Dizzy Feet website. They also have a Dizzy Feet store now also so check it out. If you can donate please do every little bit counts and it for a great cause.

Well, after tonight’s performance on Dancing with the Stars, it looks like Chelsie Hightower will be going home. It’s possible that by some miracle, they’re able to get enough votes, but it’s not looking very good.

In honor of So You Think You Can Dance Alumni, Chelsie Hightower, I thought I might as well do a post dedicated to Chelsie.

First, here’s a pretty cool tribute video to Chelsie and Mark:

Next, check out the most popular dance from last season’s So You Think You Can Dance to a Leona Lewis song called Bleeding Love. The video is really something special to watch.

Then, I would be remiss if I didn’t add in the video of Chelsie Hightower giving cowboy Ty Murray a spray on tan for his Salsa.

UPDATE: Lacey and Steve-O were sent home on Dancing with the Stars.

I’m certain that a lot of fans of So You Think You Can Dance have been following the past So You Think You Can Dance cast to see how they’re doing on Dancing with the Stars. I meant to give more regular updates, but just didn’t find the time.

As you probably already know, Dmitry and Holly were voted off the show a couple weeks ago. I know I was a little bit surprised, although looking back it kind of makes sense that Holly doesn’t have the most passionate following. Men who like Playboy aren’t exactly the target market for Dancing with the Stars and are definitely not the kind of people that pick up the phone and vote. Regardless I’d still really like to see Dmitry back for another season on the show.

This week Chelsie and Lacey are both in the bottom 2. That really doesn’t bode well for either of them. I personally think that it might just be time for Steve-O to go home. Although, he probably does have a few more fans than Ty so it could be a close one. Either way, it’s pretty much a forgone conclusion that both Chelsie and Lacey have lame duck partners and they’re lucky to still be on the show at all.

I’m sure that Chelsie and Lacey are fighting as hard as they can to stay on the show since the farther they make it on the show, the more they get paid. At least if they get paid similar to Shawn Johnson on Dancing with the Stars. Plus, maybe there’s just a little bit of pride for being the last So You Can Dance alumnus still on Dancing with the Stars.

Since I’ve always focused on the music from So You Think You Can Dance, I should also link you to a list of all the Dancing with the Stars 2009 music. They’re still not on par with So You Think You Can Dance, but they have done 100 times better this year than in past years.

Most people already know that Lacey Schwimmer was on last season’s Dancing with the Stars. In fact, Lacey Schwimmer did really well last year making it to the final 3 with star Lance Bass as her partner. Lacey did an excellent job full of edgy routines and her signature semi-rebellious style.

This year, Lacey Schwimmer will be back again on Dancing with the Stars and this season she’ll be paired with Steve-O. Yes, it is indeed that Steve-O. This should be really interesting to see. I’m sure the producers of the show saw the irony of the “bad girl” being paired with Steve-O. This should be interesting to see what Steve-O is like on the prim and proper ballroom dance floor.

This season of Dancing with the Stars also announced Chelise Hightower and Dmitry Chaplin joining the show as professional dancers. They’ll both be part of a main storyline of couples since they’re dancing with married couple Ty Murray and Jewel respectively. This should be interesting for Chelsie and Dmitry. Of course, who wouldn’t want to watch Dmitry Chaplin dancing beside Jewel? Sounds like a match made in heaven. Plus, I think we’re certain to see more of shirtless Dmitry as well.

Check out my introduction of Chelsie and Dmitry to Dancing with the Stars fans. It’s kind of fun to see the cross over between the 2 shows. Like I heard Nigel say, “these kids have got to work.”

Nigel recently talked in an interview about his new show which is a sort of dance olympics:

Nigel describes his new dance show as basically a dance Olympics with dancers from all over the world and judges from all over the world also. Judges would only get to score those dancers that weren’t from their country. Sounds like it could be really interesting or really lame depending on how well the show is produced.

In a separate place, Nigel Lythgoe talks about Dancing with the Stars and fat dancers. I like that Nigel is happy to share the dancers between the various shows. Makes a lot of sense to me and I’m glad he sees that these dancers need work. It does make me wonder what kinds of contracts people on these shows sign to participate.

I was also very interesting in Nigel mentioning that Dancing with the Stars was possibly interested in having Chelsie Hightower on the show. She’s a great dancer. Quite the tom boy as you might recall, but she’d be pretty entertaining on the show. I’d be interested to see how versatile she is just as I was interested to see how versatile Lacey was when she made the switch.

Nigel is also pretty open about the idea of fat dancers. He doesn’t address specifically if Lacey Schwimmer is a fat dancer or not, but he does say there are a number of fat dancers that shouldn’t be dancing. I appreciate his comments there. It’s just not pleasant to watch. People are welcome and encouraged to dance if they are overweight, but don’t make the rest of us watch it. It’s just not pretty.