Welcome to Pure So You Think You Can Dance

This was hard! There were a lot of routines that were equally good in my mind, so I had to work hard to limit myself to a Top 10. I gave myself 5 extra routines for group numbers that rocked – we had a lot of amazing group work this season, especially when you factor in the Meet the Top 20 episode. I did not consider “fairness” or equal distribution here. So I think you’ll see a lot of the same dancers, which didn’t surprise me, personally.

Paired Routines

1. “Machine Gun” Ellenore/Legacy Travis Wall

2. “Tore My Heart” Ellenore/Jakob Sonya Tayeh

3. “At This Moment” Kathryn/Jakob Desmond Richardson and Dwight Rhoden

4. “Little Green Bag” Pauline/Peter Wade & Amanda Robson

5. “Your Ex-Lover Is Dead” Ellenore/Ryan Travis Wall

6. “2 Steps Away” Kathryn/Legacy Stacey Tookey

7. “Frog Dance” Noelle/Russell Sean Cheesman

8. “Put Your Hands on Me” Kathryn/Ryan Jason Gilkison

9. “Violentango” Ellenore/Ryan Miriam and Leonardo

10. “Put Your Hands On me” Kathryn/Ryan Jason Gilkison

Honorable Mentions (alllllmooooosssst): Kathryn/Legacy’s paso doble, Noelle/Russell’s “A Case of You” contemporary, Noelle/Ryan “Give It To Me Right” hip hop, Mollee/Jakob’s “Ordinary Day” waltz, Ellenore/Jakob “Gotcha” Broadway, Ashleigh/Jakob “Whatcha Say” hip hop, Ariana/Peter’s “Black and Gold” hip hop, Bianca/Victor’s “Wasted Time” contemporary, Ellenore/Russell paso doble, Kathryn/Russell hip hop (both finale).

Group Routines

1. Top 20 “Comanche” Wade & Amanda Robson

2. Top 12 “What’s a Girl to Do” Nappytabs

3. Top 14 “Aha!” Wade & Amanda Robson

4. Top 16 “Warrior” Dave Scott

5. Ariana, Channing, Jakob and Nathan “Cryin’” contemporary Tyce Diorio

These were my standouts, the routines I’d expect on a tour (with the exception of those who didn’t make the Top 10). What were yours?

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” 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.

Here’s the Top 6 on Ellen. I love this! And I like the married dancing!

I just don’t know, y’all. Part of me thinks this is a slam dunk for Jakob (John already proclaimed him the SYTYCD season 6 winner back on the 8th). But part of me thinks Kathryn or Ellenore might still win it. Wishful thinking? Let’s see…

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When I saw this picture on the SYTYCD site, I couldn’t help wondering if my Power Rankings were already done for me. A picture’s worth a thousand words, after all…

It’s not necessarily what I’d like. I’d love if the final two were Kathryn and Ellenore. But, I have a feeling this picture (unconsciously on the part of Fox and the SYTYCD folks, maybe) predicts the order of the Top 6. First, Ryan and Ashleigh will get eliminated. Then Ellenore and Russell most likely. And, I suspect the final two are gonna be Kathryn and Jakob. It might even be in this particular order…

I’ll do a proper Power Ranking after tonight’s Finale Part I, but I think this pretty much this says it all. What do you think?

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?

I predict an “easy” solution to a very hard choice for next week’s unprecedented Top 6. Maybe I’m all wrong – you’ll have to let me know what you think. But here are my predictions for tomorrow night’s results…

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I have a crazy week this week, finals for school and I’m actually having hip surgery on Thursday so I’ll just post the spoilers and not my thoughts. The surgery does give me ample time to catch up on old SYTYCD episodes though, haha, though being on crutches for 8 weeks probably won’t be too much fun. I’ll have to wait until I get home to catch the show online, should be a good one! Have a great week everyone!

Thanks to everyone over at IdolForums for the spoilers this week.

*spoilers after the jump*

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Pure SYTYCD has been getting a ton of requests for the full version of “Tore My Heart” by OONA that was used for Jakob and Ellenore’s routine from last night. Well, the wait is over. You can now find “Tore My Heart” on iTunes among all the other SYTYCD music.

In case, you don’t know which routine I’m talking about (is this possible?) or just want to watch it again, here’s the video of the Sonya Tayeh routine performed by Jakob Karr and Ellenore Scott to “Tore My Heart” by OONA.

To me, it seems pretty clear who should go this week. Except…because it seems “easy” this week, I wonder if America will feel differently or be polarized. Vote to keep your favorites in! No more Kherringtons! I was thinking we’d probably have a male winner this year (we’ve been alternating the last few…) because the guys seemed way stronger at first, what with Jakob and Russell in particular. But these girls are amazing!

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