Welcome to Pure So You Think You Can Dance

Well…no Season 5 Top 10. Sorry for that one, y’all. My bad. Must be next week. I’m a bit bummed after tonight’s show. Not just the results, but also finding out there are only two more weeks of Season 6. The finale is going to be between 6 dancers, which seems a bit…much… The results are going to be very strange, I think, because we won’t have gotten to see them dance as many routines over an extended amount of time like in previous seasons. And how long is this finale going to be? Cause if it’s only 2 hours with 6 final dancers… that seems really unfair and like a total gip, really.

As for the rest of my thoughts…

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SYTYCD Alums Hokuto “Hok”Konishi and Phillip “PacMan” Chbeeb just popped up yesterday on YouTube with a new dance video!  The video, entitled Office Life, was created and filmed over a three day period and centers on three office employees that “raise hell in furious protest to their mundane, frustrating nine to five job. they make quite a mess in the process. ”

Fun Stuff!

Enjoy!!!

[Via Phillip Chbeeb's channel on YouTube]

I must admit that I’ve been reminiscing about the 100th episode and enjoying the whole experience thoroughly. My list of past So You Think You Can Dance routines (only the amazing ones) was my favorite part so go check it out.

Now on to thoughts about tonight’s show. Plus, tonight I’m including some videos. It seemed the right thing to do in honor of the 100th episode.

I must admit that I wasn’t surprised at all when I heard that Jason and Janette were going home. Don’t ask me why, but I just had a feeling that Kayla and Brandon were going to make it through. That said, figuring out who’s going to be in the bottom 2 is so hard. Week to week it changes depending on their partners and the routines they get.

Now about Jason and Brandon…
With that said, I’ve kind of not liked Jason this whole time. He just never really clicked for me. As I watched the recap of his best moments I decided that I think it was the producers fault that we didn’t really get to know Jason. Everyone’s loved how he was the first one to hug whoever was safe. I also noticed when I think it was Kayla was safe, she went over and Brandon didn’t even acknowledge her, but Jason reached out to greet her. I think we missed this side of Jason and I think I would have liked him better had they shown more of that side of Jason on the show.

At the end of the day, I would have been very happy if Brandon had been sent home and Jason stayed. However, when I was watching it, I was surprised that I had kind of turned around to almost liking Jason. Plus, Brandon just has never been right for me. Tonight Brandon proved in his solo that he’s an amazing dancer. I’m just afraid he’s an amazing solo dancer and not very good in partnering.

Think back on Brandon’s dances. I can’t think of one moment where I can say that Brandon totally connected with his partner. The only one that comes to mind is in the Vegas auditions when Brandon and Natalie did that Sonya routine before Natalie was sent home. For me, Brandon just fails to connect with his partner. Yesterday hit that home when I saw no chemistry between Brandon and Jeanine. Add in something about his head (some people say it’s his big neck) and let’s just say I’m not a huge fan. Although, I will be excited to see Brandon’s solo next week.

While we’re on the boys….
Evan is unique. He has a Benji like following. However, it doesn’t feel quite as strong and it does seem to be waning. Plus, Benji had very few people that wanted him gone. Evan isn’t so lucky. I’ll be a bit surprised if Evan makes the top 4. I think the tide is turning for those not called Kasprzaktivists.

What can I say about Ade? It’s the pick. It’s the pick. Definitely a possible dark horse. He surprised me out of the chute with a few good routines with Melissa and some great choreography. I don’t see him winning it all, but won’t be surprised if he wins the top boy prize (assuming they do that again this year).

Now my dear Janette…
I must admit that I like Miami. However, I’m going to stick with the tweet I sent as they announced the girls “I’ll be very sad if Kayla or Jeanine goes home.” Janette will be missed. Some people suggested to me that it might be an Allison-ed. I don’t think it’s quite the same. In fact, it’s probably closer to a Kherington-ed. Allison was a GREAT (and probably still is) technical dancer who was sent home too early because she probably lacked in the personality department a little (or at least it wasn’t shown). Kherington was kind of the opposite. Solid technically, but oozed personality. Janette is definitely more like Kherington. Do I dare admit that Brandon’s popularity was keeping Janette on the show? Hmm…Miami will certainly be missed.

Seems like a lot of people are unhappy that Melissa is still there. As I watched her during the announcements I couldn’t help but think that if Melissa was a 21 year old girl, she’d have never made it to the top 20. I can’t think of really any dancer before Melissa that has embodied the more mature dancer this way. It’s been a nice storyline that I’ve enjoyed this season. It’s crazy to think that the “naughty ballerina” is now the “mature dancer.” I will admit that Melissa was a bit lucky to have gotten a couple Impressive routines at the start of the show and then of course yesterday’s Tyce piece. I’ve liked Melissa a lot, but it will be a sad finale if it doesn’t include both Kayla and Jeanine for me.

Speaking of Kayla and Jeanine…
Kayla has become my favorite dancer. Yesterday I couldn’t take my eyes off her as she danced. Plus, little pieces of her personality have really started to show through for me as the season progresses. Maybe it’s just her smile. Kayla does seem to be enjoying herself more as the season progresses. Yes I’ve become a real fan.

Jeanine has been the surprise of the show for me. She was hidden in the shadow of Phillip to start, but ever since that broadway routine she’s stood out to me. Even her less than stellar Waltz her face still had that star quality for me.

Of course, just don’t make me choose between Kayla and Jeanine.

Now I promised you videos.
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A lot has been made about the So You Think You Can Dance 100th episode. Considering I’ve been blogging about SYTYCD since June 30, 2006 (man I had a crush on Heidi Groskreutz…and still do) that will make this my 78th episode blogging about SYTYCD. 457 posts and somewhere around 1.5 million pageviews later and I still love writing about and watching SYTYCD. I love the prediction I made in my first post about SYTYCD linked above, “I don’t think it will be the blockbuster that American Idol(same producer) is, but it is well worth watching.” Well, it’s not as big as American Idol, but it’s gone on longer and gotten bigger than I thought it would be. What most of you don’t know is that if it weren’t for that first post about Heidi, I wouldn’t be 1/20th the blogger that I am today. I’ll save that story for another time. Ok, excuse that small walk down memory lane for me.

Back to the 100th episode. We’ve beat to death that Katie Holmes will be doing a Judy Garland tribute on SYTYCD. Cat also told us that the following 3 dances would be re-danced for the SYTYCD 100th episode. Of course, why wait for Thursday? Might as well enjoy them now and again on Thursday.

First up, the Travis and Heidi (Woot!!) bench routine by Mia Michaels to the song “Calling You“—Celine Dion. This is a fan favorite and is officially called “The Bench Routine”

Next up, Hummingbird and Flower by Hok and Jamie choreographed by Wade Robson to the song “The Chairman’s Waltz” from Memoirs of a Geisha. What I think makes this dance so special is that only Hok could do this dance justice. I can’t see anyone else execute it the way he did.

Finally, a Wade Robson group routine called Ramalama Bang Bang to the song “Ramalama (Bang Bang)” —Róisín Murphy. This wasn’t my favorite routine, but it includes my favorite SYTYCD top 10 and so I’ll be very glad to see them again.

I’m sure we’ll have more discussion about this again on Thursday, but why wait until Thursday. These routines are really quite incredible.

SYTYCD season 1’s Ryan Conferido and SYTYCD season 3’s Hok Konishi and Dominic Sandoval are all apart of the Quest Crew on ABDC on MTV. This crew has been tearing it up. I personally think they were by far the best crew the first week of ABDC and they haven’t let up all season.

In case you missed the videos, check out Quest Crew on ABDC.

Quest Crew on ABDC week 1

Quest Crew on ABDC week 2

Quest Crew on ABDC week 3

Quest Crew on ABDC week 4

Man I’ve been meaning to post this for a while, and just never got around to it. Hopefully you’ll forgive me. Anyway, has anyone noticed all the past members of So You Think You Can Dance on the ABDC stage? SYTYCD season 1’s Ryan Conferido and SYTYCD season 3’s Hok Konishi and Dominic Sandoval are all apart of the Quest Crew. The names Hok and Dominic should be familiar to you. Dominic and Cat’s interaction is one of my favorite SYTYCD storylines ever.

Someone who many people might not recognize is Brandon Norris of Dynamic Edition who was heavily featured during the season 3 try-outs of SYTYCD and performed at the season finale. A killer tapper that really surprised me when I saw him on ABDC. Talk about a ladies man. I’m certain he’s made hundreds of guys want to tap. Talk about numbers.

Of course, we all know that Shane Sparks is also from SYTYCD and is a judge on ABDC.

So Far Quest Crew and Dynamic Edition have done really well on the show. However, now the competition is getting much harder. Should be fun to watch them. I know that Hok and Dominic are 2 of the best performers that have ever graced the SYTYCD stage.

Over the next couple days I’ll try and find and post the videos from Quest and Dynamic Edition for all to enjoy the SYTYCD Alum.

I’m excited to see So You Think You Can Dance represented at the Emmy’s. Great routines and great choreographers! Don’t forget the great dancers that made these routines memorable.

So You Think You Can Dance Routine: Hokuto “Hok” Konishi and Jaimie Goodwin from Season 3-week 3
Hummingbird and Flower / ‘The Chairman’s Waltz’ -FOX – 19 TV Ltd and Dick Clark Productions
Wade Robson, Choreographer

So You Think You Can Dance Routine: Pasha Kovalev and Lauren Gottlieb from Season 3-week 6
Transformers / ‘Fuego’ -FOX – 19 TV Ltd and Dick Clark Productions
Shane Sparks, Choreographer

So You Think You Can Dance- Routine: Neil Haskell and Sabra Johnson from Season 3-week 8
Table / ‘Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)’ -FOX -19 TV Ltd and Dick Clark Productions
Mandy Moore, Choreographer