Welcome to Pure So You Think You Can Dance

I’m really excited to announce a great contest for all the fans of Katee Shean and So You Think You Can Dance. Cliche Cosmetics has generously donated 2 compacts designed by Katee Shean. Yes, that means free makeup for 2 readers of Pure SYTYCD. For all the men out there, if you win I’m sure there’s some lady in your life that would enjoy some free makeup. Now for more details on the prizes and how to enter to win.

Can you say prizes? First is the Katee Shean every day compact…

Now the Katee Shean stage compact (for all you dancers out there)…

Now a description of the product…
The compacts designed by Katee Shean are available at www.ClicheCosmetics.com and will soon be available in dance retail stores across the US and Canada. Katee hosted master classes and a party in South Florida to celebrate the launch of her line. The photoshoot shows Katee wearing her cosmetics. She designed every detail of the compacts. The everyday compact that reads “Believe in yourself” contains the famous IV from season four while the stage makeup compact continues the sentence and reads “…and make every moment count”. Each compact contains 3 eyeshadows, eyeliner, blush, and lipstick and comes wrapped in a box with a ribbon for your hair.

How to Enter
We’ll be running this contest until the So You Think You Can Dance top 10 are determined. If my calculations are correct, that’s only 4 weeks. There are 4 different ways to enter yourself to win. Do all 4 things and you’ll have your name entered into the drawing 4 times. The winner will be chosen at random and supervised by the most honest person I know (my wife). Here’s how you enter:
1. Leave a comment on this post (easy enough no?). Just make sure to use your real email or we’ll have no way to contact you.
2. Send a tweet to all your friends about this website or this contest. Click Tweet This! to tweet a message about this contest. Make sure to include @tvblog in the tweet to enter.
3. Share a link to http://www.puresytycd.com on your Facebook, myspace page or blog. Leave a comment with your myspace name, facebook page, or blog post so I can verify.
4. Join the Pure SYTYCD email list.

Any questions feel free to ask in the comments.

I just got news that beloved Katee Shean has launched a makeup line with a company called Cliche Cosmetics. I’ve been told “She designed every detail of the two compacts included in the line. There’s one for stage and one for everyday.” Interesting move by Katee Shean. Since I’m a man, I’ll be interested to hear what the female readers think of this line. Oh yes, that means I should probably give some away. Good idea, watch for a contest for free Katee Shean makeup very soon. Or you can buy them on the Cliche Cosmetics website right now.

Turns out that Courtney Galiano and Chelsie Hightower will also be launching lines on July 20th and August 3rd respectively.

Also, check out some pictures from the photo shoot that Katee Shean did for Cliche Cosmetics.

This video is really dark, but seeing Chelsie Hightower sing just made me laugh. I think Katee Shean is the girl on the far side from Chelsie also. Not sure about the girl in the middle. Anyway, this gave me a good laugh, but it doesn’t seem that Chelsie will be following in Julianne’s footsteps with a singing career on top of her dancing career. Enjoy!

I must admit that I’m not really big into spoilers. I usually try to avoid them. That’s why I have to avoid my Pure SYTYCD twitter account so the east coast doesn’t ruin it for me. However, I know that many of my readers love to read So You Think You Can Dance spoilers. So, here’s a link to some pretty good discussion of who’s made it to SYTYCD 2009 las vegas and who is confirmed as the So You Think You Can Dance 2009 top 20.

Personally, I like to be surprised and guess who the top 20 are going to be without spoilers. However, I don’t mind (and kind of enjoy) spoilers about the audition shows. For example, SYTYCDism posted these SYTYCD spoilers for tonight’s episode:

- Asuka Kondoh [and her partner Ricky]
- Rey Barcena
- The Return of Sex
- Adam Shankman’s audition
- Joshua Allen, Katee Shean, Comfort Fedoke, Lauren Gottlieb cameos
and much more!

I also saw that Nigel said on his twitter feed that Sex won’t be back after we see what happens tonight at the Seattle auditions. Nigel also leaked that there would be a “battle” tonight that made him laugh. I hope the battle is with sex and a posse of past SYTYCD alumni who just dance circles around him. That would be fun to watch.

I hope Adam Shankman doesn’t make it through to Las Vegas. Except maybe as a judge. I don’t mind him behind the desk. Although, him auditioning is a rip off of Dance Wars (I think that’s the one) where Nick Lachey (sp?) auditioned for the show.

It’s really nice to see Natalie Reid return to the So You Think You Can Dance stage after she almost made it to last year’s top 20. I still don’t personally think that she’ll be as good and entertaining as Katee Shean was last year. However, she has definitely improved. I think that Natalie Reid has a great shot at making it to the SYTYCD 2009 Top 20.

Check out the video of Natalie Reid’s SYTYCD 5 denver audition to the song “Breakdown More” by Eric Hutchinson

I should also say that they showed quite possibly the worst picture of Katee Shean that exists. She’s so much better looking than that picture offered.

UPDATE: If you want the music from other SYTYCD season 5 episode’s here’s where I’ll be posting the music from the most recent episodes of SYTYCD Season 5.

I must admit that I always find it a little bit difficult to write about the audition episodes of So You Think You Can Dance. They go through people so quickly that it’s really hard for me to keep up with everyone. So many new people and so many new names. It gets much easier once we make it to the top 20.

Until then, I’ll still provide random thoughts and other tidbits that hopefully you’ll find interesting.

I guess we now know why Nigel was interested in our response to Tiffany Geigle, Gabi Rojas and “Mutations” on SYTYCD 5. Tiffany Geigle was indeed interesting and inspiring. The thing that disappointed me most was that Nigel didn’t allow Tiffany Geigle to go on to the choreography round. Why not let her have a cool experience that she could get no where else? Maybe there were other reasons I didn’t know about.

The same gender ballroom guys I actually feel the opposite. They should have never been sent to choreography. I know that Nigel Lythgoe is getting flamed on the boards for his comments about these guys. However, I think they’re missing the point. These two guys weren’t very good dancers. I don’t care if it was a guy and a girl. They would have never been put through to choreography if they were a guy and girl. Did Nigel forget that these 2 guys fell on their backsides? Seriously, in dancing that’s the equivalent of a juggler dropping something. They didn’t deserve choreography after the fall.

I made a prediction on Twitter that Kayla would make the SYTYCD season 5 top 20. She just was an awesome dancer with an awesome look and an awesome story. The picture of her grandfather sleeping at her dance studio is just awesome.

The story of Natalie (Katee Shean’s friend) coming back this season was good too. I don’t personally think that Natalie has that special star quality that Katee had, but I do expect Natalie to make the top 20 this year, but bow out in the early stages of the show.

I know there are some more people I missed that should be mentioned. I’ll save that for tomorrow when I have a chance to review some of the videos. What I did miss on this episode was dancers that were kind of in that middle ground. I like the raw talents that are hard to select. It seemed like almost all of the dancers on the show tonight were clear cut either Las Vegas, choreography or out. Not too much actual deliberation.

Before I go, I did want to list a couple of the songs that I’m sure people will be looking for from the So You Think You Can Dance season 5 premiere:

Song at the beginning of the episode was “Pocket Piano (Joakim Remix)” by DJ Mehdi

Montage of girl dancers (when Sonia was freaking out) was to the song “Jungle Drum” by Emiliana Torrini

Natalie Reid from Seattle danced to “Breakdown More” by Eric Hutchinson

Gabi Rojas danced to “Moonray” by Zap Mama

Brandon Bryant danced to “O Fortuna” by Carl Orff (from “Carmina Burana)

Kayla Radomski danced to “Blackbird” by Dionne Farris Buy CD on Amazon

Saalim “Storyboard” Muslim and his partner Habby “Hobgoblin” Jacques (”Mutation”) danced to the song

Chimezie Nwosu danced to the song “I Question Mark” by Wade Robson

Arielle Taylor danced to the song “Walking On” by Blaire Reinhard

Peter Sabasino (italian tapper) danced to the song

Kellen Stancil (umbrella) danced to the song “Like I am” by Rascal Flatts

Elias Holloway and Enoch Holloway danced to the song “Techno Rock” by Heiko And Maiko

Background song at beginning of SYTYCD season 5 Denver auditions is “Dancing On The Perimeter” by The Actual

Lauren’s choreography was done to Neyo – “Nobody”

After New York choreography round: “Lights and Music” (Boys Noize remix) by Cut Copy

Mitch & Misha Intro – The Weather Girls – “It’s Raining Men”

Mitch and Mishka danced to Mas Que Nada by Sergio Mendes with the Black Eyed Peas

Mitch & Misha Exit – James Brown – “It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World”

Nobuya Nagahama talked with the background music “Tokyo Drift” (The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift) by Teriyaki Boyz and then danced to the song “Peace Pipe” by BT Express

Intro to New York – KISS – “New York Groove”

Brooklyn Bounce – The Hives – “Well All Right!”

Mutation intro – Paul Wall – “My Life”

Tiffany Geigel – Enya – “The First Of Autumn” Download MP3 on Amazon

Maksim Kapitannikov – Blackout All-Stars – “I Like It (Like That)”

Day 2 New York Intro – Andrew WK – “I Love NYC”

Thomas Martin – Destiny’s Child – “Emotions”

Day 2 New York Bad Dancer Montage – Daft Punk – “Robot Rock”

Day 2 Vegas Tickets Montage – Ben Lee – “Just Say Yes”

Katherine Lynch – Janet Jackson – “Feedback”

Alison Moist – John Williams – “Theme From Star Wars”

Denver Day 2 Bad Dancer Montage – Leo Sayer – “Long Tall Glasses”

Arielle Taylor danced to the song “Walking On” by Blaire Reinhard

Montage sending people through in Denver (starting with Max) is to the song “Don’t Stop” by Lauren Elle (seems like the song is only currently available on Lauren’s myspace page) (This is the Don’t stop dancing, dancing song)

I’ll keep adding songs to this list of SYTYCD 5 music as I find it.

Mark, Katee, Courtney, Kherington, Josh, and Gev headed on to the Ellen DeGeneres show to celebrate the premiere of So You Think You Can Dance season 5. What a great way to start So You Think You Can Dance 2009. Nice to see a bunch of familiar faces as well:

Man, I fogot how much I loved Kherington. This video didn’t have enough Kherington for me. Not to mention Josh and Katee together. That was beautiful and cute little Courtney was great too. Let’s hope season 5 of So You Think You Can Dance is just as amazing.

A big thanks to Selly from Dance Outlook for sending us the following writeup about the So You Think You Can Dance Tour visit to Kansas City. If you have been to a different city and have pictures, videos or want to write about your experience, then let us know. About one more month left for the So You Think You Can Dance tour and there are still tickets available for future tour stops.

Without further ado, here’s Selly’s experience and pictures from the So You Think You Can Dance Kansas City tour stop:
On Wednesday night, I attended the 2008 SYTYCD Tour at Sprint Center in Kansas City. I had amazing seats (thanks to presale) in the 5th row. I actually enjoyed the show more than I expected to. This has been my least favorite season, but I had a lot of fun seeing all of the dances live. I didn’t take notes, so this isn’t going to be a formal review by any means, but just some general notes/comments.

Kherington needs to close her mouth. Instead of smiling at inappropriate times like she did on the show, most of her facial expressions are approximately :O This was actually one of the first things I noticed during the show.

After the requisite video montage of Nigel’s Top 5 “memorable” (aka bad) auditions, the dancers came out and performed Shane Sparks’s Elevator group number.

The dancers were introduced and did mini-solos. They then re-introduced themselves live. Katee then said that she would not be performing at all that night due to injury. I knew she had hurt her back, but I still had hope for at least the Will/Katee Complexions Pas De Deux or at least No Air.

Twitchington performed first with their “We’re Escaped Convicts” hip hop by Napoleon and Tabitha. Among other dances, they did a “world tour” of dance styles from around the world featuring Thayne and Chelsie’s Cha Cha, Josh and Twitch’s Trepak which Gev introduced in Russian (and a dress), Courtney and Mark’s Viennese Waltz (once again, Gev wore a dress), and the group Bollywood number.

Some of the highlights of the night for me were Bleeding Love, Five Guys Named Moe, The Garden, The Dance, Twitchington’s “Bed” contemporary (which I have rose petals from in my purse), Money Money, and pretty much anything involving Chelsea H., Courtney, or Mark.

Despite the odd facial expression, I was actually really impressed by Kherington. Because all of the dances involving Katee except for group numbers were cut, some “emergency backup dances” were added in addition to the ones on the normal set list. These included Courtney and Josh’s Frankenstein hip hop (which I have no recollection of ever seeing before), Courtney and Gev’s Rumba, Jessica and Will’s “Shirt” contemporary, Marksie’s Kiss Kiss jazz and Twitchington’s Too Darn Hot Broadway.

I think there were a coupe other Courtney dances added, too. Because Katee did not perform, Jessica King did her solo which I was not at all impressed with. I know there’s a lot I haven’t talked about, but it’s really hard to remember everything. However, if you have any specific questions, it would probably make it a lot easier for me to come up with an answer than to post every single little detail that I can dredge up.

At one of the merchandise stands, I bought a tour t-shirt (just the regular one, not anything dancer-specific), leggings, and a program, all of which were ridiculously overpriced, but super cute. People were going crazy with grabbing fake money, rose petals, and confetti when they swept the stage off. I managed to grab some rose petals and ended up with a random lost bobby pin from the stage in an attempt to get confetti.

I took a lot of pictures before intermission, when my camera
conveniently died, but I’m fairly sure my camera is broken. They all
turned out massively blurry and most of them had weird lines across
them. I tried to pick out some of the better ones though.

Stay on your toes,

Selly from Dance Outlook

I was thinking about Wade Robson winning an Emmy and it reminded me of the Burning Room routine that Katee and Joshua(Season 4) performed for the final four episode. This piece is so beautiful and full of raw emotion. I thought you might like to see it again and see the inspiration they used for their performance.

Before Wade Robson set this piece on Josh & Katee for SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE, he created the original version on his beautiful dancers from his Cirque Du Soleil/Criss Angel BELIEVE show. He then decided to shoot a short film of two of his dancers that really connected with the piece, Ben Susak & Pam Chu. This was Josh and Katee’s inspirational guide. Enjoy

Burning Room-Josh and Katee – Season 4 – Final Four Episode

A little bit of So You Think You Can Dance season 4 wrap up. Enjoy the video.

Who’s going to the So You Think You Can Dance Tour?