Welcome to Pure So You Think You Can Dance

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.

I’m sure that people won’t like me talking about this, but when has this ever stopped me before? First, I should make it clear that when I write posts like this I’m mostly disappointed with the producers of SYTYCD and not Russell. However, one of the problems with writing a blog and being so involved in a show like SYTYCD is that you find out all the background story that the producers have chosen not to tell you. A part of me LOVES to know “the rest of the story” and the other part of me feels betrayed by the producers of the show. Either way, it is what it is and I still LOVE watching the dancers on SYTYCD. I think this is likely to never change.

With that preface, I was disappointed to read about all the formal dance training that Russell Ferguson had before going on SYTYCD. Here’s a short section of an interview Russell did with People.com where he talks about the dance training he had before the show:

You’ve often been referred to as a “street dance” diamond in the ruff but you’ve had some dance education, right?
I’ve been doing hip-hop all my life. So, I figured if I was going to take on any big dance projects later in life, I would have to learn other things to be well-rounded in the dance field. I did four years at Boston Arts and I did a good year at The University of the Arts, so I got a good amount of training in.

The judges portrayal of you as this unpolished stone. Was that accurate?
They know I had some form of training. But the thing is, a lot of people that do train, like that is what they do, that is their dance style, that’s their lifestyle. And me, I really did just come from the streets.

5 years of formal training? That’s a little more than just coming from the street. As I think back on some of the comments the judges made about Russell, you can tell that they knew about this information and were trying to maintain the persona that Russell was a “street dancer” without outright lieing. For example, I remember Nigel saying something like, “You’re basically an untrained dancer.” Then, he went on to compare him to Legacy when Nigel said, “You’re like Legacy, but you point your toes.” The interesting part is that I think Legacy actually is an untrained dancer. Russell is not.

Of course, when Russell won I think we all realized where he’d come from was the street. I absolutely adore that he won the show. I also loved how raw and real his reaction was when he won. I know some people didn’t like it too much, but to me it was beautiful. I’m not sure why he took his shirt off, but he was living in a moment that he probably thought he’d never experience. I don’t know all his background, but I bet Russell really does have a story to tell about where he came from and how he made it to an arts college and now as winner of SYTYCD. You could see the story in his face and in the face of his family.

This won’t be the first or the last time the producers don’t tell the whole story about dancers. I remember the outrage about this short post I did about Twitch dancing in Hairspray. No one had an issue that Twitch was in Hairspray. It was that the show acted like he hadn’t done anything like it before. To be honest, I’m amazed that the producers told us that Mollee was the principal dancer on all 3 High School Musicals. I guess they probably figured most people would find that one out anyway.

I don’t think any of this diminishes the quality of the dancing and the entertainment value that their dancing brings to me when I watch the show. All of that is amazing and it’s great that Russell can go out and do a Krump routine and follow it up with some ballroom. Is it just too much for me to wish that the producers didn’t produce the show so much. Probably.

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…

Read more…

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…

Read more…

It’s not that far into the show, but I’m already getting the feeling that the couples I worried about having chemistry aren’t gonna do so badly afterall. My thoughts, as they happened:

Read more…

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…

Read more…

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!

Read more…

Let me get right into this, because I feel like we kinda dived RIGHT into the show from the very beginning (i.e. why aren’t we getting to see video packages about the new partnerships??)…

-Judging by our poll earlier today, everybody underestimated Noelle and Ryan (including me). They only got one vote for the couple that would fare the best this week. And yeah, it’s early in the show, but that Nappytabs routine was HOT! And yes, they did have terrific chemistry. I feel like we saw an entirely different side of both of them and I’m with Mary – super excited to see their next routine together tonight.

-No offense to Gary Stuart, but that was contemporary? It looked waaay more like hip hop. Which is probably why Nigel had to explain his style. While I admired many parts of that routine, it kinda bored me. It seemed more about tricks rather than substance. And it seemed like Ashleigh was lifting Legacy rather than him ever lifting her. Oddly, despite all those negative comments, I was pretty proud of both of them. They “just attack[ed],” as Adam said (sorta). But I feel like this was another instance of the judges trying to “fix” a weird/hard to understand/boring routine with their comments.

-Of course Mollee has to talk about being in HSM. I mean, how do you not? But I was somehow a bit disappointed… Her brother was really cute talking about his awesome sister.

-I loved seeing Russell’s parents talk about his dancing and watching him on t.v. So cute. And Russell killed his solo! He had so much attitude and confidence out there. Awesome.

-Just as I hoped, Kathryn made a man out of that mancub! She grew him up! She’s only a year older, but she dances with so much more maturity than he’s shown so far. I loved watching them in this Spencer Liff Broadway routine. It was so fun and cute and ON. But I kept thinking, “Heavenly” about Kathryn. She is a dream. She kept reminding me of Rose McGowan in this routine, for some reason.

-Noelle’s solo was great and I loved her interview, finding out about her trying out for Season 5 and what it took to audition again and graduate school. Love her.

-That was a BIG scream for Ryan right before the commercial.

-Elleanore and Jakob’s quickstep was cute and entertaining, but I’m glad this routine was first so they can kill it with something a bit more charismatic at the end. I think they did admirably and quickstep is just hard to enjoy sometimes. But I thought Tony & Melanie had a funny concept staging it like a ballroom competition.

-Hmmm. Ryan’s solo was one thin shirt away from a cheesy Chippendale’s act. Love him, but that was really…not the best use of his skills. But maybe this illustrates the difficulty ballroom dancers have with the solos.

-Kathryn’s solo was a lot of fun. Loved the song. She’s from Georgia like me!

-Mandy Moore loves her 80s music. I thought both Mollee and Russell were dancing well, but I disagreed with the judges about there chemistry. I think they have it and they’ll be able to show it more later. BUT, I didn’t feel it so much in this routine because it seemed like they were kinda performing separately. Maybe you disagree with me. But I did love that crazy, unexpected lift near the end that Nigel mentioned.

-Adam cracks me up. Loose quote – “I need medical attention after that. Please don’t dance so well in the future.”

-Wow, Nathan was really close to tears after his solo (pretty solid), which was strange since Cat was talking about someone being eliminated tomorrow while holding onto him and he looked so upset you’d almost think he just got cut. But I could totally see where he was coming from.

-I love the Noelle/Ryan partnership as much as the judges do (Adam called them a “power partnership”) and that was certainly gorgeous. It was really dreamy… It didn’t have as much pizazz their hip hop. I thought Nigel actually described it very well when he said they were like the prince and princess at the end of a Disney movie falling in love.

-Elleanore’s sole was kick ass!!! She is always quirky and interesting and strong.

-Man, I disagreed with the judges on this Ashleigh & Legacy routine as well. I actually liked this one better than the Gary Stuart and felt that if one of these two choreographers should have been called to task, it should’ve been Gary Stuart rather than Dave Scott. I think the routine would have been amazing with different dancers. I liked them okay in it – they had a lot of character and personality where they might not have been in sync. I felt like two things really hurt this routine – and it’s going to sound like I’m contradicting myself here. First, the more major production on the larger stage (flames in the background, etc.) was distracting and second, I would’ve liked to have seen the idea behind this routine (vampire?) and the two discovering their partnership. This is the weakest new partnership to me by far.

-I could see the weaknesses of Kathryn & Nathan’s rumba, but I still somehow enjoyed it. I think Kathryn was a huge part of that cause she was all in. But Nathan was strong and I think he not only supporter her, but showed that he’s building his repertoire and learning with every dance. I think this was a pretty successful new couple, but I did prefer their other routine. Hope to see them dance together again.

-Wow, was that a standing ovation (or something close?) after Legacy’s solo. It was pretty cool, but I actually enjoyed Russell and Elleanore’s solos much better. His dad and Cat were pretty funny. “Are you busting a move?”

-The moment I’ve been waiting for! THIS was why I was glad the quickstep was first, so that we could be left with this memory of Ellenore & Jakob. This combined some of my favorite things: Oona & Dave, Sonya, Jakob and Elleanore. Amazing!!!! Now that sounded like a standing ovation and yes, yes it was. I loved that this is now the 3rd Sonya routine that Nigel has claimed as his favorite this season. Loved that Adam mentioned “The Garden” routine from Courtney and Mark. And then the judges standing and clapping for them together. Brilliant! Who else thinks these two are gonna be in the Top 4?

-Ashleigh finally came to play with her solo! That was pretty awesome and had a lot of personality. Not to mention, speed. But…was the harsh lipstick back? And I would’ve liked to have heard about something else rather than her illness growing up, since we’ve heard about it before. But it was good to see her mom talk about it and I guess she can’t talk about Ryan. But, there’s got to be something else we can learn about her? Great solo, though.

-This Anya & Pasha jive was perfect for Mollee & Russell and I agree with Nigel that it must’ve sucked to follow Elleanore & Jakob and they did a great job doing it. It had a couple awkward “setting up” instances, I think, but was really fun and high-energy and I’m loving this new partnership, too. I agree that Mollee’s grown up a lot in the last week or so. At least, her dancing has. And Russell rocks. They had another interesting arm lift/twirl/whatever at the end of this one, too, which was kinda strange and cool.

-Jakob’s solo was good, but not the strongest of the night. But that’s okay.

Overall, I really missed the “packages” where we got to see the new partnerships develop, but I imagine there was just too much to do in this one episode, especially considering they were preceded by President Obama’s Address to the Nation. I hope we get to see a little of them tomorrow. I’m looking forward to seeing Quest Crew and what happens tomorrow.

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!

DIZZY FEET CELEBRATION OF DANCE

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.