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Season 5 Dancers Talk About the Fans on Tour

Here’s another great video of the Season 5 Top 10 talking about their fans and how wonderful they are. Waiting in cold weather for hours? Um, guilty. And while my mom didn’t exactly cry, she was very excited to meet Ade. Kinda hated Kayla’s tidbit, but I love the story that Caitlin and Kupono tell about Jeanine’s teddy bear Spanky. πŸ™‚

November 12, 2009 I Written By

Season 5 Tour – Atlanta Part Two

Finally – you get your part two! As I am traveling, my usual schedule is a bit off. So bringing you part two required a visit to the Sprint store where the guy who sold me my phone was cool about getting the photos off and helping me put them on my laptop. And heeeeeeeeerrrrrrree we go. TOUR SPOILERS AHEAD!!

So, my video is crap. Sorry about that. I was pretty close to the stage, but we weren’t allowed to use flashes and there was a drunk girl perpetually standing up at the cool moments and ruining the shot. And most of the pictures taken with my cell phone didn’t work out – too dark. But, I did manage to get a few shots of me with some of the dancers, so I’ll put those at the end of this post. That slice of cheek next to a few of them? Yeah, that’s me cropped out. It was a looooong day. πŸ™‚

Where should I begin to tell you about the show? Maybe I should start by saying that I lost my voice from screaming so much. And my mom got blisters from clapping so much. πŸ™‚ We waited after the show for two hours in the cold to see the dancers (all but Janette) and it was totally worth it. Amanda’s already commented on some of her experiences in the comments of Part One.

First, they had recordings of Cat Deely introducing the dancers and some of the videos, and that was pretty cool. We kinda got to feel like she was with us a bit. Next, there was a new opening number to some sort of remix of the “Can Can” song from Moulin Rouge. Probably something like this one The Moulin Rouge Starlight Musical Ensemble - La belle bizarre du Moulin Rouge - Can Can Spectacular. That was really high-energy and got us all in the mood.

It was a bit campy in a good way. There were usually one or two dancers introducing each of the up-coming acts and they each wore different SYTYCD shirts. As Christine hinted at with her spoiler in the comments of my earlier post (which I totally didn’t get till last night, by the way), Kupono did a hysterical infomercial for the workout DVDs was was so incredibly silly and campy. Jeanine and Randi were really funny with him on stage for that. One of my favorite jokes of the night turned out to be a cool new routine. MAJOR SPOILER HERE.

Throughout the show, there was a running joke about Jeanine and Phillip’s Russian folk dance. Several times, they came out in their Russian costumes and started dancing the routine with the other dancers chastizing them for it and them pretending to be ashamed of themselves. Once, they even pretended to be the prop guys bringing in the surgical table for the Bob Fosse routine and got “caught.” It was pretty funny as running gags go, but I did wonder if they’d actually perform the routine. And then they started to do it, in the second half and the *rest of the dancers* came out in matching Russian folk costumes and did a little bit of the dance with them. And then it turned into a remix of the Russian folk with really hard-hitting, high-energy music. The guys stripped off the shirts and the girls peeled off a layer of their skirts, making them shorter and suddenly there were enormous jumps and lots of floor work (think the Russian routine with Twitch and Josh). It was amazing – a great payoff to the running joke. It was one of my favorite moments of the night and illustrates something I really like about SYTYCD. When something doesn’t work, they don’t hesitate to make fun of themselves and…make it better. Take a “failed routine” and make it something that works. That’s amazing.

Probably another of the highlights was Phillip’s solo. It was longer than *everyone* else’s, including Jeanine and Brandon and he got a standing ovation from the audience. His face was priceless, as it always is. Brandon got people out of the seats with his solo, but I have to say that Phillip did it first and did it best. πŸ™‚

There were dozens of wonderful moments throughout the night, but those are just some of my standouts.

Then, waiting in the cold. And wouldn’t you know it, every single dancer who’d met me in the afternoon remembered me! How cool is that? I was pretty starstruck over Evan, though I tried to be cool. After all, I’m 15 years older than the 12 year old girl who was standing next to me – who almost fainted she was so excited to meet Jeanine. She was flustered and giggling and then apologized to Jeanine, who said (classy lady), “Are you kidding me?” in this tone that clearly said, “you’re why I do this.” It was late and all of the dancers were so warm and took their time. Many of them climbed onto the barricade and leaned over to take pictures with their fans who were a bit farther back. They did everything they could to get to us, which was nice.

Just past me, Evan was really sweet to a 5 year old whose birthday was in 20 minutes, according to her mom (it was late). And he was definitely nice to me – we took a picture of our wrist tattoos (his is “brother” in Greek of course and mine is “I’ll see you later” in Russian, which contains some of the Greek alphabet and looks similar).

Ade is my mom’s favorite and she insisted on waiting for him (which I was happy to do). When he came by, she said, “I heard you gave my daughter two hugs earlier this afternoon” and he laughed and hugged her. And then me again. πŸ™‚

I had to retrieve my mom’s coat for her and ran to and from the parking lot, so I was really breathless when I got back. Randi had just moved on, but she came back and took a picture with me, giggling with me.

I have to say, seeing Jason again may have been the best of all. I was trying to juggle all of the things in my hands so I could give the camera to my mom and he was hugging on me the whole time and he said, “Hey, I just want to hug you.” Lol. Big flirt. I told him not to get into too much trouble in Miami. Somehow, I don’t think he’ll manage that. πŸ™‚

It was a great night, as Amanda said.

Here are some more pictures for you, as promised.

October 21, 2009 I Written By

Personal Favorites From This Season of SYTYCD

Hey everyone! It`s been a really long time since I posted last, so I just wanted to say congratulations to John and his adorable new baby! I wish you and your family the best and may you all be happy and healthy!

This season of So You Think You Can Dance was really one of the best, with so much talent and many awesome dances. There were such amazing dancers that after the Top 12, I didn`t want anyone to leave! In this post I wanted to highlight my favorite performances of the season, and want to hear all of yours as well. πŸ™‚ You can also take a look at Amanda’s post about the judges favorites.

Although each dancer possessed so much potential, I did have my favorites that I rooted for until the very end.

Kayla was by far my favorite and one of the most talented. I know I`m not the only one who feels this way, a lot of the people I have talked to have also voiced this opinion. She should not have been the first to go at the Finale! Her lines were definitely the prettiest, and in all the partner dances, I couldn`t take my eyes off her. I found a lot of the time that the guys she was dancing with had a whole barrel of trouble keeping up wit her and matching her strength. My only problem with her was that her solos were often very desperate and repetitive and a lot of the times I was worried she was going to be booted off because of them. Otherwise, her technique was flawless and she was very purdy. πŸ™‚

My second favorite of course was Jeanine, for obvious reasons. For one, her solos were the greatest. They possessed a quality none of the other solo`s did. Musicality. That may seem like a small thing, but it really makes a huge difference. Those dances are way more appealing and probably one of the reasons she won. In the partner dancers, she was SO hard hitting, and almost always outdid her partner, whoever it was. I`m really happy she won. There is nothing bad I can say about her.

Favorite Solo this season:

My least favorite dancer was probably Vitolio. He was not dynamic or versatile whatsoever, and he didn`t have much of a likeable personality. I was really glad when he got the quickstep, but I loved Karla, and was really sad when she was partenered with him.

Now, onto the performances that I loved the most.

This season was a super good season for Contemporary dances. There were so many good ones, but my favorite one hands down was Evan and Randi`s Contemporary by Mia Michaels. This piece was full of fun, butt πŸ˜‰ equally balanced out with superb technique and complex sequences. The music only added to the fun atmosphere and if I don`t watch this piece at least 3 times a day I don`t feel right.

Some other noteworthy pieces include:

Jeanine and Jason to If It Kills Me Jason Mraz - We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things - If It Kills Me (Jason Mraz) by Travis Wall

Kayla and Kupono to Gravity Sara Bareilles - Little Voice - Gravity (Sara Bareilles) by Mia Micheals

Melissa and Ade to This Woman`s Work Maxwell - Now - This Woman's Work (Maxwell) by Tyce Diorio

Karla and Jonathan to Falling Slowly The Frames - The Cost (Deluxe Edition) - Falling Slowly (The Frames) by Stacey Tookey

This season also had plenty of mentionable Hip-Hop dances, and it was hard to choose my favorite, but the one I was most enchanted with was Kayla and Jason`s by Shane Sparks. The story in this was just hilarious, and surprising light hearted considering it was about zombies and eating brains. It wasn`t anything too complicated, but fun and entertaining, which, if you think about it, is what the show is about. There were other Hip-Hop dances that were less simple, and more technical, but this was just fun!

Other awesome Hip-Hops:

Randi and Evan to Hal BeyoncΓ© - I Am... Sasha Fierce (Deluxe Version) - Haloo (Beyonce) by NappyTabs

Janette and Brandon to What A World Common - Universal Mind Control - What a World (Common) by Shane Sparks

Jeanine and Philip to Mad Ne-Yo - Year of the Gentleman (Bonus Track Version) - Mad (Ne-Yo) by NappyTabs

Jeanine and Philip to Love Lockdown Kanye West - 808s & Heartbreak (Bonus Video Version) - Love Lockdown (Kanye West) by NappyTabs

Other AMAZING dances:

Caitlin and Jason Bollywood to Jai Ho A. R. Rahman, Sukhvinder Singh, Tanvi Shah & Mahalaxmi Iyer - Slumdog Millionaire (Music from the Motion Picture) - Jai Ho by Nakul

Kayla and Max PopJazz to Hot Like Wow Nadia Oh - Hot Like Wow - Hot Like Wow (Nadia O) by Brian Friedman

Janette and Evan Jazz to Move CSS - Move 12" - EP - Move (Metronomy Remix) (CSS) by Sonya Tayeh

Group Dance Top 8 Let it Rock Kevin Rudolf & Lil Wayne - In the City (Bonus Track Version) - Let It Rock by Travis Wall

Group Dance Top 16 I Know You Want Me Pitbull - I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho) - EP - I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho) [More English Extended Mix] (Pitbull) by Dmitry Chaplin, Napoleon and Tabitha D’umo

Worst dance of the season:

Jeanine and Philip Russian Folk Dance
Only the choreography, dancing was superb.

That`s it, my favorites of Season 5, looking forward to 6, and SYTYCD Canada starting Tuesday the 11th!!

August 10, 2009 I Written By

SYTYCD Top 14 Power Rankings

This week is REALLY hard, so I cheated a little and checked out y’all’s comments on John’s music post. Thanks for all the help, all of you! One thing I have to say about the non-dancing part of the show was I love, love Cat Deely’s dress last night. And I’ve never noticed before, but doesn’t she seem to have a lot of pockets on her dresses? Last night’s definitely did, she kept sticking her hands in throughout the show. Cute.

Now to the couples:

Jeanine & Phillip – I’m loving Jeanine more and more and of course Philip rocked in his style. This was the best hip hop of the season, in my opinion and I think it gives this couple’s legion of fans an excuse to keep them faaaaaar away from the bottom 3 this week.

Janette & Brandon – Brandon won me back with their intro video and then with his emotional response to the overtly staged β€œapology” from Mia Michaels (he must be working with her soon). This routine was smoking! Great song, great choreography and great dancing. I think they’re safe.

Kayla & Kupono – Okay, you got a routine about vampires, a song from the Twilight soundtrack and Sonya. Kinda seems like it couldn’t fail, especially because good dancers were in the mix. I like Kupono’s dancing better with Kayla (though I really liked Ashley). Kayla is stunning. And Kupono matched her step for step in this piece.

Melissa & Ade – Pointe shoes! Awesome. It was beautiful and really cool to see. I thought Ade did a spectacular job when you consider how specialized classical routines are and it’s not his style. But it kinda felt like a gimme, like a routine you couldn’t judge against the others. I almost felt like I was watching one of the professional routines on Thursday. Which is a compliment, but also not (am I making any sense). It didn’t feel like a SYTYCD routine to me. I did enjoy it, a lot.

Randi & Evan – I really, really don’t want to put them here! I love this couple and I liked the routine. But you could feel that it lacked some of their normal vitality. There were numerous great moments (starting with Evan’s slow handstand across the table), but I think they’ve been flying high for several weeks and are probably due for a bottom 3 landing (temporarily). I don’t think (and really hope) they won’t be going home. They’ve been near the top every week, so hopefully that and their solos will save them.

Caitlin & Jason – I don’t want to write this one either. I didn’t feel the piece (it was weird!), but I do think the two of them danced their hearts out with what they were given. Those costumes, especially Caitlin. WTF? The moment I saw them walking into the room with Brian Friedman, I thought, β€œOh, this could be really good or really, really, really bad,” and when he said β€œYou’re an alien who came down to Earth…” I kinda wanted to throw up, I was so scared for them. They showed a lot of good sportsmanship and personality at the end, facing the judges, so maybe that will help them. But, they have been in the bottom 3 several times…

Karla & Vitolio – I still don’t like Vitolio, though I do agree he’s growing and demonstrating more personality every week. I like him more when he’s dancing and Karla has really, really grown on me. I loved the quick change and Karla in general throughout the piece.

In the end, I suspect that it will be Caitlin and Vitolio that go home. Or perhaps Caitlin and Jason, since they’ve both gotten a lot of flak and have ended in the bottom. I love Caitlin, so this is a sad conclusion for me. But I don’t want Randi and Evan split up before the Top 10 and Karla has been doing better and better every week.

TV Guide.com has done a Power Ranking of the Top 14 individual dancers, some of which I agree with and some of which I don’t.Β  They place Jeanine and Karla in a tie for the bottom of the Top 14, when both girls have been gaining steady popularity AND the girls (in my opinion) are far stronger dancers than the boys this season. Nice to see TV Guide liked our idea for power rankings.

You helped me create this week’s Power Rankings, so let me know if you think I got it right or not.

July 2, 2009 I Written By

Vote for Bottom 3 Couples on SYTYCD 2009

I’ve already created a poll for people to vote for their favorite SYTYCD individual dancers (since at the end of the day it is about the individuals). However, even more important at this point is which of the top 20 couples are going to be placed into the bottom 3 and have to dance for their life tomorrow night? Place your vote now for the couples you think will be in the SYTYCD bottom 3 tomorrow night (yes, that means you’re voting for the worst couples from tonight’s SYTYCD top 20).

June 10, 2009 I Written By

Just call me Charlie...but where are my angels?

So You Think You Can Dance Top 20 Voting

Someone asked me to post the numbers that people can use to vote for their favorites from the So You Think You Can Dance top 20. Your wish is my command. If you’re on the west coast, then this will also reveal the partners for the SYTYCD top 20.

Jeanine Mason and Phillip Chbeeb 1-888-TEMPO-01
Asuka Kondoh and Vitolio Jeune 1-888-TEMPO-02
Karla Garcia and Jonathan Platero 1-888-TEMPO-03
Randi Evans and Evan Kasprzak 1-888-TEMPO-04
Paris Torres and Tony Bellissimo 1-888-TEMPO-05
Caitlin Kinney and Jason Glover 1-888-TEMPO-06
Janette Manrara and Brandon Bryant 1-888-TEMPO-07
Ashley Valerio and Kuponohi’ipoi “Kupono” Aweau 1-888-TEMPO-08
Melissa Sandvig and Ade Obayomi 1-888-TEMPO-09
Kayla Radomski and Maksim “Max” Kapitannikov 1-888-TEMPO-10

Let me know if there is anything else I can do to help you enjoy SYTYCD even more. Also, don’t forget to vote for the SYTYCD top 20 and check out the SYTYCD top 20 music.

I Written By

Just call me Charlie...but where are my angels?

So You Think You Can Dance Top 20 Poll

So You Think You Can Dance is so unique since it’s kind of a team competition, but it’s also an individual competition as well. So, in this poll you can vote for the individual dancer that is your favorite. You can vote for the couples on my other So You Think You Can Dance top 20 poll which I’ll post after tonight’show.

I Written By

Just call me Charlie...but where are my angels?

So You Think You Can Dance Top 20

We’re finally to the top 20 of So You Think You Can Dance 2009. The wait is over. I’ll be updating this page with all the So You Think You Can Dance top 20.

So You Think You Can Dance Season 5 Top 20
SYTYCD Season 5 Girls
Janette Manrara
Kayla Radomski
Paris Torres
Jeanine Mason
Karla Garcia
Caitlin Kinney
Melissa Sandvig (naughty ballerina) (maiden name is Melissa Watson)
Ashley Valerio
Randi Strong-Evans
Asuka Kondoh

SYTYCD Season 5 Boys
Vitolio Jeune
Pono Aweau
Ade Obayomi
Jonathan Platero
Brandon Bryant
Tony Bellissimo
Maksim Kapitannikov
Jason Glover
Phillip Chbeeb
Evan Kasprzak

Not in the So You think You Can Dance top 20
Dianna (sp?)
Brandon Dumlao
Henry Rivera
? asian girl
Alex Wong
4 dancers not named
Deana Brickley
Ryan Kasprzak

Let us know what you think of the SYTYCD Season 5 top 20 in the comments.
Read more..

June 4, 2009 I Written By

Just call me Charlie...but where are my angels?

So You Think You Can Dance Top 32 – Predicting the Top 20

The good people over at SYTYCDism have created what seems to be the most complete list of the So You Think You Can Dance top 32 that I’ve found so far. Nice work Trandrew! Check out the list and please contribute if you know of any corrections to the So You Think You Can Dance Top 32. I’m going to mark in bold who I believe will be in the So You Think You Can Dance top 20. I can’t wait to find out the real SYTYCD top 20 results tonight.

Boys:
1. Philip Chbeeb
2. Tony Bellissimo
3. Ricky Sun
4. Maksim Kapitannikov
5. Brandon Bryant
6. CJ Tyson
7. Alex Wong
8. Pono Aweau
9. Evan Kasprzak
10. Ryan Kasprzak
11. Jason Glover
12. Brandon Dumlao
13. Henry Rivera?
14. Ade Obayomi
15. Jonathan Platero?
16. Vitolio Jeune?
+ Geo Smith?

Girls:
1. Caitlin Kinney
2. Paris Torres
3. Kayla Radomski
4. Janette Manrara
5. Asuka Kondoh
6. Jeanine Mason
7. Paula VanOppen
8. Melissa Sandvig
9. Karla Garcia
10. Pauline Mata
11. Randi Strong-Evans
12. Danielle Peig
13. Ashley Valero
14. Diane Vaden
15.
16.

Also, here’s the solo montage video from last night as well that highlights many of the So You Think You Can Dance top 20 hopefuls.

I Written By

Just call me Charlie...but where are my angels?