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Rotating SYTYCD Judge is Back and Adam Shankman is Off as Permanent Judge

I just found the video below where Nigel Lythgoe and Cat Deeley talk about SYTYCD 2011 and how the judges will work on season 8 of SYTYCD. Nigel says that the rotating judge is back for SYTYCD 2011. Adam Shankman is busy filming a big movie and so Nigel says he’s not available to be there every week. That leaves Nigel and Mary (I wish it was Toni instead of Mary) as the permanent, every week judges and then a third rotating judge.

The rotating SYTYCD judge will likely be the choreographers from the show, but Nigel leaves it open to other people. For example, I’m sure Nigel would welcome someone like a Paula Abdul as a guest judge, but I think she’s going to be busy with X Factor. Unless she’s a guest judge as a way to promote X Factor. That could be interesting.

Of course, I’ve always thought that Nigel should bring a fan judge on. Maybe a popular SYTYCD blogger as a guest judge would be pretty interesting I think.

June 3, 2011 I Written By

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

Best B-Boys Ever on SYTYCD Premiere – According to Nigel Lythgoe

Nigel sent out the following tweet about the So You Think You Can Dance Season 8 Premiere.
http://twitter.com/#!/dizzyfeet/status/70862539881324544

I look forward to watching that. Unlike most other shows like American Idol where the first rounds are usually pretty terrible, SYTYCD auditions are awesome. I can’t wait!

Nigel also tweeted this interesting tweet:
http://twitter.com/#!/dizzyfeet/status/70123688908955648
I think Nigel and Mary should just hook up already. Who else thinks they already have?

May 19, 2011 I Written By

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

Mia Michaels Gone for SYTYCD 2011 but Mary Murphy is Back

In case you missed the news, Mia Michaels said that she’s leaving So You Think You Can Dance and won’t be back on SYTYCD 2011. Marc Malkin found this out in an interview he did with Mia Michaels. Here’s the important parts:

“Last year when I was sitting on the [judges] panel, I knew it wasn’t the right fit because I felt too glossy sitting on the panel,” she exclusively tells us. “People were so focused on what I wore and my hair. I wanted to get dirty and back to the work. I am an artist and I’m a visionary. I need to paint my world now and not be constantly linked to So You think You Can Dance.”

Not that she doesn’t appreciate what SYTYCD has done for her. “It’s been a great platform,” Michaels says. “It was a wonderful platform. I’m staring at [my] two Emmys right now. It was an amazing, amazing thing for me but I feel like I have to fly. I have to now focus on Mia’s world.”

And that world includes starring in an upcoming Bravo reality show, writing a memoir and developing a Broadway show. “I heard they’re bringing Mary Murphy back and I’m really happy for her,” Michaels says. “I’ve sat in that chair, but I feel like that was Mary’s chair.”

I hate that Mia is so schizophrenic about these things. Why does it always have to be an all or nothing thing? If she’s an artist, then go back to being an artist and choreograph and produce your art on the show. I think we all agree that you shouldn’t be on the judges panel. At least not very much, but don’t deprive us of your choreography because you had a bad time on the panel. Ugh!

Then, of course Mary Murphy back on SYTYCD 2011. Well, I’ve made my feelings clear how I feel about Mary Murphy. Maybe I’ll try and make peace with Mary in a future post. Marianya asked me if I’d rather have Mary or Mia. I answered, Neither! I want the blonde ballroom lady with the awesome accent (sorry I’m too lazy to look up her name). You know who I’m talking about. She was and is FANTASTIC!

November 24, 2010 I Written By

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

SYTYCD Season 7 Top 7 Performance Thoughts/Power Ranking

Well, this is the first week where predicting tomorrow’s result is easy…but typing it is difficult. Coming to terms with it is difficult.

Top Two

Kent – He had a great night. He really delivered energy and personality (and skillz!) next to Neil. I don’t think he outdanced Neil as Nigel claimed, but he definitely kept up. And he did what I thought was impossible and developed some real chemistry with Adechike in a great male-male contemporary. He’s maturing, but still keeping his personality, which is the right combination with this show. The cheers are so loud while he dances that I don’t know how he hears the music. He’s safe.

Lauren – She gets a lot of flak, but since my only sorta formal dance training is in belly dance, I have to say that the stuff she did in that Tahitian dance is HARD! You have to have incredible core control to do all of the thigh/knee stuff she was doing (she was doing shimmies while crouching, with her legs at different angles! Normally, you take a pretty solid stance when shimming, that would’ve put a lot of strain on her stomach and back, but it was all really smooth.) Not to mention she kept the tail on her costume bumping and that is seriously hard to sustain. The really impressive part is that no part of her body or face was telegraphing how hard she was working to do that. As impressive as I found all of that (I barely looked at Mark and that’s SAYING something), the real winner of the night was her Mandy Moore jazz with Billy. These two should dance together for the rest of their lives. I totally saw what Cat said about Judy Garland/Mickey Rooney. It was so effervescent and fluid and just fun. Loooooved it. Lauren can be really annoying in her interviews, but she continues to impress me with her dancing.

Middle Two

Billy – He’s been getting a lot of flak lately, too, after being a huge early fan favorite. He gained something back tonight he’s been missing for a while. He was so relaxed. He seemed to be enjoying himself – just plain enjoying himself and that brought back the Billy that I love. He had jive with Anya and was a strong, matched partner to her. They had great chemistry, which hasn’t been his strong suit lately. But, of course, the second of his routines, with Lauren, was just incredible, as I mentioned above.

Robert – I think every single one of his fans are going to take nothing for granted and VOTE like crazy to keep him out of the Bottom 3. He’s been there too often. There’s a good chance he’ll be there again, but I think he’ll be saved by Ashley going home due to her injury. As for his routines – I really liked the Travis Wall contemporary, but I think that the judges/producers tried to hard to make an “Emmy moment” out of it because it was about Travis’s mother’s illness and it was so heartfelt. That almost ruined it for me. It was very reminiscent of Tyce’s breast cancer peace, in my opinion. Especially the opening walk of the two characters. I absolutely adored the walk at the end and the symbolism behind it, but while I think it was well-danced by Allison and Robert, I think Travis has deserved an Emmy more with other routines. I’m glad he shared something so personal with us, but I resented being told to feel about it. I felt the same way with Tyce’s breast cancer piece, actually, and liked it more when I saw it on SYTYCD UK with less fanfare. His disco with Kathryn was a lot of fun. It had it’s problem spots but when you consider they probably only had a day or so to practice together, very good.

Bottom Three

Ashley – is in the EXACT same place Alex was last week. The same place Jessica King was in a few years ago. If her injury is what I’ve heard it is… she’s almost 100% going home tonight. Which makes me very, very sad because she quickly became my favorite once the performance shows started.

Adechike – Okay, so Chike hasn’t been getting much love from me. I’ve acknowledged that he’s a great dancer, but I feel that he doesn’t connect to his partners. His salsa with Anya was horrific – even though there were tiny patches that were pretty incredible. However, I *finally* saw what everyone else sees in him when he danced contemporary with Kent. He had chemistry with Kent!! I loooved this Dee Caspary routine. I thought Chike was so comfortable with Kent in the interview and that really played out in their performance. It was the first time I thought he got everything right. However… I think it’s too little too late. It’s only one solid performance in a night with two performances and after a pretty lackluster season. I think there’s gonna be some Chike backlash this week after all the gossip and controversy. I think he’ll be safe though, since Ashley’s almost certainly going home.

Jose – If Ashley weren’t surely going home, I’d bee 98% certain that this was Jose’s week to leave us. He was flat and unimpressive in his Broadway and he disappointed in his own style next to All-Star Dominic. I found the routine entertaining (the breaking), but it wasn’t everything it was built up to be. Just as Jose is not everything he’s been built up to be. Even the judges had to admit, after his Broadway, that he needs training and polish. He needs to layer dance on top of his gymnastics and tricking.

Some last thoughts before I go –

-I looove that Cat is speaking up more about her opinions. Her comments re: Billy and Lauren reminding her of Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland was spot on. 🙂

-I kinda liked the disco tonight and there were lots of crazy hard things in there. But…isn’t there at least one single other disco choreographer in the entire world? I’m very tired of Doreana Sanchez’s choreography. And here’s why – I think the style is already so limited that to have just one choreographer makes it very, very boring. It’s basically all the same routine!! And if there aren’t any other choreographers for disco, maybe that’s a hint that the style is played out. Dry. Done.

-We had a lot of male-male numbers tonight (what with Ashley out and Lauren being the last girl in the race, likely) and they were doozies! Loved Kent and Neil’s baseball routine! As well as Kent and Adechike’s contemporary. The Jose/Dom “battle” was aiiiright. Until they made Dom bow to Jose and I was just.not.cool.with.that. S’okay. We all saw who left with the sword. 🙂

-I think it took changing all the rules for the producers and all of us to realize what we love best about the show. I’m glad we’ve had this mix-up because it’s shown us that bringing back All-Stars and same-gender routines really do work. But it’s also shown us that we really like seeing the contestants grow together in partnerships and that the producers need to be careful not to overproduce = manipulate us. If they can even help it at this point.

– I’m *very* sad I didn’t get to see Ashley dance this week and that she’ll probably be leaving.

-It was a good week for dance, even if Alex wasn’t there. I think a lot of the dancers realized they could actually win and kicked it up a notch this week. It’s a weird season. All the rules changed and now all bets are off.

July 14, 2010 I Written By

SYTYCD 7: Mia Michaels joins Nigel and Adam Shankman as Permanent Judges

Just released this morning:

Emmy Award-winning choreographer Mia Michaels and acclaimed director and choreographer Adam Shankman will return to SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE as the series’ resident judges.

Nigel seems to be rather thrilled about the new addition:

“I am extremely happy that Mia and Adam have returned and agreed to be resident judges,” […] “Mia’s outspoken approach combined with Adam’s passion will definitely add a fresh new chemistry to the panel.”

My only question is… Does this mean she won’t be choreographing this season? I remember earlier that Mary stepped down from the panel so she could choreograph…

What do you guys think? Don’t forget that Season 7 will premiere on Fox on Thursday May 27.

May 10, 2010 I Written By

My life can be summed up in the following two quotes: 1) "I am married to engineering and am its faithful wife by day, but at night my wanderlust takes hold and the arts becomes my jealous paramour." and... 2) "Engineering is my safety net. Writing is my passion. Acting is my escape when the other two become too much." So where does dancing fit in? Pretty much anywhere at this point... =)

So You Think You Can Dance Judges

I need just a minute to rant about the judges this last week. Let me lead off by saying that Adam Shankman has been phenomenal. His comments have been interesting, entertaining, and spot on.

I really don’t think I have to say much about Mary. I think everyone knows that I don’t like her as a judge on this show. She just screams too much and doesn’t offer enough value. I don’t want to rehash all my dislike for Mary, but needless to say she was really disappointing.

The thing that has surprised me is that Nigel is starting to get on my nerves this season too. I think it’s a bit his arrogance about dancing and who they’re sending home. I think he really does care about the dancers and about dance, but it feels like the judge and executive producer power is going to his head a little bit.

On top of that for the first time in a while I was disagreeing with the judges left and right. They were lauding praise left and right on dancers that I thought were really disappointing. Usually when a performance isn’t very good at least one of the judges calls them out as not very good. Did anyone else feel this way about the judges comments?

I should also mention that I loved that Adam was willing to call out the choreographers for bad choreography. None of the other judges we’re willing to do that. Let’s hope we see more honesty like that.

November 5, 2009 I Written By

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

Interview with the SYTYCD Judges

I stumbled across this SYTYCD profile on Facebook and wanted to share it here. These interviews are from Korbi Tv and are after the elimination of the two tappers. Find more from her.
Nigel

Adam

Mary

Just thought I would share this there seems to be a lot more on this site so check it out if you get the chance.

November 4, 2009 I Written By

Dance is one of my biggest passions. I grew up dancing at Augusta West Dance Studio (the same studio that Kathryn McCormick). I have a BFA in theatre/dance from Valdosta State University. Tap is my favorite style of dance.

Top 20 Perform This Week

You probably already know, but I thought I’d put up an fyi post with this week’s schedule, since it’s a bit different (as this whole season’s schedule has been.)

Monday, tomorrow, the Top 20 will perform in a no-fear-of-elimination “meet the Top 20” special. It sounds like they’ll be dancing individually or in groups and/or couples that will not be their regular Top 20 couples. I can’t wait to see these new couples, so it’d be nice if they’d reveal them tomorrow. Tomorrow’s show is at 8 p.m. (7 central).

Tuesday, there will be a 2-hour performance and elimination show on Tuesday (also starting at 8/7 central) and the judges will do the dirty work of eliminating the first couple.

We won’t get a chance to vote for our favorites till the Top 16 on Tuesday, November 10th.

Care to speculate who the couples will be? Complain or cheer about not having to (getting to) make the first two cuts ourselves? What do y’all think?

In the meantime, I put up a music speculation post a while back and our reader Kelly added a significant and amazing list of music herself. Check it out and join in the conversation!

October 25, 2009 I Written By

Ellen, Paula Abdul, and SYTYCD Guest Judges

So You Think You Can Dance dipped its foot into the water of having a guest judge on the show. I wasn’t personally that impressed with Ellen, but my twitter stream seemed to really love them. I think Ellen finally got into a nice rhythm in the second half of the show and had some good jokes.

Turns out that now Paula Abdul might be available to be a judge on So You Think You Can Dance since Paula’s quite American Idol. Nigel has already acknowledged that he’d welcome her as a guest judge on SYTYCD: “We would certainly consider her as a guest judge,” Dance executive producer/judge Nigel Lythgoe told the New York Daily News. “Without question.” Nigel’s even suggested that Paula could come on SYTYCD as a choreographer which would be interesting as well. Personally, I’d be fine with Paula Abdul on SYTYCD, but I don’t really see her making the switch since SYTYCD still has far fewer viewers than American Idol. I guess we’ll see since Paula is better known for her dancing than her singing.

However, I think that So You Think You Can Dance should consider another guest judge. I think they need to find a guest judge that knows the show very well. Someone who is very familiar with the various dancers. Someone who relates to the fans very well and knows what gets the fans of SYTYCD excited. Fox needs to find a guest judge that understands and appreciates dance, but maybe isn’t necessarily too worried about ALL the technical details of the dance either. Someone who can judge similar to how America will pick “America’s Favorite Dancer.”

Ok, really I think they should just invite me to be a guest judge on the show. Would be really interesting no? Of course, it would probably be even more interesting if Fox held a competition between all the various SYTYCD bloggers and let the winner of the competition be a guest judge. Wouldn’t that be cool? Only problem is that after looking at what Fox did to ruin the So You Think You Can Dance website and forums, I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t be able to deliver on a promotion like this. However, I’m willing to offer my services if they need some help setting it up;-)

August 5, 2009 I Written By

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

Shane Sparks Returning to So You Think You Can Dance

17th Annual MTV Movie Awards - Arrivals

I just read an interview with Shane Sparks on Zap2It where he’s asked if he’s going to be back on the next season of So You Think You Can Dance. Here’s the question and Shane Spark’s response:

Now that this season is happening separately from when So You Think You Can Dance is airing, are you gonna be able to do some work with them this season?
We’re working on it right now, trying to get me in more this season, get me on camera for some of the show.

Judging?
Yeah.

It’s unfortunate that Shane won’t be doing choreography for the show. I’d much rather have him doing choreography than judging, but if he’s able to replace Mary Murphy at the judges table, then I’ll be happy.

February 2, 2009 I Written By

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