SYTYCD 5 | Pure So You Think You Can Dance

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. 🙂 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. 🙂

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 😉 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) by Travis Wall

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

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

Karla and Jonathan to 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 o (Beyonce) by NappyTabs

Janette and Brandon to What A World (Common) by Shane Sparks

Jeanine and Philip to Mad (Ne-Yo) by NappyTabs

Jeanine and Philip to Love Lockdown (Kanye West) by NappyTabs

Other AMAZING dances:

Caitlin and Jason Bollywood to Jai Ho by Nakul

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

Janette and Evan Jazz to Move (CSS) by Sonya Tayeh

Group Dance Top 8 Let it Rock by Travis Wall

Group Dance Top 16 I Know You Want Me (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!!

My SYTYCD Season 5 Quick Thoughts

Time for my thoughts on the finale. You can find a lot more discussion from other people here.

I just want to say that I really enjoyed the finale. Sure, this season was a bit of a down season, but like I’ve said before, if this is a down season, then I can’t wait to see an up season.

I loved the Kodak and think they should do all the finales there. It was a great atmosphere and really added to the energy. Plus, the judges didn’t have to feel like they were totally crowded in the little table.

I think the real issue with choosing past dances is there weren’t enough stand out dances. So, we’re debating which of the average dances should have been on the show.

The surprise of the night for me was how good Jeanine and Phillip’s Nappytabs dance was. I forgot how good that really way.

Jeanine gets a black mark from me. That kiss of Jason wasn’t as good as the previous one.

Jason gets a big man hug from me for kissing 2 of the most beautiful girls on the Kodak stage in front of millions.

I couldn’t help but notice that Lil’ C didn’t participate with the other judges in the Chorus Line number. I love that he’s true to who he is. That said, I couldn’t help but notice that the choreographers that I’d never really want to see dance on stage were the ones on stage. The choreographers I’d like to see dance weren’t on stage. Although, with that said, I didn’t mind the little 30 second thing they did. However, how cool would it be to see say Lil’ C, Dave Scott and Shane Sparks on the same stage?

Cat Deeley proved that she does look good even in just a sheet.

If Ryan Kasprzak gets into the top 20 of SYTYCD season 6, he’s going to have such the advantage with all this face time (and Evan’s fan base).

21 million votes is a lot. I’m glad that SYTYCD is doing so well.

I wonder if it’s a bad thing that I knew pretty much every dancer that was shown in the SYTYCD 5 highlight video. Actually, not just knew them, but remembered their back story and often knew the song that they danced to. Yes, I am a SYTYCD-a-holic.

I’m really glad that SYTYCD did a good job of not drawing out the results. They just brought them on stage and told them. Perfect pacing for the results I think.

Janette was a real highlight of the night. So glad to see her back. Although, Caitlin is still stunningly beautiful. She should be a model or something. WOW!

I was really glad they gave Max a spot on the finale. He shouldn’t have been sent home when he was sent home.

I most missed not seeing Karla perform on the finale. She deserved some time and I would have loved to see her again.

I loved the Fame preview. I’d already seen it before and I’m a self proclaimed Kherington Fan-boi, but I can’t wait to see Fame.

Mary needs to be removed as a permanent judge and replaced by Adam Shankman. Time to start our #VoteMaryOffSYTYCD campaign.

Nigel’s beaming smile in this show was interesting. I think he’s sincerely excited about the success of SYTYCD.

I could have done without the Argentine Tango. Didn’t really enjoy it either time.

I still love the Nappytabs/Dmitry group number and I’m glad it made it to the finale.

My thoughts on Jeanine are here.

I can’t wait for the SYTYCD tour and SYTYCD season 6. However, next week I’m going to enjoy a few days break from SYTYCD. Don’t worry though. It will only last a couple days and then we’ll be back getting things hyped for SYTYCD 6. The really good thing for me (and my family) is that a number of people have offered to help blog for Pure SYTYCD next season. Although, I’m considering covering SYTYCD Canada on Pure SYTYCD, so if there are any other Canadians that would like to help out please let me know.

Jeanine Mason – Winner of So You Think You Can Dance Season 5

Congratulations to Jeanine Mason, winner of So You Think You Can Dance Season 5 and America’s Favorite Dancer. All I can say is that it was very well deserved. Her performance yesterday knocked it out of the park for me.

I’m really happy to say that the readers of Pure SYTYCD did a great job “predicting” Jeanine to be the winner of So You Think You Can Dance Season 5 in both yesterday’s SYTYCD 5 Poll and even predicted Jeanine Mason to be the So You Think You Can Dance winner back on June 17th. I think that second one might have been a little bit of luck, but obviously readers of this blog saw Jeanine’s stardom early on. In fact, somehow I even ranked Jeanine at the top of my So You Think You Can Dance Top 20 power rankings. Probably a little bit of luck there as well, but I had to at least take a moment to brag about the readers of Pure SYTYCD!! Woot!!

Also, fans of Jeanine Mason will like the videos I posted of Jeanine Mason before SYTYCD here and here.

I’ll save the rest of the minutiae related to the So You Think You Can Dance finale for another post tomorrow and I encourage everyone to share those thoughts in the SYTYCD finale discussion thread. Otherwise, let’s celebrate Jeanine and her beautiful dancing in this thread!!

Congrats Jeanine!! I’m really looking forward to seeing you on the So You Think You Can Dance tour!!

UPDATE: Also read this story about Jeanine Mason’s medical issues before SYTYCD. Amazing that the show never brought it up, but I think this makes me appreciate Jeanine even more.

SYTYCD Finale Music

Our last entry in our season 5 list of So You Think You Can Dance top music from the final show of So You Think You Can Dance. Of course, this list includes a bunch of music from previous episodes as well. Check out the music below or take a look back at the full list of music from SYTYCD season 5.

Jeanine Mason and Phillip Chbeeb danced Hip-hop to the song “Mad” —Ne-Yo choreographed by Tabitha D’umo and Napoleon D’umo

Janette Manrara and Brandon Bryant danced Argentine tango to the song “Libertango” from Forever Tango choreographed by Miriam Larici and Leonardo Barrionuevo

Asuka Kondoh and Vitolio Jeune danced Waltz to the song “Dreams Are More Precious” —Enya choreographed by Louis van Amstel

Jeanine Mason and Jason Glover danced Contemporary to the song “If It Kills Me” (The Casa Nova Sessions)—Jason Mraz choreographed by Travis Wall

Kayla Radomski and Max Kapitannikov danced Samba to the song “Jum Buh Day”—House of Gypsies choreographed by Louis van Amstel

Caitlin Kinney and Jason Glover danced Bollywood to the song “Jai Ho” choreographed by Nakul Dev Mahajan

Randi Evans and Evan Kasprzak danced Contemporary to the song “Koop Island Blues” —Koop featuring Ane Brun choreographed by Mia Michaels

Jeanine Mason and Brandon Bryant danced Paso Doble to the song “Tetsujin” from The Matrix Revolutions choreographed by Louis van Amstel

Kayla Radomski and Küpono Aweau danced Contemporary to the song “Gravity” —Sara Bareilles choreographed by Mia Michaels

Janette Manrara and Brandon Bryant danced Disco to the song “Loving Is Really My Game” —Brainstorm choreographed by Doriana Sanchez

Melissa Sandvig and Ade Obayomi danced Contemporary to the song “This Woman’s Work” —Maxwell choreographed by Tyce Diorio

Group dances:
Top 20: “Brand New Day” from The Wiz (Broadway; Choreographer: Tyce Diorio)

Top 16: “I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)” —Pitbull (Hip-hop/Latin ballroom; Choreographers: Dmitry Chaplin, Napoleon and Tabitha D’umo)

Top 8, Nigel Lythgoe, Mary Murphy, Adam Shankman, Mia Michaels, Debbie Allen and Tyce Diorio: “One” from A Chorus Line (Contemporary; Choreographer: Mia Michaels)

Guest Dancers:
Talia Fowler, the season 2 ballerina champion of So You Think You Can Dance Australia performed a piece to “Shot You Down” by Audio Bullys, choreographed by Sonya Tayeh.

The Rage Boyz Crew: “Feel It” —Colby O’Donis & Mauli-b (Hip-hop; Choreographer: Tiffany Burton)

Montage Video Featured:
“Dance With Me” – The Sounds

“It’s Your Life” – Francesca Battistelli

So You Think You Can Dance Elimination Songs
The female dancer’s elimination montage is to the song “Already Gone” by Kelly Clarkson
The male dancer’s elimination montage is to the song “On Your Own” by Green River Ordinance
In This Life by Delta Goodrem for the Jeanine/Brandon montage before the winner announcement.

We hope that all of you will keep coming back for season 6 of So You Think You Can Dance. We’ll need everyone’s help again next season to put together the list of music from the audition episodes of So You Think You Can Dance season 6. I couldn’t even come close to making that list on my own, so I appreciate everyone’s help in figuring out the SYTYCD music.

So You Think You Can Dance Season 5 Finale Discussion Thread

This should be one of the most interesting discussion threads of the season. Did America get it right? Yes, I understand the irony of that statement. If it’s America’s Favorite Dancer and America votes, then how could they be wrong right? Well, I’ll leave that for you to discuss. Are you happy with the winner of So You Think You Can Dance? Were there any dances that they should have featured on the finale of So You Think You Can Dance season 5? Anything else that shocked you? Let’s hear your thoughts!!

Also, I want to thank all of you for stopping by Pure SYTYCD so often. I’ve loved having so many people comment and provide new perspectives on their favorite dancers. I hope you’ll keep coming back to talk about the SYTYCD tour and also season 6 of So You Think You Can Dance. Also, if you like blogging about SYTYCD, I’m always looking for more people to help out so drop us a line.

So You Think You Can Dance Top 4 Finale Music

We’re back with more of the So You Think You Can Dance top 4 music from the final performance show of So You Think You Can Dance. Check out the music below or take a look back at the full list of music from SYTYCD season 5. Also, don’t forget to share your comments in the SYTYCD final 4 discussion thread and to vote for your So You Think You Can Dance winner.

Brandon Bryant, Evan Kasprzak, Jeanine Mason, and Kayla Radomski danced Pop-Jazz to the song “Boys Boys Boys” —Lady Gaga choreographed by Wade Robson
Jeanine Mason and Evan Kasprzak danced Jazz to the song “Heartbreaker” —MSTRKRFT featuring John Legend choreographed by Sonya Tayeh
Kayla Radomski and Brandon Bryant danced Broadway to the song “Bye Bye Love” from All That Jazz choreographed by Tyce Diorio
Brandon Bryant and Evan Kasprzak danced Pop-Jazz to the song “Nasty” —Janet Jackson choreographed by Laurie Ann Gibson
Jeanine Mason and Kayla Radomski danced Contemporary to the song “The Four Sections: IV (Full Orchestra)” —Steve Reich choreographed by Mia Michaels
Kayla Radomski and Evan Kasprzak danced Jive to the song “T.R.O.U.B.L.E.” —Travis Tritt choreographed by Tony Meredith and Melanie LaPatin
Jeanine Mason and Brandon Bryant danced Paso Doble to the song “Tetsujin” from The Matrix Revolutions choreographed by Louis van Amstel

SYTYCD Top 4 Solos:
Brandon Bryant: “Dies Irae” —Karl Jenkins
Jeanine Mason: “Por una Cabeza” —The Tango Project
Evan Kasprzak: “The Best Is Yet to Come” —Michael Bublé
Kayla Radomski: “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” —Eurythmics

So You Think You Can Dance Final Performance Discussion Thread

We’re back to discuss the finale of So You Think You Can Dance season 5. Is anyone else as shocked as I am that we’re already at the finale of So You Think You Can Dance? That’s just absolutely unreal for me. Luckily, the Fall season of So You Think You Can Dance will be starting up soon. Although, I’m sure I’ll need the little break between seasons. Ok, enough about me. Let’s hear what you thought of the So You Think You Can Dance top 4 final dances? Let it all hang out. Don’t hold back. We’re all friends and welcome different opinions (even if they’re wrong…lol).

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;-)

Top Music from So You Think You Can Dance Season 5

Time for one of the most popular posts I do. Here’s a list of the top music from this season of So You Think You Can Dance. You might ask how I know it’s the top music. Well, it’s not really scientific, but I basically base it off the number of times someone clicked on the iTunes link for that song. I think it’s a pretty good measure. We can discuss for a long time the star quality of the dancers and the level of choreography this season, but there’s no arguing that So You Think You Can Dance still rules with introducing a wide variety of interesting music. Take a look at Pure SYTYCD’s list of top So You Think You Can Dance music:

Tore My Heart by Oona (Free Download by Pure SYTYCD)
Falling Slowly by The Frames
Don’t Let Your Feet Touch Ground by Ash Koley
Untouched by The Veronicas
Breathe Me by Sia
Belief by Gavin DeGraw
Great DJ by The Ting Tings
Winter Song by Sara Bareilles & Ingrid Michaelson
Slow Me Down by Emmy Rossum
Jungle Drum by Emiliana Torrini
Make You Feel My Love by ADELE
Lost by Anouk
Moonburn by Craig Lyons
Nobody by Ne-Yo
Coldfront by Amie Miriello
Toxic by Yael Naïm
Pollen and Salt by Daphne Loves Derby
Walking On by Army of Me
Habanera by Kate Nash (This wasn’t actually on the show, but would have been if they had the rights to it. See Kelsea Taylor for more info)
Dance With Me by Old 97’s

I just wish I could take all of these songs and make a CD of this music. I think it would sell like hot cakes. As always, you can find the full list of SYTYCD music here.

So You Think You Can Dance Top 6: Behind the Choreography and Costumes

So You Think You Can Dance: Behind the Choreography – Top 6 – Tyce Diorio

So You Think You Can Dance: Behind the Look – Top 6

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30

Personal Favorites From This Season of SYTYCD

My SYTYCD Season 5 Quick Thoughts

Jeanine Mason – Winner of So You Think You Can Dance Season 5

SYTYCD Finale Music

So You Think You Can Dance Season 5 Finale Discussion Thread

So You Think You Can Dance Top 4 Finale Music

So You Think You Can Dance Final Performance Discussion Thread

Ellen, Paula Abdul, and SYTYCD Guest Judges

Top Music from So You Think You Can Dance Season 5

So You Think You Can Dance Top 6: Behind the Choreography and Costumes

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