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I was doing something entirely different (I promise!) and I found a great video of Wade Robson’s “Slow Dancing in a Burning Room” routine performed by different dancers he worked with on Cirque du Soleil/Criss Angel’s Believe, Ben Susak and Pam Chu. I guess he was working it out before he choreographed the routine on So You Think You Can Dance. Check it out and then, below, I included the video of Katee and Josh performing it for the Top 4 episode of Season 4.

Clearly, I love me some Wade Robson. So here’s a video from when he was on Dancing with the Stars, too. I kinda got addicted to the song while I was watching it (several times). If you’re curious, it’s “Hi”  by PSAAP.

We still don’t get to vote this week – next week, we’ll get a full meal of SYTYCD – Tuesday performance show and Wednesday result show. I’m still a little glad that the judges are making the tough early decisions. We’ll see if they make the right one (unlike last week…)

Here are some of my thoughts from tonight’s show [SOME SPOILERS]:
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I can’t wait to see what phenomenal routines and music the Top 18 show brings. If you missed anything from earlier episodes, check out the previous SYTYCD season 6 music.

SYTYCD Season 6 Top 18 Couples Music

Jamal Sims tennis hip hop (Noelle & Russell): “Move, Shake, Drop” -DJ Laz, Flo Rida, Cassley

Tony & Melanie’s wedding dance/Viennese waltz (Ashleigh & Jakob): “At Last” -Etta James

Tyce Diorio’s filled with God Broadway (Bianca & Victor): “Maybe God Is Tryin to Tell You Somethin’” – from The Color Purple (not on iTunes, but try this version  from The San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus and Transcendence Gospel Choir)

Nakul Dev Mahajan’s cinematic Bollywood routine (Mollee & Nathan): “Azeem O Shaan Shahensha” -Jodhaa Akbar

Tony & Melanie’s samba (Channing & Phillip): “Maracatu Funk” -The Samba Squad

Nappytabs’ entirely unsubtle (and awesome!) hip hop (Karen & Kevin): “Ice Cream Paint Job” -Dorrough

Stacey Tookey’s contemporary “fear” routine (Kathryn & Legacy): “2 Steps Away” -Patti LaBelle

Wade Robson’s Van Gogh’s torment jazz routine (Pauline & Peter): “Little Green Bag” -George Baker Selection

Miriam & Leonardo Argentine tango (Elleanore & Ryan): “Violentango” -Astor Piazolla

SYTYCD Season 6 Top 18 Solo Music

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Wow, what a great show! Adam Shankman said it best, I think when he talked about growing on the show and if this is where these Top 20 start, “what do you become?” Brilliant show.

First, Wade Robson’s routines are pretty much always my favorites. I don’t think there’s ever been a routine of his I haven’t liked. I love the collaborations with his wife Amanda. But the dancers just made this routine something truly special. Right away, we have a highly memorable (Emmy-worthy?) routine on the very first episode. Sheesh. Nathan really stood out to me in this one, but I thought they were all phenomenal. And was that Lady GaGa in the audience as they gave the routine a standing ovation?

I liked the Nappytabs hip hop with Russell, Kevin and Legacy, but it was probably one of my least favorite of the night and I still haven’t warmed up to Legacy. Don’t know that I will, though if he surprises me, I’ll be the first to say it.

Tyce’s routine with Nathan, Ariana, Channing and Jakob was amazing. Looooved it. Especially Ariana’s jump into Nathan’s arms. It was a great song and a great routine.

Really loved it when Cat said, “How are we going to send anyone home this season?” Really. I’m glad the first few decisions are the judges’ to make. But I hope they make the right decisions.

The tappers. I love Bianca, Peter and Phillip and I can appreciate that tap is tough. But…I thought this routine was kinda boring. The parts where they were encouraged to show their personality were awesome, but I didn’t think “Take the A Train” was a great song for tap. I liked how Derick K. Grant said, that “good tap is like a good kung fu movie.” Maybe I’m underestimating tap dancing…but why couldn’t they expect dancers to pick up *some* tap in order to do a routine, especially with a tap partner? Caitlin and Jason did Bollywood their first week and Ade did a classical ballet routine with Melissa, all last season. And these are good dancers. Would tap be tougher for these dancers than for example, a hip hop dancer having to learn ballroom?

While I liked Sonya Tayeh’s jazz with Mollee, Elleanore and Pauline, it felt very reminiscent (sometimes in a bad way) of last season’s “Superheroine” routine with the top 3 girls. Watch it again and tell me I’m wrong. I liked all three of them and I agreed with Adam that Mollee had “graduated from High School Musical” and danced like a woman. And I do agree with Sonya that confidence is sexy. I love Sonya and I love these three girls, so I hate to pick on the routine.

Mandy Moore’s contemporary with Billy, Noelle, Kathryn and Victor was fun, had a 5o’s vibe and was very fast and clearly difficult. But kinda boring. Victor and Noelle had an awkward lift at one point, I thought.

I’m not the biggest fan of the DiLellos, but I really liked their Jason Gilkison samba with Karen. The fact that she held her own with a couple who’s been dancing together for years really impressed me. It was really sexy and fun.

Is it just me, or did they NOT announce the couples! I think we’ll have to depend on Margaret’s spoilers.

It’s kinda a shot in the dark, but I’m going to take a stab at a Power Ranking since a boy and girl will be kicked off by the judges after they perform tomorrow. Maybe I’ll even make live annotations during tomorrow’s show. If you’re good.

I hope all of you will chime in, too. John? Amanda? Margaret?

Unless you don’t follow Mark Kanemura on twitter then you wouldn’t know that he performed with Lady Gaga. Mark was unbelievably excited to have this opportunity. I know I was excited to see him perform again; after all he is one of my all time favorites. I give props to Laurieann Gibson for giving him a nice little solo with Gaga. I thought the performance was good then it got weird at the end with all of the blood. I understood her message but still thought it was kind of weird. I read that it was supposed to be a reenactment of Princess Diana’s death.

The highlight of the night for me was the tribute to Michael Jackson starring his sister Janet Jackson. The beginning was a dance montage of some of his best videos. I’m guessing the dancers were those that were going to be a part of his come back. Then it was Janet’s turn and the crowd went nuts. The concept was fantastic it really looked like she was dancing with her brother one last time. However she wasn’t alone, she had dancers/choreographers with her. I saw plenty of familiar faces from the SYTYCD family. Wade Robson, Laurieann Gibson, Brian Friedman, and Tyce Diorio who all I am sure have been inspired by MJ. The only other one I recognized was Chris Judd, Jennifer Lopez ex husband.

I just wanted to give a little update…let me know you thoughts if you saw it.

In our ongoing series of choreography “EmMandy” Awards, here’s the award for “Most Innovative Concept” from So You Think You Can Dance season 5 (winner is in Bold). Take a look at the other SYTYCD Season 5 “EmMandy” Awards.

“Most Innovative Concept”

• Shane Sparks, “Shadow”
• Dave Scott, “Battle”
• Sonya Tayeh, “Vampires”
• Tabitha and Napolean, “Love Lockdown”
• Wade Robson, “Crash Test Dummies”

All of these were great concepts that pushed the boundaries of dance, but I have to give it to Wade. What a great idea! The movements were strange, but exactly what a dummy would move like. He had a concept and a story, something not generally attempted, but it made the piece that much more entertaining. I liked Shane’s idea for the shadow, but it really wasn’t carried out very well. The story was not moved along at all.

In our ongoing series of choreography “EmMandy” Awards, here’s the award for “Best Choreographer” from So You Think You Can Dance season 5 (winner is in Bold). Take a look at the other SYTYCD Season 5 “EmMandy” Awards.

“Best Choreographer” (group of work)

• Tyce Diorio
• Mia Michaels
• Wade Robson
• Tabitha and Napolean
• Louis Van Amstel
• Sonya Tayeh

My criteria for this category was story-line, musicality, music choice and innovativeness. These guys are choreography powerhouses. Not only do they include an interesting and novel story-line, but they always have flawless musicality and really bring the music to life. Plus they continuously seem to be re-defining hip-hop as a style. Louis had the most dances in the finale, but none of them pushed the boundaries of Ballroom enough to be called innovative. But I do want to mention Mia’s impeccable music choice for “Gravity”—it brought new meaning to a song that the artist has said is about her “first big heartbreak”.

Hi, everyone! I’m Mandy, the brand-new choreography expert here at Pure SYTYCD. When Season 6 kicks off, I’ll be doing weekly posts about the a-mazing choreography on the show, including the auditions and solos.

But since Season 5 has ended, instead of going week-by-week to share my opinions, I’ve chosen to highlight the best of the best, and the worst of the worst. It’s kinda like our very own “Outstanding Choreography” Emmy awards, but with lots of sub-categories!

Hopefully we’ll be able to set up a voting system when we do this again at the end of season 6, but for now I’ve selected my personal “winners”. Feel free to post yours in the comments section.

So without further ado… (winners in bold)

“Best Choreography”

• Tabitha and Napolean D’umo, “Mad” (Jeanine and Phillip)
• Wade Robson, “Crash Test Dummies” (Ashley and Kupono)
• Stacey Tookey, “Falling Slowly” (Karla and Jonathan)
• Mia Michaels, “Addiction” (Kayla and Kupono)
• Travis Wall, “If it Kills Me” (Jeanine and Jason)
• Tyce Diorio, “This Woman’s Work (Melissa and Ade)

I chose this piece because it contains everything a moving piece of work should—a solid, provoking story-line efficiently and beautifully moved along by the choreography, phrases that highlight and play on the dancers strengths, and true musicality. The other nominees either had a great story but didn’t move it along as well (Falling Slowly, This Woman’s Work) or didn’t fit the music well enough to really hit a chord with the viewer (Addiction, Crash Test). All of them, however, were standouts of the season and will be remembered for years to come. (The addiction dance was my personal favorite though)

Keep watching Pure SYTYCD. Over the next week we’ll be awarding the SYTYCD Best Choreographer, Best New Choreographer, Most Innovative Concept, Strangest/Worst Carried-out Concept, Best Prop, and Best Group Dance.

Oh! So much to talk about. First, I wonder (as Kelsey said in the episode rant/raves), *why* were they in the Kodak Theatre? Though, I have to admit it was cool to see 3,000 people there for the first half of the finale (and even cooler to have a good portion of those folks chanting Evan’s name). So overall? NOT a fan of Louis van Amstel’s work this season and worried that the judges are jumping the shark a little with how much steam the show’s picking up. Nigel’s turning into a major perv (was he always this bad, someone remind me), Mary’s not speaking nearly as eloquently as she can, in favor of screaming. While I loved that Adam could call the Tony and Melanie jive not finale appropriate, I hated that NO ONE said anything about the overproduction of Louis van Amstel’s paso doble. And then there is the moment that angered me mightily, as pointed out very well by Johnny Mar (again in the rant/raves post). Brandon reused his audition piece last week and got a standing O and not one of the judges mentioned that it’s his audition piece. Evan revisits his audition this week, varying it a bit, and Adam Shankman calls him on it. That is not cool. That being said, there were some moments and routines I *adored* tonight and I can’t wait for tomorrow’s show. And…next season after that phenomenal, heart-thumping preview (though I could do without the last image).

1. Jeanine – I want her to win and I really think it’s hers this season. Here’s why. Simply put: she’s the best combination of pure talent and that nebulous “personality” factor: it’s so easy to love watching her move. I can’t look away from her! Classy and funny, supportive of her partners and very gracious in dealing with criticism and the now multiple perv comments from Nigel. Plus, the girls have been stronger than the boys by far this season, so I think it needs to be a female winner. Jeanine’s peaking at the right time, as the judges say and had an amazing night. Though, I will say that the lighting and the volume of the music during Louis van Amstel’s paso doble was so distracting I had to try to ignore them in order to focus on the dancing. I had to *ignore the music* to focus on the dancing. Bizarre. It was phenomenal dancing, once you could get past the DRAMA!!!! of the routine’s production. I feel like Mia put Jeanine in the back too much in her routine with Kayla, especially given the length of Kayla’s limbs. But she stood out to me and just rocked it. I loved seeing her and Evan dance together and I think they enjoyed each other a lot. And her solo. HELLO! That slow, controlled pirouette. She incorporated so much of her growth during the entire season in her solo, which I think was a textbook example of what a “end of the line, all I’ve got” solo. A-m-a-z-i-n-g.

2. Kayla – She’s been amazing all season, technically superior to most everybody and finally relaxing enough to show her personality. Kayla’s had some incredible routines tonight. I thought her solo was the weakest, but really enjoyed that her song choice allowed for some different movements than she’s shown during most of her solos. The Broadway with Brandon was awesome and you could tell that she just really enjoys dancing with him, trusts him and his technical ability. Not so much with Evan, though there were some strong moments in it. I really enjoyed her in Mia’s contemporary, which was just a beautiful concept that both the girls executed beautifully. You could tell that they were bringing a lot of the emotions of their SYTYCD experience to it and I think Kayla really lived the piece and showed exactly why everybody loves her lines and extension so much. I don’t think she showed as much ‘tude as Jeanine in Wade’s cheerleader/football player routine, but she was definitely strong.

Here’s the hard part. Sigh.

3. Evan – According to the results so far on John’s poll, he should be #4. And maybe he will be. The only reason I bumped him up is that enormous chant that seemed to surprise everybody, him most of all. And you know Ryan wasn’t behind it, because it started waaaaaaaay back in the audience, not near Evan’s family. I will be the first to admit that Evan is, in many ways, especially technically, the most limited dancer, the one who’s “grown” the least during the season. He was rock solid in Broadway at the beginning of the season and he’s still demonstrating rock solidness…in Broadway. He doesn’t apply notes or encorporate other styles into his own, as the other dancers (and successful dancers of seasons past) do. However, all of that is really hard to care about when he dances. I’m tired of the judges’ condescending comments about the squishiness of his face because Evan is impossible not to enjoy (for me, for many others) when he dances. He’s the one my eyes go to. I really thought that he held his own in Wade’s and Sonya’s pieces and he was the one my eyes kept going toward during Lauriann Gibson’s piece (did anyone else HATE the song for a routine like this?), despite his lack of “nasty cred.” He struggles to take on characters outside his general persona onstage. However, I do think that he’s held his own or rocked in most of the routines he’s danced this season. And I love watching him move.

4. Brandon – I suspect that Nigel named him with Jeanine as the top 2 because Brandon is so technically strong and Nigel knows the same personality that Jackie and others have mentioned – on a more personal level, I suspect, than I do. I really liked Brandon’s interview, but I have to say he’s just my least favorite. As nice and supportive as he may be “in the real world,” I don’t personally feel like he gives good t.v. all the time. His ego (whether he’s confident or not confident, both are results of the ego) becomes too much of an issue in his dancing, I feel. Maybe this is only an issue when there’s a camera zooming in close on his face. I don’t know. I think he felt confortable with Natalie and it’s taken him the whole season to figure out how to be more comfortable in front of the camera. He’s a beautiful dancer, but I’m very apt to look more at his partner – whether that partner is a beautiful girl or a dancer not as technically strong as him, like Evan. I think he’s done extremely well on this show and grown so very much. I enjoyed watching him with Jeanine quite a lot, and in the Wade group routine. I did feel his solo was very frantic, as Adam said. Though, you know what? I *loved, loved, loved* his extended split at the end of his routine and his face, which just sort of announced, “Yeah, I’m doing this and it’s awesome.” That was a wonderful moment tonight for me, he was at his “cocky best” right then.

This is a really cool video of Wade Robson and his wife Amanda Robson discussing the process they go through for creating a routine on So You Think You Can Dance. I think this is one of the most insightful videos I’ve seen on what the choreographers on SYTYCD do to get a routine ready. I also really love how Wade and his wife work together to make it happen.