Best Choreographer – SYTYCD Season 5 “EmMandy” Awards
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”.
I like NappyTabs stuff, but I think Sonya is my favorite choreographer on the show. I love her unique style!
My only problem with Sonya is that her dynamics suck. It’s always “sharp sharp sharp” without any surprising smoothness. Watch the boys’ group dance with Evan, Ade and Brandon again. There’s a lot of jerking around and it gets pretty boring after a while. But I do think she can be quite innovative with her interpretations and choreography.
Haha, I don’t think it gets boring. I am always wanting more! I guess there’s plenty of room for differing opinions…
i think out of that list that i’d choose tyce. he has such a broad range of styles, even within broadway. i think he had a lot of strong pieces this year, even though only a few were popular. wade and sonya are my favorites though. and nappytabs i thought were a little blah this year. maybe it was the dancers.
Carissa-
I agree, Tyce does a great job on all of his pieces. And I adore Wade’s work. I also agree that Nappytabs weren’t as explosive as they usually are (definitely nothing anywhere close to “Bleeding Love” this year) but they still showed what amazing choreographers they are with “Mad”, “Calle Ocho”, “Love Lockdown”, “Halo” and the moving piece. They always have a story and always bring the music to life. And I don’t even like hip-hop!
awww, i really wanted Mia to win. but i’m sure she’s already received numerous Emmy’s, yeah?
I agree that Nappytabs volume of work was great this season. “Mad” wasn’t quite “Bleeding Love,” but after watching it again at the finale I remembered how good it really was. I love Nappytabs. They bring something different and unique each time. They don’t always nail it, but they’re always working to stretch the choreography.
Mandy–I’m SO GLAD I’m not the only one who things that way about Sonya’s pieces. I mean, I love her dances, but there are always the same to me. I want a little difference.
I thought Nappytabs was the best this season too…diversity, innovation…and what about that collabo with Dmitry? Shows a lot of spunk.
You’re two for two in my book. 🙂
I mostly agree with you. I am always excited when I see NappyTabs is choreographing a piece, and I like the hip hop variety they bring to the table, from lyrical to hard-hitting. However, I might have pushed Wade Robson up to tie with them (or MAYBE a very close second.) I think that his pieces are quirky but innovative. He has his style of movement, but he can adapt it to the scene he’s trying to set, from thieves to zombies to geisha girls. Particularly this season, I think, each dance he’s offered has been interesting AND entertaining. NappyTabs, as much as I LOVE them, haven’t been quite as on the ball. In my opinion. 🙂
Well as much as i like Nappytabs, I have to disagree that they are very original. They do coordinate their movements to the words but their dances look similar. You mentioned musicality in your previous post as not an interpretation of the lyrics but the movement that fits the music. This season they seemed to have relied more on the props and lyric interpretation. I think perhaps yes, it might have been the dancers, but when it comes down to using props, it makes dancing so much harder and proves to be a distraction. Bleeding love had a prop but it wasn’t physically thrown around during the dance. No air? no prop and my favorite Nappytabs routine. :p I loved their “Mad” routine too.
Like stephanie’s post above:
My favorite choreographer is still Wade Robson. That guy has great musicality. He doesn’t necessarily need the words in a song to define a certain dance move as a means to interpret the song, but just the emotion an instrumental piece exudes will help shape his creation. He also looks at a dancer’s strength and incorporates that into a great storyline. You might not think the top 4 dance was up to his weird standards but I found it a great piece to watch. Given the kind of dancers he had, I think it played to their strengths perfectly. Evan and Jeanine’s fun personality and Brandon and Kayla’s technical prowess probably made up for the other couple’s shortcomings, but I was able to see everyone with both personality and technique. That’s what makes Wade Robson such a great choreographer. His piece with the oriental theme was a bit odd, but the Robber routine, the crash dummies, are both so innovative.
Christine,
I know I’m in the minority, but I loved Wade’s top 4 routine. Not sure it was Wade’s choreography or the dancers just ability to pull it off, but I loved it. Part of it was that it was unexpected, different and executed so well.
Also, I have to brag since Nappytabs tweeted me that they still want to do the interview with me and maybe in person some time in Las Vegas (they went to college and met here). Anyway, good things to come. I’m glad they remembered. bragging>