Meet the Top 20 Thoughts
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?
I don’t love this season yet. But hopefully it will grow on me because i’m an eternal sytycd fan. lol but i honestly, i somewhat feel that the judges may have made some bad top 20 choices for the sake of versatility as opposed to dance ability. Just an opinion though.
Any specifics, Tamyra? I’d love to know who you mean. 🙂
The Wade piece was a let down for me. As was “Tasty Oreo’s” piece and Sonya’s pieces. My views haven’t changed much about the top 20. Did you notice you couldn’t do to many good camera angles with a proscenium stage? It just swallowed them up!
I did love the hip hop piece. Russell is my favorite, he is suprising me.
Sonya’s piece to me was like a big “what?” Mollee hasn’t grown up in my view yet. And it was like the Kick It routine back with the finally three girls last season.
The married couple I thought did well, I think the man will make it farther than the wife.
Mandy Moore’s pieces was amazing to me and I cannot stand Coldplay.
The show well…it was compressed for an hour but it still makes me wanna dance. I do think then announced the couples it is already out all over AOL and FOX, but how they lined up is what made me think of whom they are with.
First I love that people assume that TAP is all the tappers do. It’s either the strength or their absolute favorite style. Second the routine was more broadway style of tap to me. Its also possible some tap can be thrown into a broadway routine if the choreographer is creative enough. Plus I sure some of these other dancer do know how to tap…I know Kathryn does.
I agree out of the married couple Ryan will go far.
Tyce’s routine was amazing the jumps the turns…just an overall beautiful dance. Both comtemporary dances were great.
Well we will find out the couples tomorrow and two will also go home tomorrow. I kinda glad the first two cuts are up to the judges…sometimes it just to hard to choose.
I’m kinda liking the new set but it seems too dark and I hope Nigel can convince Paula to be a guest judge.
Well, I felt like Kevin and Legacy, while excellent in there genres, weren’t very good with the choreography, which of course could pose a problem since the show is all choreography. I’m also not sure if putting the tappers in was the best idea, for most of the reasons that Nigel stated. However, I’m really hoping that they are good with choreography and pulling off other styles so that they can minimize their disadvantage as tappers.
I’ll give you Legacy and even Kevin on that point. However, I think the tappers are gonna hold their own in most genres. 🙂 We’ll just have to see how they all do tomorrow. Were there any particular dancers you would’ve liked to see get through rather than these particular 5 of the Top 20?
I thought they were going to announce the couples, too, but I wondered if they cut it because there has been a change. (is that vague enough, or am I spoiling it?)
I liked the whole group routine the best, but after that, the hip hop routine. It’s been awhile since we’ve seen GOOD hip hop, I guess! I was disappointed by Sonya’s routine as well, and I usually love her stuff (at least after several watchings). I think the costumes worked against the idea of the piece, and you’re right, it reminded me of the superhero piece…it’s 3 girls dancing a sexy-girl-power routine either way.
The tap routine was disappointing…tap’s just not as flashy as some of the other things (though perhaps it could have been flashier).
Regardless, this night was absolutely wonderful…now when someone flubs up a hip hop or a ballroom routine tomorrow, we can still remember why they were in the top 20 to begin with!
I didn’t really catch the auditions at all so almost everyone is equally new to me, which is cool. I guess I was hoping to see the other Kasparzak get in. I actually felt he’s the one that should have made it last season. Also, I really am pulling for the tappers, just concerned about how they will be received. I’m looking forward to what the season brings, I really want to love it 🙂
@Ronnica: **SPOILER ALERT** You mean about Brandon replacing Billy? Maybe you were a little too vague… ;”) It was on the level of the movement that the Sonya piece reminded me of the Top 3 girls routine from last season. But you’re right, the outfits too, in a way. A tribute to our “naughty ballerina” of last season? 🙂
@Tamyra: I think they made the right choice between Evan and Ryan – I think Evan’s more versatile than Ryan. That doesn’t mean I’m not disappointed he’s not in Season 6’s Top 20, cause I am. But I think Ryan had A LOT to do with *3* tappers being in the Top 20 this season and I still think there’s a chance we’ll see a Ryan-choreographed tap routine this season. Just wait.
Now that would be cool.
loved seeing your thoughts Emilie as well as the thoughts of our awesome loyal readers! I’m out here on the West Coast and was in a meeting during the airing so I just caught the show online. Here are my thoughts:
-loved the opening number! i thought it was a great way to open the show, I do wish we could have seen who everyone was a bit more clearly, the only one I caught right away was Nathan and only because he was in the front.
-I really liked seeing the three hip-hop guys together but I REALLY wanted to see Shane get his hands on them. I still haven’t warmed up to Legacy, and I can’t say that I think I will. I love Russell and Kevin, and oddly enough i’m actually more excited about seeing them do styles other than their own since they had so much success in vegas.
-Tyce’s piece was beautiful! Ariana’s leap into Nathan’s arms was to die for! And I felt all 4 of them were well matched technique and power-wise. And Jakob got Will Wingfield-like height on his jumps, insane!
-I wanted to like Sonya’s jazz piece, but I really just didn’t. The costumes didn’t really make any sense and it just didn’t really flow for me. I’m a big fan of Ellenore (partly because that’s my sister’s name, but that’s besides the point, haha). I think she’s a little spitfire.
-I thought the tap was cool! I’m not the world’s most coordinated person, so I am in awe of how talented Bianca, Phillip, and Peter are. However, I think the song choice let them down. Yes, it was easier to hear their sycronicity, but the song didn’t make me say wow.
-I have mixed feelings about Mandy’s piece. I’ll agree that it was jam-packed and they danced it really well. But the background and the costumes made no sense to me. Did the 50’s costumes and the fall background have anything to do with each other?
-the ballroom dancers rocked! jason and mary were right, ryan just looked like he was having the time of his life. and all three of them are super hot, and they danced the hell out of that piece.
I’m so excited for tomorrow! Something that I’ll be interested to see is how the dancers react to who their partners are. Some of the best moments from the show have come when dancers find out (Donyelle and Benji, Allison and Ivan, Travis and Martha, Kherington and Twitch, Chelsie and Mark, youtube those if you can, the reactions are fantastic).
In terms of who I think is going to be cut first (man I’m glad it’s the judges call), I would put Phillip and Legacy in the bottom and probably Ashleigh and Kathryn. That’s my best guess, based purely off what I’ve read and what I’ve seen from them. I just don’t think they’ll grab the audience the way others like Russell, Nathan, Jakob, Channing, or Ellenore will. Feel free to disagree with me though!
Okay I have to say this show is so much different when you have a personal connection with one of the dancers. Excitment and nervousness hoping that they will do well.
@Margaret: It’s good to read your thoughts, as well. Especially about those moments when the dancers find out who they’re partnered with. You’re right – some of those are really awesome.
@Amanda: I hope Kathryn sticks in there and I think she’s gonna do really great on the performance show.
i wish ryan had choreographed the tap routine. i’ve seen his choreography, and he is terrific. when i think of the b boys of the past seasons, legacy just pales by comparison. dominic, gev, hok, etc.
sonya is so spotty for me, and that routine was lame, imho. i loved mandy moore’s piece, breathtaking in parts.
i hadn’t had the chance to absorb the difference that stage would make, but the effects of not having the proscenium stage will be noticeable in more intimate couple numbers.
I have to agree with just about everything Emilie says, especially the Sonya piece, it felt like exact moves from the SuperHero routine. Costume made Mollee look like a little girl doing dress up to me.
But, wow what a great show overall! Loved the opening dance. Does anyone here watch Glee? I thought I was watching a “Vocal Adrenaline” routine.
Tapping. Both my wife and I said, “So, why can’t the dancers learn a little basic tap?” The ones that have been going to dance class since they were tiny, probably have been exopsed to it in some form. No?
Something I did notice reading their bios, seems like they are either 18-19 OR 27-28. It’ll make interesting pairings. Karen and Nathan (they look great together, but she’d eat him up), Mollee and Ryan (yikes, High School Musical meets American Gigilo)
But so far, Karen is my favorite girl followed by Channing, based on thier dancing and ‘behind the scenes’ footage.
Don’t know about the guys yet. Individually they are all amazing. Together they’re almost a motley crew of body types when it comes time for group routines.
Looking forward to tonight’s show.
@BandanaJack: Agreed – it’d have been cool to see a Ryan-choreographed routine, especially since he has relationships with both Phillip and Bianca. But maybe that wouldn’t have been fair?? Agreed about Legacy. I haven’t seen anything special in him yet and I really worry he’s going to bring down his partners (hopefully he’ll only get once chance…)
@CoffeyCup: Good point about tap – many dancers do have at least a tiny bit of experience with it, which is more than most dancers can say about Bollywood or ballet. I think if the choreographers are smart about any vast age differences, they could use that to their advantage. I’d kinda like to see HSM meets American Gigolo. LOL! I’m not even really all that into Ryan, but I suspect he could change my mind. Karen is AWESOME!
I really hope that stage doesn’t swallow up the performances!!
I totally kept thinking of the top 3 girls superhero routine too!!
RE: Non-Tapper Tap dancing:
In this season’s SYTYCD Canada, Tara-Jean (the eventual winner) did a tap routine with her partner. In an interview in today’s paper, she stated “…I hadn’t tapped since I was a kid, so picking that up again was tricky.”
I’m not a big fan of the new stage, the fact that it’s not a prosenieum (sp?) really takes away from the intimacy of the performances. Thinking about Jeanine and Jason’s routine on that stage, I just don’t think it would have worked as beautifully as it did.
the kodak stage was awesome for the finale. but I definitely like the smaller stage for everything else. I just hope they work out the camera shots better since every routine will be on this stage. Sometimes those are the best moments, when the camera gets in close. and for the S5 finale, they really didn’t do that. So hopefully they have worked it out for this season to get better shots and adjust to the bigger stage.
@DaveV: Tricky but not impossible. 🙂
@Margaret and Kayla: Totally right. We need that feeling of intimacy with so many of the routines. Wonder if they’ll get that the fans don’t like this big stage and do something about it.
Not a fan of the new stage, but at least they seem to have worked on the lighting since last season’s finale.
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