Longer Dances on SYTYCD
I’ve been thinking what SYTYCD could do to help to spotlight the dancers more and help us to have a favorite dancer even more. Sure I love the show even when I don’t have a favorite, but I think that season 2 was likely the best season because Benji, Travis, Donyelle, Heidi and even Allison were the favorite of many.
What do you think about having them do a longer performance? Seems like they’d have more of a chance to tell a story with their dancing if they had longer routines.
Also, there’s no doubt that longer solos would be nice for this also. With the solos as short as they are they are useless. They always feel rushed or frantic or just leave you lacking. Let’s lengthen them out. I think if they did that, it would expose some of the weaker dancers as well.
Also, what about a “battle dance” where all of them are dancing in succession or something. No planning. A surprise song. Just feeling the music and showing off what you got. Would be really entertaining to watch and see their raw and real dancing.
What do you think?
Absolutely love the idea of a battle, rather than solos in the decision shows. It would be also be cool as a feature in the performance shows – to showcase everybody.
Love the idea with battles.
Though.. I have to disagree with you on season 2 being the best season. I love season 3 so much more. I mean.. Hok, Jaimie, Lacey, Sabra, Dominic, Pasha, Kameron, Lauren, Danny, Neil…. I miss those guys!! They were awesome.
Julia,
You’re welcome to disagree (even if you’re wrong) lol.
You still illustrate my point. The people you listed had big fan bases with dedicated fans. Makes a difference in the show.
It could be intresting to have them improvise their solos. I honest dont think longer dance routines are needed. Maybe for the meet the top 20 episode. I myself have done dances that are at least 10 minutes long, can be difficult to keep the audiences attention. Plus that is alot to ask of the dancers and the choreographers. How about longer guest perfomances that would be nice.
i vote for longer solos for sure. They always seem so rushed and frantic as you said. Most of the time, people are trying to get as many tricks in as they can.
Also – I wonder if ballroom dancers could be allowed partners for their solos…..since they are always kinda weird by themselves. Maybe that’s a disadvantage to other contemporary/hip hop/etc soloists. just a thought.
A battle would be SUH-WEET! That would be cool to incorporate for one of the group dances….
I’m with you. Make a ballroom dancer available so they can do a partner dance. Maybe just require the contestant to have to do all the choreography.
i mean it might be weird to work that in, since they would have to have somebody there to be available.
And ballroom dancers have certainly been successful at solos in the past….but most of the time i feel like they all do the same thing.
I remember in Vegas, Benji had to dance for his life and they let him use Heidi for his routine.
Sure, they’d have to keep the playing field relatively even. Basically, provide them one dancer that was brought by the show and instructed what to do and not to. It would definitely be more entertaining.
Although, I think that Benji actually did the best solos of any ballroom dancer. However, it doesn’t compare to him with a partner.
Maybe you even allow the other dancers to have a partner dance with them if they want also.
Oooohhh…what about having a choreography round where the contestants have to choreograph a routine?
the performances have gotten longer since season 1. during that season they were right around 1 min, 1:10ish. i agree that 30 sec is a tough amount of time for a solo, especially for the ballroom dancers. Benji and Heidi seemed to figure it out, though, as well as Pasha to a certain degree. but any longer than that and you screw with the scheduling, especially b/c SYTYCD doesn’t do as much filler as DWTS.
I wouldn’t be surprised to hear of some dancers who improvise their solos, but they should beware of the wrath that Nigel put on Ben and Jamyz during S2, they both admitted to not having put any work into their solos and Nigel laid into them and cut Ben. Or they could be like Lacey when she forgot half her solo (she admitted during the finale) and get lucky by having a big fanbase. it’s definitely a crapshoot
Okay John, going a little over board now. Thats a bit much when there is so little time. I wouldnt want to even audition if that was part of the show. Seriously some dancers are not meant to choreograph and vice versa. There are those who are gifted in both. The again thats not what that round in Vegas is for, is used to see how well they work together. I meant the show isnt called sytyc choreograph.
Amanda,
You know me. I like to take things too far. People will surprise you when you do;-)
They’re already choreographing their solo. So, in some respects it already is SYTYCD choreograph (which I think would still be an awesome show on its own).
I like the idea of the “battle” but what you guys don’t know (and they don’t show during the audition episode clips so much) is that during the audition process, a group of dancers (let’s say ten at a time) all go up to the stage and line up the perimeter of the stage. Music goes on, and BAM each dancer, one right after another have a short time span to strut their stuff and make an impression on the producer and one judge (this happens BEFORE the auditions you see on television)… you can bet that it’s ALL improvised because none of us knew what song was going to go up.
I remember when I auditioned there was a hip hopper that wasn’t as hard hitting on his hip hop… however, when the “battle” came up and he did his thing… how he interpreted the music was amazing. That’s how he was passed through to the next round of auditions (the round that everyone sees on television).
Even when we go through the audition rounds that you all saw on television there was still a battle of sorts taking place where a group of us would go on stage and one by one (called out by the judges w/ the word “NEXT!”) so the judges could get a feel of what to expect…
So… yes, it IS possible to pull off a thirty second solo. The problem is that by the time the show starts, the judges have seen solos from the contestants at least a half dozen times that it gets kind of difficult to keep pulling new tricks out of the hat.
Also with ballroom dancers, it’s seems repetative because in the ballroom world there is a set number of steps (and variations) within the syllabus made for couples…. and some of the more awe-inspiring ones are made for couples… if you notice Benji and Heidi are primarily West Coast Swing dancers…. swing dancing in general have a bit more flexibility in movement and steps. Heidi is a latin dancer as well (Lacey too) so they are able to pull from their swing background to make Latin dancing a bit more exciting. Also in the ballroom world there is Latin/Rhythm and then Standard/Smooth… Standard/Smooth dances (foxtrot, waltz, viennese, tango, quickstep) are harder to do solo than the Latin/Rhythm dances (rumba, jive, paso, chacha, samba, bolero?, swing?, mambo). So you’re bound to see the following kinds solos from the ballroom dancers: jive, paso, chacha, samba….
Here is the link to a bit of an article I wrote in regards to my experiences of auditioning for SYTYCD in Season 3… http://www.myoxisbroken.com/OxArticle.aspx?id=408
Hope this helps
interesting. i figured (like what ive heard about AI auditions, because my friend auditioned) that there was a sort of pre audition round before you audition in front of the judges for TV. Thanks for sharing Marianya!
So, are you going to audition again? What is your style of dance?
Actually come to think of it… what the contestants do at the beginning of the performance show is reminiscent to what we had to do during the audition process… except it’s the same music every time.
So technically… that snippet at the beginning of the performance shows is what one would deem the “battle” but they are just goofing off, so to speak.
I haven’t been able to keep up dancing like I thought I would have (I work during the day as an electrical engineering… so that has to take priority)…
As for style, I started out in ballet and tap… moved into contemporary… changed it up to lyrical… and after time off to focus on my college degree I moved into ballroom…
So you could say that my style is a mix of everything… kind of like Jessie from Season 3. I haven’t decided if I’m going to audition again because I’ve been having knee problems in the past year… so we’ll see what happens (since I’m in my late twenties now and getting up there in age).
Marianya,
Thanks for the background information. That’s interesting that they do it at the auditions. I bet it’s entertaining to watch. The opening stuff is kind of what I’m talking about and as I think about it, I love watching the opening. However, in this “battle dance” it would be a little longer than the opening so you could see some cool tricks and some cool moments. Would be fun to watch what people come up with I think. Don’t even judge it. Just let us enjoy it.
Well, certainly a battle would be more interesting than watching them repeat the solos they just did the night before!
And I do DESPERATELY wish for longer solos. There is time for more dancing if Fox didn’t insist on taking an entire hour of the two hour block for commercials. I mean, I know they have to make money, but taking a full 50% of the time is just ridiculous.