SYTYCD Season 7 Premiere Thoughts
Wow, what an episode! I’m still reeling, to be honest, but I want to post my thoughts while they’re still fresh.
-I’m with Amanda and our commenter Kevin: I’m so glad the majority of the episode focused on the good dancing instead of the bad. I hate watching bad auditions (though, guess it’s only fair that we witness a fraction of what the judges must see). Especially since they’ll be whittled down to a Top 10 before we can bond with them, I’m glad we have this extra bit more time with them now. But HOW will the judges pick just 10? As Kevin also said, I’m glad I’m not the one who has to do it. BUT, I do hope that they change the rules so that whoever makes the Top 24/20/whatever get to compete again. It’s only fair.
-The music was incredible tonight. Loved hearing Sam Sparrow’s “Back & Gold” again (I always do), but there were several new (to me) songs I just had to have, like Rebecca Sayre’s “New Girl” and Damien Rice’s “All Dressed Up (Prague)” . Our readers have been INCREDIBLY helpful tonight in naming the music!
-LOVED seeing Mia back! And Sonya and Jason Gikison! But what was with all the crying? Okay, okay, I got it each time it happened. I just seemed to happen a lot. But, that’s probably a good thing… just not when we’re cutting down to 10 and I’m attached to everybody.
-Cat was adorable – she always is! I have to say, I don’t like that she avoided asking, “are you nervous to be here because you’re a “bigger” dancer than typical? She asked the contestant (Megan Carter?) what she was nervous about, naming several possibilities, but never voiced the one we all knew was affecting Megan. BUT, it was only a slight dissatisfaction on my part. Her wonderful interviews more than made up for it.
Those are just a few. WHat do you think? What are your Premiere Thoughts for Season 7?
I totally agree that them having lots of good dancers was what made it so good. Plus, the junk dancers they had were at least entertaining. Good mix finally.
Was Henry auditioning too, or was it just Giselle? I didn’t know you could be on two different versions of the show. He made like top 8 or something in Australia, season 1. I can’t imagine they’d just let him be on both. Particularly in a season with only 10 dancers.
Quin, Yeah, I wonder about it now, too..I guess Henry came to the show as a competitor..I liked him on Au season 1. but why Judges never mantioned about it? it’s so weird..
Ive seen a lot of comments on the facebook fan page that this may not have been the year to do the all star season simply because the talent is so good. I cant say I agree or disagree with that but they have 12 all stars why not have a top 12. Loved Megan yes she is a big girl but man she can dance. So I hope we get to see her again. I agree with John at least the bad dancers were entertaining the 80s dance troupe and the guy with the broccoli took the cake for me. Plus its kind of fun to see what will make the judges laugh. Overall a good start to the new season. There is only one thing I want to know now is what is Legacys reaction to the guy who wanted to challenge him.
It was a good show. It’s a bit of a pity, though, they’d only have 3 first audition shows. I think they used to have more.
What Amanda said – why not have 12 and 12? They usually have 24 dancers, so why do they have to have 22 this year?
A couple of things:
1. I liked to see Mia back, but I miss Mary Murphy. She screamed a lot, but she was entertaining too, as well as a ballroom dance expert. Wish they could have them both.
2. I didn’t like it that they held dancer’s (what was her name) performing with her dad against her. So, she doesn’t have a partner – for whatever reason. For all we know, she might’ve lost a partner recently and her dad was the only one available. This should be about her talent and skills as a dancer not who she auditions with. Obviously, she’d not have been dancing with her dad at choreography round or Vegas.
@kitty: I agree with you about the dancer dancing with her dad. Yeah, it was awkward and uncomfortable. But I thought she was a good enough dancer to go through to choreography, at least.
Ah the girl with her dad. Yeah she was good enough to go through to choreography but seriously a sexy dance with you dad is kinda creepy. If it was more of a daddy daughter dance like Mias “Time” piece then i would have been okay with it.
Yes. It was creepy. But she is. a. good. dancer. Period. At least good enough for choreography. I mean, if we’re giving people “creepy” tests or “judgment” tests before they go through to choreography…we’d have a lot less dancers doing choreography at the end of the day.
I am so glad they focused on more good than bad. Last year’s auditions (IMO) were so painful and looooong. It was fun spotting faces from past seasons…..SHA-WAM guy anyone?!? he was definitely there. And I also saw Nabuya (sp?).
I am so excited for this season. it’s going to be hard to narrow it down to TEN! i don’t know how they are going to do it.
I really enjoyed the very first girl. during her interview, i kept thinking oh no – she is going to be one of those people who seem like they are going to be really good but then they get up there and are just awful. but i really liked her audition! Im excited to see more of her and what else she can bring. but what was up with her snubbing adam?? that was weird.
Some other highlights were that shirtless guy who rounded the stage in like 3 glorious leaps. The Burn the Floor ballroom couple were amazing. I actually also enjoyed the Legacy wannabe. He had some cool tricks.
I am super excited for next week when they hit my town CHICAGO! my friend worked the auditions and he said only a handful got through to Vegas…..so we’ll see. hopefully it’s not a disappointing audition city!
Random thoughts:
– I love Cat.
– I’m so glad Mia is back!
– Quote of the night: “I couldn’t give it my all, I had to go offstage and throw up!” hah.
last night was so fun!! Cat was in fine form, even when being hoisted by some random auditioner in Miami, she was totally game. I LOVED megan, the bigger dancer from Virginia, she was so in the zone and a beautiful dancer, I was sad to see her struggle with the choreography, hopefully we’ll see her next year. I think my favorite dancer of the night might have been Tyrell Rolle, from Liberty City FL. He moved his body so beautifully, and it was powerful but controlled. Every movement seemed to have a purpose. I hope he does well. can’t wait til next week!!
I forgot to mention Teddy! I actually didn’t really like him last year and found his audition just kind of boring. and flail-ly. and he kind of flailed alot this year too BUT i def enjoyed his audition a whole lot more this season. I found his emotion sincere. Hoepfully he doesn’t fall apart in Vegas. He kind of seems like a Legacy or Ivan. Doesn’t seem to have the technique but he could definitely grow a lot and i could see him surprising people with what he is capable of!
@Kayla: I like Teddy, too. BUT, John’s got some inside dirt on that, since he went by Vegas Week. Maybe John will post about that. Nudge, nudge, John!!
@Amanda, there’s always next season for the rest of the great dancers who don’t get in this season. 🙂
@kitty: I’m glad they’re only having 3 audition episodes. I find it hard to keep track of everybody I love and I hate watching the bad dancing.
@Margaret: You’re so right that Cat was spot on last night. I loved the teaser for next week where she’s like, “yeah, don’t put your hands any lower, buddy.” Lol. Poor Cat, being manhandled by everybody cause they love her so.
Don’t touch me there Emilie. I’ll see if I can post it before the next episode.
@John: You’re so wrong for that. 🙂 DO post it soon week! We’re all looking forward to seeing it!
@Emilie, I agree with you about not wanting a ton of audition episodes, I think that’s part of what killed American Idol this year, they had like 8 audition episodes which killed the momentum when they FINALLY got to Hollywood week. I think only having 3 gives us a better chance to see the great dancers, and judging from various tweets I’ve seen over the past few months Vegas Week was quite a sight. With the talent that we saw just last night, the “Meet the Top 10” episode is going to be insane.
Keep in mind that the audition episodes are 2-hours long. I think they were one hour last year. So we’re seeing as much, it is just compressed into 3 weeks of TV (thankfully).
Kitty – yes, Mary knew ballroom. But I’ll happily take Jason G. instead. 🙂
Kayla – speaking of spotting former contestants, was the Eastern European balroom champion form S6 on there again? I thought I saw her.
@Margaret: Total agreement.
@Kevin: Great point that we’re probably seeing just as much of the auditions, just condensed. Great idea, SYTYCD folks. 🙂
I was also a bit surprised to see both Henry & Giselle auditioning, due to their connections with Burn the Floor – I would think that would force Jason Gilkison to step down as a choreographer this season (much like Debbie Allen did in season 4 when Will, her former student, made it to the top 20) since he was their former employer. And I’m also curious now that I know about Henry’s stint on SYTYCD Austrailia – both are Nigel Lythgoe productions, so it doesn’t necessarily seem fair to get a chance to be on both shows. Then again, Henry & Giselle were on the ill-fated Lythgoe venture Superstars of Dance last year – maybe he feels he owes them for participating in that trainwreck 😉 Haha. But I am glad to see them – especially Giselle, who tried out with then-husband Artem in season 1, but was not asked to Vegas while Artem advanced….I always thought that was strange, as I found Giselle to be a better all-around performer than Artem. Also quite excited to see Iveta Lukosiute back – pretty sure I saw her doing choreography at the NY auditions, and advancing to Vegas once more.
@Courtney, Stophead and Quin: I was surprised by that Burn the Floor couple, as well, and I didn’t know anything that y’all seem to. While I don’t think Jason should have to step down for being their employer… (because the dance community’s so relatively small, that would probably be impossible). I think mentor is a slightly different relationship than employer. I mean, Courtney assisted Adam (was it Adam?) the year before she was on the show. I’m a bit worried there might be “ringers” this season because they’re so invested in having “the best” dancers in their limited Top 10.
The two hours really seemed to fly by, the producers definitely made a good call on that one.
I forgot about Giselle and Artem, that’s a good point. But i agree with Emilie about the difference between mentor and employer. Plus, at the point all this was taped, no one knew what was going to happen, so if either of them made the top 24, we probably wouldn’t hear anything about a conflict of interest until Vegas Week airs.
One other thing, how ballsy was it of the b-boy who had the last big audition in Miami to come right out and say he thinks he’s better than Legacy, wow. That takes a lot of guts to say that about a contestant who was so loved last season. Let’s see if his actions can back up his words…
@Margaret: I don’t think he’ll live up to his claims. He seemed like a poor man’s Legacy…and I didn’t even like Legacy till he started dancing with Kathryn.
I agree with you. I think I wrote on here a few times last year that it took me a while to warm up to Legacy. I think it was pretty cocky of the kid last night and while he did have some cool moves (increasing speed on that head spin was pretty impressive, I’ll admit) his personality didn’t shine as much as Legacy’s did.
I thought the transitions between his tricks were really awkward. Very choppy and abrupt. Which doesn’t bode well for smooth partner work, in my opinion.
i’m posting the video from the Ellen show yesterday, some of the all-stars were on, and dominic was feature pretty heavily. i think dominic has really soared since SYTYCD, this year’s b-boys have a lot to live up to.
What song did Henry Rivera dance to? Thanks!
Hi Matt!! Henry Rivera danced to Richard Walters’ “The Animal” All of the premiere music is located on a music thread that we start before each episode airs and we complete in the hours and days that follow. With the help of our readers!
I love this new season! Season 5 and 6 were lacking for me. I hate that they only have 10 dancers! Why a shorter show?
I really loved Teddy Tedholm’s audition. I was so disappointed last year when he got cut. I’m excited for the rest of the auditions! Thanks for the recap!
Oh, and another song they played was Hallelujah by The Vitamin String Quartet 😀
I was smiling during that one b-boy’s audition, just because he reminded me of Dominic instead of Legacy. The whole alternating headspin thing was something Dominic did during one of Quest Crew’s final performances (if you wanna see it, look up orQUESTra. AMAZING!) on ABDC. But then the judges went on and on about Legacy tackling performances that they thought he was gonna suck in, and doing oh so good in them. I started to get a little pissed then, ’cause Dominic did the same thing. He was there before Legacy and all (I’m sure Legacy was great. I only watched S3 though, but after looking up some stand-out performances from other seasons, i realized I missed A LOT. I was only 9 during S3, though) and he was also a b-boy. Remember his rumbas with Sabra and Lauren, and his hip-hop and contemporary with Sabra also? He even exceeded my 9-year-old expectations back then!
@Margaret: I agree, he really HAS soared since SYTYCD. Hmm… since Legacy was apparently so good, Imma look up some of his performances…
@Lola I totally agree with what you’re saying about Dominic, he had some awesome dances during his season. Who could forget his solo in the lawn chair?! Definitely unique.
I think the reason everybody says so much about Legacy is that he really didn’t do very well during Vegas week. None of his performances that week stood out, but the judges believed in him. Dominic did well, but they really went out on a limb giving Legacy a shot and a lot of it was because of his heart. He worked really hard and it showed, he surprised so many people last season. So I don’t think it was the judges intention to not mention Dominic, but Legacy’s image is fresh in many people’s heads since it was just last season.
Check out Legacy’s solos, they were pretty cool. And youtube “Legacy and Kathryn” and “Legacy and Ellenore” those are some of his best dances.
Glad you found our site! Looking forward to a great season 7 (with Dominic!)
@Emilie, Amanda – about girl with her dad:
I didn’t really think it was creepy because I put the fact that he was her dad out of my mind when I watched. This is on stage, so I view it as acting – same as if they were performing in a play or a movie. On stage, performers play a role, so does it really matter what they are in real life? I didn’t even think about their real life relationship when I watched. Regardless, I don’t think it should’ve been part of judges decision, seems actually a bit unprofessional to me to let personal feelings interfere with professional judgement.
Regardless, I am so happy SYTYCD is back – this is by far my favorite reality tv show. It’s how competitive reality tv should be done – contestants with both talent and training, no sob stories, competent judges.
@Emilie Yes, I agree with you that Jason doesn’t have to step back because he is the boss of Henly, but everybody know Henry was in different version of this show..I just wonder why there is no explanation about it..Maybe Nigel would talk about it in Vegas week(If Henly could make that far)..Anyway viewers deserve to know about the rule..and it looks quite wrong, because Henry has been top 8 and it means he know how to survive long on this show..