SYTYCD 7: Dancer Analysis – Kent Boyd
So this is the first of four posts that will put down my thoughts of the last four dancers in the competition. Each of the upcoming posts will conclude with a poll asking what your favorite dance for this contestant is.
Keep in mind that a new post will appear every twelve hours. Since this is the first of the Top 4 Dancers posted, the first post of this series started with the All-Stars
So without further ado, let’s look at our favorite farm boy: Kent Boyd.
Meet the Top 11:
– Wade Robson’s Jazz
Kent seemed to blend in the background for me in this piece. I couldn’t find him, which isn’t a bad thing, but wasn’t necessarily a good thing either. Is he going to turn out to be dance fodder? He seemed to be just that during the Vegas week episodes, because not much was known about him until towards the end…
– Travis Wall Jazz
Now I thought Travis did rather well in this dance. Though Lauren did come closer to the All Stars in this dance than Kent, Kent held his own rather well and gave a very promising journey for him, if not a favorite straight out of the gate.
Week 1: Top 11 Performances:
– ChaCha w/ Anya choreographed by Tony Meredith & Melanie LaPatin
Ok, so I rewatched this dance several times. Kent has so much personality that it reminded me of Heidi from Season 2 where there is so much personality he could probably light up all of Hollywood if they just plug him in. Plus he picked up the choreography rather well, even if he didn’t have the “ballroom” technique. I think this won him a lot of fans in this dance… and I mean A LOT.
Week 2: Top 10 Performances:
– Jazz w/ Courtney choreographed by Tyce Diorio
Now in this dance, Kent seemed to go down a little bit for me. The connection wasn’t there like it was the week before. It seemed kind of awkward which I found strange because he did so well in Travis’ choreography. I don’t know. He still has a massive fanbase, but not necessarily his strongest dance.
Week 3: Top 9 Performances:
– Jazz w/ Allison choreographed by Mandy Moore
What the frack? This is three jazz pieces for Kent already (if you include the Meet the Top 11 piece)! Though he has done a decent job of blending his personality a little bit with each piece. I don’t think he really moved up much in this dance from the previous week. His character reminded me too much of the character he played in Week One.
Week 4: Top 8 Performances:
– HipHop w/ Comfort Fedoke choreographed by Dave Scott
Wow, and I mean wow… After Billy’s weak Krump with Comfort week two, and Alex’s insanely strong hiphop with Twitch on week three I half expected Kent to hit somewhere in the middle. What I didn’t expect was the chemistry between the two of them. This was a good piece, better than the two jazz pieces in regards to chemistry… And even though Alex WOWed people in his hiphop, I thought Kent had more “swag” than either Billy or Alex.
– Contemporary w/ Lauren Froderman choreographed by Travis Wall
Kent was dancing in his own style, and considering the high praise he got for contemporary during Vegas callbacks I expected him to do rather well in this piece. What I didn’t expect was how off the charts this piece was. Definitely surpassed the ChaCha in my mind and a piece I would love to see on the tour.
To me, this week was Kent’s true “breakout” week. He had two very strong pieces in contrasting styles and he did rather well in both. Is there anything that this boy can’t do? I guess we’re going to have to see.
Week 5: Top 7 Performances:
– Broadway w/ Neil choreographed by Tyce Diorio
Ok, I’m not the only one that believes that Kent seemed more like the bat boy who wants to play with the big boys like Neil, but man he kept up… Kent’s uphill trend has been accelerating with no hint of slowing down. Kent looked like he had a lot of fun in this piece. For a moment, I thought Kent was a bit like Neil’s younger clone. 🙂 Two all-American looking boys, yeah…
– Contemporary w/ Adechike choregraphed by Dee Caspary
White Chocolate and Dark Chocolate taste really good together, and as thus I expected these two dancers to work really well together. Kent had very good connection and chemistry with Adechike… and I expected him to do rather well in this piece.
If there is anything that Kent learned to do this week that he struggled with in past weeks it’s to curb his personality and really breathed through the pieces given to him. Though this week didn’t shine nearly as much as the previous week, it definitely had it’s high points.
Week 6: Top 6 Performances (Round One):
– Jazz w/ Kathryn choreographed by Sonya Tayeh
Third Jazz piece for Kent, and his strongest yet I believe (Well it better be, it’s the sixth week after all). One problem I’m seeing with Kent is that he’s been growing so quickly since Vegas that I’m wondering if he’s hit the glass ceiling yet on the show because he’s been so strong?
– Stepping w/ Twitch choreographed by Chuck Maldonado
And then a piece like this comes along and proves to me that YES Kent can still grow. He held his own with Twitch (but considering Twitch learned the choreography within a day, to me that’s to be expected), but I didn’t expect him to do as well as he did. I realized why I liked his hiphop w/ Comfort it was because it was more lyrical than hard hitting. This piece was hard hitting and he still did well…
Like my notes of the previous week, I was afraid that Kent hit the ceiling too quickly, but the Stepping piece with Twitch proved me otherwise. I think Kent needed the piece with Twitch to stay on top otherwise he would have peaked far too early in my mind. The Jazz, though the strongest to date, was still pretty unremarkable in my mind… though I wouldn’t be terribly surprised if it ends up on the tour.
Week 7: Top 6 Performances (Round Two):
– ChaCha w/ Anya choreographed by Jean-Marc Généreux & France Mousseau
Yay another ballroom piece, boo that it had to be ChaCha again. I would rather seen him do something uplifting like a Jive or Samba, or be more masculine in the Paso Doble or even a ballroom piece like the Tango or Waltz. This was almost a gimme for Kent and as thus a bit of a let down for me. Of note, he did control his facial features more, though not enough to avoid the wrath of Mia. Poor kid.
– Broadway w/ Jose choreographed by Spencer Liff
This one also didn’t wow me as much as I would have liked. The characterization was almost too easy for Kent. The style fits Kent well but again he hasn’t really grown all that much in this style from the last time he did Broadway to now… but both characterizations were pretty similar….
As opposed to the previous week, this week did not have any really remarkable or outstanding routines. He’s still a strong dancer, no question about that, but he didn’t really wow much for me in this week.
How to Grow?
I want to see him grow further, become a “man” so to speak, so far I feel like I have been watching him in routines that give him the opportunity to tap into his boyish charm to make it work… Knowing this I would love to see Kent in a ballroom routine that taps into masculinity like the Paso Doble with one of the other guys (probably Robert since he has yet to do a routine with him) or even a Foxtrot where he has to lead Anya or Lauren around.
In Conclusion
This boy surprised people on Week 1 and hasn’t been stopped since. He’s become a huge fan favorite with no real signs of slowing down. However, he runs the risk of peaking way too early and America likes a good underdog. Though as long as Kent is thrown curve balls and he knocks them out of the park he should be a shoo-in for the Top Two at least.
your comments about Kent from his broadway routine with Neil were exactly like what I had thought, almost word for word, haha. I also really enjoyed his hip hop with Comfort, he had the groove (at least his kind of groove) that eluded José somewhat in his piece with Comfort. I fear that Kent has the chance of contracting “Kayla Syndrome”. The judges shove it down our throats how fabulous the dancer is, then someone (à la Jeanine) peaks at just the right time and sneaks in to take the title.
I was a big Kent fan from day 1, but Robert has surged ahead for me. Though he hasn’t tackled hip hop, he has done Afro Jazz, Latin Ballroom, Jazz, Bollywood, Quickstep, and Contemporary. They both had that “ham” factor at the beginning, but Robert seems to have shed his and become a more honest, expressive and emotionally committed dancer.
Big Kent fan from the audition and hope he can go all the way. No one else in the F4 has grabbed me and I’ve really enjoyed watching Kent dance all summer. He’s really grown and matured on this show and that has been fun to watch.
Go Kent!
Also, I disagree about with Margaret about Kent hamming it up. He’s excited and happy but that’s not hamming it up. His love of dance shines through everything he does.
If you feel that way about Robert, that’s your choice.
@Cheri, I don’t dislike Kent because he hams, that’s totally him and that’s what has made him so likable. He seems like a really sweet guy. I’ve been a big Kent fan since Day 1 and I continue to be a fan of his because I think he’s a great dancer and a great performer. I just happen to think that Robert has been able to tackle different types of themes in dances because he has discovered a more mature element of his own dance ability. Kent’s Broadway was one of my favorite dances this season, and there’s a reason that Adam told Kent that he fits broadway so well, he just has an incredible light about him when he dances. I think the other part of my personal opinion is that we hardly saw Robert during Vegas Week while Kent was shown a lot. I was expecting Kent to be great (as he has been), I just wasn’t expecting Robert to grow on me like he has. I think it’s really interesting to watch both of their journeys over the course of the season.
He hasn’t really had too much variety now that I look at it. the 3 jazz was interesting and to have Chacha again? vs. Argentine Tango or Paso. Hmm…
It’s hard to say what I’d like to see from this guy. I feel like Billy and Robert have done more out of the box dances. I guess I would like to see either,….a Wade Robson routine, or a Sonya (yes i know that would be 4 jazz routines) But I think something weird would really twist up everything. He’s just too good of a broadway boy. Challenge him.
I’ve always thought Kent was adorable. I love the naivete and his genuine love of dance. It’s contagious.
I do feel, in some ways, that he’s become kind of one note for me. The maturity is lacking in his solos, for instance. For me, anyhow. I wouldn’t be bummed if he won, though…
I like the Kayla reference. I think it’s somewhat apt. It’s hard, sometimes, to get on board with someone who has really remained constant and not shown a real growth trajectory. At least for me.
But good analysis.
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