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Top 6 Now Top 4 Thoughts

Since there was no voting last night, I figured that I would save power rankings for next week and just do a thoughts post instead. I love having Jesse Tyler Ferguson as a guest judge, too cute watching him blush over admitting he has a crush on Aaron. Each of the dancers had three dances each; a solo, paired with an all star, and paired with each other.

Solos

Amy: She is just a little powerhouse and has been an early favorite from the beginning. Her solo was probably my favorite out of the girls.

Jasmine: Still love that song choice. I like the fact that yes, her legs are her best feature but I like that she doesn’t always remind us in her solos.

Hayley: I wanted a bit more from her solo.

FikShun: The fact that he was moving about as fast as the lyrics of that song was impressive.

Paul: Ballroom solos are always a bit hard to watch. I would have like to seen him do a more serious solo.

Aaron: I love tap solos cause it’s really the only time we get to see it during the show. I would think they could pull one of the other tappers that have been on the show to dance with him…it would be nice.

All Stars

Paul & Kathryn: the thing I like about Paul is that he tends to have chemistry with everyone who he is paired with on the show. There may have been a fight concept but for me they both seemed to be on an even level.

Hayley & Joshua: Who else thought of Katy Perry when they saw the stage set up? This was a major improvement from her last hip-hop. She really did seem like she was fighting to stay in the competition

Aaron & Melanie: I so wanted to know what they were yelling at each other during this piece, which made it entertaining to watch. Granted yes he sort of dropped her but thankfully it went with the theme of the dance. Also, Melanie being as good as she is caught herself.

FikShun & Witney: A ballroom dancer he is not but he sure did try. I agree with Mary that his close hold position was nice and probably with a little more time he could really do the fox trot justice.

Jasmine & Neil: I knew this was going to be good just from the rehearsal footage. Tyce created a beautiful number for these two. This was my favorite of the all-star pairings.

Amy & Alex: So happy Alex was able to do Bollywood and not hurt himself. Amy’s personality just suits Bollywood. It takes a lot of energy to tackle those dances.

Paired together

Hayley & Paul: I loved this version of the song and love watching these two dance together. Sad to see them both go but I had a feeling that they would be the ones that left.

Amy & FikShun: Happy that Dave Scott didn’t make this a cutesy hip-hop. They really do bring out the best in each other.

Jasmine & Aaron: This was my favorite out of the last three dances. I loved the concept of this dance and I did notice that Aaron took the judges note from earlier in the night and corrected it for this dance. Jasmine must be double jointed, how else would her legs be able to move like they do.

So our top 4 are Jasmine, Amy, Aaron, and FikShun. Who will you be pulling for next week? I’ll be pulling for Aaron mainly, as for the girl I’ll be happy with who ever wins out of the two of them.

August 28, 2013 I Written By

Dance is one of my biggest passions. I grew up dancing at Augusta West Dance Studio (the same studio that Kathryn McCormick). I have a BFA in theatre/dance from Valdosta State University. Tap is my favorite style of dance.

Top 8 now Top 6 Thoughts

I wanted to do a thoughts post tonight for two reasons. The first reason being I want to know which dances/dancers were your favorites.  Second I want to talk about the All Stars and how fantastic they were tonight.

When Cat made the announcement last week that the All Stars would not only be dancing but also choreographing, I was excited. Once the All Stars were announced the excitement level went up.

So I guess I’ll start by saying I loved everything about tonight, from seeing Travis dance on that stage again to Twitch and his super hero hip hop. I’m only going give my thoughts on a few, the rest will be a part of my power rankings tomorrow.

Allison: So why hasn’t she choreographed for the show before now…I really don’t know. I really hope we get to see more of  her work in the future.

Courtney: Her style of choreography is how I would probably choreograph if I was actually any good at it. I really like the lifts and even that last little lift at the end.

Mark: GaGa would be proud. Everything about this screamed Mark, and I loved every minute of it. He has always been one of my favorites and I can’t wait to see what else we will see from him in the future.

Travis: I think many will agree with me it was great to see Travis dance on that stage again. I agree with the judges he is only going to continue to go up in his career. Also the next time his company Shaping Sound tours I’m buying a ticket to go see it.

So let me know what you thought of tonight’s SYTYCD.

August 20, 2013 I Written By

Dance is one of my biggest passions. I grew up dancing at Augusta West Dance Studio (the same studio that Kathryn McCormick). I have a BFA in theatre/dance from Valdosta State University. Tap is my favorite style of dance.

Top 8 Power Rankings

Great night of dancing last night but with the All Stars joining the Top 10, I can’t say I’m surprised. Twitch, Marko, Brandon, Jakob, Robert, Neil, Kathryn, Melanie, Comfort, and Witney were the All Stars for this episode.

The bottom four was Jenna, Makensie, Nico, and Tucker (who was only there by default). There were no solos last night and looking back on it not sure if that was the right thing to do, but in the end Nico and Makensie were the two to say goodbye.

Since the partners were split up I figured I would rank the girls and guys separately.

Girls

Jasmine: Marko joined here for this fun dance to one of the songs of the summer. Jasmine gets the top spot cause she seemed to outshine her all-star partner; it was hard to take your eyes off her. To answer Nigel’s question, he was looking at two all-stars last night.

Jenna: I still have no clue as to why I just can’t connect with Jenna but she is a great dancer. I loved Mandy’s choreography and with Neil as a partner I say this helped Jenna.

Amy: I had to watch this twice cause the first time the song threw me off. Brandon to me is the perfect disco partner with all those crazy lift and that death drop at the end that was so close to the ground. Amy rocked this number keeping the energy up threw the entire dance.

Hayley: This is a perfect example of why sometimes dancing with an all-star isn’t such a good thing. Hayley and Twitch did have the chemistry and dance well with each other. However, even though Hayley did a great job, I think may people were watching Twitch.

Makensie: Paired with Jakob, they definitely have the best feet. This actually was my favorite dance out of all the girls so needless to say I’m sad she was voted off.

Guys

Tucker: What can I say; everything about this piece was just absolutely amazing. Travis provided us with a story that both Tucker and Robert could relate to. They have both survived life threatening accidents, I would imagine it was easy for them to tap into the emotion of the dance. I haven’t really cried while watching a dance on this show but this one came close.

Aaron: It’s crazy to think that he wasn’t part of the original top 10 guys; he has proven he deserved a spot on the show. Love watching him and Kathryn dance together.

Paul: Must have be the luck of the draw that he and Witney were paired together for this cha cha. Thankfully they did not disappoint, which I figured since this is Paul’s style.

FikShun: He is by far the most improved dancer on the show. He kept up with Melanie in this sassy jazz number. I’m excited to see what he has next.

Nico: Loved this reptilian hip-hop. I thought Nico and Comfort were selling not only the character of the dance but the choreography as well. Hated to see him leave but after Tucker’s performance I figured it might happen.

So Hayley, Amy, Paul, and Fikshun make up my bottom four but will the fans agree.

Next week should be interesting since the all-stars are choreographing and dancing with the top 8. Maybe we will get to see Travis dance on the stage again, or maybe even Dmitry.

August 14, 2013 I Written By

Dance is one of my biggest passions. I grew up dancing at Augusta West Dance Studio (the same studio that Kathryn McCormick). I have a BFA in theatre/dance from Valdosta State University. Tap is my favorite style of dance.

SYTYCD’s All-Star Dancers ENGAGED!

In case you don’t already know… SYTYCD Season 4 Runner Up, Twitch, and Season 2’s Finalist Allison Holker are officially ENGAGED!

News started from their individual Twitter accounts…

And is now spreading throughout various media outlets

And just for kicks… apparently Travis is getting in on the action and is looking for a dress to wear to the wedding… any suggestions?

From all of us here at PureSYTYCD… best wishes to the happy couple!

January 22, 2013 I Written By

My life can be summed up in the following two quotes: 1) "I am married to engineering and am its faithful wife by day, but at night my wanderlust takes hold and the arts becomes my jealous paramour." and... 2) "Engineering is my safety net. Writing is my passion. Acting is my escape when the other two become too much." So where does dancing fit in? Pretty much anywhere at this point... =)

So You Think You Can Dance Season 9: Top 6 Power Rankings

TOP TWO ROUTINES:
Chehon Wespi-Tschopp & Anya Garnis – Argentine Tango
Oh Em Gee… Hot Hot Hot… I was WAITING for this… this… Argentine Tango, but not only that an Argentine Tango that was done really well. I love how the choreographers incorporated a bit of his classical ballet training into the piece (much like Danny Tidwell with Sara von Gillem in Season 3) it was just beyond hot. Definitely one of my favorites of the night.

Cole Horibe & Allison Holker – Contemporary
For some reason the choreographers are really latching onto his crazy, darker, psychotic side of his character / personality and who can blame them? He does it way too well. I like this piece, a lot, but honestly I am over the whole dark Cole thing… I want to see him try sexy again or even goofy and fun… please? Beyond that… he is a very strong technical dancer so I am not really worried about his dance ability.

MIDDLE TWO ROUTINES:
Eliana Girard & Ryan Di Lello – Quickstep
What’s there to say? I highly doubt there is anything that Eliana can not do… I mean she has been killing it for the most part with every routine up to date and she managed to help her first partner look good for the most part as well. She constant joy of being able to dance was consistent in this routine and she just seemed like she was having a grand ole time even while being in character.

Tiffany Maher & Ade Obayomi – Contemporary
For weeks I simply could not understand the draw that is Tiffany. Being a Jazz dancer I didn’t feel like she was challenged in this routine like she could have been, but I will admit even I liked her in this routine. She and Ade partnered in this routine rather well and I will begrudgingly agree that she has been fairly consistent when it comes to her work on the routines… I would love to see how she would fare in another routine that pushes her even further.

BOTTOM TWO ROUTINES:
Witney Carson & Stephen “tWitch” Boss – Hip-hop
There is no doubt that Witney is just oozing personality and charisma and she brings a lot of that to her dances, however, in regards to content I just felt that there wasn’t enough of it and as thus I felt like she wasn’t being challenged or pushed as far as I think she could have been. As thus, this was not a memorable routine for me in any capacity… and I just felt that she feel flat.

Cyrus “Glitch” Spencer & Melanie Moore – Jazz
There are some routines that pushed and prodded Cyrus in so many directions and there are others that kind of catered to his weakness and I think this routine did the latter more than the former. Yes Cyrus was being challenged… but it felt slow and sloppy in areas. Since I believed if he was pushed in every routine like he was in the Travis Wall routine last week it may have accelerated his growth a bit more… instead we are left wondering why he is still around and I don’t want to think that way because he really is superb at what he does and there is just a wealth of potential there for him to grow so much more.

ELIMINATED ROUTINES:
Will Thomas & Lauren Gottlieb – Hip-hop
This is the routine I was waiting for from Will, something that showed a side of him that we haven’t been able to get from him otherwise. It is unfortunate that he was eliminated because I feel like he had so much more left to give… if this routine was given to him earlier in the season I think it would have changed the direction of his development over the course of the show. If anything I believe he ended his time on the show on a high note… and me wanting more.

Lindsay Arnold & Alex Wong – Jazz
I really wanted to like this routine, I mean I am on the Alex Wong bandwagon… and Lindsay did a fabulous job last week in her routine with Jakob, but despite the incredibly strong dancing the connection / chemistry was not as strong as it could be. Based entirely on the routines of the evening this is probably one of the weaker routines overall… Not the weakest by any stretch of the imagination but not a strong routine either.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS:
Although I can understand letting Lindsay go… I would have much rather have seen Cyrus go as opposed to Will. But considering the votes were from last weeks’ dances I understand why the people voted Cyrus onward because his routine last week was beyond amazing in general.

I am not agreeing with the judges intervening in the eliminations from the Top 10 onwards. I miss having the audience choose how the Top 10 would be eliminated and felt that made for better television. Because Nigel and TPTB are trying to storyboard a lot of these dancers and their times on the show it loses a little bit of the integrity of the show in general and I hope that should the show return for a Season 10 we keep that little bit of what made the show such a wonderful piece of television. That and bring back the old stage!

August 30, 2012 I Written By

My life can be summed up in the following two quotes: 1) "I am married to engineering and am its faithful wife by day, but at night my wanderlust takes hold and the arts becomes my jealous paramour." and... 2) "Engineering is my safety net. Writing is my passion. Acting is my escape when the other two become too much." So where does dancing fit in? Pretty much anywhere at this point... =)

So You Think You Can Dance Season 9: Top 8 Performances – Music and Initial Thoughts

Dancers: Top 8
Style: Contemporary
Choreographer: Peter Chu
Song: Woodkid – “Run Boy Run” Run Boy Run - Run Boy Run (Remixes) - EP

PARTNER DANCES
Dancer: Witney Carson
All Star: Stephen “tWitch” Boss
Style: Hip-hop
Choreographer: Luther Brown
Song: Lil Wayne feat. Big Sean – “My Homies Still” My Homies Still (feat. Big Sean) - My Homies Still (feat. Big Sean) - Single
Initial Thoughts: Well I wanted to see Witney try her hand at hip hop… and unfortunately I am not impressed by any stretch of the imagination. And that’s a bit disconcerting. I kind of felt that she was just being sexy, strutting around the stage shaking her booty and just added a few arm moments and voila!

Dancer: Cole Horibe
All Star: Allison Holker
Style: Contemporary
Choreographer: Sonya Tayeh
Song: Björk – “Possibly Maybe” (Instrumental) Possibly Maybe - Björk's Greatest Hits
Initial Thoughts: I have a sneaky feeling that the choreographers are tapping into Cole’s more psychotic, evil, dark side of Cole more often than not… and who am I to complain? He does that look and personality well. His partnering with Allison was off the charts not to mention their chemistry… one of my favorites.

Dancer: Eliana Girard
All Star: Ryan Di Lello
Style: Quickstep
Choreographer: Jonathan Roberts
Song: Caro Emerald – “That Man” That Man - Deleted Scenes from the Cutting Room Floor
Initial Thoughts: Well, I wanted to see Eliana to try her hand on a Ballroom routine… but I was leaning more towards a Latin number… I didn’t think of Quickstep and man I liked this, but I wasn’t all too surprised that she could pull off a Quickstep. Her chemistry with Ryan was very good too and they looked like they were just having oodles of fun.

Dancer: Lindsay Arnold
All Star: Alex Wong
Style: Jazz
Choreographer: Sonya Tayeh
Song: Gotye feat. Kimbra – “Somebody That I Used to Know” Somebody That I Used to Know (feat. Kimbra) - Making Mirrors
Initial Thoughts: Technically-wise this was a very good routine, chemistry / personality / character-wise it was ok… but I wanted to reach out and be thrilled with this routine… but instead just nothing.

Dancer: Will Thomas
All Star: Lauren Gottlieb
Style: Hip-hop
Choreographer: Christopher Scott
Song: Wye Oak – “Dance My Pain Away” (District 78 remix) Dance My Pain Away - Dance My Pain Away - Single
Initial Thoughts: Personally I really like this routine… it was difficult to create a chemistry when the dancers are not dancing with one another… but somehow it worked. We managed to see a whole different side of the goofy Will that I think a lot of people were getting a little annoyed with and this was a breath of fresh air.

Dancer: Cyrus “Glitch” Spencer
All Star: Melanie Moore
Style: Jazz
Choreographer: Mandy Moore
Song: Freddy Fresh feat. Fatboy Slim – “Badder Badder Schwing” Badder Badder Schwing - Badder Badder Schwing
Initial Thoughts: For me this routine felt slow and you know that he’s not up there technically with the other dancers. But I have to admit, he is doing his damnedest to keep up and that in and of itself is impressive.

Dancer: Chehon Wespi-Tschopp
All Star: Anya Garnis
Style: Argentine Tango
Choreographer: Miriam Larici & Leonardo Barrionuevo
Song: Jesse Cook – “Breathing Below Surface” Breathing Below Surface - The Ultimate Jesse Cook
Initial Thoughts: Hot Hot Hot… it is about time there is a sexy and smoldering Argentine Tango on the show and I am so glad that it was Chehon that got the honor of just that. I really loved his precision and footwork and his connection with Anya was palatable. Overall I really liked it… a lot… ok more than a lot.

Dancer: Tiffany Maher
All Star: Ade Obayomi
Style: Contemporary
Choreographer: Mandy Moore
Song: Celine Dion – “The Power of Love” The Power of Love - My Love (Ultimate Essential Collection)
Initial Thoughts: Ok… I am slowly beginning to understand what people like in Tiffany, and honestly in comparison with the other girls of the evening this was generally a strong routine. Was I impressed? No, did I like it… yes…

SOLOS
Tiffany Maher: Glee cast – “I Was Here” I Was Here (Glee Cast Version) - Glee: The Music - The Graduation Album
Will Thomas: James Morrison – “Better Man” Better Man - Undiscovered
Lindsay Arnold: Bond – “Señorita” Señorita - Classified
Chehon Wespi-Tschopp: Max Richter – “On the Nature of Daylight” On The Nature Of Daylight - The Blue Notebooks
Witney Carson: Rihanna – “Where Have You Been” Where Have You Been - Talk That Talk (Deluxe Edition)
Cole Horibe: E.S. Posthumus – “Arise” Arise - Makara
Eliana Girard: Max Richter – “Infra 8” infra 8 - infra
Cyrus “Glitch” Spencer: Excision & Downlink – “Existence” (VIP) Existence (VIP) - Existence EP

I Written By

My life can be summed up in the following two quotes: 1) "I am married to engineering and am its faithful wife by day, but at night my wanderlust takes hold and the arts becomes my jealous paramour." and... 2) "Engineering is my safety net. Writing is my passion. Acting is my escape when the other two become too much." So where does dancing fit in? Pretty much anywhere at this point... =)

So You Think You Can Dance Season 9: Top 8 Power Rankings

TOP TWO ROUTINES
Eliana Girard w/ Alex Wong – Contemporary
This one I thought was a no brainer for myself (if not for most people). This really showed Eliana’s technical prowess and her performance level all rolled into one. Though I’ll admit I was a little disappointed it wasn’t further away from ballet because I am sure she has had quite a bit of training or background in contemporary. Having Alex as a partner definitely helps her, she held her own and really shoned the most from the Top Ten during this episode.

Witney Carson w/ Nick Lazzarini – Jazz
Witney got to show the sexy in this routine and did she ever. She and Nick had charisma and steam oozing for days. It was loads of fun watching Nick on the show finally (especially with Melody coming on as an All-Star last season)… that was a real treat. Granted Jazz isn’t too much of a stretch for Witney to begin with, but she looked like she was having loads of fun.

MIDDLE THREE ROUTINES
Lindsay Arnold w/ Jakob Karr – Jazz
What is it with both ballroom girls getting Jazz this week? I mean really. Granted Lindsay did a fantastic job and I actually believed Jakob being her shadow during the first portion of the routine. However, what really threw me was not that she didn’t dance it well, but rather that during the times that they should be in sync I felt that they weren’t. Like when Jakob does his amazing back bend or flicks his head one way or that, Lindsay wasn’t using her full body like Jakob did. Nevertheless this was a strong routine and she really held her own, but she has got to focus on the details if she wants to melt with other dancers that are just that polished.

Chehon Wespi-Tschopp w/ Lauren Gottlieb – Lyrical Hip Hop
Understandably Chehon had a bit of trouble with the choreography, but dammit he was loose, he was free and he was having fun! What more could you ask for from someone that was doing ballet most of his life? You can’t help but be drawn into this pairing and you can’t help but notice how he just feels the music and the warmth that was emanating from him. Even though the dance wasn’t perfect he really grew leaps and bounds through this routine.

Will Thomas w/ Kathryn McCormick – Bollywood
Will’s a goofball and I haven’t seen a routine that Will has done that he wasn’t allowed to tap into his goofiness. Sometimes it fits and sometimes it doesn’t… this is one of those routines where it works and it works well enough. Will danced the routine really well but dammit, sometimes I wish he’d tone down the goofiness a bit.

BOTTOM THREE ROUTINES
Cyrus “Glitch” Spencer w/ Jaimie Goodwin – Contemporary
He could have easily screwed this up, Travis could have easily cut more corners and have Jaimie dance around Cyrus more than she did, but he didn’t. This routine truly emphasized Cyrus’ strengths in emotion, passion and partnering… yes I noticed that he struggled a bit on making the lifts seamless and his technique wasn’t perfect but dammit he really did surprise me with how much he has grown. Travis did a smart job in creating a routine that would push Cyrus to reach Jaimie’s level and even though he didn’t meet by any stretch of the imagination he did grow and grow a lot. That being said, he still wasn’t strong enough, as long as he keeps growing exponentially as he has he should be fine for at least another week.

Cole Horibe w/ Anya Garnis – ChaCha
Yes, this wasn’t the best for Cole but honestly I am not going to thrown him under the bus for it… why? Because of the following:
http://twitter.com/Dance9Cole/status/237400410686631937
You read that right, Cole was actually injured this week and sidelined for two days due to that foot injury. So one couldn’t expect his feet to be perfect considering what he was going through. That being said I don’t necessarily agree with the judges saying that he connected with the audience more than Anya, I felt that there were times when he was splitting his focus with one eye on Anya and the other on the audience. I really liked these two together and Cole was always one for characterizations. If anything I would agree with Mary in the sense that I would have liked more, but I think that Cole did well as to be expected due to his injury… unfortunately despite that injury it didn’t really give as much of a cushion as it could.

Tiffany Maher w/ Brandon Bryant – Disco
There isn’t much for me to talk about with this routine, Tiffany was more in the air than on the floor so critiquing was going to be difficult. There were moments that I thought that she had a to work a bit to make the transitions smooth between tricks but it wasn’t bad. This was a very energetic routine that she did well in, however, I haven’t been able to feel much from her throughout the season and she hasn’t really captured my attention yet.

ELIMINATED ROUTINES
George Lawrence Jr w/ Allison Holker – Jazz
No surprise here, George’s performance seemed to fall flat for me here, but I had always had trouble connecting with George no matter how beautiful of a dancer he is. The one issue with this routine was the use of the cane which I kept comparing to that of Season 6’s Ashleigh and Jakob’s routine which was leaps and bounds more memorable than this. Even though the storylines differ I’ll still remember the Season 6 routine over this one.

Audrey Case w/ Stephen “tWitch” Boss – Hip Hop
I really wanted to like this routine, I really did, but dammit I couldn’t, I simply couldn’t. Audrey is another of those dancers that I haven’t been able to connect with throughout the season and she always appeared to fall flat for me. In the case of this performance she is put against someone like tWitch who is just oozing charisma and personality and she doesn’t come up to scratch she’s going to appear like a moving prop… which unfortunately is what happened to me.

GROUP ROUTINE
Paraphrased from the IdolForums:

It was a tribute to Gene Kelly, who’s 100th birthday is this week. Tyce took classic, iconic elements of Gene’s movies & incorporated them into the dance. So there’s Singin in the Rain with the umbrella (Chehon’s part), Cyd Charisse (Eliana, in a beautiful green dress), Fair Weather, Anchors Aweigh (at least that’s what I thought of when I saw Audrey, Lindsay & Witney in sailor/navy costumes but that could have also been On the Town), when he danced with Jerry Mouse, things like that. […] There were a few props on stage: director’s chair with Gene Kelly on the back, a ladder, trash can lids that Will, George, & Tyce (filling in for injured Cole) danced with, Chehon’s Singin umbrella. […] Everyone kind of danced in their own little groups seperately at various points of the dance, then all came together at the end to dance in one big group. Cole did show up at the close of the routine; […]

TOP TWO GIRLS
Eliana Girard
Lindsay Arnold
TOP TWO GUYS
Chehon Wespi-Tschopp
Will Thomas
BOTTOM TWO GIRLS
Witney Carson
Tiffany Maher
BOTTOM TWO GUYS
Cyrus Spencer
Cole Horibe
August 23, 2012 I Written By

My life can be summed up in the following two quotes: 1) "I am married to engineering and am its faithful wife by day, but at night my wanderlust takes hold and the arts becomes my jealous paramour." and... 2) "Engineering is my safety net. Writing is my passion. Acting is my escape when the other two become too much." So where does dancing fit in? Pretty much anywhere at this point... =)

So You Think You Can Dance Season 9: Top 10 Performances – Music and Instant Thoughts!

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Since I wasn’t able to see the show til the morning after… I’m posting everything now. Please bare with me and I apologize for the delay.

Dancer: Top 10 Dancers
Style: Broadway
Choreographer: Tyce Diorio
Song: Mark Isham – “The Cool World Stomp” The Cool World Stomp - Cool World (Original Motion Picture Score)

ROUTINES WITH THE ALL-STARS
Dancer: Tiffany Maher
All Star: Brandon Bryant
Style: Disco
Choreographer: Doriana Sanchez
Song: Cobra Starship feat. Sabi – “You Make Me Feel…” (Disco Fries remix) You Make Me Feel... (Disco Fries Remix) - You Make Me Feel... (feat. Sabi) [Remixes] - EP
Instant Thoughts: It was rather difficult to develop any kind of criticism because this was just shock full of tricks and lifts, which were executed really well. What I would have loved to have seen was more foot work, but what can you do? In the sense of the dance they were energetic and fun and you can’t help but want to get into the beat and groove in the movement.

Dancer: Witney Carson
All Star: Nick Lazzarini
Style: Jazz
Choreographer: Travis Wall
Song: Moloko – “Sing It Back” Sing It Back - Repo Men (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Instant Thoughts: Witney needs help being sexy? Really? And she’s what? 18? I really liked this routine, definitely caught my attention and considering it is Jazz, she did rather well.

Dancer: Cole Horibe
All Star: Anya Garnis
Style: ChaCha
Choreographer: Dmitry Chaplin
Song: The Wanted – “Glad You Came” Glad You Came - The Wanted
Instant Thoughts: I was expecting a lot out of Cole this week and was a little bit disappointed. Well, he did connect with Anya but I wanted him to really dig into the steps more.

Dancer: Lindsay Arnold
All Star: Jakob Karr
Style:Broadway
Choreographer: Spencer Liff
Song: Fosse – “Dancin’ Dan” (Me and My Shadow) Dancin' Dan (Me and My Shadow) - Fosse (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
Instant Thoughts: This was fun to watch and I really enjoyed it. It wasn’t a perfect shadow at the beginning and that was a little distracting but once they started dancing together I was enjoying it more.

Dancer: Will Thomas
All Star: Kathryn McCormick
Style: Bollywood
Choreographer: Nakul Dev Mahajan
Song: The Dirty Picture – “Ooh La La” Ooh La La - The Dirty Picture (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) - EP
Instant Thoughts: Will is just one massive goof ball and that is fine by me. I thought he did decently well with this dance, he had energy but yeah sometimes that goofiness comes off as too much but in this case it works… barely.

Dancer: Cyrus “Glitch” Spencer
All Star: Jaimie Goodwin
Style: Contemporary
Choreographer: Travis Wall
Song: M83 – “Outro” Outro - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming.
Instant Thoughts: Wow, just wow… Cyrus definitely impressed me this time around. Pushed beyond what we perceived to be his limit… his strengths were shown with his partnering and as the judges were calling it “raw talent”. Unfortunately it also showed a little of his lack of training in this area, but considering just how much he is growing on the show that is always a positive.

Dancer: Chehon Wespi-Tschopp
All Star: Lauren Gottlieb
Style: Hip-hop
Choreographer: Dave Scott
Song: Maxwell – “Pretty Wings” Pretty Wings (Uncut) - BLACKsummers'night (Deluxe Version)
Instant Thoughts: This was another routine that wowed me, Chehon doing hip-hop? Yeeeeaaaah. He looked like he was having fun with his partner and there were a killer team together.

Dancer: George Lawrence, Jr
All Star: Allison Holker
Style: Jazz
Choreographer: Tyce Diorio
Song: Hazmat Modine – “Bahamut” Bahamut - Bahamut
Instant Thoughts: When I saw the cane I immediately thought of another routine in Season 6 and unfortunately I couldn’t keep myself from comparing between the two. George is a strong dancer, but he just has’t wowed me in the grand scheme of things.

Dancer: Eliana Girard
All Star: Alex Wong
Style: Contemporary
Choreographer: Stacey Tookey
Song: Nancy Sinatra – “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)” Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) - How Does That Grab You?
Instant Thoughts: Definitely a favorite, this really appears to really show off Eliana in ways that she wasn’t when she was partnered with Cyrus. She really shined in this piece and having a well-trained partner like Alex definitely helped with that as well.

Dancer: Audrey Case
All Star: Stephen “tWitch” Boss
Style: Hip-hop
Choreographer: Dave Scott
Song: Janelle Monáe – “Sincerely, Jane” Sincerely, Jane - Metropolis: the Chase Suite
Instant Thoughts: For some reason I wasn’t really feeling Audrey tonight, she danced the piece decently enough, but when compared to someone like tWitch she has to really step up her game and she just didn’t for me which is unfortunate.

SOLO ROUTINES
Witney Carson: Santigold – “You’ll Find a Way” (Switch & Sinden remix) You'll Find a Way (Switch & Sinden Remix) - Fame (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Audrey Case: Jennifer Hudson – “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going (Highlights Version) - Dreamgirls (Music from the Motion Picture)
Chehon Wespi-Tschopp: Ólafur Arnalds – “Til Enda” Til enda - Dyad 1909
George Lawrence, Jr.: Olafur Arnalds – “Brotsjor” Brotsjór - Dyad 1909

I Written By

My life can be summed up in the following two quotes: 1) "I am married to engineering and am its faithful wife by day, but at night my wanderlust takes hold and the arts becomes my jealous paramour." and... 2) "Engineering is my safety net. Writing is my passion. Acting is my escape when the other two become too much." So where does dancing fit in? Pretty much anywhere at this point... =)

AdeChike joins the cast of the Broadway musical Fela!

According to an interview with Fox News New York, AdeChike Torbert has joined the cast of Fela!

If you remember from Season 7, Adechike was a fluid contemporary dancer that created a little bit of controversy during his time at Las Vegas Callbacks. Performing a comedic tap routine for his opening solo before wowing the judges with his contemporary routine.

From Brooklyn, given a Nigerian name with origins from Jamaica, he will fit right at home with the cast.

According to the show’s website:

FELA! is based on the life of Fela Kuti, who created Afrobeat—a blend of jazz, funk and African rhythm and harmonies—and mixed these sensual eclectic rhythms with simple but powerful lyrics that openly assailed Nigeria’s corrupt and oppressive dictatorships.

AdeChike is also on their cast page:

ADÉ CHIKÉ TORBERT (Ensemble) was born in Brooklyn, NY and began studying dance at the age of eight. He graduated from LaGuardia High School and studied at The Boston Conservatory and the Alvin Ailey School. He recently competed on FOX’s So You Think You Can Dance Season 7 where he became a top four finalist. Adé Chiké is extremely excited to be a part of FELA!

July 16, 2012 I Written By

My life can be summed up in the following two quotes: 1) "I am married to engineering and am its faithful wife by day, but at night my wanderlust takes hold and the arts becomes my jealous paramour." and... 2) "Engineering is my safety net. Writing is my passion. Acting is my escape when the other two become too much." So where does dancing fit in? Pretty much anywhere at this point... =)

NEW SYTYCD Pages Added! Trivia, Facts and More

Over the past few weeks I have been working hard at creating a few pages that would help compare and contrast all the dancers from the past seasons to what is going on in the current season. These pages would be continuously updated over the course of the season as well as during the off season as more information comes in… Since a lot of this is back tracking through all the past seasons there’s a lot of information to filter through.

If you look at the column in the far right under “PURESYTYCD” you will find the following additional pages for references:
SYTYCD “All Star” Choreographers
Before the “All Stars” came into being, past contestants of So You Think You Can Dance have been asked to come back and choreograph routines for a pair of dancers. Here you can find who has been asked to come back to choreograph a piece for the dancers on the show

SYTYCD “All Star” Dancers
When the “All Star” Dancers were first announced in Season 7 there was rampant speculation as to who would be chosen as the “All Star” Dancers. What was originally a pool of ten dancers grew to move due to availability for the show in Season 8. Here you could find out who was brought back as an “All Star” and when they were on the show as an “All Star” Dancer

Audition Cities
This is a table of all the cities that So You Think You Can Dance has visited before “Vegas Callbacks” (originally called “Hollywood Weekend” in Season One). This table is broken down by season.

SYTYCD Crossover with Dancing with the Stars
Several ballroom dancers that have been on SYTYCD have crossed over to the other major television dancing show: Dancing with the Stars. How those dancers have fared on the other major dance show are found here along with whom they were partnered with.

SYTYCD Top 10 Dance Style Breakdown
A common question for SYTYCD is what dance styles have been represented in the Top 10. Well now you can find out. Here are all the dance styles broken down by season for the Top 10 (5 guys and 5 girls) as well as Top 4. Since Season 6 was a Top 11, I kept it as a Top 11. A table that show a breakdown of the dance styles throughout all seasons is also here.

SYTYCD Top 20 Dance Style Breakdown
Similar to the above, this is a Top 20 breakdown of all the dance styles that have been represented on So You Think You Can Dance. Here are all the dance styles that are broken down by season for those that have made it on the show (10 guys and 10 girls). Again, since Season 6 was a Top 11, I had to include that too. A table that show a breakdown of the dance styles throughout all seasons is found at the top of the pages. Also of note: Season 1 had a Top 16 as opposed to being a Top 20.

SYTYCD Top 20 Show Trivia
This is probably the most involved information page… included is the following:
– Top 20 dancers that have auditioned in previous seasons
– Top 20 dancers that have gone through the choreography round in their audition city
– Top 20 dancers that have had to “dance for your life” during Vegas Callbacks
– additional notes that affected the dancers

What to expect down the road:
– Pages dedicated to the choreographers on the show broken down by dance style and a final accumulation page of all the choreographers and how many have come through the show
– Pages dedicated to the Top 20 Show Trivia including age breakdown, who was in the bottom, etc
– Pages dedicated to the season by season breakdown of the dance styles attempted

If you have any information (and please provide verification) that could help make the above pages even better feel free to comment or just Contact Us at PureSYTYCD.com!

June 18, 2012 I Written By

My life can be summed up in the following two quotes: 1) "I am married to engineering and am its faithful wife by day, but at night my wanderlust takes hold and the arts becomes my jealous paramour." and... 2) "Engineering is my safety net. Writing is my passion. Acting is my escape when the other two become too much." So where does dancing fit in? Pretty much anywhere at this point... =)