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SYTYCD 7: The Finals

So let’s have at it…. the last two polls for the season…. first…

And now…

August 11, 2010 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... =)

SYTYCD 7: Top 3 Predictions Part Two

Since several people were saying in the original poll that there is a difference between SHOULD be vs WILL be… I’m giving you all a chance to answer who WILL be chosen as America’s Favorite Dancer as well as the should be in the previous poll.

August 8, 2010 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... =)

SYTYCD 7: Top 3 Predictions

Hello all! So here it is… the last performance show of the season and what a season it has been. Instead of a Top Four we have a Top Three this time: Kent, Lauren and Robert… so here’s my question to all of you.

Knowing what you know now, before the last performance…

Who do YOU think will take home the title of America’s Favorite Dancer?

August 7, 2010 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... =)

SYTYCD 7: A Couple of Polls

AND

August 4, 2010 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... =)

SYTYCD 7: The Injured Dancers – Alex and Ashley

There were two dancers who’s lifespans on SYTYCD’s stage were cut shot: Alex Wong and Ashley Galvan. Here I will take a look at their growth in the few weeks they were on the show, what is open to them in the near future and what to expect from them and vice versa should they choose to audition for Season 8.

Other posts in this series include: All-Stars, Kent Boyd, Lauren Froderman, Robert Roldan, Adechike Torbert, and Billy Bell.

ALEX WONG
Alex, Alex, Alex, it was far too early for him to leave. He had barely scraped the surface of what he could do, and all he wanted to do was learn other styles! Anyway, enough crying… here is a look into Alex’s short but prominent journey.

Las Vegas Week
Alex had an amazing solo at the start of Vegas Callbacks, but the judges pointed out that they are not seeing his passion of dance while he dances. While he’s incredibly proficient and extremely talented, you don’t really see “him” while he dances. Like he’s dancing for dancing and not dancing in the moment (gee sounds like a lot of other guys this season).

Meet the Top 11
– Wade Robson’s Jazz
I noticed him throughout the dance and he seemed a little stiff, then again this is Wade Robson and his movement is no where near ballet-style. One thing however, you could see “him” while he dances. He’s enjoying this, soaking up every moment of this journey. You know he wants this and wants this bad.

– Mia Michael’s Contemporary
I thought he was absolutely amazing. Yes, you see a hell of a whole lot of his classical dancing in this piece. Yes there wasn’t a lot of contemporary for Alex, but at the same time this piece was to showcase Alex at his best…

Week 1: Top 11 Performances
– Jazz w/ Allison Holker choreographed by Sonya Tayeh
O.M.G. Technically jazz a small step away from ballet, there is still some structure but not nearly the amount of that from ballet. Nevertheless, in Alex’s first official foray away from the barre he did not just well he was amazing. Granted having Allison there certainly helped a lot, but let’s face it, this is an All-Star in the making. He connected well with Allison but like other dancer he seemed to more of a moving art… in this case more like a tv show you just can’t keep your eyes off of.

Week 2: Top 10 Performances
– Broadway w/ Lauren Gottlieb choreographed by Tyce Diorio
When it comes to Broadway, Lauren seems to be the go-to girl for Tyce. A bit of Alex’s personality was shining through and I rather enjoyed the piece, but something was off… what I really don’t know, but something was definitely off.

Week 3: Top 9 Performances
– HipHop w/ Twitch choreographed by NappyTabs
How many people watched this piece multiple times raise your hand *raises hand*. Personality, characterization, chemistry, forget about dance ability that was in the bag and he adapted extraordinarily well… totally unexpected. Then again, if you’ve seen some of his behind the scenes dance videos I’m not terribly surprised. How do you top a dance like this?

After the Injury
The answer is: “You don’t”. Unfortunately Alex was injured and couldn’t continue on with the show. He had an amazing run in the short time that he was on and it is going to be very difficult for people to match that. What Alex has opened up to the ballet world is no different than what Melissa Sandvig did two seasons ago as a ballerina. Now THAT would be a pairing I’d like to see. Alex just did it a year later taking the path that Melissa laid out for him and crashed through the door screaming “HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERE’S ALEX!”

In any case, Alex’s healing time is several months, and it has only been about a month.. give or take a week. After that he will have long physical therapy sessions moving onward and working on that ankle to see how much strain he would be able to put on it again. One may say, “if he hadn’t joined the show this wouldn’t have happened.” Truth of that matter is, he’s a dancer, not just any dancer, a soloist from the Miami City Ballet group… as thus he’s putting his ankle through no more strain than he did during the show, so this injury could have happened at any time, it was just unfortunate it happened while on the show.

Looking towards Season 8
Knowing that his chances of being on the tour are slim, there seems to be an open invitation for him (should he choose to do so) to try out for the show next season. Alex seems to be the type of dancer that loves dancing but wants to grow and learn and develop further as a dancer and it seems that to him that would mean learning other styles of dance. Granted he could do that pretty much anywhere, but the show really immerses the dancer and connects them with choreographers and other dancers that one would be bound to cross paths with once again in their short life spans as dancers.

Alex, ankle permitting, would go for the show again. Knowing that he tried out once but was rejected due to a contract. Purposely decided not to renew the contract to try out on the show only to be injured, the third time’s gotta be a charm.

It’s going to be hard to predict the kind of dancer Alex would be the second time around. All that is going to depend on the healing of his ankle, but he’s a fighter so I wouldn’t be surprised if he not only matches the dancer he was before, but this time surpasses it…

ASHLEY GALVAN
*Sighs* and right after we all are trying to recover from the shock of losing Alex to injury a girl goes down too… This time it’s Ashley with something wrong with her ribs. Ashley’s injury, though not as potentially detrimental as Alex’s, would force her out of the competition, but fortunately would have healed in time for the tour which brings an interesting proposition. But let’s hold off on that and take a look at her short but longer than Alex’s journey.

Las Vegas Week
Not much was known about Ashley during Vegas week, in fact aside from Robert she didn’t get much air time until towards the end. So with so little information about her, there isn’t much to analyse here…

Meet the Top 11
– Wade Robson’s Jazz
Amongst the five ladies in the group she blended in rather well with the group. She didn’t stick out like Lauren, Cristina or Alexie (and not in good ways) but she didn’t really draw me in either… And with so many brunettes in the group it was really hard to search her out even if I wanted to.

– Sonya Tayeh’s Jazz
Poor planning by the producers I think. When you’re looking at a group shot the look of Courtney and Ashley are so similar you can’t really tell them apart. Plus with Courtney being my least favorite All Star she already stands at a level lower than the rest which means it would be easier for Ashley to reach to her level in my book.

Week 1: Top 11 Performances
– Contemporary w/ Neil Haskell choreographed by Tyce Diorio
So with all the talk of dancers not being able to connect with their partners, or connect with the audience Ashley was able to do both! Not only is she extremely talented, but she has already proven to be a step ahead of the pack. And considering the caliber of the other dancers is pretty difficult to do. Her chemistry with Neil was so good it made me and Emilie believe that there really WAS something there. Only to find out that she had a focal point for that dance, just not Neil. She danced in the moment which was a very good thing.

Week 2: Top 10 Performances
– Jazz w/ Mark Kanemura choreographed by Travis Wall
The problem I had about this dance wasn’t Ashley per see, but that there didn’t seem to be much of a change from the previous week. Like she plateaued a little bit for a week…

Week 3: Top 9 Performances
– Contemporary w/ Ade Obayomi choreographed by Dee Caspary
Another contemporary piece? Ashley needs to stretch her wings, not stick with dance styles that she could already master. Doesn’t matter though, because this piece requires a connection and trust in her partner so grand that despite it being contemporary Ashley went deeper into her vulnerable psyche and pulled out another piece to lay on the floor… in other words it brought out another piece of her not already seen from the previous weeks.

Week 4: Top 8 Performances
– HipHop w/ Dominic Sandoval choreographed by NappyTabs
Ashley did reasonably well in this routine, it wasn’t memorable, it wasn’t exciting, but it was passable. Her chemistry was good as was her dancing. I think I would have loved to have seen her do that window hiphop dance with Twitch though instead of Alexie… because I think that would have brought more out of her than this routine did.

– Quickstep w/ Robert Roldan choreographed by Jean-Marc Généreux & France Mousseau
The kiss of death, dun dun duuuuun. The most technically challenging piece she probably had to do all show… and she did a very good job. The steps were smooth, she didn’t “hop” as much as Robert did… she glided across the floor as was necessary, all in all a surprising job. Her chemistry was Robert was very strong, but her chemistry wasn’t something I was worried about at all…

After the Injury
Ashley’s injury isn’t as serious as Alex’s but nevertheless it forces her out of commission for a few weeks. Which means she would be ready for the tour if she decides to do the tour rather than audition/compete for a spot in Season 8. For a dancer that would be a safer route, but anyone that auditions for So You Think You Can Dance don’t necessarily audition because this is a career move, they typically want to audition because they want to learn, they want to grow or they want to be noticed.

Ashley is in that unique position, should she take the safe route and go on tour? Or should she complete the journey that she had to end prematurely early and audition for Season 8?…

Looking towards Season 8
The audience is split when it comes to Ashley. There is one arena that would love to see her on tour, and there is another arena that would love to see her on the show again.

I’m split as well, because it’s a matter of what does one want to do versus the practical thing to do. To me she’s still young, still has a lot of life in her… trying out for the show again isn’t a bad thing, but getting back on the show isn’t a guarantee either. And remember she didn’t get a lot of screen time in auditions or Vegas this time around…

As I mentioned earlier of all the dancers I felt that Ashley was already one step ahead of the curve in that she was able to create and maintain a level of chemistry with most every partner thus far. While as the other dancers had the most trouble in that arena. The same goes with connecting with the audience and the piece… granted Ashley was able to draw on personal experience to turn those dances into her own which probably helped her case… it would have been interesting to see a dance between her and Lauren.. alas that was not to be.

In Conclusion
In either case, even though I that we could see both of the above two dancers auditioning for Season 8 and it would be a joy to see them… I say we shouldn’t be surprised to see Ashley on the tour.

As for Alex going on to Season 8 the only worry I have is that it’s not a guarantee that Alex would get on the show (Brandon Dumlao anyone?).

Nevertheless these two were very strong dancers and I feel like they will up their game if either of them chose to try again for Season 8… What do you think?

August 3, 2010 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... =)

SYTYCD 7: The Serenade of the Sixth Male Dancer

As an add-in for this week’s series: Billy Bell, the Top 6 Dancer that was given a second chance… twice. As always the previous posts in this series include: All-Stars, Kent Boyd, Lauren Froderman, Robert Roldan and Adechike Torbert.

Was it worth it? Did the judges/producers make the right choice in bringing in Season 6 Original Top 20 dancer Billy Bell into the fold for Season 7?

You know, I find it kind of odd that Billy Bell was originally part of the Top 20 on Season Six, but had to withdraw due to illness only to be added onto Season Seven as the sixth guy effectively turning the Top Ten into the Top Eleven… Only for him to be out of commission on Week Six while in the Top Six and then for him to end his run on Season Seven in the Top Six? You guys see a trend here? 😀

All kidding aside let’s take a look at his journey from Las Vegas week to his exit…

Las Vegas Boot Camp
Going through Las Vegas he didn’t really standout as much as the judges expected of him (considering it’s his second time around) except during his solos.

In fact, when the judges chose the Top 10, Billy ended up getting cut… which stood to reason that he would have to wait til another year. Even Adam Shankman told Billy, when the judges were going around telling people if they made the Top 10 or not, that he didn’t really “show up” until his final solo.

However, the producers and judges decided to add a sixth guy and as thus included Billy into Season 7… but was it worth it?

Meet the Top 11:
– Wade Robson’s Jazz
– Mia Michaels Contemporary
During the Wade Robson routine his unique style of dance blended well with Wade’s choreography… I believe that if Wade Robson were to choreograph him in a dance it would be a very special kind of magic. Mia Michaels, in her own way, did just that. Billy had the role of a child, his insane flexibility and movement fit the role so perfectly that it was very easy for me to see why he is such a special dancer.

Week 1: Top 11 Performance:
– Broadway w/ Lauren Gottlieb choreographed by Tyce Diorio
After watching this dance I started to realize that in between dance steps my eyes lingered to Lauren… and suddenly I understood what Adam was talking about. Billy needed to work on filling the space in between steps. Without filling out that void he won’t be able to complete the movement.

Week 2: Top 10 Performance
– Krump w/ Comfort choreographed by Lil C
So we learned that Billy Bell started dancing in hiphop, which would mean that he should have some sort of idea of how to feel into it. Except when he was dancing with Comfort his movement was very flowing and very… well… contemporary-ish. Is it because he wasn’t allowing enough friction in this steps? Or power? Whatever the reason, this was not a strong dance for Billy

Week 3: Top 9 Performance
– Contemporary w/ Kathryn choreographed by Stacey Tookey
W00T, Season 6 reunite. 😀 Anyway, this is a very beautiful piece… it felt like a moving painting. Which is not necessarily a good thing. I love watching him dance but I’m not drawn into his dancing much like how I love various pieces of art but I won’t necessarily appreciate it wholeheartedly. So this would be an issue of connecting? Chemistry? Seems like I’m not the only one that believes this considering this is Billy’s first trip to the Bottom 3.

Week 4: Top 8 Performances
– Broadway w/ Katee Shean (Allison out due to injury) choreographed by Spencer Liff
Billy’s second Broadway piece this season. Remember how everyone’s dream is for Billy and Allison to dance together with Travis Wall choreographing? Two out of three isn’t bad… but it would seem the fates were against that. So Katee stepped in for Allison. (No other contemporary girls were available… but I would have loved to have seen this dance done with either Neil or Mark or even Ade since they were available) So the major question in this case would be: Did Billy grow from the first time he did Broadway? Yes, I believe he did. Did he grow enough to get out of the Bottom 3? No, not really… he hasn’t had a real “break out” dance as of yet, nothing that really wowed me from him… which is not a good thing.

– African Jazz w/ Jose Ruiz choreographed by Sean Cheesman
Ok I really really really loved Billy in this piece, don’t ask me why. I think him being an animal totally fits with his dance style so he should be able to nail it, and to me I really liked it. Could Billy use more power? Of course, but power isn’t his specialty. Could he use more abandon? Of course, but that hasn’t worked for him. But like I said, I really liked him in this piece, but that’s just me.

Though it wasn’t a “breakout” week, to me, he finally did start to get out there and started shining, slowly, for me… but alas another trip to the Bottom Three he was.

Week 5: Top 7 Performances
– Jive w/ Anya choreographed by Louis van Amstel
He did really well with this number. High energy, but his center is too high… but of all the ballroom routines up to this point, this is definitely one of the better ones thus far.

– Jazz w/ Lauren Froderman by Mandy Moore
A very relaxed loose and fun style… Billy has been growing slowly and steadily from week to week, still no real break out performance, but still he’s growing in some capacity.

Was this week enough to get Billy out of the Bottom Three? No not really, but it didn’t mean that he wasn’t growing, because he was.

Week 6: Top 6 Performances (Round One)
Billy did not dance this week due to injury. Although the doctors cleared him to dance, he did not feel that it would be in his best interest to dance… so he opted out to take the extra time to heal and recover for the long term.

The argument is that because Billy did not dance, he should automatically be let go. However the catch is that he was signed off to dance, it was only Billy that opted not to. Why? For me, having danced before and knowing the wear and tear and the very short life span for a traditional dancing profession Billy made the right choice. He has an injury and even though he could technically continue dancing this particular week it would be safer not to if only to make sure the injury heals so he could prolong his dance career. This show isn’t the catch all of his career, if anything it would only give him a slight edge over people. So thinking for the future was the best thing he could have done for himself, even though it meant putting the judges in an unenviable position.

Week 7: Top 6 Performances (Round Two)
– Contemporary w/ Ade Obayomi choreography by Stacey Tookey
I believe if there was ever a “breakout” performance for Billy, this piece was it. He had the talent, the skill, the performance, just everything. If there is ever a dance I would love to see on the tour this would be the piece. Then again, this was Contemporary, his style, he HAD to be great in this piece and he was… but what he got in this piece that he missed in the last contemporary piece that he did was connection. You sensed that connection that partnership that he seemed to be lacking in past dances.

– Bollywood w/ Robert Roldan choreographed by Nakul Dev Mahajan
O. M. G. If there was ever going to be a dance that tested his knee this would be the dance, and he didn’t show it not til the dance was over anyway. He was strong, he did well… but I felt that he was a bit upstaged by Robert. Though part of it was probably because Robert’s “look” matched the piece more than Billy did, but that’s just me.

This week, I believe, was the strongest week for Billy, but considering he was in the Bottom Three for the past few weeks I don’t believe he had enough of a fanbase to take him through into the next round… and unless the Bottom Three included Jose and Robert, he didn’t stand much of a chance of moving onward…

In Conclusion
All in all, Billy started slow but eventually began to grow as a dancer. He needed a breakout performance to prove his meddle, and even though he got something like that in his contemporary with Ade in Week 7, I almost felt like that was too little too late.

Had Billy not been ill last season the hype would have been a competition between him and Jakob Karr, however considering his performance this season, I do not believe that head to head battle would have happened the way the producers would have wanted it to happen. At the same time, things was different back then, so who knows what could have happened last season.

However, had Billy not been chosen for Season 7 would he have gone through the audition process and trip to Las Vegas again for Season 8? I would like to think that he would, but who knows?

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... =)

SYTYCD 7: Dancer Analysis – Adechike Torbert

Yay another twelve hours and it’s the final Top 4 Dancer to come to the limelight. So let’s look for some smooth, creamy, dark chocolate.. aka Adechike Torbert. Just like in the previous posts, there is a post asking which routine of Adechike’s did you enjoy the most.

The previous posts in this series: All-Stars, Kent Boyd, Lauren Froderman and Robert Roldan

Las Vegas Callbacks
For one reason or another, Adechike opened up with a tap solo. He must have done a stellar job because he was passed through to hiphop and ballroom. From there he was asked to dance for his life and as thus did a contemporary routine that wowed the judges.

But here’s my question. If Adechike opened up with a contemporary solo rather than a tap solo. He still wouldn’t have done well in the hiphop and ballroom rounds, so would he still have the chance to dance for his life after ballroom?

Meet the Top 11:
– Wade Robson’s Jazz
Now surprisingly enough, Adechike seemed to melt into the background for me in this piece. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it’s not a good thing either. I simply couldn’t pick him out in the routine throughout the piece unless the Top 11 was dancing by themselves and even then.

– Sonya Tayeh Jazz
In this piece it was easier to see Adechike and as thus was easier to see what he’s doing. It’s clear that his technique and ability is off the charts. He’s a very strong and very athletic dancer… but then how is his connection when doing the partner dances?

Week 1: Top 11 Performances:
– Jazz w/ Kathryn choreographed by Travis Wall
Right off the bat we know what Adechike needs to work on: personality, characterization, living through the dance, etc… that seems to be the M.O. for most of the dancers this season, fine tuning. But in a dance where a girl is throwing herself all over the guy and it’s suppose to be the guy’s dream sequence one would think he’d enjoy it more…

Week 2: Top 10 Performances:
– Contemporary w/ Allison choreographed by Mandy Moore
This piece was a lot better than last week, no question about it, but he still needs to fine tune his movement and his connection to his partner. He still needs to stop thinking about dancing and just dance, and he’s doing it… bit by bit.

Week 3: Top 9 Performances:
– Hip Hop w/ Lauren Gottlieb choreographed by Dave Scott
Wow, talking about enjoying the dance. This is the first time I think I’ve seen Adechike really enjoy the dance from start to finish. Then again, this is hiphop and hiphop does funny things to people because it’s so different from jazz and contemporary. Maybe it’s just his partner too since Muscles seems to be obsessed with Cushion’s… well… cushion 😀

Week 4: Top 8 Performances:
– Jazz w/ Courtney choreographed by Mandy Moore
I really liked this routine. I thought Adechike was relaxed, composed and enjoying the moment. So I was surprised to hear that the judges weren’t too thrilled about it. Do I remember the routine weeks later? Not really, but after watching it through, I enjoyed it a second time as well. I’ll admit he didn’t shine like the previous week, but it could be that he’s more acting than living through the dance.

– Bollywood choreographed by Nakul Dev Mahajan
Again this is a week where Neil, Mark and Ade were all available… and could have easily filled this role with ease. In fact they could have asked Mark to fill in for Bollywood since it would probably fit his style of dance best… golden opportunity people! Anyway, when watching this dance I had the distinct feeling that Adechike was dancing what was suppose to be Alex’s part while the assistant ended up dancing what was suppose to be Adechike’s part… which is probably why this piece didn’t do Adechike much justice…

All in all this week was pretty stellar. Nothing extremely memorable, but he is starting to show that he’s having fun while dancing and performing in front of the audience… which is key. So to me, he’s growing and that’s enough for me.

Week 5: Top 7 Performances:
– Salsa w/ Anya choreographed by Liz Lira & Danny Davalos
Ok wow, that was like every trick in the book thrown at them. What’s interesting is that if Adechike reminded me of Mambo dancer Emmanuel-Pierre in regards to look, but at the same time he was a but rough around the edges… overall a pretty strong routine.

– Contemporary w/ Kent choreographed by Dee Caspary
White chocolate and dark chocolate is one of the best combinations in the world. Adechike needed this strength of a routine to balance out the other routine of the day. He was living in that moment, breathing that moment… that you believed what he was trying to do.

Wow this was a very good week for him. Adechike needs to continue on this upward trend. If anything I would consider this to be his “breakout” week. Everything seem to come together at just the right moment, let’s see how long this would last.

Week 6: Top 6 Performances (Round One):
– Lyrical HipHop w/ Comfort choreographed by NappyTabs
O.M.G. this is the most emotionally connected that Adechike has even been with a piece, it was beautiful. It was danced beautifully and it felt like the entire room was breathing in sync.

– Paso Doble w/ Jose choreographed by Dmitry Chaplin
This dance had the chance the possibility of being really really great. So much testosterone that you would have to pull these two men apart before they tear each other to pieces… but something fell flat. There was no really power, no real drive, nothing exploded for me that I had hoped to see. Though, I think Adechike danced it far better than Jose, it still could have been done better overall.

This week was very up and down. With one really good piece and one not so good piece Adechike proved his prowess in the hiphop but lost it all in the Paso Doble. Oddly enough Adechike seems to glow so much more when doing HipHop as opposed to doing much anything else. If he could channel that energy, that joy when doing HipHop into other styles he’d be golden.

Week 7: Top 6 Performances (Round Two):
– Jazz w/ Courtney Galiano choreographed by Tyce Diorio
This was fun, though I had the slight impression that he was holding back for some reason. I don’t think he completely let loose, though I do think he came close. He did show that he had a lot of fun and was enjoying himself and as long as he continued to live and enjoy in the moment he’ll shine more in his dancing.

– Foxtrot w/ Lauren Froderman choreographed by Jean-Marc Généreux & France Mousseau
Considering this is his first time doing a true ballroom dance, I didn’t expect his posture to be perfect. His personality and characterization fit the dance, but I wish he could have tried harder. Nevertheless this was a fun piece, but not a strong one.

This week was an ok week for Adechike, it wasn’t extremely memorable, but it wasn’t bad either. In comparison to the previous week, this balanced out in a different way (if that makes any sense). No real strong pieces, but no weak ones either.

How to Grow
This is another dancer that’s used to working solo. Unlike Lauren that purposely dances to the audience, Adechike simply dances and lets the dance speak for itself. Adechike needs to work on living in the dance and as thus in the moment in order to continue growing in the competition.

In Conclusion
Ok, this boy is a favorite of mine, and apparently of America’s too… He’s done a lot of different styles thus far and did all right in a lot of them. What I think he needs now is to have a routine that’s all about personality aka Broadway, or a routine all about having fun like a ChaCha, Samba or Jive, or a good strong hard hitting HipHop.

Because he hasn’t really peaked yet, he still has a chance to wow the audience and judges on some level. He’s had an “breakout” performance in his hiphop with Lauren Gottlieb, but has faltered a little bit since then and as thus has had to climb up again (so to speak). He has a chance to do it, but whether he could beat out the immense fanbases of Kent and Lauren remains to be seen (though the fact that Lauren has hit Bottom Three once already shows that he could possibly overtake Lauren when she’s having a stellar day while he had a good day).

August 2, 2010 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... =)

SYTYCD 7: Dancer Analysis – Robert Roldan

Another twelve hours, another post. In this case it’s the “dark horse” in the competition. This is the dancer that’s been to the Bottom Three the most of the Top Four, but he has been growing slowly then plateauing and then growing again. He desperately needed a week like last week in order to remain in the competition and he did.

Previous posts in this series: All-Stars, Kent Boyd and Lauren Froderman

Like in the last few posts there is a poll at the bottom asking which of Robert’s dances is your favorite.

Las Vegas Callbacks
Almost nothing was mentioned about Robert during the Vegas episodes. I know I don’t remember him. In the past when almost nothing was mentioned about a dancer, it usually means that the producers believe that the dancer’s dance ability would speak to itself and their personality would shine through the screen on it’s own without television’s aid in editing… let’s see how that works.

Meet the Top 11:
– Wade Robson’s Jazz
Now for some reason Robert did not stand out for me in this piece, which is not a bad thing, but not a good thing either.

– Sonya Tayeh Jazz
In this piece Robert didn’t stick out to me in dance ability as much as his look, but then again all three guys have varying looks to them… but because he didn’t really wow me in this piece and with minimal information about him during Vegas it’s very difficult for me to get a handle on this guy.

Week 1: Top 11 Performances:
– African Jazz w/ Courtney choreographed by Sean Cheesman
Honestly I don’t remember this piece, I had to watch it again to remember it, and even then I still am pretty ambivalent towards the piece. The most I could remember thinking is that Robert is very technically proficient and can connect with his partners, but he seems to be more like a moving work of art instead of connecting with the audience.

Week 2: Top 10 Performances:
– Argentine Tango w/ Anya choreographed by Jean Marc Genereux
This dance was insanely technically proficient, but what set me off was that it seemed to show on Robert’s face just how stressful the dance was. He did the dance well, but it didn’t show and that didn’t help his dancing in the end. If Robert would just relax and live in the dance this would have been so much better. So despite a strong routine I think Robert’s face pulled him to the Bottom 3 this week.

Week 3: Top 9 Performances:
– Jazz w/ Courtney choreographed by Sonya Tayeh
This is the second time that Robert does a Jazz routine by Sonya Tayeh with Courtney as a partner (well if you count the Meet the Top 11 dance). This wasn’t a particular memorable routine for me and apparently the audience as he was in the Bottom 3 this week as well.

Week 4: Top 8 Performances:
– Jazz w/ Kathryn choreographed by Sean Cheesman
Ah yes the Bob and Kathie (Ken and Barbie) routine. I really liked the routine. The transformation from plastic to movement and back to plastic was perfect. He connected with his partner really well and it was fun.

– Quickstep w/ Ashley choreographed by Jean Marc Genereux
Ah yes, the kiss of death. There’s a reason (ok many reasons) why the quickstep is the dance that people would dread. It is the most technically strenuous dance for anyone. Robert wasn’t a very strong lead for Ashley, but she wasn’t back-leading either… so that’s a credit to Robert.

All in all this was a high/low week for Robert. I think the main reason that he didn’t hit the Bottom 3 this week was by the charisma of the first routine. Which was really really good as opposed to the quickstep bringing him down…

Week 5: Top 7 Performances:
– Contemporary w/ Allison choreographed by Travis Wall
He knocked this one out of the park. There is no doubt about that. But it was probably very easy to get into the emotional element of the piece because he was able to relate to it. There’s really nothing to be said about the technical side of it since Robert is very proficient in it.

– Disco w/ Kathryn choreographed by Doriana Sanchez
It’s about time the show got wise and put in an All-Star to replace an injured dancer… anyway. He looked like he had a lot of fun, granted he had a lot of chemistry with Kathryn so that might have helped.

Do he grow? It’s hard to say, I believe he is learning to enjoy dancing rather than just simply dancing and not showing it. The audience responds more to someone that shows that they are enjoying what they are doing. So I guess in that regards, yeah, he’s growing in that capacity.

Week 6: Top 6 Performances (Round One):
– Jazz w/ Lauren Gottlieb choreographed by Tyce Diorio
Considering this is Robert’s third time doing a Jazz routine… well Robert is doing well and growing in presense and chemistry which is finally beginning to happen. I think this is the first time I’ve seen him dance with some level of abandon rather than being really controlled.

– Samba w/ Lauren Froderman choreographed by Dmitry Chaplin
Did he drink Dmitry’s blood or something? Because I agree that he reminded me a lot of Dmitry. Whether that’s a good or bad thing is entirely up in the air, but I think for the current purpose it’s a good thing. He picked up the choreography pretty well and he had fun doing it.

If there is anything that Robert grew in this week it’s being able to dance with abandon, or rather getting lost in the dance. By doing that he’s allowing himself to enjoy and live in the moment and he really needed it here.

Week 7: Top 6 Performances (Round Two):
– Contemporary w/ Kathryn McCormick choreographed by Stacey Tookey
O.M.G. Totally a “breakout” performance for Robert in this piece. Everything that he was lacking early in the season he had in abundance in this dance and it showed. It moved me more than his contemporary piece with Allison and it had more abandon and looseness than the previous week.

– Bollywood w/ Billy Bell choreography by Nakul Dev Mahajan
Wow, and Robert’s technique and precision strikes a home run again. Between Billy and Robert, Robert definitely fit the dance better. Being healthy helps to, but somehow Robert just seemed to have shined in this piece for me.

I don’t know what to say really except that after how many stellar weeks Robert really needed a week like this one to keep himself out of the Bottom Three. I think it is almost guaranteed that had he found himself in the Bottom Three this week he would definitely be going home… If ever there was a “breakout” week, this one is it.

How to Grow
Honestly, I don’t know. Robert snuck up on me so subtly that I wasn’t expecting it to be like this. Before the last week I had pegged Robert as to be the one going home with Jose, but now I don’t know. To put it very simply, Robert did not become memorable to me until the last three routines… and that’s saying something.

Robert isn’t strong in every dance style, plus he has managed to avoid HipHop, so let’s start with there. Robert needs to get HipHop preferably with Twitch and he needs to nail it. Once he nails that then he needs to get ballroom like a Viennese Waltz or Argentine Tango or Paso Doble and nail that…

In Conclusion
Robert’s the “dark horse” in this competition. Of the top four Robert has been to the Bottom Three the most, but with several stellar performances and a week like this past week he has every chance to over take the top threesome… moreso now that Lauren has slipped and hit Bottom Three for the first time. As long as he keeps it up, he should be ok, again should be.

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... =)

SYTYCD 7: Dancer Analysis – Lauren Froderman

So this is the second of four posts that puts down my thoughts of the last four dancers in the competition. As always there is a poll at the end of the post of all the dances that the contestant has danced in… so feel free to choose your favorite.

The previous posts to this series include the All-Stars and Kent Boyd

So without further ado, let’s look at the last female standing in this competition: Lauren Froderman

Las Vegas Callbacks
We got a chance to see a couple of her solos during the audition process. If there is something I noticed about her dancing is that she dances to the stage audience all the time. So as a soloist she’s rather strong, but it worries me a bit when it comes to working with a partner how would she connect?

Granted the little bit of the choreography rounds that we saw of her, she connected decently with her partner (Adrian Lee) in the Broadway round… so I guess we’ll see.

Meet the Top 11:
– Wade Robson’s Jazz
Being the only blonde in the competition, it wasn’t all the difficult to pick her out in this opening number. To me she tended to showboat a bit more than necessarily, but that’s her style I believe when I recall her solos.

– Travis Wall Jazz
In this number she not only held her own with the All-Stars, I think of all the contestants she is the only female to blend in the closest with the All-Stars. She already seems to know how to play to the audience, and she seems to connect all right with the other dancers. Her talent’s undeniable.

Week 1: Top 11 Performances:
– Pop Jazz w/ Ade choreographed by Mandy Moore
This piece proved my fear to be correct, that Lauren plays to the audience so much that she doesn’t really connect with her partner. As thus she seemed to be a bit of a barbie doll dancing around with Ade, which is sad because Ade is a wonderful partner. It’s clear to me that Lauren needs to work on connecting with her partner

Week 2: Top 10 Performances:
– Lyrical HipHop w/ Dominic choreographed by Tessandra Chavez
Now in this piece, she has connected with Dominic better than the previous week, still it hasn’t shined much for me. Though she kept up in the hiphop, it was lyrical hiphop which to me seems like they are catering to her dance style more than challenging her, which to me wouldn’t help.

Week 3: Top 9 Performances:
– Broadway w/ Neil choreographed by Joey Dowling
This dance brought Lauren to my attention, I wanted connection and chemistry with her partner, she not only brought it she even had a bit of a story going on by “letting the audience in on the joke”. Granted her costume almost falling apart onstage helped her tremendously.

Week 4: Top 8 Performances:
– ChaCha w/ Pasha choreographed by Jean Marc Genereux
Lauren brought her fun personality to the dance floor when working with Pasha. She did her ChaCha hip action rather well in this piece and is gaining momentum in connecting with her partner…

– Contemporary w/ Kent choreographed by Travis Wall
Now when I said she needed to learn to connect with her partner I didn’t think it would be with Kent! Wowser! The chemistry between these two was off the charts. If anything this became the “breakout” performance for me when it comes to Lauren.

All in all this week was a very good week for Lauren. I don’t think she’s nearly as high as Kent in regards to popularity and whatnot, but she definitely is going to be safe as long as she does really well in her routines.

Week 5: Top 7 Performances:
– Tahitian w/ Mark choreographed by Tiana Liufau
Now this was a fun piece, bringing in something new and fun and exciting. Mark brought out that fun bit in Lauren that I had hoped to have seen in the Week One piece. Her hips were really good too… she could go into bellydancing and probably pick that up well if she wanted to.

– Jazz w/ Billy choreographed by Mandy Moore
Looks like fun is the word of the week for Lauren, for this was another fun piece with Billy. There isn’t much to add on to.

Lauren’s talent as a dancer is undeniable. She picks up choreography really well. All she really needed to work on was personality, characterizations and chemistry, which she has been working on and it showed from Week Four onward…

Week 6: Top 6 Performances (Round One):
– HipHop w/ Twitch choreographed by NappyTabs
Riding Twitch into the sunset, earlier I said that the Lyrical HipHop didn’t really sell me on Lauren being able to do hiphop, well this piece did. She was hitting it hard and keeping up with Twitch, she did really well.

– Samba w/ Robert choreographed by Dmitry Chaplin
Ok so what is it with all these fun routines for Lauren? Are they catering to her youthful personality? I’m not complaining, it’s helping her in the grand scheme of things, but seriously. In any case, her Samba was very good and she was enjoying herself which was good to see.

This week was definitely an improvement from the previous week, with two challenging routines that stretched and molded her, Lauren needed them if she was to prove that she’s learning and growing in the competition. Let us hope that she continues with this upward trend, else she runs the risk of peaking too early like Kent.

Week 7: Top 6 Performances (Round Two):
– Broadway w/ Allison choreographed by Tyce Diorio
YES! It’s ABOUT TIME that there is a female/female dance number, and with Allison nevertheless. At this point I agree with Adam that she could pretty much be an All-Star in genres similar to her contemporary style… but she still needs to stretch in areas and grow.

– Foxtrot w/ Adechike choreographed by Jean-Marc Généreux & France Mousseau
Despite nailing the ChaCha and Samba routines, even though she got the personality and character of the Foxtrot routine, it simply didn’t work for me. Ballroom dances are very technical and there were some areas that she was a little weak and not quite as polished as I would have liked, but considering that this is her first attempt on Ballroom dances… well I’m not too surprised, but I did expect more.

How to Grow
Lauren has grown quite a bit when it came to connection, chemistry and personality. Now rather than giving her pieces or characters that tap into either her youthful energy or her sexuality… I want to see her try something more subtle.

Ballroom does that well… the Foxtrot (and Quickstep) usually requires the most character/personality, so I would love to see her in something that requires more structure like the Paso Doble or the Waltz/Viennese Waltz. The Argentine Tango would force her to be sexual without being overly so (if that makes sense) so that would also be another dance I’d like to see her in.

In Conclusion
Lauren runs the risk of having peaked too early and as thus growing stale before the finals. As long as she is challenged and rises to the challenges she should be ok… but considering that she hasn’t really been stretched too much from her default personality I’m hoping that the final two weeks (because let’s face it, as the last girl in the competition they aren’t going to let her go before the finals unless she royally crashes and burns) would do just that for her. It’s already clear that she’s a remarkable dancers, and when the next crew of All-Stars are picked that she’d most likely be asked, I want to make sure that she has been stretched emotionally as well as physically in order to be ready for that next level.

August 1, 2010 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... =)

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.

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... =)