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Top 6 to Top 4: Thoughts

Hard to believe this season is coming to an end, I’m not quite ready for it to be over. Since there will be another performance show to determine this seasons winner, I figured I’ll wait till then to do a final power ranking.

Lots of dancing in this episode, two partner dances and a solo performances. Christina Applegate is back on the judging panel and I’m glad she is. The first round of dancing they were paired back up with there orignal parners. Casey and Jessica may not have been oringinally paired together, I really think they should have been. Jessican had a better connection with Casey and that disco was fun. I loved the rehearsal footage of Valerie’s dress getting caught on the swing.

All Star Dances.

Ricky and Anya: I don’t think that there is anything that Ricky can’t do. Keeping up with Anya can be a tough task but Ricky was able to “tame” her…well according to the Judges.

Valerie and Twitch: Loved that Valerie really got into the groove and character of the dance. Granted the costume wasn’t all that great but I really did enjoy the dance.

Zack and FikShun: So happy to see Philip choreographing for the show and boy did he put together an intricate dance. Zack pulled it off great and was able to match FikShun. Zack has pleasantly surprised me all season.

Jessica and Ade:  I agreed with Nigel on this one, just wasn’t feeling it. It happens sometimes but I think I was trying to figure out what club they were going to.

Casey and Makensie: Hands down this was his best dance of the season. To tap into that type of emotion can be difficult but Casey was able to do it.

Jacque and Will: I really loved this dance. Glad that they didn’t have any issues with the ball. I’m still not quite sure how they did what they did with the ball.

Overall I am happy with the top 4. I’m not sure but Cat only announce 3 all stars for next week, Kathryn, Robert, and Aaron. Call it a gut feeling but there will either be a tap trio or Aaron will dance with both of the tappers. So what are your thoughts on tonight and who is your pick to win just based on tonights show?

August 20, 2014 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 14 to Top 10: Thoughts

Another great show with a double elimination. Christina Applegate is back on the judges panel this week. She is my favorite guest judge, not only can she critique the dancers, she is also funny. The “I saw a lift, oh wait wrong show” line after the quickstep was fantastic. If you watch Dancing With the Stars, you know that she was kinda mocking Carrie Ann. Also her line about the guys costumes for the group number was quite funny too.

Anyways back to the show. I actually pretty much agreed with the bottom 6 with the exception of Carly. Thankfully they were able to do solos tonight. Teddy was my favorite solo of the night. Overall after all of the performances, I knew who the judges would most likely save and I was right.

At the end of the show we found out the All Star pairings. I’m just going to list the All Stars just in case of spoilers. Jenna, Chehon, Jasmine, Kathryn, Twitch, Lauren Froderman, Ade, Brandon, Amy, and Ryan.

I might do a little something different for power rankings since they annouced the All Star partners. So what are your thoughts?

July 30, 2014 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.

Chicago and Los Angeles Auditions: Thoughts

Great night of auditions. I’ll add my thoughts tomorrow but the impromptu duet that Fikshun had with Marie Poppins was my absolute favorite moment of the night. So what did you think.

The show picks back up in Chicago for day 2 of the auditions, but first we get to see those that participated in the polar plunge. Mary Murphy was up for that challenge and so was Jimmy Fallon. Fabrice Calmes of the Joffrey Ballet, joins Mary and Nigel for day 2.

Paul “The Puppet”: I liked this guy a very unique new style. It was like a very fluid version of popping and animation. Nigel was out voted about going the choreography round, so Paul was sent to the next round.

Emily James: I really hope that the  third time is the charm for her. How cute were her cousins and the youngest didn’t want a ticket.

Is it me or am I seeing more of the male dancers in the montages.

Franchesce: This girl has unique written all over her. She uses the fact that she has alopecia to her advantage. I agree with the judges that Sonya and Mia would love her.

Jenna: Her excitement over meeting Fabrice was just too cute and I now I think he will take more notice of her after that audition. I would love to see her on pointe too.

James: The bone breaking stuff is just so hard too watch.

Day 1 LA with Christina Applegate and plenty of Alumni in the audience. So many great dancers on day one I can’t wait for day two.

Jessica: One of my favorites of the night. I love that the judges don’t even talk and just hand her a ticket. I think there is a really good chance we will see her in the top 20. Loved her long hair too…little jealous.

Valerie: I love that tap seems to be becoming more popular on the show. She did have to go through choreography round and she made it to the next round.

JaJa: We have Philip Chbeeb  to thank for this girl. I remember her from ABDC and she was only 15 when I am me competed. Love seeing strong female dancers in the hip hop genre.

Kyle: He impressed me with his dancing, for only dancing in his living room and not in front of an audience. Plus he was able to hold his own in the battle with Fikshun, Cyrus, and Legacy.

Justine, Hailee: both great dancers and would love to see more of them

Maurcio and Daisy: great Pas de Duex

Sebastian: Hope he makes it to the green mile this time and maybe even to top 20.

Dani: Granted not the first time we heard a story like hers but I still love how dance that can help them overcome their problems. I was a little confused that they made her do the choreography round.

Marie Poppins: Love the stage name and her. I think she had the best moment of the night. She dances from the heart and got not only the judges attention but Fikshun’s as well. I don’t know what made him get up and dance with her but I’m glad he did. I really hope she can do the other styles cause I would love to she her in the top 20.

The girls are strong this Season.

June 4, 2014 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.

Podcast: SYTYCD Season 8 – Top 6 Performance and Elimination

Summary
The top 6 proved to be an interesting week as it wasn’t clear which dancers were going to be in the finals and what two were going to be sent home. It turned out that Caitlynn and Ricky were the ones that had their journeys end, which was predictable but still sad to see. Ricky did well in his contemporary in showing us why he made it as far as he did in the competition and Caitlynn had an excellent night with two solid routines. In another season with a weaker pool of girls Caitlynn may have made it into the finals.

The top 4 makes for an intriguing mix and we go over their performances from this past week. Like last week, we spend some time on Tadd and go over what we liked from him, but that we feel like the choreographers, for better or worse, aren’t challenging him in the same way as the rest of the contestants. Marko, Sasha and Melanie all have been strong the entire season and we’ve loved nearly everything put forward by Melanie and Marko. Any of these four contestants can win the whole win, which is not a normal situation for most SYTYCD finales. Next week should prove to have a gripping conclusion.

We spend a few minutes going over and debunking the “Melanie conspiracy.” We don’t see any evidence for this view and it’s not something we like seeing appear all over the internet, not because we’re Melanie fans but because we like to keep the dialogue about reality competitions honest and based in what we see, not what we imagine.

We wrap up by giving our list of good routines from this season that we’d like to see appear in the finale.

Please let us know your thoughts by dropping us a comment here after listening! We love to hear feedback and what you thought of the show. We also encourage you to check out our blog and twitter feed to keep up to date with us!

Episode Length: 35:11

Time Stamps
0:00 – The guest judging by Christina Applegate and Lil ‘C
1:35 – Eliminated: Ricky – Contemporary and Waacking
5:57 – Eliminated: Caitlynn – Samba and Jazz
9:05 – The end of the Tyce kiss of death
10:45 – Top 4: Tadd
15:10 – Top 4: Marko
17:45 – Top 4: Sasha
20:18 – Top 4: Melanie
24:00 – The alleged Melanie conspiracy
27:30 – Who’s going to win overall?
28:15 – The routines we’d like to see reprised in the finale
34:33 – Wrap-up


Listen to the podcast

Episode 14 direct download

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August 6, 2011 I Written By

Over the past few years my fiancée Meghan slowly brought me into the world of television, turning me into a full-fledged fan of both scripted and reality shows. So You Think You Can Dance turned into one of my favorite reality shows as it is a competition that takes itself seriously, providing the audience with artistic choreography and talented dancers. It's certainly not something I ever expected to get emotionally invested in, but here I am! Meghan and I are very analytic when it comes to the things we enjoy. We constantly discussed and analyzed shows with each other and after doing this for a couple years, we decided that we should turn these discussions into a podcast. We created Reflections on Pop Entertainment, a podcast that provides commentary and analysis of popular entertainment as found in visual mediums, particularly television and film. So You Think You Can Dance Season 8 is the first television series we're covering with weekly podcasts and has allowed us to find our voice as well as actively contribute to the fan community. We hope that you'll enjoy our installments as they are posted to Pure So You Think You Can Dance!