Free SYTYCD Newsletter Want to receive the latest news on So You Think You Can Dance sent straight to your email? Join hundreds of other SYTYCD fans who subscribe to Pure SYTYCD for FREE!

Podcast: SYTYCD Season 9 – Vegas Week and Meet the Top 20

Listen to the podcasts

Episode 48: “Vegas Week” direct download

Episode 49: “Meet the Top 20” direct download

Subscribe to podcast on iTunes


Time Stamps for “Vegas Week”
0:00 – Introduction
1:18 – The cuts during Vegas Week
13:36 – The major narratives of Vegas Week – Alexa Anderson and Cyrus “Glitch” Spencer
19:14 – Standouts during Vegas Week
22:34 – MIA dancers during Vegas Week
25:30 – Wrap-up

Episode Length of “Vegas Week”: 28:38

Time Stamps for “Meet the Top 20”
0:00 – Introduction
1:33 – First contemporary routine by Tyce DiOrio: Alexa Anderson, George Lawrence II, Will Thomas, and Amber Jackson
3:57 –  Ballroom routine by Jason Gilkinson: Nick Bloxsom-Carter, Witney Carson, and Lindsay Arnold
6:15 – Ballet routine by Desmond Richardson and Dwight Rhoden: Eliana Girard, Daniel Baker, and Chehon Wespi-Tschopp
8:36 – Jazz routine by Sonya Tayeh: Tiffany Maher, Audrey Case, and Janelle Issis (not in routine)
10:18 – Second contemporary routine by Stacey Tookey: Matthew Kamierczak, Dareian Kujawa, Janaya French, and Amelia Lowe
12:19 – “Mixed” routine by Chris Scott: Cole Horibe, Brandon Mitchell, Cyrus “Glitch” Spencer
14:14 – Top 10 girls routine by Travis Wall
15:35 – Top 10 guys routine by Sonya Tayeh
16:59 – Top 20 routine by Mia Michaels
18:36 – Wrap-up

Episode Length of “Meet the Top 20”: 20:07

Wedding planning has consumed a lot of our time, but we’re finally here with our “Vegas Week” and “Meet the Top 20” podcasts! We apologize for the erratic and delayed release schedule, and ask for your patience as we find time to record and edit these.

The “Vegas Week” and “Meet the Top 20” episodes have transitioned us from the audition portion of the show into the live competition. We found ourselves unsatisfied with Vegas Week, as many of our early favorites were cut, most notably Mariah Spears. The insistence of the producers to make a narrative out of the Vegas Week process for Alexa Anderson and Cyrus “Glitch” Spencer also did not sit well with us, as this not only smacked of favoritism, but it also consumed so much television time that we barely saw the full routines for the different genre rounds.

We enjoyed the “Meet the Top 20” episode much more, as the remaining contestants that made it through the Green Mile are the ones we would have selected. The actual routines were quite good, with the routine by Chris Scott being a standout. Already we have some people we are excited for, including Cole Horibe and Witney Carson, and we also worry about the longevity of some contestants, such as Tiffany Maher, Audrey Case, and Janaya French. Finally, we urge the producers and choreographers to take care with how they place and feature Alexa Anderson. Between the Vegas Week episode and the choices in the Travis and Mia Michaels routines, we’re concerned that she will experience a huge backlash from the fanbase, very similar to Ryan from last season. Overall, we’re excited for the final cast of contestants and cannot wait to see the first live show tonight!

Let us know what you think after listening to the podcast! You can leave us a comment here or on our blog, Reflections on Pop Entertainment. You can also follow us on Twitter and tweet with us. You can also visit our Facebook page, like us, and leave a comment there! We love feedback and will respond either with a comment or in our next published show.

July 11, 2012 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!

Podcast: SYTYCD Season 9 – Auditions: Salt Lake City

Listen to the podcast

Episode 47 direct download

Subscribe to podcast on iTunes


Time Stamps
0:00 – Introduction
1:04 – “No” to Vegas (non-ballroom): Lynn Gravatt, Leroy Martinez, Murphy Yang
5:04 – Burlesque and Krump: Rachel Applehans, Mariah Spears
8:55 – Contemporary/Jazz: Deanna “Dee” Tomasetta, Gene Lonardo, Dareian Kujawa, Adrian Lee
15:44 – Ballroom: Whitney Hallam & Johnny Anh, Lindsay Arnold, Witney Carson
20:41 – Who we’re excited to see in Vegas
26:23 – Wrap-up

Episode Length: 28:20

It’s the last stop of the season 9 audition tour and while we were largely underwhelmed by the turnout in Atlanta, Salt Lake City more than made-up for it, providing us with many solid, diverse performers and a whole host of ballroom at last! Of the non-ballroom performers, Mariah Spears, Deanna Tomasetta, Gene Lonardo and Dareian Kujawa all impressed us with their stand-out solos, from Mariah’s surprising and convincing krump routine to Gene’s clever choreography about the life cycle of the male praying mantis. The moving story of Leroy Martinez and his work with disadvantaged youth was an uplifting segment and a fitting way, we think, to close out the first part of the audition process. And of course, we finally had some proper ballroom! In particular, we found Witney Carson’s ability to transform herself the second her routine began to be particularly impressive, and she has great skill to boot!

Obviously, since we’re posting this after the airing of the Vegas week episode, a lot of the people we were excited to see in Vegas wound up cut. We’ll dig into the particulars when we get the podcast for Vegas together, but we are getting frustrated. After two seasons of rosters that were stuffed with contemporary/jazz dancers, we were hoping they would expand beyond that model this season. Although it has some inaccuracies, the Vegas spoilers list (which doesn’t list a Top 20, and is no longer really a spoiler after this past episode) shows that the majority of people that made it through the week are contemporary/jazz. I think what bothers us most about that is if the Top 20 contestants from the first 4 or so seasons were to try out now, it’s doubtful that some of them would even make it to the end of the week (like Ivan, for example).

Let us know what you think after listening to the podcast! You can leave us a comment here or on our blog, Reflections on Pop Entertainment. You can also follow us on Twitter and tweet with us. You can also visit our Facebook page, like us, and leave a comment there! We love feedback and will respond either with a comment or in our next published show.

June 22, 2012 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!

Podcast: SYTYCD Season 9 – Auditions: Brooklyn + Dallas

Listen to the podcast

Episode 43 direct download

Subscribe to podcast on iTunes


Time Stamps
0:00 – Introduction: Welcome new listeners and upcoming schedule
3:50 – Ballet auditions: Chehon Wespi-Tschopp and Daniel Baker
7:16 – Male contemporary auditions: Leo Reyes and Jarell Rochelle
10:15 – Female contemporary auditions: Amelia Lowe and Bree Hafen
13:51 – B-boy/Street auditions: Toshihiko Nakazawa, Shafeek Westbrook and Stepheon Stewart
18:15 – “Other” auditions: Austin “Mr. Wiggles” Freeman, Sam Sheffler, Von Kipper
22:00 – The “Exorcist style” of Hampton Williams
25:16 – Wrap-up

Episode Length: 27:54

It’s the summer and you know what that means, it’s time for another amazing season of So You Think You Can Dance! We’re very excited to podcast along to the new season (long-time listeners will recall we podcasted from Vegas week onward during season 8) and watch the new crop of dancers featured for us to enjoy. If you’re a new listener, welcome! As an introduction to us and what we’re doing, feel free to check out this short post that we wrote up last year shortly after we began podcasting.

This initial podcast is a week late due to our schedules preventing us from being able to record until now. Since the second audition episode has already aired, we’re planning to record and post our thoughts on that very soon, hopefully no later than the end of the upcoming weekend. After that we’ll be all caught up and will be able to release podcasts within a day or so of the Wednesday airing.

If the first audition episode is anything to go on, this season is already shaping up to be an excellent one! In the span of just two hours there were several standout dancers featured on the program, including the new wave of male ballet dancers Chehon Wespi-Tschopp and Daniel Baker, the emotionally mature solo from Bree Hafen (not to mention her kids are adorable!), the sophisticated and musical b-boying of Shafeek Westbrook, and the show-stopping beauty that was the “Exorcist style” of Hampton Williams. Those are the dancers that intrigued us in this episode and we definitely think they will be the ones to watch during Vegas week. Of course, there were a small collection of poor auditions as well, for it wouldn’t be a reality show competition without them. But, unlike American Idol, we appreciate the positive attitude the SYTYCD judges generally take towards these individuals (for example, see the upbeat feedback they gave to Sam Sheffler).

So far so good with the auditions. Keep checking back over the next couple of days for another podcast which will cover the second audition episode.

Let us know what you think after listening to the podcast! You can leave us a comment here or on our blog, Reflections on Pop Entertainment. You can also follow us on Twitter and tweet with us. You can also visit our Facebook page, like us, and leave a comment there! We love feedback and will respond either with a comment or in our next published show.

May 31, 2012 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!

SYTYCD Season 9: New York and Dallas Auditions Thoughts

Unfortunately Fox.com doesn’t allow me to watch the episodes of So You Think You Can Dance via their website until nearly a week later. So I had to find other avenues to view the videos… so watch this space as I add on over they days of my thoughts on the dancers that have made it through to Vegas (as far as I know).

NEW YORK AUDITIONS
Amelia Lowe
Twitter
– Faculty of The Dance Academy of North Jersey
For some reason, see her run on stage and her name the whole package just seems to make sense to me. That whole silent film era, she embodies that in her personality and in her dancing. Her technique does need to be stronger in my opinion, but everything else… it just draws you in to an extent. There is a theatrical quality to her movement that isn’t easily taught.

Leo Reyes
Twitter
YouTube Channel
Hip-hop/contemporary mix, Leo has a good story coming into the show and effortlessly melds the two styles together.

Shafeek Westbrook
Facebook
One thing about breakdancing is that after a while you see the same things over and over again. Once in a while the power moves/tricks would push the envelope, but how to do take things to a whole new level? What drew me into Shafeek is that the usual power tricks he modifies them and smooths out the shapes, some in slow motion. More of an artist in this way… he could be someome with a good chance to go far in Vegas.

Chehon Wespi-Tschopp
Facebook
A very strong ballet dancer, with strong lines and technique. He reminds me of Season 3’s Danny Tidwell except he emotes very well. Tyce is right, that level of technique deserves a chance to push themselves to the next level in Vegas.

DALLAS AUDITIONS
Read more..

May 25, 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... =)