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The Academy: Day 3 and 4

It’s the final rounds of the Academy and by the end of the episode the top 10 will be revealed. I’ve said it before but I am so glad I don’t have to make the decision that the All-Stars do.

A NappyTabs hip hop was up next and they had an hour to learn this very fun choreography. Not sure why hip hop got an hour and the other style got an hour and a half rehearsal time. Tabitha and Napoleon were impressed by the talent of the next generation. Most of the kids were impressive, I thought. Comfort was having a difficult time with this round of cuts, so she has Phoenix and Logan dance for their lives.

Contemporary with Travis Wall was next and an hour and a half to learn it. Travis didn’t hold back and the kids went for it. I thought that the All-Stars got their chance to show why they were chosen to mentor these kids. I thought they all gave great advice, especially Joshua in telling his team to use their hip hop experience in the contemporary round. I thought all of the contestants were impressive and the All-Stars were moved, Jenna seemed the most emotional. This was the round the struggle of making the decision was really starting to show on the All-Stars faces.

Before the All-Stars made their final decision on who would be joining them in the top 10, they had a one on one talk with each of their final two contestants. This is when I decided to play the guessing game of who I thought they’d pick. 5 out of 10 I guess correctly. So here is your top 10.

Kathryn and Tate
Sasha and Jordan
Fik-Shun and Kida
Jenna and Jake
Joshua and Sheaden
Robert and JT
Paul and Ruby
Gaby and Emma
Jonathan and Daniela
Comfort and Tahani

Since it will be two weeks till the live shows, I post my thoughts on the top 10 next week. Also a post with the National Dance Day routine.

June 27, 2016 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.

The Academy: Day Two

Day two of the Academy and it’s time to learn a tough Broadway routine from Tony Award winning choreographer Warren Carlyle. The dancer have 90 minutes to learn the routine before having to perform it for the All-Stars. While they are learning the choreography the All-Stars and Maddie are there to help them and give them advice.

They pair off the dancer in groups of two and perform. Then comes the hard part, having to eliminate on of dancers from each team. I can’t help but think that Nigel, Paula, and Jason are happy that they don’t have to do this part. There were a few standouts that I saw in the montage that we saw. Also, love how supportive the All-Stars are and cheering the dancers on. In end we had to say goodbye to, Enoch, Diana, Pullany, Lera, Parker, Ava, Kai, and Jaryan. Didn’t catch who was eliminated from Kathryn and Comfort’s team.

It was the end of the Episode that both broke my heart and warmed it at the same time. Jaryan was unfortunately cut from Fik-Shun’s team and he broke down in tears and proceeded to say he has been bullied. I have to say Fik-Shun handled that so well by tell Jaryan that “we don’t bully in dance”, the rest of the contestants surrounded him and proceeded to lift his spirits. If there is one thing I know bullying is not OK and the theatre and dance community is the most accepting groups of people out there.

Next week is hip hop with NappyTabs and contemporary with Travis Wall.

June 20, 2016 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.

The Academy: Day One

First off now I am starting to see why the two hour shows are beneficial. These one hour shows are jammed packed with a lot of information and it is hard to catch everything the first time I watch the episode. So recording them so I can pause to take notes and make sure I spell the contestants names correctly. Loved the opening with the All-Stars, Maddie, and some familiar music.

Nigel and the rest of the judges get to take a break and it is up to the All-Stars to form their team of five (at least 3 in their style and 2 wild cards) and eliminate the dancers round by round till they are left with the one dancer that they will be performing with for the remainder of the season.

Before the All-Stars pick their team each of the 100 dancers get to impress them with their solo. We only got to see a few of the solos and Tate had the All-Stars impressed. So did many of the others. Each of the 50 dancers were called to the stage and the All-Star who picked them were lit up. If there was more than one lit up then it was up to the dancer to decide what team that they would like to be on. Kind of a SYTYCD meets the Voice.

TEAMS
Kathryn: Tate, Brooklin, Brightyn, Quinn, and Avery
Robert: Sage, JT, Gavin, Enoch, and Joziah
Sasha: Diana, Jade, Ashley, Bostyn, and Jordan
Jonathan: Daniela, Pullany, Victoria, Rylee, and Camila
Paul: Ruby, Shelly, Lera, Sophia, and Lennox
Jenna: Jake, Lev, Joshua, Parker, and Dougie
Gaby: Emma, Jazzy, Ryan, Ava, and Lucas
Fik-Shun: Kida, Jaryan, JJ, Lior, and Alex
Joshua: Merrik, Romeo, Tre, Sheaden, and Kai
Comfort: Tahani, Aniyah, Fiona, Logan, and Pheonix

Fun Facts: Rylee is Lindsey Arnold’s little sister. Phoenix danced with Cyrus on last season’s finale and was a sort of the inspiration for the concept this season.

Sad to see the other 50 go but hopefully we will see them back or at least I hope they continue dancing.

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.

All Stars for The Next Generation

The Academy starts next week and the All Stars are introduced. Also, Maddie from Dance Moms is introduced as on of the judges. Each of the 100 dancers get a chance to audition for the All Stars. Each All Star has to pick five dancers to be on their team and mentor them throughout the week. Eventually, they have to narrow it down to one dancer that they will be dancing with during the entire competition. I’m sure the details will be a little clearer next week. Until then here are the All Stars for Season 13.

Joshua Allen: Winner of season 4. Happy to seem him back as an all-star. I’m sure many will ask why not Twitch and while I don’t know that answer but I think he will enjoy the time to spend with his family.

Comfort Fedoke: Another season 4 alum who I have enjoyed watching grow into an even better dancer.

Jonathan Platero: I’ll admit I had to look up to see what season he was on. He was on season 5 and was eliminated in the third week. Jonathan has choreographed for the show the last few seasons.

Kathryn McCormick: Season 6’s top finishing female dancer. Yes…she’s still my favorite.

Robert Roldan: Season 7, Robert is one of my favorite guys to compete on the show and I still get tears in my eyes whenever I watch “Medicine” the dance he did with Tucker in season 10.

Sasha Mallory: Season 8 runner-up. I want to say this is her first time being an all-star.

Fik-Shun Stegall: Season 10 co-champion with Amy. He has always been a fan favorite and I think he will work well with the younger dancers.

Jenna Johnson: Jenna was the Judge’s favorite of season 10. For whatever reason I couldn’t connect with her…until she dance with Mark. Now I love watching Jenna dance on DWTS as a troupe member.

Paul Karmiryan: While he placed 6th on season 10, he won the Armenian version of the show before competing in the States.

Gaby Diaz: The reigning champion on SYTYCD and the first tap dancer to win the show.

June 13, 2016 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 4 Performance Finale: Thoughts

Tonight’s show was jammed packed with dance, which is normal for the top 4 performance finale. So each of the top 4 had 4 dances to perform plus a solo. As a viewer it is just a lot to take in, so I’m going to give my thoughts on each dancer and the night they had. Before I get to that just want to say Congratulations to Cat Deeley on the announcement of her pregnancy. Granted she announced this new on Twitter over the weekend and I think Nigel caught her off guard.
Hailee Payne (Jazz): Hailee is someone who has really grown on me. When the live shows started we really didn’t know anything about her because she wasn’t really featured in the audition process. It was the robot routine with Virgil that made her a standout. Hailee always seemed to be able to channel the character of every dance she has done. Though for me the Broadway numbers seemed to be her best. I think she could have a career on Broadway.

Virgil Godson (Hip hop): I sure I am not alone in the fact that I have compared Virgil to Fikshun all season. Honestly, I’m a little disappointed that partnership didn’t happen. Virgil truly is just a bundle of joy and I just love watching him dance. He is a fan favorite but I don’t think it will be enough for him to win. However to be the last man standing is a win in my book. Also, he and Josh killed that dance together.

Jaja Vankova (Krump/Animation): Hands down Jaja has been the best female hip hop dancer that the show has had since Comfort. I truly have enjoyed watching her become a chameleon of dance this season. She has taken every challenge this season and has done well.

Gaby Diaz (Tap): It took all season to finally see Gaby do tap number. The dance was amazing and it was nice to see Zack back. All season Gaby has been fantastic and possibly the judges favorite. I think she proved that she is more than just a tap dancer.

So who will win? I got a gut feeling it will be between Jaja and Gaby. It usually a hard decision for me to pick and this season is no different but going on tonight’s performances I think Gaby will the winner but it will be a close call.

So now we get to wait a week to find out who wins season 12 of SYTYCD. I hope I am not the only one that doesn’t want to wait. Also, the fact they are directly competing with the premier of DWTS is not exactly a smart idea. So if you watch both shows make sure you set you DVRs to record on of them.

September 7, 2015 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 10 to Top 8: Thoughts

My favorite part of the season is here…All Stars and solos are back. It’s just something about when the all-stars join the show the dancers step up their game. There are no more saves, so whoever has the lowest votes from each team will go home. Also, there was another injury, this time it’s JJ and her ribs. Before the show gets started, Jennifer Lopez had some news. The winner of this season gets the chance to dance in her Las Vegas show.

Hailee & Brandon: Warren Carlyle (Broadway)
Such a fun, fast paced routine. This is what I like about Broadway numbers. I really can see the Liza Minnelli and Lady Gaga, when it comes to Hailee. It was just another fantastic way for her to show her personality. Side note you can find Brandon dancing in Brittney Spears in Vegas.

Derek & Kayla: RJ Durell & Nick Flores (Jazz)
Okay so not going to lie…I had to re watch this one because I couldn’t take my eyes of Kayla. I sometimes forget who is the one competing. We definitely saw a different side of Derek this week.

Virgil & Comfort: Chris Scott
This was just too cute. Chris Scott does it again…from the music selection to the dancers was just amazing. I love how effortless that Virgil and Comfort made that dance look. Virgil’s personality is infectious (such a goofball)…loved his happy dance with Cat.

Megz & Marco: Ray Leeper (Jazz)
This was another one I had to watch again…this time it was the song choice…it makes me think of “Center Stage” every time.
This was just a simply a fun routine and just makes you want to dance with them. Megz, like Nigel said, stays true to herself which is nice. Anyone else surprised to learn her parents were ballroom dancers.

Edson & Jaime: Travis Wall
Hate that Edson was eliminated tonight…moments like this I really miss the results show. Thankful he left on such a high note. One of the best of the night and Travis deserves to win an Emmy.

Neptune & Jasmine: Pharside & Pheonix
Halloween a few months early? Just a fun concept and good to see Neptune in his element.
Also, Nigel said the wrong dancers name again. This time it was Sasha who didn’t get the credit for dancing “Misty Blue” with Twitch.

Jim & Jessica: Dee Caspary
So weird to see Jim struggle in rehearsals. I’m not sure but maybe the pressure of the competition got to him a little bit. Over it was a beautiful dance but I felt that the story was a little lost…maybe it had something to do with not connecting with his partner. Agreed with everything Jason said.

Jaja & Alex:  Nakul (Bollywood)
This was so much fun…especially to see yet another side of Jaja. She is my favorite street dancer and has a really chance of winning.

Gaby & Joshua: Pharside & Phoenix
My favorite of the two Pharside & Phoenix routines tonight. Gaby is the other chameleon on the show. I have a feeling it may come down to Gaby and Jaja in the final two.

Bottom 4: Megz, JJ, Derek and Edson Going home: JJ and Edson

Stay tuned for tour info.

August 17, 2015 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 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.

Podcast: SYTYCD Season 9 – Top 14 Week

Listen to the podcasts

Episode 51 direct download

Subscribe to podcast on iTunes


Time Stamps
0:00 – Introduction: Ballet boys as judges, and Ms. Tedholm’s Facebook comment
3:31 – General thoughts about the Mia Michaels episode
5:23 – The Door routine: Cyrus & Eliana
8:44 – Hometown Glory routine: George & Tiffany
11:23 – The Butt Dance: Will & Amelia
14:02 – The Bed routine: Dareian & Janelle
15:58 – Time routine: Audrey & Matthew
18:07 – The Bench routine: Chehon & Witney
20:41 – Addiction routine: Lindsay & Cole
24:45 – Bottom 6/Elimination discussion
30:05 – Wrap-up: Thoughts about Brandon/Amber elimination from Top 16 week, and thoughts on the live shows thus far

Episode Length: 32:24

The Top 14 week of So You Think You Can Dance celebrated Mia Michaels and her iconic routines from the show. Each of the dancers were called on to recreate some of her most beloved routines. Our feelings, along with many fans, were mixed on this approach. Should these routines be performed again, or are they only meant for the original dancers? Can an alternate, yet equally valid interpretation of the routines be presented? We discuss these questions, along with our thoughts on the somewhat shocking elimination of Amelia in this podcast!

We found it very useful to compare the original performances against the new ones. In the time stamps above we’ve linked to blog posts that have both routines embedded for easy viewing.

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.

August 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 8 – Top 4 Performance and Finale

Summary
For the finale of So You Think You Can Dance season 8 we give you a super-sized podcast with 15 more minutes of content. We were happy with Melanie’s win and were pleasantly surprised that the top two dancers this season were both women, which has not happened before on this program. The performance episode was not up to the high standards of past seasons which was disappointing for us, but there were some highlights such as Marko and Lauren F.’s wonderful contemporary piece by Tessandra Chavez and the captivating performance by Melanie and Sasha in the second Stacey Tookey routine of the night.

The results show reminded us of many of the great routines from the season, although we were surprised by how the judges picks seemed to place less emphasis on everyone except for Melanie, Marko and Sasha (even Tadd only had one non-group routine repeated). This portion of the show has historically served as a warm-up for the forthcoming tour and features many of the routines that are expected to show up. But here we had many routines that involved all-stars, none of which will likely be on the tour. It was unexpected for the judges picks to lack variety.

We conclude the podcast with a discussion of the show’s production and the effect it’s having on the pacing and the way we get to know the dancers. We pinpoint that the approach towards the show changed in season 6, when they moved to the live show format. At this point the packages became shorter and contained more schtick and the judges comments started having less substance due to the time constraints of a live program. We also discuss the choreographers and that some of them tailor their work to their selected dancers and that others do not and whether this is a fair way of doing things. Finally, we discuss the variety of dancers in the top 20 in later seasons versus the early seasons and the effect this seems to have on the type of choreography we see each week.

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 twitter feed!

We want to thank everyone that has tuned into our podcasts during the course of the season! We’ve enjoyed doing this and its been a learning experience for us! We’re planning to do podcasts for season 9 of So You Think You Can Dance, so check back with us in May 2012. We’re going to continue doing our Big Brother podcasts and will be adding The X-Factor to our weekly discussions when it premieres on September 21st. We are also adding a Week in Review podcast in the fall for all the other shows we watch during that time. So if any of that sounds interesting to you, then follow our blog Reflections on Pop Entertainment and watch for our updates. If you’re only interested in our So You Think You Can Dance material, we’ll see you again next summer!

Episode Length: 44:53

Time Stamps
0:00 – Introduction: Congrats to Melanie! Guest judges: Katie Holmes and Kenny Ortega and the choice to have celebrity judges
2:37 – Melanie and Marko’s disco
4:15 – Sasha and Mark’s jazz
5:44 – Tadd and Joshua’s hip-hop
7:10 – Melanie and Robert’s contemporary
8:29 – Sasha and Marko’s broadway
10:46 – Sasha and Tadd’s chacha
12:57 – Marko and Lauren F.’s contemporary
14:36 – Tadd and Melanie’s jazz
16:01 – Melanie and Sasha’s contemporary
18:27 – Marko and Tadd’s gumboot stepping
20:28 – The order of the placing: 2 girls in the top
22:22 – Results show: The new top 20 routine and tap routine
24:28 –  Results show: The judges picks were stacked towards Melanie, Sasha and Marko and didn’t seem to be a retrospective of the season
28:58 – Post-season discussion: The direction of production and how it affects the show – pacing in live shows vs recorded shows, an increasing focus on the judging panel, choreographers tailoring their work to the dancers, variety in the dancers in the Top 20 (stacked towards contemporary/jazz now), variety in routine genres (less ballroom now, more contemporary/jazz)
42:34 – Wrap-up: What are your thoughts on our post-season discussion? What we’re going to be doing in future podcasts (Big Brother, The X-Factor, Week in Review)


Listen to the podcast

Episode 15 direct download

Subscribe to podcast on iTunes

 

August 15, 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!