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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 and Power Rankings

What a great performance finale filled so many dances, it was hard to keep track of them all. Honestly I don’t know how the Top 4 are able to get though that night without showing any exhaustion. The alway fabulous Jesse Tyler Ferguson is finally back at the judges table. His “hey Ricky” chant was hysterical, not to mention all the judges goofing off behind Cat was entertaining as well. Also, three of my favorite all-stars were apart of tonight’s busy show. Like I thought Aaron was the one that got to dance twice.

With a total of fifteen dances, it would take me all night to attempt to rank them all. So I’m going to pick out a few of my favorites and give my thoughts about them. Then I’ll do my final ranking of the dances and who I think might win.

Zack and Valerie: This was a great piece of choreography from Tyce. It was the acting that was the challenge in this dance. They both sold the story, Valerie almost had me believing she was blind.

Valerie and Jessica: I thought this style suited them both very well. They both looked like they were having fun. Just something about Bollywood that I just enjoy.

Zack and Ricky: I love Pharside and Pheonix. The theme was very familiar though…anyone else reminded of the two princes from season 3. These boys knocked it out of the park. My second favorite dance of the night. I think that the winner will come down to the two of them.

Ricky and Kathryn: I’m not surprised that this dance was beautiful. Everything came together and Ricky is just a beautiful dancer.

Jessica and Robert: This had to be her best performance of the night. I think contemporary his her strong point and was nice to see her finally get back to the girl we saw in the very first live show.

Zack and Aaron: A tap to “Piano Man”, I would have never thought of that but Anthony is a tap genius. Yes it was my favorite dance of the night. I love how their taps went with the music, just so smooth and entertaining.

I honestly think that winner will either be Ricky or Zack. I can’t make up my mind. Ricky has been consistently fantastic and there is no reason he shouldn’t win. Zack is kind of the dark horse for me, he has been able to do anything that has been given to him. It will be interesting to see how the votes will turn out. Valerie will probably place 3rd with Jessica in 4th.

So what were you favorite dances of the night and who do you think/want to win.

August 27, 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 10 to Top 8: Thoughts and Rankings

I really don’t know where to begin, other than just start from the beginning. A very colorful hip hop routine opened up the show and I really did enjoy. Jamal Sims choreographed this number, he is also a choreographer for the Step Up movies. Speaking of Step Up the fifth installment hits this Friday with many familiar faces, including Emilio.

Back to the show, Tara Lapinski was the guest judge this week. We also welcomed back Tabitha and Napoleon, who just finished working with Derek and Julianne Hough on their tour. Oh and I can’t forget about the All Stars. Overall the show was probably one of the best this season. I almost don’t even want to rank them but I will try, with my thoughts on the eliminated dances at the end.

Top 3

Zack and Amy: The second time in the night the audience was completely silent while they danced. What can I say other than Sonya is amazing. There’s not much else to say other than I think Zack showed a lot of growth this week.

Jacque and Chehon: I have to say I was expecting a classical pas de duex not a contemporary ballet by Travis. It was a simple and beautiful routine.

Tanisha and Ryan: So good to see Ryan back and he was the perfect partner for this dance. Miriam and Leonardo choreographed another great argentine tango with amazing lifts.

Top 2

Ricky and Lauren: This dance suited their personalities. Ricky is just great at everything and I’m pretty sure he is at least one oth the top two boys.

Casey and Kathryn: Another great pairing and it is really nice to see Casey do well. Hope he can keep it up next week.

Bottom 3

Jessica and Twitch: I was worried about this but thankfully she proved me wrong. It’s like she finally realized that she needed to step up to stay in the competition. Oh and I so loved the concept too, old man Twitch is cute.

Rudy and Jenna: Well they definitely had the chemistry down and the dancing was great too. It just falls behind others that were slightly better.

Valerie and Ade: I could see where the judges were coming from, she didn’t quite get into the character but I still loved the dance though.

Eliminated

Emilio and Jasmine: Emilio went out with a bang and I wish the results show was still around. Love everything about this dance. Oh and Jasmine almost stole the spotlight.

Bridget and Brandon: A Bollywood disco, turned out to be a fun and fast fusion of two dance styles.

Next week All Stars are: Twitch, Allison, Ryan, Mackenzie, Comfort, Jamie (season 3), Nick Lazzerini, and Will (season 4).

August 6, 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 10: Power Rankings

So since they revealed which dancer is paired with each All Star, I figur ed I would do the power rankings a little different this week. I’m choosing to rank the guys and the girls separately and predict how I think they will do next week.

Guys

Casey: After a great performance this week, he gets to be paired with Kathryn. I’ve got a feeling this will be a good partnership and most likely a good dance.

Ricky: He is the best techincal dancer on the show and hard not put him at the top of the list. I think Lauren Froderman is a good match for him and I’m curious what style they will be dancing.

Zack: He should be ok being paired with Amy.

Rudy: It will be interesting to see him do ballroom. I think he will do an ok job but Jenna could over shadow him after all she is a judges favorite.

Emilio: The height difference will be interesting. I honestly have no clue how they may do. It could be really good or bad. I  also think it depends on what style they pick.

Girls

Tanisha & Jacque: They are kind of tied for me. The are both paired with an All Star that is also in their strongest style of dance. I’m excited to see Ryan dance again. Also I’m expecting a great pas de duex from Chehon and Jacque.

Valerie: I don’t think she will have a problem keeping up with Ade.

Bridget: Why do I get the feeling she could be dancing disco, Brandon is a great partner for it. Disco is tough to pull off so it’s another wait and see how it goes.

Jessica: While I think she will be safe next week she is pair with Twitch. She has a lot of work to do to keep up with the star that is Twitch.

What are your thoughts on the pairings?

July 31, 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.

*Spoiler Alert* Season 10 Finale

SPOILER ALERT! DON’T READ IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE SHOW!

It has been another great season and it’s always sad to see it go. Before I get to the run down of the show and of course the winners, I am happy to announce that Fox and Nigel announced that there will be a SEASON 11! Now on with the show that had a 17 min intermission (Presidential speech), well for the east coast. We had Judges favorites, top 4 favorites, and some surprises.

The Top 20 are back, even Jade even thought he can dance cause his knee isn’t fully healed yet. A fun routine choreographed by Ivan from season 2 (who has choreographed for Justin Timberlake).

Paula Abdul Favorite: Edge of Glory, Paul and Makensie

Jasmine H. Favorite: Blurred Lines she danced with Marko. She surprised me with this pick.

Adam Shankman: he picked the FikShun and Twitch hip-hop to Hello Good Morning.

The Top 4 got to see a special screening of Battle of the Year, that features Dominic from season 3. Also Legacy from season 6 is also in the movie (look it up on IMBD if you don’t believe me).

Nigel’s Pick: This really was a no brainer, I knew he would pick a tap number, I just didn’t know which one. It’s fitting that he chose the one with all of the tappers from this season.

Twitch’s Favorite: His choice surprised me as well, mainly just the fact that it was a Broadway number. Kiss of the Spiderwoman- Nico and Hayley.

Aaron’s Favorite: Kissing You with all-star Kathryn

They replayed the sand number with the Top 10 guys, which is actually one on my absolute favorites of the season.

Cat’s Favorite: Run the World, Jasmine and Comfort hip-hop

Mary’s Favorite: Medicine, Tucker and Robert

Puttin’ on the Ritz: Top 20. Really loved this innovative number that NappyTabs created.

Then another favorite of mine Mark and Jenna.

FikShun and Amy both picked the same dance as their favorite. After Party, the bell hop hip-hop.

So we are treated to the “partnership” of Nigel and Mary. Though the video montage, I’m sure I wasn’t the only that was wondering where they were going with this…a dance with Nigel and Mary. This did make my night, especially Adam not wanting to be left out of the fun.

The Top 5 moments from the Auditions with the number one spot going to Movement Box.

Twitter’s Travis Wall routine Favorite: Seriously no surprise that it is Wicked Game that he danced with Amy.

The Top 10 and All-Stars perform and fun surfs up number by Nappy Tabs.

Now time for the Winner’s, Cat announced that a girl got the top number of votes. With that said she began with the guys and then the girls.

The Season 10 Winners ARE….FICKSHUN and AMY!!! Congrats to them both and Aaron and Jasmine. What a great season can’t wait till next year.

 

 

September 10, 2013 I Written By

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

Top 6 Now Top 4 Thoughts

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

Solos

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

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

Hayley: I wanted a bit more from her solo.

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

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

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

All Stars

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

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

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

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

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

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

Paired together

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

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

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

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

August 28, 2013 I Written By

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

Top 8 Power Rankings

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

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

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

Girls

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

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

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

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

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

Guys

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

August 14, 2013 I Written By

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

Many SYTYCD Dancers in Sugar and Bruno Video

Thanks to Vogue over on Pure DWTS, I came across this really great Sugar and Bruno video that contains a whole slew of SYTYCD dancers. I guess I should have known that dancers make for great models. Chelsie, Kathryn and Mollee are a few of my favorites in the video. Plus, how amazing does Stacey look? She’s defying time.

January 25, 2013 I Written By

Just call me Charlie...but where are my angels?

Step Up Revolution Giveaway


Step Up Revolution, the latest film in the wildly popular Step Up franchise, arrives on 3-D Blu-ray (includes 3-D and standard version of the film plus Digital Copy plus UV), DVD (includes Digital Copy plus UV), On Demand and Pay-Per-View November 27. However, we’re happy to provide readers of Pure SYTYCD a chance to win it before you can buy it. That’s right, we’re giving away a free copy of Step Up Revolution.

I just got my copy of it and it’s sick. Most of you already know that since you’ve seen it in theaters, but the Blu-ray disc and DVD contain more than two hours of special features including deleted scenes, music videos from J. Lo and Timbaland, multiple featurettes and commentary with the director, choreographer and several cast members.

Plus, I also love that they include the digital copy download when you purchase the Blu-ray or DVD.

How to Enter:
We’ll keep this simple. To enter just leave a comment below. You can say anything you want in the comment, why you love Step Up Revolution, Favorite SYTYCD memory, a video of you dancing, etc etc etc. Leave a comment with a valid email address. I’ll pick a winner at random from those who comment, then I’ll contact you to get your info so we can send out the prize.

Note: We can’t send to PO Boxes and sorry but this is US only.

For those who haven’t seen Step Up Revolution, here’s a video taste of how big they made the dance sequences.

“Shipyard” Video

Plus, how about some amazing pictures of Kathyrn McCormick and Twitch in Step Up Revolution.

November 21, 2012 I Written By

Just call me Charlie...but where are my angels?