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Travis Wall Choreograph’s Caesars Palace’s Buffet Music Video

Most of you know that I’m biased to Las Vegas since I live here, but one thing I love about the casinos in Las Vegas is that they aren’t afraid to stretch how they celebrate. As one of my Italian friends told me, “Las Vegas is excess.” With that in mind, it shouldn’t be surprising that for the 1st birthday of Caesars Palaces’s Baccanal Buffet they would have Travis Wall choreograph, direct and star in a special video performance at the Buffet. Plus, he brought a long a number of familiar faces: Nick Lazzarini, Jaimie Goodwin, Kyle Robinson, Kayla Radomski, Dom Palange, and Kayla Kalbfleisc. If you haven’t seen this video, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.

I think this is just a preview of the full video. At least I hope that’s the case. I’d love to see more of Kayla Radomski. It’s been too long since I’ve enjoyed her dancing.

September 9, 2013 I Written By

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

So You Think You Can Dance – The Off-Season

Now that Season 9’s So You Think You Can Dance has ended what else is there to talk about? Forget talk about… what else is there to watch… dance-wise?

It would appear that this is the season of the dance reality shows as two past contestants (and SYTYCD mainstays) from Season 2 have branched out to their own shows (A Chance to Dance and All the Right Moves) and new possibilities have popped up for fans of So You Think You Can Dance could sink their teeth into:

First the obvious… the So You Think You Can Dance Live Tour

So You Think You Can Dance’s ninth-season Top 10 finalists will be hitting the road this fall making their way across North America as part of the 2012 live tour, sponsored by Just Dance 4

[…]

The 30-city tour will kick-off October 23 in San Diego and will conclude on December 5th in Hollywood, FL with tickets for all shows going on sale Friday, August 24 beginning at 10AM.

Fall’s hottest ticket will feature this season’s most popular routines as well as original pieces created specifically for the nationwide tour.

[…]

Also for dancers and fans from all walks of life: So You Think You Can Dance Experience (aka SYTYCDX) – the official dance convention

[…] The SYTYCD® Experience is a 2-3 day workshop filled with classes, seminars, mock audition opportunity, and performances! Our weekend will be the most exciting and educational dance event you have ever experienced! This event is for dancers, educators, and enthusiasts 18 & older!

The Experience Includes:
– Classes throughout the weekend
– Seminar Breakouts
– Performances from your favorite SYTYCD Alumni Dancers and other Special Guests
– Solo Showcase Opportunity
– Q and A
– Meet and Greet
– Amazing Scholarship Opportunities
– Optional Mock Audition for the opportunity to perform in the Saturday’s Opening or Closing Number of the Showcase

Also… as featured on So You Think You Can Dance: The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers
Featuring the dance talents of:
Christopher “Lil’ C” Toler as Z
Christopher Scott as Copeland
William Wingfield as Katana
Stephen “Twitch” Boss as Dr.E

According to the New York Times

“They lie amongst us, preparing for battle, waiting to rise and change things for good. Some are gifted in ability, others are trained to master it and some, some have it bestowed upon them at birth, but they all must choose.” […] The lines come from the first episode of “The LXD” or “The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers,” a new dance-inspired Web series created by Jon M. Chu, the 30-year-old director of the hit 2008 movie “Step Up 2: The Streets” and the soon to be released “Step Up 3D.”

The series, […] is produced by Mr. Chu and Hieu Ho with Agility Studios and distributed by Paramount Digital Entertainment and is a leap in Web-based original programming for both the companies and Mr. Chu. (An exclusive clip from the first episode of “The LXD” is available at nytimes.com/dance.)

Read more..

September 19, 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... =)

Podcast: SYTYCD Season 9 – Top 10 Week

Listen to the podcasts

Episode 52 direct download

Subscribe to podcast on iTunes


Time Stamps
0:00 – Introduction
1:27 – General thoughts about the bottom 4 and voting
4:12 – Bottom 2 Girls routines: Audrey & Witney
7:35 – Bottom 2 Guys routines: George & Chehon
10:57 – Other routines: Tiffany, Cole, Lindsay, Will, Cyrus, and Eliana
22:45 – Wrap-up

Episode Length: 23:42

As we move into the final set of live shows, the voting for this season continues to confuse us as Witney once again ended up in the bottom 2 girls. In particular, we’re unable to understand why she is not connecting with the audience (we think she’s fantastic!), but Tiffany, who’s been off the radar for us and seems to be an easy choice to send home, continues to avoid the bottom. We discuss the possible reasons for this, as well as what may have caused Audrey, George, and Chehon to also land in the bottom 4. Beyond the eliminations, we were extremely excited to see the return of all-star Jakob Karr, our favorite dancer to ever be on the show. We also discuss Cyrus and the way choreographers have been handling him this season, which brings up the question we asked at the end of season 8: should the show aim to choreograph/judge the dancers according to a universal standard, or should each dancer be considered individually according to his/her skill level? We should also mention that we loved the Eliana/Alex routine by Stacey Tookey, which demonstrated that with a proper partner Eliana is capable of amazing things!

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 29, 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!

So You Think You Can Dance Season 9: Top 8 Power Rankings

TOP TWO ROUTINES
Eliana Girard w/ Alex Wong – Contemporary
This one I thought was a no brainer for myself (if not for most people). This really showed Eliana’s technical prowess and her performance level all rolled into one. Though I’ll admit I was a little disappointed it wasn’t further away from ballet because I am sure she has had quite a bit of training or background in contemporary. Having Alex as a partner definitely helps her, she held her own and really shoned the most from the Top Ten during this episode.

Witney Carson w/ Nick Lazzarini – Jazz
Witney got to show the sexy in this routine and did she ever. She and Nick had charisma and steam oozing for days. It was loads of fun watching Nick on the show finally (especially with Melody coming on as an All-Star last season)… that was a real treat. Granted Jazz isn’t too much of a stretch for Witney to begin with, but she looked like she was having loads of fun.

MIDDLE THREE ROUTINES
Lindsay Arnold w/ Jakob Karr – Jazz
What is it with both ballroom girls getting Jazz this week? I mean really. Granted Lindsay did a fantastic job and I actually believed Jakob being her shadow during the first portion of the routine. However, what really threw me was not that she didn’t dance it well, but rather that during the times that they should be in sync I felt that they weren’t. Like when Jakob does his amazing back bend or flicks his head one way or that, Lindsay wasn’t using her full body like Jakob did. Nevertheless this was a strong routine and she really held her own, but she has got to focus on the details if she wants to melt with other dancers that are just that polished.

Chehon Wespi-Tschopp w/ Lauren Gottlieb – Lyrical Hip Hop
Understandably Chehon had a bit of trouble with the choreography, but dammit he was loose, he was free and he was having fun! What more could you ask for from someone that was doing ballet most of his life? You can’t help but be drawn into this pairing and you can’t help but notice how he just feels the music and the warmth that was emanating from him. Even though the dance wasn’t perfect he really grew leaps and bounds through this routine.

Will Thomas w/ Kathryn McCormick – Bollywood
Will’s a goofball and I haven’t seen a routine that Will has done that he wasn’t allowed to tap into his goofiness. Sometimes it fits and sometimes it doesn’t… this is one of those routines where it works and it works well enough. Will danced the routine really well but dammit, sometimes I wish he’d tone down the goofiness a bit.

BOTTOM THREE ROUTINES
Cyrus “Glitch” Spencer w/ Jaimie Goodwin – Contemporary
He could have easily screwed this up, Travis could have easily cut more corners and have Jaimie dance around Cyrus more than she did, but he didn’t. This routine truly emphasized Cyrus’ strengths in emotion, passion and partnering… yes I noticed that he struggled a bit on making the lifts seamless and his technique wasn’t perfect but dammit he really did surprise me with how much he has grown. Travis did a smart job in creating a routine that would push Cyrus to reach Jaimie’s level and even though he didn’t meet by any stretch of the imagination he did grow and grow a lot. That being said, he still wasn’t strong enough, as long as he keeps growing exponentially as he has he should be fine for at least another week.

Cole Horibe w/ Anya Garnis – ChaCha
Yes, this wasn’t the best for Cole but honestly I am not going to thrown him under the bus for it… why? Because of the following:
http://twitter.com/Dance9Cole/status/237400410686631937
You read that right, Cole was actually injured this week and sidelined for two days due to that foot injury. So one couldn’t expect his feet to be perfect considering what he was going through. That being said I don’t necessarily agree with the judges saying that he connected with the audience more than Anya, I felt that there were times when he was splitting his focus with one eye on Anya and the other on the audience. I really liked these two together and Cole was always one for characterizations. If anything I would agree with Mary in the sense that I would have liked more, but I think that Cole did well as to be expected due to his injury… unfortunately despite that injury it didn’t really give as much of a cushion as it could.

Tiffany Maher w/ Brandon Bryant – Disco
There isn’t much for me to talk about with this routine, Tiffany was more in the air than on the floor so critiquing was going to be difficult. There were moments that I thought that she had a to work a bit to make the transitions smooth between tricks but it wasn’t bad. This was a very energetic routine that she did well in, however, I haven’t been able to feel much from her throughout the season and she hasn’t really captured my attention yet.

ELIMINATED ROUTINES
George Lawrence Jr w/ Allison Holker – Jazz
No surprise here, George’s performance seemed to fall flat for me here, but I had always had trouble connecting with George no matter how beautiful of a dancer he is. The one issue with this routine was the use of the cane which I kept comparing to that of Season 6’s Ashleigh and Jakob’s routine which was leaps and bounds more memorable than this. Even though the storylines differ I’ll still remember the Season 6 routine over this one.

Audrey Case w/ Stephen “tWitch” Boss – Hip Hop
I really wanted to like this routine, I really did, but dammit I couldn’t, I simply couldn’t. Audrey is another of those dancers that I haven’t been able to connect with throughout the season and she always appeared to fall flat for me. In the case of this performance she is put against someone like tWitch who is just oozing charisma and personality and she doesn’t come up to scratch she’s going to appear like a moving prop… which unfortunately is what happened to me.

GROUP ROUTINE
Paraphrased from the IdolForums:

It was a tribute to Gene Kelly, who’s 100th birthday is this week. Tyce took classic, iconic elements of Gene’s movies & incorporated them into the dance. So there’s Singin in the Rain with the umbrella (Chehon’s part), Cyd Charisse (Eliana, in a beautiful green dress), Fair Weather, Anchors Aweigh (at least that’s what I thought of when I saw Audrey, Lindsay & Witney in sailor/navy costumes but that could have also been On the Town), when he danced with Jerry Mouse, things like that. […] There were a few props on stage: director’s chair with Gene Kelly on the back, a ladder, trash can lids that Will, George, & Tyce (filling in for injured Cole) danced with, Chehon’s Singin umbrella. […] Everyone kind of danced in their own little groups seperately at various points of the dance, then all came together at the end to dance in one big group. Cole did show up at the close of the routine; […]

TOP TWO GIRLS
Eliana Girard
Lindsay Arnold
TOP TWO GUYS
Chehon Wespi-Tschopp
Will Thomas
BOTTOM TWO GIRLS
Witney Carson
Tiffany Maher
BOTTOM TWO GUYS
Cyrus Spencer
Cole Horibe
August 23, 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... =)

So You Think You Can Dance Season 9: Top 10 Performances – Music and Instant Thoughts!

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Since I wasn’t able to see the show til the morning after… I’m posting everything now. Please bare with me and I apologize for the delay.

Dancer: Top 10 Dancers
Style: Broadway
Choreographer: Tyce Diorio
Song: Mark Isham – “The Cool World Stomp” The Cool World Stomp - Cool World (Original Motion Picture Score)

ROUTINES WITH THE ALL-STARS
Dancer: Tiffany Maher
All Star: Brandon Bryant
Style: Disco
Choreographer: Doriana Sanchez
Song: Cobra Starship feat. Sabi – “You Make Me Feel…” (Disco Fries remix) You Make Me Feel... (Disco Fries Remix) - You Make Me Feel... (feat. Sabi) [Remixes] - EP
Instant Thoughts: It was rather difficult to develop any kind of criticism because this was just shock full of tricks and lifts, which were executed really well. What I would have loved to have seen was more foot work, but what can you do? In the sense of the dance they were energetic and fun and you can’t help but want to get into the beat and groove in the movement.

Dancer: Witney Carson
All Star: Nick Lazzarini
Style: Jazz
Choreographer: Travis Wall
Song: Moloko – “Sing It Back” Sing It Back - Repo Men (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Instant Thoughts: Witney needs help being sexy? Really? And she’s what? 18? I really liked this routine, definitely caught my attention and considering it is Jazz, she did rather well.

Dancer: Cole Horibe
All Star: Anya Garnis
Style: ChaCha
Choreographer: Dmitry Chaplin
Song: The Wanted – “Glad You Came” Glad You Came - The Wanted
Instant Thoughts: I was expecting a lot out of Cole this week and was a little bit disappointed. Well, he did connect with Anya but I wanted him to really dig into the steps more.

Dancer: Lindsay Arnold
All Star: Jakob Karr
Style:Broadway
Choreographer: Spencer Liff
Song: Fosse – “Dancin’ Dan” (Me and My Shadow) Dancin' Dan (Me and My Shadow) - Fosse (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
Instant Thoughts: This was fun to watch and I really enjoyed it. It wasn’t a perfect shadow at the beginning and that was a little distracting but once they started dancing together I was enjoying it more.

Dancer: Will Thomas
All Star: Kathryn McCormick
Style: Bollywood
Choreographer: Nakul Dev Mahajan
Song: The Dirty Picture – “Ooh La La” Ooh La La - The Dirty Picture (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) - EP
Instant Thoughts: Will is just one massive goof ball and that is fine by me. I thought he did decently well with this dance, he had energy but yeah sometimes that goofiness comes off as too much but in this case it works… barely.

Dancer: Cyrus “Glitch” Spencer
All Star: Jaimie Goodwin
Style: Contemporary
Choreographer: Travis Wall
Song: M83 – “Outro” Outro - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming.
Instant Thoughts: Wow, just wow… Cyrus definitely impressed me this time around. Pushed beyond what we perceived to be his limit… his strengths were shown with his partnering and as the judges were calling it “raw talent”. Unfortunately it also showed a little of his lack of training in this area, but considering just how much he is growing on the show that is always a positive.

Dancer: Chehon Wespi-Tschopp
All Star: Lauren Gottlieb
Style: Hip-hop
Choreographer: Dave Scott
Song: Maxwell – “Pretty Wings” Pretty Wings (Uncut) - BLACKsummers'night (Deluxe Version)
Instant Thoughts: This was another routine that wowed me, Chehon doing hip-hop? Yeeeeaaaah. He looked like he was having fun with his partner and there were a killer team together.

Dancer: George Lawrence, Jr
All Star: Allison Holker
Style: Jazz
Choreographer: Tyce Diorio
Song: Hazmat Modine – “Bahamut” Bahamut - Bahamut
Instant Thoughts: When I saw the cane I immediately thought of another routine in Season 6 and unfortunately I couldn’t keep myself from comparing between the two. George is a strong dancer, but he just has’t wowed me in the grand scheme of things.

Dancer: Eliana Girard
All Star: Alex Wong
Style: Contemporary
Choreographer: Stacey Tookey
Song: Nancy Sinatra – “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)” Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) - How Does That Grab You?
Instant Thoughts: Definitely a favorite, this really appears to really show off Eliana in ways that she wasn’t when she was partnered with Cyrus. She really shined in this piece and having a well-trained partner like Alex definitely helped with that as well.

Dancer: Audrey Case
All Star: Stephen “tWitch” Boss
Style: Hip-hop
Choreographer: Dave Scott
Song: Janelle Monáe – “Sincerely, Jane” Sincerely, Jane - Metropolis: the Chase Suite
Instant Thoughts: For some reason I wasn’t really feeling Audrey tonight, she danced the piece decently enough, but when compared to someone like tWitch she has to really step up her game and she just didn’t for me which is unfortunate.

SOLO ROUTINES
Witney Carson: Santigold – “You’ll Find a Way” (Switch & Sinden remix) You'll Find a Way (Switch & Sinden Remix) - Fame (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Audrey Case: Jennifer Hudson – “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going (Highlights Version) - Dreamgirls (Music from the Motion Picture)
Chehon Wespi-Tschopp: Ólafur Arnalds – “Til Enda” Til enda - Dyad 1909
George Lawrence, Jr.: Olafur Arnalds – “Brotsjor” Brotsjór - Dyad 1909

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... =)

All The Right Moves

If you are looking to get you dance fix while SYTYCD is taking time off for the Olympics, then I have the perfect suggestion. All The Right Moves (ARTM) a reality show that follows Travis Wall, Nick Lazzarini, Teddy Forance, and Kyle Robinson on their journey of forming the dance company Shaping Sound and hoping to make it succeed.

ARTM premiers Tuesday, July 31st at 9/8 central on the Oxygen Network, and yes episodes will be available online. In fact the first episode is already up and it’s also available on Comcast’s On Demand feature. I’ve watched the episode twice already and I can tell this will be an entertaining, drama filled show with some amazing dancing.

Just to give a few basics of the show, Travis, Nick, Teddy, and Kyle are all living under one roof in a house they call “The Manor”. So living and working together there is bound to drama. I’m looking forward to getting to know Teddy and Kyle as the season progresses and yes ladies they are easy on the eyes, oh and straight. Travis and Nick we already know, so I’m sure we will learn more about them we didn’t know. For example Nick has a crush on Kyle, and Travis talks in a baby voice when talking on the phone with his boyfriend (not his best trait). Also you will see two girls that will be featured Jamie Goodwin (who isn’t able to dance due to her knee) and Taja Riley both girls grew up dancing at Denise Wall’s Dance studio.

Meet the Guys

Fun interview about the show and catch a glimpse of who is in the company also look for two familiar faces from this season of SYTYCD.

So tune in and watch and let us know what you think.

July 29, 2012 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.

Shaping Sound Live Performance 5/8/12 – Travis Wall, Nick Lazzarini, Teddy Forance, Kyle Robison

Travis Wall, Teddy Forance & Nick Lazzarini present the hottest new contemporary dance company in the country, Shaping Sound — soon to be featured on the Oxygen network in their own show “All The Right Moves,” which documents the creation of this amazing assembled group of dance visionaries, and stars Travis Wall, Nick Lazzarini, Teddy Forance and Kyle Robinson.

Shaping Sound Presents Come Together
Tuesday, May 8th, 2012 at 8:00pm
Saban Theatre – 8440 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90211
To Purchase Tickets – http://www.flavorus.com/cometogether

Video Below 🙂

May 3, 2012 I Written By

www.youtube.com/danceon

SYTYCD Alum on Dancing with the Stars

Thanks to Rickey, who has an excellent video on his site of the SYTYCD alum dancing tonight on Dancing with the Stars. Danny Tidwell! Nick Lazzarini! Jaimie Goodwin! Choreographed by Travis Wall!!!

This just goes to show that we’re spoiled by So You Think You Can Dance, a dream world where the dancer’s faces are in close-up while they dance. In the rest of the world, we get so few views of their faces and their expressions, not like we do on SYTYCD.

This performance was killer! It was nice to see the alum again!

John’s Update: Here’s the video of the performance

Also, check out more videos of Nuttin’ But Stringz on Pure America’s Got Talent.

April 13, 2010 I Written By

Latest SYTYCD Twitter Round-Up

As you might imagine, Twitter is exploding with interesting Tweets from our favorite folks associated with SYTYCD. Not all of it is related to Season 7 and the All-Star announcements, though many are.

Here’s a sample for you:

official_tWitch

Thanks for all the love everyone! I’m very excited for this season 7 sytycd coming up. I think ya’ll are going to love it!!! 7 minutes ago via twidroid

travISova

Exciting news!!! Dick Clark productions sent off “If It Kills Me” for a submission for an Emmy today!!! HOLY CRAP BALLS 32 minutes ago via Twitterrific

That Emmy news is well-deserved! I’m so glad! I have confidence a nomination will follow!

ADEEVERYDAY

@CaitlinKinney27 I’m jealous you’re seeing @melissasandvig about 1 hours ago via Tweetie in reply to CaitlinKinney27

Ellenore

Hey everyone! Exciting News: Just booked a couple of episodes of the tv show “One Life to Live”! I’ll tell you the dates when I get them! 🙂 about 2 hours ago via mobile web

CaitlinKinney27

So freaking excited to @melisasandvig today!!!! Yaaaaaahhhhh about 2 hours ago via Twitterrific

ChelsieKayH

Thank you everyone for your support and sweet comments about last night!! In make up trailor now! Excited for our pro dance tonight! about 2 hours ago via Echofon

dizzyfeet

Another All-Star name tomorrow. I’m meeting with Kenny Ortega for lunch. We have some really exciting ideas that we’re working on together. about 4 hours ago via Echofon

LaceySchwimmer

YAWN! shooting @theDaily10 today! then off to choreograph with Dmitry for a Pro dance number for Monday and for Tuesday! about 4 hours ago via web

adammshankman

End of day tweet: starting to get cast for mptf benefit. Motion picture and television fund. I love this event. about 14 hours ago via Tweetie

NickLazzarini

Karaoke with @NeilHaskell and @travISova about 15 hours ago via Twitterrific

This last one’s just so weird and funny to contemplate. Imagine karaoke with those three!

March 30, 2010 I Written By