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Alex Wong “Crave” Music Video – Exclusive Look #2

Alex Wong (SYTYCD, Season 7) has a music video for his song “Crave” coming soon, and the video is packed with So You Think You Can Dance veterans. Lauren Gottlieb (SYTYCD, Season 3) is the video’s director and choreographer, and Legacy (SYTYCD, Season 6) is the video’s associate director and co-choreographer. Check out the exclusive behind-the-scenes look below 🙂

March 22, 2012 I Written By

www.youtube.com/danceon

Alex Wong – Crave Music Video – Exclusive First Look

Alex Wong (SYTYCD, Season 7) has a music video for his song “Crave” coming soon! Watch this exclusive sneak peek about the making of the video and the choreography. Lauren Gottlieb (SYTYCD, Season 3) is the video’s director and choreographer, and Legacy (SYTYCD, Season 6) is the video’s associate director and co-choreographer. Video Below 🙂

February 23, 2012 I Written By

www.youtube.com/danceon

Open Letter to SYTYCD Producers: How to Fix SYTYCD

Dear SYTYCD Producers,

Here at PureSYTYCD, we’ve had several conversations lately about why ratings, Internet traffic and overall enthusiasm and discussion have been sinking season by season. Margaret says it can be traced to the infamous Fall season, Season 6, when our favorite show started changing swiftly and drastically. While some of the changes have been really amazing (All-Stars), some of them have been just dreadful (yes, I’m going to say it once again – the stage).

So Fox, Nigel, here are OUR pointers for how to fix the show (and readers, please, please add your own in the comments or tell us how you feel about ours and add your voice to the open letter).

1. Keep rotating judges and guest judges – just rotate Nigel right off the panel. We loved the guest judges this season (with the notable exceptions of Carmen Electra and Katie Holmes), especially the fact that we got a rotation of our favorite choreographers on the panel. We’ve learned that static judges are annoying, no matter who they are. Whether it was Nigel, Mary, Mia or Adam, we got tired of hearing the same voices when we already knew what they were going to say. Jean-Marc is a good (pervy) example of this on the Canadian show. However, Nigel almost never rotates out,  so we’re extra tired of him. If you need guest judges to replace him, we’ll make ourselves available. Hey, why not? Fans of the show are good judges, considering the best of the celebrity guest judges were the ones who were clearly fans.

2. Speaking of Nigel, let’s talk about his producing style. While we can’t say we’ve ever produced a show and we can only imagine the numerous concerns involved, we get a little annoyed by Nigel’s heavy-handed pulling-the-puppet-strings style. While we admire that he’s always willing to try new things and some of those new things have really been excellent, the best producing is the kind that doesn’t draw attention to itself. Nigel keeps insisting on shoving the dancers and the show into this perfectly produced package. (Can we talk about how the judges kept the elimination after Top 10 and it was never acknowledged on the show? And how the girls were “beasts” slaying the boys THE WHOLE SEASON, probably to compensate for the Girl Slaughter of Season 7?) Melanie got dubbed America’s Favorite Dancer (by the judges) in the auditions and was never truly challenged or critiqued (by the judges) during the whole season. It could’ve cost Melanie the win she totally deserved if she hadn’t been so adorable and talented. We’re getting tired of Nigel deciding who’s going to win and then trying to make it so. Is it America’s Favorite Dancer or is it Nigel’s Favorite Dancer? Guess which show we’re not going to watch next season?

So how do we fix this, you might ask? John suggests that we need more charismatic dancers who are really good in one style and have to fight to conquer other styles (like Ivan and Russell, who won his season). Marianya says she misses seeing the dancers really challenged at the beginning of the show. Fans of SYTYCD love watching the unexpected partnership and the unexpected dancer struggle and then achieve, making themselves our favorites in the process.

Margaret: Part of what makes those first few weeks so interesting, besides watching partnerships that we really hook into (Melanie & Marko) is wondering how other dancers would work together. If Kayla & Max/Ashley & Kupono hadn’t been in the bottom during week 2 of season 5, Max & Ashley may not have been eliminated at the same time and we wouldn’t have gotten to see the surprisingly great partnership of Kayla & Kupono—which means we wouldn’t have gotten “Addiction” and it’s rated as one of the best numbers the show has ever had, rightly so.

So one way to fix this would be to go back to SYTYCD’s roots. We’ve had some of the most technically gifted dancers the last three seasons and sometimes we could hardly bring ourselves to care because while there was nothing “wrong” with a dancer or a routine, we just couldn’t get excited. This might mean more bad routines and bad dancing but will make us so grateful again for the truly transcendent moments. Which brings us to…

3. We need diversity in dance styles and choreographers. Doreana Sanchez is not the only person choreographing disco routines and Nakul dev Mahajan is not the only Bollywood choreographer. Go to Canada if you don’t believe me. What would happen if there were only one contemporary routine on any given show or maybe only one contemporary routine every few weeks? What if we HAD to depend on Afro Jazz, House, all of the Ballroom styles, Bollywood, Pas de Deux , etc. to fill in the episode?

And for diversity, we don’t even have to look any further than the other SYTYCD franchises. Canada and UK have phenomenal choreographers (and dancers!), as did Australia. Those are just the English-speaking franchises. What wonderful choreographers could we find if the producers imported from the Ukraine SYTYCD or the Turkish or Polish versions?

4. And speaking of one big happy family, why not create another Fall show, but make it different, perhaps a shorter super competition? What if we had SYTYCD SuperStars and all of the previous contestants from ALL of the franchises were eligible to come back and compete for the “World’s Favorite Dancer” title? Maybe this show is 2 episodes a week for only 4 weeks, just to make it special and so that it might not overlap with the World Series again? Dancers featured on SYTYCD don’t have a potential “product” like American Idol singers do when they release a cd, so anytime the producers can create a vehicle for these dancers that doesn’t overshadow the current cast, they’re helping create more of a career and presence for the dancers. The great thing about this idea is that it totally supports this next point…

5. Ditch the musical guests. Or ditch about 90% of them. Keep the 10% that are willing to use SYTYCD dancers for backup dancers (including the current cast! didn’t that happen one season?). Maybe the musical performances bring in money, or maybe you producers only think they do. The reality is, they usually suck and I’m only watching the dancers anyway. It’s like, on Dancing with the Stars, the ONLY reason I watch the musical performances is to catch the dancing that happens at the same time. I would MUCH RATHER see dance performances. It’d be a good time to show us alumni dancers re-dancing their iconic numbers as much more evolved dancers (think Kent and LoFro doing the prom number – it was only 8 months later and they’d already become such different dancers). Bring in performers from all the other SYTYCD franchises, like you did with UK’s recent winner Matt Flint. Pairing him with the all-too-soon-eliminated Nick and Jess in a tap routine that THEY choreographed? BRILLIANT. Easily one of the highlights of not just the finale, but of the season. Do it more. That’s the key to re-building your audience: when you do something we like, do it more. When you do something we don’t like, stop doing it.

6. Which means, bring back the smaller and more intimate stage. Season 8’s stage (or the camera work and lack of distracting backlights) was better than the Seasons 6 and 7 monstrosity, but only by a bit. Watching SYTYCD Canada reminds me of how amazing the original stage is and you really need to listen to us and bring it back. It was a big part of why we fell in love with the show and the Seasons 1-5 dancers. Do you know why? We were closer to them. There were more physical possibilities for the choreographers when it came to moving the dancers around the stage because it wasn’t a giant, uniform thing. When it comes down to it, the stage represents the entire SYTYCD producers vs SYTYCD audience disagreement. With this big uber stage (since S6), you are focusing on the package, the spectacle. The more intimate circle stage that we love and still mourn focuses on the dancers.

Margaret: I miss my stairs! There was something about the old stage and how it was round that made the dances feel like stories, not performances for an audience. We were able to get more closeups, feel the emotions, and the set was about enhancing the dancing, not enhancing the spectacle. My best example came from, oddly, the guy I think used the stage the best during his time with SYTYCD, Wade. With “Ruby Blue,” Brandon and Janette entered the story by popping up from behind a wall and coming down the stairs, and their ability to use the stage in that entrance played a major role in the believability of the movements. But, in Season 6, with the “inside Van Goh’s head” piece Wade did for Peter and Pauline, the ridiculous fractured painting that rotated and flipped on the projecting screen was super distracting and took away from what was actually a really well-danced piece, especially from Peter. It was a very cool routine and they danced it really well, but their technical success was overshadowed by the “overdoneness” of the set.

7. Instead of spending the money on the bigger stage and a lot of flash, we would rather that you spend the money to figure out how to release SYTYCD DVDs so we can re-watch our favorite seasons without resorting to YouTube and other means. There is a market for it, so figure it out. Whenever you focus on the dancers–current, alumni, International franchise dancers, whatever–you can’t go wrong with us. That’s the simple fact at the heart of the matter.

And now that we’ve critiqued you quite a lot, here’s a list of what we like and want you to keep.

1. The All-Stars – having them arrive at the Top 10 is the perfect marriage. Keep it up. Only, we want to see them re-dance their iconic routines and you missed a lot of opportunities to do this during Season 8. Fix that.

Margaret: Not only does this give us the chance to see dancers we love again, but use this as a way to plug their success. Allison & Ivan were All-Stars in the same week, how were they not asked to dance together?! Same with Chelsie & Mark! Those are two of the most successful partnerships, and some of the best personalities, the show has ever had, be proud of that, they are SYTYCD success to the highest degree.

2. The Meet the Top 20 performance – sheer genius. It’s been a highlight of each season you’ve done it. Especially since we get to see the dancers twice on the live show before anyone’s eliminated. Keep that.

3. We like the dancers you pick! We just want you to cut back on the contemporary/jazz and pick some dancers with different backgrounds. We want them to be challenged more and truly judged, all of them and fairly. And clearly they’re talented, because they’re going on to dance in movies, commercials, music videos, music tours, Broadway shows, Glee and DWTS.

Margaret: We also love underdogs, they’re fun to root for. Give us more Tads, Russells, Dominics, Jeanines, Evans, Nicks, even Lauren Froderman floundered her 1st week and was in danger of going home!

4. Cat is the one thing most of us can agree on. She smooths over the awkward moments and she uses her great sense of humor to keep things rolling. I love it when she gets to pick dances for the finale show.

Remember, no matter what, we love the show. We only want to like it again.

Sincerely (and xoxo),

SYTYCD Fans/PureSYTYCD writers

P.S. Sorry this is a little long – clearly we had a lot to say.

September 6, 2011 I Written By

Another Twitter Roundup!

Here’s another Twitter Roundup for your enjoyment!

LaurenGottlieb
Ugh! When JLo calls ur supposed to drop what ur doing &go!!..I just dont know if I can do that this time:/ Sending good vibes hope it works about 1 hour ago

karla_w_a_K
still under construction … http://www.KarlaPunoGarcia.com about 2 hours ago

[She also posts dance class footage]

PaulineMata
New video with @juskalmeB and I! Check it out and let me know what you think! 🙂 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wg5LOAHbvv0 about 3 hours ago

[Choreographed by Brandon Bryant, Ade behind the camera and Melissa in the background. Quite the SYTYCD reunion here. :)]

jakobakarr
Packing and getting ready for my long Oscar journey. So excited to perform at the Academy Awards! Excied for @NYCDA Pittsburg first though! about 3 hours ago

adammshankman
Oh lord. They dug up the clips of me dancing on the 1990 #oscars and are posting them on oscars.org I think…young & ridiculous. about 7 hours ago

ChelsieKayH
Everyone go check out the 2010 Sports Illustrated Mag!! i was lucky enough to be selected to be in it 🙂 11:19 AM Feb 10th

[The link above was inserted by me and takes you to Chelsie’s SI pictures.]

February 11, 2010 I Written By

Emilie’s Top Routines From Season 6

This was hard! There were a lot of routines that were equally good in my mind, so I had to work hard to limit myself to a Top 10. I gave myself 5 extra routines for group numbers that rocked – we had a lot of amazing group work this season, especially when you factor in the Meet the Top 20 episode. I did not consider “fairness” or equal distribution here. So I think you’ll see a lot of the same dancers, which didn’t surprise me, personally.

Paired Routines

1. “Machine Gun” Ellenore/Legacy Travis Wall

2. “Tore My Heart” Ellenore/Jakob Sonya Tayeh

3. “At This Moment” Kathryn/Jakob Desmond Richardson and Dwight Rhoden

4. “Little Green Bag” Pauline/Peter Wade & Amanda Robson

5. “Your Ex-Lover Is Dead” Ellenore/Ryan Travis Wall

6. “2 Steps Away” Kathryn/Legacy Stacey Tookey

7. “Frog Dance” Noelle/Russell Sean Cheesman

8. “Put Your Hands on Me” Kathryn/Ryan Jason Gilkison

9. “Violentango” Ellenore/Ryan Miriam and Leonardo

10. “Put Your Hands On me” Kathryn/Ryan Jason Gilkison

Honorable Mentions (alllllmooooosssst): Kathryn/Legacy’s paso doble, Noelle/Russell’s “A Case of You” contemporary, Noelle/Ryan “Give It To Me Right” hip hop, Mollee/Jakob’s “Ordinary Day” waltz, Ellenore/Jakob “Gotcha” Broadway, Ashleigh/Jakob “Whatcha Say” hip hop, Ariana/Peter’s “Black and Gold” hip hop, Bianca/Victor’s “Wasted Time” contemporary, Ellenore/Russell paso doble, Kathryn/Russell hip hop (both finale).

Group Routines

1. Top 20 “Comanche” Wade & Amanda Robson

2. Top 12 “What’s a Girl to Do” Nappytabs

3. Top 14 “Aha!” Wade & Amanda Robson

4. Top 16 “Warrior” Dave Scott

5. Ariana, Channing, Jakob and Nathan “Cryin'” contemporary Tyce Diorio

These were my standouts, the routines I’d expect on a tour (with the exception of those who didn’t make the Top 10). What were yours?

December 22, 2009 I Written By

What Are Our Dancers Doing Lately?

This is a Twitter round-up, of sorts, cause a few of our favorite dancers have Tweeted about what they’re up to lately. Here you go:

MelissaSandvig Shopping with @adeeveryday and @jglove988 dolce and gabana hello!!! 11 minutes ago

LaurenGottlieb Yay!!! Just got word about another Glee episode…is it time for a rematch Matthew Morrison?? I think so =) 16 minutes ago

PaulineMata Class from Kyle Hanagami, Matt Cady, and Elm Pizzaro was amazing! Oh and saw @nathantrasoras today. Missed him much! It’s such a good day 🙂 44 minutes ago

miamilegacy Audition for a music video.. Wish me luck !!!!! about 4 hours ago

Billy_Bell Omg noooo! Bad rumor! RT @wilpher: @Billy_Bell do u have cancer? Hope not! about 7 hours ago

JManrara @jGlove988 is not having a good day! I’m on my way home, but wish I could be there to make him feel better… Love you babe!!!! Muuuuuah! 🙁 4:18 PM Dec 20th

ADEEVERYDAY @fivealive2009 rands! I need to Update you immediately. I’m shooting a music video today but I’ll call u when I get a chance. I’m dying!! 1:09 PM Dec 2nd

December 21, 2009 I Written By

The Voted Off Dancers on The Ellen Show

Here are the other dancers performing on The Ellen Show after they got voted off. Enjoy!

Nathan and Noelle

Victor and Karen (sorry this is a little long…the dancing starts at 6:35)

Channing and Kevin (again long…dancing starts at 7:05 but what’s wrong with these photos are hilarious!)

Pauline and Peter

Philip and Bianca/Brandon and Ariana

I couldn’t seem to find these videos online. I don’t remember seeing Brandon and Ariana perform on The Ellen Show but I could’ve sworn that Philip and Bianca did. If you know where to find one of these videos please let me know in the comments section.

December 14, 2009 I Written By

Pauline And Peter’s SYTYCD Exit Video

It was posted late, but here it is finally. I’m gonna miss Peter especially, but I enjoyed Pauline a lot as well.

As a bonus, here’s a video of Nigel and Mary talking about the show. Mostly it’s Nigel complaining about Nathan not being in the Bottom 3, so watch at your own risk. Your blood pressure may rise. 🙂

November 19, 2009 I Written By

SYTYCD Top 14 Results Thoughts

We’re getting closer to closer to Top 10 and the big switch up, so this is an important results show. Especially after such an amazing performance episode. I’m mixed about these results…

Read more..

November 18, 2009 I Written By

SYTYCD Twitter Round Up!

When we’re talking about them, they’re usually talking, too. About the show, us, themselves also. ;”)

Nigel (dizzyfeet):

11 hrs ago: Thanks for all your wonderful support. I’m glad so many realize that we are a professional competition and need to maintain credible results

12 hrs ago: I should not have told the audience to “shut up” tonight. Unfortunately their mindless catawauling got the better of me on that ocassion. [sic]

22 hrs ago: Two more dancers will be leaving us tonight. I don’t want any complaints from people who didn’t vote. I’m hearing you re. the new set.

23 hrs ago: The results are very interesting. I’m disappointed with one couple in the bottom 3 but not surprised. See if you agree on tonight’s show.

Nov 10th 10:16 a.m. : Season 5 tour in LA last night. The improvements in these dancers have made this show one of my favorites. Their comedy timing is excellent

Nov 4th 4:34 p.m.: @blakemcgrath we’d love that!

Oct. 25th 1:29 p.m. : I’m happy the judges decide, besides we know best at this moment. A couple of weeks more will help the public become better informed.

Adam (adammshankman):

11 hrs ago: Dance I’d who I am. That’s what Peter said. That’s how I feel. He’ll b fine [sic]

11 hrs ago: FYI: if Pauline and Peter move to LA they will work. They will work a lot. They are wonderful.

11 hrs ago: I held Pauline and Peter in my arms while they cried. It was horrible and we love them. It’s a competition show. It’s wt they sigh up 4.

11 hrs ago: No elimination on sytycd will be universally embraced. U hv no idea how hard it is to cut our kids. We lv thm. r job is to cut. Pls undrstn

Nov 9th 11:47 a.m: Sorry: the gala won’t be televised! One of a kind event! Get tix asap

Nov 9th 11:38 a.m.: Update: dizzyfeet gala on nov 29, dwts cast, sytycd season 5, Mary Murphy and demetri, qwest, the leads of step up (cont)

Nov 6th 2:36 p.m.: Dizzyfeet number coming together. Awesome

Nov 6th 2:12 a.m.: Great line up for dizzyfeet gala: sytycd dancers, dwts cast, step up dancers… So cool. I’m psyched

Oct 27th 9:58 a.m.: Watch sytycd tonight. First competition show. Very emotional already.

Travis (travISova):

14 mins ago: Getting my hairs cut!!! Then rehearsal with my couple

14 hrs ago: so excited about the couple i have this week on sytycd……like so excited!!

Peter (PeterSabasino):

Nov 11 12:15 a.m.: OMG….so tired from rehearsals…..But loving every minute of it. This cast is amazing

Nov 10 9:17 a.m.: Last night was amazing. 5 Alive was dope, Now Season sick is Hungrier than ever. We’re all gon Kill it…Love you guys! MWWWAH!

Billy (Billy_Bell):

1 hr ago: At the doctor getting another ultrasound… Hope I’m not pregnant!

Nov 9 3:44 p.m.: @PaulineMata perfection buy me some clothes while you’re out today;)

Nov 9 1:42 p.m.: @Paulinemata yell at @jakobakarr for not tweeting ever how is he supposed to function as a season 6er and not tweet?!?! haha

Nov 8 11:33 p.m.: @Jglove988 you arnt so bad yourself. I hope I see you and @jmanrara soon! I miss you guys! And I love you too @paulinemata

Jeanine (itsjeaninemason):

14 hrs ago: At the Clippers game!! random but I’ve apparently been in a basketball mood lately. So proud of my hubby @jakobakarr!!

Nov 10 3:01 a.m.: LA show was amazing!!! Oh and how can I forget! my butt decided to make a guest appearance during paso..I mooned 7,000 people, yippe!

Nov 8 5:15 p.m.: Heading to a taping of SYTYCD season 6!! Can’t wait to see all the crew and scream for the amazing talenttttt ahhhhh

Nov 8 1:11 p.m.: Had the best night on the G-Lounge party bus!! And was married to my one true love @alohakupono…choo-choo! Just got to Lala land 🙂

Nov 7 4:19 p.m.: Doing some press in Utah and then hanging out with the girls…I’m going to miss these smelly locker rooms

Kupono (alohakupono):

Nov 8 4:18 a.m.: PARtY BUS is AMAAAZiNG!!!! DeCORAtED the GuRLS BUS and transformed it into the LoVE2LiVE-LiVE2GiVE G-LoUNGE!!! I got a FoG MACHiNE ; )

Nov 6 11:12 p.m.: New FAVORiTE GaME is “NiNJA DeSTRUCTiON” minus the part where RANDi’S LiL’ SiS split my LiP!!!! YES… I was BEATeN UP by a GiRL : (

Nov 6 7:41 p.m.: RANDi’S HoUSE KiCkS ASs!!!! We’re sitting around a FiREPiT in her BACkYARD w/PiZZA and later we’re having a GoLFCART RACe!!! SO EXCiTeD!!!

Nappytabs (NAPPYTABS):

2 hrs ago: On our way to SYTYCD rehearsal!

16 hrs ago: Break is over! Workin on SYTYCD choreo now. This a FULL day of rehearsal & choreo!

20 hrs ago: Hey, forgot to give a shout out to all the SYTYCD tour dancers. Nice job, loved the show! Sorry we didn’t get back to see you, had rehearsal

Jakob (jakobakarr):

11 hrs ago: quality time with @channingcooke. love 🙂

Nov 10 2:18 a.m.: AMAZING night. 5 Alive tour show was incredible. So inspiring!

Nov 4 1:02 p.m.: Tweeting priveledges restored! Soaking up the sun with Ellenore and Pauline. Love

Noelle (iamnolz):

Nov 9 11:17 p.m.: wow! LIFE CHANGING! =D

Nov 9 5:15 p.m.: shopping with @channingcooke @paulinemata and Ryan and Ashley!

Nov 9 2:47 p.m.: @Billy_Bell I love you and MISS YOUUUU!!!!! =)

Nov 2 11:31 a.m.: I fell but I got back up =)… that is what’s important!


Man, I could go on forever with this! I’m sure I missed some fun/important/exciting Tweets, so lemme know!


November 12, 2009 I Written By