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SYTYCD: Judges Auditions Part 4

Well last night started off with Jalen Sands auditioning…not introduction, no comments from the judges, and a ticket to the Academy. I’m not complaining about it because Jalen was fun and funky but just felt like a weird way to start the show. Anyways, last nights episode was fun and even has some familiar faces.

Trent & Colton Edwards: Identical twins who have only be dancing for three years. I almost instantly recognized them…they appeared on AGT two years ago. I thought they were just okay then but they have improved so much since then. Regardless of what happens on this show these brothers have a career in some form of entertainment.

Bryan Volozanin “Clocks”: Honestly, sometimes I only half paying attention to some stories but when Bryan mentioned he was apart of the Jabbawockeez show in Vegas…I was like wait…what? It’s kind of nice to see one of them dancing with out the mask on. Bryan has made it to the green mile in the past and I think that should work to his advantage.

Hip hop had its hot streak of dancers getting a ticket to the Academy. Then it was the ballroom hopefuls turn and they brought past top 10 contestants to be their partner.

Sofia Ghavami brought Kiki from season 14

Vlad Kvartin brough Magda from season 15

Annie Lyn Sheketoff brought Ryan(her coach) from season 6

Sydney Burtis: Dance helped her rise above her autism and a tap star was born. I loved her and I love that they mic the taps for this show. Sydney has been fan of the show since she was young and even has D-Trix on her wall.

As I was preparing for the last two audition of the night, there was a storm moving my way. Which means it will affect my satellite signal…and it would be my luck that it did interrupt the show a little bit but thank goodness for the internet.

Jarrod Tyler Paulson: A jack of all trades who just happens to be a dancer. There was just something about his dance style that made want to see him work with Travis Wall. I really want to see more of him.

Madison Jordan: Jarrod’s girlfriend, who has a very different/unique style. I liked her just wish I was able to hear what the judges said about her.

I liked that they auditioned separately but I also liked that Nigel allowed them to dance together.

Looks like next week will be a repeat but hopefully the Academy episodes will begin the following week.

June 25, 2019 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.

So You Think You Can Dance Season 9: Top 6 Power Rankings

TOP TWO ROUTINES:
Chehon Wespi-Tschopp & Anya Garnis – Argentine Tango
Oh Em Gee… Hot Hot Hot… I was WAITING for this… this… Argentine Tango, but not only that an Argentine Tango that was done really well. I love how the choreographers incorporated a bit of his classical ballet training into the piece (much like Danny Tidwell with Sara von Gillem in Season 3) it was just beyond hot. Definitely one of my favorites of the night.

Cole Horibe & Allison Holker – Contemporary
For some reason the choreographers are really latching onto his crazy, darker, psychotic side of his character / personality and who can blame them? He does it way too well. I like this piece, a lot, but honestly I am over the whole dark Cole thing… I want to see him try sexy again or even goofy and fun… please? Beyond that… he is a very strong technical dancer so I am not really worried about his dance ability.

MIDDLE TWO ROUTINES:
Eliana Girard & Ryan Di Lello – Quickstep
What’s there to say? I highly doubt there is anything that Eliana can not do… I mean she has been killing it for the most part with every routine up to date and she managed to help her first partner look good for the most part as well. She constant joy of being able to dance was consistent in this routine and she just seemed like she was having a grand ole time even while being in character.

Tiffany Maher & Ade Obayomi – Contemporary
For weeks I simply could not understand the draw that is Tiffany. Being a Jazz dancer I didn’t feel like she was challenged in this routine like she could have been, but I will admit even I liked her in this routine. She and Ade partnered in this routine rather well and I will begrudgingly agree that she has been fairly consistent when it comes to her work on the routines… I would love to see how she would fare in another routine that pushes her even further.

BOTTOM TWO ROUTINES:
Witney Carson & Stephen “tWitch” Boss – Hip-hop
There is no doubt that Witney is just oozing personality and charisma and she brings a lot of that to her dances, however, in regards to content I just felt that there wasn’t enough of it and as thus I felt like she wasn’t being challenged or pushed as far as I think she could have been. As thus, this was not a memorable routine for me in any capacity… and I just felt that she feel flat.

Cyrus “Glitch” Spencer & Melanie Moore – Jazz
There are some routines that pushed and prodded Cyrus in so many directions and there are others that kind of catered to his weakness and I think this routine did the latter more than the former. Yes Cyrus was being challenged… but it felt slow and sloppy in areas. Since I believed if he was pushed in every routine like he was in the Travis Wall routine last week it may have accelerated his growth a bit more… instead we are left wondering why he is still around and I don’t want to think that way because he really is superb at what he does and there is just a wealth of potential there for him to grow so much more.

ELIMINATED ROUTINES:
Will Thomas & Lauren Gottlieb – Hip-hop
This is the routine I was waiting for from Will, something that showed a side of him that we haven’t been able to get from him otherwise. It is unfortunate that he was eliminated because I feel like he had so much more left to give… if this routine was given to him earlier in the season I think it would have changed the direction of his development over the course of the show. If anything I believe he ended his time on the show on a high note… and me wanting more.

Lindsay Arnold & Alex Wong – Jazz
I really wanted to like this routine, I mean I am on the Alex Wong bandwagon… and Lindsay did a fabulous job last week in her routine with Jakob, but despite the incredibly strong dancing the connection / chemistry was not as strong as it could be. Based entirely on the routines of the evening this is probably one of the weaker routines overall… Not the weakest by any stretch of the imagination but not a strong routine either.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS:
Although I can understand letting Lindsay go… I would have much rather have seen Cyrus go as opposed to Will. But considering the votes were from last weeks’ dances I understand why the people voted Cyrus onward because his routine last week was beyond amazing in general.

I am not agreeing with the judges intervening in the eliminations from the Top 10 onwards. I miss having the audience choose how the Top 10 would be eliminated and felt that made for better television. Because Nigel and TPTB are trying to storyboard a lot of these dancers and their times on the show it loses a little bit of the integrity of the show in general and I hope that should the show return for a Season 10 we keep that little bit of what made the show such a wonderful piece of television. That and bring back the old stage!

August 30, 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 8 Performances – Music and Initial Thoughts

Dancers: Top 8
Style: Contemporary
Choreographer: Peter Chu
Song: Woodkid – “Run Boy Run” Run Boy Run - Run Boy Run (Remixes) - EP

PARTNER DANCES
Dancer: Witney Carson
All Star: Stephen “tWitch” Boss
Style: Hip-hop
Choreographer: Luther Brown
Song: Lil Wayne feat. Big Sean – “My Homies Still” My Homies Still (feat. Big Sean) - My Homies Still (feat. Big Sean) - Single
Initial Thoughts: Well I wanted to see Witney try her hand at hip hop… and unfortunately I am not impressed by any stretch of the imagination. And that’s a bit disconcerting. I kind of felt that she was just being sexy, strutting around the stage shaking her booty and just added a few arm moments and voila!

Dancer: Cole Horibe
All Star: Allison Holker
Style: Contemporary
Choreographer: Sonya Tayeh
Song: Björk – “Possibly Maybe” (Instrumental) Possibly Maybe - Björk's Greatest Hits
Initial Thoughts: I have a sneaky feeling that the choreographers are tapping into Cole’s more psychotic, evil, dark side of Cole more often than not… and who am I to complain? He does that look and personality well. His partnering with Allison was off the charts not to mention their chemistry… one of my favorites.

Dancer: Eliana Girard
All Star: Ryan Di Lello
Style: Quickstep
Choreographer: Jonathan Roberts
Song: Caro Emerald – “That Man” That Man - Deleted Scenes from the Cutting Room Floor
Initial Thoughts: Well, I wanted to see Eliana to try her hand on a Ballroom routine… but I was leaning more towards a Latin number… I didn’t think of Quickstep and man I liked this, but I wasn’t all too surprised that she could pull off a Quickstep. Her chemistry with Ryan was very good too and they looked like they were just having oodles of fun.

Dancer: Lindsay Arnold
All Star: Alex Wong
Style: Jazz
Choreographer: Sonya Tayeh
Song: Gotye feat. Kimbra – “Somebody That I Used to Know” Somebody That I Used to Know (feat. Kimbra) - Making Mirrors
Initial Thoughts: Technically-wise this was a very good routine, chemistry / personality / character-wise it was ok… but I wanted to reach out and be thrilled with this routine… but instead just nothing.

Dancer: Will Thomas
All Star: Lauren Gottlieb
Style: Hip-hop
Choreographer: Christopher Scott
Song: Wye Oak – “Dance My Pain Away” (District 78 remix) Dance My Pain Away - Dance My Pain Away - Single
Initial Thoughts: Personally I really like this routine… it was difficult to create a chemistry when the dancers are not dancing with one another… but somehow it worked. We managed to see a whole different side of the goofy Will that I think a lot of people were getting a little annoyed with and this was a breath of fresh air.

Dancer: Cyrus “Glitch” Spencer
All Star: Melanie Moore
Style: Jazz
Choreographer: Mandy Moore
Song: Freddy Fresh feat. Fatboy Slim – “Badder Badder Schwing” Badder Badder Schwing - Badder Badder Schwing
Initial Thoughts: For me this routine felt slow and you know that he’s not up there technically with the other dancers. But I have to admit, he is doing his damnedest to keep up and that in and of itself is impressive.

Dancer: Chehon Wespi-Tschopp
All Star: Anya Garnis
Style: Argentine Tango
Choreographer: Miriam Larici & Leonardo Barrionuevo
Song: Jesse Cook – “Breathing Below Surface” Breathing Below Surface - The Ultimate Jesse Cook
Initial Thoughts: Hot Hot Hot… it is about time there is a sexy and smoldering Argentine Tango on the show and I am so glad that it was Chehon that got the honor of just that. I really loved his precision and footwork and his connection with Anya was palatable. Overall I really liked it… a lot… ok more than a lot.

Dancer: Tiffany Maher
All Star: Ade Obayomi
Style: Contemporary
Choreographer: Mandy Moore
Song: Celine Dion – “The Power of Love” The Power of Love - My Love (Ultimate Essential Collection)
Initial Thoughts: Ok… I am slowly beginning to understand what people like in Tiffany, and honestly in comparison with the other girls of the evening this was generally a strong routine. Was I impressed? No, did I like it… yes…

SOLOS
Tiffany Maher: Glee cast – “I Was Here” I Was Here (Glee Cast Version) - Glee: The Music - The Graduation Album
Will Thomas: James Morrison – “Better Man” Better Man - Undiscovered
Lindsay Arnold: Bond – “Señorita” Señorita - Classified
Chehon Wespi-Tschopp: Max Richter – “On the Nature of Daylight” On The Nature Of Daylight - The Blue Notebooks
Witney Carson: Rihanna – “Where Have You Been” Where Have You Been - Talk That Talk (Deluxe Edition)
Cole Horibe: E.S. Posthumus – “Arise” Arise - Makara
Eliana Girard: Max Richter – “Infra 8” infra 8 - infra
Cyrus “Glitch” Spencer: Excision & Downlink – “Existence” (VIP) Existence (VIP) - Existence EP

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... =)

“Burn the Floor” heats up Chicago during the SNOWPOCALYPSE

As they say in the performing arts world: “The Show Must Go On” The Show Must Go On - Queen: Greatest Hits I & II

There were predictions hitting towards two feet of snow in parts of Chicagoland but a call to Broadway in Chicago confirmed what most businesses, stores and restaurants would not do in downtown Chicago… the show was open and was going to go on as scheduled. Granted, considering how quickly the temperature rose during the first number of the show “Ballroom Beat” (YouTube clip) this came as little surprise to those in attendance. When the first beats of the African rhythm filled the auditorium, you knew it was going to be hot. Dancers appeared throughout the auditorium, in the balcony, in the aisles… dancing and shaking to the rhythms before jumping onto the stage for an amazing opening number.

Read more..

February 2, 2011 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... =)

SYTYCD S7 E5 Meet the Top 11 Thoughts

I *reallllllly* need to talk about this one! 🙂

-First of all, can we all agree here and now that Ade is Ade from S5 and the S7 contestant’s name is Adechike or Chike? Cause this is going to get very confusing very fast, unless we set some ground rules. Lol

-I loved that little dance routine that some of the contestants did with their luggage in the opening montage.

-Wade and Amanda *seriously* need an Emmy for the opening All-Star/Top 11 “Fame” group routine. Like, now. I loved the “Alice in Wonderland”-funked up flavor to it. I love Wade’s choreography – how it can be both elegant and dirty at the same time. It’s like crack for us SYTYCD fans. Loooooved the “partner exchange” near the end and all of their poses at the end and Alex’s face. 🙂 Clearly, he loved being part of that routine.

-Cat rocks. “Thank you for coming to my tea party.” Cat, I’ll go to your tea party anytime. Just don’t ever leave SYTYCD, please. 🙂

-Wonderful to meet the new director, Nikki Parsons, and see her in the control booth. That was a nice, personal touch. Kinda like how SYTYCD AU showed us a lot of footage with the costumers.

-Everyone went mad when Mia was welcomed back. I’m mad for Mia, so I get it.

-11 seconds to say what we have to know about the contestants? Pretty cute. Especially Kent’s, “uh, I’m single.” 🙂 Not for long…

-Travis, Travis, Travis!! “Paris is Burning” is a gooooorgeous routine. Oh my goodness!! I love the idea of basing a routine on celebrating the fall of an empire. How not standard is that? Um, I mean unique. Creative. As cool as the whole routine was, and kudos to chipper LoFro for holding her own in a mental piece like this, the highlight for me was seeing Kathryn and Mark dance together. So…

-Season 8 should be a fall season that is JUST SYTYCD alumni dancing routines together, showcasing the dancers associated with the show. Kinda like the “pro dance” routine in the middle of the results show? But a season full of that. Why not? Then, back to regularly scheduled programming in the summer with Season 9. 🙂

-Cat’s right when she said, “Kent, you look quite mad.” And when she asked him who was his ideal woman and he said, “someone like my mom,” and then blurted, “Beyonce!” Toooo funny.

-Got a bit teary when Travis said, “Four years ago, I was on that stage and now I’m sitting next to these guys.” Wonderful!

-And speaking of “sitting next to these guys,” I love that they’re having the choreographers on the judges’ panel for their routines! Can we keep this for the whole season?!?! Why shouldn’t they chime in on what they thought about the routine? Sure, it’ll mostly be positive platitudes, probably, but every once in a while, we might get a disappointed reaction, etc.

-Tyce’s routine from Sweet Charity and the 4 girls, Alexie, Melinda, Allison and Lauren was killer! Loooved it! I agreed that I couldn’t really tell the difference between the All-Stars and the contestants. This was the one routine where I think that was really true.

-I loooved their dresses!! Especially Melinda’s!

-Cat was so cute when she said, “I wanna be in your gang, girls! Please, let me be in your gang!”

-Then, Cat pointed out that Tyce worked with J.Lo and Tom Cruise *this week* and I loved that he said there was no difference between that and working with the contestants/All-Stars.

-I thought Nappytabs routine with Jose, Twitch, Comfort and Dominic was really smart and creative. It was clearly predicting his journey from contestant, to alumni pro dancer and All-Star. 🙂 Clearly, Jose was loving Cat’s attention afterward. I wonder if Dom’s got some competition? And how he’ll react, if so? Lol.

-Speaking of that… I thought the Cat/Dom interplay was definitely scripted and cheesy, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t think it was funny/cute. 🙂 I did. Cat can pull off cheesy. And they kinda acknowledged that it was a “bit,” when Cat said, “we need to go somewhere with this.” Loooved when Dom said, “I can’t see you” and craned up at her. 🙂

-I loooved that Nappytabs confirmed my read on the routine and said it was about initiating Jose into the SYTYCD family. 🙂 Nice to have such supportive choreographers and fellow dancers.

-Yay, Jason Gilkison!! I liked the “Work” routine, but it kinda reminded me of the DiLillo Couple/Karen Hauer routine from Season 6’s “Meet the Top 20” showcase episode, which Jason also choreographed. And, as much as I like Cristina (and, I do!!), everybody was overshadowed by Pasha in that routine. Pasha!!! Do I really need to say more? I think he could’ve handled another dance partner. Also, Pasha needs to be a pro dancer on Dancing with the Stars. Anybody agree? Also, did anybody else notice that Cristina was the only dancer to get called out for something technical? She was told she has kinda “lazy feet.” I don’t think any of the other dancers got anything but positive feedback.

-Cat’s “These girls danced their dresses off! That’s called shaking it!” Lol.

-Mia’s contemporary “This Bitter Earth” was PHE-NOM-ENAL!!! She’s baaaaaack! I love her creative choreography. The idea of a routine about “time, the journey of life,” is just incredible. I wonder if she got first pick of dancers? 🙂 Billy, Alex and Ade all stood out to me, but I especially loved Ade’s full committment to the “old man” end of the spectrum. More than any of the other routines, I felt like these 3 guys got to represent themselves, got significant “solos” within the routine, which was not just due to Mia’s choreography, but also to the camera work. It was beautiful. I especially loved the point where they were spread across the stage and swayed in unison with each other. And when they walked off the stage together.

-Mia’s comments after the routine, “It was an honor,” with her hand on her heart and to Ade, “Welcome home.” And calling Billy a freak and Alex a beast. 🙂 Cat saying, “Let’s hear it for the freak and the beast.” Looool. 🙂

-I didn’t like that Adechike called himself the underdog. Maybe he feels that way, but it seemed a little too forced to me. I dunno.

-Sonya is amazing. Adechike, Ashley, Robert, Neil and Courtney were all really good in “Freak.” Only thing is that I think Courtney and Ashley were too easy to mistake for each other because they have the same coloring, height and hair color. The guys were all vastly different and because there was an extra one, they kinda got little solos in the routines, so they stood out. Course, I wasn’t complaining when Neil got his moment to show off his spins and jumps. Yaaaaaay, Neil’s back!!!

-Robert did an impression of Sonya!! Awesome!!!! I laughed so hard. And I loved that Sonya called Adechike on calling himself an underdog – though, she did it in a positive way. 🙂

-At the end, Mia leaned over and whispered in Nigel’s ear. Wonder what she was saying? It almost looked like she was kissing him. Lol.

-It’s weird that the judges/Cat didn’t address Kathryn and Mark at all, but then they did address the rest of the All-Stars. It’s like the new director, Nikki Parsons, called down from the control booth and said, “Guys, it feels/looks weird when you completely ignore the All-Stars. Talk to them, let them talk.” And it was a good thing when they did.

-I would’ve loved to have seen how the contestants/All-Stars were chosen for which choreographers/routines. I would’ve much rathered seen that or rehearsal footage than have the judges/choreographers say a single word about the routines. Why say anything when they’re not judging?

-Seriously, we need an entire season of just showcases like this one. It’s like Survivor’s “Fan vs. Favorites,” but eeeeeeven better because it’s about dancers. And it’d give SYTYCD dancers an even larger platform, a longer life on t.v. What do y’all say?

I can’t believe I’m going to attempt this, but I’m gonna do a Meet the Top 11 routine ranking (1 is the best, 7 is the “worst” in my personal opinion):

Meet the Top 11/All-Star Routine Ranking
7. The Nappytabs’ Jose-Twitch-Comfort-Dom routine was probably my least favorite, mostly because of the genre of hip-hop, more than anything else.
6. Despite Pasha’s hard work, Jason’s “Work,” was not as good to me as many of the others.
5. Tyce’s “Sweet Charity” with Alexie, Melinda, Allison and Lauren. So well danced!
4. Loved Sonya’s “Freak,” but it had soooo much competition for my favorite.
3. Travis’s “Paris Is Burning” had so many things to love. It’s a hard call, was almost #2 or even #1. Tomorrow, it may be.
2. Mia’s “Bitter Earth” routine with Ade, Alex and Billy gave me chills.
1. Sorry, but it has to be Wade and Amanda’s full-out group routine “Fame.” Stunning!!!

Alright, a lot of you are probably going to disagree with me. Ready? Set? Go!

June 12, 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

SYTYCD Season 6 Cheers and Jeers

Here’s Season 6 in review. Y’all brought up a lot of this stuff in recent comments (Mrs. D’s comment in particular), which gave me the idea to do a review of the season, what we liked and didn’t like. If you disagree with me (or agree), feel free to put your two cents in, as it’s all subjective and I’d love to know what you think!

Jeer:

This season felt more rushed that any other that I can think of. Between baseball, the Presidential address, so many audition episodes and an early end to the season because of Christmas coming up, I feel like this year’s Top 20 got shafted on actual dancing time. But not just the dancers – the choreographers got fewer chances to wow us. And the audience lost out, as well.

Cheer:

I loved that I didn’t have to wait till the summer for a new season. While America’s Favorite Dancer gets a shorter reign if they continue on the two seasons a year model, we had a shorter wait, which was really nice. After Season 5, I just don’t know how I would have contained my SYTYCD longing. Are the producers hoping to follow a Survivor/Dancing with the Stars model with the two seasons a year thing? If so, they should be just as smart about scheduling and not hesitate to move the finale to a separate night (like Survivor’s Sunday finale yesterday).

Jeer:

The new stage, or at least the screen behind it. It seems like we’ve transitioned from utter hatred toward the new stage, which always threatens to swallow up the dancers, to an acceptance that we’ll probably never get our intimate little stage back. Many readers have begun to say that the screen and imprudent use of it, is actually the bigger issue.

Cheer:

The group numbers were able to utilize this enormous space in really pleasing ways. It’s nice to think that SYTYCD can now command (and fill) a larger audience space. Maybe it’ll end up being a wonderful challenge to the choreographers (as well as the production crew, especially camera folk) to recapture that intimate feeling.

Jeer:

It was awful having three static judges (Nigel, Mary and Adam). No new blood! Adam seemed to be the only one who had something to say, most reliably at least. And when the three additional judges (Debbie, Lil C and Tyce) came in for the finale, it felt like an eternity since I’d seen them and that they were given favorites to pick rather than choosing from their hearts. Maybe that’s not true, and I’m sure they still kept up with the season, but their involvement didn’t have the same feeling because they never rotated in and out during the season.

Cheer:

Adam Shankman is a wonderful addition to the judging panel. I didn’t mind him being a constant, I only minded that there was no new blood. You almost always knew what Nigel and Mary were going to say, so he was a breath of fresh air (especially at the beginning of the season). Adam is funny and honest (he called out choreographers for bad routines!) and you get the impression that he’ll actually hire the dancers he likes (i.e. when Noelle got cut, I was okay because I felt Adam wanted to work with her), so he’s a valuable part of the panel.

Jeer:

Shane Sparks and Alex DaSilva‘s arrests (both for sexual crimes related to their dance students) are not only damaging to the choreographer’s careers, but also haunt the dance community at large and threaten to harm SYTYCD’s image.

Cheer:

The Dizzy Feet Foundation and gala do wonderful things for the dance community, SYTYCD and for us, as it unites our favorite shows, dancers, choreographers, crews in a really positive mission. It raises awareness and gives our favorites work! We can help, too!

Jeer:

How many injuries did we have this season? Mia Michaels was rushed to the hospital at the beginning of the season. Then, Billy Bell had to drop out due to illness. Noelle was injured in the first competition show while Ellenore and Ashleigh were both hurt during the Top 8 week and Russell was injured in the finale. Did I forget anyone??

Cheer:

Despite the overly-produced and rushed feel of the season, despite all the injuries, we had a wonderful Top 20 this season. As John pointed out, they had a great mix of styles and backgrounds. We saw some consistent excellence (Jakob and Ellenore, namely) and some great growth arcs (arguably, everybody, but notably Kathryn and Russell, in my opinion). We had some “characters” to get behind this season, in Legacy and the DiLellos in particular.

Jeer:

America’s SYTYCD lost Mia Michaels this season and her absence was certainly felt. Our loss was apparently SYTYCD Canada’s gain, so while it’s good that she’s working within the SYTYCD family, there’s a great big gaping hole where she was in our shows.

Cheer:

Mia’s absence gave way to a ton of “new” choreographers this season. New to us, at least. Like Sean Cheesman, Jason Gilkison, Spencer Liff and a routine from Desmond Richardson and Dwight Rhoden. We had more Wade Robson, more Stacey Tookey, more Mandy Moore and more Travis Wall routines, which seriously rocked. More Sonya routines, many of which blew our minds, like the “Tore My Heart” Oona - Tore My Heart - Single - Tore My Heart routine with Ellenore and Jakob.  Hopefully, we’ll get to see special Mia routines, maybe one or two a season, in the future. I don’t want SYTYCD America to be completely devoid of Mia Michaels, but I’m glad we had so many standout choreographers, new and recurring, this season.

Jeer:

This season had some really awful costumes…

Cheer:

And some really amazing music. But these two things are pretty typical of all seasons, I suppose. 🙂

Jeer:

No mention of a Season 6 tour! Not even on the finale show! What are they thinking? There had better be a tour, or I will seriously cry foul. I’m keeping my feelers out, y’all, and using my contacts, to see if/when the tour will be.

Cheer:

I’m glad they mentioned auditions for Season 7 because it sounds like it’ll be another summer season. So that means that we’ll either have two seasons a year, or we’ll go back to our beloved summer format (probably the former). SYTYCD keeps motoring on, which is good news. And again, we don’t have to wait several months till fall, sounds like.

Jeer:

Hell no to the Top 6! I hope Fox and SYTYCD realize they can never do this to us again. This was the worst idea ever and I suspect the results might have been significantly different, if we’d had a normal Top 4 finale. Not cool.

Cheer:

The Meet the Top 20 episode was the biggest stroke of genius and the best of all the new ideas and concepts we dealt with this season. I hope they *always* do this from now on. It was sublime to see all of the Top 20 dancing within their styles without fear of elimination. Some of the best dancing of the entire season happened in this very first episode, as evidenced by how many of the judges’ favorites in the finale show were from this very episode.

I think that’s all I’ve got. I’ve run out of steam. But I’m sure I’ve forgotten something you hated or loved, so let me know what you think.

December 21, 2009 I Written By

SYTYCD Top 6 Results Thoughts (Finale Part II)

It hasn’t been a terribly long time since the season began (or since Season 5, for that matter), but that doesn’t mean that I haven’t been rabidly looking forward to tonight’s finale show.

My thoughts, as they happen…

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December 16, 2009 I Written By

SYTYCD Top 6 Performance Thoughts (Final Part I)

I’m so excited for tonight’s show. But just a bit cranky, also. One hour for the Top 6 finale performances. Insane. No solos. Which, is annoying. I’m not sure how much the solos would change from what we’ve already seen. But…anybody else remember Jeanine’s finale solo from last season? I sure do.

My thoughts tonight, as they happened…

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December 15, 2009 I Written By