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In Defense of International All-Stars

In my last post about potential Season 8 All-Stars, I asked whether people would like to see dancers from SYTYCD around the world participate as All-Stars. So far, it’s not very positive. Allow me to post these videos as defense for the awesomeness of my idea. 🙂

Exhibit 1 – Denys and Amanda of SYTYCD Canada Season 3 (Winner and Runner-Up)

This was their FIRST performance together and made it pretty obvious that they were going all the way. Mary Murphy cameo, fyi.

You should watch all their routines, but their “Hey Hey” house routine was pretty impressive.

Exhibit 2 – Robbie and Ivy of SYTYCD Australia Season 3 (Winner and 3rd place)

NOBODY thought Robbie would pull off a Paso doble with Ivy, but he killed it. Ivy really made him a better dancer/performer and I think it’s due to their partnership that he made it all the way.

Also, their “Bad Romance” is NOT to be missed. Another Mary Murphy cameo.

Exhibit 3 – Charlie and Tommy of SYTYCD United Kingdom (Winner and Runner-Up)

Again, Tommy was another guy who was misjudged a bit and his partnership with Charlie (who was an early frontrunner) really gave him a chance to shine and grow. In keeping with my Latin theme, their tango:

But, of course, their most memorable routine is probably their week 1 hip hop.

These are just a handful of routines from some of the top dancers of the English-speaking SYTYCD franchises. If we don’t have International All-Stars, SYTYCD US really should find a way to feature some of these amazing dancers on our stage and give American audiences better access to the episodes. Luckily, the BBC put theirs online last season and I imagine they’ll do that again for SYTYCD UK Season 2, which is coming up soon.

October 25, 2010 I Written By

Broadway + SYTYCD = Amazing!

Hi everybody! I haven’t posted in a while, school has been crazy, but something caught my eye today that I wanted to share with you. As many of you know, I’m the resident broadway geek here at PureSYTYCD, and I was on www.broadway.com this morning when I came across a post about SYTYCD! Actually, it was SYTYCD Canada. Mia Michaels has been doing a lot of choreographing for their 3rd season, which as we all know from Mandy’s awesome recaps is down to their final 4 (I’ll miss you Mackenzie!!). Well, back at the end of September, Mia choreographed a group number for the top 10 to the song Will I? (Lose My Dignity) from the iconic musical, RENT.

I know we’ve been pretty critical of Mia as a judge on our site, but this piece just reinforced to me what an incredible choreographer she is. She took a piece of music that is really only known to a select audience (the broadway community/fans) and made it contemporary and relatable. It’s a powerful and moving number, one that most certainly would get Emmy consideration had it been here in the states. It also benefitted from another thing we don’t have anymore, the old stage!! Seeing the emotional commitment of the dancing just took the piece to another level. Don’t believe me? See for yourself!

October 21, 2010 I Written By

SYTYCD (CA) Top 20 Performance Music

Thanks, once again, to Malicious Mandy for the music from the Top 20 Performance episode.

Dancers: Bree & Edgar
Style: Dancehall
Choreographer: Jaeblaze
Song: Vybz Kartel ft Popcaan and Gaza Slim’s “Clarks” – Clarks

Dancers: Amanda & Denys
Style: Contemporary
Choreographer: Sabrina Matthews
Song: Hedley’s “Perfect” – Perfect

Dancers: Kirsten & Jera
Style: Paso Doble
Choreographers: Francis LeFreniere & Natalli Reznik
Song: Position Music’s “Iron Might/Mind Control”

Dancers: Nathalie & Mackenzie
Style: Hip Hop
Choreographers: Sho-Tyme
Song: DJ Khaled ft T-Pain, Ludacris, Snoop Dogg and Rick Ross “All I Do Is Win” – All

Dancers: Claudia & Yonni
Style: Foxtrot
Choreographer: Danny Quillman
Song: Lady Gaga ft. Beyonce’s “Telephone” – Telephone

Dancers: Charlene & Jeff
Style: Contemporary
Choreographer: Stacey Tookey
Song: Alisa Turner’s “Breathing” – Breathing

Dancers: Julia & Jesse
Style: Samba
Choreographers: Tony Meredith & Melanie LaPatin
Song: “Cuban Pete” – Cuban from the iSweat Music album

Dancers: Danielle & Sebastian
Style: Theatre
Choreographer: Sean Cheesman
Song: Idina Menzel’s “No Good Deed” – No from the Wicked Soundtrack

Dancers: Janick & Shavar
Style: Krump
Choreographer: Lil C
Song: Buckmouth’s “Whatever” –

Dancers: Kloe & Jonathan
Style: Jazz
Choreographer: Blake McGrath
Song: Katy Perry ft Snoop Dogg’s “California Gurls” – California

August 31, 2010 I Written By

SYTYCD (CA) Montreal Auditions Music

I know this is a bit late (this was Episode 4, fyi), but I thought better late than never.

Montreal Auditions:
Opening: Cascada’s “Evacuate the Dancefloor” – Evacuate
Montage: Lady Gaga ft. Beyonce’s “Telephone” – Telephone
Explanation of the process: unidentified techno
Claudia Primeau’s audition (with Francis): David Guetta ft. Akon’s “Sexy Bitch” – Sexy
Intro to Jean-Philippe Dube: The Stereos’ “Turn It Up,” which isn’t on iTunes, so try their “Summer Girl” – Summer
Jean-Philippe Dube’s audition: Basement Jaxx’s “Right Here’s the Spot” – Right
Jessie Mineau and Phil Szopko’s audition: Ursula 1000’s “Kinda Kinky” – Kinda'
Philippe “Phairy” Laurin’s audition: – Basement Jaxx’s “Romeo” – Romeo
As Phairy reveals his horoscope is real: Tchaikovsky’s “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” – Dance
Marie-Josee Benoit and Stephan Larose audition: Madcon’s “Beggin'” – Beggin'
Ariela Levi’s audition: Alicia Keys’s “Fallin'” – Fallin'
Randi Liberman’s audition: Amerie’s “1 Thing” – 1
Yonni Fournier’s audition: something Cuban?
Montreal breakers montage: Manafest’s “Bounce” – Bounce
Montreal breakers audition: Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock’s “It Takes Two” – It
Denys Drozdyuk’s audition: very familiar song, used for other paso dobles before
Aditi Dixit’s audition: “Ishq Samundar” from KaanteIshq Wish I could claim all the credit, but a Bengali friend of mine helped me out.
Julie Dombrowski’s audition: Tortured Soul’s “Fall in Love” – Fall
Sebastian Mersch’s audition: Jay Brannan’s “Beautifully” – Beautifully LOVE THIS SONG!
Nadia Carpini’s audition: Kevin Rudolf’s “Welcome to the World” – Welcome
Chantal Watt audition: no lyrics, really boring actually
Amelia Levesque Demero audition: belly dance/Middle Eastern music, couldn’t identify
Laura Brunelle audition: CĹ“ur de Pirate’s “Comme des Enfants” – Comme GREAT SONG! I can’t believe I found it – all my French classes paid off at last.
Mike Keane audition: Irish dancing to an Irish song
Montreal is flexible montage: The American Breed “Bend Me, Shake Me” – Bend
Sam Frey audition: Adele’s “Hometown Glory” – Hometown
Simon Xavier audition: couldn’t identify the song
Olga Churkina audition: Middle Eastern gypsy song – not sure
Olga Zadvornova audition: no lyrics, some violins
Justine Rainville and Dan St-Cyr audition: The Pussycat Dolls’s “When I Grow Up” – When
Justin Jackson (tapper) audition: Aretha Franklin’s “Since You’ve Been Gone (Sweet Sweet Baby)” – Since
Whitney Single audition: pretty famous Latin song, but I can’t remember what it is
Jason Noel audition: Hedley “Amazing” – Amazing Wow, I love this!
Josue Exposito audition: T.I. ft. Justin Timberlake’s “Dead & Gone” – Dead
Sarah Steben interview: Montell Jordan’s “This Is How We Do It” – This
Sarah Steben audition: New Boyz’s “So Dope” – So
Luca “Lazylegz” Patuelli audition: James Brown “Call Me (Super Bad)” – Call
Blake’s choreography round, aka boot camp: Black Eyed Peas’s “Meet Me Halfway” – Meet
Yes montage: OneRepublic’s “Marchin’ On” – Marchin
Going on to finals montage: Amanda Blank’s “Make It Take It” – Make

August 29, 2010 I Written By

SYTYCD (CA) Top 22 Performance Music

It’s killing me that I haven’t been able to catch up on the Canada episodes, but thanks to Malicious Mandy, I have the music.

Dancers: Yonni & Claudia
Style: Salsa
Choreographers: Tony & Meredith
Song: Calabria 2008 (ft. Natasja & MIMS) “Single” – Calabria

Dancers: Jera & Kirsten
Style: Contemporary
Choreographer: Mandy Moore
Song: Ron Pope’s “Fireflies” – Fireflies

Dancers: Denys & Amanda
Style: Tango
Choreographers: Tony & Meredith
Song: Bajofondo’s “Grand Guignol” – Grand

Dancers: Charlene & Jeff
Style: Jive
Choreographer: Danny Arbour
Song: Marianas Trench’s “Celebrity Status (Shake Shake)” – Celebrity

Dancers: Danielle & Sebastian
Style: Bollywood
Choreographer: Longinus Fernandes
Song: Sajid-Wajid’s “Jalwa Mera Hi Jalwa” (Wanted Cast) – Jalwa

Dancers: Jonathan & Kloe
Style: Hip Hop
Choreographer: Sho-Tyme
Song: DMX’s “X Gon’ Give it to Ya” – X

Dancers: Jesse & Julia
Style: New Disco
Choreographer: Melissa Williams
Song: Lady Gaga’s “The Fame” – The

Dancers: Janick & Shavar
Style: Afro-Jazz
Choreographer: Sean Cheesman
Songs: Mickey Hart and Zakir Hussain’s “Dances with Wood” – Dances

Dancers: Nathalie & Mackenzie
Style: Viennese Waltz
Choreographer: Pierre Allaire
Style: Hedley’s “For the Nights I Can’t Remember” – For

Dancers: Bree & Edgar
Style: Hip Hop
Choreographer: Jaeblaze
Song: Usher’s “O.M.G” – OMG

Dancers: Hanni & Tara-Jean (Shelaina out on injury)
Style: Jazz
Choreographer: Nico & Wynn
Song: Otis Redding’s “That’s How Strong My Love Is” – That's

August 27, 2010 I Written By

SYTYCD (CA) Top 20 Reveal Music

Sorry this is so late, but it’s been a busy week. Though you already know who the Top 20 are and they’ve even performed, here is the music from the Top 20 reveal episode, thanks to Malicious Mandy.

Opening: ?

Claudia: Duffy’s “Mercy” – Mercy

Jeff: ?

Amanda: Leona Lewis’s “My Hands – My

JR: ?

Montage: Black Eyed Peas’s “Rock That Body” – Rock

Danielle: ?

Dennis: ?

Montage: B.O.B.’s “Magic” – Magic

Yoni: Salsa Song?

Chloe: ?

Mackenzie: ?

Jenni: TĂ©lĂ©popmusik’s “Close” – Close

Joe: ?

Montage: David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” – Let's

Sebastian: ?

Julia: ?

Justin: ?

Montage: ?

That’s all I’ve got at the moment, but I’ll add more when I get a chance to watch the ep. And feel free to help us out, of course!!

I Written By

Lacey Schwimmer to Choreograph on SYTYCD Canada

Well, it looks like there’s going to be more than one Schwimmer working on SYTYCD Canada this season. I can’t remember where I saw that Benji Schwimmer was going to be on Canada, but Lacey recently sent out a tweet saying she wasn’t going to be on this season of DWTS, but that she was going to be choreographing for SYTYCD Canada:
Lacey Schwimmer on SYTYCD Canada

As an interesting side note, I met Benji at the finale of DWTS the year Lacey made it to the finale. I’d asked about his future plans at that time and he made it sound like SYTYCD Canada was the place to be to make money. I guess they’re really investing in it to make it one of the top Canadian shows. I’m not sure if that’s changed since, but it was interesting to learn that he could make more on SYTYCD Canada than the US show.

August 24, 2010 I Written By

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

Tonight the Top 22 Perform for the first time SYTYCD Canada

CTV writes:

Season 3’s dancers represent the country coast to coast from Vancouver, B.C., to Inverness, NS, and for the first time, there are competitors from Saskatchewan and New Brunswick. Specializing in everything from contemporary to hip-hop, ballroom, ballet and salsa, the Top 22 were announced during a special one-hour reveal episode.

Rounding out the Top 22 are four competitors from British Columbia, four from Alberta, nine from Ontario, two from Quebec, one from Nova Scotia.

They will now be paired into 11 couples and will work with some of the world’s top choreographers learning a new dance routine and style each week. Each dancer has chance to win the title of Canada’s Favourite dancer, $100,000 and, for the first time ever, the winner, runner up and one lucky viewer will win a Mazda2.

The fate of the 22 finalists is left up to viewer votes. Voting starts on August 23rd and continues for the next nine weeks.

Voting will occur following the conclusion of the performance shows and is restricted to one, two-hour voting window in each region of broadcast, and can be cast for free via landline telephones.

On the first live results show, Tuesday, August 24 at 8:30 p.m. ET, the three couples with the fewest number of votes will be announced. Each dancer in those three couples will then have one last chance to impress the judges and “dance for their life” with a solo routine of his or her choosing.

After all six dancers have performed, the judges will make the ultimate decision of who stays and who goes home.

Your Top 22:

Amanda Cleghorn, 19, Mississauga, Ont.
Bree Wasylenko, 22, Toronto
Charlene Hart, 22, Abbotsford, B.C.
Claudia Primeau, 26, Montreal
Danielle Gardner, 21, Surrey, B.C.
Denys Drozdyuk, 25, Toronto
Edgar Gilbert-Reyes, 22, Calgary
Hani Abaza, 26, Ottawa
Janick Arseneau, 20, Bathurst, N.B.
Jeff Mortensen, 22, Edmonton
Jera Wolfe, 19, Inverness, N.S.
Jesse Weafer, 26, Aurora, Ont.
Jonathan Arsenault, 26, Kitchener, Ont.
Julia Harnett, 27, Calgary
Kirsten Wicklun, 20, Vancouver
Kloé Schultz, 20, North Bay, Ont.
Mackenzie Green, 20, Regina
Nathalie Heath, 23, Surrey, B.C.
Sebastian Mersch, 21, Toronto
Shavar Blackwood, 25, Toronto
Shelaina Anderson, 19, Edmonton
Yonni Fournier, 27, Montreal

Be sure to tune in tonight if you have CTV or check back here at www.puresytycd.com for Power Rankings and Summary of the show.

August 23, 2010 I Written By

I am a blogger and reality tv lover. I blog here for SYTYCD but mostly the Canada version, since I live in Vancouver BC. I also blog about other reality tv shows on my own blog www.mandysmind.com

Pure So You Think You Can Dance Canada

The withdrawal symptoms of not having SYTYCD on TV haven’t quite sunk in, but next week when I look at the TV Guide (online version of it of course) it’s going to really sink in that we have to wait quite a while for the next season of SYTYCD.

The good news is that fans of SYTYCD (like myself) really don’t have to wait. Tomorrow starts the season of So You Think You Can Dance Canada. That’s right, and let me tell you that Canada has some absolutely amazing dancers. The past seasons I’ve seen of SYTYCD Canada have been unbelievable.

As such, Pure SYTYCD will be working to cover SYTYCD Canada similar to how we did SYTYCD US. It looks like Emilie will still be posting all the So You Think You Can Danc Canada music. Mandy (not to be confused with Amanda) and AJ will be covering the latest SYTYCD Canada updates, power rankings, twitter updates, and whatever else they think people will find interesting.

I’m pretty sure that some of the other Pure SYTYCD writers will join in on the fun too. Plus, we’ll still be posting info about SYTYCD US in the off season as well. There’s always interesting SYTYCD tour updates, interviews, and information about the dancer’s careers after SYTYCD. Plus, I’d expect some Flashback posts with videos of great SYTYCD dances to help us make it to the next season.

Also, for those in the US, there’s usually a number of places online that you can catch the Canadian version. Just do a search on YouTube or other site and you’ll find it.

August 14, 2010 I Written By

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