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Review: Fanaticly Website and App for SYTYCD

About a month and a half ago I was approached to review a website and corresponding app for iPhone. Interesting proposition to be sure, but something I don’t usually do… I can be harsh with my reviews, blunt and to the point. I have no qualms in exposing what I do not like about something, but at the same time I will acknowledge when something is done right.

This is no different, there are some aspects of either the website or the app that I dislike, but there are also some aspects of the website or app that I truly liked…

So beyond the break I will provide my impressions in regards to the app and the website. After my impressions there will be a quick line or two for the positives, negatives and the bottom line for both the app and the website. At the end of this post will be my final thoughts and what I would love to see down the road… preferably sooner than later.
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July 13, 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... =)

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

Here’s YOUR Chance to Interview Season 7 Dancers

Hi everybody!

Ovation TV is interviewing Season 7 dancers next week and they’d like YOU to send in your questions for their “You Asked For It” segments. Better yet, they’d really like you to film yourself asking your questions so they can include them in the interview clips. It’s like YOU get to interview the dancers. They’ll see you asking your question and then they’ll answer you.

You can see their interviews with the Season 6 dancers here, as an example. This is the first time they’ve asked for fan questions to be filmed, so it’s a new experience for everyone. They’re pretty fun interviews – especially the ones with Kathryn and Lil C. I’ll include the “You Asked For It” segment with Kathryn:

E-mail your videos and questions to Ilsa Berg (Iberg at ovationtv dot com) by TOMORROW! I know it’s short notice, but if you don’t have a chance to film a question, be sure to still send in your questions anyway. Tell them you’re a reader of PureSYTYCD and ask questions that any of the dancers can answer and your questions will have a better chance of getting picked for the interviews.

Ovation TV is re-airing previous seasons of SYTYCD Friday-Monday. Right now, they’re in the middle of re-airing Season 6 and the reruns of Season 7 will begin in October and Season 8 in January. Here’s their current programing schedule.

I’m sure Ovation TV has noticed that our community of SYTYCD fans have the best debates and discussions and that’s why they asked for YOU to submit your questions for the Season 7 dancers.

August 10, 2011 I Written By

The Table Has It

This is a silly post I got the idea for last week (Sasha and Twitch made me think of it). It occurred to me that while routines with props can go either way, there are A LOT of routines choreographed around a table that seem to be highly memorable. So, I thought it’d be fun to look at some of those.

First, probably the most memorable table routine, the one that people generally think of when you say “the table routine” is from Season 3. Sabra and this week’s All-Star Neil dancing a Mandy Moore jazz routine.

Next memorable I’d say is the Travis Wall contemporary routine danced by Ellenore and Legacy in Season 6, the “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” routine.

Then, there’s the super-hot crossbreed of samba and hip hop that Dmitry and Nappytabs choreographed for Season 5’s Top 16, which featured several tables (and water!).

I also couldn’t help thinking of this Tyce Diorio-choreographed jazz routine with Season 7’s Kent and All-Star Courtney featuring one of my favorite Amy Winehouse tunes, “Amy, Amy, Amy” Amy Amy Amy - Frank.

Season 7 also had a phenomenally memorable Top 6 group routine which featured a table. Choreographed by Mia Michaels, it should’ve shown off eventual winner (and this week’s All-Star) LoFro, who was injured, but instead All-Star Allison (then and last week) took her place.

Here’s a video of LoFro performing it on tour:

Which brings us to the inspiration for this post, last week’s “Misty Blue” Misty Blue - Misty Blue, choreographed by Christopher Scott and danced so fabulously by Season 8’s Sasha and All-Star (of all time) Twitch.

All of this “evidence” that tables make for great routines *almost* makes me wish that Caitlynn and Mitchell’s Stacey Tookey choreography to “Turning Tables” Turning Tables - 21 had had a table in it instead of two armchairs and lamps. Except, it’s just so memorable on its own. I’ll include it anyway.

Can y’all think of any other great table routines I’ve forgotten? Can you think of a bad table routine ever in SYTYCD history? And you’re not limited to the American version of the show. Go for it!

UPDATE:

Thanks for commenter Anne who reminded me about Wade Robson’s Season 6 Top 20 routine, “Comanche.” I miss Wade so much. This is such a good one, check it out:

July 26, 2011 I Written By

Introducing Your Season 8 All-Stars

Tonight’s Top 10 episode is going to rock, not least of which because it’s the first time we’ll see the Top 10 dance with the All-Stars.

First, we have Melody Lacayanga, the Season 1 runner-up. I chose her disco with SYTYCD Canada judge/choreographer Blake McGrath because I don’t normally go for disco and this Doriana Sanchez disco was fun. I didn’t watch Season 1, but looking back over the season, it seems like Melody’s partners tended to get eliminated a lot. I hope this doesn’t happen to her Season 8 partners!

Allison Holker from Season 2 was an All-Star last season and had some phenomenal routines. I’m going to resist my urge to find videos from last season and instead give you something from her original season. Here is her Alex da Silva Argentine tango with her original partner Ivan Koumaev.

Pasha Kovalev was also an All-Star from last season and I am NOT going to show you the phenomenal tango he did with winner Lauren Froderman. No, I am NOT. I’m going to stick with first seasons and show you him “out of his element,” dancing Mandy Moore jazz with Sara von Gillem.

Yet another All-Star from last season, Twitch Boss was originally the runner-up from Season 4. Chelsie Hightower, who was also from Season 4, was scooped up by DWTS along with Lacey Schwimmer, danced this fun Nappytabs hip hop with Twitch during their season.

Comfort Fedoke, also from Season 4 and also an All-Star last season, also danced with Twitch. Instead of showing you that video, I’m going to show you dancing with Mark Kanemura, Chelsie’s partner for most of the season, in another awesome Nappytabs hip hop.

Brandon Bryant was the runner-up of Season 5. I so want to show you his Wade Robson jazz with Janette, but Margaret showed that video in her All-Star post (same reason I didn’t show Pasha & Sara’s West Coast Swing). So instead, I’ll show you their Dave Scott hip hop, where they were both “out of their comfort zones.”

As an All-Star last season, Kathryn McCormick danced so much with Robert that I could just give you one video for both of them. However, let me show you Kathryn in her Season 6 glory (she came in 3rd), especially since her season didn’t get their own tour. So here she is, with runner-up Jakob Carr in a contemporary routine choreographed by Desmond Richardson and Dwight Rhoden.

Season 7’s Robert Roldan (3rd in his season) has already danced once in Season 8, with Caitlynn Lawson, so he was already an All-Star as far as I was concerned. Because the All-Stars started at Top 20 last season, most of his dances are with Kathryn or another All-Star. I wanted to show you his Dee Caspary contemporary with winner Lauren Froderman, but it wouldn’t embed. Instead, I’ll show you their Dmitri Chaplin (Season 2 and DWTS) samba because it’s fun and they were both out of their element.

Chelsie’s only going to be an All-Star for tonight’s episode and it sounds like they may switch up the All-Stars from week to week. It’ll be interesting to see who else they bring on board and all of the great routines that result. Also, I haven’t ever seen it confirmed, but Allison and Twitch may be dating and it’ll be interesting to see them together as All-Stars again. Also, I’m dying to see our Georgia peaches, Kathryn and Season 8’s Melanie Moore dance together. You know what else I’d love to see? I’d love to see a current contestant dancing with an All-Star and choreographed by another SYTYCD alumni. That would be awesome. 🙂

Are they any Season 8 contestant/All-Star pairings you’re dying to see?

July 20, 2011 I Written By

Choreographer Kelley Abbey

I really loved the Kelley Abbey Top 12 Group routine last night and was intrigued by a comment I saw when I was re-watching the video online. A commenter said that it was a “remake” of a routine that was danced by one of the Australian Top 20s. I watched the last season of SYTYCD AU and really, really loved it, so I did remember one Kelley Abbey routine in particular that I’ll share with you, but it took some digging to find what the commenter was talking about.

She seems to only choreograph Top 20s or 12s from what I’ve found. Check it out.

From SYTYCD US Season 6, Kelley Abbey’s Top 20/Top 6 Finale routine

From SYTYCD AU Season 1, Kelley Abbey’s Top 12 Group routine

From SYTYCD AU Season 2, Kelley Abbey’s Top 12 Group routine

SYTYCD AU Season 3, Kelley Abbey’s Top 20 routine

And, I’m not sure what season this is from, but I think it’s AU’s 3rd (and last season), the guest performance from the FAME musical, which Kelley Abbey choreographed and which includes AU alumni. Pay particular attention around minute 1:36. Anything seem familiar?

July 15, 2011 I Written By

“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.

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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... =)

Writing up Seasons 6 and 7 – news for SYTYCD Season 8!

Check out this great piece from the The Daily Best/Sexy Beast (thanks Jordan, for sending us a link!) that discusses how the changes during the past two seasons have changed the show.

Here’s some highlights:

The season concludes this week, and looking back, it hasn’t gone well. Fox is aware that fans aren’t as thrilled as they once were. Last week, Fox Entertainment President Kevin Reilly told me that changes, like replacing one of the judges, “stir the passions of a very passionate audience.” Some of that audience has fled: While ratings are up from last fall, they have fallen compared to last summer. The penultimate results show last Thursday lost another 10 percent of its viewers for a season low.

And later:

Making matters worse, last fall, the generally insufferable Adam Shankman joined the judging panel full-time, resulting in the end of one of the show’s better features, a rotating third guest judge who would bring completely different insight than, say, Murphy’s enthusiasm or Lythgoe’s occasional homophobia. Now, the judges, while passionate as always, seem to have more time than ever to ramble. More significantly, they have started using their power arbitrarily, opting to send no one home one week, which seemed like a ploy to save their favorite Billy Bell, who wasn’t viewers’ favorite. After the judges announced that sudden rule change, host Cat Deeley wittily and pointedly observed, “We just make this show up as we go along.”

And here’s the best part, for me, because I think Nigel’s been reading PureSYTYCD and likes my ideas. lol

Lythgoe wasn’t made available for an interview for this story, but he admitted to the media after Thursday’s results show that there were too many changes. Lythgoe called the response “frustrating” and said “I want to get it right for the audience, but at the same time, I don’t want to let down dance, and this season the dance situation has really been tremendous.” He plans to revert back to the previous Top 20 format but still bring in all-stars once it’s down to 10.

Well, if he liked that idea, I think he really should put together a Fall SYTYCD reality show like I keep saying. Yes, I’ll probably be insufferable if it happens (all the “I told you so!”s), but it will be really fun.

Enjoy the reading!

August 11, 2010 I Written By

SYTYCD 7: The Serenade of the Sixth Male Dancer

As an add-in for this week’s series: Billy Bell, the Top 6 Dancer that was given a second chance… twice. As always the previous posts in this series include: All-Stars, Kent Boyd, Lauren Froderman, Robert Roldan and Adechike Torbert.

Was it worth it? Did the judges/producers make the right choice in bringing in Season 6 Original Top 20 dancer Billy Bell into the fold for Season 7?

You know, I find it kind of odd that Billy Bell was originally part of the Top 20 on Season Six, but had to withdraw due to illness only to be added onto Season Seven as the sixth guy effectively turning the Top Ten into the Top Eleven… Only for him to be out of commission on Week Six while in the Top Six and then for him to end his run on Season Seven in the Top Six? You guys see a trend here? 😀

All kidding aside let’s take a look at his journey from Las Vegas week to his exit…

Las Vegas Boot Camp
Going through Las Vegas he didn’t really standout as much as the judges expected of him (considering it’s his second time around) except during his solos.

In fact, when the judges chose the Top 10, Billy ended up getting cut… which stood to reason that he would have to wait til another year. Even Adam Shankman told Billy, when the judges were going around telling people if they made the Top 10 or not, that he didn’t really “show up” until his final solo.

However, the producers and judges decided to add a sixth guy and as thus included Billy into Season 7… but was it worth it?

Meet the Top 11:
– Wade Robson’s Jazz
– Mia Michaels Contemporary
During the Wade Robson routine his unique style of dance blended well with Wade’s choreography… I believe that if Wade Robson were to choreograph him in a dance it would be a very special kind of magic. Mia Michaels, in her own way, did just that. Billy had the role of a child, his insane flexibility and movement fit the role so perfectly that it was very easy for me to see why he is such a special dancer.

Week 1: Top 11 Performance:
– Broadway w/ Lauren Gottlieb choreographed by Tyce Diorio
After watching this dance I started to realize that in between dance steps my eyes lingered to Lauren… and suddenly I understood what Adam was talking about. Billy needed to work on filling the space in between steps. Without filling out that void he won’t be able to complete the movement.

Week 2: Top 10 Performance
– Krump w/ Comfort choreographed by Lil C
So we learned that Billy Bell started dancing in hiphop, which would mean that he should have some sort of idea of how to feel into it. Except when he was dancing with Comfort his movement was very flowing and very… well… contemporary-ish. Is it because he wasn’t allowing enough friction in this steps? Or power? Whatever the reason, this was not a strong dance for Billy

Week 3: Top 9 Performance
– Contemporary w/ Kathryn choreographed by Stacey Tookey
W00T, Season 6 reunite. 😀 Anyway, this is a very beautiful piece… it felt like a moving painting. Which is not necessarily a good thing. I love watching him dance but I’m not drawn into his dancing much like how I love various pieces of art but I won’t necessarily appreciate it wholeheartedly. So this would be an issue of connecting? Chemistry? Seems like I’m not the only one that believes this considering this is Billy’s first trip to the Bottom 3.

Week 4: Top 8 Performances
– Broadway w/ Katee Shean (Allison out due to injury) choreographed by Spencer Liff
Billy’s second Broadway piece this season. Remember how everyone’s dream is for Billy and Allison to dance together with Travis Wall choreographing? Two out of three isn’t bad… but it would seem the fates were against that. So Katee stepped in for Allison. (No other contemporary girls were available… but I would have loved to have seen this dance done with either Neil or Mark or even Ade since they were available) So the major question in this case would be: Did Billy grow from the first time he did Broadway? Yes, I believe he did. Did he grow enough to get out of the Bottom 3? No, not really… he hasn’t had a real “break out” dance as of yet, nothing that really wowed me from him… which is not a good thing.

– African Jazz w/ Jose Ruiz choreographed by Sean Cheesman
Ok I really really really loved Billy in this piece, don’t ask me why. I think him being an animal totally fits with his dance style so he should be able to nail it, and to me I really liked it. Could Billy use more power? Of course, but power isn’t his specialty. Could he use more abandon? Of course, but that hasn’t worked for him. But like I said, I really liked him in this piece, but that’s just me.

Though it wasn’t a “breakout” week, to me, he finally did start to get out there and started shining, slowly, for me… but alas another trip to the Bottom Three he was.

Week 5: Top 7 Performances
– Jive w/ Anya choreographed by Louis van Amstel
He did really well with this number. High energy, but his center is too high… but of all the ballroom routines up to this point, this is definitely one of the better ones thus far.

– Jazz w/ Lauren Froderman by Mandy Moore
A very relaxed loose and fun style… Billy has been growing slowly and steadily from week to week, still no real break out performance, but still he’s growing in some capacity.

Was this week enough to get Billy out of the Bottom Three? No not really, but it didn’t mean that he wasn’t growing, because he was.

Week 6: Top 6 Performances (Round One)
Billy did not dance this week due to injury. Although the doctors cleared him to dance, he did not feel that it would be in his best interest to dance… so he opted out to take the extra time to heal and recover for the long term.

The argument is that because Billy did not dance, he should automatically be let go. However the catch is that he was signed off to dance, it was only Billy that opted not to. Why? For me, having danced before and knowing the wear and tear and the very short life span for a traditional dancing profession Billy made the right choice. He has an injury and even though he could technically continue dancing this particular week it would be safer not to if only to make sure the injury heals so he could prolong his dance career. This show isn’t the catch all of his career, if anything it would only give him a slight edge over people. So thinking for the future was the best thing he could have done for himself, even though it meant putting the judges in an unenviable position.

Week 7: Top 6 Performances (Round Two)
– Contemporary w/ Ade Obayomi choreography by Stacey Tookey
I believe if there was ever a “breakout” performance for Billy, this piece was it. He had the talent, the skill, the performance, just everything. If there is ever a dance I would love to see on the tour this would be the piece. Then again, this was Contemporary, his style, he HAD to be great in this piece and he was… but what he got in this piece that he missed in the last contemporary piece that he did was connection. You sensed that connection that partnership that he seemed to be lacking in past dances.

– Bollywood w/ Robert Roldan choreographed by Nakul Dev Mahajan
O. M. G. If there was ever going to be a dance that tested his knee this would be the dance, and he didn’t show it not til the dance was over anyway. He was strong, he did well… but I felt that he was a bit upstaged by Robert. Though part of it was probably because Robert’s “look” matched the piece more than Billy did, but that’s just me.

This week, I believe, was the strongest week for Billy, but considering he was in the Bottom Three for the past few weeks I don’t believe he had enough of a fanbase to take him through into the next round… and unless the Bottom Three included Jose and Robert, he didn’t stand much of a chance of moving onward…

In Conclusion
All in all, Billy started slow but eventually began to grow as a dancer. He needed a breakout performance to prove his meddle, and even though he got something like that in his contemporary with Ade in Week 7, I almost felt like that was too little too late.

Had Billy not been ill last season the hype would have been a competition between him and Jakob Karr, however considering his performance this season, I do not believe that head to head battle would have happened the way the producers would have wanted it to happen. At the same time, things was different back then, so who knows what could have happened last season.

However, had Billy not been chosen for Season 7 would he have gone through the audition process and trip to Las Vegas again for Season 8? I would like to think that he would, but who knows?

August 3, 2010 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 Seasons 6 and 7 Tour

Since the tour dates have been announced, and Nigel was kind enough to clarify that dancers from both Seasons 6, Season 7 and the All Stars are going to participate… one thing that Nigel mentioned to Ashley was that she was “chosen” to participate on the tour as long as her injury has healed. Chosen? Meaning that not everyone is going to get a chance to be on the tour?

And as Emilie mentioned before… there might be dancers in Season 6 that won’t be able to make the tour due to contractual obligations elsewhere (they have to dance to put food on the table after all! 😀 ).

So below are a series of polls… the Top 10 dancers of Season 6, the dancers of Season 7 sans Alex Wong, and the All Stars… You get to decide who you’d like to see go on the tour! You are able to select as many dancers as you would like… in this case there’s no limit! 🙂 Enjoy.

July 16, 2010 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... =)