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Top 6 to Top 4: Thoughts

Hard to believe this season is coming to an end, I’m not quite ready for it to be over. Since there will be another performance show to determine this seasons winner, I figured I’ll wait till then to do a final power ranking.

Lots of dancing in this episode, two partner dances and a solo performances. Christina Applegate is back on the judging panel and I’m glad she is. The first round of dancing they were paired back up with there orignal parners. Casey and Jessica may not have been oringinally paired together, I really think they should have been. Jessican had a better connection with Casey and that disco was fun. I loved the rehearsal footage of Valerie’s dress getting caught on the swing.

All Star Dances.

Ricky and Anya: I don’t think that there is anything that Ricky can’t do. Keeping up with Anya can be a tough task but Ricky was able to “tame” her…well according to the Judges.

Valerie and Twitch: Loved that Valerie really got into the groove and character of the dance. Granted the costume wasn’t all that great but I really did enjoy the dance.

Zack and FikShun: So happy to see Philip choreographing for the show and boy did he put together an intricate dance. Zack pulled it off great and was able to match FikShun. Zack has pleasantly surprised me all season.

Jessica and Ade:  I agreed with Nigel on this one, just wasn’t feeling it. It happens sometimes but I think I was trying to figure out what club they were going to.

Casey and Makensie: Hands down this was his best dance of the season. To tap into that type of emotion can be difficult but Casey was able to do it.

Jacque and Will: I really loved this dance. Glad that they didn’t have any issues with the ball. I’m still not quite sure how they did what they did with the ball.

Overall I am happy with the top 4. I’m not sure but Cat only announce 3 all stars for next week, Kathryn, Robert, and Aaron. Call it a gut feeling but there will either be a tap trio or Aaron will dance with both of the tappers. So what are your thoughts on tonight and who is your pick to win just based on tonights show?

August 20, 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.

Top 8 to Top 6: Power Rankings and Thoughts

It’s hard to believe that this season is almost over, the stage seems so empty with just eight dancers on the stage. This week was a Michael Jackson theme…well, just all MJ music. Jenna Dewan Tatum joined the judges this week. I really emjoyed this week and the All Stars were great as usual. Still don’t like that the All Stars have to leave the stage right after they dance.  So on to the rankings.

Top 3

Ricky and Jamie: This was a great pairing and I agree with Travis, Ricky is the one to beat. I really don’t think that there is anything he can’t do. Plus it was just another simplistic dance that was just beautiful.

Zack and Makensie: Spencer said it the best Zack is just a sponge, soaking up everything he is learning and growing every week. I did enjoy the dance but in the back of my mind I was think about on of the dances in Center Stage that was danced to the same song.

Valerie and Ryan: I wasn’t too sure if she would be able to pull this off. Thankfully she did and she looked like she was having fun out there.

Middle 3

Jacque and Twitch: I loved the smoothness of this dance. I thought the style of the dance suited her and she had the attitude right as well.

Jessica and Will: While I loved the dance, I’m just not liking Jessica anymore. While she is a fantastic dancer I just feel she started off great, had a few so-so weeks and then suddenly bloosomed again. So good to see Will.

Casey and Comfort: I was quite surprised that he did as well as he did. However, it was hard not to want to watch Comfort and even the cameras seemed to do the same thing. He did connect well with her but I think he could of gotten into it just a little bit more.

Elimnated Dancers

Tanisha and Nick: I honestly had Tanisha in my top 4. I’m not sure how she how she ended up in the bottom 2. Regardless she had another great dance. I love Nick as a dancer ever since the first season.

Rudy and Allison: I had a hard time trying to watch Rudy because Allison kept draw my attention away from him. Her facial expressions we a bit too over the top for me. I did think he left on a high note.

Next weeks pairings.

Ricky and Anya

Valerie and Twitch

Casey and Makensie

Zack and FikShun: this should be fun

Jacque and Will

Jessica and Ade

 

August 13, 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 – The Off-Season

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

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

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

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

[…]

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

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

[…]

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

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

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

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

According to the New York Times

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

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

Read more..

September 19, 2012 I Written By

My life can be summed up in the following two quotes: 1) "I am married to engineering and am its faithful wife by day, but at night my wanderlust takes hold and the arts becomes my jealous paramour." and... 2) "Engineering is my safety net. Writing is my passion. Acting is my escape when the other two become too much." So where does dancing fit in? Pretty much anywhere at this point... =)

*It’s Almost Time to Reveal the All-Stars!!*

Hi everyone and happy Monday! I hope everyone had a great 4th of July holiday! As we get into Top 12 week, I thought I’d whip up a speculation post about the All-Stars! Unlike last season where Nigel gradually introduced who would be the All-Stars via Twitter, my thought is that they’re going to be introduced during the week between the Top 12 elimination (which is going to be so hard!) and the Top 10 performance show. Though, he might also just wait and introduce all of them on the Top 10 show. I’ve been wracking my brain (and watching way too much YouTube) to figure out who some of the All-Stars might be. If I had complete show control, these are some of the dancers I’d bring back:

#1 Robert Roldan: with the amount of time he’s spent on screen this season as an assistant as well as filling in for Mitchell during week 1 (he almost had to fill in on the most recent show, Mitchell’s foot was super swollen. Robert had his costume on and everything but Mitchell stepped up to the plate and delivered a fabulous performance with Caitlynn), I’d be SHOCKED if Robert wasn’t an All-Star this season. Not only is he an amazing dancer, but the public has really embraced him, even more than last year I think. Plus, he’s pretty easy on the eyes which might help dancers like Jordan and Ryan who seem to be having trouble getting the audience to vote for them.

Robert and Kathryn’s contemporary (top 6 week)-Stacey Tookey. I think this is the best he looked the whole season, and his partnership with Kathryn was absolutely amazing, the best partnership of the whole season. You can see through the whole piece how much he gives of himself to his partner, part of the reason he’d make a perfect All-Star. (sorry for the poor video quality, it was the only one I could find where embedding was allowed)

Katee Shean: I’m not sure if people remember that she actually stepped in as an All-Star last season when Allison Holker injured her ribs. She danced a Spencer Liff broadway number with Billy and the judges say it was the best they had ever seen Billy dance. Seeing her on the SYTYCD stage again made me remember what an incredible dancer she is. I’m embedding her “Imagine” number with Will from S4, a number I think should rank in the top 3 of the best dances in the history of the series. What the two of them did in that number is nothing short of extraordinary.

I would also be overjoyed to see Will as an All-Star, he’s an incredible dancer and it would be great to see how much he’s grown in 4 years since the show.

*your All-Star choices*
Kayla Radomski (S5) In the history of SYTYCD, Kayla has to be in the top 3 of the most physically talented girls ever to be on the show. For me, technique-wise, she’s tops. Kayla’s problem during her season was that she didn’t have much of a personality. She wasn’t boring, she just wasn’t very expressive and had trouble connecting to the audience. She began to break barrier near the end of the season, her jive with Evan during the finale was the most fun I saw her have on stage since her incredible week 1 samba with Max. Her partnership with Kupono was unexpectedly great and definitely kept her going in the competition.

Mia Michaels won a very well-deserved emmy for “Addiction” but it wouldn’t have been the same without Kayla and Kupono’s electric chemistry and partnership.

Janette Manrara (S5) Personality-wise, Janette is a great choice right off the bat. She’s also really good at multiple styles which is definitely a plus. If they’re doing a “pool” of all-stars, I want Janette in it because the ballroom, particularly the latin ballroom, this season has been pretty mediocre (this is me still being annoyed that Iveta and Nick were knocked out too early). For me, season 5 is a really underrated season, Jeanine, Kayla, Melissa, and Janette as the top 4 girls that season, that’s a pretty stacked group!

here’s Janette and Brandon’s Wade Robson “Ruby Blue” jazz number, my favorite of theirs from season 5, this also makes me miss the old stage and the stairs!

Ashleigh and Ryan DiLello (S6)
Ballroom is a tough category for All-Stars, since our best (Lacey, Dmitry, Chelsie) are all under contract with DWTS. I LOVED having Pasha and Anya back last season, and because of the lack of available ballroom All-Stars my best guess is that it will either be Pasha and Anya again or Ryan and Ashleigh. They’ve also been seen on camera helping out Jason Gilkison.

here’s their jive from the finale

and each with another partner doing ballroom
ryan and kathryn’s cha cha

ashleigh and jakob’s cha cha

Sara von Gillern (S3)
the idea of sara and tadd working together right now is making me giddy!! she is the only b-girl ever to be on the show, but sara’s adaptability was outstanding. I’m not really sure they could legitimately making breaking a category because it is so much about strength and practice, and we didn’t really see her do hip hop, but I would love to see her as an all-star.

I’m embedded one of the best performances in all 8 seasons, sara and pasha’s West Coast Swing 🙂

Legacy (S6)
I miss Legacy! I’m not sure any of us thought, at the top 20 announcement for S6, that he was going to go as far as he did. For as much flack as the producers got for having a fall season, the fact that 3 couples (Ashleigh & Jakob, Ryan & Ellenore, Legacy & Kathryn) were 6 of the final 8 speaks to the fact that they picked people who America loved! Personality and stage presence makes Legacy an excellent choice for an All-Star

here’s his “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” number with Ellenore (another good all-star choice!)

…this is a list in progress. hit me up in the comments with your All-Star picks and I’ll add them + videos if I can find them to our big master list!

July 11, 2011 I Written By

SYTYCD rumblings

What a great show last night!! I sprinkled my thoughts here and there on other posts but overall I was really impressed. I thought I’d bring you all a smattering of SYTYCD news that I’ve seen over the past couple of weeks. Much of it comes from our friends at Entertainment Weekly

*added 6/24
I haven’t had the chance to read some of your comments about the results last night, but Kate Ward, a writer at EW.com has written an article aptly titled, “SYTYCD results make fans angry. you won’t like them when they’re angry”

I have to admit, I was pretty annoyed to see them keep Ryan after her abysmal “dance for your life”. I was watching the live feed online and it shorted out so I missed Missy’s and Iveta’s but from what I’ve heard Iveta’s was better. I saw all the guys and I thought Ricky really made his case to stay, his solo was great. Frankly, it’s not his fault Ryan seems to rather look at the camera and mug than connect with him. One of the posters recommended that they should have let all three girls and one of the boys go and kept Nick and Ricky or Nick and Wadi. I agree that Nick had a great personality and I would have loved to have seen him do contemporary with his long limbs to really see what he can do.

thoughts on this? I think it’s pretty interesting…

————

They’ve recently released their list of the 25 greatest SYTYCD performances of the past 7 seasons.

25. Kathryn and Ryan’s cha-cha (Season 6)
24. Pasha and Sara’s “Rockafella Skank” (Season 3)
23. Lauren and Twitch’s “My Chick Bad” (Season 7)
22. Lacey and Kameron Week 1 (Season 3)
21. Jakob and Ashleigh’s “Hit Me With a Hot Note” (Season 6)
20. Tranji’s “Gyrate” (Season 2)
19. Melody and Nick’s “All That Jazz”
18. Ellenore and Jakob’s “Tore My Heart”
17. Jeanine and Jason “If It Kills Me”
16. Brandon and Jeanette’s Disco
15. Katee and Joshua’s Bollywood
14. Jaimie and Hok’s “Hummingbird and the Flower”
13. Robert and Allison’s “Fix You”
12. Brandon and Jeanette’s “Ruby Blue”
11. Chelsie and Mark’s “Bleeding Love”
10. Ade and Billy’s “Mad World”
9. Danny and Lacey’s “Hip Hip Chin Chin”
8. Allison and Ivan’s “Why”
7. Kayla and Kupono’s “Addiction (Gravity)”
6. Heidi and Benji’s “Black Mambo”
5. Allison and Alex’s “Hallelujah”
4. Neil and Sabra’s “80’s Power Lunch (the table dance)”
3. Travis and Heidi’s “The Bench”
2. Katee and Joshua’s “No Air”
1. Alex and Twitch’s “Outta Your Mind”

This is a pretty stellar list, I must say, but there are a few glaring omissions. Where is Will and Katee’s spectacular pas de deux from season 4? Or Kayla and Max’s incredible WEEK 1 samba from season 5? I know this doesn’t include solos, but I don’t think anyone has topped Blake’s amazing solo from top 6 week in season 1, I’ve rewound it 100 times at least and still can’t figure out how he switches directions in his back handspring!

any other routines that didn’t make the cut?
Read more..

June 23, 2011 I Written By

SYTYCD 2011 Interviews – Lauren Gottlieb, Kent Boyd, Will Wingfield, Kupono, and Comfort Fedoke

As promised, here are some interviews that I did a few weeks ago of Lauren Gottlieb, Kent Boyd, Will Wingfield, Kupono, and Comfort Fedoke where I talk about what they’re up to and a few questions about SYTYCD 2011. The environment wasn’t the best for an interview with all the ambient noise, but luckily it got better as we went along. Either way, it’s fun to hear updates from some of our our SYTYCD favorites. I also didn’t add an intro or anything. So, we just hop into each SYTYCD interview. I hope you enjoy!

I should have probably cut off the beginning of this video with Lauren Gottlieb where her and I are just chatting. Although, the first part is too good when I talk about why I didn’t participate in the dance Lauren Gottlieb taught at the expo (scroll through the first minute if you don’t want to hear us chatting). I also don’t explain well why I hadn’t interviewed her before even though I’ve been doing this blog since season 2. Trust me. After meeting Lauren G in person, I’ll never pass up the opportunity to meet her again. I’m now definitely one of her biggest fans. She was so fantastic, warm and kind. Of all the people I met at the reality TV conference, she definitely had the most star quality. She was incredible. You’ll see when you watch the video.

P.S. I definitely would like some dance lessons from Lauren.
P.S.S. I had to kind of cut the interview off too, because the NY Times was waiting to interview her. That’s why you see the guy in the back sometimes. Good stuff!

This interview with Will and Kupono was rough from all the noise. Will had just gone and said hi to Sinbad and taken some pictures. Yes, that Sinbad. Turns out that Sinbad knew Will by name. Not sure how they know each other, but it’s cool to see that Sinbad knows the SYTYCD dancers. Now for the interviews. Wait for the end for the SYTYCD 2011 contestant spoiler (the SYTYCD 2011 Las Vegas week was the same weekend as I filmed this). Plus, check out Kupono working 2 different shoes and why he had on 2 different shoes.

I start off quick with Kent asking about the previous video I posted where I asked Kent about any romance with LoFro. He also talks about his future in dancing, what it was like to come in second place and possibly acting.

The following is the interview with SYTYCD All Star Comfort Fedoke. Hear more about Comfort’s plans for the future and possible work with Disney (cause she still looks like a child).

It was a lot of fun doing these interviews. I’ll have to do them again soon. Sorry I didn’t get Lauren Froderman’s interview. She was over signing autographs at the table before I could get her on camera. Next time!

May 26, 2011 I Written By

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

Least Favorite So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD) Routines – Responses from SYTYCD Dancers Panel

I told you that I had a ton of videos from SYTYCD at the Reality Rocks Expo. I think I have about a half dozen or so more. We’re nearing the end of the panel and then we’ll show them teaching a routine with audience participation. Then, some one on one interviews as well. Just watching them gets me excited for SYTYCD 2011.

These 2 videos are the SYTYCD panel discussing some of their least favorite SYTYCD routines. I liked how honest they were about not liking some of the routines. On the show, they always act like they loved the routine. I guess that makes sense when the choreographer is right there. Enjoy the SYTYCD honesty!

I thought it was done, so this video is in 2 parts:

May 4, 2011 I Written By

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

How Much of SYTYCD Is Luck of the Draw – Reality Rocks Expo SYTYCD Panel

I love this question, but Will’s right that no one knows it for certain. I do love that their honest about the challenge of some of the music, choreography, etc. Kent also talks about how it’s not reasonable for him and Lauren to “get married” in their bollywood routine. Not to mention, Lauren Froderman gets outed by Kent Boyd saying she didn’t like a specific routine. Enjoy!

May 2, 2011 I Written By

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

How Hard Is It Doing Other Dance Genres on SYTYCD? – Responses at Reality Rocks Expo

SYTYCD Dancers, Lauren Gottlieb, Chelsea Traille, Comfort Fedoke, Lauren Froderman, Will Wingfield, Kupono, Kent Boyd, at Reality Rocks Expo in LA talk about how hard it is to do other dance genres on So You Think You Can Dance. I guess a few of them weren’t enjoying the other styles as much as they make it seem on the show.

April 29, 2011 I Written By

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

How Has SYTYCD Has Made Dance More Accessible? – Reality Rocks Panelists Reponses

I’m back with a video I recorded at the Reality Rocks Expo in LA. This was part of the SYTYCD Panel at the expo and provided some interesting answers to how SYTYCD has made dance more accessible.

The guy who was helping me at this event was surprised that middle america might not know about Krump. He grew up in LA, so I guess he’d known about it forever. I definitely didn’t know about Krump until I first saw it on SYTYCD. So, I guess I was part of the middle america that’s referred to in the video.

More videos on their way. I’ll try and post one a day until I run out of the videos. A nice way to get ready for th new season of SYTYCD.

April 28, 2011 I Written By

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