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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... =)

Drop Dead Diva Dances!

Judge Paula Abdul on Drop Dead Diva. That woman has legs! Check out SYTYCD’s Mollee Gray and Will Wingfield, too. And…Margaret Cho? I guess this would make more sense if I watched the show. Anybody catch any other familiar faces?

June 7, 2010 I Written By

Top 5 Most Disliked SYTYCD Contestants

It’s the offseason of SYTYCD and so I decided that I’d start making some lists related to the various dancers from the past 6 SYTYCD. Plus I’m at McDonald’s with my son and so what else should I be doing while he has the time of his life on the playplace? Exactly.

I figured I’d start this out with a bang and make a list of the most disliked dancers ever on SYTYCD. Granted this is a bit difficult to evaluate, but I think most people on the list are pretty obvious.

It is also worth mentioning that many of these dancers had a LOT of fans that adored them as well (including myself for a few). However, in most cases for every one that loved them there were also plenty of haters. I also should add that this doesn’t mean that the dancers on this list aren’t amazing dancers. In fact, all of them are outstanding. However, outstanding dancers doesn’t mean people like you.

Now to the list…

1. Danny Tidwell – Danny is a great example of someone who had a ton of fans, but also a ton of haters. The knock on him was that he was seen as arrogant and “entitled.” I personally think he was arrogant. He was a great dancer and knew it. Compare him to Jakob Karr who was great technically as well, but was always super humble. Had Danny been so humble he probably would have won his season.
2. Blake McGrath – I didn’t even see this season of the show, but the internet archives I’ve read show that people really didn’t like Blake on the first season. He was arrogant and wore it on his sleeve. In fact, he still does. At least you know who he is, but Blake definitely had plenty of haters.
3. Lacey Schwimmer – Lacey is a really interesting case. She had to be in her brother’s shadow a bit even though she was very different. She was also partnered with no 1 on this list. Not to mention her rawness and unique qualities along with how proud she was of her uniqueness all combined to have many people not like Lacey.
4. Will Wingfield – See Danny’s desription and it was the same storyine, but not quite as strong. Brandon Bryant almost fell into this group also, but was able to avoid it with a killer solo and a little more humility. Brandon can likely thank Mia for that.
5. Ivan Kourmaev – Most people loved Ivan until he started staying on the show “longer” than people thought that he should. As people who were more “talented” than him went home people started to really dislike Ivan and want him off. Not his fault for defying odds.
6. Legacy – This is similar to Ivan, but Legacy did grow a little more than Ivan did on the show and so the dislike wasn’t quite as strong.
7. Kayla Radomski – Perfect technically and lack of personality was the gripe by many. White lightning still had a huge fan base, but many people wanted her off despite her technical prowess. I also think many women were jealous of her incredible legs. I don’t blame them. If I were female I’d be jealous too. Since I’m not she was one of my favorites.
8. Paris Torres/Tony Bellissimo – Paris was on for such a short time that people couldn’t make a real judgment, but for some reason people seemed to hate her first impression. People just never thought that Tony even deserved to be on the show.

I’m sure I missed someone since I wrote this on my phone. So, let’s hear who you think should be on this list that isn’t? Would you rank them differently.

P.S. I’ll plan on doing more uplifting lists in the future.

January 2, 2010 I Written By

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

Review of So You Think You Can Dance Tour – Kansas City

A big thanks to Selly from Dance Outlook for sending us the following writeup about the So You Think You Can Dance Tour visit to Kansas City. If you have been to a different city and have pictures, videos or want to write about your experience, then let us know. About one more month left for the So You Think You Can Dance tour and there are still tickets available for future tour stops.

Without further ado, here’s Selly’s experience and pictures from the So You Think You Can Dance Kansas City tour stop:
On Wednesday night, I attended the 2008 SYTYCD Tour at Sprint Center in Kansas City. I had amazing seats (thanks to presale) in the 5th row. I actually enjoyed the show more than I expected to. This has been my least favorite season, but I had a lot of fun seeing all of the dances live. I didn’t take notes, so this isn’t going to be a formal review by any means, but just some general notes/comments.

Kherington needs to close her mouth. Instead of smiling at inappropriate times like she did on the show, most of her facial expressions are approximately :O This was actually one of the first things I noticed during the show.

After the requisite video montage of Nigel’s Top 5 “memorable” (aka bad) auditions, the dancers came out and performed Shane Sparks’s Elevator group number.

The dancers were introduced and did mini-solos. They then re-introduced themselves live. Katee then said that she would not be performing at all that night due to injury. I knew she had hurt her back, but I still had hope for at least the Will/Katee Complexions Pas De Deux or at least No Air.

Twitchington performed first with their “We’re Escaped Convicts” hip hop by Napoleon and Tabitha. Among other dances, they did a “world tour” of dance styles from around the world featuring Thayne and Chelsie’s Cha Cha, Josh and Twitch’s Trepak which Gev introduced in Russian (and a dress), Courtney and Mark’s Viennese Waltz (once again, Gev wore a dress), and the group Bollywood number.

Some of the highlights of the night for me were Bleeding LoveLeona Lewis - Bleeding Love - Single - Bleeding Love, Five Guys Named MoeVarious Artists - Five Guys Named Moe (Original Broadway Cast Recording) - Five Guys Named Moe, The GardenMirah - Advisory Committee - The Garden, The Dance, Twitchington’s “Bed” contemporary (which I have rose petals from in my purse), Money Money, and pretty much anything involving Chelsea H., Courtney, or Mark.

Despite the odd facial expression, I was actually really impressed by Kherington. Because all of the dances involving Katee except for group numbers were cut, some “emergency backup dances” were added in addition to the ones on the normal set list. These included Courtney and Josh’s Frankenstein hip hop (which I have no recollection of ever seeing before), Courtney and Gev’s Rumba, Jessica and Will’s “Shirt” contemporary, Marksie’s Kiss Kiss jazz and Twitchington’s Too Darn Hot Broadway.

I think there were a coupe other Courtney dances added, too. Because Katee did not perform, Jessica King did her solo which I was not at all impressed with. I know there’s a lot I haven’t talked about, but it’s really hard to remember everything. However, if you have any specific questions, it would probably make it a lot easier for me to come up with an answer than to post every single little detail that I can dredge up.

At one of the merchandise stands, I bought a tour t-shirt (just the regular one, not anything dancer-specific), leggings, and a program, all of which were ridiculously overpriced, but super cute. People were going crazy with grabbing fake money, rose petals, and confetti when they swept the stage off. I managed to grab some rose petals and ended up with a random lost bobby pin from the stage in an attempt to get confetti.


I took a lot of pictures before intermission, when my camera
conveniently died, but I’m fairly sure my camera is broken. They all
turned out massively blurry and most of them had weird lines across
them. I tried to pick out some of the better ones though.

Stay on your toes,

Selly from Dance Outlook

October 17, 2008 I Written By

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

Favorite Dance Videos from the Finale of So You Think You Can Dance

Along the same lines as my previous SYTYCD Finale posts, here’s all the judges favorite videos from the final results show.

Nigel Lythgoe’s Pick
Katee Shean and Joshua Allen danced Bollywood to the song “Dhoom Taana” from Om Shanti Om choreographed by Nakul Dev Mahajan
Shahrukh Khan, Arjun Rampal, Deepika Padukone & Shreyas Talpade - Om Shanti Om (Music from the Film) - Dhoom taana
Video of So You Think You Can Dance Finale – Joshua & Katee

Mary Murphy’s pick
Katee Shean and Stephen “Twitch” Boss danced Contemporary to the song “Mercy”—Duffy choreographed by Mia Michaels
Duffy - Rockferry - Mercy
Mercy – Original Music Video
Video of So You Think You Can Dance Finale – Katee & Twitch

Top 5 Male dancers group dance to the song “Five Guys Named Moe” from Five Guys Named Moe (Broadway; Choreographer: Nigel Lythgoe)
Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five - Five Guys Named Moe: Original Decca Recordings, Vol. 2 - Five Guys Named Moe
Video of So You Think You Can Dance Finale – The Top 5 Guys

Adam Shankman’s Pick
Courtney Galiano and Mark Kanemura danced Jazz to the song “The Garden”—Mirah choreographed by Sonya Tayeh
Mirah - Advisory Committee - The Garden
Video of So You Think You Can Dance Finale – Courtney & Mark

Video of So You Think You Can Dance Finale – Katee & Will

Lil C’s Pick
Chelsie Hightower and Mark Kanemura danced Hip-Hop to the song “Bleeding Love”—Leona Lewis choreographed by Napoleon D’umo and Tabitha D’umo
Leona Lewis - Bleeding Love - Single - Bleeding Love
Leona Lewis - Spirit (Deluxe Version) - Bleeding Love – Original Music Video
Video of So You Think You Can Dance Finale – Chelsie & Mark

Adam Shankman’s pick
Comfort Fedoke and Stephen “Twitch” Boss danced Hip-hop to the song “Forever”—Chris Brown choreographed by Dave Scott
Chris Brown - Forever - Single - Forever
Forever – Original Music Video
Video of So You Think You Can Dance Finale – Comfort & Twitch

Mary Murphy’s Pick
Courtney Galiano and Gev Manoukian danced Rumba to the song “Wishing on a Star”—Rose Royce choreographed by Tony Meredith and Melanie LaPatin
Rose Royce - Rose Royce Greatest Hits - Wishing on a Star
Video of So You Think You Can Dance Finale – Courtney & Gev

Nygel Lythgoe’s pick
Katee Shean and Joshua Allen danced Hip-hop to the song “No Air”—Jordin Sparks & Chris Brown choreographed by Napoleon D’umo and Tabitha D’umo
Jordin Sparks & Chris Brown - Jordin Sparks - No Air
Video of So You Think You Can Dance Finale – Katee & Joshua

Debbie Allen’s pick
Kherington Payne and Stephen “Twitch” Boss danced Viennese waltz to the song “A New Day Has Come”—Celine Dion choreographed by Jean-Marc Genereux
Céline Dion - A New Day Has Come - A New Day Has Come
A New Day Has Come – Original Music Video

August 8, 2008 I Written By

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

Final So You Think You Can Dance Poll

I really don’t think there’s much argument that Joshua Allen was a great dancer and was very deserving of the prize of America’s Greatest Dancer. However, after the success of my top 4 SYTYCD poll, I thought it would be fun to put a couple polls up to see how readers of this site would vote for their FAVORITE dancer and then for the BEST dancer.

Here’s the poll for your FAVORITE So You Think You Can Dance season 4 dancer.

Here’s the poll for the BEST So You Think You Can Dance season 4 dancer.

August 7, 2008 I Written By

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

Nigel Lythgoe Shares His Feelings About Will’s Departure

Today I was sent a TV Guide article that has some quotes from Nigel Lythgoe talking about the departure of Will Wingfield from So You Think You Can Dance. The part in quotes is from the article with my commentary in between.

Did the brilliant Will Wingfield exit Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance too soon? Head judge/executive producer Nigel Lythgoe certainly thinks so.

Who cares what Nigel thinks? It’s not his choice anymore it’s America’s.

When the moment of truth arrived during last week’s results show, here’s what the audience didn’t see: Lythgoe putting his head down on the judges’ table as if he couldn’t bear to watch what was going to happen next. Would it be Will or another audience favorite, Twitch, getting the boot?

How funny is this? Nigel acts as if Will getting booted off is wrong. This of course would assume that there’s a right and wrong answer. The fact is that there isn’t. There’s no such thing as right or wrong when we’re talking about a favorite dancer. Especially since Fox has said repeatedly that So You Think You Can Dance is “America’s Favorite Dancer.” Considering Nigel Lythgoe isn’t even an American, then does his opinion really matter in a contest for “America’s Favorite Dancer?” America voted and America decided. It’s great that way and that’s the beauty of America.

When Cat Deeley announced that Will would be going home, the crowd gasped. Widely acknowledged to be the finest all-around dancer this season — and coming off of a sensational pas de deux with Katee Shean and a rousing James Brown imitation in his Wednesday solo routine — nobody saw it coming. After the initial shock, the audience gave a standing ovation. “To me, it’s very much like losing Chris Daughtry or Tamyra Gray from American Idol,” Lythgoe said after the show. “Either one of them leaving — Will or Twitch — was a big disappointment. I really thought Will, Twitch and Joshua would be fighting it out until the end.”

So I must admit. I really actually enjoyed Will’s James Brown imitation. The pas de deux was incredible because of Katee I thought, so no surprises there for me when Will got booted. I can agree that Will is a great dancer, but dancing isn’t just about technique. Will didn’t have that it quality that I think the final three men had and that’s why he’s gone.

Twitch had fallen to his knees, with his back to the audience, when he landed in the bottom two, and had to be comforted by Deeley. “I had words with him,” shares Lythgoe. “I said, ‘Look, you’re in the Top 10. After this, there’s only going to be one winner, so please use the next few weeks just to enjoy yourself.'”

Cat Deeley comforting Twitch was one of the nicest parts of the show. As if we needed another reason to like Cat even more. I also love how Nigel “had words with him.” What a commanding father figure.

Lythgoe says Twitch will probably get the same kind of sympathy vote this week that hip-hopper Comfort got the week prior — before she was sent packing for a second time. Who will be standing at the end? “A boy is gonna be the winner this year,” says Lythgoe. “That’s my gut.”

It’s not about sympathy, but Nigel is right. Twitch fans will not provide sympathy votes, but they will get out and vote more than they ever have before. That spells trouble for Mark Kanemura.

I would normally say I don’t know at this point if a guy or a girl is going to win this year, but Nigel has more than his gut to determine if a guy is going to win. I imagine as producer of the show he’s seen the numbers of votes so I’ll go with him and say a guy will win. Joshua Allen winning So You Think You Can Dance would be a great ending and well deserved.

July 28, 2008 I Written By

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

Elimination Music from SYTYCD Top 8 – Goodbye Comfort Fedoke and William Wingfield

The following is all the music for the elimination dances and other group dances on SYTYCD top 8. It’s amazing to me how this elimination was the opposite of last week. I was fine with both people getting sent home. Last week I didn’t want to see either person leave.

Here you can find all of the previous SYTYCD music.

Top 8 hip-hop Group dance: “Universal Mind Control” sung by Common
Common - Announcement - EP - Universal Mind Control (UMC)
Guest dancer(s): Los Angeles Ballet Pas de deux; (The Man I Love from the ballet Who Cares?)
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Viv McLean & Simon Lee - Who Cares? The Gershwin Songbook for Piano and Orchestra - The Man I Love
Musical guest: “Baby” sung by LL Cool J featuring The-Dream debut this new single on So You Think You Can Dance
LL Cool J - Baby (feat. The-Dream) - Single - Baby (feat. The-Dream)
Baby (feat. The-Dream) – Original Music Video

Solos:

Comfort Fedoke: “Like This” sung by Mims
Mims - Music Is My Savior - Like This
William Wingfield: “Closer” sung by Goapele
Goapele - Change It All - Closer
Courtney Galiano: “Passion” sung by Kreesha Turner

Stephen “Twitch” Boss: “Hollywood Swinging” sung by Kool and the Gang
Kool & The Gang - The Very Best of Kool & the Gang - Hollywood Swinging

Eliminated:

Comfort Fedoke: “Come Home” sung by OneRepublic
OneRepublic - Dreaming Out Loud - Come Home
William Wingfield: “Love Remains the Same” sung by Gavin Rossdale
Gavin Rossdale - Wanderlust - Love Remains the Same
Love Remains the Same – Original Music Video

July 24, 2008 I Written By

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

Music for the Solo Dances on SYTYCD

The following is all the music for the solo dances on SYTYCD. Here you can find all of the previous SYTYCD music or the couples music for SYTYCD.

Comfort Fedoke danced a solo to the song “I Got This Down” sung by Simian Mobile Disco
Simian Mobile Disco - Attack Sustain Decay Release - I Got This Down
William Wingfield danced a solo to the song “Get Up Offa That Thing” sung by James Brown
James Brown - 20 All Time Greatest Hits! - Get up Offa That Thing
Katee Shean danced a solo to the song “Taking Chances” sung by Celine Dion
Céline Dion - Taking Chances (Deluxe Version) - Taking Chances
Mark Kanemura danced a solo to the song “Creator” sung by Santogold ft. Switch and Freq Nasty
Santogold vs. Switch and FreQ Nasty - Santogold - Creator
Chelsie Hightower danced a solo to the song “Damaged” sung by Danity Kane
Danity Kane - Welcome to the Dollhouse - Damaged
Danity Kane - Welcome to the Dollhouse - Damaged – Original music video
Joshua Allen danced a solo to the song “Shawty Get Loose” sung by Lil’ Mama ft. T-Pain and Chris Brown
Lil Mama - Shawty Get Loose (feat. T-Pain & Chris Brown) - Single - Shawty Get Loose
Shawty Get Loose – Original music video
Courtney Galiano danced a solo to the song “Where I Stood” sung by Missy Higgins
Missy Higgins - On a Clear Night - Where I Stood
Where I Stood – Original music video
Stephen “Twitch” Boss danced a solo to the song “Go To Work” sung by Kay L
Kay L - Go to Work - Single - Go to Work

July 23, 2008 I Written By

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

Music for the Couples Dances on SYTYCD

The following is all the music for the couples dances on SYTYCD. Here you can find all of the previous SYTYCD music or the solo music for SYTYCD.

Courtney Galiano and William Wingfield danced a Samba to the song I Fell in Love With the DJ—Che’Nelle choreographed by Jean-Marc Genereux
Che'Nelle featuring Cham - I Fell In Love With the DJ (Extended Radio Edit) - Single - I Fell In Love With the DJ (Extended Radio Edit)
I Fell In Love With the DJ – original music video
Courtney Galiano and William Wingfield danced a Hip-hop to the song Like You’ll Never See Me Again—Alicia Keys choreographed by Tabitha D’umo and Napoleon D’umo
Alicia Keys - As I Am - Like You'll Never See Me Again
Like You'll Never See Me Again – Original music video
Katee Shean and Stephen Twitch Boss danced a Contemporary to the song Mercy—Duffy choreographed by Mia Michaels
Duffy - Rockferry - Mercy
Katee Shean and Stephen Twitch Boss danced a Broadway to the song Sweet Georgia Brown from Bubbling Brown Sugar choreographed by Tyce DiOrio
Vivian Reed - Bubbling Brown Sugar - the Original Musical Revue - Sweet Georgia Brown
Comfort Fedoke and Mark Kanemura danced a Hip-hop to the song Party People—Nelly ft. Fergie choreographed by Tabitha D’umo and Napoleon D’umo
Nelly - Party People (feat. Fergie) - Single - Party People
Comfort Fedoke and Mark Kanemura danced a Foxtrot to the song Lady Luck—The Brian Setzer Orchestra choreographed by Jean-Marc Genereux
Brian Setzer - Nitro Burnin' Funny Daddy - Luck Be a Lady
Chelsie Hightower and Joshua Allen danced a Argentine tango to the song A Los Amigos from Forever Tango choreographed by Dmitry Chaplin
Broadway Cast Recording & Lisandro Adrover - Forever Tango - A Los Amigos
Chelsie Hightower and Joshua Allen danced a Disco to the song Everlasting Love—Gloria Estefan choreographed by Doriana Sanchez
Gloria Estefan - Greatest Hits Vol. II - Everlasting Love

I Written By

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