…is actually the title of a song. That is what I learned on last night’s SYTYCD eppy. I’m going to try and wow even myself, today, by managing to get a recap done before the following evening’s results show. If the pros can do it, surely I can, right?
(And, before you ask, I’m not going to bother with recapping last week’s show, because my DVR failed me when I needed it the most and I have yet to see anything other than the Wikipedia entry of last week’s results).
At the beginning of last night’s episode, Cat did her big show of explaining to us just how live this season’s shows really are (including some awkwardly staged backstage primping moments), and then there was a montage of the contestants each drawing a name out of the hat of all stars (go ahead and take the time to imagine them all in one, giant hat – I did) and now I’m led to believe that Kathryn is somehow a Bollywood dancer by training. Ohhhh, the liberties you take, SYTYCD…
Let's get down to the performances:
Cristina and… Pasha
(Paso Doble)
Aside from the awful joke about “Pasha Doble”, this didn’t turn out as well as I’d hoped. It might be that I just don’t know how to differentiate various latin ballroom styles and assume that someone whose specialty is one will automatically be great in another, but Cristina’s scowl was just a little too forced to me. Also, I always thought the Paso Doble was about a matador and his cape, and NO ONE was wearing red! The hell..??
Adéchiké and… Allison
(Contemporary)
When the unnecessary beginning montage showed us that Ade v.2.0 picked Allison’s name out of the hat and they were to dance a contemporary number, I was sure this was going to be one of those tearjerkers that makes Nigel talk about his “cold heart” and Mia say some bullshit adjectives that hold little to no value because she doles them out like they’re candy. Oddly enough, the jidges weren’t awestruck. I guess I’m a firm believer in great technique carrying a dance, because I didn’t care about the “emotions” and “connection” between the two of them as much as they did. I'd say it was one of the better danced routines of the night, actually. And Adéchiké is unGODly light on his feet, which I appreciate in a male dancer.
Alex and… Lauren
(Broadway)
I know that Lauren used to be an assistant for Tyce before she was old enough to be a contestant on the show, but I have to say that I never really considered her to be much by way of Broadway (Vocal Adrenz doesn't REALLY count). After last night, I stand corrected. Even though Alex is one of the strongest dancers in a season that is STACKED with strong male dancers, it surprised me how often my eyes went to Lauren. I don’t think the jidges were too strongly swayed one way or the other about the routine (aside from some bit about Alex looking hunched), but I just think this number was a perfect mixture of great, yet simple, choreography and amazing technique.
Ashley and… Mark
(Jazz)
Let’s get the obvious out of the way: Mark looks SSOOOO damn—oh, wait, no… what I meant was... Ashley and Mark look like they’re related. I’m not sure why, and it’s obviously out of anyone’s control so it’s more or less a moot point, but THAT really kept me from getting into a piece about emotions and feelings and wanting to BE with someone the way that Travis (eeeeeeee! Travis! Woooo!) had intended. 'Cause, y'know, ew? Also, I guess I never really hold on too tightly to what style of dance they’re committing, when I watch the show, so I was a little annoyed by the jidges’ great opposition of this piece being called a jazz. I guess I agree that it definitely wasn’t Fosse reincarnate (again, look to Alex and Lauren’s routine for that), but it was good. Also, until last night, I was pretty sure jazz, contemporary, and lyrical were more or less interchangeable for this show, so the “new style” of dance in which they want to see Ashley “tackle and flourish” argument is pretty damn futile.
Billy and… Comfort
(Krump …ahhhh!!)
Ohhhhhhhh, this is such a beautiful concept: a technically beautiful contemporary male dancer (with the skin and voice of a milkmaid) put in a dance where he’s supposed to be raw and show aggression. To hip hop. This was both as much impressive and a train wreck as I thought it would be. There were parts where I SWORE BB Kurt Hummel was frolicking through a meadow, but others where I was actually pretty surprised by how hard he was hitting the steps/beats. That, combined with the discovery that there’s actually a song titled [see post title], made this possibly one of the best performances (note how I didn’t say “dances”) of the night. Honorable mentions to Cat's awesome dig at Nigel about his age (and how "the kids like [the music]") Take a look…
Robert and… Anya
(Argentine Tango)
Now, the audience and Anya and even Jean-Marc Généreux (choreographer) thought that this was an EXCELLENT performance and Robert was seriously channeling some “Roberto”. The jidges, however, thought that he was either trying too hard or being eaten by Anya or some shit. Anya’s amazing, and this dance was probably made FOR her, but I was really impressed with what someone with a contemporary background could accomplish on Week 2.
Melinda and… Ade
(Contemporary)
Now, I love me a good treehugging story, but I think I wasn’t terribly impressed with the choreography on this one. The story was a little bit of build-up in the rehearsal piece, but then just kind of… meh. And, I have to agree with Mia about the costume being distracting, but honestly, if Melinda wasn’t dressed like Poison Ivy, I don’t think I’d have ever known what the dance was about. Everyone was really impressed with Melinda’s technique in a style so different from her own, but I guess the fact that she talks a good game has me already expecting her to ACE everything. I suppose I just expect too much from my girl crushes.
Jose and… Kathryn
(Bollywood …the fuck?!)
So, if I understand correctly, the purpose of having the vets back on the show to dance with the contestants is to use THEIR styles of dance as the chosen style for the week, yes? Then WHY THE HELL are they dancing Bollywood?! While we're on the topic, I definitely had this issue with Courtney’s style magically becoming African, last week too. Now, I’m more critical of Bollywood than other styles of dance for a variety of reasons, ranging from cultural self-loathing to an actual background in a much more difficult, far less fluffy form of Indian dance, but I’m willing to bet that I wasn’t the only one who found this too cringe-worthy to watch. No, really, I FFW’ed straight through the latter half of this, so I honestly couldn’t tell you what happened.
Lauren and… Dominic
(Lyrical Hip-hop)
I know that when Dominic being D-Trix, he’s all hip hop-y and old school and blah blah, but he doesn’t have someone to partner then. I think he should always stick to Lyrical Hip-hop, because he masters emotion in dance SO well. And, right, the contestant! Lauren is definitely climbing my favorites’ list a lot faster than I thought she would. Last week, I thought she was a lot better than the jidges did, and that more or less stands true, this week as well. She seems like one of those girls who definitely took hip-hop at some point or another, so I’m not surprised she did well, but her level of commitment to the dance was what really surprised me. Shanks seemed to pick up on it, and just lauded her with lots of last ditch jidge-y praise, but, in all honesty, I think she deserved it. Look below…
Kent and… Courtney
(Jazz)
Now, normally I hate when people assume the dynamic between a new partnership before it hits, but there’s really no denying the fact that ANY female would chew Kent up and spit him out before he knew what hit him. And, despite the 943839048 gay/Cherub/eunuch jokes that are just bubbling at the surface of the entire rehearsal footage, I have to say, I was yet again endeared by his commitment to a different style. Also, it’s nice to see that, technically, he really IS quite good.
I did it! Now, I can’t promise this will always happen, but for the first recap of the season, you got the whole shebang before the Results Show. If I had to put my money on the bottom three? I’d say: Jose, Cristina, and Ashley.
Tune in tonight and see if I’m right!
6.24.2010
So U Think U Can Krump
6.23.2010
Good Thing You Didn't Call It A Comeback
Yeah, yeah, you probably all pegged it a hell of a better than we did... turns out, willing your new ridiculous workload at the office away doesn't necessarily make it so. In any case, it's my favorite season - So You Think You Can Dance season - so let's try our hand at another attempt, shall we?
Last week marked the first official week of elimination, so I figured, before all the official dance critiquing (read: contestant/judge bashing) a nice rundown of how I see the contestants fairing might be a good kick-off. Or, I did figure that… until learning that they took the previous SYTYCD format and spun it on its axis: only 11 contestants, with only one going home per week, paired up with “all-stars” (milking the fact that we ultimately only sustain our love for the dancers who didn’t necessarily win their seasons). Now, instead, I’ll run down the rookies as well as the oldies but goodies.
NEWBS:
(Boys)
Starting off the list of contestants on this (revamped) season are the obvious choices: Billy Bell and Alex Wong. Why are these two obvious? Well, they made it onto the show already, but didn’t actually get to compete due to mysterious illness and contractual obligations to ballet companies, respectively. Billy, who is more or less Kurt Hummel v.2.0 (clearly HE even thinks so) was the best, if only one of three, thing to happen to the pathetic excuse for Season 6. Because this show feels the need to pander to those high school girls who throw themselves at the gay boys in their school who have yet to come out of the closet (all of you can shut UP about how well I know “that girl”), they allowed Billy Bell’s pretty boy friend (possibly join those two words…?), Robert, from Alvin Ailey to also join the show. Alex is an Asian ballet dancer, and I’m pretty sure nothing more needs to be said about that.
Along with those two is another of this season’s 9348394 contemporary dancers, Kent. Kent is a baby bird who has to ingest his food from the mama bird (Adam Shankman) as she regurges it back up for him. He is a caricature of the concept of “small town boy” and damn it all to hell if even *I* am not pretty endeared by his naivete and unknowing charm. God damn you, Small Town Kent.
Since there’s only so much wholesome a season of daaahhhncers can handle, Nigel & Co. introduced some non-gay WASP contemporary dancers. There’s our (requisite for SYTYCD) from-the-streets, untrained, Hip Hopper, Jose, who is – of course – shockingly adept at all the styles thrown at him. Hopefully it will win over the masses (or at least distract them from his terrible acne). Our other burst of flavor comes in the form of Ade version 2.0. No, really… his name is Adéchiké. And I’d put money that he can do that one fancy arabesque flip, for which we all remember the original Ade. I think the fact that both Ades are on the show will probably, at some point or another, irrationally enrage me. Let’s hope he does some good dances before that moment comes.
(Girls)
With a guys’ lineup, this season, that is SO strong, I’d normally completely write off the girls. Somehow, though, they managed to get a bunch of female dancers that can probably actually hang with the Marks and Pashas and Neils of the returning veterans.
We should probably start it off with my girl crush, Melinda, who, from her first featurette in the audition specials, was positively too cool and I was sure that would hurt her. She’s a tap dancer and her only downfall on the show might be that she’s a little too aware of her showmanship and it might come off less than genuine. That being said, she’s awesome and will look really good on Mark or Neil’s arm!
After my crush, the next two I like are the two contemporary girls, Lauren and Alexie. Alexie has auditioned for the show 93489384 times, apparently, and is the oldest contestant, so I think that will definitely hurt her in the competition. She’s super bubbly, but I clearly just love her for being Asian and on the show. Lauren, quite frankly, looks and sounds like she’d be an idiot (which, in my mind, translates to bad dancer), but is surprisingly really good and is just BEGGING for a Mia Michaels number to be thrown on her. Of course, the show has to hate me, so Mia will be too busy running her mouth (y’know, that part of her we don’t care about) and I’ll be too busy wondering who is issuing tickets to the Hot Tamale Train. Sigh, Mary… I never knew what I had until I lost you…
Rounding out the girls are the last two contestants, who are basically just iterations of contestants in the past: Cristina and Ashley, whose styles are salsa and lyrical, respectively. You two girls better pray for some gooooood choreography to get you fan attention.
______________________________________________
VETS (ahhhhhh!!)
Firstly, I can’t believe I’m so PLEASED by (most of) the “all stars” they decided to bring back for this season!
Lauren Gottlieb:
Lauren was one of my not-the-best-dancer-but-I-loooove-you favorites from Season 3. Since then, she has gone on to only be more awesome and finally reached her full potential, by being the “Galileo! Galileo!” girl/principle dancer in Vocal Adrenaline’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” from Regionals this year (below). Brittany, I love you, but eat your heart out.
Mark Kanemura:
I have ALWAYS loved Mark. I’ve written on this blog, numerous times, how much I’ve loved Mark. I think everyone on this show who isn’t technically BRILLIANT is perpetually trying to BE Mark. Getting to see him in Lady Gaga videos/performances (/and hopefully Lollapalooza…? Fingers crossed!) over and over again? Icing on the cake!
Comfort Fedoke:
So remember how I said I was pleased with MOST OF the all stars they brought back? Here is my one exception. Comfort wouldn’t even have any fame to claim, on this show, had she not gotten to come back (after being booted off) and draw a hip hop routine with Twitch’s name. Speaking of Twitch…
Stephen “Twitch” Boss:
While my love for Twitch waned over the course of Season 4 (mostly because that is still, to date, the best danced season of this show), it did not completely die. Or, at least, watching his Mia Michaels performance of “Mercy” with Katee certainly takes care of it.
Kathryn McCormick:
Kathryn was one of those contestants who came in as a nobody, with no fandemonium, and managed to actually fight her way to the top. She made it to the finale in a really lackluster season, so it’s difficult to tell if she can hang with the best of them during this one.
Pasha Kovalev:
Pasha is the greatest thing, ever, and probably one of the only performers on this show whose feature during the Auditions Special actually remained memorable (see below). Although, whether THAT particular number stands out among seven seasons of auditions because of him or because of Anya, it's tough to say. Speaking of Anya...
Anya Garnis:
Despite now being a blonde, Anya is still the greatest female ballroom dancer this show has ever had. If we can't have Mary to give us ballroom critique, the least we could have is some Anya to make sure that it's perfection.
Allison Holker:
Allison's return to the SYTYCD stage/dancing in general is possibly the greatest thing this season has managed to do. Nothing can express the broken pieces that were formally collectively known as my heart when she told us all that she'd taken time away from dance to have a baby. Look, Allison, babies are cool or whatever... but no baby is going to make us love you like your dancing will. Keep that in mind the next time you decide to have a god damn baby.
Ade Obayomi:
There are two things Ade did, during his season, that got him to "all star" status: this and this. I don't think much more really needs to be said.
Nail Haskell:
I'm pretty sure Neil is the reason I started watching this show. Yes, he's hot, and, yes, it seems that he can do flippies and bendies better than any man should, but he's also unbearably endearing and is one of the dancers who has grown the most over the course of his given season.
Courtney Galiano:
Courtney was just really pretty and fun and conveniently partnered with Gev (earning her a lot of his fans' votes by default). But, then came "The Garden", and no one ever questioned her place on this show ever again. If that wasn't enough, between Camp Rock and Vocal Adrenaline, she's clearly made strides in trying to win me over in the other avenues of my life since her tenure on this show. In fact, she was even one of the preggo teens during Quinn's impressive-yet-borderline-disturbing James Brown ode in Glee.
At this point, I've reviewed all of the rookies and vets who are dancing and arabesquing their hearts out on the SYTYCD stage, this year. Let the recaps begin...
6.22.2010
While I work on it...
There WILL be SYTYCD recaps coming, I promise! Until then... to tide you all over...
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