So You Think You Can Dance – a.k.a. SYTYCD (to help anyone using “search” to find this thread) – has its season premiere Thursday of this week, on Fox.
Nigel is back, as is Mary Murphy (and god save our eardrums from her screaming and squealing) – along with a new group of seriously talented dancers. They’ll be doing ballroom, but also (way too much) hiphop, Bollywood, modern, and probably something we’ve never heard of before.
This show is absolutely one of my favorite things about summer – and I adore summer.
Note: We generally do the entire season with a single thread, since the fan base is significantly smaller than, say, AI’s and we rarely get more than a dozen posts any given week. Hope that’s okay with everyone.
Yes, it’s that time again. So You Think You Can Dance’s first episode is tomorrow night 05/21. I’m excited for this year. Because of a lot of moving around and such I missed last season, although I heard it was really good. I don’t plan on missing a single episode this year.
Last season *was *really good. At least it had some remarkable dancers in it (mixed with mediocre ones of course), at least three dancers who could all have been called winner with no big worries. Though I do think the season before it was a bit stronger choreography wise and the whole “Joshua has had no formal training at all, can you believe it” still leaves me with a bitter taste.
This was one of the highlights of last year (I was actually rooting for Katee to win the whole thing):
I hope the dancers are great this year. We might get to see Katee’s roommate, who almost made the cut last year and had a very distinct style, almost animal like. I also hope for some great choreaography.
Missed the first hour, but will go back via the magic of the DVR later. Meantime…
Great to see Natalie and Brandon back this year… loved Nigel’s “You don’t have any other flatmates…” comment.
Liked the weird pop-locker swimmer guy (Elias?) that came with his brother- have to admit that I was surprised he was actually somewhat good after the revelation he was the second-youngest of 14. Definitely needs some more incubating time, though- we’ll see how he is next year.
Also liked the male ballroom dancers- I thought they were (pardon the pun) shafted by the judges just because they were out-of-the-ordinary.
My three year old loved it. She didn’t pay attention to it last year, so it’s all fresh to her. She does keep asking me why Simon looks so different though! And where is Paula? LOL I love it when she says great stuff like that.
I had a really good time with the first episode tonight until Mary and Nigel’s homophobia attack in the face of the male ballroom pair. Just offensive and unnecessary. I may not bother with the show again until the Top 20 is finalized, if then. sigh
It’s the screaming, but it’s also her mouth. It’s not messed up or anything, but I absolutely hate the way her mouth looks. Especially when she shows her teeth. Ugh.
And they’re both so much better than they were last year – they’ve obviously been working their asses off. I’m guessing they’re solid for top 20.
Wasn’t that totally freaking bizarre? It’s like neither of them had ever met a gay person before – which I guess makes sense, since everyone in the dance world is relentlessly straight.
“Wait, you’re taking turns leading? I can’t wrap my mind around that.” :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
The thing is, though, bobkitty – they weren’t that good. There were a couple of bobbles even before they dropped each other in the final debacle. The homophobia was distressing, but it’s not like two excellent dancers were eliminated because of it.
I hope they practice like mad and come back next year, because it’s a real interesting act.
And tumbledown, I hope you won’t give up on the show based on five minutes of the auditions – for people who love to watch dance (waves hand wildly – “me! me!”) there is absolutely nothing like this on TV.
Only other comment – props to my homeboy the tap-dancer, who is really good. I was a little surprised they put him straight through to Vegas, since tap is one of those genres whose practitioners often can’t do other styles. (And I say this as someone with about 12 years’ of adult tap experience.)
I could sort of understand what they were saying about the male ballroom (heh) pair- I was also having trouble figuring out who to watch and how good they were, because they kept switching leads. I think it was more confusing for that reason than off-putting because they were two men. At least I would hope that there was no homophobia behind their critiques.
What was up with the strangely orgasmic reactions of the one judge to the female dancers? Was I the only one who found her a bit over-the-top?
Also, I didn’t really find Nigel and Mary’s reactions particularly homophobic. I think they were just inarticulate. My guess is that they were really trying to say they wanted to see something more traditional. After all, they did move them to the choreography stage. I just don’t think they were all that good (by comparison, of course).
I’m so glad the show is back! Last year was the first season my husband and I watched and we loved it. My personal favorite dance was Will & Jessica’s Adam and Eve dance. I can NOT find a decent version on YouTube. Can anybody help me out?
I’m looking forward to this season, too, and will be hanging out in this thread. As someone who absolutely cannot dance, I’m absolutely floored by the beauty of the human body when it so completely self-tamed (does that make sense?). Their control is incredible, and … just wow. The movement is so beautiful.
I’m also floored by some of the not-so-highly-controlled. Do they seriously think they can dance? Fascinating.
I concur with Mary=Wallace and Gromit.
And, I really love the rooster judge. That is PASSION, people! Passion! Orgasmic, well, I can’t argue with that… but still
Yeah, I didn’t see it as homophobic either as much as mired in more traditional gender roles, especially as they relate to partner protocols in the form re: leading, etc. I think it came as a bit of a surprise to them, and they were thrown off kilter because (a) they weren’t some kind of goof novelty act, but genuinely sincere about the craft, and (b) they just weren’t good enough.
If either (a) or (b) had not been true, then it would’ve been a no-brainer how to react, but since they were in the middle ground, I think the judges were just thrown off in being constructive. And in all fairness to the judges, they did let the pair go on to choreography. Since they swore they’d be back next year, it’ll be interesting to see how they’re treated again (though they’ll have to improve a lot to make any progress) and if other same-sex partners are inspired to audition next year, too.
:rolleyes: 