So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD) Spring/Summer 2010

Cafe Society
41

I missed the first 45 minutes of last night’s show (it’s waiting for me on the DVR), and just joined in when they were fawning over Lauren’s solo. In other words, I missed the only watchable part of the show.

I hate, hate, hated the “Let’s go to your homes to tell you whether you made it or not (unless you’re a loser who will only be notified via a phone call by Nigel, with a camera crew there to watch your dream being crushed by a brief kiss-off.” It’s cruel to the competitors, who have put in a substantial amount of effort and provided some wonderful entertainment. Do the thing is Vegas, confer for a couple of hours, and then tell them all before they go home.

And I’ve always hated the bait and switch “Ooooh, you really sucked. Ha Ha! No you didn’t! Why are you being such a crybaby?” game. Stop it, SYTYCD. It’s not entertaining to watch. It just makes me dislike the judges — and I heart Adam Shankman.

I also don’t like the format they’ve set up for the current contestants and All Stars. The concept itself is not bad, but they’ve chosen a sucky way to implement it. There were a lot of contestants with incredible talent, and it is just cheating them (and us) to limit the selection of contestants to only 5/6 per gender this season. If they were going to do it, I’d rather see a “Girls season” where they selected their top 10 new contestants to be matched with male All-Stars, followed by a “Boys Season” where new male contestants were matched with female All-Stars.

I’m not loving the format of tonight’s show, either. It’s not really giving us a very good chance to make judgments on the new dancers because it’s hard to focus on a new dancer in a group number of 4. And, with the broad shots and the lighting, I’m sometimes having a hard time identifying which dancer is which. Is the tall brunette the one from this season, or the All-Star? It’s hard to tell.

I still think there’s lots of good dancing ahead, and I’m looking forward to this season — but if there’s a take home from this, SYTYCD, don’t EVER do the false drama of making them go home and wait to be told whether they’ve made it or not again.

42

I missed it, did the super skinny girl with all the hair make it? If she didn’t, what happened?

43

No she didn’t; no particular explanation that I heard.

44

They showed her briefly in Wednesday’s episode, apparently having performed unimpressively in the next segment (with hair up again), and being cut. No critique shown, though I believe they showed Tyce encouraging her to come back next season.

It surprised me a bit that after making such a production over her hair, leading up to a “dance for your life” that she didn’t perform all that well in, and the judges letting her stay anyway, that she was cut so unceremoniously. Odd also that she went back to the same hairstyle after being taken to task for it. Granted that her hair may be unruly and annoying for her when dancing, but surely there are other ways to put it up.

45

I actually really liked the exhibition show. One thing I’ve always hated was how someone could just have a bad first week and then they’re done. At least this way they get another week on tv showing what they do.

Hopefully they’ll keep this up in future seasons.

46

So far I’m not loving the new format. With four dancers- two alumni and two contestants- it’s hard to tell who is who, especially this early when I haven’t really gotten to know the contestants by sight. I really hope during the voting rounds they limit it to two dancers per piece- one alumni and one contestant.

I’m also not sure this new format won’t backfire on them. I worry that I’ll be more captivated by the alumni and won’t be able to judge the contestants on their own merits. (Okay, I don’t really worry about it, but you know).

47

I thought some things last night really worked, like Wade’s opening number, and the routine Christina did with Pasha and Anya. Wow.

I even still liked Travis routine for Lauren and Kent with Mark and Kathryn, though if you weren’t very familiar with the dancers it could be easy to confuse them.

Tyce’s Broadway was also great, and Melinda and Alexie really did hold their own. I’d mention the two all stars who joined them in the dance…but I’ve forgotten their names.

I hope Jose’s timing issues were just nerves because Twitch, Komfort and Dominic were so precise while Jose seemed a beat off. He did the routine well enough, he just wasn’t quite synched up with the other three.

Mia’s routine…was a mess for me. Billy and Alex, with Ade were all very good, but I didn’t care for what they were given. (I thought Ade was especially good though)

And, for me Sonja’s contribution was a mess. With 5 dancers, consisting of Robert, Ashley and Adechike paired with Neil and Kourtney…it seems there was just too much frenetic action going on for my eyes. I didn’t know where to look and think I prefer Sonja with fewer bodies up there. The background lighting flashing and blinding me didn’t help at all either.

48

You know, what happened to letting the dancers dance ‘their own style’? Yeah, the contemporary dancers and the hiphop guy did, but the salsa dancer? The ballet dancer? The tap dancer?

It looked more like they were indulging the choreographers than the dancers.

49

Eh – nice to see a preview of what happens when they do work with a choreographer who’s working with them, not just teaching them a routine designed with no particular dancer in mind.

They can’t possibly do these small-group numbers for competition (she says confidently) – as several have said, way too hard to keep track of who’s who, esp. this early in the season when we’re still sorting people out – but I think it made for an interesting one-hour show – really whetted my appetite for the competition starting next Weds.

50

I’m really looking forward to this new format. Having two newbies dance together each week, and keeping those pairs together for several weeks before switching was quite unfair to those paired to so-so dancers or with someone they had no chemistry with. Then as a voter you had to judge each individual dancer instead of the pair and sometimes if the routine sucked (choreographer’s fault or crappy music) you ended up not voting for either of them even though they may have danced the routine very well.

Anyway, I think this format gives the dancers a real chance to shine and will push them to be even better dancing with experienced, superb dancers. I think the level of dancing will be absolutely excellent and with the all-stars working with the contestants I think they will get more of a hang of the “performance” aspect as well as the technique.

I like Lauren, Kent, Alex and Jose. But I have to admit that they’re all really good, so personality and performance “stand outs” are going to make a real impact on the results.

I must add the comment that I thoroughly enjoy Travis’ routines. He is one excellent choreographer. Now if they would only get Derrick Hough to choreograph some of the ballroom numbers we’d really have something.

51

Kent, who’da thunk? What a cutie, what a good dancer, and what joy he brought to that cha-cha.

Robert was pretty amazing as well. All the strength is on the men’s side this year – I’m not seeing any of the women who have a lock on the top four. (Question – since they’re eliminating one at a time, does that mean that they could have an all-male top four?)

And the vid of Adam 15 years ago … what a hoot.

52

I Loved Alex last night, wow.

Really liked Kent.

53

What a fun show last night. Good comments from the judges (no Mary screeching, TG,) excellent routines and performances. Here’s how I break it down. On several I really disagreed with the judges.

BILLY, danced to Footloose. Very energetic with great extension. Lots of fun to watch and he seemed to really enjoy himself. Not at all dominated by his all-star.

CHRISTINA, Jazz Snake character (Sonya choreography) she seemed to go from pose to pose with no transitions between them. Didn’t feel like she was a snake at all. Judges were all “Wow!”, but I put her as one of my bottom 2.

JOSE, (Miami B boy), Hip/Hop Worked well with his partner, Comfort, and stayed in character. Was very intense. Impressed with his ability to adapt with no formal training.

ADECHIKE, Travis Jazz routine (man at work with sexy fantasy) Did agree with the judges on this one. He totally called this one in. No interaction between he and his partner. My eyes were constantly drawn to her and he made little impact on my enjoyment of Travis’ great choreography.

MELINDA, tap dancer, ballroom jive. Another opposite of judges’ reaction. I thoroughly enjoyed all of it. There was good chemistry between the two and as good as Pasha is and even without his shirt, she did not get outshone. She looked like she was having a great time and contrary to the judges, I liked her legs!

ALEX, Miami ballet dancer, Sonya contemporary routine. Absolutely brilliant. Totally bought his interpretation of the character and his technique was beyond good. Seemed like a story rather than a string of steps following after one another. Wouldn’t go so far as to say it was the best ever on SYTYCD (judges were going a little overboard for the first performance. I mean what do you say next week?)

ALEXIE, Hip Hop with Twitch, don’t know her background. Did not pop, not at the caliber of the other dancers IMO. Twitch just stood out and left her puttering around in his dust. Always with the “cheerleader smile”. Bottom 2.

LAUREN, Mandy Moore jazz/love routine (didn’t get what they called it exactly. The one where they’re all over the couch). Judges called it absolutely right on this one. She was looking out at the audience smiling the whole time with no interaction with Ade. I think she is a beautiful dancer and I hope she can make that transition from soloist to a partner who can portray a believable character. Bottom 3.

KENT, farm boy, Cha-cha with Angie. Wow, what a cutie! His personality just bubbles out and he’s such a good dancer too. He really had that hip action down, very sexy. Sure didn’t look like a farm boy at the homecoming. Had a great time and it showed. For first time ballroom he did a great job.

ASHLEY, (Is it just me, or is there always a girl named Ashley on the show?) Contemporary by Tyce
Another “Love you, don’t leave me” routine. The lifts were amazing. There was total abandonment on her part as she threw herself in the air towards him, no hesitation. Don’t remember anything about her from auditions so she’s going to have to step up that personality to be remembered and get votes. Like her better than Alexie or Christina.

ROBERT, African jazz routine. Liked 1st part better than the second part. He seemed to lose some of the punch and power about 1/2 way through. But I did like his dancing and he should do well.

So, I guess bottom 2 guys: Adechike, Robert

Bottom 2 girls: Christina, Alexie.

Best Guy: Alex

Best Girl: Melinda

54

My thoughts:

Billy - pretty good. Not the greatest, but good enough.
Christina - hated the choreography. Thought she danced pretty well, but as rpc noted, it was a very static routine. Definitely didn’t play to her strengths.
Jose - meh. I think he’s doing well, but the choreography was not hard hitting enough for me.
Adechike - bored to death.
Melinda - like** rpc**, I really really really liked it. She seemed to be having fun, and I thought her jive was much better than the jives we have seen on past shows. Maybe I just don’t know enough about the style though…
Alex - unbelievable. I’m not a huge contemporary guy and I was still like… damn. And he was so freaking in sync with his partner. I agree the judges were gushing, but that was pretty freaking amazing. That said, I want to see him do a little hip hop. See what he’s made of…
Alexie - thought she danced pretty well, but I was bored. And I like Twitch too, but this one didn’t resonate whatsoever.
Lauren - horrible. Again, I thought she dance pretty well, but the routine was boring, boring, boring. I whipped out my iphone and started screwing around on the internet during the routine. Never a good sign.
Kent - enough with the small-town Clark Kent bullshit. I think he’s a good dancer, but I’m already tired of it. I’m from a small town too, Kent, it’s a good conversation starter, but then you need to move on. I didn’t see the lip pursing thing that the judges were on and on about.
Ashley - boring. I was bored. Did I mention I was bored?
Robert - he’s actually impressed me. I was not a fan during the auditions, but he’s growing on me. Seems able to do a little bit of anything. I’m not sure he was hitting the African dance as well as it could be done, but oh well. There’s always someone who gets “Russian folk” or something like that. As long as the judges don’t crucify you, that’s about all you can hope for.

I think Adechike and Alexie need to watch their ass. I’m foreseeing one of them being the first one kicked off… SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE!!! (sorry)

I thought the camera transitions / camera angles / panning / etc. were HORRIBLE last night. I mean, I know it’s live and all, but this is NOT the first time you guys have done this. They seriously need to focus on that.

Also, the judges are going to have to stop gushing. I know these are great dancers. GREAT DANCERS. If they are going to do every routine 100% perfect and amazing, then maybe we need to up the degree of difficulty on the choreography. I know it was the first week, but let’s stop patting everybody on the back and start critiquing.

Finally, I know most people are happy Mary is not there (screeching, etc). But I missed her.

55

My take, FWIW:

Billy - Ok. Better in that style than I expected, but I wasn’t knocked out. I thought that song was an iffy choice. Totally explained why his hair was spiked during the introductions, though. grin

Christina - I thought she did a great job. I agree with the judges that being paired with Mark was challenging, but I also agree that she held her own. (I love getting to see Mark again, btw!)

Jose - I agree with the judges. There wasn’t enough “hop” in that hip-hop routine, and Comfort made him look soft. I kind of miss Legacy already.

Adechike - I completely agree with the judges. No chemistry, no performance, just…meh. He is technically brilliant, but I don’t think he’ll be able to get the performance part together.

Melinda - I don’t know enough about dance to have an opinion on the technical notes she got, but I mostly agreed with the judges. Something about her personality bugs the crap out of me, though, so maybe I’m just biased.

Alex - Holy shit. I mean, holy shit. Like Doctor Who said, though, I can’t wait to see him out of his element.

Alexie - Too cute, and not in a good way. She managed to get seriously sexy once or twice, but couldn’t sustain it. Bleh.

Lauren - I was very disappointed. Totally agree with the judges (and everyone here) about her not connecting with her partner, not bringing the performance, etc.

Kent - He surprised me! The lip-pursing was extremely annoying/distracting, but overall he definitely pulled everything off. Nice job.

Ashley - I really liked her! Like running piglet cheese, though, I didn’t really recognize/remember her. She needs to step it up, but I thought that routine was good.

Robert - I thought he did a very good job, but I didn’t think his performance was worthy of the judges’ gushing. Solid stuff, but not spectacular.

Also, IMO, Cat and the judges need to knock it off with the in-jokes. Something she said to Adam early on was clearly an in-joke, because of the look she gave him and because a few of the judges started to say something back to her about Dominic (one of the all-stars, who was flirting with her last week; that also seemed to be an in-joke). Adam also overreacted to being teased about the Star Search clip, getting a little testy when he called himself a pincushion, which led me to think there was also stuff happening off-camera. I love it that they all get along – I like all of the judges except Mary and a little bit Mia, and I really like Cat – but they kept talking about it being a live show and not having extra time yet they kept messing around with each other. The show should be about the contestants, kids.

56

My thoughts:
Billy: “Footloose” is such a staccato song, his fluidity didn’t quite jibe IMO. But, he looked like he was having a blast, so that counts for something.
Cristina: Pretty decent for a ballroom dancer, but was way outsone by her partner, Mark. Maarrkkkk. Erm, where was I? Yeah.
Jose: I had to re-watch Jose’s performance a few times, after wiping TheKid’s drool off the TV. It’s always difficult to watch the first few times someone without training has to learn choreography. It was pretty decent, but his Grrr face made me crack up.
Adechike: It was all about Kathryn.
Melinda: Let me preface this with a disclaimer: I HATE the “I’m an all around PERFORMER! I can do ANYTHING!” crap. You were on a soap opera. Woo-friggin-hoo. AND I wasn’t impressed with her jive. She was too slow, too dull in her flicks, too “OMG LOOK AT ME!”
Alex: I heart him. The dance was great (and one of my favorite songs ever, so that added to it). Was it the best evah? No. But I was teary at the end. And Adam? We get it. You cry.
Alexie: Cute as a bug, too short to dance with Twitch. It was a’ight, dawg. Oops, sorry, wrong show.
Lauren: After all the hype about her we get… okay? It was decent, but I do have to agree with the jidges that there was little emotion other than the great stare/toothy smile.
Speaking of emotion…
Kent: I seriously want to see him and Billy date. They would be so cute in an “OMG! Kittehs! Puppehs! Unicorns!” kind of way. Talk about throwing himself into the dance, but the mugging was way too much. I was smiling through the whole routine.
Ashley: I liked it. It always amazes me the way they have to so quickly trust their partners. She literally threw herself into it, and it worked.
Robert: The only male “Who?” performer. I liked it. Then again, I like African dance. Of the guys, I think he’s the best to be able to pull it off.

57

African Jazz is a genre now? It looked no different than Samoan Lindy Hop, if it wants to succeed it will have to define itself better…

I generally agreed with the judges, though the gushing over Alex was beyond excessive, they’re just setting him up for a critical fall later that he doesn’t deserve.

I disagreed with them on the Alexie/Twitch number–she was a teenage girl opening her window to her boyfriend, she’s not supposed to be sultry and womanly. She played the giggly first-love teen perfectly and I thought the two were great together.

58

I don’t remember a time when the genders have been so significantly imbalanced, but there wasn’t one memorable or noteworthy female performance last night. Some (Ashley, Melinda) were better than others, but none of them could come close to at least half of the men’s routines last night.

The show also demonstrated how the high-falutin intention of a dance can come crashing down to earth when there is no chemistry between partners. Wax rhapsodic about Love or naughty about Sex all you want, but if your performers (Lauren, Adechike, Alexie) don’t deliver the goods, then it’s just one big fizzle.

Also, last night reminded me how smokin’ hot I always thought All-Stars Lauren, Anya, and Kathryn were, and among their partners, only Kent was really able to break through as special in his number (though Billy was fine, if uninspired). I suspect for the more jaded of us, his shtick will indeed get old, but I’ll still take it over the complete vacuum of nothingness that was Lauren’s expression during the judging.

It’ll be interesting because the heave-ho’s have always been equal among the genders in the past, but won’t necessarily be this year. What happens if four of the final five are men? I think it’s a very real possibility.

59

I’m just glad Mandy Moore has gotten over her breakup. Seriously, look at last year. Every single piece by her was some sort of quasi-therapy session about two lovers leaving each other in the grips of a horrific heartbreak.
And last night’s piece? New lovers on a first date!
Hooray for young love!

60

I totally forgot to comment on that, but YES.