The Stripper actually annoyed me.
Me too. After her dance and elimination she said something like “I’ll be back in Vegas next year!,” and I was thinking, “Hell, just stay in Vegas, you’ll probably be very successful.”
Yeah, that dance for her life number was cringe-inducing.
I think they just need to stick to their own standards of judging. They were using the “Instant trip to Vegas” as a reward for a really, really good audition without stopping to ask if they were trained in any other dance genres. They need to follow their own rules, and send them to choreography rather than straight to Vegas.
I suspect what may have happened is that people noticed that they WERE always sending the hiphop dancers to choreography while few of the contemporary dancers were. And given that the overwhelming majority of one group is black and the other white… well, I can see accusations of racism arising. 
Ah, good point. And I guess it would be bad TV to stop and quiz every contestant on screen to ask “Please list all the dance styles you’ve studied,” when I’m sure they’ve already listed that information on an application form anyway. I still think it’s a legitimate question to ask any dancer, though. They did send the Crump girl to choreo, as well as the ring guy. The fact is, though, there’s a really good chance that crumpers and hip hoppers and b-boys can do some incredible work by being self taught, but that innate talent can’t make up for a deficit of formal training in the other genres.
I really, really like Cyrus the Dragon Crew guy’s attitude and work ethic, but I honestly feel that he would be better served by NOT making it past Vegas this year. I think he would be much better off taking another year and getting some formal training in the other disciplines before going up against 19 other dancers who are much better rounded. I think he’s done a good job doing as well as he has in choreography, but even to my untrained eye, he’s not in the same league as the other dancers when he’s outside his specialty. I think he’d have a much better chance of meeting his potential by getting more training and letting his true talent show through a year from now.
Oh, dear. The only episode of SYTYCD I don’t like is next up. You know, the one where they torture the dancers by making them all hang around for hours as one by one they get called in to learn their fate.
Tip for the dancers: If you go in, and they start complimenting you, it will shortly be followed by “but we aren’t keeping you.” OTOH, if they start out making you feel bad, if they point out your weaknesses, you are IN.
And so it goes, over and over. I think it’s 43 times this year?
And I’m sure That Don Guy is right: the final slot will entail calling in those two best friends… Ick.
IMO, there should have been some extra consideration, like ‘dance for your lives’ given to the team that took in the dancer who got kicked in the head. They were generous enough to take her in, which messed up the amount of time they got to prepare. It would have been nice to give them just a little slack for it. At the same time, though, it’s possible they did, but not on camera and they all still weren’t good enough.
Regarding the team choreo round, it strikes me that while most (if not all) choreographers have at least some dance experience, you can be a great dancer and have no talent for choreography. So if you’re unlucky enough to be in a group where none of you can choreograph for shit, even though you may all be fantastic dancers, you’re in a much worse position than a group where even one person has some ability to choreograph, but each dancer is only adequate (compared to other dancers). So I think the group choreo round is a little unfair because it’s a crapshoot what kind of group you’ll end up in.
And I’m sick of looking at the girl- Alexa?- who could dance but had no personality. That’s part of being a dancer, sweetheart. Buh-bye. The Dragonhouse dude is much less trained but is much more entertaining to watch, because he feels the music. Alexa is going through the motions.
And they both made top 20.
Talented crew this year – those two male ballet dancers are phenomenal.
Looks like it’s going to be a good season, no matter how choppy it is between the Fourth and the Olympics.
I also really like the martial arts guy - Brandon?
What the hell re: Feliciano and Cyrus. They dismiss the better dancer! Oooo! So mad at that decision. “So you think you can bring in more watchers”
Yes, it does seem clear that they dismissed the ‘better dancer’. But I think they made it quite clear during the Vegas round that they were going with ‘interesting’ over ‘talented’ this year. Remember, the purpose of the show is not really to find “America’s best dancer”; it’s to sell commercials…just like every other television program.
Personally I don’t have a problem with it. To my eyes the difference between a ‘really good’ dancer and a ‘great’ dancer quite often isn’t discernible, so on the whole I’d rather see someone who might do something different. I just hope that the choreographers actually make use of some of these people’s unique talents.
I don’t think they just look for excellent dancers, they look for people who are going to grow as dancers over the course of the show. IMO Cyrus has great potential for growth - look how much he’s picked up so far with no formal dance training. And anyway, people love to root for the underdog.
I think Martial Arts guy is going to go far.
So far I’m liking the guys better than the girls this year. I like Alexa (again, because she is showing growth), the belly dancing lady, and the black lady with the cool hair.
Remember, it’s not a contest to find America’s *best *dancer, but America’s *favorite *dancer. There’s nothing hypocritical about making some choices based on who they think will do better in that particular competition.
I think I blanked out during Nigel’s discussion of the format (esp with regard to voting and dismissing) for this season. It’s so easy to not listen to him…
Who else thought Z.D. offered absolutely nothing to this ep? “Wow. I am speechless. Again. Wow. Hey, are you that black dancer? I want all the boys to touch me. I am speechless.”
Me. I know nothing about her, but she came across as vapid.
And when the disco lights were shining, you could hear her say “Is that rain?”
“I’ve always depended upon the strangeness of kinders.”
I get it. I just think that the other guy could fit the bill, too, and that he was more deserving.