So You Think You Can Dance

thomnottom

Anyone out there watching this, or is it just me? I'm pretty excited by the diversity of music coming through this show lately. For the second season in a row, Santogold was used. And there's also been TV on the Radio, St. Vincent and Florence + The Machine covering Robert Plant! Hopefully this trend continues. Somebody's gotta use Cut Copy or Friendly Fire or something.

Alright, maybe I'm just an aging hipster getting all hyped about some embarrassing reality TV...

bluesboy

My daughter is a big fan of the show, so it is on constant Tivo rotation here. I caught the St. Vincent tune from last week's show, which I thought was very well used. I think they do a good job of not using the big hits/big name acts all of the time.

cafreema

I watch it fairly regularly, but missed it last night.

I've actually discovered some pretty good music due to the show. Blue Foundation was a SYTYCD discovery for me.

Craig

Katrina

Sounds interesting! I've never seen it - watched a few episodes of Dancing With Stars a few years back, so I like 'dance' shows. I'm going to set up the Tivo right now ~

BigD-Bluez

K, this show is way better than DWTS. The dancing is more interesting and you don't have to suffer through the suckass bands lame cover versions. Don't mean to be harsh but having played in a bar band I abhor lame covers - the wife and I did watch DWTS for several seasons but it's gotten boring. SYTYCD hasn't yet, and there's some pretty cool music too.

thomnottom

They used a Skunk Anansie song tonight. For a contemporary routine. Seriously.

And yes, there is a big difference between SYTYCD and DWTS. This show focuses on people who, for the most part, have been dancing their entire lives. DWTS can be fun, but there's very little to the choreography. They can only do so much, and you end up watching the same basic dances week after week. SYTYCD is filled with some incredible choreography that really pushes these dancers. Tonight had another routine from Travis Wall, who really challenges people - the lifts he comes up with scare me at times.

There was also another excellent Bollywood routine - this time by Jose, who is really surprising me.

Katrina

O, they had me hooked on the opening number with R

cafreema

I'm not enjoying the new "all-star" format. I prefer it when both partners are fighting for their spot on the show and developing a relationship. Plus, with the all-stars always doing their best style they always outshine the contestant to such an extent that I'm not developing any preferences in who wins. I just want to watch the all-stars dance.

Craig

jackedUPjazz

I can dance

BigD-Bluez

Craig, I have my reservations about the new format also - I thought the pairings throughout the first half of the season in old format were interesting to watch develop. I don't get it.

thomnottom

The new format solves 2 problems, but introduces others. That's why I'm torn. It's great that no one will suffer because they got stuck with a crappy partner. And quite frankly that's been an issue in the past. Just like some people really benefited from having certain partners every week. It also cuts back on people being cut each week. And as much fun as it is to watch the all stars, I can really focus on a single contestant for each dance and only half pay attention to the other.

But I think I still prefer the old format. More dancers are involved. Some of the partnerships are great to watch develop.

Regardless, they used Florence + The Machine again plus M.I.A. So I'm still watching!

And jUj, Phil can't.

Dr. Mutex

jUj: me too

Katrina

Aw crap, I just deleted a great post. Let's see if I can recreate it. If I'm not too bitter at finding another excellent show to watch. My previous post started with

'damn your eyes, thom, now I have another show I need to keep up with.'

Katrina

Ah, the "Mad World" number. The politics of dancing, tee hee. I don't care what dancer they gave that to, the choreography & cover version of the song were brilliant. The original song was brilliant, and the Jules cover is brilliant, as well. What's his name got points because of the music, not his technique. I wonder what other politics go on backstage, regarding who gets what.


The "Fever" number by Beyonce? Yaaaaak. Madonna's version is WAY better. Even the Peggy Lee version is better. Rats that's all I remember of my former post right now, but I had many other directives of how to improve the show.

Cat, the host, is a lovely lady and she needs to stay away from the pink horror fashion she wore a few weeks back.

Katrina

Who are you voting for? Not that I am ever going to call in and actually vote. I like Robert and Lauren.
Oh yeah, that was part of my lost post....I wish my ass looked as great as Lauren's.

thomnottom

Robert, Kent, and Lauren are the top 3 for me. I've said for the past couple of weeks that I'd be pretty surprised if Kent doesn't win it all. He is a fantastic dancer and has a ridiculous appeal with the teenage girls that vote so heavily for these shows. I think Robert has become my personal fave since Alex's injury.

Way worse than Beyonce's tepid rendition of "Fever" was tonight's cover of "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" by... Sting? WTF? Didn't he write the song? How did he butcher he so completely? There's been a lot of great musical choices this season, but every so often I really have to question them.

That rich man/poor man routine was awesome. The most questionable dance I've seen "politically" speaking, was one a couple seasons ago that was about a woman losing her battle with breast cancer (the video on Youtube seems to have been pulled). Absolutely gorgeous choreography and dancing, but was pretty unfair considering because the topic alone was going to give them a free walk to the following week. The routine right afterward was also really awesome but was about zombies or something - how do you compare those?

I've warmed up to the all star format because now they dance with an all star and each other, which is really cool.

cafreema

I skipped the show this week because the All Star format has made it so I really don't care about the dancers. Plus none of the guys have the strength to do awesome lifts, which sucks.

Lauren is so freakin' awesome though, and Katrina I'm a dude and I almost wish my ass looked like her's. Dayum!

Craig

Katrina

What's the all star format? Since this is my first season watching, I don't know what's different. I was annoyed at the show's format at first, having only Dancing With the Stars to compare it to...there is a lot more goofy chatter. But the thing I absolutly adore about this show is how they recognize the choreographers. They talk about what the dance means, etc...

I obviously didn't see the one a few seasons back about the breast cancer, but yeah...I can see that being a shoo-on for whoever got it.

Kent, I just want to slap. So true about his ridiculous appeal to the teen girls. The Tivo fell down on its job and didn't get Thursday's show with Sting. Which apparently is a good thing. But bad on missing the rich man/poor man number.

You know, the first ep I watched had a R

thomnottom

The original format was a bunch of auditions eventually led them to the top 20 dancers - 10 guys and 10 girls. They would then pair them up in a not-so-random fashion (a 6'6" crumper with a 5' tapper would just be cruel). The couples performed together each week. The bottom three couples would have to "dance for their lives" as individuals and were kicked off as inidividuals. So if people were kicked off from 2 different couples, the 2 remaining would then partner up.

The great thing about it was following the development of the couples - watching how they grew together and as individual dancers. The problem was, some people got a serious advantage by being partnered with people like Ade (great dancer with tremendous strength) or Ryan Di Lello (an accomplished ballroom dancer) while others dealt with someone like Phillip Chbeeb (an incredible popper with no ability for lifts). Take the "Breast Cancer" dance which I found on Youtube again. That leap that Melissa does towards the edge of the stage? There's maybe 2 or 3 guys that have been on the show in the last couple of seasons that could have made the catch Ade did.

So what they did was drop the number of dancers let in to 10 (well, they decided to do 11 but it was supposed to be 10) and have them partner with one of the top dancers from previous seasons each week and only 1 would be voted off each week. Like I said above, it fixed some issues, but created new ones. I'm hoping next season they might do a combination - bring in the all stars later after it's been cut down to the top 10 or something like that.

Here's a few other dances you missed out on to emphasize just how much better it is than DWTS!
- Ryan and Ashleigh - Contemporary The only married couple to appear on the show. He started out much better than her, but she became one of the best on the show. They finally got to perform together when it came down to the top 6. Great contemporary routine - and they were ballroom dancers!
- Kayla & Kupono - Contemporary Kayla was a beautiful dancer, but Kupono took this story of addiction to a higher level.
- Mark Kanemura & Chelsie - Lyrical Hip-Hop You should recognize Mark as he's one of the all stars this season. He wasn't the best dancer, but dammit he was probably the best performer they ever had.
- Kherington & Twitch - Contemporary Neither were one of my favorites, but this was such great staging.
- Joshua & Katee - Bollywood Damn if this didn't bust it all open for introducing more and more dance styles. You can hear just how nuts the audience went for it.

And pretty much anything choreographed by Nappytabs (Napoleon and Tabitha D'umo), Sonya Tayeh, Mandy Moore, or Travis Wall (former contestant). I like others, too, but those are my favorite.

For the record, I bought David Guetta's One Love and Leona Lewis's "Bleeding Love" because of this show.

BigD-Bluez

thom, I agree with your couple selections, and would just add Kathryn and Legacy from last season because that was an extremely interesting growth curve to watch, and Kathryn really brought out some great qualities from Legacy that I'm sure nobody knew were there. I bought Bleeding Love because of that number also but can't listen to it because the damned snare drum is mixed too loudly. I also bought that cover of Mad World after last week - conveniently to be found on eMu.

cafreema

I agree that sometimes dancers get an advantage based on their partner, but that isn't always the case. You mention being partnered with Phillip, but that 'honor' went to Jeanine, who of course went on to win Season 5. Even after this:



On the choreography, I'm not a fan of Nappytabs. I used to be, but their stuff is so predictable now. I'd be nice if they could branch out a bit, but I don't see it happening.

For great dances, I'd add Katee & Twitch's doorway dance to Duffy's "Mercy".

Craig

thomnottom

@BigD - I have great admiration for dancers like Legacy, Jose, and especially Russell who were able to really grow beyond their style despite little to no training. Legacy was pretty amazing because he came in with this tough exterior, but once he was exposed to the true expanse that is dance his emotions came out.

@Craig - Haha! I remember the judges trying desperately not to insult Russian culture after that travesty. It just didn't work on the show at all. There are definitely dancers that survive bad pairings, just as there are dancers that survive picking the quickstep.

The doorway dance would have made it, too, but I was getting tired of making links!

thomnottom

It's back! And someone already danced to Santogold, so I'm happy.

Katrina

Yay! Tivo got the auditions. Those were fun to watch. I liked the Japanese gal. Never saw anybody move quite like that.

thomnottom

She was awesome. I was excited by the fact that there were a few females doing more "urban" styles than usual. They tend to lean heavily toward contemporary. There were a decent number of "outside the norm" dancers that will hopefully shake things up. The fact that they've mentioned the top 20 a couple times makes me think that they are going back to that format.

Also, the Santa Klaus crumper killed me (couldn't find his performance on the show).

Katrina

Rats. Miss Japan is gone. I wanted to see her "brush" some more. The young guy with the baby on the way, who did the fabulous Broadway/hip-hop number at the audition? What a crybaby. Prompted my son to ask if anyone had ever committed suicide from not making the cut on that show.
Now, the only ones that really stand out for me are the sisters. Even though I know that's doomed. Maybe I'm just in a bad mood. I did not like tonight's show.
Well, the group choreography numbers were good. And I liked AWOLNATION's "Sail" even though the judges were talking over it.

cafreema

Is it just me or is the one sister just not that good. Seems like they're keeping her around solely so they can show how "inspiring" dancing can be when you aren't a twig.

Craig

thomnottom

I was hoping Miss Japan would stick around longer, too.

While I think the heavier sister has been given some leeway, she's actually a damn fine dancer. Her major limitations are lift and flexibility. I think they've let her slide here and there when they might have cut someone else because of the "inspirational" angle, but she definitely isn't a weak dancer.

The other sister on the other hand? Hands down one of my favorites. And this feels like a tough year for the females because I've seen a number of strong performances, but she looks like an early candidate for winning it all (lest you doubt me, I predicted Joshua's win in Vegas and Russell was also an early favorite).

cafreema

She's certainly a fine dancer, don't get me wrong. When I say "just not that good" it's in comparison with the others in Vegas.

Her sister is fantastic. So is Ryan with the injured coxyx.

Craig

Katrina

Yes, the bigger sister is doomed - agree with the lift & flexibility comments. They had to get her a different partner for the soda-shop number so she could be lifted, and in the ballet-type moves, she just cannot extend her leg fully. I forget if there's audience voting*, but if she stays around through more than 2 eliminations, it will be due to the large people voting her to stay. When Nigel made that comment about her physique proving it's not impossible, yes, they are keeping her for the inspirational angle. Makes me wonder who they cut to let her stay. Life's not fair. At least she finally got some decent medical care and found out she's diabetic!!!?

Oh yeah, forgot about Ms. Ice Butt. She's a cutie. Also I did not see what was so terrible about Ms. Police Woman. She had legs that went on forever. Glad to see the guy who lost his temper on a previous season, got to stay this year...he was hawt.

*never mind, now I remember there IS audience voting

thomnottom

I don't think they had to cut anyone to keep her around, because until they get down to the top 20 I don't think they have any hard numbers to adhere to (I could be wrong). I got nervous that they might actually put her into the top 20 for a second, but thankfully they didn't.

Ryan is lovely, and I'm really glad her bruised butt didn't keep her out of the show. Overall I'm happy with the choices, although I was hoping for the little Philly guy to make it.

And whoohoo for some Passion Pit on the show!