Tag: sytycd

Favorite So You Think You Can Dance Performances

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Mondays from 7-9 (well, 10 because the Teen Wolf love is still there) is an event. It’s So You Think You Can Dance time. It’s been my favorite reality show ever since its inception back in 2005. And even though I haven’t been a fan of the format for a few seasons now: the jam-packing into one show instead of two, the all-star introductions, and this stage vs. street nonsense (TEAM STAGE), I’ve remained a loyal viewer. For two hours, I’m glued to the tv and my phone (my bestie and I live-text the show) and I get to immerse myself in one of my favorite things: dance. I danced religiously up until college, and did two years of college before calling it quits. I have such a deep appreciation for the art and greatly enjoy watching it. Plus, it’s a great place to get new music.

It was hard compiling this list because there have been so many performances that I loved and still love to go back and rewatch. I also skipped over seasons 1, 9, and 10 because I couldn’t watch due to a lack of television access. (And photos link to YouTube vids! Check them out).

SEASON 2

Calling You

Duet: “Calling You” – Contemporary, Travis + Heidi (choreographer: Mia Michaels)
Group: “Ramalama (Bang Bang)” – Jazz, Top 8 (choreographer: Wade Robson)

So, yes, I know my choices are extremely cliché, but these are the best known dances from this season for a reason. Firstly, you can’t go wrong with a TWall + Mia combo and I miss Wade Robson terribly. And the song Ramalama has a special place in my heart because we used to go stretching and warm-ups to that song at my studio. Hello nostalgia.

SEASON 3

Screenshot 2015-08-24 14.25.04

Duet: “Night of the Dancing Flame” —Jazz, Neil + Lauren (choreographer: Wade Robson)
Group: “The Moment I Said It” – Contemporary, Top 10 (choreographer: Mia Michaels)

More Wade and Mia dances because the quality of their dances are always top notch. Neil was my favorite dancer this season…yes, he mostly because he was extremely pretty. This was also the first season whose tour I went to and “The Moment I Said It” was amazing live.

SEASON 4

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Duet: “Bleeding Love” – Hip-hop, Mark + Chelsie (choreographer: Napoleon and Tabitha)
Group: “The Dance” – Contemporary, Top 16 (choreographer: Mia Michaels)

Seeing “The Dance” live was basically a religious experience. So. Freaking. Good. And this was back when lyrical hip-hop was new and fresh.

SEASON 5

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Duet: “If It Kills Me” – Contemporary, Jason + Jeanine (choreographer: Travis Wall)
Group: “I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)” – Hip-hop/Samba, Top 16 (choreographers: Dmitry Chaplin, Napoleon and Tabitha)

Choosing this was so hard because the addiction piece, “ Gravity” is one of my all-time favorites, but “If It Kills Me” barely wins. TWall’s first piece for SYTYCD and it’s amazing. And I love me some Dmitry.

SEASON 6

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Duet: “Ordinary Day”—Viennese Waltz, Jakob + Mollee (choreographer: Jason Gilkison)
Group: “Aha!” – Contemporary jazz, Top 14 (choreographer: Wade Robson)

Oh, season six. The season that time forgot. This Viennese Waltz is probably my favorite ballroom routine of all-time.

SEASON 7

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Duet: “Collide” – Contemporary, Kent + Lauren (choreographer: Travis Wall)
Group: “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” aka Alice in Mia Land – Contemporary (choreographer: Mia Michaels)

I think this is last season where I’ve been truly impressed by the quality of performances. I feel like they’ve slowly declined since season 7. There are so many performances that I loved from this group of dancers. “Outta Your Mind” (obvi), “Mad World” (duh), and “Fix You” are all tied for a very close second.

SEASON 8

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Duet: “Total Eclipse of the Heart” – Contemporary, Neil + Melanie (choreographer: Mandy Moore)
Solo: “You’re the One That I Want” – Contemporary, Melanie

I couldn’t think of a group routine that stood out for me, so I went with a solo aka my favorite solo.

SEASON 11

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Duet: “Like Real People Do” – Contemporary, Casey + Jessica (choreographer: Travis Wall)
Group: “My Immortal” – Contemporary, Top 7 Girls (choreographer; Mandy Moore)

One of my favorite songs (My Immortal) + one of my favorite choreographers = one of my favorite (if not my favorite) group dances.

RECAP: So You Think You Can Dance, Season 7

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I don’t know if I can explain how excited I was May 27th. So You Think You Can Dance was back for another season. Two of my favorites (Billy Bell and Alex Wong) were already shoe-ins for what I assumed would be the Top 20 dancers and Mary Murphy wasn’t screaming aka making me deaf. But no, the bomb that is season seven was dropped on us. After the six weeks of performance shows, I can honestly say this season is turning out to be only a hair better than season sick…six.

Yes, season seven is still airing, but let’s be honest. Kent Boyd has had this competition in the bag since the Vegas week “Believe in yourself because you are THAT good” speech courtesy of Adam Shankman. The only person who could have seriously given Kent a run for his money would have been Alex, and we all know how that turned out. Kent is taking the title with Lauren coming in as runner-up; it’s a toss up between Robert and Adechike for third/fourth; and Jose and Billy are going to be eliminated in the coming week. Mark my words, it’s just going to happen.

I guess I am in the minority, but I have remained a loyal Billy fan throughout this season. After the judges tore down his contemporary (which I actually thought was amazing), he’s hit the bottom three for four weeks now. What the hell America?! He is considerably more talented that Jose and the fact that they are going to leave the same week is messed up. Jose gives it his all and flops, and yet the judges praise him for his effort and his pearly-white grin. Jose could be the poster-boy for Crest, but this is So You Think You Can Dance, not So You Think You Can Smile.

The female contestants were pretty much screwed from the beginning. The show’s primary fan base is tween girls. They’re not going to vote for a slightly awkward/ugly guy who dances well when there’s a charming/good-looking guy who also dances well. Okay I admit, I also fell victim to the boyishly good looks of Neil Haskell and Jason Glover, but I didn’t throw votes their way just because they were pretty to look at.

As a devoted fan since season two, I cannot help but say the past two seasons of SYTYCD have been extremely lackluster. Sure, there were stars…but there were also duds. Big duds. In my mind, there have only been a few standout routines (exhibits A, B, and C.) I’m predicting a terribly bare-boned tour. How exactly are they going to do routines with only a handful of All-Stars and only two people from Season Six? The new stage makes it hard to connect with the dancers and as much as I love seeing Neil again, this whole All-Star thing was not a good idea.

Nigel, oh Nigel, let go of Jose. I really don’t see the reason why he is still in the competition, if not only to make the other contestants look good in comparison.

REVIEW: So You Think You Can Dance, Season Six

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This past fall’s season of So You Think You Can Dance was in many ways a flop. Because of the World Series there couldn’t be public voting elimination episodes until week 3, meaning that the dancers were in the hands of the judges not America. The fall season also ended with a top 6 finale because the producers didn’t want to run into the week of Christmas. SYTYCD also made a jump to the big performance stage used once last season for the finale episodes. This was a plus for the choreographers, as they now had more room to work with, but it also made the performances seem really impersonal and the flashing backgrounds were really distracting. Also, with having two seasons in one year, the winner only gets the title, “America’s Favorite Dancer” for mere months before having to share it with the next winner. Jeanine > Russell, by the way. Out of the five seasons that I watched, this season (affectionately named “Season Sick” by the cast) definitely had some of the worst choreography and least interesting dancers ever; and I have never been least satisfied with who won.

However, there were some stand out routines and a handful of 0utstanding dancers who made this season worth stomaching.

“Whatcha Say” – Jakob Karr & Ashleigh DiLello
Jakob and Ashleigh were easily my favorite pairing this season. She improved so much over the course of the season, and Jakob…well, there is a reason why he is in two of my three favorite routines from this season. He’s freaking amazing. I also felt that hip-hop choreographers Napoleon & Tabitha began to lose a bit of their mojo this season, but this routine is one of my favorite of theirs.

“Ordinary Day” – Jakob Karr & Mollee Gray
When Viennese Waltzes are done well, they are gorgeous, and this was no exception. I usually don’t like it when choreographers from the international versions guest choreograph on the show either, but Jason Gilkison, from SYTYCD-Australia, has steadily become one of my favorite ballroom choreographers. He simply does beautiful choreography. Jakob was amazing as usual, and he brought out something in Mollee, who I never really liked until then.

“2 Steps Away” – Legacy Perez & Kathryn McCormick
Another international choreographer, Stacey Tookey from SYTYCD-Canada, and another contemporary routine I love! Kathryn was my favorite girl this season and Legacy grew on me after a while. Love the song, love the choreography.

Runners Up:

This SYTYCD fan is eagerly awaiting the summer season again. I only ask three things of FOX and the SYTYCD crew:
1. Lose the big stage.
2. Please go back to having only one season a year, it makes it more special for the winner and choreographers have more time to spend on their routines.
3. Aim for Season 3/4 standards. Those seasons had some of the best choreography, dancers, and performances ever.