sytycd? canada ~ top 18

Quick post for this episode: my favourite dance this week was a brilliant pasa doble danced by Natalli and Francis. In highlighting this dance I want to also point out the costuming ~ the dress in particular is perfect for pasa doble, where the woman represents the bull fighter's cape.


This NY-style mambo is also pretty hot.

sytycd? canada ~ top 20

The show opened with a hot, hot salsa routine from Arassay (Ah-rah-sigh) and Nico. They are one of my favourite couples. This is not the best routine of the night, but it's danced with such joy that I wanted to share it anyway.


Much longer, but better quality version.

My other favourite routine of the night was this contemporary routine choreographed by Stacey Tookey and danced by Lisa and Vincent (vin-son). Tookey describes the story as being about balance between a couple and for the dancers the routine was a lot about trust. I love the music choice (Emmy Rossum's 'Slow Me Down'), and i'm glad these two danced it. It's one of those routines that made me really emotional watching it. I love those.

Great start to the series. I also liked this hip hop routine danced by Natalli and Kevin (don't bother watching him ~ he's dancing the routine, she IS the routine) and this jive danced by Allie and Danny was really fun.

i have way too much time on my hands

So I've been looking for a way to fill the space between the 4th season of SYTYCD? and the 2nd season of SYTYCD? Australia. How better to do so than watching the 1st season of SYTYCD? Canada!!

Differences:

Who is Leah Miller? I can tell you who she is NOT. She is not Canada's answer to Cat Deeley. She's not terrible, but she's not adorable or sexy either...both of which Cat and the Australian host, Natalie Bassingthwaighte, have in spades. She's definitely more dolly bird than living doll. Apologies to any Canadians who think she's the bees knees.

The judges are waaaay kinder than the US or Aussie judges. The Canadian judges are always carrying on about how amazing the dancers were and sometimes gloss over lack of technique to rave about entertainment value or how hot they looked. They remind me of Marcia Hines on Australian Idol ~ the one judge who will never say anything negative and therefore is completely unhelpful to the contestants in knowing how to improve.

There are two regular judges, Tre Armstrong and Jean Marc Genereux (he often choreographs for the US show), and two guest judges that change each week. Tre makes the most intelligent/useful comments and is very articulate when explaining dance moves or genres. Jean Marc is hilarious and sweetly over-enthusiastic. He's a ballroom expert, but that's not my favourite things about him. His English isn't perfect (not that that should be an issue on a Canadian show - he speaks one of their national languages perfectly) and he sometimes messes up in the cutest ways (much cuter if you've ever taught English as a second language). My favourite so far is when he told a dancer they were "a force to be recognised". :) That should become a saying.

The voiceover guy that introduces Leah each week sounds like he's been chewing hot gravel. Kinda weird. And one last difference is that it's free to vote from your landline. SMS still costs, but it is possible to vote for free, which is pretty cool.

I've already watched about five shows, so be prepared to see episode highlights posts way too many times this week, the first in about ten minutes. But you'll get to see some cool dancing and choreography as a result!

sythycd? ~finale~

Okay, the finale. The judges always get the chance to choose a favourite dance from the season, so there are lots of repeat routines. A highlight for me was that the judges took to the stage. Nigel did a tap routine with some students from the Debbie Allen Academy and Mary Murphy took a golden opportunity to get her hands on Dimitri and his infamous chest. Mind you, with sexy legs up to her neck, she's not looking too bad herself.


Shane Sparks choreographed this routine for the whole top 20.


This guest appearance by the cast of Criss Angel Believe features a very unusual and intriguing Wade Robson routine.


And how about the result? Though I'm happy for Joshua that he won, and I thought he was awesome throughout the season, I must admit that I would have ranked him third after Katee and Twitch in my line-up of favourites. I honestly thought Katee was the best dancer of the top 4.

Twitch has really attractive maturity as a dancer and performer. Not long before the finale, Adam Shankman announced that this season's winner would get a guest dancer role in the next movie he was choreographing. It was mostly for this reason that I had a secret wish that Twitch would win. Otherwise I would have gone for Katee.

But in the end Joshua was not a disappointment. He proved himself many times over and I can't be too sad he got the votes in the end. Here's a montage from his audition through to the results.

sytycd? top 4

Okay. First let me say that the top 4 didn't surprise me. Or at least I wasn't surprised who made it in from the top 6. I had always thought I would have to lose one of my favourite guys because Will was a superior dancer to both, but in fact Twitch and Joshua both made it through. Katee had to be there and Courtney, though not a particular favourite of mine, totally deserved to be there, too.

And on to my favourite routines from the show. Twitch and Courtney did a decent Napoleon and Tabitha hip hop routine, but at this point I feel like the 'angry girlfriend' routine has been done. This clip is of Joshua and Katee dancing a Wade Robson (Australian!!) lyrical routine.



Twitch and Joshua danced a Russian trepak. Good lord the energy required for this dance! Makes me tired just watching.


Here's a Mia Michaels routine from all four finalists. It's actually not here because I love it. It's kinda weird to be honest, and why they wore kilts I do not know. Maybe the costume department people were high at the time.

sytycd? top 6

Okay, time to wrap this up. The show's been over for ages. Not in Oz of course, though it's close to the end even here. My picks for top 6 show were Katee and Joshua, back together and dancing a Tyce DiOrio routine.

sytycd? top 8

First up I have to say that I spent quite a bit of the top 8 show skipping guest judge Toni Basil's remarks. The drivel that came out of this woman's mouth...so very irritating.

But on to better things! Like Courtney and Will TEARING UP THE FLOOR with a Jean Marc Genereaux Samba. That is some hot tamale dancing right there!



The next is the coolest Mia Michaels routine of the season. Fantastic use of a prop and the dance AND the performance by Twitch and Katee are awesome.



Here is a tight Tabitha and Napolean hip hop routine danced by Mark and Comfort. This could have morphed into crumping and I think they still would have handled it.



So many good routines in this show. Last couple dance I'm adding is a disco routine choreographed by Doriana Sanchez and danced by Chelsie and Joshua.



And last by not least, here's the most awesome solo of the night from Will. I wish it could have been longer. Fabulous James Brown impression! This is the stage of the show where we lost Will. The results are ruled by votes at this point and I'm surprised that Mark made it through over Will. Mark's great and I think Joshua and Twitch are wonderful overall performers, but there's no denying that Will is a brilliant dancer and I look forward to seeing him dance in the future.

sytycd? top 10

Okay, time to wrap this up. I know this is all over in the US but I want to finish my posts on it anyway. If you're watching in Australia then I'm a little ahead of you so watch out for spoilers.

This first piece is a pas de deux choreographed by Desmond Richardson and performed by Katie and Will. Don't anyone give me lip for another shirtless Will routine, because actually I think those shorts are a little dorky looking. :)



The next three are all group routines, the first a Mia Michaels contemporary routine danced by the top 5 girls ~ Comfort, Katee, Kerrington, Chelsea and Courtney.



Next, here are the top 5 guys ~ Will, Joshua, Gev, Mark and Twitch ~ performing a Nigel Lithgow routine to the song "Five Guys Named Moe".



Finally, here are all ten of them giving out a lot of good energy in an exuberent Bollywood routine. Great beginning, too!

sytycd? top 12

The first of my two favs from the top 12 episode was this fun Bollywood routine from Katee and Joshua (love those two!). Sorry it's the version with the judges commentary, etc, but the only versions I could find without it looked like they had been taped from the TV with a handheld camcorder. Though for those unfamilar with the show, you do get to hear a Mary Murphy scream. :)



This second one is, I think, the best choreography of the night. It's a lyrical jazz piece by Tyce DiOrio. He said it didn't have a story, but was meant to represent the connection between a man and a woman and that he thinks of it as the Garden of Eden. I liked the way Jessica explained it:

This piece is so much more than dance. It's about the combination of art with music and our bodies.

It's sensual more than sexual and very beautiful. Enjoy.

sytycd? top 14

Wow. Fourteen performances to choose from and it was so very hard. In the end I've gone for choreography again and included three dances. The first is a lyrical jazz piece by Mandy Moore and danced by Jessica and Will. And while I chose it for its power and the amazing use of a shirt as a prop, it must be said that Will without a shirt is quite something to behold all on its own. ^_^



Mia Michaels was insanely good this time around, too, with two amazing contemporary routines, the first danced by Twitch (ditto on my previous 'no shirt' remark) and Kerrington and the second by Katee and Joshua. Loved them both. I don't usually differentiate between colours on the show, but I have to say that this season's contingent of black guys are far outstripping their paler peers. Each one of them is like a vial of distilled talent. Mark is the only other guy coming close for me.

sytycd? top 16

My favourite from the top 16 performance show is another wonder piece of hip hop choreography from Tabitha and Napoleon, danced by Chelsea and Mark. The story here is that of a husband and wife. He is very emotionally engaged with his work and not with his wife, and her heart is breaking over it.



Also so very impressed week after week with this couple, Joshua and Katee. Here they're doing a sexy samba. As an aside...how shiny is her hair?

sytycd? top 18

My favourite from this episode was a Viennese waltz danced by Twitch and Kerrington. I've liked the Viennese waltz every since I first saw Benji and Donyelle do one back in season 2. It's just so beautiful and is one ballroom style I'd like to be able to dance myself. Anyway, hope you enjoy it.

so you think you can dance?

The latest US season of So You Think You Can Dance? has been going a while, but I've only just started watching it recently. The first performance show (top 20 dancers) was amazing. The bar really has been set high this year. I think people are starting to prepare better for the show and it's attracting dancers that already have a certain level of flexibility in the styles they know.

I wanted to pick one video to post of the couple I think danced the best, but it was so hard to choose amongst the dancers that instead I'm posting my favourite piece of choreography from the show. Napoleon and Tabitha, a husband and wife team of hip hop choreographers, do some really interesting things with hip hop. I'm a huge fan of Shane Sparks and when I realised that this new team was on board I was kind of disappointed (no idea if Shane will contribute later in the season). But wow, this piece was wonderful. The story behind it is that the guy has just gotten his news that he's going off to the war. Sounds a little corny, right? But it isn't. I was so moved by this piece, I found myself unexpectedly crying.

wonderful dancer

The Australian version of So You Think You Can Dance? started here last week, but I've only just caught up with the first episode, which covered the Perth and Brisbane auditions. The guy featured in this video is, in my opinion, the best dancer we saw in the whole show. The problem is that the minimum age allowed for the show is 18, and Caleb is only 15. Watching him dance, I was absolutely gutted to think that he can't apply for the show for another three years. Going by the looks on the faces of the judges I think they were thinking exactly the same thing. The gasps from the other dancers when he said his age, however, might have been gasps of relief that they don't have to compete against this guy. :) Anyway, here's the video, so see for yourself.


There's another dancer I'm watching for. I must dig out an old program and get his name. I saw him last in a stage production of High School Musical and when the whole cast danced at the end he stood out from the other dancers - not in terms of the routine, because that would have been poor dancing form - but certainly in skill: his extensions and the way he was perfectly centred when he spun. I know he planned to audition for this show, but the Sydney auditions are in the next show, which I haven't seen yet. Update later!

It was only tonight that I suddenly realised that if the show is based in Sydney, I should be able to try for tickets. Definitely have to check that out.