SYTYCD - Top 20 Show Off Special
What a night on So You Think You Can Dance! It was really great to watch a bunch of performances without having to worry about who would be going home. And we loved seeing the variety of styles, the colorful costumes, and the enthusiasm from dancers, judges, and audience alike.
We weren't wild about all of the choreography (sorry choreographers! we know you're all famous and stuff, we're just the uninformed public here) but we didn't see any dancers struggling through uniformly difficult performances. We don't know how they're going to make any decisions this year about who stays and who goes. These folks are fantastic.
More detail (and more photos!) after the jump. But first, pick your early favorite in our poll.
We weren't wild about all of the choreography (sorry choreographers! we know you're all famous and stuff, we're just the uninformed public here) but we didn't see any dancers struggling through uniformly difficult performances. We don't know how they're going to make any decisions this year about who stays and who goes. These folks are fantastic.
More detail (and more photos!) after the jump. But first, pick your early favorite in our poll.
We so wanted to love the opening number. The idea sounded great -- period gangsters in a disputed bar -- and the costumes were pretty great, but we had a hard time following what was supposed to be going on. The choreography was distracting in bits, as we had never seen gangsters grab their crotches quite like that.
Meanwhile, there was little to no crotch-grabbing in the unbelievable, unforgettable hip-hop number that was first up after the group number. We were so happy to see them so quickly! We admit it, Russell is our favorite. We loooove Russell. And we're not alone. At the end of their (completely AMAZING) number, Russell was thrown off the stage into the audience as the three held out their hats for the moneez they so deserved. Russell got mobbed by audience members of the adorable, young, female, blonde persuasion. His mates had to haul him bodily up on stage so he wasn't eaten alive. We were right there with you, girls.
The costumes on this one were a little odd -- we're pretty sure the costumer intentionally did Michael Jackson through the ages, but the hip-hoppery had very little King of Pop about it. Instead, it was made of awesome and our boy Russell shone through with all his star appeal. Yowza.
Of course, while the judges were dishing out the well-earned praise for Russell, Kevin showed how cool he is by giving Russell props. Very classy Kevin, seriously.
Speaking of odd costumes... This is a contemporary number that we just didn't get. Granted, contemporary can get pretty strange at times, and this was definitely one of those times. At no point did we say, "Oh yeah, that's beautiful. I see what they were going for here." Apparently it resonated with the judges, and the audience applauded plenty. We guess we just didn't connect with it the way it was intended.
We suspect contemporary may not be our favorite dance style. We hope you'll explain to us what we missed about this number in the comments section.
And then there was tap!! No, we can't be any more excited about this. We heart tap so much. We truly miss Fred and Ginger, and we were just a tad worried when the glorious strains of Ella Fitzgerald floated out of the sound system. Talk about pressure to perform! But they totally nailed it. Just look at these people in the photo. Don't you just want to hug them all?
The judges did point out two disadvantages they have to fight against, though. First of all, they're never going to be taught Tap during the competition, since it's just not realistic that dancers from other styles are going to pick it up in the time frame they have. So they'll never be in an elimination round featuring their strongest genre like the other contestants will be.
Second, tap dancers are taught to float like swans, as Nigel put it, always looking serene up top while their feet are paddling madly down below. This requires amazing discipline and could be a hard habit to break on dance genres (like hip-hop) where that's not what's needed.
We still wish the tap dancers the best of luck in the contest. We love them, and are so glad we got to see them strut their stuff.
And speaking of strutting... and large waterfowl.... next up were the jazz dancers. We were so distracted by the costumes on this one (we kept thinking they looked like very plump geese trying to stumble into flight...) we barely noticed what the dancing was like. They ended with jazz hands which was funny, but strange. That's our only word for this piece. Strange.
Adam Shankman was charmed by it, and he complimented Mollee on dancing like a woman instead of a girl, which was her biggest problem in the auditions. Of course, when he said that she jumped up and down like a five-year-old given candy. That's when we were charmed.
Next up was another contemporary piece, and we didn't hate this one. We loved the song it was set to, and there were some very clever lifts (we heart lifts), but the men really outshown the women in this one. The women did fine -- never missed a step as far as we could tell -- but the men both just had that star power. Billy especially, although we appreciated how masculine Victor looked.
And speaking of masculine -- can't beat a Latin Ballroom Samba featuring two gorgeous women and Ryan Di Lello (he's another one with that star power that just jumps off the screen). This whole number was just yummy!
We can't wait to see him dance again. When's the next episode? Oh yeah!
Things we're still pondering
* What's up with the torn costumes? Are they supposed to be zombies?
* Paula Abdul as guest judge? Isn't the role of potentially crazy supportive judge more than adequately filled by Mary?
* Are we going to need ear plugs in order to watch the rest of the season?
* Will we ever get to see Lil' C as a guest judge? He gave really insightful comments.
The costumes on this one were a little odd -- we're pretty sure the costumer intentionally did Michael Jackson through the ages, but the hip-hoppery had very little King of Pop about it. Instead, it was made of awesome and our boy Russell shone through with all his star appeal. Yowza.
Of course, while the judges were dishing out the well-earned praise for Russell, Kevin showed how cool he is by giving Russell props. Very classy Kevin, seriously.
Speaking of odd costumes... This is a contemporary number that we just didn't get. Granted, contemporary can get pretty strange at times, and this was definitely one of those times. At no point did we say, "Oh yeah, that's beautiful. I see what they were going for here." Apparently it resonated with the judges, and the audience applauded plenty. We guess we just didn't connect with it the way it was intended. We suspect contemporary may not be our favorite dance style. We hope you'll explain to us what we missed about this number in the comments section.
And then there was tap!! No, we can't be any more excited about this. We heart tap so much. We truly miss Fred and Ginger, and we were just a tad worried when the glorious strains of Ella Fitzgerald floated out of the sound system. Talk about pressure to perform! But they totally nailed it. Just look at these people in the photo. Don't you just want to hug them all?The judges did point out two disadvantages they have to fight against, though. First of all, they're never going to be taught Tap during the competition, since it's just not realistic that dancers from other styles are going to pick it up in the time frame they have. So they'll never be in an elimination round featuring their strongest genre like the other contestants will be.
Second, tap dancers are taught to float like swans, as Nigel put it, always looking serene up top while their feet are paddling madly down below. This requires amazing discipline and could be a hard habit to break on dance genres (like hip-hop) where that's not what's needed.
We still wish the tap dancers the best of luck in the contest. We love them, and are so glad we got to see them strut their stuff.
And speaking of strutting... and large waterfowl.... next up were the jazz dancers. We were so distracted by the costumes on this one (we kept thinking they looked like very plump geese trying to stumble into flight...) we barely noticed what the dancing was like. They ended with jazz hands which was funny, but strange. That's our only word for this piece. Strange.Adam Shankman was charmed by it, and he complimented Mollee on dancing like a woman instead of a girl, which was her biggest problem in the auditions. Of course, when he said that she jumped up and down like a five-year-old given candy. That's when we were charmed.
Next up was another contemporary piece, and we didn't hate this one. We loved the song it was set to, and there were some very clever lifts (we heart lifts), but the men really outshown the women in this one. The women did fine -- never missed a step as far as we could tell -- but the men both just had that star power. Billy especially, although we appreciated how masculine Victor looked.
And speaking of masculine -- can't beat a Latin Ballroom Samba featuring two gorgeous women and Ryan Di Lello (he's another one with that star power that just jumps off the screen). This whole number was just yummy!We can't wait to see him dance again. When's the next episode? Oh yeah!
Things we're still pondering
* What's up with the torn costumes? Are they supposed to be zombies?
* Paula Abdul as guest judge? Isn't the role of potentially crazy supportive judge more than adequately filled by Mary?
* Are we going to need ear plugs in order to watch the rest of the season?
* Will we ever get to see Lil' C as a guest judge? He gave really insightful comments.
Best lines
Nigel: "If season six is going to be that great, I don't care, I will lose the hearing from my left ear. Bring it on!" (Referring to the screaming he will have to endure coming from Mary, who sits on his left.)
Arianna: "As long as America has an open heart and is willing to go to the uncomfortable place with us." (Trust us. We went to the uncomfortable place with you. It was uncomfortable.)