Welcome... to So You THINK You Can DANCE!!! YAY! The best damn show on television is back! After months of interminable wait, it is here and now. I'm so psyched about Season 6~! Ok, may be not so much. I honestly think that there has been way too much drama, and Cat Deeley has tried way too hard to convince us that this is gonna be the best season yet.
Here's a piece of advice, almost everyone on the show (with an exception of Lil' C) has to develop some new vocabulary because what they say is getting very predictable and boring. Another point of revelation is that tapping (or is it clogging?) is not as exciting as I though it would be. They sorta did a showcase before the real competition started, and the top 20 dancers were grouped according to their genres. The tappers... were not very entertaining. I think Ryan Kasparzak (I'm sure I misspelled his last name) is the only one who can capture everyone's attention for more than 15 seconds in tap. I mean, sure there's a lot of technique involved and it's not an easy genre to do, but it was just not as entertaining. Talk about maximum input for minimum result. Unlike contemporary, tap is very very very (and if I haven't made my point yet) VERY grounded. There's no grand movement or crazy-ass traveling across the floor or intense emotions involved in it. It's kinda banged on the soft rhythmical cling~and~clung which you can't really hear if there's a loud music playing. I think with tap you need more people, more than 3 at least.
Anw, since we're on the subject of the showcase, I gotta say that the ballroom item that night stole the show. I know most people probably do not see eye-to-eye with me on this, but the item was simply awesome awesome awesome. I never thought that you can have a threesome in ballroom. And it was not the sleazy type of ballroom, but a sleek one. The dancers were great, the chemistry was great and the concept was great. You could actually take some moments to absorb the extravagance that was served in front of you, unlike the other contemporary items ( and I would argue that JAZZ = CONTEMPORARY) where you could only see limbs hitting every corner of the stage. In the showcase, the contemporary choreographers were way too worked up on trying to show off how technical the dancers were that they forgot that what made contemporary so appealing was not technique. It was the story line and the emotions and the like.
So, let's come down to the crux of the show: the competition itself. Btw, I have wikipedia page opened on a separate window so that I don't miss anyone. First to come were Channing and Phillip. The netballer and the cocky tapper. I didn't really like the item, and truthfully I don't really like jive in general. To me, unless it is danced by a trained ballroom dancer, it just looks sloppy. It is also kinda hard to show inner personality because the dance is very showy, so most of the time what you see on stage is just these jumping jack and jane with plastic smiles plastered on their faces. Bottom line is it was not memorable in the good way.
Next was Ashleigh and Jakob, and they did Broadway. The married woman and the dance prodigy. I kinda need to give nicknames to all the dancers because otherwise I would not be able to tell who is whom. Anw, this item was good. The guy is really talented. I mean, his arabesque is no joke, and you can tell that he's proud of it because he did it about 10 times during the showcase. But not just that, he is a very well-rounded dancer. I have to agree with Nigel that the last drop at the end was crisp. It caught me by surprise. He fell to the floor faster than lightning. Good job Jacob! The girl on the other hand looked really old. (I realise this has nothing to do with dancing.) They really need to do something with her make-up because you would not want to see a teenage boy dancing and doing romantic stuff with an older woman (or worse, with a MILF). Ashleigh really needs to step it up, not only because she is paired with probably one of the best dancers in the history of Sytycd, but also because she just does not exude enough confidence to convince that audience that she is genuine.
Ok, moving on. We have Ariana and Peter doing hip-hop to one of my favorite songs Black and Gold. I thought the concept was cool, the costumes (him being black and her being gold) were awesome, but I was kinda hoping that they would dance more to the verse of the song. And I did not know why the dancers looked as if they were dancing to thin air. The musicality did not come across as on point, which was so disappointing because I really really liked the song.
Then we have the foxtrot with Russell and fellow big-haired choreographer Melanie Lapatin. Thank goodness that he already had a fan base because otherwise, he would have been out next week. Foxtrot is one of those genres which do not really help you get votes. This is made worse by the fact that Russell is all alone, his partner is still recovering from something that looks like a major leg injury. NEVERTHELESS, I think the judges liked him. Actually it was quite obvious that they wanted him to be the next Twitch and Joshua. You know, the whole 'You have no dance training! It's insane for you to be able to do what you're doing' or 'You have GROWN tremendously! And this is what the show is about!'. This whole thing about growth is getting really old and really annoying, but I don't think they judges would stop harping on it anytime soon.
Then there's Bianca and Victor. Who's Victor??? Bianca is the tapper who is hailed as the best female tapper the show has seen (which is not that much of a compliment considering the small number of female tappers who audition). Funny fact: If you're a black girl and you have short hair, then your name has to be Bianca. This is true for most of the US reality shows. Kinda a weird fact. Anw, they did a contemporary piece about him ignoring her. I though it was not memorable. The only thing that I could remember about the item is that the stage was way too big for the two of them. They should really work the camera angles more because now at some parts the stage looked a bit too empty.
Goodness, this is taking too long than expected. Next is cha cha by Karen and Kevin. OH!!! I remember these two! Jennifer Lopez look-alike and Vitolio version 2.0. I don't really care much for the guy actually, but the girl is BEAUTIFUL. She's a hot tamale. I didn't really think that she was much of dancer when I saw her during auditions, but now she's kinda growing into me. I hope that she could do other styles so that I can join in her fan club without any reservation.
Next were Ellenore and Ryan Di Lello with Sonya Jazz routine, the heaven/mythical creature dance. I thought it was cool. Too bad Ellenore had to shoot my expectations up to the roof with her comments that 'it would probably one of the best performances of Sytycd'. It was not THAT great. It was GOOD, but just... good. Next time she should just keep her mouth shut and let the dance do the talking. Better still, she should say something funny so that her personality can shine even more.
The next two items were just SAD. Pauline and Brandon looked like they were dancing at a high school prom in Hong Kong when they did the smooth waltz. I really pity Brandon though. He's totally treated like a toilet paper by Sytycd. It's like 'Ow, we kinda need you to fill in because one of our best dancers just pulled out, but don't think that you will stay for long since we both know that you're not good enough.' I hope he comes back next season and be the best dancer then, so that he can slap Sytycd in the face. The second hip-hop number is by Kathryn and Legacy, the caveman item. It was ok... I guess. Nothing interesting to catch my eyes. The judges went crazy about this item. I though it was given too much credit than it deserved. Here's my idea: they complimented Dave Scott (the choreographer) so much so that he would stay on the show and replace Nappytabs. The duo have been struggling to top themselves since S4, and Nigel even expressly says that he has been disappointed with the hip-hop number in S5.
LASTLY, Mollee and Nathan with their disco. They really looked like 12 twelve year-olds dancing together. I think they will definitely stay long in the competition. Nathan's center is ridiculous. He can do 20 pirouettes faster than I can spell the word 'pirouettes'. And Mollee is just a goof ball of likeableness. They did good with their item, and obviously they already have a fan base out there.
SOOO...
Ariana and Brandon got cut. Nothing much to comment on because it's still very early in the competition. I'm definitely rooting for Ms Jennifer Lopez though, for now. Haha. Anw, this has been a fairly long post. Until next week,
Ciao!
