So You Think You Can Dance Top 20

[rabid1st]

I must say I think this year the dancers and the choreographers are better than ever. I was especially pleased with the hip-hop dancers and the hip-hop routines. My cyber-bud, Carrie, thinks that the show is padded with hip-hop so we can have a hip-hop dancer win. And I must say...Twitch did very well. And Katee and Joshua were easily my favorite couple this time.

One big difference between this year and previous seasons, I thought everyone was well-coupled except the final couple and the third ones...the two giants. I suppose the giants will have a problem with their size no matter what...but still...they looked a little lumbering to me.

Will was lovely and Mark looked like he was very strained by Mia Michaels. Everyone who has heard me rant about it, knows it is no secret I absolutely hate Mia Michaels and her emotional claptrap of throwing yourself around like a ragdoll and rolling over one another. I've had it up to the left buttock with her leaves in the wind choreography. I did think she managed to do one interesting lift this time...and that's it.

Rae
standing by to have Carrie tell me why I'm completely wrong about all the above...she likes the contemporary/classical dancers, though.

Comments

[webeh.livejournal.com]

Hee! I must admit that I like Mia Michael's choreography if she's paired up with the right dancers. Why? Because sometimes it gets downright weird (and interesting). Although, the other choreographers are starting to step up in that department. I love the fact that this show is not only about the performers, but also about the choreographers trying to one-up each other. They've all developed a really competitive streak in the last few seasons.

Katee and Joshua definitely stole the show with their performance this week. Wow! :)

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

The thing I liked about the Katee/Joshua performance was that it made me cry without being overtly manipulative. It wasn't like there was marching music and such. It was touching and real. I think the fact that both dancers are "cry babies" sort of helped them because they were more emotionally accessible. This is what helped Twitch in the Broadway routine, too. I think his performance level carries him past some strictly so-so moves.

Rae

[arabian.livejournal.com]

Hello, just friended you (new Doctor/Rose fanatic) and read your comments on this. I agree so much about your first paragraph, but we do kinda disagree on the couples. I thought the last couple Courtney/Dev had the most chemistry. I did really, really like Katee/Joshua though. He was amazing. I had Kourtni (one of the giants, LOL!, I did love their routine) as a favorite going into this, and a friend works at Marquis' studio, but other than that I had no opinion on anyone else. Joshua, Chelsie H. and Dev were the ones who grabbed me tonight with their dancing. Joshua and Chelsie H. were just both incandescent. Wow.

As for Mia, I get the hate, but I'm still suckered into because I've found through this show that I LOVE contemporary dance. Just love it. Still, I get the Mia hate. Very understandable.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

Hi, Welcome! Nice to have a new friend. I hope I can feed your Doctor/Rose obsession. Did you read Disheveled, yet? Not that it's a requirement or anything. I can certainly understand being daunted by the massive thing. Lord knows, I was frequently daunted by it.

I know lots of people like Mia. She has a huge fan base, but she's not my cuppa at all. I think I might warm to the new hip-hop choreographers though. Like Nigel I enjoy a little mix of soft and hard in my dance routines. Mia goes too soft for me...and too awkward sometimes...and the old hip-hop people used to do too much of the hard-hitting stuff for my tastes.

It is possible, as I say above, that the final couple didn't please me because they danced disco. I hate disco and generally find it very much like posing and so, they're talents were lost on me. Next week I will watch them with interest and see if I see the sparkage.

Thanks again for the friending.

Rae

[arabian.livejournal.com]

First of all, I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE your header. So need to make some Rose/Doctor wallpapers this weekend. LOL! As for "Disheveled" -- I must have read it, because I friended you because of reading something Who related on your lj from a link. If not, I'm sure I'll get to it. I'm saving the longer fics for the weekend for when I'm not interrupted by stupid things like work and sleep. Grrr. I've been reading Rose/10 fic at an insane pace recently, and didn't catch all the titles, so I may have. What was Disheveled about?

I really liked the new hip-hop choreographers too (except the letter-giving at the beginning, and the pants pulling down in the other routine). Much better than Shane Sparks, who'd lost his spark (hehe, bad, I know), imo.

Ah, I'm okay with disco -- and love it when Maria Torres, who did Neil and Sara's "Knock on Wood" last year, is doing the choreography -- but Dorianna Sanchez is a craptastic choreographer. I'm sorry, but she is. My mom was a choreographer and she did some disco routines, and they were good. They can be good, and fun, and awesome. But not when Dorianna is the choreographer. I just really liked their chemistry, and as I said in my write-up (http://arabian.livejournal.com/213380.html) that I thought they were better than the routine.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

I think you probably read Wild Geese or one of the shorter bits. Disheveled isn't really "about" anything...it's the Doctor/Rose love story as it unfolds. I'm not bragging when I say you would probably remember reading it...it's over 500 pages long. Very epic in scope.

Here is the link to all chapters...

http://rabid1st.livejournal.com/90769.html

And you can find links to a lot of my Doctor Who stories from Rain on Dust...my website.

www.rainondust.com

As for your take on the disco...I do agree that I like Maria Torres better. That Knock on Wood routine was rather good and fun. Dorianna Sanchez does indeed suck as a choreographer. As for the final couple's chemistry I just didn't catch it...but maybe I will if I get to see more of them. Yeah, I didn't care for the pants pulling down business...but it was still more interesting to watch than some of last years hip-hop.

Rae

[xlostangelx.livejournal.com]

I don't disagree. That Mia Michaels routine was self indulgent and just lame. Sort of like Mia Michaels. There is something so obnoxious about her.

But I disagree about the level of talent. I was bored. No one stood out for me. I picked both Travis and Danny in the first episode, but this year I was not overly impressed with anyone. I think the reason is that besides the last disco, I found the routines to be low energy and also lacking finesse ... er the last disco didn't have finesse but rather was high energy.

I think some of the couples will have troubles down the line. I liked Twitch/Kherington but man what an age difference especially since Kherington acts so young. Also the one ballroom chick, Chelsea I think, looks about 12 and for that reason I don't enjoy watching her dance. I also got the impression that the producers were trying to reimagine some of the more successful couples from the past. Twitch/Kherington is Musa/Natalie. The couple who did the cha cha was so obviously trying to replicate Benji/Donnelle ... I mean the guy looks like Benji for chrissakes not to mention a purple dress for the cha cha. I see Allison/Ivan in the last couple.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

I definitely agree on the Benji front. I could tell they were peddling to that. I didn't get much of a Musa/Natalie vibe from Twitch/Kherington. Good Lord the Girls names. I don't see how anyone is going to be able to tell them apart. Which makes it good that Twitch has such an unusual name and a firm history. What I did notice was that his background story had a sponsor. What the hell?

Did anybody else have a sponsor? I can see more of that as we go forward but what it says about Twitch is they know that the audience is pulling for him. I was on complete alert for pandering from the judges for him after that. And the judges did pander a bit. But Twitch also did a better job with the Broadway than hip-hop people in the past. Comfort looked like a hip-hopper out there. She looked stiff and uncomfortable in that outfit doing those moves and only seemed relaxed in the booty shaking part.

I saw Allison and Ivan in the last couple...and I really didn't like them. But that could be because the disco routines have always been my least favorite. And I felt that the yellow made them both look a bit gray around the gills.

I also thought the couple that did the cha-cha were pandered to by the judges. I mean...the girl is quite cute and perky but I didn't think it was so very stunning as the judges seemed to claim. And I thought you might have bristled at the excessive mugging she and her partner did. I'm not even going to try to remember names. The only ones I know with the girls are Comfort and Jessica. The rest of them are a blond blur of hard and soft "C" sounds.

Rae

[xlostangelx.livejournal.com]

I think one other couple had a sponsor, but this season I am abusing the Tivo. This is why the mugging didn't bother me ... I didn't see it because I fast forwarded through it.

The pandering is so completely obvious. The waltz and tango were so mediocre and the waltz was pretty bad actually (the screw up in the lift was blatantly obvious), and both got praised. I will give Nigel one thing, I am much more knowledgeable in dance now which also makes it harder for me to watch this show because I notice the little things (and the big things). So when the judges praise crap, I know it.

I did like the Joshua/Katee hip hop, but even though it was the best routine of the night, it was not nearly memorable enough.

[webeh.livejournal.com]

I'm also curious about some of the errors. They're pretty obvious onscreen. So, I'm thinking either judges were being lenient or the tripped up moves were actually a lot higher in the difficulty range that night. I'm not at all familiar with dancing, so I honestly have no idea.

Although one thing Nigel mentioned I think is definitely true. Some dancing styles are much flashier than others. Flash helps alot with the voting. Which is why I think it's great that the judges do have final say in who gets cut. How aweful would it be to be cut because you were unlucky one week and ended up with ballroom?

[xlostangelx.livejournal.com]

So much depends on luck. I don't think a Mia Michaels or Wade Robson routine has ever ended in the bottom in three. It's like a free pass to the next week to get a routine by either of them.

But I get what you're saying and totally agree. Perhaps it is the reason the judges praised the ballroom dances so enthusiastically despite the obvious and noticeable mistakes. The audience isn't completely stupid though, so calling the tango couple the couple to beat was obviously pandering and trying to bolster a favourite couple (or more likely a favourite dancer in William) and the audience called Bullshit. The girl wobbling was so obvious at least 2-3 times.

Patiently Waiting

[angelic-solace.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to hear the new dancers are decent. Our first australian series just wrapped up - and to be honest the dancing and choreography was dissapointing to say the least. I look forward to watching the new American series down here, especially if it features a lot of hip-hop! Oh and Mia Micheals - don't get me started.