allypenguin

Evidently. *cries in Martha Graham* I feel like he's done that diving front somersault in every one of his dances. Jaxon has definitely used it a couple times as well. I found it odd that the judges acknowledged that Karen y Ricardo use that coffee grinder thing in every one of their dances but are silent on if the contemporary dancers use the same tumbling skills over and over? This may be purely lore, but in the glory days of SYTYCD the rumour goes that Nigel told a group of auditioners not to put fouettes in their routine because he wanted to see them actually dance (I love a good fouette, but nobody needs to see the same a la seconde turns 50 times, dancer after dancer). I love Ashley and Zack for their other work but really never loved any of their routines. I also detest using any form of rope/chain/bondage prop. I feel like it never ends up looking clean or polished. The song cover was also atrocious. I'm going to go watch Zack's Piano Man tap with Aaron to erase my memory of him on this show.

I literally hate 3 of the 4 decisions. Damn lol. Can someone explain Charity and Andres to me? I don't get them. Contemporary is so much more than tumbling passes, angst and lifts that comprise over 75% of the dance. And for the "genre" of contemporary that it is, it's not even the best? They're so overhyped I don't get it. Part of the problem is that the show rewards contemporary that is filled to the brim with tricks but ugh, why. Michael Dameski over Karen y Ricardo...ugh see above.

Thank you! Damn I hope he's back next season (if it's renewed) I love him!

Twitch's poor voice :( I wanted to like Slavik and Genessy's hip hop so much, as I think Luther really gave them really great choreography, but I feel like they didn't really bring the energy or sharpness that it required, and consequently, it fell flat. I should not be thinking I wish I was watching the choreography on other dancers halfway through the routine. I love Brian Friedman and his mind. But did Vanessa call him Feelman? Yikes. Jensen was way too smiley throughout the whole thing and didn't really get down enough into the movements, and the synchronization was kind of off between the two of them. Another case of wanting to like it, but not really. Rooting for Hannahlei to win it all. She really brought it tonight and throughout the whole competition.

Okay so I usually roll my eyes when other people (usually judges) cry at the dances on these competition shows but damn I actually teared up watching Sean and Kaycee. Something about the purity of their movement and the youthful innocence that was portrayed really got to me. It also helps that it wasn't an overly wrought, flaily, liftapalooza which I can't stand.

Sorry for slightly off topic, but does anyone know why Spencer Liff hasn't been on this season? :( I saw a youtube interview of him recently saying that he was going to be back, but I guess something came up unexpectedly and that's why Travis did Broadway last week?

Omg this show was such a trip I s2g. I completely forgot Emanuel Sandhu was on this show! I can't help but love Blake haha, and how much raunchier this version of the show was. Remember Breaking Dishes? It totally wouldn't fly right now, but I remember loving it back then oops. I loved the House routines and getting exposed to that style!

It was actually the next one after, Lara Smythe :) Ahhh my faulty memory. I guess I liked it so much that I just remembered it as the first ever! I, too, adored Allie! I have been away from this forum for a bit because of school but if you haven't already, please post your favourites, or post more :P I'd love to see them :) I miss SYTYCDca so much!

I forgot to DVR the episode so I haven't watched it, but just wanted to say...JUSTICE FOR BRANDON. I mean I adore that solo of hers with the rose and that gorgeous controlled turn but, come on. He was so versatile and performed 3 of my favourite routines that were outside his style (the ChaCha, Disco, and his Argentine Tango). His partnership with Janette was everything.

I actually don't remember that :( What I think this is telling me, however, is that I need to track the series down and rewatch it! In S1 a girl went to our school and so the principal would get on the announcements and tell us to vote for her every week. She didn't make it very far though oops lmao. Also re: Stacey. Her first ever routine on that show, No Happy Ending with Natalli and Vincent is still my favourite SYTYCD contemporary of all time. And I maintain that Luther and Sean's choreography has always been better in Canada :P

I would love for Kyle to choreograph on the show. I'm so surprised they haven't got him on yet considering he choreographs duets a lot (something like Sweater Weather would be perfect for the show). Would love to see him, Yanis Marshall, Jake Kodish, Janelle Ginestra, Nika Kljun, and Erica Klein on the show I'm so happy you said this! SYTYCDCa has been on my mind lately; I recently watched a video on youtube called top 15 solos from the season 4 girls or something to that effect. I forgot how amazing that show was and how incredibly strong all the dancers were. Damn you CTV for cancelling it *shakes fist*

I've loved Zack Everhart since SYTYCD and will forever think he wuz robbed so I can't pretend to be unbiased in this and unhappy that they advanced but it actually goes deeper than that haha. Their first routine was choreographed by Kyle Hanagami (who they are both very close with) who was a supervising choreographer on WOD last year, and has worked with JLo in the past. And going by Instagram, this routine was choreographed by Tessandra Chavez who won an Emmy with Derek for their work on DWTS. I totally agree about DNA and I have a petty grudge against Antonina too because she is the reason that Denys dropped out of SYTYCD ugh.

As someone who has truly horrible technique it's now my time to shine! Yes improper turnout is one way to see if they are using proper technique or not. Another thing that I'm VERY guilty of is in arabesque a lot of people "cheat" to the side and do not have their legs fully behind them in order to gain height. Sometimes when this happens you can see that their hips are uneven and not level because they're hiking their legs up (you can see this strongly in attitude position as well). And finally a lot of the time in order to get height, although this is kind of a rookie mistake, dancers will sacrifice their upper body e.g. hunching forward in a kick to the front to hike that leg up there, but that's a no-no unless it's choreographed that way.

This description killed me hahaha

So Evan was my favourite guy, and I'm sad that he didn't have a chance to really bloom on the show :( I really love his dancing from other things I've seen him in and I think he is extremely versatile. But then again, just because you are a good class dancer/performer doesn't always translate to doing well on the show! Here's some vids in case you haven't seen him in anything else beyond the show! Also my dad who knows nothing about dance was outraged when I told him that the judges were bussing Chelsea. He thought she was the best :( Evan starts at around 1:23 Evan's group starts at about 7:20

While I agree that Marissa and the Heartbreakers were not that good choreographically and definitely deserved to lose that duel I'd like to point out that what they do is incredibly difficult. It takes a lot of artistry, training, flexibility and coordination to do what they do, even if it might not seem that way visually a lot of the time. I'm classically trained in ballet and cross trained in jazz/contemp/modern/tap etc and I thought that heels would be an easy style to pick up, but boy was I wrong. But it is an incredibly empowering, creative and fun style to explore so I'd implore you to check out more of that style, even if Marissa's choreo is offputting to you. Marissa's choreo was very repetitive and didn't cover how awesome of a genre it is. I'd recommend looking into someone like Yanis Marshall's choreography, or even Brian Friedman's, in case you haven't. BTW not trying to attack you, but it bums me out that you seem to not like the style of dance and thought I'd try to change your mind :) In the end, no harm no foul, everyone has their own tastes, and I'm definitely more partial to some dances than others, so I totally understand!

Yeah actually. I mean I've been watching since S4 but I remember the judges would tell dancers specific technical things they had to improve on e.g. sickled feet, turnout, posture etc. For example, I wish the judges would tell Slavik not to hunch so much and have better posture to have nicer lines. And I remember when praise used to be about dance specific things too. I remember Mary especially would give good advice to dancers in ballroom styles. I'm not asking for much but it seems way too "fluffy" for me this season i.e. just crying, rather than actual dance substance. Also, I mostly forgot Mia as a judge but I remember hating her for shaming and humiliating Adechike in his Bollywood. That, to me, wasn't about dance but more of a personal attack.

For real. I like Genessy and Slavik a lot but the Broadway was just okay. It was sweet but I cannot see how it moved them to tears. And on a petty note, for some reason the bench in their number just reminded me of "The Bench" which actually did move me a lot. I miss when actual dance critiques were given out.

Same with the women last week! I am not over losing Emily, ugh. I know it's been strongly hinted that Fox pulled the rug out from the producers in giving them a certain amount of weeks, but if that were the case, I'd honestly rather them do 1 montage week of auditions/Vegas, or even scrap it tbh, and have a proper top 20. I miss seeing great partnerships and watching the dancers grow. In the past, dancers like Justin who weren't completely comfortable could have come into their own.

It goes without saying that I hate the format. Dammit Fox give us back the top 20. I am so happy for Evan, since I've been a fan of his for awhile! I'm stoked for him to get hip hop, he's phenomenal in the style.

I recently came across videos of Jason from season 5 because of another dancer that I follow. He's become such an accomplished hip hop dancer. If anyone was curious, here's a video of him dancing with Paul. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waPX5jSseso He's also currently a dancer on Ariana Grande's tour. :( Hoping he's okay and my thoughts are with him and everyone affected.

I thought Joy was incredibly immature and ignorant when working with the kimchi. The way she was gagging at the kimchi smell had me rolling my eyes, you'd think it was the worst thing on earth. If you're on this show purportedly to be a "food authority" can you really poopoo foods that you haven't tried before, doesn't that seem pretty close-minded? Also kimchi is basically a staple in so many households. I'm not even Korean, and my family makes our own kimchi. Walk into any Korean sushi place, or KBBQ and they'll give it to you before the main course. While I've never tried kimchi with sweet combinations, like bread pudding, and understand it would've been an extremely hard challenge, it's not like kimchi doesn't mesh well with other flavours. Personally, kimchi fries is one of my favourite snacks, and is super trendy right now. I've never met anyone in my life who had such a visceral, over the top reaction to kimchi in my life.

Edit: Oops totally missed that the interview was already posted :P I think Neil is currently a swing on Hamilton right now, Ariana is in the ensemble, and Thayne Jasperson even has a proper credited role as Samuel Seabury :) Here's his duet with Lin-Manuel Miranda from the show! Maybe now Nigel will finally acknowledge him when talking about SYTYCD alums on Bway :P https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpZ13lqzgi0 I wish tickets weren't eleventy billion dollars so I could actually go see the show :( Ariana and Thayne are fantastic though, you can see them in various Hamilton clips on Youtube!

I only saw bits and pieces of the show, but though I wasn't rooting for her, a well-deserved win by Gaby. I was really pulling for Jaja, but Gaby is just so versatile and killed every single genre she was given (sans ballroom, but what can you do). I don't even like Virgil that much but my heart broke seeing him cry, and seeing Cat tear up too :( Hailee definitely knew she wasn't winning, but she's going to do awesome things and work a lot. I really grew fond of her over the course of the competition. And Jim and Alex <3 I'm glad I missed the (I think) overwrought story of the dance. Thank you dance gods. I can't believe it actually happened. I love watching the two of them dance, and together too! I just wish the routine was longer and had a little less fluff. Academy of Villains was also fantastic.

I was kind of underwhelmed by this episode, especially as a performance finale. Then I saw Zack and I swooned. Zack won last year...in my heart. Loved that tap number, he and Gaby really killed it. I was really pulling for Jaja but I kind of agree with what Nigel said about her routine with Cyrus. I wish they had gotten Lil C or a different choreographer to do a krump routine for her and Comfort or something. Also, yay Philip! Very cool that they got him to do the Slip choreography. Though, I think because I've watched it like a hundred times, I was left a little cold because it wasn't Philip and his partner dancing it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but does that mean 3/4 finalists never did a ballroom routine?