Adez

SYTYCD Jenna danced in the routine, but it was Jenya Shatilova who co-choreographed the group number along with Dmitry. Cat even mentioned it in her intro.

The program didn't mention this but Mr. and Mrs. Kerlee left Tennessee and moved to College Station after Tim's death in order to counsel other survivors or students who needed to talk, pray, or whatever helped them. TAMU has a heavy emphasis on "family" ("Once an Aggie, always an Aggie" is the motto) & though neither had anything to do with the school before Tim elected to go there, they became honorary members of the Aggie family. They became particularly close to the Corps of Cadets, of which Tim was a member: Tim was allowed to die because when surgeons opened up his abdomen, his organs were so crushed that they were almost unrecognizable. They closed him back up, wrapped a sheet around his torso to hold everything in place & made his end as pain-free as they could under the circumstances. There is a controversial photo of him from that night on Stack that earned the photographer a nomination for a Pulitzer. BTW, I am not an Aggie, but I married one.

1. All the cuts happen on land where ranchers need the acreage cleared. They are quite happy to get a very expensive task done through free labor from the students. 2. Because of Bonfire, students serve on an ongoing project called "Replant", one of the largest student-run environmental programs in the nation. Volunteers plant trees all throughout the county in places that need them. After the devastating fires in Central Texas, Replant has included fire-ravaged State Parks as part of their service area. http://www.tamu.edu/traditions/aggie-culture/replant/ Somewhat related, Texas A&M has a very active student-led service culture. Their school established the original Big Event, which is, once again, the largest of its kind. Over 20,000 participated last year. Other colleges have gradually followed their precedent, establishing "thank you" events benefiting their communities. http://www.tamu.edu/traditions/aggie-culture/the-big-event/

Forgot to say I loved Phillip's choreo. I know it was an adaptation of one he did on his YouTube channel, but given the compressed amount of time Virgil and Gaby had to work on it, they did it justice. Gaby has an amazingly strong core and self-control. It pleases me to see Phillip doing so well. He was one of the truly self-taught dancers, but he's really grown as an artist.

I enjoyed the interviews with the finalists. Jaja has a casual ease about her in conversations that makes her seem mature and confident. They are all quite adorable, though. Hailee won't win, but she's going to be a busy girl, with the work she'll be booking. She's versatile, charming, and very good. I noticed in episodes past, but haven't commented about Jaja's habit of pouting when she gets criticism. It surprises me a little each time she does that. However, it's not fair when the dancer takes the heat for the failures of the choreographer. Maybe Jaja could've done more with the performance, but the choreo was weak. Gaby reminds me of Katee. Both have somewhat reserved and nondescript personalities, but seem able to bring an added depth of performance beyond execution of the choreography. I remember a brief few seconds in Wade's Cobrastyle top 20 routine, when Katee moved forward, looking right into the camera and I wondered, "Who is THAT?" It surprised me when I later found it was Katee. Gaby brings that element to her work for me. Marko has improved vastly since his time on the show. Joshua, forever my favorite, was massive in the routine with Virgil. That choreographer pair finally got something right. Just straight up, powerful hip-hop. If one does a Twitter search with the terms "Cat Deeley pregnant", you'd see that Cat has been "pregnant" since 2009. I'm glad she's finally going to actually have that baby. It's been cooking in the oven for 7 years, so he or she will be super-human...like Cat. I'd rather have Danny Tidwell, but Alex will do.

It was reported on several reliable entertainment sites that the cash prize for Katee was from a private donor, who was quite taken with her performances. Why that was allowed was never clarified, nor what would have happened if Katee had won the full prize. I seem to remember most prognosticators assuming that Twitch would win with Joshua as a close second. A private donor would explain why that consolation prize was never repeated. If it were, one would think it would go to 2nd place, not 3rd.

This show made me grumpy. I enjoyed Comfort and Jasmine, Hok and Jaimie, and Twitch & Alex. Outta Your Mind and Hummingbird/Flower were easily as good, if not better than originally performed. I have grown to near aversion status for Travis as a feature of the show and, sadly, for much of his choreography. Mark is a sweetie, but he still can't straighten his back. And "K-pop" is now a new dance genre? Okay, Cat. Yes, Evan, Jess, Thayne, and Ariana Dubose have all been in more successful Broadway productions than either Alex (who was awesome in Newsies) or Melanie. Even Neil has been in a few that had short runs on Broadway or off-Broadway. There could be more that I don't even know about. Nigel sure won't tell us. It does my heart good that some of them are succeeding in that venue despite the stigma of having been on this show. Also, there have been numerous alums working on tour with some major stars besides Mark. Ivan dancing with and helping choreograph for Justin Timberlake is pretty big time. The several sytycd ladies who recently toured with Taylor Swift. She's kinda big, too. I'm not sure why they mentioned some, but not others. I know they worded it as "all stars who have gone on to...", but that doesn't excuse the oversight. This show seems to have an aversion to most of the winners except Melanie and perhaps Fik-shun & Amy. I really wanted to see a Katee and Joshua routine. And with Danny back in the U.S., it's mind-boggling he's treated as if he never existed. Maybe he doesn't want to come back. I can't tell from his Twitter. The time spent pimping Seacrest and patting themselves on the back for first featuring Gaga, Perry, et. al., could've been spent celebrating some of the dancers who are outside of Nigel's golden circle. I am happy that Paula acknowledged Wade and his work. Wade was a big part of the original magic of this series.

I forgot to mention B-Dash, the dancer who combined krump & animation. I thought it added a whole level of interest to the idea of animation. Also agree on the Swiss brothers. The taller one seemed to be clearly more skilled, but both of them finished strong on the routine. I wonder if we'll get a "which brother will it be" Green Mile pairing? Just one of the show's recurring memes. This is the first episode where I feel I must watch again to collect my list of names to watch out for. There were so many, while the first two episodes yielded nothing but ho-hums from me.

I felt Danny was the best dancer of the entire series so far, but had a deep appreciation for both Alex and Chehon. However, I can't remember a time when Nigel ever stopped "screwing around with the narrative". Danny's treatment as arrogant was agregious, but I also remember the narrative for Chehon as cold towards his partner ("I just wish you would show some warmth towards your partner!"), which couldn't have been farther from the truth. Maybe by Chehon's season, the audience didn't fall as hard for Nigel's shennanigans, as we could easily see Chehon smiling and hugging Witney every time they complimented her while she seemed to be the distant one. But lord knows, they did try to make that stick. It was satisfying when the narrative backfired, as with Brandon and Adechike's attempted beat-downs by Mia. Both of the male ballet dancers were fantastic. I doubt they are cross-trained, as they seem quite disciplined in their specialty, but one can hope they'll last awhile. I noticed that the other day and checked to discover he's on their Mainboard, while I expected he'd be on the "development" list. I like that he didn't bring it up in his interactions with Cat. I'm certain it will come up at some point, though. I'll bet there aren't many on that site that have breaker photos in their portfolios. http://www.wilhelmina.com/los-angeles/models/mainboard/men/833295/asaf-goren I don't think Asaf is the best breaker I've ever seen, but he was good, and better than quite a few other shown. As above, I wonder about a narrative for him.Jason cited his initial conversation as "off-putting" before complimenting him. I rewatched the audition and the first couple of minutes were spent with some good-natured horsing around with Cat & the shofar (thanks for identifying it for us, Zuliekha), exibiting a self-deprecating type of humor that I enjoy. The only statement of hubris was how he was "bored with the kinds of breaking" he was seeing, but it was clearly a tongue-in-cheek statement to set up the revelation that his style was different because it represented his culture. I don't see how what he said was any different than the many crews who are featured as they declare they've invented a new style of dance whose awesomeness the world isn't prepared to see. I take all of it as required posturing for authentic street dance and don't find any of it off-putting or offensive at all. I hope Nigel doesn't "Jess Leprotto" him, as another arrogant or over-confident contestant. I'm prepared to give Asaf a chance, not because of his looks. Personally, I like the more rough and rugged type...the pretty boys, not so much. But he seemed truly touched by their critiques, had an odd but fun sense of humor, and was somewhat inventive at his craft. I was very happy to see so many intriguing female street dancers! I'm hopeful they will be versatile enough for several to make it through. Add some guys who know how to give us some traditional hard-hitting hip-hop and I'll be happy with that side of the teams. I'm much less interested in the animators. I get my fill of ballroom on DWTS and America's Ballroom Challenge. I have no issue whatsoever with contemporary dancers. I have major issues with how this show choreographs contemporary dancers, especially in recent seasons. There were enough floor-writhers to keep Travis inspired for the entire season. Blech. Every season, I miss Wade more and more. Even Mia, in all her vitriolic glory, would be a welcomed change from Travis, Mandy, and Stacey.

I just saw Jess LeProtto on the Tony Awards show with On the Town. It featured one of his speaking parts & a fair number of featured close-ups.

Chehon Wespi-Schopp is currently the assistant creative director for this season's American Idol, which doesn't surprise me, considering how well he does on visual media. His photography of other dancers is stunning and he's posted some video productions that are quite creative. I'm sure he's put those into a portfolio.