K-MAC

Though the street v stage set-up was a farce in the end, I enjoyed this season and most of the dancers in contention. I would say I hope we have another season, but if it means even more Travis Wall, that would give me pause. I was hoping for a Gaby win, though I had a great fondness for Hailee. Jaja over-emotes to me. I was happy to have a season free of Allison's over-the-top facial expressions, but Jaja took up the mantle for her. Vigil is a doll. I was kind of hoping he would be the top street dancer, for what little that meant. I felt he really improved over the course of the show. The duet with Travis and whoever that was was totally unnecessary. If he absolutely HAD to stick himself into all aspects of the show, then he should have at least danced with one of the earlier eliminated contestants. It should be about them, not Travis. In my eyes, he's gone from slightly annoying to full blown detriment to the show.

Off the top of my head: Donyelle, Season 2, danced the finale with a broken toe. No one knew it until Nigel said something about wearing high heels with a broken toe. Aaron had a torn or partially torn labrum for the last episodes of his season, though he continued to perform. Chehon ended up lifting everyone...a lot.. including dead-weight Cyrus, who had no idea how to help the "lifter". Later, Chehon said he couldn't sleep before the finale because of back pain, which makes me wonder what stories Ade could tell. The finale always looks like the last few yards of an Iron Man race. I remember Twitch, Katee, Courtney, and Joshua basically leaning against each other for support as they gasped and panted during feedback for their group routine. Mia did not spare them one bit and I thought at least one of them was going to faint on live TV. Anyone watching Marko and Tadd try to move in those heavy boots during their finale duet had to feel so bad for them. They moved like boulders were tied to their legs. I don't know how they do it. And the tour will take its toll as well.

I noticed that, too. I can't remember a top 4 where they didn't do a group routine on the last competition night. Absolutely. Nigel admitted using "reverse psychology" in an interview after Jordan & Jess were eliminated. Jess hadn't been in the bottom since top 20 & Ricky had been there 4 times, so... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_apKQqZg6x4 I'm still not convinced Nigel wanted Chehon to win. Given the fact that most of the bigger entertainment-site polls had Chehon leading after top 6 & beyond, I suspect Nigel's final comments were strategy to give Cyrus a voting boost. The outrage on Twitter about Niegl's comments reinforced my belief. But I think many people recognize his shenanigans by now and tend to ignore him. Just watched it again. No, he didn't say he hoped Gaby would win. Also, critiquing dancers by focusing on the terrible choreography or costume choice is something Nigel has done many times before (think Caitlyn & Mitchell's save-the-world hip-hop...Nigel acted like they came up with it). He recently criticized Gaby and Jim for the awfulness of the Fever choreography and his only personal comment to them was "Sorry, it left me cold." The sexy fish dance is another example from this season. Those girls didn't come up with that lame choreo. Chris Scott's 2 routines for Cyrus were each a raging success. I'm sure Nigel thought he was giving Jaja a gift. I highly doubt Chris would agree to the implication that he should "Make sure Jaja fails". Unfortunately, Chris is hit or miss. This one was a miss. I think it rallied Jaja's fans if they loved her entire body of work. I agree. Most of these kids grew up dreaming of being on this show. Why on earth wouldn't they prepare by at least trying to diversify their skills? Tadd never stated it on the show but when he was cut in an earlier season at the ballroom stage, he took ballroom lessons. He ended up managing fairly well at ballroom. That's smart to me and I blame dancers for not putting that effort in if they are serious about this show. People were upset with how Nigel portrayed Joshua, but since Joshua himself stated that he'd had formal training and even brought photos of him at the barre, all of that was Nigel's choice. Thankfully, this season has been fairly free of "Unbelievable! YOU'RE JUST A B-BOY and LOOK AT YOU!" As far as setting up a particular dancer to win, the person most responsible for doing that is the contestant himself or herself. Beyond any natural talent or ability to connect to an audience on TV, their chances are exponentially boosted if they train hard, train early, and develop a wide repertoire of skills. See Alex dancing with a ballet company, performing on Broadway, and capable of taking on hip-hop if need be. Quite a few dancers during this season came prepared. I give them nothing but props for that dedication.

I haven't been a big fan of Virgil, but I believe he had his best night. Joshua sort of ate him up but then again, I find it hard not to watch Joshua. I'll have to watch it again with attention on Virgil. I'm happy everyone got matched with an all star who's within their genre. I loved Aaron and would have preferred his return, but I also liked Zach a lot. I was rooting for both to win their seasons. Zach was a perfect match for Gaby. I did have reservations about the boxes since it looked like an ankle could be easily twisted or broken. As awesome as it was, I hope Gaby won't have to reprise that on the tour. There aren't any other tappers in the top ten mix, are there? Hailee was 75% responsible for making the lifts and flips work in the routine with Virgil. She has been strong enough to help her shorter partners look pretty darn good. I liked this Broadway choreography much better than the cheesy "Fever" routine from last week. Personally, I've felt I've had enough of Twitch as an all star (and Allison and Kathryn and a few others). I've also never been impressed with Twitch's choreography. I would like for Travis to disappear for a couple of seasons, though. Twitch is at least likable.