S11.E15: Winner Announced

[Anothermi]

I kind of wish they had shown Victor(?) Smalley's (Ricky's dance teacher) reaction when Ricky won. Unfortunately he was sitting beside Napoleon (& Tabitha) who were not seated near the joyful family members who the camera focused on. I'm sure he was elated though.

Don't have much new to add. I, too, was bummed that Zack came 4th, but except for the cash, not winning doesn't hinder any contestant's future job prospects.

[WelcomeStranger]

I, too, am trying to figure out why Allison Holker was picked up as a DWTS dancer.  I googled fitfully in search of some clue: Is Allison trained enough to be considered a professional ballroom dancer, or is DWTS branching out to include jazz and contemporary in its repertoire? I don't watch DWTS, but the choice of Allison is confuddling me.

 

At the very, very end of a lackluster season, an unexpected shining gift from the gods: the Top 10/AllStar group dance. That was one for the ages. Tanisha was a BEAST in that--she was the only girl whose dancing caught my eye at all. My favorite part was when Will Wingfield (my favorite dancer of all seasons) came downstage banging those fabulous dreadlocks and doing that crazy krump/disco/happy-dance move. Then he turned around and saw the whole ensemble doing the same goofy move in unison behind him and gave the thumbs-up. I laughed. I cried. I can't wait for someone to upload it to YouTube (which is the only place my low-tech self knows how to download videos from--shhhhh.)

[Giggly]

Nigel finally got his male contemporary dancer winner.  That hasn't happened since Season 1 despite his best efforts and manipulations.

[traboule]

At the very, very end of a lackluster season, an unexpected shining gift from the gods: the Top 10/AllStar group dance. That was one for the ages. Tanisha was a BEAST in that--she was the only girl whose dancing caught my eye at all. My favorite part was when Will Wingfield (my favorite dancer of all seasons) came downstage banging those fabulous dreadlocks and doing that crazy krump/disco/happy-dance move. Then he turned around and saw the whole ensemble doing the same goofy move in unison behind him and gave the thumbs-up. I laughed. I cried. I can't wait for someone to upload it to YouTube (which is the only place my low-tech self knows how to download videos from--shhhhh.)

 

Fox has posted it to youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHGc7WbLK0o

[vibeology]

Paula, though, was just... weird.  As in, I couldn't understand how she was supposed to be anybody famous with that incredible lack of skill, kind of weird.

 

Let me defend my girl for a minute. Paula does not have public speaking talent, but her fame comes from dance; both her incredible choreography for herself and others and her incredible dance skills. Her second career as reality show judge is a bit of a mystery because she;s not a great public speaker, but she and Simon had good chemistry back on Idol and she's used that goodwill to keep herself in the public eye. Paula Abdul makes sense as a judge on a dance show to me. She's a huge part of dance history. She choreographed Nasty. She's the reason I first took a dance class, and I bet that's true for a lot of girls growing up in the late 80s. 

 

 

I, too, am trying to figure out why Allison Holker was picked up as a DWTS dancer.  I googled fitfully in search of some clue: Is Allison trained enough to be considered a professional ballroom dancer, or is DWTS branching out to include jazz and contemporary in its repertoire? I don't watch DWTS, but the choice of Allison is confuddling me.

 

DWTS has added jazz, hip hop and contemporary to the roster in the past few years, but its still mostly a ballroom show and no, Alison is not qualified to be a professional on the show. She has taken some ballroom classes with Louis Van Amstel, but that does not mean she has the ballroom vocabulary to choreograph a Cha-Cha. A few seasons ago the show added Tyne something or other who was a contemporary dancer and it showed. Her celebrity, Bill Engvall was not a great dancer, but in group dances where an actual ballroom dancer choreographed him he was much better than when it was up to Tyne. I love Alison, but she's out of place on DWTS.

[phoenix780]

Thanks for the behind-the-scenes, apicalmeristem.  I do have one thing I've been wondering...

 

The audience.  Are people really that loud and scream-y?  Or...is it as distracting in person as it can be watching things back?  I can't help but wonder if it's somehow amplified when I'm watching on television.

[beeble]

Is Ricky the first Latino winner of the show?

[Blueeyedgirl]

Does anyone have a list of the All-Stars who were in the Top 10/All-star number?  I know Will, Dominick, Fik-Shun, I think I spotted Katherine...who else?

[traboule]

Does anyone have a list of the All-Stars who were in the Top 10/All-star number?  I know Will, Dominick, Fik-Shun, I think I spotted Katherine...who else?

 

Jasmine, Amy, Marko, Robert, Jenna, and apparently Courtney, though I only know that because someone on youtube said she was there.

[Rick Kitchen]

Is Ricky the first Latino winner of the show?

 

Isn't Eliana Latina?

[RBee]

Does anyone have a list of the All-Stars who were in the Top 10/All-star number?  I know Will, Dominick, Fik-Shun, I think I spotted Katherine...who else?

Will, Dominic, Fik-Shun, Katherine, Robert, Marko, Courtney, Jasmine H.. If there were two more, I'm not sure who they are.

 

I am wondering why they brought in "all stars" who did not do partner duets. Did I miss Dominic, Marko, and Courtney as all stars? Why not bring back Ryan, Aaron, and some of the others we rarely see? (Please, no Allison or Twitch, though.)

[iameatingaburrito]

Nigel finally got his male contemporary dancer winner.  That hasn't happened since Season 1 despite his best efforts and manipulations.

 

Where did he manipulate for a male contemporary winner?

 

Don't you think Nigel would have preferred a tapper this season? Nigel is a tapper, loves tap, and there was On The Town.

Is Ricky the first Latino winner of the show?

 

Jeanine Mason is also Cuban :)

Isn't Eliana Latina?

 

Eliana's twitter bio reads "Italian girl with a Jewish fro" https://twitter.com/Dance9Eliana

Edited September 8, 2014 by iameatingaburrito

[Rick Kitchen]

Thanks for correcting me, I thought she had mentioned being Cuban once, I guess I was thinking of somebody else.  :)

[dcalley]

... and apparently Courtney, though I only know that because someone on youtube said she was there.

Look for her mostly in the back right. She's wearing what looks like a black and white plaid diamond skirt.

[Percysowner]

So is Enrique Iglesias just "Enrique" now?

I know, right? Not nearly famous enough to just go by his first name. And a song named Bailando after his first big hit was called Bailamos? Original.

IIR, his fathe Julio Inglesias expressed some resentment that Enrique had become a bigger star than his father. Julio has admitted that he has never met Enrique's girlfriend of 12 years and apparently doesn't want to meet her. Rumors are that Enrique has avoided family birthdays because his father will be there. Using his first name may be less because he thinks he is so famous and more because he wants to distance himself from his father. He did release his first few songs under a pseudonym so that he would rise or fall on his own talent, not his father's name.

[realdancemom]

DWTS has added jazz, hip hop and contemporary to the roster in the past few years, but its still mostly a ballroom show and no, Alison is not qualified to be a professional on the show. She has taken some ballroom classes with Louis Van Amstel, but that does not mean she has the ballroom vocabulary to choreograph a Cha-Cha. A few seasons ago the show added Tyne something or other who was a contemporary dancer and it showed. Her celebrity, Bill Engvall was not a great dancer, but in group dances where an actual ballroom dancer choreographed him he was much better than when it was up to Tyne. I love Alison, but she's out of place on DWTS.

Tyne was a contemporary/jazz dancer that was going to be a background dancer for Michael Jackson's last tour.  She was paired with Bill Nye, the Science Guy.  Her lack of ballroom training showed in their first dance, the cha-cha.  Emma Slater was paired with Bill Engvall.  She was trained in Latin Ballroom.  I think she was going for humor with her routines with Bill since he wasn't a great dancer but knew how to ham it up.

 

I agree that even though DWTS has added jazz, contemporary, hip-hop, and other styles, it is still mainly a ballroom competition.  I read somewhere that Alison started taking ballroom classes after being on SYTYCD.  That was awhile ago so she could be really good at it.  She did do the AT with Derek a couple seasons ago.  I do think that if DWTS wanted her, she should have at least started as a troupe member.

Edited September 8, 2014 by realdancemom

[shimarella]

Add me to those confused by Allison's move to DWTS. Lacey & Chelsea were excoriated for a little bit on that show for their SYTYCD roots as was Dmitri for a little bit but they all have dancesport cred. As much as DWTS seems to allowing its pros to live out THEIR SYTYCD fantasies by adding hip-hop & contemporary to all the forms, I just am puzzled...it feels like she is being set up to fail.

 

As far as a male contemporary dancer winner...Nick Lazzarini was the first SYTYCD winner, so its not the first time, even if its been a while...

[GeorgieNY]

Does anyone know how this role in On The Town is supposed to work? The show is already in Tech rehearsals and starts previews soon.... Is it a swing or understudy position? Timing is odd- surely they knew the production schedule of the show when they made this a prize?

[Anothermi]

A quick google search brought up this article that states:

1 - his part will be in the ensemble

2 - he will do the SYTYCD tour first and after that join the show. 

 

From the little I know about Broadway productions, there seems to be people regularly switching in/out of them - especially long running ones - so I don't think this is an unusual or irregular practice. 

 

ETA: Another article states that Ricky won't join the show until Spring 2015. 

Edited September 15, 2014 by Anothermi

[GeorgieNY]

A quick google search brought up this article that states:

1 - his part will be in the ensemble

2 - he will do the SYTYCD tour first and after that join the show. 

 

From the little I know about Broadway productions, there seems to be people regularly switching in/out of them - especially long running ones - so I don't think this is an unusual or irregular practice. 

 

ETA: Another article states that Ricky won't join the show until Spring 2015.

Thanks. I work on Broadway, so I do know that replacements are not unusual, but I have to say that buzz is not good for this show to actually run for very long....we shall see. It is odd to give a prize and not have to be a part of the opening night cast- that is where the glory is. Replacement cast members often don't get much, if any recognition.

[Anothermi]

That is a very good point, but the Broadway Show made the commitment without any guarantee that the winner would be any good at Broadway, so I can't help but think they were hedging their bets?

[Nozycat]

I am in Australia and just finished watching this season.  I loved it and thought so many of the routines were wonderful.  I was so surprised when Tanisha went as I thought she was an awesome dancer and for me she was in the top 2 along with Ricki who was my favorite from auditions on.  But I also loved Zack, Jessica and Valerie, who while maybe technically not the best dancer, I thought was still a lovely dancer and a ray of sunshine who always made me smile with her dancing.  And I was so glad to see our Aussie winner Michael again, he was awesome here.

Edited September 20, 2014 by Nozycat

[WelcomeStranger]

Thank you, traboule, for linking the Top 10/All-Star dance I loved so much! It's just 31 flavors of wonderful. When I say Tanisha was a beast in that, I'm talking especially about the 1:20 to 1:24 mark.

[JustaPerson]

So apparently Zack and Jacque are ones dating (don't know since when.) Which means her "thing" with Rudy was probably totally fake -- on her part at least.

[Mason]

So apparently Zack and Jacque are ones dating (don't know since when.) Which means her "thing" with Rudy was probably totally fake -- on her part at least.

 

And here's the kicker: Zack was the one who originally "outed" them... Cover-up maybe?!

 

http://www.bustle.com/articles/32055-does-sytycd-have-a-new-romance-blossoming-between-jacque-and-rudy

 

[traboule]

So I'm not sure what thread to put this in, but I did go see the SYTYCD tour in November in D.C. Some dances I liked better on TV, some were better live for me. Tanisha was heavily featured, which I certainly did not mind - she took Jasmine's part in the Egyptian-themed hip-hop with Emilio (and killed it, IMO). Her costume in that dance also didn't have that distracting low cut in the back that many commenters on this board disliked. Tanisha also took Lauren F.'s part in the dance with Ricky. She also replaced Amy in the "Europe after the Rain" contemporary with Zack, and took Allison's part in "Dirty Diana" (IIRC). Nearly all of her dances with Rudy were included in the program, which is noteworthy considering another pair from the top 10 - Zack and Jacque - did not have ANY of their dances included in the program. In fact, other than group numbers, Jacque appeared in maybe one pair dance (stepping in for Makenzie in a dance with Casey), plus her solo.

 

They did include the cool stairs tap number with Zack and Valerie, and in the middle of the routine, Teddy joined them for a new choregraphed section and then he exited so the other two tappers finished out the song.

 

There were video segments interspersed throughout that mostly consisted of either the judges or the choreographers talking about the season, or a rehash of the choreographers teaching a dance step. Nothing really interesting was said in the videos, except for Napoleon and Tabitha saying that the bench routine choreographed for tWitch and Jessica was partly inspired by Nigel. (ha!) That routine was included in the program, with Marcquet doing an able job substituting with Jessica. I realized that - aside from the concept - I do like the choreography and music of that routine. Emily was the other non-top-10 to show up for this particular tour performance. She and Teddy did the "Latch" song, which made me miss Carly.

 

Barely any ballroom was included - possibly not any ballroom, come to think of it. All the top 10 did a solo, and Rudy took off his shirt during his and threw it into the audience to some appreciative squeals. I laughed and thought, of course he would do that.

 

Casey has a lot more charisma live than he did on TV. Zack really seems to light up when doing Broadway-style, as he does in the "Hernando's Hideaway" routine with Jessica. Bridget nails her malevolent character in the Travis Wall bedframe routine. I was about in the middle of the auditorium and could still see that character coming through.

 

A few production notes - I didn't like that the flashing lights behind the dancers occasionally hit me right in the face so that I temporarily couldn't see the stage at all. This proved too much for an audience member several rows ahead of me, who left midway through the program, clearly in some physical head pain.

 

The last routine was the only completely new one, performed to Taylor Swift's "Shake it Off" which was disappointing when one considers the more sublime "Sweet Surrender" group number that the season ended on.

Edited December 13, 2014 by traboule

[traboule]

Oh, also Ricky and Jessica's "Vow" routine was gorgeous. One of maybe two songs in the program where you can really hear the dancers' movement - usually the music covers over that - but I think it adds so much to hear the footfalls and the movement of the dancers.

 

And the program included a lot of the mini-group numbers. That one with the guys where they toss Emilio and he almost hits the floor when they catch him - whew, made the breath catch a bit! Also that moment in the Sonya Tayeh piece where the dancers all fall sideways to the floor in unison was stunning.

[Anothermi]

I haven't been to this thread since the end of the show, so I was very pleased to see your post(s) on the tour, traboule. Thank you for going to the trouble to post the review. 

 

Now I have to go and remind myself who Teddy is (how quick we forget). I'm thinking he is tall and thin, but then the short blond-haired Teddy who auditioned twice but still got cut in Not!Vegas jumps in and I get confused. 

Edited December 29, 2014 by Anothermi

[realdancemom]

I haven't been to this thread since the end of the show, so I was very pleased to see your post(s) on the tour, traboule. Thank you for going to the trouble to post the review. 

 

Now I have to go and remind myself who Teddy is (how quick we forget). I'm thinking he is tall and thin, but then the short blond-haired Teddy who auditioned twice but still got cut in Not!Vegas jumps in and I get confused. 

Teddy is Emily's partner.  He came in under hip-hop so in the Top 20 show, he did hip-hop with Emilio.  However, he is also a tapper.

 

I also watched the tour.  You can tell that SYTYCD is losing fans.  I watched the Season 4 tour and the place was sold out.  There was a meet and greet before the show so fans came in early.  The parking lot was crowded and so was the place to buy merchandise.  Now, the place was not sold out and there wasn't a line for anything.

 

I think there was too much contemporary so that a lot of the contemporary pair dances looked the same to me.  I really loved watching Tanisha.  That girl is a beast on stage.  I really liked Tanisha/Rudy's Sonya jazz piece and Tanisha's legs were the star of that dance.  I wasn't impressed with Rudy's technique while watching the show on TV.  When you watch him live, his technique is still not great but he is a strong performer.  I can see why Sonya wanted to give that jazz piece to them.  Tanisha was also great in Get Low,.

 

In the show that I watched, Carly did Dirty Diana instead of Tanisha.  Marcquet and Ricky did Sail.  Zack looked like he was injured.  He didn't do a solo and I was disappointed with that.  Ricky is just amazing to watch especially in his solo.

 

The only ballroom was Emilio/Bridget's jive.  I think there should have been more ballroom and less contemporary.  I don't think anybody could have done the AT with Tanisha except for Ryan so I could see why that wasn't included.  However, Tanisha could have done a cha-cha-cha with either Ricky, Rudy, or Marcquet.

 

The hip-hop numbers got loud applauses so I can see why the producers want to do street vs. studio.  I'm not thrilled with the idea since that means there will probably be too many hip-hop dancers.  However, I would rather they do that than not have a show at all.

 

I'm glad that they included most of the group numbers because those were my favorite numbers during the season.  I agree that I would have rather seen Sweet Surrender instead of Shake It Up.  Also agree with the lights blinding us sometimes.

Edited December 29, 2014 by realdancemom

[Anothermi]

I also watched the tour.  You can tell that SYTYCD is losing fans.  I watched the Season 4 tour and the place was sold out.  There was a meet and greet before the show so fans came in early.  The parking lot was crowded and so was the place to buy merchandise.  Now, the place was not sold out and there wasn't a line for anything.

 

I think there was too much contemporary so that a lot of the contemporary pair dances looked the same to me.  I really loved watching Tanisha.  That girl is a beast on stage.  I really liked Tanisha/Rudy's Sonya jazz piece and Tanisha's legs were the star of that dance.  I wasn't impressed with Rudy's technique while watching the show on TV.  When you watch him live, his technique is still not great but he is a strong performer.  I can see why Sonya wanted to give that jazz piece to them.  Tanisha was also great in Get Low,.

 

In the show that I watched, Carly did Dirty Diana instead of Tanisha.  Marcquet and Ricky did Sail.  Zack looked like he was injured.  He didn't do a solo and I was disappointed with that.  Ricky is just amazing to watch especially in his solo.

 

The only ballroom was Emilio/Bridget's jive.  I think there should have been more ballroom and less contemporary.  I don't think anybody could have done the AT with Tanisha except for Ryan so I could see why that wasn't included.  However, Tanisha could have done a cha-cha-cha with either Ricky, Rudy, or Marcquet.

 

The hip-hop numbers got loud applauses so I can see why the producers want to do street vs. studio.  I'm not thrilled with the idea since that means there will probably be too many hip-hop dancers.  However, I would rather they do that than not have a show at all.

 

I'm glad that they included most of the group numbers because those were my favorite numbers during the season.  I agree that I would have rather seen Sweet Surrender instead of Shake It Up.  Also agree with the lights blinding us sometimes.

Thanks, realdancemom, for the confirmation about Teddy.  I looked him up right after I posted that and was happy to know the my initial memory was correct  - although I'd forgotten that he auditioned as Hip Hop. 

 

Further, and effusive, thanks for your thoughts on the tour.  I feel bad for these dancers - who are clearly great dancers - that they are on the down swing of this ride. :-(

 

I'm glad to hear that the dancers that I thought should have been in the top 4 (Tanisha/Carly) got a lot more dance-time/recognition  on the tour. Very sorry to hear that Zack appeared to be injured. I grew to love him!

 

I agree with you that the proposed new format is better than no show at all, but I think there has been a war for viewers between DWTS and SYTYCD and the cheesy show has won (not for me). Sorry that Mary has bowed out (screams aside), but ballroom really was becoming a joke on SYTYCD for the past few seasons. I'll watch the new season - from behind a pillow - and hope for the best. 

[WarriorGirl]

Fourth? Fourth?!?!

 

I was in shock and found it hard to concentrate for the rest of the show. I expected Zack to come in second (though I was hoping beyond hope that he'd win). For a split second it actually made me scared that Valerie might win out over Ricky. That aside, I guess the right person won, and Ricky was one of my favorites going into the show so I'm not too sad about his win.

 

That aside, I really enjoyed the guest routines tonight, like the Bollywood group and that winner from Australia. His dance style seemed like Rudy's but with a higher degree of technique and polish. I also loved the routine combining the top 10 and All-Stars. It was hard to make out faces, but the fact that Christopher Scott had to do with it already made me biased.

 

Emilio returned! The snake dance wasn't my favorite of his this season, but I was just so happy to see him. At least Tara Lipinski contributed something.

 

I also love that we saw Dominic and Marko. Damn, that makes me wish Marko had been an All-Star for one of this season's routines.

 

This season wasn't the greatest, but I hope it won't be the last. This is my favorite summer show and I really enjoy watching the dancers grow, work hard and learn. Plus I always get excited when All-Star time rolls around, and I have a chance to see some of my favorites.

Marko is one of the most versatile and emotional dancers I've ever seen! He is such an artist.

[WarriorGirl]

To me, ballroom is pretty difficult to fake your way through too. Real ballroom that is, not the contemporary/jazz styled ballroom on this show. I'm surprised that there were zero ballroom routines in the finale. I guess SYTYCD has stopped trying to pretend that it's not biased towards jazz or contemporary dancers, especially this season. I don't think I've seen this many jazz or contemporary routines in the history of this show.

 

I'd gladly trade that Ricky/Zack hip hop number with other ballroom pieces (e.g. Bridget and Emilio's Jive). We had JUST seen that last week. Do we really have to see that hip hop so soon again? It's fun the first time because of their energy and the surprise factor but fell a little flat this time round. And Ricky missed a step in the beginning part, which threw off their synchronization for a few seconds. Bleh!

 

And do they really have to telegraph who are the final 2 in the opening broadway number? Ricky and Valerie were the only two being featured. Jessica and Zack were nowhere to be seen until the last pose.

 

The only thing I liked about the finale is that Sonya and Chris Scott group dance. So nice to see Emilio again. IMHO, Emilio and Zack should have been the Top 2 guys. Next season, people shouldn't bother to audition if they are not heavily contemporary trained.

Season 8 also showed us too many contemporary numbers. Plus, most of the winners up till now have been contemporary-trained. Why even bother to showcase other styles of dance on this show.

[WarriorGirl]

Was the JTF bit the lamest and most ineffective way ever to announce that there will be a season 12? Or is that interpretation just wishful thinking on my part?

 

I must say that both JTF and Paula made Cat look like the consummate professional that she is.

 

Valerie coming in second was, indeed, egregious, but I suspect that Ricky was pretty much a wire-to-wire victor like Melanie (and Ricky proved himself proficient in a much wider variety of dance than Melanie). It is probable that the vote gap between 1st and 2nd was huge, and the distance between 2nd and 4th much smaller. Either that or Ameriker is full of idiots (which I never bet against). 

Well said. Ricky was good, though I'd have liked Zack to win. And yes, Melanie was so blatantly favoured it was hard to watch. Marko Germar was the deserving winner in that season. 

[WarriorGirl]

Will, Dominic, Fik-Shun, Katherine, Robert, Marko, Courtney, Jasmine H.. If there were two more, I'm not sure who they are.

 

I am wondering why they brought in "all stars" who did not do partner duets. Did I miss Dominic, Marko, and Courtney as all stars? Why not bring back Ryan, Aaron, and some of the others we rarely see? (Please, no Allison or Twitch, though.)

Too much Allison and Twitch goes on in this show. Arrghh. Twitch was even one of thee judges during the LA callbacks this season, if I remember correctly. What qualification he has for that, I can't begin to understand.