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Dancing: The Twinkliest Toes on Glee

jaytee1812

By jaytee1812
in Glee [V]

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fakeempress

fakeempress

(edited)

I like both Matt and Harry best, and Kevin when he got to do the fantasy dance. Jacob is also very good, but I thought his moves (don't know if due to the choreographer) seemed repetitive. For some reason, Heather's style doesn't engage me although I can see she's a really fine dancer.

 

I don't pay as much attention to the dance routines but I remember I had fun with the Make 'Em Laugh routine Matt and Harry did. Apart from their physical performance (it wasn't that much pure dancing), it showcased their comedic skills. Harry is quite good with physical comedy, another example of that is the Duets number he did with Jenna. 

Edited by fakeempress
Hana Chan

Hana Chan

(edited)

Matt and Harry are my two favorites. They have very different styles, but on the rare occasions where they can really cut loose it's amazing to watch. When they did "Make Them Laugh" it was pretty fantastic. Kevin also should have been given more fantasy dance sequences. As far as Heather goes, she's very good but I find her moves a bit robotic. I'd really like to see her dance in something other than Glee to get a better sense of what she can really do as a dancer. I know that she auditioned for So You Think You Can Dance but I haven't been able to find any good footage of her audition performance. She's talented, but I do get more a feel of her being a technician when it comes to dance. Jacob is a better dancer than he was an actor, but I'll agree that the choreography he was given didn't do him any favors.

 

Of the non-dancers - Chris has some good natural movement and he does well with choreography. We know that Amber can pick up choreography and has some great natural movement. It's a shame that they never really let her dance on the show and stuck her character with the "lazy" label. Darren is okay (I'll be nice here). Most of the group were at least adequate and could follow choreography.

 

Stand outs for bad were Cory (of course). But I'll include Lea down in the bottom. She could follow very basic choreography, but she's got no flexibility or fluidity in her movement. I kept cringing through the NYADA dance scenes when her "dancing" was basically walking to a mark and posing while the other dancers moved about her. Or having the guy playing Brody forklifting her around. It was pretty painful to watch.

Edited by Hana Chan
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camussie

camussie

(edited)
I think Chord is worse than Cory. Sometimes he's not even doing the same choreography.

 

 

I think Chord is worse than Cory too.  The one upside to them trying to slot Sam in as Finn 2.0 last season is that when they obviously used some lines written for Finn in the episode where Sam met Penny they finally acknowledged what a horrible dancer Sam is.  

 

I also would put either Lea or Melissa as the worst female dancers with Dianna close behind.  Still they never outright told me that Marley or Quinn were good dancers so that is why them being bad didn't bug me.  Rachel being bad did because they tried to tell me she was a good dancer.  That was one of several reason the Cassandra story was so disastrous - Cassandra actually had a point about Rachel's bad dancing but I felt like we were supposed to ignore that because she was borderline nuts. That is also why Rachel winning showcase bugged me - it just reinforced that she didn't need to work on her dancing i.e. her singing talent was enough,  Of course the worst was Cassandra coming around and cheering Rachel on and implying the only reason she was critical of Rachel was because she was jealous also negating her very valid criticisms of Rachel's dancing.

 

As for as good dancers beyond those who are obviously trained (Harry, Heather, Matt, Kevin, Jacob, and to a lesser degree Becca and Jenna) those who can pick up choreography pretty well and are fairly fluid in their movements are Amber, Chris, Darren, and borderline Naya,  I would have put Mark Salling in that group until I saw him dancing in "Take on Me" and I thought WTH is going on there?

Edited by camussie
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jaytee1812

jaytee1812

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I think Chord is worse than Cory too.  The one upside to them trying to slot Sam in as Finn 2.0 last season is that when they obviously used some lines written for Finn in the episode where Sam met Penny they finally acknowledged what a horrible dancer Sam is.  

Cory's dancing was never great but Chord is so bad it's funny at times.

I love Jumpin Jumpin for the dancing at either end of the scale. Jenna looks, sounds and dances well. But I howl with laughter at Chord and Darren. I know Darren is usually pretty good but not in an r'n'b song. Chord is hilarious, especially as I think we're meant to think they're actually good.

I always thought Sam 'stripper" moves were portrayed as being a sexy mover - I thought they were hilarious, and about as sexy as the thought of how Sue's baby was conceived.

caracas1914

caracas1914

those who can pick up choreography pretty well and are fairly fluid in their movements are Amber, Chris, Darren, and borderline Naya,  I would have put Mark Salling in that group until I saw him dancing in "Take on Me" and I thought WTH is going on there?

 

 

God, I'm gong to give Mark the benefit of the doubt because prior to this "Take on Me" number, Mark had  good natural rhythm even in what seemed improvised choreography for Puck.

 

Amber it's obvious in "Dancing with the Stars" can dance when given  time to practice choreography, and I would argue the same with Naya.  The problem is Naya, Darren or Chris "improvising" anything, they simply  don't have that gift.   Darren in the Mariah Carey song just moving around made my jaw drop, as he has on several numbers.  With Chris we know about the shimmy shoulder.   Yet put him in something like the dancing in XMAS special where he had some prep and he did well.   Naya and her egg squating, just no.  Though I thought in some of her choreographed unholy Trinity /Cheerio numbers her dancing was fine. 

 

I do think what is too  often overlooked is how rushed they are on Glee, and how in the latter years they would get choreography , have rehearsals early in the day, and then film LATER in the day.  Kate Hudson was flabbergasted when she got on and realized how little prep time you had for the dancing on Glee.

jaytee1812

jaytee1812

  • Author

I looked up some you tube videos of the dancers on Glee, outside Glee: 

 

Matthew Morrison at the 2013 Oliver Awards: 

 

 

Jacob Artist dancing contemporary. I reckon he must only be 16 or 17 here, and the quality isn't great: 

 

 

Harry Shum on The LXD

 

 

Heather backing Beyonce. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8e5pvBqgjE

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caracas1914

caracas1914

I never understood, other than Harry's dance number in "Nights of Neglect" , whey they didn't have the good dancers choreograph and rehearse for a decent interval a kick ass dance number with NO singing or dialogue every so often.   It's not like they used Harry and Heather for that many SL's early on.   It seemed like such a no brainer. 

camussie

camussie

(edited)
The thing I like about Mark is there's zero pretense. Sure, he's bad. Nobody is trying to tell me he's good, and sometimes he manages funny.

 

 

Until "Take on Me" I never thought he was bad.  Certainly not a trained dancer but could follow choreography and seemed to move naturally.    Maybe his dancing is like his acting - when he tanks in a scene he really tanks in a scene.  Other than that, while he isn't a stand-out, he also is fine,

Edited by camussie
Craphole Island

Craphole Island

Chord is so bad it's funny to me. I get a kick out of all the gifs out there of him blatantly doing different choreography than everyone else. I also think the only reason they never acknowledged Sam was as bad a dancer as Finn is because that was always Finn's thing. But thankfully they never tried to tell us Sam was a good dancer LOL.

 

To be honest though, I don't care about the dancing on Glee. I appreciate the people who are great dancers and like to get to see them show it off when the show (sparingly) lets them, but eh I guess I just don't know enough about dancing to judge who all is good and who's terrible (unless it's obvious).

 

I will say I remember being thrown off when they tried to convince us Tina couldn't dance this past season when she always seemed like one of their go-to dancers as far as girls are concerned, and I always thought she was good.

ComfySweater

ComfySweater

(edited)

I will say I remember being thrown off when they tried to convince us Tina couldn't dance this past season when she always seemed like one of their go-to dancers as far as girls are concerned, and I always thought she was good.

Weren't all the original girls pro dancers, dance instructors, Broadway babies or at least somewhere close to that sort of thing? You have to go deep to hit a girl who couldn't hold up to anything they tossed out there in the original cast. Sure, Heather could have them all for breakfast and still have enough left over to look great dancing beside Beyonce, but all the girls had training and knew what to do with choreography.  It's the boys where there was Harry and then you have to remember Matt Rutherford existed to come up with a next best that isn't splitting hairs or their teacher.

 

ETA: Sorry, also Kevin, but he had obvious character limitations there.

Edited by ComfySweater
camussie

camussie

Lea was a Broadway baby but I don't think that was reflected in her dancing especially since more than once the show tried to tell me Rachel was a good dancer.  Dianna took classes since she was a child but I also don't think that was reflected in her dancing on the show.  I don't think Amber had any dance training but she moved much more naturally than either Lea or Dianna.

ComfySweater

ComfySweater

You're right, Lea was the exception for the girls. She was somehow a mess they kept saying wasn't as though screaming it enough made it true. I thought Amber had at least some training. She certainly never stood out as particularly bad no matter how they tried to sell her as a lazy park and bark type. She always seemed to hold her own and look like she was having fun.

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jaytee1812

jaytee1812

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I will say I remember being thrown off when they tried to convince us Tina couldn't dance this past season when she always seemed like one of their go-to dancers as far as girls are concerned, and I always thought she was good.

Jake and Kitty both get lines about it in The End of Twerk, and I commend Jacob and Becca's acting because they both must've been thinking 'wtf, she's one of the best in this room' and it never showed on their faces.

Glorfindel

Glorfindel

ETA: Sorry, also Kevin, but he had obvious character limitations there.

I remember a bts video of the Pilot that showed the originals at dance rehearsal in which Zach Woodley said laughing but clearly also a bit frustrated how Kevin was the best dancer of the group but the writers had put his character in a wheelchair.

 

Still, doing those dance moves in a wheelchair must have been hard for Kevin. I was very impressed with him in the live tour when he wheeled up and down those ramps all the time without missing a beat in his singing and 'dancing'.

jaytee1812

jaytee1812

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The girls overall were always better than the boys. Even Lea as the weakest link could follow at least basic choreography when given enough time and move to the beat. The boys had Cory and Chord so there really wasn't any contest there.

 

I think that's true of male/female actors overall, most girls who show a hint of performing go to dance class from an early age. That's not even true of the male dancers on glee Harry was in high school (apparently to impress a girl he joined a dance group) Jacob is the only one who trained early on. 

camussie

camussie

(edited)
Even Lea as the weakest link could follow at least basic choreography when given enough time and move to the beat.

 

 

I think she could follow basic choreography at times but I saw her off beat many a time.  Honestly I think she is a dreadful dancer.  Not as bad as Cory or especially Chord but still really bad.  Bad enough that it was obvious to me that  they often choreographed around her to try and make it look like she could dance when she couldn't - a "luxury" that neither Cory nor Chord got.  They did the same, to a lesser degree, for Melissa in season 4.  I think they did this because both Rachel and Marley were touted as the greatest talents in Glee club so they did what they could to downplay their weaknesses.  

 

In Everybody Talks? That's Jake/Kitty.

 

 

I assume they are talking about "Hand Jive."

 

Still, doing those dance moves in a wheelchair must have been hard for Kevin. I was very impressed with him in the live tour when he wheeled up and down those ramps all the time without missing a beat in his singing and 'dancing'.

 

 

Kevin just impressed me overall with how he handled the physicality of his role.  He very very rarely broke out of paraplegic mode as Artie meaning that even though he had use of his legs Artie always appeared not to.  I remember in "Jump" where Artie is lying on one of the mattresses and bounces when the others are jumping up and down on it and his legs were completely "relaxed" like he had no use of them. 

Edited by camussie
jaytee1812

jaytee1812

  • Author

Sorry, got confused. I was thinking about the double cartwheel in hand jive.

 

Haven't watched that in ages, the fight stuff bugs me, just watch it back, yeah that's impressive. 

 

Blake Jenner reminds men of a lot of male contestants on Strictly Come Dancing/Dancing With The Stars. He isn't the best dancer but he's great at flinging women around!

camussie

camussie

(edited)

Regarding dancing one of the sequences I thought that really worked in season 5 was the history of dancing.  It was in an awful episode (End of Twerk) but the sequence itself was so well done that I remember thinking I can't believe they didn't do this before.  IIRC Jacob and Becca did most of the dancing in it.

Edited by camussie
Pink ranger

Pink ranger

(edited)

Aww even though blurred lines is a terrible song that Will had no business performing with minors, when you actually watch it his moves are actually pretty innocent and not in keeping with the ranchyness of the song it self. It came off more that the liked the catchy ness of the tune than understanding/ accepting the derogatory lyrics.

Edited by Pink ranger
jaytee1812

jaytee1812

  • Author

Aww even those blurred lines is a terrible song that Will had no business performing with minors, when you actually watch it his moves are actually pretty innocent and not in keeping with the ranchyness of the song it self. It came off more that the liked the catchy ness of the tune than understanding/ accepting the derogatory lyrics.

I know I bang on about race but having a man of colour sing some of those lyrics to a white girl is problematic at best.

It's also annoying it's one of the few opportunities to see Matt and Jacob dance together.

Craphole Island

Craphole Island

I think she could follow basic choreography at times but I saw her off beat many a time.  Honestly I think she is a dreadful dancer.  Not as bad as Cory or especially Chord but still really bad.  Bad enough that it was obvious to me that  they often choreographed around her to try and make it look like she could dance when she couldn't - a "luxury" that neither Cory nor Chord got.  They did the same, to a lesser degree, for Melissa in season 4.  I think they did this because both Rachel and Marley were touted as the greatest talents in Glee club so they did what they could to downplay their weaknesses.  

 

 

I assume they are talking about "Hand Jive."

 

 

Kevin just impressed me overall with how he handled the physicality of his role.  He very very rarely broke out of paraplegic mode as Artie meaning that even though he had use of his legs Artie always appeared not to.  I remember in "Jump" where Artie is lying on one of the mattresses and bounces when the others are jumping up and down on it and his legs were completely "relaxed" like he had no use of them. 

Kevin is great at keeping up with the physicality of his role, agreed, but I remember during "Don't Stop Me Now" you can see his leg completely kick out of his chair and I always got a kick out of it. (No pun intended. Whoa, literally didn't even realize haha.)

jaytee1812

jaytee1812

  • Author

Kevin is great at keeping up with the physicality of his role, agreed, but I remember during "Don't Stop Me Now" you can see his leg completely kick out of his chair and I always got a kick out of it. (No pun intended. Whoa, literally didn't even realize haha.)

 

Kevin in that role annoys me I wonder what an actual wheelchair dancer could have done in his place. 

jaytee1812

jaytee1812

  • Author

Regarding dancing one of the sequences I thought that really worked in season 5 was the history of dancing.  It was in an awful episode (End of Twerk) but the sequence itself was so well done that I remember thinking I can't believe they didn't do this before.  IIRC Jacob and Becca did most of the dancing in it.

I just watched it back, it's a great idea but not well done. The annoying thing is Jacob and Becca barely move. I'd love to see those two do the Charleston, especially as I love the way Jacob swivels his feet. Or Jacob and Jenna doing the waltz.

Jacob doesn't actually do any lambada, frankly I'd have this on constant repeat if he did, Becca looks like she's holding back so Darren looks better and Jenna looks like she's leading Chord in the waltz, though the turn she does is gorgeous.

dizzyizzy01

dizzyizzy01

Lea was fine with following a beat. She's by no means a great dancer but she can move to the beat. If you couldn't move to the beat, you wouldn't be able to follow choreography and the best choreographer couldn't make you look good (see Cory and Chord). She can't improvise whatsoever either. She needs choreography and time.

camussie

camussie

(edited)

I don't think she was in that she isn't consistent in following a beat  and I also don't think she follows choreography consistently.  There has been more than once I noticed her off group numbers where she wasn't featured and in group numbers where she was I felt it was often obvious that they did tricks in the choreography to downplay her weaknesses (see season 4 where it was the most glaring but there were times before that.  Paradise in a dashboard light comes to mind).  It really wouldn't have stood out so much if they acknowledged it (as they did with Cory) instead of trying to tell us that Rachel was a good dancer.

 

Now of course she wasn't as bad as Cory and especially Chord but there is a lot of room between that and being serviceable as a dancer and to me she isn't even serviceable as one.  

Edited by camussie
dizzyizzy01

dizzyizzy01

Eh. Agree to disagree. I think they just started caring less in the later seasons and had less time to practice. Paradise was mostly her running around with Cory. I'd have to rewatch, but I dont think there was a lot of actual dance choreography for Lea in that particular number.

She looked pretty good in the Funk number to me and all of season one. She does need the benefit of practice though. I think she's at least serviceable. I mean her choreography in Spring Awakening wasn't very challenging but you still need to move to the beat at least part of the time. She's certainly not a good dancer though.

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