S13.E04: The Next Generation: Academy #1

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

The young dancers vie for a spot among the elite in the first round of the academy.

[PhD-Purgatory15]

In the spirit of GoT, tears were coming. And boy did they come in a big way at the end. In an abbreviated way, it was interesting to see how closely it mirrored some of the triumphs and tribulations that untrained dancers always have had every previous "adult" season during this stage stepping out of their own styles.

I'd also like to thank the idiots who decided to spoil some of the all stars' final two kids...basically giving away a large number of the kids who must get eliminated during NappyTabs hip hop and Travis Wall's contemporary rounds next week. That was genius....or not.

Maddie is all kinds of useless so far.

I'm glad the age inappropriate flirting banter was kept to a tolerable level. YMMV of course, and I reserve the right to change my opinion of that moving forward.

I'm on team Ruby. I hope she wins the whole thing.

It's also welcome to the most recent generation of baby names....I spotted a Bostyn, a Brightyn, a Lennox, and a Sheadyn to name just a few. Yeesh...

Edited June 21, 2016 by PhD-Purgatory15

[Quickbeam]

That was a whole lot of nothing. Very dissatisfying. We saw so few of the dancers. 

[pally]

That was painfully bad.  There was not a normal acting kid in the bunch.  Not only was there no dancing to speak of but there was no story telling so the whole show became a whole lot of nothing.

[Keekski]

Joshua crying at the end killed me. 

I didn't recognize Sasha at first and have no recollection of Jonathan. Zero. 

[luvthepros]

I had to go back and re-watch the contemporary All Stars pick their teams. What??? No Olivia??? I'm still baffled. I don't understand why Olivia was not selected for a contemporary team. After watching the audition episodes, I was so sure Olivia would be Tate's primary contemporary competition. Someone please explain to me what happened!

Edited June 21, 2016 by luvthepros

[sofiah]

I figured Tate's biggest contemporary competition would be Avery or Sophia.  

But Tate and Avery are on the same team, so only one will make it through (is that how it works?), which doesn't seem right.  

[TrudyC]

I really, really like Robert. That is all. 

[luvthepros]

JT, the male Jazz dancer is adorable (love his orange and white polka dot suspenders and bow tie). He could be Jess Leprotto's kid brother as he reminds me of Jess. I knew Robert wouldn't cut JT when he forgot the choreography. Robert was so excited to have him on his team, I'm so glad Robert would put him through to the next round.

Edited June 21, 2016 by luvthepros

[PhD-Purgatory15]

Seeing how the other kid, Enoch received zero screen time (including the round he got cut in) I was guessing that would happen too. My assumption is that he was more competent than JT at picking up Wade's choreo...because if he wasn't they should've shown that to establish Robert was choosing between two boys who really missed the mark.

For some reason I was thinking Olivia did make a contemporary all stars' team, and of the one's they really focused on during the audition episodes, only the really tall Ava and the ballroom girl who begged for a 2nd chance audition missed out on the cut from 100 to 50...

Had the two male hip hop and two male ballroom pro's not been mighty mites, I think Ava would have stood a better chance getting a wild card selection from outside contemporary. Especially if one of the ballroom guys had been someone like Serge Onik.

Edited June 21, 2016 by PhD-Purgatory15

[retrograde]

I don't know squat about dance, so I'm enjoying this season because pretty much anything impresses me. Except the tap dancers -- I can see them all thinking too much.

The sexualized banter was still a little too much for me this episode with the really young kids -- do they have to constantly ask them about girlfriends and being heartbreakers, etc? Whose mind even goes there when talking to an eight year old?

[ElectricBoogaloo]

We're on the thirteenth season of this show and we still have shitty camera work. I appreciate having appropriate facial expressions as much as the next dancer, but I do not need the camera to zoom in on a dancer from the waist up while someone is dancing. I also do not need the camera to show the line of All Stars sitting in their chairs watching someone dance. To paraphrase Nigel's stupid old line, this is So You Think You Can Dance, not So You Think You Can Sit on a Chair. I watch this show to see dancing, not non-dancing, damn it.

I wonder if there were any producer shenanigans regarding who the All Stars chose. It's obvious they were told to pick all girls or all boys for their teams. Gaby was the only one with a coed team (and since she's the only All Star who's a tapper, it makes sense that she just picked the best tappers without regard for gender). But more than the gender matched teams, I have such a hard time believing that Nigel would let the All Stars choose the finalist pool without any input from him.

Stella and Geramy (ugh), the ballroom couple who sucked and then were "brave" enough to ask Nigel for a second chance during open auditions still weren't good enough so I was glad neither of them made it into the top 50.

I'm going to list which All Stars chose which kids because at this point, I can't keep all the kids straight. FYI - it hurt me to type some of these names (I try not to hold it against the kids since it's the parents who gave them these names). I thought I kept really good track of what was going on, but it looks like we didn't see who Kathryn, Jonathan, and Comfort cut after Broadway.

Robert (contemporary): Sage, JT, Gavin, Enoch (eliminated), Joziah
Kathryn (contemporary): Tate, Brooklin, Brightyn, Quinn, Avery
Sasha (contemporary): Diana (eliminated), Jade, Ashley, Bostyn, Jordan
Jenna (ballroom): Jake, Lev, Joshua, Parker (eliminated), Dougie
Paul (ballroom): Ruby, Shelly, Lera (eliminated), Sophia, Lennox
Jonathan (ballroom): Daniela, Pallany, Victoria, Rylee, Camila
Gaby (tap): Emma, Jazzy, Ryan, Ava (eliminated), Lucas
Fik-Shun (hip hop): Kida, Jaryan (eliminated), JJ, Lior, Alex
Joshua (hip hop): Merrick, Romeo, Tre, Sheaden, Kai (eliminated)
Comfort (hip hop): Tahani, Aniyah, Fiona, Logan, Phoenix

I guess Warren's "Broadway" routine with jazz, tap, and ballroom was how they got around cutting down the number of dances they taught the kids.

Oh, Fik-Shun, I love you but what you said is not true at all. Even if you smile and have confidence, your faults are still visible. Smiling definitely helps but it doesn't hide bad technique or mistakes. But poor Jaryan. He just gave up. I know how it feels when you totally bomb and you're so embarrassed that anyone saw what you just did. But seeing that poor kid sob his little heart out in front of everyone was rough. It was sweet to see all the other kids rally around him afterward.

I always hate when they do cuts after each style of dance. I'd rather they let everyone learn all the dances and then do eliminations. I know that's not as dramatic for the show though. If they're going to cut after every dance, at least do the hip hop routine first so some of the hip hop kids can get through one routine.

Maddie was not very good at talking to the other dancers. She was so stiff and it was obvious that there were some kids she had no interest in talking to.

Edited June 21, 2016 by ElectricBoogaloo

[luvthepros]

EB...thankful you for your comments on this forum which seems to have non existent activity. I enjoy reading your posts so please continue to voice your input.

ETA:  I can't figure out how to get rid of "8 Hours AGO, PHD-PURGATORY 15 SAID:" I don't want that in my posts. Using the DELETE key on my keyboard doesn't remove it. Anyone know how to fix this? Thanks.

Edited June 21, 2016 by luvthepros

[pally]

4 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Oh, Fik-Shun, I love you but what you said is not true at all. Even if you smile and have confidence, your faults are still visible. Smiling definitely helps but it doesn't hide bad technique or mistakes. But poor Jaryan. He just gave up. I know how it feels when you totally bomb and you're so embarrassed that anyone saw what you just did. But seeing that poor kid sob his little heart out in front of everyone was rough. It was sweet to see all the other kids rally around him afterward.

The cynic in me says that all the kids rallying around him was major producer instigated.  

[ElectricBoogaloo]

19 minutes ago, luvthepros said:

EB...thankful you for your comments on this forum which seems to have non existent activity. I enjoy reading your posts so please continue to voice your input.

ETA:  I can't figure out how to get rid of "8 Hours AGO, PHD-PURGATORY 15 SAID:" I don't want that in my posts. Using the DELETE key on my keyboard doesn't remove it. Anyone know how to fix this? Thanks.

It's sad to see that this formerly active forum is now a ghost town because the new format sucks. Even though I really don't want to watch these little kids dancing (or crying), snippets of dance are better than no dance at all. Or at least that's what I keep telling myself! I'll keep watching this season until it gets super annoying. Hopefully the combination of Cat and seeing dance routines will keep me from reaching that point! Heh, I think this week was a little easier because it was just the All Stars and no Nigel.

To get rid of that empty quote box, click the edit button for your post. Hover over the quote box and a tiny little box should appear in the top left corner. Click on that box and then hit delete. I really wish we still had the option to edit our posts in plain text like we used to. That made it so much easier to delete or fix the code when it got screwy. I spent ten minutes trying to edit my previous post because the strikethrough feature got messed up so half of my post had a line through it. In the olden days, I would have just switched to the plain view, fixed the [ s ] code, and been done with it but for some reason no matter how many times I clicked on the editing menu, the strikethrough wouldn't disappear. It's super annoying.

[Primetimer]

The all-stars show up for the Academy phase of SYTYCD Babies. Basically, it's The Voice now.

View the full article

[yogi2014L]

I enjoyed this episode more than the other ones, but I wish we could see more of the solos. I thought it was awesome how the judges got so excited with some kids lol

And yeah I was almost in tears with Jarayan crying, he looked so defeated! Then Fik-Shun was all kike I BELIEVE IN YOU but not enough to keep you k bye. And then Jarayan goes " this is my only dance opportunity" kid please you are 12! You can try and try and try for like 20 more years. Wish someone woulda said that. 

I think Robert shoulda cut the small fry. But I did LOL at his tough love (?) "You let me down and you let yourself down". OUCH! But i might use that on my husband next time he forgets to load the dishwasher.

 

Maddie was rather useless, I would rather see her judging and provide commentary on their technique and what not. 

[Shannon L.]

Our power went out yesterday at 5pm and didn't come on until 1:30am.  Does anyone know if I can watch full episodes somewhere?

Quote

I don't know squat about dance, so I'm enjoying this season because pretty much anything impresses me.

Yep, it's pretty much the same for me with most of these talent shows. 

[Mertseger]

7 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

It's sad to see that this formerly active forum is now a ghost town because the new format sucks.

IDK, there were maybe 20 of us posting about S1 over at TWOP, and so it's certainly quieter around here compared to the show's prime seasons, but not that much different than the start. I'm guessing the show had to evolve or die, and it seems to be doing both. It's just part of the show business life cycle.

The real concern is whether there's enough talent in this pool to grab the usual choreo Emmy and pave the way for production Emmys. I suspect that the show's history as an Emmy factory is the only reason it was given this chance. The only two next gen cast members I can see reaching that level of quality at this point are Tate and Phoenix.

On the other hand, what the heck are we left with for American dance on TV without this show? DTWS will remain a perennial, and their move into including Contemporary helps a bit, but that show always skews old, old, old.  Is there any dance content on Dance Moms worth seeing? We need a show featuring young dancers stepping into their professional lives.

Edited June 21, 2016 by Mertseger

[WhineandCheez]

Quote

 it hurt me to type some of these names 

These names hurt me to type, to pronounce, oh and they also hurt my soul.  Can Donald Trump deport you if you sub a "y" for an "i" or an "ee" for a "y" in your kid's name???

[realdancemom]

15 hours ago, sofiah said:

I figured Tate's biggest contemporary competition would be Avery or Sophia.  

But Tate and Avery are on the same team, so only one will make it through (is that how it works?), which doesn't seem right.  

I agree.  There is no comparison when it comes to Tate and Olivia.  Olivia's solo choreography last week wasn't great. She didn't have great transitions between moves.  It was just pose after pose.

I think Tate is going to be chosen over Avery too.  If Avery did pointe, she's not very good at it and should have done a contemporary piece on flat instead.  I don't think Sophia is going to be chosen either.  Before the show, I thought she was a no brainer.  However, they hardly show her and only showed part of her audition solo.  I was also a little disappointed with her Broadway number.  She is on Paul's team and I think Paul will pick a ballroom dancer.  I don't know if it will be his own preference or because TPTB would want it this way.  Ruby is also on his team and did well during the Broadway piece.  Ruby is also shown a lot.  This is just my perception of what I've seen so far.  Things could change because some kids might bomb during the hip-hop or contemporary rounds.

[Lemons]

Are all the contemporary dancers part of the you tube thing and have they all been on Dance Moms?  The one who really stood out was Tate.  It really shows that she trains at a top ballet school.  Plus her enormous talent of course.

[luvthepros]

7 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

........To get rid of that empty quote box, click the edit button for your post. Hover over the quote box and a tiny little box should appear in the top left corner. Click on that box and then hit delete. ......

Thank you for the instruction. How did you find out how to do that? Hunting and pecking? You are a genius and very helpful!

[dcalley]

12 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I wonder if there were any producer shenanigans regarding who the All Stars chose. ... I have such a hard time believing that Nigel would let the All Stars choose the finalist pool without any input from him.

...

Comfort (hip hop): Tahani, Aniyah, Fiona, Logan, Phoenix

...

Maddie was not very good at talking to the other dancers. She was so stiff and it was obvious that there were some kids she had no interest in talking to.

 

I definitely sensed someone else pulling the strings at times.

Damn, I could have sworn it said Tahini. Maybe I was hungry.

Yes, Maddie's disdain for some was quite obvious.

8 hours ago, pally said:

The cynic in me says that all the kids rallying around him was major producer instigated.  

I'm right there with you. But kids do frequently need to be forced to share, apologize, etc., and it's good for them to get praised for such behaviors.

36 minutes ago, luvthepros said:

Thank you for the instruction. How did you find out how to do that? Hunting and pecking? You are a genius and very helpful!

David has helped people out in the questions forum. I think that's where I learned about the box.

[TrudyC]

I swore off this season because of the change in format, but my 12 year old daughter talked me into watching last night. Other than the parts where I had to watch kids cry, I enjoyed it, and I'll be back next week. 

Random thoughts:

- My favorite Maddie moment was when she asked a hip-hop dancer "why did you choose Fik-shun?", but in a tone that sounded like she couldn't believe that she would choose him over the other guy. I'm sure it was not her intention, but it made me giggle. Hopefully she finds her footing on this show when she judges.

- I thought it was interesting to watch the all-stars deal with breaking bad news to the kids. They, understandably, seemed to have a hard time with it. Robert seemed especially compassionate, although I could have done without him telling that little boy that he let him down when he forgot the choreography.

- I feel wrong watching children, like the kid at the end, break down on tv. I'm sure that experience stings enough without it being on national television. 

- There is some excellent tap this season, especially considering how young the dancers are. I think Gaby's team will be my favorite.

- Cat is great with the kids, especially considering that this is not what she originally signed on for.

[sofiah]

6 hours ago, Lemons said:

Are all the contemporary dancers part of the you tube thing and have they all been on Dance Moms?  The one who really stood out was Tate.  It really shows that she trains at a top ballet school.  Plus her enormous talent of course.

By Youtube thing do you mean having solos up on youtube?  A lot of the contemporary kids are big competition winners so you can easily find their dancing on youtube... some that come to my mind who are on teams are Sophia, Gavin, Bostyn, Avery, Brooklin, and Tate.  

Tate has never gone anywhere near Dance Moms.  But she did compete with Maddie at last year's Dance Awards (not filmed), so they definitely know each other.  

Also, I'm pretty sure every single one of the kids on the hip hop team is in Wildabeast's "Immabeast" hip hop company (they're all "lil beasts" lol) so you can see them in tons of videos too.  

Edited June 22, 2016 by sofiah

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Comfort (hip hop): Tahani, Aniyah, Fiona, Logan, Phoenix

Damn, I could have sworn it said Tahini. Maybe I was hungry.

It's possible that her name really is Tahini (which is what I thought the first time I saw her name too!) but I froze the screen and dutifully (painstakingly) typed all these kids' names exactly as SYTYCD had them on the screen (no matter how much my fingers wanted to rebel against some of these names/spellings!). It may have been a typo on the show's part because I swear in one of the earlier seasons they had one name spelled differently during the audition rounds. The hilarious thing is that I remember being annoyed with Merrick and his brother Sagan because of their names but after typing out the entire top 50, Merrick was barely a blip in my ugh-meter.

Quote

IDK, there were maybe 20 of us posting about S1 over at TWOP, and so it's certainly quieter around here compared to the show's prime seasons, but not that much different than the start. I'm guessing the show had to evolve or die, and it seems to be doing both. It's just part of the show business life cycle.

I'm going just based on the number of replies that these episode threads are getting. If you look at the ones for S12 (which I don't think was the most popular season ever, hence the changes this season to try to boost the ratings), with very few exceptions there were over 100 posts for each episode. The first week of dance academy has about 20 posts (heh, including our discussion about how to delete quote boxes). Maybe all the tweens are talking about it on IG or tumblr or twitter, but just looking at the forum here, S13 doesn't seem to be generating as much interest or discussion as past seasons. Maybe that will change once we get to the eliminations but only time will tell!

Edited June 22, 2016 by ElectricBoogaloo
Fixed quote boxes

[Lemons]

33 minutes ago, sofiah said:

By Youtube thing do you mean having solos up on youtube?  A lot of the contemporary kids are big competition winners so you can easily find their dancing on youtube... some that come to my mind who are on teams are Sophia, Gavin, Bostyn, Avery, Brooklin, and Tate.  

Tate has never gone anywhere near Dance Moms.  But she did compete with Maddie at last year's Dance Awards (not filmed), so they definitely know each other.  

Also, I'm pretty sure every single one of the kids on the hip hop team is in Wildabeast's "Immabeast" hip hop company (they're all "lil beasts" lol) so you can see them in tons of videos too.  

Yes, I meant the ones where their moms set up You Tube accounts for them and also Instagram accounts trying to get the most followers, etc.  It's like SYTYCD and Dance Moms have the same casting agents. 

I noticed Tate is from Canada.  She competes in America?  Wow, that's some seriously travelling along with that full time dance schedule.  It's so interesting to see the type of kids and their stage moms who enter these type of contests.  When watching Tate's dance class you can imagine that any of those kids would qualify for a show like this.  I wonder why some mom's push their kids into these type of contests and other mom's wouldn't dream of it. 

There was another girl, I think her name was Jordan, who lived with her grandparents and mom - she has some serious potential.  You can tell her training is not up to par with dancers like Tate, but wow, what strength for her age!

[PhD-Purgatory15]

Pretty sure (Reality TV Competition) time is officially a flat circle. Cause the same Parker that got eliminated last night from Jenna's ballroom team was shown tonight getting a ticket to Vegas on America's Got Talent.

[calipiano81]

What a 12-year old girl's dream-come-true for Ruby to have the 2 male ballroom cuties fighting over her. LOL

Edited June 22, 2016 by calipiano81

[Minney]

These kids have a lot of talent particularly for their age.  I wish they had shown more dancing last night.  If the next episodes are similar I may not make it to the live rounds.  It's brutal to watch kids get cut and I cannot imagine the stress they are feeling.  I would have liked to have seen the kids working with their All Stars more.

Maddie is a complete waste of airtime.  Her distain is because 99% of these kids can out dance and perform her, she just got lucky that she started on a reality show years ago and has a foot in the business.  While she can dance, her talent has not been as strong as the story lines that boosted her "career". 

[sofiah]

15 hours ago, Lemons said:

Yes, I meant the ones where their moms set up You Tube accounts for them and also Instagram accounts trying to get the most followers, etc.  It's like SYTYCD and Dance Moms have the same casting agents. 

I noticed Tate is from Canada.  She competes in America?  Wow, that's some seriously travelling along with that full time dance schedule.  It's so interesting to see the type of kids and their stage moms who enter these type of contests.  When watching Tate's dance class you can imagine that any of those kids would qualify for a show like this.  I wonder why some mom's push their kids into these type of contests and other mom's wouldn't dream of it.

Yeah, it is interesting.  You have to keep in mind that its not always just a competition -at least not the more reputable ones...  its a huge convention with 2-3 days of classes with some of the best teachers and choreographers.  Also, since she's won best dancer before I'm pretty sure she has scholarships to all of the conventions associated with The Dance Awards (which may even include travel costs, I don't know).  

Edited June 22, 2016 by sofiah

[Thadeeeyus]

I've tried watching this season twice, again this week.  I realize now that my dislike of all things Dance Mom means I cannot watch at all. I seriously cannot stand seeing Maddie on the screen. So long to a show I used to love. 

[Tikichick]

This episode only reinforced my bitterness at not seeing qualified dancers old enough to convey mature emotions competing on my screen.  Of course if you ask me it also barely covered up Maddie's relief at not having to prove her skills against a lot of the kids in this field, which I highly doubt she can do.

[luvthepros]

On 6/21/2016 at 4:56 PM, dcalley said:

......David has helped people out in the questions forum. I think that's where I learned about the box.

Ahhhh. I see. Thanks again.

[Lemons]

7 hours ago, Tikichick said:

 Of course if you ask me it also barely covered up Maddie's relief at not having to prove her skills against a lot of the kids in this field, which I highly doubt she can do.

There were a couple of girls with superior training than Maddie and it would show if they danced side by side.  But the other dancers were on par with Maddie in terms of training and talent.  I would guess that Maddie would come in the top three but not win.

 She does need to stop mumbling.  The kids probably don't mind, but as an adult it drives me crazy.

[AlleC17]

On 6/21/2016 at 1:21 PM, TrudyC said:

- My favorite Maddie moment was when she asked a hip-hop dancer "why did you choose Fik-shun?", but in a tone that sounded like she couldn't believe that she would choose him over the other guy. I'm sure it was not her intention, but it made me giggle. Hopefully she finds her footing on this show when she judges.

 

This is one of the reasons I am not watching this year:  I have NO desire to see a child judge others.  She has talent, yes.  But she isn't all that:  would prefer if she were a contestant.  Not a judge.  She hasn't the experience to qualify as a judge imo.

[nemesis]

On 6/21/2016 at 5:21 AM, pally said:

The cynic in me says that all the kids rallying around him was major producer instigated.  

It might have been... but I've been teaching that age group over 10 years and I've seen similar behavior fairly often.  Actually, they tend to crowd around like that when anyone gets hurt or cries.  They're somewhat difficult to shoo away so the situation (whatever it is) can be handled.  Granted, in a classroom the kids would know each other a lot better.  Still, if you're thinking that kids just aren't all that altruistic... they crowd for other reasons as well, like curiosity and wanting to be part of the group (the bigger the group gets the bigger the draw)

There definitely wasn't enough dancing in this episode.  Of course, with 100 kids to show, I'm not surprised all we got was quick flashes of things.  I thought that "You let me down and you let yourself down" was way too harsh.

[Wings]

I skipped the auditions and just started with this episode.  

I need some things cleared up that I don't want to google because I don't like it that this season is kids!  

Are many of these dancers from Dance Mom?  I have never seen the show but I have witnessed the loud mouthed teacher from clips on other shows. 

I gather Maddie is a kid judge from Dance Mom, yes?  I am half way through and haven't seen her yet as far as I can see.  

What the fuck is going on?  You don't have to answer that.  :^)

Edited June 23, 2016 by wings707

[EVS]

2 hours ago, wings707 said:

I skipped the auditions and just started with this episode.  

I need some things cleared up that I don't want to google because I don't like it that this season is kids!  

Are many of these dancers from Dance Mom?  I have never seen the show but I have witnessed the loud mouthed teacher from clips on other shows. 

I gather Maddie is a kid judge from Dance Mom, yes?  I am half way through and haven't seen her yet as far as I can see.  

What the fuck is going on?  You don't have to answer that.  :^)

Hi, WINGS,

As far as I know, there is only one girl who appeared on dance moms who is still on the show. Her name is Sophia Lucia and she has not really been featured on SYTYCD yet. I can't remember which all-star she is teamed with. She wasn't a regular on dance moms, but was a guest on the team for several episodes. I didn't watch regularly, so I'm not sure how many. 

Maddie was the girl interviewing other kids. She was (arguably) the star dancer on Dance Moms. She will be helping judge on SYTYCD  

Ava, the tall girl who didn't get picked by an all-star, also guest starred on DM. Abby (the loud mouthed teacher) picked on her for being tall and kicked her off the team.  Then her mom basically took over teaching the rival team so Ava was on several episodes as well. 

I think those are the only ones.

Edited June 23, 2016 by EVS
Clarification

[ElectricBoogaloo]

4 hours ago, EVS said:

As far as I know, there is only one girl who appeared on dance moms who is still on the show. Her name is Sophia Lucia and she has not really been featured on SYTYCD yet. I can't remember which all-star she is teamed with.

Per the list I posted above, she is on Paul's team.

[calipiano81]

It occurred to me...if the non-ballroom All-Stars are all picking kids of their own gender, then they likely will not be doing any kind of ballroom once they get to the live competition. 

If so, then any ballroom done on the show will have to be by the ballroom pairs. OTOH, that's a good thing, but OTOH, ballroom has usually been a real test of versatility, and we won't get to see that for most of the teams.

Edited June 23, 2016 by calipiano81

[luvthepros]

I got the impression that all the finalists will be competing in all styles.....just like the18 to 30 age group used to compete. I'm watching this season so I can see these ballroom kids tackle a Hip Hop and contemporary. I'm looking forward to the Hip Hop kids attempting some ballroom. I'm not watching to see the ballroom kids dance ballroom every week.

Edited June 24, 2016 by luvthepros

[Tikichick]

At least one other boy who had appeared on Dance Moms was shown in the auditions.  His name is Lukas(sp?) and he was a student of Victor Smalley's, a former contestant himself.

[realdancemom]

7 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Per the list I posted above, she is on Paul's team.

Yes, Sophia is on Paul's team.  As I previously posted, this is why I also don't think she will be in the Top 10.  I think Paul will pick Ruby.  She was actually better in the Broadway round than Sophia.  I also think TPTB would want Paul to pick somebody from his own specialty.

My other guesses.  They are not spoilers since this is just based on what I've seen in auditions and the Broadway round.

Kathryn & Tate

Gaby & Emma

Comfort & Phoenix

Fik-shun & Kida

Not sure about the rest since I don't remember a lot of the kids.

[Tasya]

There is no way that Maddie could have been a contestant on this show; she would have likely won it hands down. It's not about being the best dancer; it never has been. It's a popularity contest and when you think about how much exposure she has compared to any of the other kids, it's not even close. If TPTB wanted to draw on that connection and that audience, they had to bring her in as a judge because having her compete would be too blatant. I don't get all the hate of this kid by mostly adults but that's another issue altogether. I think that she hasn't found her footing yet on the show but this was her first episode. I didn't sense any "disdain" from her but I do agree that she was more comfortable with the kids that she already knows.

I don't have a problem with a child judging other children. At least she knows dance and will be able to hopefully comment on some technical aspects. The idea that you have to be "better" than other dancers to judge them is just silly. Most of the top dancers in the world have competed at some point in their lives, are we really to believe that the judging panels are always made up of dancers that have surpassed them talent-wise? Of course they are not. Judges are chosen for a variety of reasons, they usually have technical knowledge but have very likely never been the "top" dancer themselves. 

I can already see that there are going to be some fanbases crying foul when the academy is over. But the way that this show is set up means that some kids that are stars in their style may not do as well in the other styles. I'm looking forward to seeing how the live show plays out. Will the kids dance with their mentors and have a routine with another child? It seems like if they don't the show will be too short, or maybe they aren't eliminating each week? Have they covered this and I missed it? Admittedly i'm watching on DVR so I do skip around some. 

[realdancemom]

Tasya, I agree with you.  TPTB wanted a younger audience.  Maddie is popular and they were hoping that some of her fans would tune in.  This forum may seem quiet in comparison to other seasons.  However, I know that I'm not in their target demographic.  Maybe, it's more popular among the tweens especially those that watch youtube channels of the other dancers.

Maddie looked a little uncomfortable interviewing the kids.  But not everybody can be Cat.  Cat is amazing!!  She should win an Emmy.  She was great with adults and is so cute with the kids.

I think Maddie's dancing has matured a lot since she started working with Sia and other choreographers.  She doesn't have just two facial expressions: contemporary angst or Cheshire cat grin.  She is also improving in other styles.  I think she will be fine as a judge.  Even if she can't do something technically perfect, she probably knows what it's supposed to look like.  I'm assuming that she gets technique pointers from not only Abbe but other teachers.  So I will wait to see how she does as a judge.

[calipiano81]

Quote

I got impression that all the finalists will be competing in all styles.....just like the18 to 30 age group used to compete. I'm watching this season so I can see these ballroom kids tackle a Hip Hop and contemporary. I'm looking forward to the Hip Hop kids attempting some ballroom. I'm not watching to see the ballroom kids dance ballroom every week.

I was trying to say, though, that since the hip hop, contemporary, and tap All-Star/contestant pairs are all same gender, is  the show really going to have them do ballroom? Ballroom traditionally needs the female/male duality...I could see the show doing one or two same-gender ballroom, but I bet most of the pairs will get away with doing none.

Edited June 23, 2016 by calipiano81

[realdancemom]

1 hour ago, calipiano81 said:

I was trying to say, though, that since the hip hop, contemporary, and tap All-Star/contestant pairs are all same gender, is  the show really going to have them do ballroom? Ballroom traditionally needs the female/male duality...I could see the show doing one or two same-gender ballroom, but I bet most of the pairs will get away with doing none.

I'm wondering if each person will do a routine with their All-Star and another routine with another kid.  If that's the case, then it is possible for non-ballroom kids to do ballroom.  I'm not sure if that will happen.  Otherwise, I think you're right.  I don't see them doing a lot of same gender ballroom.

[awaken]

Honestly, I didn't like it.  I love this show, but am disappointed with this season being all kids.  It's not entertaining to me to watch a 9 yr old's heart get broken, and see little kids cry over being bullied or being cut, or being told they let themselves and their mentor down.  Just not fun to watch.  

Really dislike watching little girls in bikini tops, kids acting sexy while they dance, and the frequent age-inappropriate flirtatious boyfriend/girlfriend/are you single banter.  And I can't stand precocious, overly coached little adults.

It's obvious Phoenix is the fave to win, as they said she is the inspiration for the show and I can tell she's a judges favorite.  Why don't we just crown her now and be done with it.

That said, I"ll probably still watch since I enjoy dancing and seeing how good these kids are is inspirational to my kids.  But I hope they don't do another season like this.  

Also don't enjoy how it's so obviously trying to be like the Voice, with mentors vying over contestants, and then a big choice ensues when they decide which team to put them on.  They did that for the Taste, too.  Let's just call it The Dance.