Previous Seasons: Dancing into the Past

[Bella]

Discuss Seasons 1-10 here.

 

We already have a separate thread for favorite routines, btw, so this is for things like judging, contestants, etc.

[Rick Kitchen]

I saw Lauren Gottlieb in a commercial today.  Don't remember what the product was, but she wasn't dancing.

[nutty1]

I haven't watched the show in years, but I may start again. What ever happened to Alex Wong? He was phenomenal! I remember when he hurt himself, I was just so sad for him.

[Rick Kitchen]

Alex was on Broadway in the company of Newsies. Evan Kasprszak and Jess Le Protto were also in the production.

[Turkish]

Alex is always working on something. He's a busy dude. 

[Babalu]

Alex was on Broadway in the company of Newsies. Evan Kasprszak and Jess Le Protto were also in the production.

Thayne Jasperson from Season 4 was also part of the original Broadway cast. They were all marvelous. According to the Newsies website, Jess and Evan are still in it.

[Quickbeam]

For me there is Danny...and then everyone else. 

[Hana Chan]

What do we have to do to get Wade back on the show? I love Sonja and she's been fulfulling my need for quirky choreography, but Wade did some absolutely amazing peices of work and I've missed him badly. I don't recall any rumors of him having a falling out with TPTB.

[ToxicUnicorn]

Has the new "Twitch's Present for Ellen" video been discussed anywhere yet?  I see quite a few alumni: Twitch, Allison, Courtney, Fik-shun, Jasmine, maybe Marco?  Can anyone recognize any of the others?  

[Turkish]

Lauren and Robert were the other two dancers you missed. 

[NextIteration]

I miss Danny and Jaime by a mile, we get a lot of Allison, Alex, tWitch and Kathryn as all-stars which helps for me.

 

So I just watched most of S9 yesterday, still have the finale to go, wish I had watched in real-time because Ballet!  Heh.

 

What struck me is this, and I didn't notice it when I watched S10 and hope we don't see it this year, when did lighting become a virtual third dancer in the duets?  It's so bad some of the time it's difficult to actually make out the dancers in some ways - I'm specifically thinking of Mia's piece in the final four competition show, and Tyce's a little bit as well.  (This is the last one I've watched so it's the freshest for me.)

 

@Hanna Chan regarding Wade, I think for the good or ill of it, Wade's revelations, true or false about Michael Jackson make him pretty controversial. 

Edited June 30, 2014 by NextIteration

[LoquaciousAudacity]

Is anyone else surprised that we've only had one SYTYCD marriage (Twitch and Allison)? So many pretty, talented people over the years. I know there have been other couples, but are any still together?

 

By the way, I would've loved to have been at Twitch and Allison's wedding. I bet that was a good time. 

[tvloserlife]

No clue about how many couples the show has produced altogether (not including people who were already couples ie Ryan & Ashleigh) but to my knowledge DTrix and LoFro are still together.

[romantic idiot]

I didn't even know they were together. That weirdly impacts my opinion of LoFro a bit.

[Mason]

Here's the latest on who's-dating-whom: http://ohyeahsytycd.tumblr.com/dating. Also, Evan Kasprzak just got engaged to his (noncontestant) girlfriend, whom he's been dating since before he was on the show.

[NextIteration]

Giggles, yeah sure, Nick and Melody.  Hilarious.

[dusang]

Giggles, yeah sure, Nick and Melody.  Hilarious.

 

For reals.  That kind of calls the whole list into question.  How could anyone seriously consider them a couple???

 

It hurts to realize how many people on that small list I've completely forgotten.

[Mason]

Giggles, yeah sure, Nick and Melody.  Hilarious.

 

Hey, how do you know he's not bi, like Blake? Or that they didn't date after the show for promotional reasons? Does "date" automatically mean having sex?

We didn't like how Nigel assumed Kent would like girls? Why should we assume Nick wouldn't?

Edited July 15, 2014 by Mason

[NextIteration]

They were best friends @Mason, they never dated.  IF Melody actually dated anyone from the show it was Ryan, but I think they just ended up buddies and room mates as well.

[Turkish]

 

Is anyone else surprised that we've only had one SYTYCD marriage (Twitch and Allison)? So many pretty, talented people over the years. I know there have been other couples, but are any still together?

 

I assume their haven't been a lot of couples(straight ones anyway) because a good number of the male contestants are gay. And that's not me generalizing, many past contestants have spoken about this long after appearing on the show. I'm sure some of the guys probably dated each other but we will probably never know which ones since many were not out while on the show. Not too long ago Benji admitted in an interview to having a massive crush on Travis during his season but didn't come out publicly as gay until years later. The only straight couples I can think of that are still together are the Delilos, Bosses, and Dtrix and Lauren. I remember Jaime dating Ivan years ago and Hok and Lacey dated as well but both couples have long broken up. Are Pasha and Anya a couple or are they just dance partners? And I don't know if they count as a SYTYCD couple but Mark Kanemura has dated Jeremy Hudson for 4 years now. Jeremy auditioned for this show years ago with Heather Morris, both were cut during the Green Mile.

 

 

Hey, how do you know he's not bi, like Blake? Or that they didn't date after the show for promotional reasons? Does "date" automatically mean having sex?

We didn't like how Nigel assumed Kent would like girls? Why should we assume Nick wouldn't?

Because Nick is an openly gay man. He's not bisexual. He refers to himself as gay multiple times on both social media and the reality show  All the Right Moves. Does Blake still identify as bi? I know he has a boyfriend and still gets a lot of hate on his twitter and instagram whenever he posts couple-y pictures with him. 

 

I think Ricky Ubeda might be one of the first SYTYCD contestants in recent memory, along with Sasha Mallory, who have been out while competing on the show. Ricky has some adorable Prom pictures with his boyfriend up on social media. I think it's good that he's not trying to hide it. This show in particular loves to try to create these false narratives that encourage the "shipping" of couples in the fandom for the purpose of voting and it annoys me every year. 

Edited July 16, 2014 by Turkish

[Anothermi]

Are Pasha and Anya a couple or are they just dance partners?

@Turkish, thanks for all that.  

 

Re: the quote above, Pasha and Anya admitted to dating for a while, but long before they appeared on SYTYCD.  So I don't know if that even counts.  But as a partnership? they definitely seem to have "broken up".  They've been doing their own separate thing at least since Pasha got the job with Strictly Come Dancing and even after Anya joined that cast, their other work is generally done individually. (Thankfully they are sometimes paired together for the Professional Group Dances on that show because I love watching them dance together.)

[NextIteration]

Because Nick is an openly gay man.

 

I think Ricky Ubeda might be one of the first SYTYCD contestants in recent memory, along with Sasha Mallory, who have been out while competing on the show. Ricky has some adorable Prom pictures with his boyfriend up on social media. I think it's good that he's not trying to hide it. This show in particular loves to try to create these false narratives that encourage the "shipping" of couples in the fandom for the purpose of voting and it annoys me every year. 

 

This. x1000

 

I remember being particularly annoyed regarding Travis.  

 

It was rumored that Blake at some point had hooked up with beFree and there were rumors about Danny/Nick/Blake/Travis (obviously not Danny and Travis) and hook-ups long before the show started (on the Comp Circuit).

 

And who cares?  Really.  It's so weird the way this show treats sexuality.

Edited July 16, 2014 by NextIteration

[crossover]

I've always thought the show plays down the sexuality so that the routines/couplings can be romanticized.  The more this happens, the more votes and viewers they get.  The more votes and viewers, the better for the dancers and show.

They kinda let Sasha's out especially with the paso.  She danced her heart out but people claimed they didn't see the chemistry she had with her partners, except tWitch.  They excused it because she wasn't into men anyway.  I know she ended up second but I believe she was nowhere near Melanie in votes.

Edited July 16, 2014 by movement

[NextIteration]

I understand your thoughts @movement but?  Sexuality does not equal Chemistry - remember Rock Hudson?

[dusang]

Whenever I think about how the show treats (homo)sexuality I end up with the thought, "Well, it is on Fox."

 

I can understand not advertising their sexuality and can accept the "competition reality show" convention of creating false narratives to drive votes, what really bothers me is the audition round where the homophobia becomes quite a bit more pronounced.  I mean, fine, you're on Fox.  Why not just not show those auditions if you fear they will offend your middle-American demographic and/or network honchos rather than deliberately bash them for not conforming to a regressive stereotype of normative male gender identity??

[Mason]

I made my comment about not knowing a person's sexuality, because in a lot of cases we don't. And the initial reactions to my post came across as sniggering, as in "well everyone knows *that* isn't true." A lot of people who self-identify as gay are bi-sexual but know it's often too great a risk to admit. And I absolutely do not equate dating (or being roommates) with having sex. I appreciate being corrected, just hold off on the sniggering, please.

[Turkish]

 

 

I've always thought the show plays down the sexuality so that the routines/couplings can be romanticized.  The more this happens, the more votes and viewers they get.  The more votes and viewers, the better for the dancers and show.

They kinda let Sasha's out especially with the paso.  She danced her heart out but people claimed they didn't see the chemistry she had with her partners, except tWitch.  They excused it because she wasn't into men anyway.  I know she ended up second but I believe she was nowhere near Melanie in votes.

They do play down the sexuality of the contestants so they can romanticize these "couples" for the young fans and I personally find it annoying. It's really not needed IMO. The dancing should speak for itself but instead they want to add shipping and sob stories about dead parents and car accidents and homelessness etc to the mix in order to sell these kids. I knew Sasha was gay based on press and other outside information but I didn't judge her lack of chemistry with male partners as being  "well, she's not into men and that's why" as the reason.  She did well with Twitch and I liked her dance with Kent as well. There are so many gay men on this show who have amazing chemistry with their female partners and I've also seen a quite a few straight male and female contestants have absolutely none so I hesitate to blame sexual orientation as a reason in anybody's case for lack of chemistry. Some people just don't jell together and that's all their is to it. 

 

 

I made my comment about not knowing a person's sexuality, because in a lot of cases we don't. And the initial reactions to my post came across as sniggering, as in "well everyone knows *that* isn't true." A lot of people who self-identify as gay are bi-sexual but know it's often too great a risk to admit. And I absolutely do not equate dating (or being roommates) with having sex. I appreciate being corrected, just hold off on the sniggering, please.

I wasn't sniggering at your question. I merely answered it. There are a lot of people who don't know the sexuality of the contestants. If I know more about a particular contestant(since I am a huge fan of many of them) I am more than happy to provide information on them. But I wasn't trying to be dismissive in my response to your question. I apologize if it came off that way. I was just simply stating a fact about Nick. Kent I have no idea about. Blake is a little trickier because he has labelled himself as more than one thing over the years. He currently has a boyfriend though. 

Edited July 16, 2014 by Turkish

[crossover]

I understand your thoughts @movement but?  Sexuality does not equal Chemistry - remember Rock Hudson?

Exactly.  I agree.  TBH, if an audience likes you, it doesn't matter.  Everything you do will be great.  They'll see chemistry where there is none because they've already created an image.  But if they need time to warm up to you, it does.  You'll have to jump through hoops before they'll give in.  And then it may be too late. 

There are a lot of people who would use it to a dancer's detriment.  This is where I was talking about chemistry as well.  You can have chemistry with your partner but the viewer's perception may be skewed because they are looking side-eyed. I can see if you don't like their personalities but using their sexual orientation against them is unfair.  And unlike people on the boards, people vote more on performance/personality than they do technical excellence.

I remember the Rock Hudson's story as the audience thinking he was straight until his later years.  By that time, you were either a Rock Hudson fan or not.

[NextIteration]

I made my comment about not knowing a person's sexuality, because in a lot of cases we don't. And the initial reactions to my post came across as sniggering, as in "well everyone knows *that* isn't true." A lot of people who self-identify as gay are bi-sexual but know it's often too great a risk to admit. And I absolutely do not equate dating (or being roommates) with having sex. I appreciate being corrected, just hold off on the sniggering, please.

 

I wasn't giggling at you, I was giggling at the blog, just to be clear, I apologize if you felt it was aimed at you.  And it made me giggle, more than anything, because of personal experience with Nick, so maybe that was unfair?  He's out and proud.

 

Exactly.  I agree.  TBH, if an audience likes you, it doesn't matter.  Everything you do will be great.  They'll see chemistry where there is none because they've already created an image.  But if they need time to warm up to you, it does.  You'll have to jump through hoops before they'll give in.  And then it may be too late. 

There are a lot of people who would use it to a dancer's detriment.  This is where I was talking about chemistry as well.  You can have chemistry with your partner but the viewer's perception may be skewed because they are looking side-eyed.    I can see if you don't like their personalities but using their sexual orientation against them is unfair.  And unlike people on the boards, people vote more on performance/personality than they do technical excellence.

I remember the Rock Hudson's story as the audience thinking he was straight until his later years.  By that time, you were either a Rock Hudson fan or not.

 

You make an important point.  I probably don't like it, because I can't stand the shipping in the first place.  And yes, shipping and enthusiasm transfers to more votes and viewers and please another renewal, so I'll just shut up and deal. ;)

 

What makes it additionally strange though is Nigel's comments, which sometimes I agree with and sometimes I give a side-eye to, and I actually prefer masculine dancing from guys.  Most of the guys on the show manage to deliver, but some don't ever come off that way for me - but even then, to me?  It's more androgynous then feminine for the most part.

[Mason]

Sorry if I'm being too sensitive. I find the world too eager to slot people into "hetero" or "homo" because they cannot accept the thought of "bi."  (I am straight, BTW, so this isn't a personal issue.) 

[Giggly]

So, to completely change the subject and go out there in terms of SYTYCD gossip history . . .

 

Back in Season 3, Pasha was paired with a dancer named Jessie or something similar who missed a week due to illness, came back for the results show and danced for her life and was unceremoniously booted without preamble or conversation.  Mayhem, gossip, finger pointing, hand wringing ensued.  While there was speculation and accusations galore, I don't ever recall if anyone ever knew or reported what actually happened BTS. 

 

Anyone out there know the truth?  Just curious.

[Rick Kitchen]

Are Kathryn and Legacy still dating?

[Turkish]

So, to completely change the subject and go out there in terms of SYTYCD gossip history . . .

 

Back in Season 3, Pasha was paired with a dancer named Jessie or something similar who missed a week due to illness, came back for the results show and danced for her life and was unceremoniously booted without preamble or conversation.  Mayhem, gossip, finger pointing, hand wringing ensued.  While there was speculation and accusations galore, I don't ever recall if anyone ever knew or reported what actually happened BTS. 

 

Anyone out there know the truth?  Just curious.

Jessi, I remember her. She went on World of Jenks a few years ago and basically slammed her time on the show. She admitted to smoking weed and partying too hard at the time and blamed her failure in getting work in LA on the LA dance scene being superficial. She became a Tennessee Titans cheerleader. Don't know if she is still with the team. 

[NextIteration]

Jessi, I remember her. She went on World of Jenks a few years ago and basically slammed her time on the show. She admitted to smoking weed and partying too hard at the time and blamed her failure in getting work in LA on the LA dance scene being superficial. She became a Tennessee Titans cheerleader. Don't know if she is still with the team. 

 

I saw that!  Who knows what the truth is, but it was after S3 that they started to use the MMPI  or something similar between callbacks and the green mile episodes to weed out possible, well, issues? in dancetestants if I'm not mistaken.

[dusang]

I saw that!  Who knows what the truth is, but it was after S3 that they started to use the MMPI  or something similar between callbacks and the green mile episodes to weed out possible, well, issues? in dancetestants if I'm not mistaken.

 

Wow, between Fuller and Lythgoe you'd think they'd have enough sense to use that from day 1!!

[Alison]

Here's the latest on who's-dating-whom: http://ohyeahsytycd.tumblr.com/dating. Also, Evan Kasprzak just got engaged to his (noncontestant) girlfriend, whom he's been dating since before he was on the show.

Another former couple is Jeanine Mason and Kupono; they dated for a while.

[SpectreH]

This is an old video that I just discovered.  May have been posted on the old TWOP forums but I've never seen it.  It's a very young S9 Witney Carson dancing with S10 Jenna Johnson to S3's Body Language routine with Pasha and Sara.  It's pretty hilarious and cute.  It looks like S9 Lindsay Arnold was the one filming with the camera.

In fact that channel appears to be owned by Lindsay or one of her sisters and has a bunch of old videos of them.

[Alison]

As I mentioned in another SYTYCD thread, I spent a majority of my weekend watching old routines on YouTube while recovering from a stomach bug. Between remembering many past contestants who left before they had the chance to truly shine and Stanley's premature exit last week, I got to wondering: who are some past contestants you really liked who never got to show their true potential?

I was thinking of dancers who got eliminated before the top 10....
-S4's Marquis Cunningham
-S4's Chelsea Traille
-S5's Maksim (partner of Kayla)
-S6's Brandon Dumlao
-S6's Pauline Mata
-S8's Nick Young
-S8's Miranda Maleski
-S9's Daniel Baker (who was rumored to be kind of a douche, but I thought he was quite attractive and talented)
-S9's Alexa Anderson
-S10's Curtis Holland
-S10's Carlos Garland

[IdleBrook]

Are Kathryn and Legacy still dating?

 

Kathryn recently got engaged to Jacob Patrick, who was a groomsmen in Allison and Twitch's wedding.  Jacob is also a dancer and used to date S4 Katee Shean. 

[SpectreH]

As I mentioned in another SYTYCD thread, I spent a majority of my weekend watching old routines on YouTube while recovering from a stomach bug. Between remembering many past contestants who left before they had the chance to truly shine and Stanley's premature exit last week, I got to wondering: who are some past contestants you really liked who never got to show their true potential?

I was thinking of dancers who got eliminated before the top 10....

-S4's Marquis Cunningham

-S4's Chelsea Traille

-S5's Maksim (partner of Kayla)

-S6's Brandon Dumlao

-S6's Pauline Mata

-S8's Nick Young

-S8's Miranda Maleski

-S9's Daniel Baker (who was rumored to be kind of a douche, but I thought he was quite attractive and talented)

-S9's Alexa Anderson

-S10's Curtis Holland

-S10's Carlos Garland

I would add S10's Brittany Cherry to that.  I think she was in a similar mold to Jenna/Witney/Lindsay as an all around ballroom dancer who was cross-trained and probably pretty good at everything.  I don't she deserved to be the first one booted in S10 and we never got a chance to see her do more, though she was even pretty good in the finale top 20 routine.  In fact, I think this S11's Brooklyn is a lesser version of these girls(she trained at the same studio), I don't find her as sizzling in ballroom and I don't think she's as good in the other styles either.  I think S11 Tanisha is at their level, but as a few people have said, she's not quite as attractive and charismatic, but this is probably pushing the line for this topic so I'll stop for now :)

[dcalley]

This is an old video that I just discovered.  May have been posted on the old TWOP forums but I've never seen it.  It's a very young S9 Witney Carson dancing with S10 Jenna Johnson to S3's Body Language routine with Pasha and Sara.  It's pretty hilarious and cute.  It looks like S9 Lindsay Arnold was the one filming with the camera.

 

In fact that channel appears to be owned by Lindsay or one of her sisters and has a bunch of old videos of them.

I feel so old. But I love that routine so am glad that they liked and learned it.

Edited July 22, 2014 by dcalley

[traboule]

As I mentioned in another SYTYCD thread, I spent a majority of my weekend watching old routines on YouTube while recovering from a stomach bug. Between remembering many past contestants who left before they had the chance to truly shine and Stanley's premature exit last week, I got to wondering: who are some past contestants you really liked who never got to show their true potential?

I was thinking of dancers who got eliminated before the top 10....

-S4's Marquis Cunningham

-S4's Chelsea Traille

-S5's Maksim (partner of Kayla)

-S6's Brandon Dumlao

-S6's Pauline Mata

-S8's Nick Young

-S8's Miranda Maleski

-S9's Daniel Baker (who was rumored to be kind of a douche, but I thought he was quite attractive and talented)

-S9's Alexa Anderson

-S10's Curtis Holland

-S10's Carlos Garland

 

I agree about Chelsea Traille. Thought she was great in her cha-cha with Thayne.

[Alison]

I would add S10's Brittany Cherry to that.  I think she was in a similar mold to Jenna/Witney/Lindsay as an all around ballroom dancer who was cross-trained and probably pretty good at everything.  I don't she deserved to be the first one booted in S10 and we never got a chance to see her do more, though she was even pretty good in the finale top 20 routine.  In fact, I think this S11's Brooklyn is a lesser version of these girls(she trained at the same studio), I don't find her as sizzling in ballroom and I don't think she's as good in the other styles either.  I think S11 Tanisha is at their level, but as a few people have said, she's not quite as attractive and charismatic, but this is probably pushing the line for this topic so I'll stop for now :)

No such thing as pushing the line for any SYTYCD-related topic : )

[romantic idiot]

I didn't mind Alexa and Daniel's ouster, but I was upset enough over Nick Young's to boycott Season 8 completely. And Ricky, Jesus and Jimmy all left too early in S3, though I don't know who we'd have had gone instead - and I DEFINITELY would not have ousted Danny over them. 

[SpectreH]

I feel so old. But I love that routine so am glad that they liked and learned it.

It's funny, back then they were just some little girls goofing off in their living room, but then all 3 of them make it onto the show.  I remember back in the TWOP forums some folks were a bit cynical about the Witney/Lindsay friendship angle(as some people are just cynical about everything), but it's clear they really have been friends since they were little, and personally I think it's kinda cool.

[iameatingaburrito]

It was rumored that Blake at some point had hooked up with beFree and there were rumors about Danny/Nick/Blake/Travis (obviously not Danny and Travis) and hook-ups long before the show started (on the Comp Circuit).

 

I knew that Nick, Blake, and Danny are all the same age (Travis a few years younger) and were all on the competition circuit as kids so I always kind of wondered about it.

 

And who is beFree is that Brian Friedman? Cuz yeah I heard those rumors but I could never tell if they were true or not.

[Electruck]

As I mentioned in another SYTYCD thread, I spent a majority of my weekend watching old routines on YouTube while recovering from a stomach bug. Between remembering many past contestants who left before they had the chance to truly shine and Stanley's premature exit last week, I got to wondering: who are some past contestants you really liked who never got to show their true potential?

I was thinking of dancers who got eliminated before the top 10....

-S4's Marquis Cunningham

-S4's Chelsea Traille

-S5's Maksim (partner of Kayla)

-S6's Brandon Dumlao

-S6's Pauline Mata

-S8's Nick Young

-S8's Miranda Maleski

-S9's Daniel Baker (who was rumored to be kind of a douche, but I thought he was quite attractive and talented)

-S9's Alexa Anderson

-S10's Curtis Holland

-S10's Carlos Garland

S8 Missy Morelli

S3 Jesus "Chuy" Solario

Agreed on Nick Young.

[Turkish]

I was pissed about S8's treatment of Nick Young and especially his partner Ivetta. As far as credentials go, they couldn't have asked for a more seasoned ballroom dancer. I knew she was a goner when I saw that they gave her Bollywood that second week. Never mind the fact that they constantly cater to the favored contemporary folks by giving them like 10 contemporary or contemporary-esque routines during their run, letting them coast until the final weeks of competition. 

 

It's no wonder that most of the really really good ballroom people don't audition for this show anymore. IMO, the last group of ballroom girls have been pretty damn average compared to the competitive ballroom I watch elsewhere. And any time I see girls like Whitney and Lindsey and even Ashley I start to miss folks like Anya, Ivetta and Jeanette that much more.

[chocolatine]

And any time I see girls like Whitney and Lindsey and even Ashley I start to miss folks like Anya, Ivetta and Jeanette that much more.

 

 

I would add Chelsie to the group of great female ballroom dancers. She was only 18 when she was on the show, but she danced with such maturity and sophistication, and her hip/leg action was out of this world.

[crowceilidh]

Chelsie and Lacey are my favourite ballroom girls.