Where Are They Now?: SYTYCD Alumni's Current Projects

[IdleBrook]

Last night, Kathryn was on CSI playing a prostitute with Eric Roberts as her pimp/preacher.  It was interesting.

[SmrtGrl86]

I went to "Dancing with the Pros" a traveling dance show that was at the local community college last month. Chelsea Hightower and Benji were both part of the group, I geeked out hardcore. Chelsea was injured and only danced twice but it was amazing to see pro level dancing in person for the first time. Hubby even enjoyed it.

[Rick Kitchen]

Ricky Ubeda will be joining the Broadway cast of "On the Town" starting February 27.  He's been on the SYTYCD tour up to now.

[Electruck]

Alan Bersten (S10 ballroom dancer) will be in the troupe on DWTS this season. Jenna and Lindsay are also returning as part of the troupe.

I saw the DWTS tour show last week, and Brittany Cherry and Paul K were great -- Brittany was onstage more than Paul. My sister didn't remember her from SYT, but became a fan during the tour show. Paul was very charming. Their contemporary routine was well-received -- she did this leap onto him from above him and lands in his arms upside-down somehow -- it was amazing.

Brooklyn was also in the cast.

[morgankobi]

Alex "Freakin" Wong was in the "Everything Is Awesome" number at the Oscar's. He's in an astronaut outfit and is clear as day, front and center for the ending pose (right under Batman)!

[Electruck]

Jasmine Harper was also in the Everything Is Awesome number. She's one of the many in the orange construction outfit, and can be seen a few times behind to the left of one of the female singers. She's there again in the final pose, not far from AFWong.

[Rick Kitchen]

Alex was in the opening number, too, though I didn't see him.

[CelineA]

Chehon was in the opening number, wearing a tux & fedora.

He was also in the Everything Is Awesome dressed as a cowboy (had a close-up). George was also supposed to be in the "Everything" number, though I didn't spot him. I did see Jasmine (hardhat/vest) and Alex (spacesuit) in the final pose. 

 

Ellenore tweeted that she assisted in choreography for something at the Oscars, but I must have missed the bit she referred to.

[WarriorGirl]

does anyone have any idea what Marko Germar and Tadd Gadduang are doing as of now? They were so brilliant in season 8 of SYTYCD and I haven't heard anything about them in a while. Marko is one of the best dancers there is!

[WarriorGirl]

I understood that I should like Melanie based on her dancing, but I never "felt" her. I also "felt" like the win was wired to her from Day One.

I agree! Melanie was an amazingly good contemporary dancer on the show but so were Miranda, Jordan. I hated that she got the praise and the limelight while the others were eliminated prematurely. The judges were openly manipulating in favour of her. Marko as her partner was far better as a dancer in all the styles!

[WarriorGirl]

Yeah, the fix was in for Melanie her season. She got a disproportionate amount of dances that she was considered good at (jazz, contemporary). Every once in a blue moon they gave her something out of her speciality (disco e.g.) and it showed.  Plus she was paired with the excellent Marko and her all-stars were also strong (Neil in the Total Eclipse of the Heart dance e.g. - he literally and figuratively carried her).  I hated her as an All-Star because the judges would spend most of critique praising her (while she faked humility, poorly) while the poor contestant stood there as an afterthought.

 

Anyway, I don't remember if she got a Broadway routine in her season, so I'm surprised she was picked for this (I suppose Mia had a lot to do with it). I thought her performance at the Tonys was awful - jerky and spastic. Sure, a lot of it is the choreography but a more graceful and fluid dancer would have done a better job.

I agree Mumbles, Melanie was only seen doing contemporary almost 8 times and jazz about 5 or 6 times. She is a great "fake" dancer who can fake emotions while dancing. It almost seems like her routines were pre-decided. The moment she went out of her comfort zone to do that hip-hop number with Twitch and that disco routine, she was NOT GOOD. The judges were almost willing her to win it!

Yes she did have a Broadway/Jazz routine with Tadd Gadduang, who was far better than her in it. She danced contemporary in that number it seemed, and the judges did not bat an eyelid. Tadd went almost unnoticed, and Melanie was praised.

It was heartbreaking to see Jess, Miranda, Jordan get eliminated when they deserved to go all the way. I personally think Marko Germar should have won the season because he was the most versatile and beautiful out of all of them, and he communicated emotions honestly through his dances. Melanie couldn't have done it without Marko as her partner. Even when Marko came back as an All-Star, he was overlooked and Melanie was praised even more than the contestant she danced with! Ugh. I cannot stand her performances.

Edited March 2, 2015 by WarriorGirl

[WarriorGirl]

I saw a movie earlier today and there was a preview for Step Up: All In, and tWitch has a line in the trailer.  Don't know how big his part is in the movie.  He's billed as Stephen Boss.  Looking at the cast list on imdb, I see Christopher Scott, Philip Chbeeb, and Cyrus Spencer.

Marko Germar from season 8 an Emilio from 11 were there too.

[WarriorGirl]

Am I understanding this correctly that China hosted a USA v. China SYTYCD battle???????  WHERE IS THE FULL SHOW (with English subtitles)??

 

Not sure why the video isn't showing up as embedded here. Anyway, no subs that I could find.

 

ETA: This kind of thing drives me nuts, so I played around with it and got this - I hope it's the video you wanted. I think your problem was with the "embed" feature, which we don't need here. PM me if you want to discuss further - Bella

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1IsVttxM6U

Edited March 23, 2015 by Bella
playing with embedding the video

[WarriorGirl]

Jaja Vankova has another new video out.  Between these videos she puts out and Step Up 5, I wish she had made the Top 20 so she could showcase what she's really good at. Hopefully, she will come back next year on So You Think You Can Contemporary Dance.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1q-Mbc1_1Z8

Ha! Yes, It's definitely So You Think You Can Contemporary Dance. Which means she will probably not be back (which is sad) but at least she showcased her remarkable skills in Step Up 5! Another one I'd have loved to see in the Top 20 was Mary Poppins.

[WarriorGirl]

Last night, Kathryn was on CSI playing a prostitute with Eric Roberts as her pimp/preacher.  It was interesting.

Here are Kathryn, Marko Germar and Phillip in a video I found:

 

https://youtu.be/7Cxxue060A4

[WarriorGirl]

Not sure why the video isn't showing up as embedded here. Anyway, no subs that I could find.

 

ETA: This kind of thing drives me nuts, so I played around with it and got this - I hope it's the video you wanted. I think your problem was with the "embed" feature, which we don't need here. PM me if you want to discuss further - Bella

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1IsVttxM6U

Oh great! But when I posted the URL without embedding too, it didn't show up...where am I going wrong?

[Bella]

Oh great! But when I posted the URL without embedding too, it didn't show up...where am I going wrong?

 

I'm not sure. There's a Questions forum and a Test forum, however, and I suspect the question has been answered, so you might test it!

 

The URL you started with had the word "embed" in it, and I couldn't get it to work. So I looked up the subject on YouTube, which gave me a different URL, and that is what I pasted in above.

[BoffoDaWonderSheep]

Paul Karmiryan was performing in the troupe last night on Dancing with the Stars. I think that's the first time I've seen him with them.

[Electruck]

Paul's appeared with the troupe a few times, but he hasn't been a constant this season like Alan B (Bersten?). I've really been enjoying Alan! I liked him in his season, but I didn't realize just how good he is. They don't use Paul enough.

[Adez]

Chehon Wespi-Schopp is currently the assistant creative director for this season's American Idol, which doesn't surprise me, considering how well he does on visual media. His photography of other dancers is stunning and he's posted some video productions that are quite creative. I'm sure he's put those into a portfolio.

 

[njbarmaid]

Thane Jasperson S4 now appearing in Hamilton which is about to move to Broadway. Previously in Newsies and Matilda.

[crispy]

This seems like a pretty big deal for Ricky. He's in the ensemble of On the Town but it sounds like this featured him front and center.

 

From www.broadwaycares.org/easterbonnet2015:

"The 29th Annual Easter Bonnet Competition raised a remarkable $4,711,386, making this the third year in a row the event set a new fundraising record.

The news was revealed after two days of Easter Bonnet Competition performances, which honored the fundraising efforts of 52 Broadway, Off-Broadway and national touring productions in song, dance, comedy and 18 ornate, handmade bonnets. “More than 200 of Broadway and Off-Broadway’s most talented performers performed in this year’s show . . .

On the Town’s adorably awkward Lucy Schmeeler, expertly played by Allison Guinn, reluctantly became the new Miss Turnstiles and enjoyed a special dream ballet that called out cast member Ricky Ubeda, the most recent winner of So You Think You Can Dance."

[Electruck]

Here's a really nice piece on the cast of Hamilton honoring the original cast of A Chorus Line. Thayne Jasperson has a brief solo.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/artsbeat/2015/04/17/cast-of-hamilton-pays-tribute-to-a-chorus-line-with-a-song/?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share&_r=0&referrer=

[hurdygurdy]

Ariana Debose from Season 6 is also in the Hamilton video.

[Anothermi]

Thanks for pointing that out, hurdygurdy. I was really bummed that she was cut from season 6 so soon. She was one of my favourites. I noticed that she got work on broadway (meaning in a musical, it may not have technically On Broadway) soon after her stint on SYTYCD, so an early boot doesn't have that great an effect. 

Edited April 26, 2015 by Anothermi

[Rick Kitchen]

Ariana Debose is listed on ibdb as having performed on Broadway in Bring it on the Musical, Motown The Musical and Pippin. In Pippin, she played Leading Player for almost a year.  Leading Player is one of the leads of the show.

Edited April 26, 2015 by Rick Kitchen

[Babalu]

Yay - thanks for the news. I just got tickets for Hamilton and having SYTYCD alums just adds to my excitement. I saw Thayne in Newsies a few years ago - he wasn't really one of my favorites in SYTYCD, but I adored watching him on stage.

In other Broadway-ish/SYTYCD NEWS, Cole Horibe is in The King and I (at Lincoln Center; not sure if that's technically Broadway or not).

[IdleBrook]

Will and Kathryn are the featured dancers in Muse's latest music video, which was choreographed by Tessandra Chavez.

 

 

[Anothermi]

Wow! I kept asking myself "that's not Kathryn is it?""that's not Kathryn is it?"

 

Good makeup job. Great choreography. Will, who I recognized, was excellent as usual. What a great pairing 

[Anothermi]

New youtube video directed, shot and edited by Mark Kanemura. Left of centre as usual. I like it. Quite emotional. Jeremy Hudson is part of it and Mark himself appears briefly. 

 

drip.

 

[Rick Kitchen]

Based on his Twitter, I guess Alex Wong is appearing on Broadway in The King and I?

[Electruck]

Kent and Mollee alert:

DWTS results show May 12:

"Viewers will also be treated to a lively dance performance from the highly anticipated Disney Channel Original Movie " Teen Beach 2," the music- and dance-driven sequel to "Teen Beach Movie" premiering June 26 (8:00 p.m., ET/PT) on Disney Channel. Stars from the movie including Ross Lynch, John DeLuca, Jordan Fisher, Kent Boyd, Raymond Cham, Jr., Will Loftis, Jessica Lee Keller and Mollee Gray will perform the high energy jazz number "Gotta Be Me," the first single from "Teen Beach 2." "

[Rick Kitchen]

tWitch is going to be one of the strippers in the new Magic Mike movie.

[Pemyquid]

Not only was she part of the DWTS Troupe this past season along with Lindsey and Jenna, et al, but she dances opposite Ed Sheeran in his video for Thinking Out Loud.

[PhD-Purgatory15]

So FWIW...apparently Mollee Gray from Season 6 has branched into acting post-SYTYCD and starred in a Lifetime movie called "Double Daddy" that premiered tonight.

Don't remember the title or the network involved, but I'm also pretty sure whichever pilot Jeannine Mason was attached to got picked up for this upcoming season...

**The interwebs are telling me Mason's successful tv pilot was for Fox, and it's called Studio City.

Edited June 7, 2015 by PhD-Purgatory15

[Adez]

I just saw Jess LeProtto on the Tony Awards show with On the Town. It featured one of his speaking parts & a fair number of featured close-ups.

[Pemyquid]

I forgot to say, I was talking about Brittany Cherry on DWTS and starring in the Ed Sheeran video....Doh!

[WonderWuman73]

Well I loved Melanie. She's currently playing Peter Pan in Broadway's Finding Neverland

[Rick Kitchen]

Kent Boyd has a new video coming out on his YouTube channel tomorrow called "Collide in 1986", co-starring Lauren Froderman.  Here's the trailer for the video:

 

 

And here's a behind the scenes video:

 

Edited June 12, 2015 by Rick Kitchen

[Rick Kitchen]

Kent Boyd and Audrey Case dancing to "Thinking Out Loud", covered by Peter Hollens

 

[Rick Kitchen]

Here's Kent and Lauren's video, Collide in 1986:

 

 

Choreographed by Matthew Kazmierczak

Edited June 12, 2015 by Rick Kitchen

[njbarmaid]

Neil Haskell and Thayne Japserson announced for Broadway cast for Hamilton (Lin Manuel Miranda-In The Heights fame).

 

http://www.theatermania.com/broadway/news/hamilton-broadway-casting-announcement_73252.html

[Mertseger]

S1's Blake choreographed a video for WOTE: https://youtu.be/Pm0rygVF1P0. I love the tune, and the 11 year-old dancer is amazing for her age.

[crowceilidh]

Blake McGrath has done tons o' stuff since S1 - judged on SYTYCda and did amazing choreo for that show - and put out an album in 2010 with a number of videos (I think a couple of them had SYTYCda contestants in them) - this one has Mia's involvement:

 

[kitcloudkicker]

Really great video from Phillip Chbeeb going a bit viral

 

[Rick Kitchen]

Short film It Remains, created, choreographed and starring Kent Boyd.

 

Alex Wong is in the party scene. Also Joey Haro, who was in "Glee".

 

[Rick Kitchen]

Chelsie Hightower is touring with DWTS pro Tristan MacManus in a show called "Ballroom With a Twist"

 

http://www.sacbee.com/entertainment/casino/article25438675.html

[DollEyes]

  Delurking with some great news about Misty Copeland, one of the best judges from last season-she's been named the Principal Dancer of the American Ballet Theater, making her the first African-American dancer in that company's history to hold that title.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

  Delurking with some great news about Misty Copeland, one of the best judges from last season-she's been named the Principal Dancer of the American Ballet Theater, making her the first African-American dancer in that company's history to hold that title.

Just a few little nitpicks. Misty Copeland is now ONE of the principal dancers at ABT, not THE principal dancer at ABT. Principal is a title within dance companies (it's the step above soloist) and there are several principals in each company. Misty is the first female African American principal dancer at ABT, but Desmond Richardson became the first African American principal dancer at ABT back in 1997 (Misty is often described as the first female African American soloist at ABT but Anne Benna Sims and Nora Kimball were both female African American soloists at ABT in the 80s). None of this is meant to take away from Misty's promotion though. She is a beautiful dancer so congratulations to her!

Edited July 2, 2015 by ElectricBoogaloo

[DollEyes]

  In that case, I stand corrected. :)