S11.E05: Pasadena Callbacks

[Tara Ariano]

The contestants go to Pasadena, Cal., for callbacks to compete for a spot in the Top 20. The guest judges are Stephen "tWitch" Boss, Irina Dvorovenko, Tara Lipinski and Adam Shankman.

[Bella]

I don't know if I can watch Tara Lipinski without Johnny Weir.

 

For those of you who missed their live daytime broadcasts during the Olympics, they were equal parts funny, informative, outrageous, and insightful.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I bet the producers loved the Tara/Johnny show during the Olympics and decided to bring in more recently famous guest judges but then Nigel said, "The girl skater is fine but that boy skater isn't masculine enough."

[allypenguin]

I'm actually devastated about Yaya :( She is such a joy to watch and I don't think her proficiency at ballroom/contemporary is any worse than some past contestants', like Cyrus for example. Would love to see how all those contemporary and ballet girls would fare at Krump??? Plus no hip hop girl this season, right? Ugh. Rooting for the tappers and Emilio I guess :/

[rollerblade]

Someone please please please tell me Tara Annoying Lipinski is guest judging only for these call backs.

 

The only "celeb" guest judge I like is Jesse Tyler Furgerson. I'll even tolerate Christina Applegate, but that's my limit.

[Gardencrown]

 

I'm actually devastated about Yaya :( She is such a joy to watch

I KNOW! Oh great we have umpteenth contemporary girls (yawn) like Emily (?) or Bridget of the dead father...or hat-sexy-Jessica (whom I actually liked okay)...sigh.

 

And dancing from his scar guy? And she of the elevnty billion Mormon siblings? Quadruple sigh.

 

Maybe I will happily eat my words, but I don't have a great feeling.

[Ceeg]

I am really sad about Jaja. She was my fave.  I do love Ricky and the tappers, too, though. Glad to see they all made it through.

[kechara]

Former broken nose guy seemed like a nice kid. I was not displeased to see red headed ballroom boy gone. I think it's cause he just looks too young...haircut

[Diablo]

I just registered (used to post as CheekyLilDevil on TWoP) to profess my love of Ricky Ubeda. That solo was breathtaking. I can see some of the imperfections of form mentioned in last week's thread, but he has such a facility of movement that is really captivating.

Sad about JaJa, but I can understand why they wanted her to brush up on other styles. She was surprisingly good during the ballroom routine, but she was too far into the ground during the contemporary and felt very earthbound. She needs to work a bit on stamina and lift/core/leg strength, IMO.

[NextIteration]

If there is a season 12, someone please remind me not to spoil the Top 20 for myself.  It makes for a really boring show, and a very jaded look at the edit monkeys.

 

It's somewhat hard to know when anyone got cut through the process when it wasn't a REALLY BIG DEAL.  It looked like Jenna from Joffrey got cut after the first solo before any choreography?  Seriously?  And then they managed to hide Justine and Nick for most of the rounds until the Green Mile portion.  Gah, I hate the editing of these audition episodes, so again... there are some people in the Top 20 that we hardly got to know.

 

They are seriously looking for a ballroom winner this season - it can't just be that they all came out of the woodwork to audition this season.  I'm fine with that.

 

I could have done with two full hours of Anya and Dimitry!

Edited June 26, 2014 by NextIteration

[crowceilidh]

I wasn't impressed with this show.  Who was the nasty female judge? - I missed her intro somehow.

 

I miss Mia Michaels and Luther Brown (SYTYCda)

[mojoween]

I love Marcquet so much and was sweating bullets because they took so damn long to show he was through.

Emilio you seem nice enough but if you didn't break your nose I wouldn't have had a season of Aaron so I'm not sorry you had to try again.

Rudy can suck it. First, I would have so much rather have Eric in the top 20 because he was adorable and seemed so sweet and second, Rudy looks too much like Jordan from The Challenge and it makes me residually hate him because Jordan is such a dink.

[ElleryAnne]

I was glad to see Valerie, Marcquet, Jessica, Stanley and Ricky get through.  And even though I didn't like the will-they-both-get-through drama, I'm also glad for Nick and Rudy.  (Also Rudy, for absolutely no reason I can identify, keeps making me think of Tom Hardy.)  Oh, and Malene and Jourdan, too.  And Emilio. Ok,  I guess I'm happy for all them.  

 

Mainly, I'm happy for me, because this week I got two hours of this show and didn't have to see Justin Bieber's face during it.

[NextIteration]

Who was the nasty female judge? - I missed her intro somehow.

 

Irina Dvorovenko

[SilvaVocat]

I wasn't impressed with this show.  Who was the nasty female judge? - I missed her intro somehow.

 

I miss Mia Michaels and Luther Brown (SYTYCda)

 

I never miss Mia. She's the queen of nasty.  There was a season where she had a couple of clear favorites and then she just shredded everyone else, and Adam just sat next to her and parroted her. Ugh.

What happened to Amir the funky ballerina?  Did I blink and miss her?

[burntheflaws]

I am so excited that Emilio not only returned but was accepted into the top 20 again that I can barely contain myself. It would've been great to see Jaja there with him, but I hope she makes it another year. We absolutely need another great female hip-hop dancer on this show.

 

So much ballroom, and that pleases me. So far I'm liking a lot of the guys but I don't have much interest in the girls besides that tap dancer. I'm sure that'll change once we hit the live shows. I'm pretty excited for this year!

 

(Also Rudy, for absolutely no reason I can identify, keeps making me think of Tom Hardy.)

 

He gives off major Dave Franco vibes to me.

Edited June 26, 2014 by burntheflaws

[s-k-s]

I love watching Twitch's facial expressions! He just seems to love dance and dancers so much.

[beeble]

I'm surprised and bummed about Jaja but my theory is this: she is sooo good at what she does but sooo mediocre at the other styles that they really want her to hone those skills so that when she comes back she'll be able to move further along in the competition than she probably would this year.  She was my favorite coming in and now I feel lost without one. I guess Ricky will have to suffice...

 

I could have done with two full hours of Anya and Dimitry!

 

Oh hell yeah.

 

What happened to Amir the funky ballerina?  Did I blink and miss her?

 

I wondered the same thing.  

 

I'm sad that our adorable foster child from the first episode of auditions didn't make it.

 

Did anyone from the choreography group of OneLove make it? 

[auntlada]

I could have done with two full hours of Anya and Dimitry!

 

I was waiting for Nigel to tell all the male dancers not to imitate Dimitry and to keep their shirts buttoned up.

 

My TiVo for some reason recorded it as two episodes and skipped the whole contemporary round. I got some people running out happy because they made it and then a dance for your life, but I missed all the contemporary dancing. Was that where someone had an attitude problem? They kept teasing it in the commercials, but I never saw it. What happened?

[mojoween]

One thing I didn't follow was the problem with "One Love's" group performance. So Ryan choreographed something, but then Serena changed everything, and what they did was too difficult for the four of them? I mean, I didn't see much ballroom in their performance and also had to agree with Tara's "hot mess" assessment.

And they went to commercial showing that one guy falling on the other guy's face, but did they ever show it again when they came back from break?

[bourbon]

Did they ever show who Shankman was talking about from the tease where he said he wanted to cut someone for their unprofessional behavior?

 

I'm pretty pleased about most of the Top 20.  I could do without Jessica Richens, but there's one like her every year.  She's the kind few are passionate about but many will hate.  I adore Rudy and Nick.  So glad they both made it. Rudy didn't seem as strong and graceful as some of the other contempo boys, but he did seem more versatile.  Not sure why Trevor Boyce was cut.  In his own style, too!  He seemed to be doing well during the HH round.  I hope he, Jaja, and Silky come back.  

 

I would have preferred to see Armen Way in the Top 20, but I don't know who I would like to have seen cut.  He seemed very strong in all styles, so I have to think it came down to casting.  What didn't he have in that respect that the other ballroom boys did?  I see him being the same type as Serge, but perhaps Serge was a little more accessible than Armen.  Or perhaps they're just still pissed at him for dropping Malece. 

 

The One Love segment was pure Nigel manipulation and they should've seen through it. 

 

So no meet the top 20?  We go right to the elimination round?  That's been my fave episode each season without the voting and elimination shenanigans.  Just pure, beautiful dancing in their own styles.  

 

I like Ricky.  I'm glad he shaved his facial skrag.  He looked like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

[Superpole2000]

I am glad Jaja missed the cut. I kind of liked her audition, but her solo tonight left me cold. I guess I'm just not a popping fan. It feels a bit gimmicky to me, and it gets repetitive the more I see it.

[pally]

Armen Way is dancing in the Derek and Julianne Hough tour this summer so its possible that commitment got in the way.

[Toaster Strudel]

I shed tears for Johny Waacks!  He was adorable and a great dancer.

[90PercentGravity]

Glad for Marquet, Emilio, Stanley and the guy who shaved. Pretty much meh on everyone else.

 

Sorry Caleb, there's only room for one ghost daddy on this show.

 

The Jessica pimping has already started. Yuck. Is there a betting pool for how many times Nigel will save her while drooling into his Metamucil?

[Sharpie66]

Another Ricky fan here! Marcquet has also grown on me, as has Emilio (but I still don't regret his broken nose since it gave us Aaron). The women are just an amorphous mass to me at this point, though.

Anyone figure out what happened to last week's gymnast who had made it to last year's Green Mile? I realized halfway through the callbacks that they hadn't shown her at all.

[Zuleikha]

I'm surprised and bummed about Jaja but my theory is this: she is sooo good at what she does but sooo mediocre at the other styles that they really want her to hone those skills so that when she comes back she'll be able to move further along in the competition than she probably would this year.

 

It just seems silly to me to do that. This show may not have a season 12. Moreover, look at how well Cyrus did with his rawness and how poorly Mariah did despite her cross-genre excellence. There's no way to predict who the audience will gravitate to. IMHO, better to cut one of the contemporary women and let Jaja take her chances this year. Worst case scenario she's a relatively earlyish cut who gives the audience some solo diversity and (hopefully) a good Meet the Top 20 number. 

[Rick Kitchen]

Man, Serena, passive aggressive much?

I hate group night.  It's stupid to make dancers into choreographers.  What happened to Novien?

 

Zack killed it all night long.

 

Why does Landon Anderson walk with his nose up in the air?

[Dejajeva]

That ep was edited weird. Like her or not that Jessica has a very good face, the camera loves her. She's really pretty. I only notice her and Ricky. Idk any of the rest of them.

[chocolatine]

I loved Jaja and am really sad she didn't make it through. It was amazing how putting on fishnets and high heels for the ballroom round transformed her. I'd much rather have had her on the show than Jessica, whose dancing screams strip club to me. 

 

With Jaja out of the running, the only girls I like are Malene and the ballerina who isn't Jourdan (I still hate Jourdan for her audition sob story). Tanisha, Brooklyn, Bridget, girl from last year, and girl whose parents paid for her marketing degree are so far meh to me. I love Valerie's smile, but tap is not my cup of tea.

 

The guys are more interesting to me, and I predict one of them will win. My early favorite was Ricky, but after this episode it's Marcquet. He seemed to have such a facility with every style that was thrown at him, and his smile lights up my TV screen.

[Kara]

Man, Serena, passive aggressive much?

I hate group night.  It's stupid to make dancers into choreographers. 

My guess is that the group routines are not so much about the dance (although you can't completely suck, or you will get kicked off), but more about how the dancers work together under pressure.  While there are usually one or two people who act like idiots during the other routines during Vegas (or not Vegas), it is the group routines, working late into the night, having to collaborate, and not just take instruction from professional choreographers, that really puts on the pressure.  I feel like this show does a really good job finding people that are down to earth, willing to work hard, and treat the other dancers with respect.  I think that the group routines, as pointless as they seem, really give insight into the personalities.  For that reason, and not so much for the actual dances, I appreciate them.

 

I am also sad about Jaja.  At this point, I can't even remember the other women, except for the tapper, and while I like her a lot, I don't see her lasting long in the competition.  There are several guys I like, Marcquet, Ricky, the two friends.  The guy tap dancer was adorable.  I love Stanley, but he is so skinny.  I hope he has the upper body strength to do lifts. 

[NextIteration]

Did anyone from the choreography group of OneLove make it? 

 

Carly Blaney off the top of my head.

 

I too was disappointed about JaJa since a S12 is in question.

 

And I agree completely with you Kara regarding the full purpose of the group round, which was exhibited in Nigel's letting the whole One Love group through after their decision to stick together and not throw anyone under the bus.

[Bdwyre]

So who was Adam yelling at about being unprofessional?  Did I miss that part of the show?

 

My favorites are Ricky and Marquet.  Everyone else just kind of blends together - especially the girls.  Well except for Jessica.  I knew from the minute I saw her audition that she would make the top twenty.   Nigel would have put her through if she had got up on the stage and just stood there.  

 

Not much else to say.  Just hoping there are some decent routines this year and that I never have to see Beiber again.

[Toaster Strudel]

Serena should have sacrificed herself.  I was disappointed she didn't offer herself up.  At least she didn't make top 20.

It's going to be a great season!  No Molleeeees!

[bourbon]

I think Jessica Richens is totally this season's Molleeeee.

 

I've really come to the not-so-surprising conclusion that Nigel Lythgoe is a really awful person.  He made comments about how it isn't just about talent, it's about casting, and then on twitter, he defends the fact that there are no women of color in the Top 20 by stating that they picked the Top 20 on talent.  So, which is it?  Cast on talent alone or don't.  But don't be disingenuous about it. Then the fakery of the One Love drama.  He never had any intention of making them pick someone, and had they picked one person, he probably would have cut them all to teach them some lesson about teamwork.  Then calling out Twitch, Mary, and Jessica for giving Marie Poppins one more chance.  As if Nigel hasn't done the same thing 100x, coddling his favorites, berating a contestant only to say they were being spared because Nigel "believes" in them.  Not to mention his general inappropriate pervy-ness.  He makes the show increasingly less fun to watch.

[Skittl1321]

 

Serena should have sacrificed herself.

I bet if she did Nigel would have kept her for being nobel, and cut the rest.

 

She knew what was up though- no matter what happened at that stage, she knew she wasn't getting in the top 20.

[LadyArcadia]

So much happened and yet the thing that sticks out in my mind is how much of a dick Adam was laughing at the girl who threw herself into the move and fell.  The way he laughed just screamed "asshole who mocks other people".  Ugh.. I loved you, Adam.  Now I realize your just an elitist.

 

So sad about Jaja.

 

I'm rooting for my fellow ballroom dancers this year. I agree, they're trying for a ballroom win and a couple of them have a really good shot at it! Oh, and Rudy. I have to root for that lovable dork.

[Tara Ariano]

Here's Danny's post on the episode!

[90PercentGravity]

How the heck did they justify cutting Johnny Waacks? He did an excellent job with all the styles, they said so themselves. He also was key in choreographing the group number that they loved. Because, it has to be said, that's wh(a)ack!

[allypenguin]

I loved Johnny Waacks too :( Even though I missed his audition episode, what I've seen of him doing his style is so cool! Also mourning Silky. Rudy to me looks like a super young Hoodie Allen. I don't really care for Jessica or the girl with the dead dad, but I know they will be pimped by Nigel. For some reason the casting of so many contemporary dancers this year is bothering me more than ever.

 

On a side note, it was awesome to see 2 of my favourite ladies from last season on the show again, Jasmine H. and Makenzie! Also, I would love to see Twitch judging way more, he just seems to love dance so much.

[Sugar]

I'm super bummed about Jaja, she was definitely my favorite girl and I was crossing my fingers and toes that she was cross-trained. She did well in ballroom and I thought she was just as good in contemporary as contemporary girls are in hip/hop/krump, so it's a bit of a double standard. I love that during her dance-for-her-life solo the other dancers were so supportive of her and in awe of what she can do. Really pissed that we are denied a Comfort/Jaja all-star duet :(

 

I HATE that Bridget girl (dead father) with a passion and I'm beyond upset that she made it through. Her sob story is stupid (it's sad that you lost your dad but you were 12, it's not like it happened the day before the audition!), and she seems like she's totally hamming up the drama of it all for the cameras. I get a very "made for TV movie" vibe every time she has a confessional or looks forlornly at the ceiling with tears in her eyes...it's just all too much. And to top it all off, she is a very mediocre dancer. I get nothing from her and her technique isn't great. She's another one who can't sustain movement and falls out early. I hope she was cast as fodder and is gone in the first week.

 

Excited about Malena, who may be the first ballroom girl since Anya to make me take notice (and I'm a straight female!). Like Anya, she makes me want to " be her when I grow up". None of the other girls had that affect on me, and I think partly it's because Malena and Anya dance like women, and not like girls (see Whitney, Lindsey, Christina, etc.).

 

Love Ricky, love Stanley (unlike Bridget, his sob story didn't make me hate him), love the dorky friends who seem to be self-aware of their own douchiness (which makes them kind of adorable), and I like Jourdan for her strength and technique. It's hard for me to watch dancers like Alison, Jasmine Harper, Amy, Eleana, etc. and then be excited by someone like Jessica, who just looks so amateur in comparison. Maybe she has it in her, but I haven't seen that at all from her solos. To quote the great Tyra Banks, she's totally resting on pretty. 

[Steph01924]

I HATE that Bridget girl (dead father) with a passion and I'm beyond upset that she made it through. Her sob story is stupid (it's sad that you lost your dad but you were 12, it's not like it happened the day before the audition!), and she seems like she's totally hamming up the drama of it all for the cameras. I get a very "made for TV movie" vibe every time she has a confessional or looks forlornly at the ceiling with tears in her eyes...it's just all too much. And to top it all off, she is a very mediocre dancer. I get nothing from her and her technique isn't great. She's another one who can't sustain movement and falls out early. I hope she was cast as fodder and is gone in the first week.

 

 

 

Yeah, her dancing was acceptable but I didn't think she was such a special snowflake that she needed to be in the top 20. What also kept making me stop and double-take was that she looks so much like the actress Kimberly Williams-Paisley (Brad Paisley's wife, of the Father of the Bride movies) and so when I saw her I thought 'actress'. And she was definitely pulling out some long, forlorn faces and hopeful upwards glances in keeping with her 'story'. 

 

I am also sad about Yaya. Boo, Nigel.

 

I didn't remember Emilio last season (he probably wasn't shown much) but he seemed really good and was super adorable so...not gonna lie, I'm kinda glad he's in just for the eye candy. I was also happy Marquet and Ricky and the non-annoying Miami friend was put through.

 

Most of the girls, I can't remember any names that jump out at me. I feel like some that they did focus on got cut, and half the girls look so similar I can't really get a feel for them until the actual live show episodes. It's always easier for me to recall them by their audition clothes if they flash back to those moments.

*Edited to add* Over in the spoiler thread someone posted the audition clips of almost every top 20, and I realized I remember way more of everyone than I thought. I do like a lot of the girls! I'm pretty excited for next week, seeing everyone in their own styles.

 

As far as Jessica...I don't know. She definitely has some talent, her attitude hasn't bugged me yet, so I'm not gonna say she's just a pretty face. I don't want to hate Jessica until I see how she does in the show, because right now I feel like she hasn't done much herself to warrant a lot of backlash. I'll put it all on the actual problem: Nigel. We the audience may dislike her because in our eyes she's taking a spot from a more 'deserving' person, but obviously she is going to think she's got the talent and the chops. I enjoyed her dance-for-your-life solo; yes, there was a bit much of the hair whipping, but it didn't feel as much like a sexy stripper dance to me as her audition, and sometimes it's nice to see a sexy routine. Lauren Froderman came off a bit immature at first, as well, but she pulled most of her dances off with maturity. 

 

I'm excited for all the ballroom and I'm hoping this means the choreographers will pull out some nice routines (that actually get performed well!) this season. 

Edited June 26, 2014 by Steph01924

[BensBritches]

For me, the double standard between male and female hip hop/popper/lockers/whatever-style is astounding.  Jaja was adorable, full of personality, excellent in her chosen style and more than passable in other genres (to my untrained eye), but she gets cut... when guys like Cyrus, Jose and even Twitch (remember for as lovely as he is, he spent a lot of his "non-hip hop" dance time swinging on door frames and jumping on beds) make it through to the top 20 without much skill in other genres based on cuteness, personality, whatever.  So what exactly was Jaja lacking that those guys had?  I don't get it and it makes me actually angry.  And then we didn't get either Silky or Johnny Waacks...

 

If it weren't for Ricky and Stanley getting though, and possibly Casey Askew (wasn't he a sort of wacky contemporary guy?), I may even have passed up this season.  Other than my dislike for Jessica due to what I perceive as an "I'm so sexy with my hat" personality, I have no idea who is who among the girls and I can't say I really care about any of them.  The female tapper did not appeal to me at all- this group of guys seems a bit tiny and she seems so big compared to them (NOT in terms of weight, but in terms of height and body build).  But maybe that's a skewed perception.

 

I asked this question back on the TWoP forums a couple of times and never got a response, so I'll toss it out here and see what happens.  When did it become so acceptable and wide spread that dancers have visible tattoos all over their bodies?  I personally don't like it and find the art distracts from the dancer themselves.  I find for me, arm tattoos tend to shorten lines and make the dancer look stubbier (if that makes sense).  If I compare Travis Wall's dancing now to before the tattoo sleeves, he looks shorter and to have less length in his arms/extensions.  It appears that every dancer cast this season has at least 1 if not more noticeable tattoos and I recall the days when they were forbidden on dancers in any place that would show (maybe this was just ballet, but I thought it extended to other ballet-based forms of dance too).  I'm interested in other's opinions and if I'm the only one who finds the tattoos distracting...

[LadyArcadia]

I asked this question back on the TWoP forums a couple of times and never got a response, so I'll toss it out here and see what happens.  When did it become so acceptable and wide spread that dancers have visible tattoos all over their bodies?  I personally don't like it and find the art distracts from the dancer themselves.  I find for me, arm tattoos tend to shorten lines and make the dancer look stubbier (if that makes sense).  If I compare Travis Wall's dancing now to before the tattoo sleeves, he looks shorter and to have less length in his arms/extensions.  It appears that every dancer cast this season has at least 1 if not more noticeable tattoos and I recall the days when they were forbidden on dancers in any place that would show (maybe this was just ballet, but I thought it extended to other ballet-based forms of dance too).  I'm interested in other's opinions and if I'm the only one who finds the tattoos distracting...

 

I think tattoos in general are becoming more acceptable in society. I'm a ballroom dancer, with tattoos. That's one dance style that definitely is all about the prim and proper (smooth and standard, anyway).   I have one around my ankle that's difficult to cover up.  I don't like the look of it when I'm competing in smooth, but there isn't much I can do.  I've also held off on getting one on the back of my neck for that very reason.

 

It's a personal preference, but is accepted in the dance world.  I've seen some girls with full on back tattoos!

[NextIteration]

It appears that every dancer cast this season has at least 1 if not more noticeable tattoos and I recall the days when they were forbidden on dancers in any place that would show (maybe this was just ballet, but I thought it extended to other ballet-based forms of dance too).  I'm interested in other's opinions and if I'm the only one who finds the tattoos distracting...

 

I find big tattoos on dancers a little distracting.  I do remember that Natalie from S2 had a lower back one.

 

I think whether or not tattoos are frowned upon is also dependent on the style of dance.  Modern and Contemporary companies may be looser about rules regarding them than Ballet companies.  I know that my daughter, who does want to try to pursue performance opportunities once she completes her college dance major has a small dance related one that wraps around her her ribs, so you can see it if she is running around in a bra top and booty shorts, but not in most leotards or any costumes.

 

The bottom line for most of these dancers though - is that they want to pursue commercial dance, and not so much company dance.  So I'm not certain what rules apply.

 

Finally, there are ways to cover up small tattoos for performance.  I know you were referring to big ones, but that's what I know on the subject.

[LadyMustang65]

I could have done without Jessica (sexy hat dancer in case Jessica isn't her name) in the Top 20.  And I'm wondering how Bridget made it when she had to dance for her life and didn't even do that good a job of it.  Sad that JaJa didn't make it.  Also said that Marie Poppins wasn't better able to pick up choreo.  I still think there's something just so lovely and elegant about her that none of the other dancers have.  Glad Ricky made it through.  I admit it takes me weeks (sometimes almost until the last couple of weeks) to be able to tell most of the dancers apart.  There are usually a couple that stand out, and then the rest are a big blur of interchangeable contemporary people. 

[peachmangosteen]

Rudy looks too much like Jordan from The Challenge and it makes me residually hate him because Jordan is such a dink.

 

Thank you! I've taken to just calling him Jordan myself. I still like Rudy, though, even with my Jordan hate.

 

I have to say, I wasn't getting the Ricky love at all, but damn if that solo wasn't one of my faves of all time on this show. That was just on another level.

 

I actually like almost everyone in the Top 20 and I even love a lot of them. I'm excited!

[Kat]

I could have done with two full hours of Anya and Dimitry!

 

PREACH!

 

I would have MUCH rather had Armen in the top 20 than Serge. Particularly because Armen is at the max age and can’t audition next year, and Serge could. Also, shallow as this is, Armen is way HOTTER.

 

I know I’m in the minority but, I do not like Ricky or Rudy. I find both of their personalities exhausting. So angry that chipped tooth guy and Eric didn’t make the top 20 instead. Ricky may change my mind over the coming weeks, but I can tell that I'm going to want to punch Rudy in the nuts every time he's on my screen. Happy for Nick though.

[ElleTwoThree]

Not!gas is always both my favourite and least favourite episode all rolled into one. I like it because it is more dance centric than most of the other ones, particularly this one had a lot less talktalktalk and a lot more dance in it. Plus we get several choreographies, we get to actually see them dance and not tell us about their dance quite as much.

It is my least favourite in that it is one of the most manipulative of all the episodes. It gives time frames that are just not correct ("they have to learn this choreo in an hour!") , it talks about people dancing through the night which I am sure nobody does (everybody knows that you will injure yourself if you dance for 40 hours straight), it cuts and pastes like crazy to make it all look So. Darn. Dramatic. Plus it has the stupid "group choreo" shenanigans. I hate that round because this is not "so you can choreograph a random set of dancers you have met 12 minutes ago who all have difficult personalities"... (I may also hate it because I got cut at that stage winkwink). It doesn't show you if people can work together well necessarily, but if you have 2 crazy pushy people in your group (or 4 or all 5) and everyone wants to shove their ideas in the pot then you have a hodgepodge of crummy choreo danced by people who kind of dislike each other at that point.

 

Enough of a general rant, let's rant more specifically: I am not as in love with Ricky as everybody else is. I think he is ok, a good enough dancer, but he is so young and he dances immaturely. Most of them are crazy young. The couple (I mean "best friends") from Miami both look 8 too, Casey, who I very much enjoy, looks 9. I don't quite understand why they refuse to cast more grown up men. I think 6 or 7 seasons back you'd have the occasional Travis Wall baby, but most of the others looked like they had at least finished high school.

The girls are young too though. A few years back I remember thinking "aww Molleeeee and Nathan are like 10 years younger than everybody else", they would be like the grown ups in this group of people.

That said I don't actively dislike anybody yet, if they stop talking about their deceased relatives now that they have made it to top 20 that would be great though. And I found the blond hairography girl so much better at this callback than at her original audition. I think she could go Lauren Froderman, she needs to play her cards right though. I have no faves yet as those I loved the most are gone byebye (but so are those I liked least, so... you win some you lose some, right?

 

Loved seeing Anya and Dmitry... I would have just watched that for 2 hours. Someone up there said that as a straight woman she loved Anya, as a gay one I find her amazing too. And Mackenzie (total crush on her too!). And I have a soft spot for Travis, that blond lispy little weirdo. Seeing all of them kind of detracted from the actual contestants a little though.

 

Finally tats: the royal ballet company won't hire you with visible ones, but modern dance companies I don't think would mind them. Beautiful tats drawn in nice places on gorgeous dancers I think are really sexy. However sleeves, massive tribals and tramp stamps not so much! Which is silly because tats are a form of expression and dance is a form of expression and why should there be rules (this is what I told my mum when I got mine... she was not impressed).

[Lemons]

I find myself staring at the tattoos and not focusing on the dance.  Not a good look for most dancers.  The problem is what some might consider a beautiful tattoo, others might see it as a monstrosity. 

Edited June 26, 2014 by Lemons