Monday, September 10, 2012

Season 2, Episode 8: Buck


Today’s post marks a bit of a change in style. I’ve decided that I’m only going to write commentary on performances that were particularly noteworthy. At the end of the post, I’ll provide a list of the other performances, and I’ll try to find a link to a youtube video, too.

So guess who performs the first ever SYTYCD krump routine? Travis and his partner Martha. That’s right, Travis is the first person to show America (at least, that portion of America that watches SYTYCD) krump. The choreographer is, of course, Lil' C, also making his first appearance. And the third first? During the judges’ critique, Travis uses the word ‘buck,” marking the first of many times that word is uttered on SYTYCD. If I had to guess who first used the word “buck,” Travis wouldn’t even make the list.

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Season 2, Episode 7: The Results are In … Eventually, And Cat is Surprisingly Mean


This is our first ever results show, and while it’s really rough around the edges, it’s making me nostalgic. I really miss the results shows – Season 9 just isn’t quite the same without them. It’s confusing and I don’t get to watch my weekly quota of dancing.

Season 2, Episode 6: A Slow Start

With Season 9 currently airing, it is easy to see just how different people look. Nigel looks much younger, but Mary looks almost the same (the big difference being the extent to which her face is able to move). Cat looks only slightly younger, which is manifestly unfair. She is also just as gorgeous now as she was then. If I didn’t love Cat, I would hate her.

The show starts with a lot of warm up, most of it unnecessary. Did we need to see recaps of the judges “favorite” auditions? No, we distinctly did not. And while it was fun seeing Nick Lazzarini spinning, leaping, and flipping around the stage (sometimes all three at once!), I was more than ready for the show to actually begin.

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Shane Sparks and Alex da Silva

You know how it feels when you’re watching a really great movie, only to have something so unrealistic happen that it jolts you back into reality? I’m having something like that happen to me with SYTYCD.

The reason: since the show first started airing, both Alex da Silva and Shane Sparks have been arrested for committing sex offenses. Da Silva was arrested in 2009 and charged with 4 counts of rape. Last September (2011), he was convicted on one count of rape and one count of assault with attempt to commit rape. Sparks was also arrested in 2009, on the even more disturbing charge of child rape. You can read the sordid details of the accusation here and here.

Monday, August 6, 2012

Season 2, Episodes 4&5: Vegas Week and Meet the Top 20


With Vegas week, SYTYCD Season 2 is finally getting started. This time around, 116 dancers made it to Vegas. Since 20 of them will make the show, they each have a little less than a 1 in 5 chance of making it. Doesn’t sound too scary when I put it that way, does it?
                
I should mention that the prize for this season is a little different. Instead of winning $100,000 and a year in a gorgeous NYC apartment, the winner of Season 2 gets a contract to perform in Celine Dion’s show in Vegas, a new car, and $100.000. I’ve always wondered what on earth Nick Lazarini did with that apartment to get them to change the prize. I like Nick, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they just decided it wasn’t the most useful way to jump start a dance career. I also have to mention that I love the irony of this being a show about finding a star – and then the prize is to be a background dancer for a “real” star.

Like most Vegas shows, this episode is all about drama. Dancing is hard! Lots of people get very sweaty! People get hurt (but never as badly as the teasers suggest)! I would watch the show even if no one got injured. Honestly.

Friday, June 22, 2012

Episodes 1-3: The Season 2 Auditions


We’re on Season 2, huzzah! Even if it is only the audition shows. I’ve decided to write one post on all of the audition shows, because let’s face it, who wants to read 3 posts about auditions? (And ok, who wants to write that many posts about auditions? Even the best of these episodes is not that interesting.)

But there is one thing about the Season 2 auditions that is unreservedly awesome. Cat Deeley is hosting! I didn’t realize it until I started doing this rewatch, but SYTYCD just isn’t SYTYCD without Cat. She gives the show its soul – chipper, warm, a little acerbic, and prone to goosebumps.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Season 1 Synopsis: What do I remember?


It has now been a few weeks since I have watched the Season 1 finale, and almost a year since I started this project (I’ll be faster with Season 2, I promise!). So the questions I now need to ask myself are: How does this season stack up? How much of it do I remember?

The truth is, I don’t remember very much from Season 1. In terms of the dancers, I remember Nick and Melody clearly, though with a little effort, I can dredge some of the other dancers (Ashlé, Jamile, Ryan, Destini, Blake) up from the mnemonic void. I can’t remember a single dance clearly. All I can remember is that Mary Murphy is a damned good choreographer, and needs to start choreographing again. Lauren Sanchez was an adequate host, but hiring Cat Deeley to host Season 2 was one of the smartest moves the producers ever made.

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Episode 12: The Finale


The final episode of Season 1 makes it very clear this is a test run. Most of the show is pre-packaged filler, with some results thrown in. It kind of felt like the producers went “Oh, crap, we have to do a results show. What is that supposed to look like?” There are two new numbers created especially for the show, but otherwise the dancers just repeat some old dances. The dancers themselves (supposedly) chose their favorite dance of the season, but to be honest, none of the dances were really worth seeing again.

The two most interesting performances come from non-contestants. First, we have Anthony Bryant, otherwise known as “that dude from with the ribbon” from the auditions. He dances with his ribbon again, and it’s clear this guy is really good. I’m not surprised to find out he’s at Julliard. At the end of his performance, Nigel waves a little white ribbon in surrender. It’s a great PR move – no one has to apologize, and everyone saves face. The second performance is by a hip hop group known as the Gruvaloos (http://www.groovaloos.com/), which features some pretty impressive break dancing. 

Monday, June 4, 2012

Episode 11: The Last Performance Show


Well, we’ve finally made it to the Final Four – and the second to last episode of Season 1 – just in time for Season 9 to start airing. As a rule, I am not going to comment on the Season 9, as the whole point of a rewatch is that I am re-watching the episodes. That being said, I will immediately break that rule and observe that dancers auditioning for Season 9 had dances that were noticeably longer than the dances performed by dancers on Season 1 (which are generally under a minute).

Before we get into the episode proper, we see that Kamilah and Blake got sent home. More on them, as always, at the end of this post.

Part of what I love about the finale is that everyone dances with everyone else. Not only does that let you compare dancers side by side, it means we get pairings that are more interesting than the standard "guy + girl = love story" formulation. Each of the four dancers also performs solo, none of which were worth extended discussion. 

Monday, May 21, 2012

Episode 10: Mary Finally Screams ... and it Isn't Too Bad


This is another crammed episode. After two dancers (Artem and Melissa) are eliminated, each of the remaining six couples dances twice and every dancer dances a solo. The judges (Nigel, Mia, Mary, and Dan) are once again commenting on every dance, but we still don't get any rehearsal packages. I never thought I'd say this, but I really miss the rehearsal packages. First of all, that's the only way, as a rule, that we get to find out who choreographed the dances. Most of the choreographers from Season 1 don't stick around, but it still seems only fair that they get acknowledged. Second, I like learning what kind of story is behind the dance, and what kind of stylistic elements to look for. It gives me some sense of what to watch for.

Monday, April 9, 2012

Episode 9: And the Choreographers are …?


The first thing we are shown is who went home the previous week – in this case, Destini and Ryan. Ryan wins points for telling everyone that America made the right choice in saving Jamile, because Jamile is his best friend. How did I not remember that Ryan is such a sweetie?

Everyone dances twice during the performance show, but they’ve cut the show down to an hour and they’re really tight on time. So there are no rehearsal packages this week, and each couple hears from the judges only after their second dance. I really don’t like this format. While the rehearsal packages can be tedious, they can also be lots of fun. This format also means we have no idea who the choreographer is, because apparently Lauren Sanchez doesn’t have time to announce it.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Episode 8: More Invented Dance Styles

In the pre-recorded bit, we watch Snow and Allan get sent home. No surprises there. During the performance show (judged by Nigel, Mia, Dan, and Brian), we find out that each couple is going to dance twice. Hurray! There is going to be more actual dancing!

The first couple is Melissa and Artem, who will be performing “pop,” choreographed by Doriana Sanchez. Ok, what is up with these random styles? Who makes these things up? And since when does Doriana Sanchez choreograph anything other than disco?

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Episode 7: “Beautifully Awful and Odd”


As always, the first thing we find out is which dancers went home the previous week. This time around, it’s Michelle and Craig. I really don’t remember Michelle, so that doesn’t shock me, but I admit I’m stunned about Craig. I remember him very clearly – I can’t believe he went home on the second week of competition.

According to Nigel, Craig is exiting because his dancing was impressive technically but lacked performance. Ok, that critique is fair enough. But Nigel doesn’t stop there. Instead, he delivers a long speech about how America doesn’t care about the technical beauty of dancing. Americans would much rather watch Melody shaking her booty and doing a penchée than watch Melody perform an excerpt from Swan Lake. And anyhow, according to Nigel, we uncultured Americans probably thing a penchée is something Spanish people wear around their shoulders. So thanks, Nigel, for your patronizing comments. It’s a good thing I’m too stupid to understand your condescension, otherwise I would be rather irritated.

Friday, February 17, 2012

Episode 6: 14 Dancers, and Mia’s Little Dog, Too


Why the title, you may ask? Well, for some inexplicable reason, Mia’s brought a fluffy little black puppy with her in the audience. You can't see it too clearly in the shot, but it seems to be a small black poodle. Altogether now, people – awwwww.

The actual show starts with us getting to see who was voted off the previous week. It’s not clear when this was shot, but it was certainly shot soon after the last performance show. It feels really odd – I keep going, oh yeah, that’s what happened last week, can we get to the dancing already? It’s hard to be too invested in watching Sandra and Jonnis leave. Lauren Sanchez’s attempts to draw out the tension feel even more artificial than this kind of thing usually does, and the whole thing’s just kind of boring. Watching this makes me really nervous about not have a results show in the upcoming season. I have no idea how they’ll handle it, but I hope they do a better job, because this method is not good. 

Monday, January 30, 2012

Season 1, Episode 5: Yakety Yak (Don't Talk Back)

The first performance show of SYTYCD is a bit of a roller coaster. The highlights, for me, mostly came from interviews with some of the contestants (more on that later). The dancing was adequate, but felt somewhat contrived in performance quality. The dances are about moves, not concepts or emotions, and I can practically hear Ethel Mermen shouting, “smile baby” during every dance. The judges, however, acted like judges instead of overly-caffeinated cheerleaders, and they offered constructive criticism on nearly every piece. (The judges, by the bye, were Nigel, Mia, Dan Karaty, and Brian Friedman).

Monday, January 23, 2012

Season 1, Episode 4: Meet the Top 16

Well, after a very long hiatus, I am back – and writing about one of the most boring episodes SYTYCD has ever produced. There was zero dramatic tension, since most of the dancers who got air time in previous episodes had already gone home.
So instead of commenting on the episode itself, I thought I’d write about which of the top 16 I think are good enough to make it on to the show now. I’m making the judgment solely on what little dancing I’ve seen them do so far – which in many cases admittedly is just a minute or two. I’m also going to ignore everything I know about how good some of these dancers are now (particularly Nick, who is amazing in a Travis Wall piece set to Rolling in the Deep).