So You Think You Can Dance - Air Date July 5
Despite all the Big Brother frenzy going on, we can't forget our dancers!
The show is now down to seven couples, but it's still scheduled for two hours. This can only mean one thing. Filler. Lots and lots of filler. Seriously, it's ridiculous how much filler there was.
In the first segment, Cat Deeley talked about how popular the looks back to the auditions have been, and now they can show footage never before seen, and I quote, "We didn't have time to air. Until now." Well yeah. When you cut dancers but not airtime, you need to put something there. I'm almost offended enough to gloss over it all and just get to the competition, but there were some things that came up that were worth touching on.
In New York, the first auditioner we met this time was Nick Thompson, who talked about how much he enjoyed last season and that Nigel Lythgoe is his hero. He claimed to have a twin brother who doesn't dance and that he, Nick, had all the talent. I say "claimed" because after seeing him dance, I'm suspicious that maybe Nick has a disassociative disorder and this "twin" is in actuality a projection that manifests when Nick realizes how horrible his dancing is.
The other auditioner worth mentioning was Shayna Fink who told us she was dancing for the last time for perhaps the rest of her life. She has a spinal disorder that is going to require a spinal fusion procedure that will leave her unable to walk for six months, and after that she will no longer be able to tap dance. She was pretty good at it too, and obviously enjoyed what she does. That she's going to lose this from her life made this one of the most bittersweet moments of the season and I wish her well.
After the first commercial break, it's off to Los Angeles where we got to see some pretty amazing break dancers, and a performer named Maria "Pandora" Medina who had one of the most unusual but beautiful routines yet. Unfortunately she didn't fare so well in hip-hop later that evening, so she didn't make it to Las Vegas.
Before her though, there was one dancer I have to take exception to. His name was John Goldstein, and he was good, but he said everyone should have dance in their lives and that dance is the only way to really "express your soul". While I see where he's coming from, that comment is such a slap to artists in every other field I wanted to grab him through the television and take him to an art gallery.
Another commercial break later, we find ourselves in Chicago. The only thing really worth bringing up from this segment was Nigel's Popeye impression that amused me immensely, and if you can be funny with an impression then you're half-way there, it doesn't matter if it's spot on or not.
We come to a third commercial break, and coming back from it we finally get the introduction of the dancers, but following that we still don't get a competition, no. Now it's special guest dancers Lil "C" and the Neph Squad doing some krumping. It was good, really good, but by this point I didn't care. When it's down to three couples, is it still going to be a two hour show?
Then a fourth commercial break, after which Cat and Nigel give origami lessons to... NO! It's competition time! This week the judges are Nigel, Dan Karaty, and Mary "Banshee" Murphy.
Shedonne and Kareen (Hip-Hop) - Who? Those are the names of the personas adopted by Heidi and Ryan, who have never done hip-hop before. They were fantastic and amazingly entertaining. Two of the judges loved it, but Dan compared it to a "cheerleading routine". Rough.
Martha and Travis (Salsa) - Much better than their lackluster performance last week! The judges were mixed on this one as well, Nigel's only criticism was that Travis was a little too sharp, Dan thought it was hot, leaving Mary as the one who liked it the least. One thing that made me laugh out loud was the woman in the audience holding the "Marry me Travis!" sign. That's one woman who is bound to experience many disappointments in life.
Ashlee and Dmitry (Contemporary) - Ashlee is Dmitry's third partner, so how would they do? It was okay. I'd love to see Travis or Jehiaems perform the choreography with Natalie or Allison, but it was still nice. One thing I'm actually starting to notice is lack of technique and they lack much. Still, not bad. Nigel appreciated it, Mary's in love with Dmitry and thought it was great, and Dan didn't care for it at all. They "did not play their characters".
Natalie and Musa (Disco) - Natalie kicked butt, and Musa lifted her nicely but otherwise seemed stiff and awkward (relatively speaking compared to the other male dancers, he's far from being Master P). Nigel did recognize how great of a partner Natalie is for Musa, but he said his strength was there for her. Mary thought it was hot, WHOOOOOO! Last week she thought Musa was crap, this week he was caviar. Dan liked it.
Donyelle and Benji (Viennese Waltz) - Or as they called it, the "Vietnamese Waltz". Their pronunciation doesn't matter, they were brilliant and wonderful once again. After the performance, Nigel mentioned that Donyelle may be working with a broken toe. When asked about it, she said they don't know what's wrong with it, but she jammed it into the floor and said it's gradually getting worse. Get to a doctor! Yeesh. If Donyelle leaves due to this that would suck more than Paris Hilton in a football locker room.
Wow, that's the lowest, dirtiest joke I've made yet. I'm sorry. But it would suck. As for the judges, they loved this peformance.
The Wild Hanlons (Treasure Hunters) - Bumbling into the second wrong show in a week, amazingly doing it back through time as this one aired first, the Hanlons searched every scratch on stage and under Nigel's wig for clues. They thought that Mary's screaming meant something, but she just thought that Pat's mullet looked hot. This time they were followed by Cowboy who stumbled into the same timewarp after and still distraught over not making it into the Big Brother house the next night. He asked them if they could be his other three Horsemen, and invited Ben to have a bath with him. Cowboy then did a freakdance that wowed the judges, but when he inevitably tripped he knocked the Hanlons and himself back into the timewarp. They are now lost in time, popping up throughout history helping people and solving crimes.
Allison and Ivan (West Coast Swing) - Last week I thought that Ivan's testicals had finally dropped. This week I'm not so sure. This dance would have been amazing with Benji and Heidi. Not so much with Allison and Ivan. She was fine, he seemed as awkward as he had in previous weeks. It the space of a few days he won me over then lost me again. The judges were watching tapes from last week, it seems, because they liked this. Nigel thought Ivan was appearing more confident, Mary thought Allison was so good she thought she could win (fair enough) but did comment on how there was no sex appeal but still fun, and Dan thought it was a great peformance.
Jessica and Jmz (Hip-Hop) - Fun and energetic. It entertained me more than it did the judges. Nigel thought they danced it well, but didn't really put any feeling into it. Mary thought they did a great job, but didn't enjoy it as much as I did. Dan said they were faking it, not making it. They were clean, but just didn't have the technique.
If you've been reading my coverage of the show, you'll notice I don't normally bring up the judges comments this much. There is a reason for that this week. I really don't know what they're looking for, and don't understand why they gave so much praise to Musa and Ivan but were so hard on so many of the the other men who seemed to have done much better than those two. Maybe it's a genuine difference in opinion, but could they really have thought those two were that good? What makes sense is that the expectations for Musa and Ivan are so much lower than for the other guys that just not tripping on stage is seen as a good thing.
Don't get me wrong. Musa is incredibly likeable and I love his breaking and Ivan is barely out of diapers, but I'm just confused how they got such high praise.
The show is now down to seven couples, but it's still scheduled for two hours. This can only mean one thing. Filler. Lots and lots of filler. Seriously, it's ridiculous how much filler there was.
In the first segment, Cat Deeley talked about how popular the looks back to the auditions have been, and now they can show footage never before seen, and I quote, "We didn't have time to air. Until now." Well yeah. When you cut dancers but not airtime, you need to put something there. I'm almost offended enough to gloss over it all and just get to the competition, but there were some things that came up that were worth touching on.
In New York, the first auditioner we met this time was Nick Thompson, who talked about how much he enjoyed last season and that Nigel Lythgoe is his hero. He claimed to have a twin brother who doesn't dance and that he, Nick, had all the talent. I say "claimed" because after seeing him dance, I'm suspicious that maybe Nick has a disassociative disorder and this "twin" is in actuality a projection that manifests when Nick realizes how horrible his dancing is.
The other auditioner worth mentioning was Shayna Fink who told us she was dancing for the last time for perhaps the rest of her life. She has a spinal disorder that is going to require a spinal fusion procedure that will leave her unable to walk for six months, and after that she will no longer be able to tap dance. She was pretty good at it too, and obviously enjoyed what she does. That she's going to lose this from her life made this one of the most bittersweet moments of the season and I wish her well.
After the first commercial break, it's off to Los Angeles where we got to see some pretty amazing break dancers, and a performer named Maria "Pandora" Medina who had one of the most unusual but beautiful routines yet. Unfortunately she didn't fare so well in hip-hop later that evening, so she didn't make it to Las Vegas.
Before her though, there was one dancer I have to take exception to. His name was John Goldstein, and he was good, but he said everyone should have dance in their lives and that dance is the only way to really "express your soul". While I see where he's coming from, that comment is such a slap to artists in every other field I wanted to grab him through the television and take him to an art gallery.
Another commercial break later, we find ourselves in Chicago. The only thing really worth bringing up from this segment was Nigel's Popeye impression that amused me immensely, and if you can be funny with an impression then you're half-way there, it doesn't matter if it's spot on or not.
We come to a third commercial break, and coming back from it we finally get the introduction of the dancers, but following that we still don't get a competition, no. Now it's special guest dancers Lil "C" and the Neph Squad doing some krumping. It was good, really good, but by this point I didn't care. When it's down to three couples, is it still going to be a two hour show?
Then a fourth commercial break, after which Cat and Nigel give origami lessons to... NO! It's competition time! This week the judges are Nigel, Dan Karaty, and Mary "Banshee" Murphy.
Shedonne and Kareen (Hip-Hop) - Who? Those are the names of the personas adopted by Heidi and Ryan, who have never done hip-hop before. They were fantastic and amazingly entertaining. Two of the judges loved it, but Dan compared it to a "cheerleading routine". Rough.
Martha and Travis (Salsa) - Much better than their lackluster performance last week! The judges were mixed on this one as well, Nigel's only criticism was that Travis was a little too sharp, Dan thought it was hot, leaving Mary as the one who liked it the least. One thing that made me laugh out loud was the woman in the audience holding the "Marry me Travis!" sign. That's one woman who is bound to experience many disappointments in life.
Ashlee and Dmitry (Contemporary) - Ashlee is Dmitry's third partner, so how would they do? It was okay. I'd love to see Travis or Jehiaems perform the choreography with Natalie or Allison, but it was still nice. One thing I'm actually starting to notice is lack of technique and they lack much. Still, not bad. Nigel appreciated it, Mary's in love with Dmitry and thought it was great, and Dan didn't care for it at all. They "did not play their characters".
Natalie and Musa (Disco) - Natalie kicked butt, and Musa lifted her nicely but otherwise seemed stiff and awkward (relatively speaking compared to the other male dancers, he's far from being Master P). Nigel did recognize how great of a partner Natalie is for Musa, but he said his strength was there for her. Mary thought it was hot, WHOOOOOO! Last week she thought Musa was crap, this week he was caviar. Dan liked it.
Donyelle and Benji (Viennese Waltz) - Or as they called it, the "Vietnamese Waltz". Their pronunciation doesn't matter, they were brilliant and wonderful once again. After the performance, Nigel mentioned that Donyelle may be working with a broken toe. When asked about it, she said they don't know what's wrong with it, but she jammed it into the floor and said it's gradually getting worse. Get to a doctor! Yeesh. If Donyelle leaves due to this that would suck more than Paris Hilton in a football locker room.
Wow, that's the lowest, dirtiest joke I've made yet. I'm sorry. But it would suck. As for the judges, they loved this peformance.
The Wild Hanlons (Treasure Hunters) - Bumbling into the second wrong show in a week, amazingly doing it back through time as this one aired first, the Hanlons searched every scratch on stage and under Nigel's wig for clues. They thought that Mary's screaming meant something, but she just thought that Pat's mullet looked hot. This time they were followed by Cowboy who stumbled into the same timewarp after and still distraught over not making it into the Big Brother house the next night. He asked them if they could be his other three Horsemen, and invited Ben to have a bath with him. Cowboy then did a freakdance that wowed the judges, but when he inevitably tripped he knocked the Hanlons and himself back into the timewarp. They are now lost in time, popping up throughout history helping people and solving crimes.
Allison and Ivan (West Coast Swing) - Last week I thought that Ivan's testicals had finally dropped. This week I'm not so sure. This dance would have been amazing with Benji and Heidi. Not so much with Allison and Ivan. She was fine, he seemed as awkward as he had in previous weeks. It the space of a few days he won me over then lost me again. The judges were watching tapes from last week, it seems, because they liked this. Nigel thought Ivan was appearing more confident, Mary thought Allison was so good she thought she could win (fair enough) but did comment on how there was no sex appeal but still fun, and Dan thought it was a great peformance.
Jessica and Jmz (Hip-Hop) - Fun and energetic. It entertained me more than it did the judges. Nigel thought they danced it well, but didn't really put any feeling into it. Mary thought they did a great job, but didn't enjoy it as much as I did. Dan said they were faking it, not making it. They were clean, but just didn't have the technique.
If you've been reading my coverage of the show, you'll notice I don't normally bring up the judges comments this much. There is a reason for that this week. I really don't know what they're looking for, and don't understand why they gave so much praise to Musa and Ivan but were so hard on so many of the the other men who seemed to have done much better than those two. Maybe it's a genuine difference in opinion, but could they really have thought those two were that good? What makes sense is that the expectations for Musa and Ivan are so much lower than for the other guys that just not tripping on stage is seen as a good thing.
Don't get me wrong. Musa is incredibly likeable and I love his breaking and Ivan is barely out of diapers, but I'm just confused how they got such high praise.
posted by Tabby at 1:41 p.m.
1 Comments:
Musa is a wizard. He casts a glamor spell so that everyone focuses on his partner and doesn't notice that, unless he's breaking, he dances like frankenstein. Mary was impervious to Musa's glamor spell for a while (the counter-spell is a blood curdling scream). But Musa's majik is too powerful. heh :)
Oh, and he's kinda cute.
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