SYTYCD Episode 3: So You Think We’ve Seen Enough Auditions Already?

Cat reminds us how in Charleston NC a convergence of talent has occurred before: Travis, Dimitry, Natalie, Heidi and others have auditioned here and gone on to top 12. Now, remember also that the cluster did not happen by chance, since they all were already friends and partners, and had danced with many of the choreographers in this show… whatever… I see that Cat seems to have been taking some dance lessons: I think she thinks we would like to think she can dance!

The auditions start with Sheila: What a great performer…and a great dancer! She is right: Biological-Engineering can wait (what is that anyway, clone manufacturing?). Other notables: Courtney Galiano—Beautiful dancer, great eye contact, good arms, legs, face, and amazing technique. I bet you she’ll be in the top 12 at least. Claire, the season 2 injured dancer (remember her?), after a baby… hard to figure out where it came from! Did the stork bring it? Seriously, she looked amazing. In my opinion, they should have kept their word and put her straight to Vegas, instead of making her cry baby cry. But, anyhow, she made it.

There were bunch of weirdos and delusionals at NC also, of course. I won’t lose your time and mine writing about the stupid ones. There were plenty of those. But I would mention Jeremiah the Zen dancer, giving us leaps of dancing faith. Crazy in all senses of the word, crazy moves, crazy lines, crazy eyes, crazy talk. Good? Maybe? All I can say is that I would also have let him thru to Vegas. So we’ll see how far he goes, hoping his medication lasts long enough.

So you still think that people do not dance in the shower, Nigel? So, Nigel, how about Syiddah? So you think she dances in the shower? I do. As a matter of fact, she did not move too much around, as if she were used to dancing in the shower! So you want to call that dancing, Nigel? So, you want to call it dancing forever, Syiddah? So you think you are just you, Syiddah? SYIDDAH – So your imaginary dancing days are hot… NOT.

Nigel, I was liking you a lot tonight until you made that stupid comment! Regarding “loony” travesty Jason, you told him: “You’re one of the reasons why so many fathers don’t like their sons dancing”. Are you kidding me?!?!?! You should not have dignified his act with the word “dancing”. First of all, dance had nothing to do with this loser being an ugly cross-dresser. And even more important, this guy was not a dancer!!!! Nigel, please, do not add insult to injury. Dance obviously had nothing to do with this guy being an idiot!! Now, about Jason: I must agree that he deserved what he got from the judges and more. I, like Nigel, am also tired of people that can’t dance making fun of dancers. What a loser you are, Jason!!!!

Washington, DC: for some reason, this part of the show did not inspire me at all, except for some great male dancers. In particular, Brandon Bryant, how good was he! And if he truly is only 18 he’s gonna be quite something! This is what I mean by technique! What a joy to watch a guy dancing like a guy with obvious technique that may come from many areas and, in particular, ballet (do you want to bet?). This shows that when you have the core technique needed to be a real dancer, then you can be a creative contemporary dancer, have clean moves, and show off your technique.

And then Anthony, the Julliard graduate, with great technique and camouflaged spark, that turned into a conflagration when he couldn’t find his shoes as he stomped out. You can see with him the difference between a masculine dancer (Brandon) and one that doesn’t seem to clearly distinguish between how his female role models dance and how he is supposed to dance. As Balanchine would say: the difference between the Prince and the Queen.

Winning couple of the night: Courtney and Brandon. If they are paired in LA, they are going places!

And, hey, one last thing: Nigel needs a haircut!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y74d3wVc654

Episode 2: SYTYCD? SITYAD!*

In Utah snow falls outside and dancers spill inside. The cold weather outside in Salt Lake City was sometimes more welcoming than the judges comments inside. And Dallas may have been a little warmer outside, but dancers still had to fend off cold hearted comments. But I must say, in most if not all cases they were warranted. What were these people thinking? That they can dance? S-E-X was more entertaining than some of these!
Nigel seemed to be a little more constructive last night: his comments on “you slip on those socks, you’ll dance better without them” or “I’ll give you a ticket to Vegas if you promise never to wear those soccer shorts again” were right on target. The reason people use fitted clothes and proper dance shoes is so that they can dance better and actually show their lines; not slip and spill on socks, not distracted by scarves, not pulling up their jeans every three seconds…
But Nigel really redeemed himself in Dallas with the “Stepford Dancer” remark: a scathing critique to the prefabricated moves, sequential stop-and-go tricks, and artificial costuming and emotion we often see. Smart comment Nigel!!!
Holy Hot Tamale Mary, you are always fun and often sharp but, what were you drinking? Did you notice? I went back and forth on the tape and saw that she had a bottle of something that she was pouring in her glass… Is that the same thing Paula drinks on AI?
The guest judges, Mandy Moore and Adam Shankman did not participate so much this time. Best comment: “are we being punked?” Truly there were some delusional movers and shakers out there that think they can dance. Some can’t be part of the show because, well, they pop kids out every two years! Gives a whole new meaning to “dancer mom”. We liked her, but, not for this show (there are some reality TV possibilities there). Some can’t be part of the show, well, because they can’t dance! Have they ever seen good dancing, even in a club? When Naomie Christensen (the one in black, with black socks) blamed the floor for her own shortcomings, Mary’s follow up to Mandy’s comment was justified” “Where are you Ashton?” (meaning Kutchner, not Frederick). And when the Mickey Mouse Hair/ears guy ranted and raved about his dancing abilities! Well, he now has left the house! (Or been escorted out from it…)
Some great lessons learned today. One, regarding costuming, it obviously helps to have the right one. I honestly think that those with fitted clothing that showed the body movements and lines had a better chance of getting through. We liked Kelly Baker, Chelsey Hightower and Arielle, the girl who brought a partner (who wasn’t a dancer, by the way, but was a great partner); all of them had the right choreography, right clothes, right shoes, great legs, right moves. We also liked Matt who, despite his red soccer shorts, displayed his ballet training mixed with some odd jazzy moves in an interesting choreography. We also liked the two 25 (really?) year old divorcees, and the skater/hip-hop guy from Borat’s country (named Gey) who was not Borat, after all! Finally, we liked the Snuggle teddy bear (did you notice?). You can see a clip of him at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y74d3wVc654

And the main lesson of all tonight was that, besides the right choreography, appropriate attire and great technique, the most important ingredient for success in these auditions is dancing with your heart!

*So I Think You Are Delusional

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SYTYCD Episode 1: It was stupid and it was stupid!

I had forgotten that Mia Michaels' is from Bizarro world: Remember Superman’s alter world where everything is reverse? So for Mia brilliant is stupid, wonderful is stinky, and successful is sex-full…oh no, wait a minute, that was just a slip of her tongue. But then, Mia, sometimes what you say really gets lost in translation such as when you said that the popper Phillip Chbeeb was brilliant. Did you really mean it? If you meant brilliant, why didn’t you say stupid? This is soooo confusing!
To me, it was stupid (bad) that “S-E-X” was back. If Nigel thinks it is so ridiculous (really meaning ridiculous, I think) that S-E-X auditions every season just to see himself on TV, why do they show him on TV every season then? Why isn’t he just edited out? Why spend one, two, three minutes on him, instead of someone else? After all, Nigel, you are the producer of this show! Or is it that you want to pretend that you’re just a judge? Like with Gold Inferno, with his jumping and stomping workout routine: were you really “outvoted” and were going to let him through to Vegas? We did see that smug smile of yours and eye twinkle… Oh, Nigel, here we start again another season of your tricky manipulations. Didn’t “S-E-X” audition for American idol also? Which, by the way, is also your show, Nigel?
Mary Murphy’s hot tamale laugh is back: can’t decide if it’s annoying (amusing) or amusing (annoying). She was the most consistent of the judge’s panel tonight, I will grant that. No conceited remarks, no outrageous celebratory remarks. What was good, she saw as good. What was not so good, well… Nigel did cover her eyes when the guy that can’t afford dance shorts (Rijiy Ames) made the (bold/ball) statement of the evening.
Well, besides a bunch of brilliant (stupid) auditions, there were some stupid (brilliant) ones. Ridiculously awesome was Erika Gee: technique, pointing, turnout and consistency in a contemporary routine. High hopes for her. Asuka, the ballroom dancer, she’s also beautiful and seems to be a contender. Kherington, the soccer player, has potential but I saw a few technique problems. And Devin, the one with just one shoe, was her technique really that incredible? Stupid was, not stupid good, the tall girl who claimed tall people discrimination, or Ryan the silly cat, or Edwin’s the “dropper.” Interestingly cool was the guy who danced to a poem. Cool performance, but was it dancing? And then the Gemini dancers Aliona-Leonidas: weird, her comment “we are the same just one female body/male body dancer” – weird, weird, weird… Eye popping of the evening: that last guy (Robert Muraine). Who knew the human body could do that? How flexible can you be? Marcel Marceau’s spirit was channeled tonight. Miming yes, entertaining yes, performance yes, dancing?
Sometimes this show makes me wonder: What is dancing, after all? Or is this a stupid question?

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So you think you can dance… in the shower?

Nigel Lythgoe (someone I’m not a fan of, by the way) trying to explain why a lot more people audition for American Idol than for SYTYCD, said: “More people think they can sing than think they can dance;” and then added: “You can sing in the shower; you can’t really dance in the shower. A lot of people know they can’t dance; it is amazing how many think they can sing.” I dare to disagree. In my experience, a lot of people are also delusional about dancing, thinking that they can dance or that they know how to, or that they can differentiate between a good and a bad dancer when they really have no clue. And, I also think that you can dance in the shower. As a matter of fact, I’ve done it more than once. And when I do dance in the shower, I’m the best! …or should I say instead “America’s favorite dancer”?

Actually, there may be some truth to Lythgoe’s statement regarding the mass appeal of singing over dancing. It is definitely more likely that a common mortal will know the lyrics of a popular song than know the steps of a particular dance. Follow that tune? How many songs do you know? With songs, you know the lyrics, you’ve heard them a hundred million times, you may have even heard several versions of the same song a hundred million times. Now, how many “popular” dances do you think that the common mortal would know or recognize by heart? Besides the Macarena and the Chicken dance, maybe the Hokey Pokey, I don’t think there are many specific dances that will come to mind immediately. Unless, like in my case, you are a balletomane that has seen some classical pieces a hundred million times, but that’s not the common mortal.



Of course, many people can improvise dancing (salsa, hip-hop, popping) and move their body along with the music, but the point is that not many people would be able to have a choreographed routine in mind as easily as they could come up with a song to sing. We grow up listening to songs and singing, wonderfully or badly. Music and lyrics are part of our daily life: in the car, at work, at home, at the restaurant, and in the shower. Hence, Nigel is partially right in that more people know a particular song and think that they can sing it than people know a particular dance and think that they can dance it. However, I am not so sure that Nigel is correct in his assertion that more people “know” that they can’t dance than people know that they can’t sing. I think that more people think that they can sing because more people are interested in singing than in dancing. Hence, with more people wanting to sing you expect to have more delusional people wanting to sing, thinking that they can, when they can’t.


I have heard so many people saying that dance is easy, that it is just for girls—furthermore, that dance is just for little girls—that I doubt that people actually realize how difficult it is to actually dance well. Just a few days ago, a mother and her thirteen year old daughter came into my dance shop asking for Pointe shoes. The girl had never, ever danced but the mother wanted to enroll her in a dance program during the summer and thought that the way to start her off was buying Pointe shoes (even before actually finding a dance program). When we explained to them that she should first find an instructor and that it was very likely that the instructor would require her to have ballet training before actually doing Pointe, the mother replied: “well, it’s not that serious; what she’ll be doing is just going up on her toes and doing a little twirling, you know”. Yes, we know. Her words just reflect what we, unfortunately, know many people think when they see an excellent dance performance: if it looks so effortless, it must be easy… furthermore, it is quite frustrating that sometimes the cleaner and flawless it looks, the easier people may think it is!

Finally, to wrap this up (obviously, we have a lot to talk about!) our points above highlight some of the things that we love the most about shows such as SYTYCD and DWTS:
1) They bring dance to the living room, making more people entertained by dance;
2) They create original pieces that may become part of the popular arts knowledge (i.e., Neil and Danny “two princes”);
3) They show male dancers as strong, masculine and elegant; as well as dancers of many ages, shapes and backgrounds.

Let’s prove Nigel wrong. Let’s go dance in the shower now… I think we can. Love, peace and dance!!!!

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