SYTYCD Top 12: Who’s who in So You Think You Can Dance

Mark Kanemura (24) is a Contemporary/Modern dancer born and raised in Honolulu, HI. His ethnicity includes: Samoan, Japanese, Irish, English, Spanish, Ukrainian, Scottish, English, & Portuguese. He has been dancing since he was 13. Mark Kanemura trained with 24-7 Dance Force in Honolulu and danced at Tokyo Disney. He also directed and choreographed Miss Hawaii pageants and performances on Norwegian Cruise Lines. Mark’s MySpace: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=390406607



Chelsie Hightower (18) is a Latin dancer born in Las Vegas, NV, currently leaving in Pleasant Grove Orem, UT. Chelsie H. started studying ballroom dancing when she was 9 years old. She has worked with many world-renowned choreographers. Chelsie Hightower was a U.S. Worlds finalist in 2005 and competed on Team USA. She graduated from Timpanogos High School, and then attended Utah Valley University for a fall semester. She has also performed in musical theater across the nation. She declares herself to also be a singer “by hobby.” Chelsie’s MySpace: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=107676635


Katee Shean (20) is a Contemporary dancer from San Jose, CA. Shean is a graduate of Pioneer High School and currently attends Chapman University in Orange, CA. She is pursuing a double major in leadership and dance and is active in many volunteer organizations. Katee Shean trained at the Team Dance Company and Atlas School of Dance. She started dancing when she was 4 years old. Katee’s MySpace: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=38186020

Will Wingfield (21) is a Contemporary dancer from Nashville, TN. Wingfield started dancing at age 9 at DC Dance Factory in Nashville, and later moved to Los Angeles to train under Debbie Allen at the Debbie Allen Dance Academy.


Joshua Allen (19) AKA as Batman, is a Hip Hop/Popping dancer from Fort Worth, TX. Joshua started dancing when he was 8 years old. Allen hopes to be a professional dancer and recording artist.


Thayne Jasperson (27) is a Contemporary dancer who grew up in Springville, UT. Jasperson was a featured dancer in “High School Musical” and “High School Musical 2.” Joshua says that he started dancing when he was 21 years old. He danced five years with Odyssey Dance Theatre in Salt Lake City. Direct link to Thayne’s MySpace: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=24241561


Gev Manoukian (21) is a Hip Hop/Break dancer originally from Kazakhstan, was living in Salt Lake City, UT; is now living in Beverly Hills, CA. He started training “seriously” when he was 16. Manoukian was a featured dancer in “High School Musical 2.” Before SYTYCD, Gev was attending University of Utah. Direct link to Gev’s MySpace: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=389243815


Kherington Payne (18) AKA: KK. She is a Contemporary/Jazz dancer from Placentia, CA. Payne will graduate from El Dorado High School this summer. She started dancing when she was 2 ½ years old. Kherington is also an avid soccer fan who has played for many years. In dance, she has formally trained in ballet, Pointe, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, as well as gymnastics. Direct link to Kherington’s MySpace: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=389469947


Stephen Laurel “Twitch” Boss (25) is a Freestyle dancer from Montgomery, AL currently living in Santa Ana, CA. Twitch started dancing at age 16. A career highlight for Boss was performing “Thriller” with Wade Robson on “The Wade Robson Project” in 2003.


Courtney Galiano (20) is a Contemporary dancer from Commack, NY. Though she specializes in Contemporary, Galiano also loves to dance Hip-Hop. Courtney started dancing when she was 3 years old. Recently, she appeared in the music video for Kat De Luna’s “Whine Up” and has been dancing with the New York Knicks. Direct link to Courntey’s MySpace: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=387302797


Comfort Fedoke (20) is a Hip-Hop dancer raised in Lagos, Nigeria, now living in Dallas, TX. Comfort started dancing when she was 8 years old. She is a graduate of Booker T. Washington Performing Arts High School. Comfort was a featured performer for the past few years on “Dallas Dance Club 21,” the local Dallas dance television show. Link to Comfort’s MySpace: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=36478005

Jessica King (23) is a Contemporary dancer from Myrtle Beach, SC, where she was born and raised. Jessica started dancing when she was 3 years old. She trained in ballet, jazz, tap, hip hop and contemporary. She is currently attending Coastal Carolina University studying Fine Arts with a minor in Art History. King also teaches dance and performs in local theaters.

SYTYCD Episode 13: Results on the Money for the Tour.

July 3, 2008. As the dancers come out to Cabaret’s “Money, Money” circling about the stage I am not so surprised by the revelation of Nigel’s hobby: money printing! Cat struts out on her 10” heels, apparently still in her Hannah-Barbera period, yesterday with the Jetsons, today with the Flintstones and goes directly to the point of the show.
As the bottom three couples are called out (which I predicted correctly, I might add), we can see that the final decisions have already been made—Mary calls Thayne “The Sure Thing Dude”, Napoleon talks about how Comfort has grown over the season, Nigel says that Courtney and Gev just happen to be on the bottom three because someone had to be, and well, they are talking in past tense to Kourtni and Matt. As I expected, by the end of the show K & M see the highlights of their appearance in this season.

As a hiring decision for the SYTYCD Tour, today’s results make sense. The remaining couples have some good solid numbers already, and a variety of styles, backgrounds and ethnicity. It can be said of any of the ones remaining, but I stand by Thayne and Gev, for example who obviously can get quickly whatever is thrown at them. The decisions taken made sense, and they will make for an awesome tour. Ten dancers and two understudies: the tour is set; start buying your tickets now.
By the way: Boneless Chicken Joe (Robert Muraine) still thinks he can dance. I know he can move but he is better for a You Tube mini video. Please Nigel: Bring back some real dancers (or did you run out of mone, mone, money?)! Enough with Audition side shows! Robert should be on “America’s Got Talent” not on SYTYCD.
By the way, by the way: am I a cynic or did Nigel suggest that over the seven seasons he has produced American Idol he has had to made tough decisions on who to cut? Is he saying that in AI the voting is rigged? Isn’t AI’s elimination just based on popular vote? Maybe I just misinterpreted, right?
Special Message to Kourtni and Matt: You brought something special to the show and just because you are out tonight it does not mean you are not among the top. Paraphrasing Nigel someone had to leave tonight and the stars moved in a way not so favorable for you. As you know, this is a step forward for your career, not backwards in heels.

SYTYCD: Double Trouble for the Lucky Seven!

You have to hand it to Cat that she does not cease to surprise us. What was she wearing!?!?! I’ll give it to her that although the 30’s hairdo was not my cup of tea (no British witticism intended) it kind of became her, but the dress, OMG, what was that? Was she trying to go for the WALL-E’s bride look? Whatever it was, I think I’ve never seen anything like it…

This week it is two for the price of one, and three out of seven couples will be in danger, so it is real easy to be bottom threed. The six remaining couples after tomorrow will be the ones likely to go on tour, with the top ten dancers and the two understudies, so this is a critical night for all. All rightee then…

Will and Jessica do a Broadway Jive in their first number. Some interesting kicks but this choo-choo is not of the hot Tamale kind, not even of the warm kind. Begins slow, ends better but the unevenness makes it a chancy proposition. Posture was off—the train makes it only to 7.5 MPH… Mandy Moore’s choreography for their second number is really interesting but Will: posture posture… The number was a very passionate “Lyrical Jazz” Pas de Deux that does not look effortless: A shirtless Will throws her around, one, two, three times; Will pulls her leg, grabs and turns her over on his legs; Will rips her shirt off and puts it on himself at the end (Tabitha then asks him to take it off and show off the six-pack again). The passion a 10, the technique a 7, makes it an 8.5 for me on this one! Are they back on the hot choo-choo? Total tonight: 16. Mary’s aphorism for them was: “Talent is flame and genius is fire, and that was fire” so, there was no talent? What does that mean? Maybe self-consciously she was right on target?

Tonight, Broadway seems to be the thing, and Comfort and Thayne do another one again! West Side Story with a contemporary twist!!
A Comfort stretch, she did not do well, even considering that this is way out of her C Zone. She brings down the score for the couple and Thayne—though he showed us how well trained a dancer he is—was weighed down by her. By the way, her tattoo showing was sooo out of place! There is tattoo make-up (and dress rehearsals) for that! For not being up to the level--- 6.5 points over 10. With the second number, the Waltz, Thayne shows off his technique and Comfort once again shows her limitations. However, thanks to Thayne, she did much better. If I were hiring for a dance company, Thayne’s got the job. This was an effortless Pas, not like Will and Jessica’s. 9 at least! Total tonight: 15.5. Will they be bottom threed? I think so, although their second number may get them votes.

Kourtni and Matt’s Hip Hop: Pleaase see again Joshua and Katee’s extraordinary Hip Hop number and compare. This was so, sooo bad! What is going on tonight!! No synchronization, butts sticking out when they shouldn’t --- bad and boring! 6.5 points at best! Their mambo number was painful to watch… I am sorry, but I’ve seen hotter, and better. Between both, however, Kourtni was the better of the two tonight. The partnering and dancing looked hard, not spontaneous and effortless. With a score of 7.5 it gives them a 14 tonight. They were really off tonight.

With Mark and Chelsie’s first number we have at last a number to watch without gagging! (and I don’t mean that because of the Pizza I am eating as I watch and write) I like the costuming: they don’t wear shoes but they wear gloves! It is not the best they’ve done, but it certainly is the best tonight so far. This couple works very well together even in this combination Hip-hop-contemporary-and-even-a-bit-of-ballroom-moves-in-there number. A 9 for this performance. The Fox Trot number makes the jidges disagree and Nigel gets boo-booed and screamed into his ear with Mary-Decibels—twice! Blue feathers fly in a multi-complexed-lift routine that makes me give them another 9 for tonight, total 18! This is the top couple and the couple to beat!

Kherington and Twitch do a Paso Doble called Dimitry’s cape, the Return! With drama but, honestly, not much technique by Miss K., it is an entertaining performance. She had the look, but not really the steps. Maybe it was because this was the first time in the show that she danced with shoes on (remember the shoeless waltz?). Her troubled steps make me give them an 8 for this one. Their second dance, Once upon a Mattress, the Routine started, again, with a shirtless dancer! And Miss K. is back to her shoeless ways.
Dream choreography of a dream makes Twitch and Kherington look very good. But, was he really dancing, or just striking poses? They were in character, but I am not sure that if it had not been for the amazing choreography and compelling story-telling you could say that this was excellent dancing. I am doubtful, trying to separate the dancers from the dance… but I will give them an 8.5 for a 16.5 tonight.

Joshua and Katee do Contemporary, again a good partnership. Out of breath at the end of a great number, it was as if they had slowly been moving underwater and at the end came up for air. The walks, the lifts and the chemistry were there. In the execution perhaps the synchronization was a little off because they had to prepare two performances for tonight but they are safe (I hope) after this number: 9 points! The West Coast Swing number was boring for me, I am sorree… Bumping and grinding, ending with Benji’s signature cartwheel spinning, not well executed by Joshua, and then a bump off to the floor by Katee’s power hips. This number is not my cup of tea, once again. Obviously they worked harder on their contemporary, which was so good. Their WCS number deserves a bump, down to a 7.5, total tonight: 16.5. By the way: Joshua might make it to top five guys, but I am not sure who I would bump off from my list… I’ll make my final prediction tomorrow. Right now I have to say that this couple has at least three solid numbers: Their Hip Hop, last week’s Samba and today’s Contemporary, which makes a good case for Joshua and his grills on tour.

Courtney and Gev are hip-hoppers now! Another couple that works well together but the routine did not seem to be a great stretch of technique or dancing. No major tricks, just a safe routine for both. They may have had a 10 on their shirts, but in my book, this is an 8. In their second number, with an energetic Broadway Routine, they try to salvage their night, trying to show off a choreography that was complicated, with miming and jumping, and smiles galore. This routine, however, may not give them enough votes to keep them out of the bottom three.
On top of that, the costumes were awful and they did look kind of silly. But I will give them an 8.5for the pure Broadway feel of it: a total of 16.5 points tonight. By the way Nigel, that Frenchman in a sailor suit was Jules Munchin: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6v7QfCxuvLo
The bottom three will be Kourtni and Matt, Comfort and Thayne, and Courtney and Gev.
After so many times down there, this time it will be Kourtni and Matt.

So You Think You Can Dance: Quick results show

The show starts as usual with a number that will be the last for two of the dancers… and they all look like a million bucks. Or at least $250,000. The eye is still not on the prize, all the dancers just trying to dance their best, and they do! Mia Michaels’ hand in the opening number is unmistakable, and the dancers pull it off. The mean faces and scary looks suggest that soon we can expect some cutting is going to happen, and I mean throats! And backstabbing… not! These are a bunch of really nice people that know that just being in the top twenty is a privilege, a chance in a million. They do not have to do a “Survivor” or “Apprentice” thing… they have already won. As dancers, what greater exposure and credentials than “SYTCD Top 20”? It is an awesome mark on their back! When Cat comes out she is definitely in combination with the costuming of the number. Only problem is that as soon as all the gothic clowns and babies exit stage, she is the only one left in the weird costume. By the way, shadow of things to come: Comfort is showcased doing some contemporary quite outside her range… hmm.

I got it right once again with two out of the bottom three: Chromfort and Kouratt.
America’s voters can tell what is right and what is not when it comes down to it, and they step up in the right direction. Thelsea’s Quickstep apparently missed a beat with their fans however, and they are bottom-threed also.

Quickly enough as the steps she did yesterday I am shocked—Chelsea T is out! Well, maybe not that shocked… I expected they would keep partners one more week, but as soon as she is out it is obvious to me that Chris will be out. Thanks Chelsea T and Chris: It was fun seeing you perform.

So You Think You Can Dance: The Secret

Adam Shankman has no secrets as he gushingly pours out on Cat’s beautiful quasi-bridal mini, saying that he would love to wear it. Love it on her, don’t think so on him. Maybe on Tracy (AKA Danielle, AKA Travis).

Kherington and Twitch AKA Twitchinton: Hip Hop. When the SYTYCD work crew came around in their orange jail jumpsuits it seemed to me that costuming was starting a little off tonight. The jidges have many positives on this number and on the negatives “can’t think of anything” says Nigel. Mary screams, turns to Adam and he blushes brightly as he kisses Mary on the lips. I cannot think of anything! Points 8.

Gev and Courtney AKA Gevney: Rumba. Lets get ready to Rumbla! The long half of Courtney’s dress keeps on getting in the way and the missing half does not get in the way of her dance moves. Gev gets the connection, and makes for wonderful partnering! The rumba sensuality was top notch. The performance was greater than competition level, or in a different category. Not the kind of thing you expect from SYTYCD. Loved it, and I give them an 8.5.

Chris and Comfort AKA Chromfort: Jazz (Africanized) – Different, yes. Good? No! A little too much Thriller going on here. No synchronization between the partners. The number really is not hot, the music overcomes the dancers, and the dancers did not seem to have the technique needed to make this number look good (imagine Danny and Sabra doing this…). Comfort hits the tree in his plexus, perhaps she has another secret to share? That move is not something she learned in her beauty pageant days, obviously… Points: 6.

Jessica and Will AKA Willica: Disco. KOD (Kiss of Death) again. Cheesy, as Nigel simply said. RIP for them. Sorry, but this was bad. And to be fair with Jessica, it was Will who wasn’t there for her this time. He kept on stopping and not giving her the momentum needed for those lifts and turns. Points: 6.5.

Kourtni and Matt AKA Kouratt: Contemporary. One question: What was she wearing? Another question: Where they dressed up as Mr. and Mrs. Potato head? Another question: Was it too much for the costume department to think about airbrushed unitards for this number? Another question: Sonya the choreographer, is she one of the rejects from Shear Genius? And talking about Shear Genius, there was already a “Ninja” contestant in that Bravo TV’s show last season. So, Matt’s secret Ninja thing was not even original! Going back to SYTYCD: I did not like this number. Points: 6 (minus 3 for the Ninja mask).

Chelsea T and Thayne AKA Thelsea: Quickstep. A well executed classical quickstep, including some nice trick moves, like that jete in the round that was quite something. Perhaps a little too well executed according to the jidges, meaning they were trying too hard and counting too much. Nigel’s comments would make me think he wants people to vote for them, so that they don’t have to be in the bottom three. Ballroom is always dicey, and after last week Ch and Th are in a hard spot. Still I do not think they will be bottom threed… Points: 8.

Chelsie and Mark AKA Marksie: Hip Hop (was it?). Okay... time for a 10! Insert Mary Scream Here!!!! I’m already looking forward to seeing this number in the live tour! Loved the choreography, loved the dancing, loved the performance, and loved the costuming! Nothing else to say (except that he really has weird crooked little fingers) (and also: “lyrical hip hop”? –what the h…? what is the difference between that and contemporary?). Anyway… I really loved this number!

Katee and Joshua AKA Katua: Samba (was it?). We know that the economy is bad right now, but still… is it down to a half dress policy for dancers in SYTYCD? I like this policy on Courtney and Katee, maybe Cat, but at some point it will get old. This routine was hot; no doubt about it (was it Samba, though?). Joshua’s dad may be going home but for sure Joshua is not. Points tonight: 9.

My prediction for the bottom three: Chris and Comfort (again!), Jessica and Will (again!), and Kourtni and Matt (again!). Who will be pardoned and who will be kicked out? My guess: Kouratt. However, none of these dancers is really safe, except for Will (the jidges obviously love him). So if it is not this week it will be soon that Chris, Jessica and Comfort are out, once the jidges start breaking up the couples.

A final note: Why is Joshua’s dad wearing a shirt with a shirtless picture of his son? It’s weird! Please, somebody give him a better picture/shirt!