So You Think You Can Dance - Season 15 (1 Viewer)

[Hanson]

Already three weeks into the competition shows and no thread yet?

Ya slippin' Josh.

Sorry to see Cole go, I thought he was better than the judges were saying. But then again, I'd keep Darius over Cole, so it was the right call. It seemed like Cole was ticking off all the boxes, so the only theory I have is the gigantic Affleckian tattoo on his back was his downfall.

I love Hannahlei soooo much. She's not a steamroller on the level of last year's winner Lex, but I'd bet she and Jay Jay are the front runners this season. She's so good at everything it's scary. Then again so is Jay Jay, but Hannahlei can do subtle and beautiful in a way Jay Jay seems incapable of.

Speaking of which, there are a lot of things to like about Jensen, but I find her a bit exhausting to watch. Like her partner, she has an energy that feels overbearing -- she's at 11 all the time. Jensen is the dance embodiment of caps lock. I wish she were more like Chelsie Hightower and less like a Michael Bay movie.

I like Slavic, and I'm amused by the self-descriptive name. It's like if Hannahlei was named Pinoy. I am also amused by Slavic's insistence in developing a showmance between him Genesee, which she is barely attempting to play along with because she is clearly totally not into it (I wouldn't be surprised if she's not into boys much less Slavic). Slavic knows that showmances play to voters and you gotta respect him for that, but maybe try it on a more receptive partner.

Genesee had fodder written all over her. I have not changed that opinion even though she's outlasted two better dancers. I just don't see how she's on the show.

When do they start partnering with All Stars?

 

[Josh Dial]

Sorry, Hanson--I don't have any excuse!

I've been enjoying the season, though I think almost all of the eliminations were products of poor choreography and not poor dancing. That Phoenix & Pharside routine was baaaaaad. That stepping routine was one of the worst routines ever in the show's history.

I think the judges made a big mistake in cutting Tessa Dalke. The did the same thing last year with Alexis Gilbert. It's like they are actively trying not to put through another Eliana (my favourite female contestant).

I've been hard on local boy Sean Cheesman, but he has really stepped up his game this season and last. Mandy Moore, on the other hand, has dipped significantly.

Hannahlei's solo was crazy good.

I agree that Jensen can be a little...much. However, when she poses or is otherwise still in a routine, she dominates the stage. Maybe it's her angular features, but it's hard to look away.

Hopefully now that Cole is off the show he can focus on hitting the gym.

 

[Hanson]

If Hannahlei were cut at any point, I would probably start rooting for Jensen to win. So I don't dislike Jensen so much as I wish she could tone it down. BTW, I would cry if Hannahlei got cut, she's already one of my favorite dancers ever on the show.

I watch SYTYCD with my daughter now, and she's always impressed when I can guess the choreographer of the group numbers. I'm only 50-50 at best, but I nailed Christopher Scott for one of the routines. I keep telling my daughter that his group routines are better than his couple routines, but a lot of it has to do with execution. If it's not executed well, it's just boring. I was really impressed with Sean Cheeseman's opening group number a couple of episodes ago or so. Mandy does feel like she's in decline, but she's always been a little hit or miss with me. On the other hand, I don't think I've really liked anything Travis has done this season, so that feels more disappointing.

Mary Murphy has just spiraled into complete irrelevance as a judge. She's basically screaming baseless compliments with zero actual critiques. It's gotten so bad that even the cringey and generally irritating Vanessa Hudgens is out pointing Mary with her comments. It's just sad how far she's fallen -- I tell my daughter that Mary was the tough judge the first couple of seasons and she's can't picture this banshee cheerleader ever being tough on the dancers.

 

[Josh Dial]

On the other hand, I don't think I've really liked anything Travis has done this season, so that feels more disappointing.

I think he saves some of his best stuff for Shaping Sound. I've watched both versions of his show, and they were equally amazing.

 

[Hanson]

Whatever I said about Travis I gotta take back because that Darius piece was the greatest thing this season and I will bet money it won't be topped. Easily top ten SYTYCD piece ever. That one... it got to me. No tears, but it felt like a punch in the face. I don't think the show has ever done that before. Everything about it was brilliant. And while it was disappointing, I knew Darius would very likely go home.

I was, however, unprepared to see Jay Jay go. That was a total shocker, even more so because I didn't consider that it was a straight up top four and not split on gender lines like all of the other votes. Gennesy -- I still don't get it. I thought she the least impressive dancer of the night. The salsa was slow and lifeless, the two elementary lifts were plodding, and they didn't even attempt a single trick. I just... god, I hope she doesn't Sabra her way to victory. Sometimes an underdog is an underdog because they're just not that good.

If I were a betting man, I'd lay down a lot of my money on Slavic winning. He's the only guy in the top four, which means he gets all the "cute boy" voters.

The less likely scenario is that the voters actually vote for the best dancer and Hannahlei wins. I know she's popular, but I don't know if the judges are doing enough to distinguish her from the rest of the pack. It sounds like Hannehlei, Jensen, and Genessy are neck and neck when listening to the judges' comments, but there's a big gap between Hannahlei and the other two. Darius was the only one on the show who was even in her proximity. Hannahlei is demonstrably better than Jensen in hip hop, contemporary, and jazz -- and I am positive she's better at the tango too. And that Tahitian dance? C'mon, Hannahlei would have smashed it.

There are so many great pieces coming from alums (and not just Travis). But that Jenna ballroom number had my eyes glazing over. I would ding Jensen for it, but anything Kiki does is boring. Meanwhile, Robert Roldan did a nice job with Hannahlei and Marko. It wasn't Travis good, but it was the second best contemporary number of the night.

 

[DaveF]

If I were a betting man, I'd lay down a lot of my money on Slavic winning. He's the only guy in the top four, which means he gets all the "cute boy" voters.

The less likely scenario is that the voters actually vote for the best dancer and Hannahlei wins. I know she's popular, but I don't know if the judges are doing enough to distinguish her from the rest of the pack. It sounds like Hannehlei, Jensen, and Genessy are neck and neck when listening to the judges' comments, but there's a big gap between Hannahlei and the other two. Darius was the only one on the show who was even in her proximity. Hannahlei is demonstrably better than Jensen in hip hop, contemporary, and jazz -- and I am positive she's better at the tango too. And that Tahitian dance? C'mon, Hannahlei would have smashed it.

I’m very disappointed that Slavic beat out JayJay and Darius to be in the top four. Darius was wonderful. And Slavic has been promoted beyond his skill; and unlike Fikshun or JaJa, he doesn’t have the personality to make up for lack of technical proficiency.

I was impressed by the dance Travis Wall gave Slavic; and I loved seeing Melanie again. She’s even breathtaking that when she won her season.

I can only hope Hannalei wins. Jenna is a fantastic dancer, but Hannalei is better performer with a real range of emoting.

 

[Hanson]

This is one of those annoying to watch seasons where they keep pushing the least talented dancer to fulfill an underdog narrative. If anyone can explain how Genessy is anywhere nearly as talented as Hannahlei or Jensen (or even Jayy Jay or Darius), go right on ahead. It feels like they're trying to set her up for a Sabra type upset. It reminds me of Les Twins winning World of Dance even though they weren't even in the top ten best dancers. She has no personality, no style, no flair, and didn't belong in the top ten much less the top four. It's some sort of "caterpillar becomes a butterfly" story they want to create. Just poisons the season for me.

After Monday night, it seems even more glaring that Hannahlei should win in a walk. Not only hasn't she faltered in any of the styles she performed, but she excelled in all of them. But the judges' reactions are muted, almost tepid. Mary actually said they didn't have enough time to give her a full critique after one of her dances then spent seemingly 20 minutes on how vulnerable Jensen was a few dances later.

BTW, I have no idea what the point of that Mandy Moore contemporary was. Was it supposed to be sad? It felt like it was supposed to be sad. But Jensen beamed through the entire thing, which is why I was confused. On the flip side, Slavic spent an entire dance stomping around and emoting so hard I thought he was going to break my TV. It was like watching Al Pacino yell, "Hoo haw!" into the camera for 3 minutes, with only slightly more dancing. Oh, so vulnerable.

Mary spent 5 minutes screaming and going on about how great Genessy's plodding, bland samba was and then later went into her lower register to tell Slavik his cha cha sucked and pointed out all of his technical issues. This is the element of the show I just hate so much.

This season is also weird because there were only 5 competition shows, which has to be a series low. I don't know if it was a cost saving measure or the auditions pull more viewers, but everything was off about this season.

I'm still calling a Slavik win, but they've been pimping Genessy's ugly duckling story so much that she probably has a better shot than Hannahlei of winning at this point.

These kinds of seasons are so unsatisfying. I guess this is what we get after Lex was the favorite from the auditions and the outcome was never in doubt. They didn't want that to happen with Hannahlei for the second season in a row.

 

[DaveF]

This season is also weird because there were only 5 competition shows, which has to be a series low. I don't know if it was a cost saving measure or the auditions pull more viewers, but everything was off about this season.

That’s my guess. Fewer competitions. Fewer all-stars. No guest judges. The show is obviously running on a smaller budget.

It also suffered from the pairings. I much prefer when the contestants rotate partners.

 

[Hanson]

I haven't had much faith in tastes of the voting public and am still convinced the producers didn't want another slam dunk day one winner to lead wire to wire. So I was shocked and elated that Hannahlei actually won. She deserved the win, having fulfilled one of the prime precepts of the show, which is versatility. Hannahlei crushed every style that came her way and made it look easy.

Speaking of versatility, Lex smoked that tap routine. WTF can't he do? That was insane.

 

[Luluden]

I joined just to rant about this past season of SYTYCD... What happened to this show? This season beat season 11 as the worst. I feel as though to caliber of dancers are deteriorating. Hardly anyone in the audition round impressed me, although I really wanted to see the drag queen make it. He seemed to really want it, and I was really angry when he didn't.

I don't get all the praise for this season. The dancers were average at best, and either that's why the choreography was so simple or it's time to get new choreographers. Cheeseman is copy and pasting his own work, Mandy is boring as hell, Chris Scott can be amazing at times, and I hate myself for saying this, but Travis is beginning to bore me. Contemporary dance is in need of something new, all around. Luther's choreo ALWAYS sucks.

The music was boring. This season was boring. I didn't care who won. Hannaleigh was the obvious choice from when they introduced the top ten, but that's not saying much when the other nine aren't that good compared to dancers from previous seasons.

I know people are wondering what the hell makes me so great to be critiquing so harshly. Nothing. I'm just extremely disappointed in this show that used to be my favorite dance competition show. This season was a joke.

Oh, yeah and Gennesey... wtf was she doing anywhere near the top ten?

 

[Josh Dial]

Cheeseman is copy and pasting his own work

Current Sean Cheesman is way better than two seasons ago. His routines were literally the worst in the show. I'm not sure what happened, but now his routines are really good.

 

[TJPC]

No no, the worst most unwatchable season was the one with the kids! We refused to watch “tiny talent time”!

 

[Hanson]

That was the only season I never watched

 

[Luluden]

Current Sean Cheesman is way better than two seasons ago. His routines were literally the worst in the show. I'm not sure what happened, but now his routines are really good.

I've only really liked one Sean Cheeseman routine, and it was the one from last season that Marco did with that girl. I forgot her name. The music was amazing and the choreography was executed beautifully by the dancers. Considering how long Sean Cheeseman has been on the show, though, that's not a very good record. i don't understand why he's still around.

 

[Luluden]

No no, the worst most unwatchable season was the one with the kids! We refused to watch “tiny talent time”!

Oh, no! haha! I completely understand. I vowed not to watch that season, either, but when I saw the kids who were auditioning, I knew I had to watch it. I was more excited about my recognizing some of them from YouTube than anything. I thought the kids were really good, and having the all-stars choose who they wanted to dance with was different, too. All styles were well represented. I feel that was one of the best seasons. I also still keep tabs on Tahani and Tate's career. I felt Tahani was robbed.

Did you watch any of that season? If so, how far did you get before giving up on it?

 

[TJPC]

I can’t stand show business children of any description. We have watched SYTUCD every season but this one. When we found out what it was going to be like, we didn’t even attempt to watch it at all.

 

[Luluden]

I can’t stand show business children of any description. We have watched SYTUCD every season but this one. When we found out what it was going to be like, we didn’t even attempt to watch it at all.

I don't mind child dancers. I can't stand child actors/singers/rappers. I find them to be the most obnoxious beings in existence. I got a part in a musical in high school (I auditioned on a whim just to have the complete high school experience). I did not audition for the following production, though because theater kids are the worst.

 

[Atari]

Another vote that this season was pretty bad. I was starting to get concerned for the judges as they kept saying this was the best top 10 dancers ever on the show. They may have Alzheimer's or have never actually watched previous seasons. Anyway, was happy for the end result, as voting shows have not been very kind to Filipinos.

 

[TJPC]

They always say “this is the best season ever”. It would be refreshing, but they’re never going to say “this year’s dancers are crap”!

 

[Patrick Sun]

Put me in the "meh" category for this season. Wasn't really excited about any of the top 10 this time around.