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So You Think You Can Dance: Season 5 (1 Viewer)

Josh Dial

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Originally Posted by Hanson Yoo
Wow, I really dislike the new quoting system on the forums (or perhaps my adblocking addon for firefox is wreaking havoc with it).

With regards to the random-choosing of the dances, this week definitely has a few ways of looking at it:

1) Some/all of the dances were given to particular dancers (including, of course, the ballet).

2) The dances were chosen at random, but there were backup plans for a few of them, again, including the pas des deux. If Melissa draws it, then it would be a classical pas de deux; if anyone else drew it, we would get the pseudo-ballet like we saw last year.

3) Only the pas de deux was not random, and it was chosen to coincide with this week's "world of dance" ballet from the results show.

While I'm not a fan of the show sometimes going for 100% randomness and other times making thinly-veiled "fixes," I guess at this point I don't really care anymore :) I've pretty much agreed with every top10/winner for the past 3 seasons, so whatever it is they are doing works for me!
 

Hanson

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Wow, I really dislike the new quoting system on the forums (or perhaps my adblocking addon for firefox is wreaking havoc with it).
It's like the yuku boards. You have to paste it, highlight it, then use the quote button next to the smiley button. The only problem is...


I've pretty much agreed with every top10/winner for the past 3 seasons, so whatever it is they are doing works for me!
The successive quotes nest into each other! That makes no sense! Anyway, I don't have an issue with the results so much as I do not believe these styles are chosen at random like they claim. According to the EW article Patrick linked to, they didn't have a hat drawing last week.
 

Citizen87645

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Choosing Karla to leave seemed right to me. Her solo again had some really off-putting movements. Contrast that to Janine, who had some of those contemporary stylings but with much more grace and emotion.

I won't miss Vittolio. I never warmed to him.
 

Hanson

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You can't warm to Vitolio. His copious sweat extinguishes any heat. Someone compared him to the girl in the well from The Ring.

I really wanted to like Karla, but I didn't think she had any moments on the show. She was just too meh to go on.

Caitlin and Jason were the lucky recipients of sympathy votes. You may not like the choreo (or even be repulsed by it), but I thought Cailtin actually made that routine watchable.

Kayla's DFYL was awful. She couldn't even hold her first pose. Kupono was worse -- he looked someone who can't dance doing a parody of contemporary dance. There was barely any actual dance. If they took DFYL literally, Kayla and Kupono should have gotten the boot.
 

Brett_M

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I watched both episodes from last week today. Some random thoughts:

Caitlin has an incredible body. She has not had a wow moment yet. She's the biggest let-down so far for me. She and Jason were the only couple to not get a dance that was in their wheelhouse this week.

Kayla IS a vampire. Her skin is translucent. She burns out my retinas. On a more serious note, she is too emotional. I don't think she will last in the competition.

Brandon and Janette are awesome. They fire on all cylinders week in, week out.

Ade and Melissa are hot on their heels.

There's your top 4, imho.
 

Patrick Sun

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My rankings for the night:
Brandon & Janette - Argentine Tango / Jazz - nailed each dance with impeccable timing and chemistry and technique.

Melissa & Ade - Disco / Waltz - almost 2 solid numbers, but not quite perfect on the Waltz.

Kayla & Kupono - Contemporary / Broadway - strong Mia Michael number, but lots of running in place with their Broadway number.

Caitlin & Jason - Foxtrot / Lyrical Jazz - though the foxtrot was a little slow but with nice lifts, the jazz lacked passion for me.

Phillip & Jeanine - Russian Folk Dance / Jive - terrible genre choice on the first number, and the jive was salvaged by Jeanine.

Evan & Randi - Hip Hop / Samba - Good hip hop, but Evan was a boat anchor on the samba.

Evan probably goes home (but only Brandon is safe) because he isn't showing much growth from week to week.

I think it's a toss-up between Caitlin and Randi (but Kayla probably ends up in the bottom 3 from a voting standpoint). The other gals are safe. This will be a tough cut for the girls because I'd rather they cut 2 guys for the final 10 at this point.
 

Brett_M

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I agree with Patrick. My money is on Evan and Randi. Evan is light on his feet but there is no fire. Randi (as mentioned by a judge last week) dances heavy.
Brandon and Janette were so great tonight.

Janine has grown on me the most. She's an exceptional dancer and so gorgeous.

Caitlin and Jason have no spark -- alone or as a couple. If they make it through to the olo rounds, I don't see them going very far. Thy're great dancers but they have no X factor. They're boring.

Kupono is the weakest of the men, I think. His addiction number with Kaylee was great (I hope Sara Bareilles' album gets a bump -- "Gravity' is one of many great cuts from her CD). He'll go after he and Kaylee split up.

I see the top like this:

Men -- Brandon #1, Ade #2,
Women -- Janine/Kaylee #1 (Janine is peaking at the right time, Kaylee is too emotional), Melissa #2 (skilled and confident), Janette #3 (although she could jump to the top if he can kill a contemporary number)

Brandon wins.

Overall, I loved all of the choreography tonight except for the Russian Folk dancing.
 

Patrick Sun

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Big bottom 3 surprise tonight!

Evan got so lucky because I think he was on the way out if he and Randi were in the bottom 3.

There was no way Melissa or Ade was going home, so that left all-around dance ability vs. unique style, and versatility won out amongst the guys, while Caitlin was simply the odd woman out when Randi didn't end up in the bottom 3 either. Glad both Philip and Caitlin made the tour, though.
 

Mikah Cerucco

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Every week, I continued to think Philip was the guy who needed to go home, but every week I was happy when he made the Bottom 3 and had to perform, but stuck around. He's a joy to watch dance, but he didn't deserve to keep being pushed along in this format. I bet he'll be a real crowd pleaser on the tour, and I'm glad the producers did what they did.

Going back to the performance show, I saw 3 things that really stood out for me. One was the Mia Michaels routine. Sometimes when I watch Mia's routines and try to describe their impact, I'm reminded of Jody Foster in Contact where she's saying "no words". It's like tasting a favorite food that you've lived all your life without knowing it existed. You're not the same afterwards because you've now experienced something that has broadened your horizons. Collectively, her routines on this show lessen the sense of loss I feel over never going to see Baryshnikov in his prime. The routine forced me to look at and appreciate dancers who up until now haven't been my favorites.
My other two standout performances were both by Brandon and Janette. First was the Tango. There are times when I feel the judges are a bit over the top with their praise, but to this untrained eye, that routine just rocked. It's like Tice said... technical excellence. I really don't want to see them split up, but it's fair for the competition. Then they come back with that 2nd routine, which was just flat out cool. I'm glad the judges have come around on Brandon. What a dancer. I don't have a good enough memory to compare him with all that have come before, but he and William Wingfield (Debbie Allen's protege) are two of my favorite male dancers. Just two powerhouses.

I'm continuously moved by the show. How nice that it comes back in the fall, though next summer will be a little emptier.
 

Hanson

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Kayla and Kupono turned what should have been amazing choreography into a shrugworthy performance. I kept wishing some other couple got that dance -- Kayla turns every dance into something technically proficient but deadly boring. When she had to show personality during the Broadway routine, it was total fail. Even worse -- they've given her the consistently best choreography and she done nothing with it. Total bore. I would have liked to have seen Jason and Caitlin get this Mia dance. Shit, I would have rather seen Phillip and Jeanine get this Mia dance (I think they would have been great). It's not fair that Kayla is bogarting all the good contemp choreo.
It wasn't fair to give Melissa a disco routine. Wasn't she hanging out at Studio 54 back in the day? BTW, Melissa looks like a young Katherine Hepburn... but old:



While that disco routine was good, there was no way it was going to measure up to Brandon and Janette's disco. It looked clunky and slow in comparison. And that waltz was deadly boring. With that black vest and pants, Ade so throughly blended into the background that you mostly saw disembodied white sleeves moving around. Ade has skills as shown in his DFYL (which was really just a bunch of tricks with little dancing), but he hasn't been able to display them in any routine this year.
I actually love the Nappy Tabs lyrical stuff. They always have intricate synchro moments, and very clear storytelling that gives the dancers a chance to act. But Evan & Randi danced it so terribly that it was easy to start pointing fingers at the choreography. But Phillip/Jeanine or Brandon/Janette would have killed that number. Caitlin and Jason would have been so much better. Evan and Randi were incapable or unwilling to make it work. That's all on them. Their Samba was also completely awful. Neither dancer has shown that they are improving, and as the other couples are starting to hit their stride, the two midgets are falling behind. Randi looked embarrassed in both dances, and Evan couldn't pull off the basics of either style.
Brandon is without question the best dancer in the competition. I don't know if he will win, but like Danny from season 3, he should win. That Argentine Tango was the highlight of the season, surpassing their aforementioned week 3 disco routine. I rewatched Mark and Chelsie's Argentine Tango, and for one thing, the Larici & Barrionuevo choreography was better than the Alex DaSilva number, and the technical precision was slightly higher with Brandon and Janette. I was on the edge of my seat with all the hairs on my neck standing at full attention. This was absoultely spectacular. And kudos to Janette for adapting to any style including Wade Robson's jazz/pop number, which I kind of didn't warm up to but admired for the intricacy and synchronization.
I liked Phillip and Caitlin, but it's difficult to make any case to allow them to remain. Phillip was destined to drag someone down and Caitlin never really showed enough passion or personality. I think had they given Phillip a contemporary number and he killed it (which I am sure he would have), he would have stayed out of the bottom three and Jason would have gone instead. Jason is sort of the male Kayla -- all technical skill and little personality. It's like he's human on the outside and cold and machine like on the inside. You know, he does resemble a certain cyborg:



I'm not that impressed with Melissa, but she's shown a pulse -- Caitlin has a little more personality than Kayla (a real little), but at least she was smokin' hot. At the end of the day, that's what I'll miss more than anything else. But then again, there's always Jeanine. That gold lame slip thing was very boobylicious. I was surpirsed she danced in it, as the DFYL is essentially live -- there is your normal delay, but if anything had popped out, we would have been watching a few seconds of Spaghetti Cat.
 

Josh Dial

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I was out at the Stampede this week, so I had to watch the performance and results shows back-to-back, so I won't really comment on the performance show other than to say Jason is very lucky to be in the top 10. I think the only reason he made it, is because the judges decided to include Phillip (I think Caitlin was included just to appear "fair") on the tour--I've always thought one of the shows biggest mistakes was to eliminate Hawk before the top 10, as I'm sure he would have been a great addition to the tour. I know a lot of people (well, okay, only a few, since it's only a few people that post in these threads :) ) don't like Twitch, but he was a definite crowd-pleaser, and from what I've read has given a lot back to the dance community through volunteer work.

This show just goes to prove how subjective dance can be sometimes, as I personally think Kayla delivers great performances (dancing aside), and that Janette , while quite adept at dancing outside her own style, has zero personality other than the stereotypical "spicy Cuban." *yawn.* She pulls faces all the time, and I find it annoying. Jason was about as interesting as an empty chess board, so I won't miss him.

Jeanine's solo was brought to us by scotch double-sided tape.

Good choreo all around this week (unlike last week, which was moderately disappointing), and some really good performances, too. I always like to see Wade Robson stuff, as he's my favourite choreographer overall. Tyce is hit or miss for me (about 50%, actually), but I think he's a great guest judge--keeps his comments short, which is rare, yet gives actual advice. I'm also glad Tyce defended the Russian folk dance routine, since my g/f and I both felt the judges were WAY too harsh on it. You simply can't choose "any ol' traditional folk dance," and expect it to be Bollywood (which naturally lends itself to modernization). There were some fairly technical moves there that were pulled off quite well, like Phillips leg turns and cossack moves, and Jeanine's heel-toe work, which is deceptively complicated, and quite hard to pick up in 3 days. The show and the judges (save Tyce) dropped the ball here, not the dancers.

One more thing:

Stop. with the. Dutch. Angles!!!!!!

Seriously stop it. I swear more than half the show is now shot like this, and it's annoying as hell.
 

Patrick Sun

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I'm still a fan of Kayla's as well, don't quite get the hate. I like that she is a little hungrier than the more "composed" female dancers at times, and I think she's more versatile, but time will tell.

I think Jason thought he was a goner when Evan and Randi were not in the bottom 3 pairs.

Edited by Patrick Sun - 7/10/2009 at 10:54 pm GMT
 

Mikah Cerucco

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[COLOR= #3366ff]"I know a lot of people (well, okay, only a few, since it's only a few people that post in these threads :) ) don't like Twitch, but he was a definite crowd-pleaser, and from what I've read has given a lot back to the dance community through volunteer work[/COLOR]."

I don't think people disliked Twitch personally as much as some of us didn't think he had the skill to rank as highly as he did. I'd have had no problem with Twitch being on the tour, just like I like the idea of Philip on the tour.
I also have to point out again that you could be an 11 on a 10 scale in what you do and still only be a 5 on this show. I'd go ahead and call a 5 a 5, and even support an elimination, but that sure doesn't mean I wouldn't enjoy seeing that dancer do the "11" stuff he knows how to do. That's where I am with Philip. And for the unpopular statement of the day, I grew weary of Philip's, "Boy, that was hard," schtick. I think it was genuine, but I just grew weary of it. The good thing is... we get to see him do what he does at least one more time. I can live with that.
 

Hanson

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Actually, Twitch's hip hop was boring to me. He's a 6 in his specialty -- his solos on the show were unimpressive. Phillip, OTOH, is an 11.

I thought that Hok did go on tour for season 3. He was in the middle of the Lacey/Lauren feud that got physical.

Kayla dances like an android. I get nothing from her. It also bothers me that she's being propped up by the judges. She hit the bottom three 3 times, her DFYL solos have all been crap, and she gets to work with the better routines each week. If there was any shot for me to give her some grudging respect, it should have been during the Mia piece. Nada. Also, everyone calls her beautiful but she looks like an alien to me and I just don't get it. She's like the Sarah Jessica Parker of SYTYCD.

OTOH, I love Janette. The fact that she can keep up with Brandon makes her and not Kayla the best female dancer on the show. And the fact that she's a low maintenance nerd who wants to go into finance makes her even more endearing.
 

Mikah Cerucco

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Lest there be any confusion, I definitely did not mean to imply Twitch was an 11 at his specialty. In fact, if he came to our local theater, where I can get free tickets, I wouldn't even bother to go. He's just not unique or better than any other hip hop dancer. Robert Murane, I'd go see. Philip, I'd go see. That said, Twitch seems a likable enough guy, so I stand by my main point, which is that the perceived "dislike" for Twitch has to do with his level of skill on SYTYCD, not him as a person.
 

Hanson

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I actually detested him for his self-promotion and the excessive attempts at turning himself into a brand. Twitchington? That was him. IV Real? That was him.
 

Josh Dial

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Originally Posted by Hanson Yoo

I actually detested him for his self-promotion and the excessive attempts at turning himself into a brand. Twitchington? That was him. IV Real? That was him.
To be fair, the Twitchington thing started on the message boards almost immediately, and in an era of "Branjolina," it was surely innevitable. The 4real thing is also completely removed from Twitch, and actually started in Vancouver, if I'm not mistaken (and a lot of celebs promote the brand/concept, such as Cameron Diaz). The pseudo-superman symbol, though, that was all him for sure.

You are correct, about Hok, though, come to think of it. I now recall him going on tour for the hummingbird routine (also by my favourite choreographer, Wade). However, I sort of recall him being added late in the game, as a swing dancer (not the style, of course), after the powers-that-be realized how much of a crowd favourite he was.

I actually thought that two of Kayla's solos have been quite good, actually (one was very weak, however), bested only by Jeanine's first solo from a few shows back (her second solo was weak--perhaps she was wearing the wrong outfit [thanks for it though!]). Janette pulls faces all the frakkin' time, but her dancing is quite good. This week, Randi was channeling her inner Hayden Panettiere.
 

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