So You Think You Can Dance: Season 5 - Page 2

Re: So You Think You Can Dance: Season 5

Evan and Randi were okay in their Jive, but for me, Evan sold it better than Randi did. There was no way his technical flaws were going to make it past Mary, but he faked it pretty good from where I was sitting. Randi's technique was apparently better, but I didn't get nearly as much charisma or jive feel from her as I did from Evan. Randi busted out another unitard during the intro solos.

I forget how many numbers Sonja has done for the show, but I don't remember enjoying any of them. I find her choreo to be off-putting -- lots of crouching, posing, and unimpressive looking lifts and throws. The other issue with Sonja numbers is the horrible 80's wardrobe -- I don't know how much input the choreographers have with the costumes, but her dancers always seem to end up with tres ugly Flashdance meets New Wave Punk mash ups with ripped clothes and day-glo colors. The judges were surley impressed with Ade and Melissa's take, but I just didn't like the choreography. Their contemporary last week was miles better.

Shane Sparks is back, but then again, I didn't miss him all that much (so no exclaimation points). I enjoy his larger group numbers to his pairs choreo, and it seems that whenever a choreographer is tapped to do two numbers, there's always one good one and one medicore one. Jason and Caitlin got the mediocre one, and this is one of those cases where they weren't given enough to do and they didn't perform it particularly well. When you get these pieces with small movements, they really have to pop to be noticed -- Neither Jason nor Caitlin really hit the sharpness required, and the dancing felt mushy. It was so under choreographed that the end of the number was just a bunch of standing around and posing. Easily, it was the weakest piece of the night on all levels.

I must say that Asuka and Vitolio's waltz was nowhere near the top of the list for most impressive waltzes on this show (smooth, viennese, or otherwise). The lifts were great, but the dancing itself was just okay for me. I was also put off a bit by Vitolio's sob story -- I won't deny the emotional impact of the story, but I thought the judges were reading a lot into the dance from the orphan backstory, and I feel like there would have been a different opinion and critique if it weren't for that. Asuka thinks her lack of connection with Vitolio is because she doesn't find him attractive -- maybe it's because that dude cries, like, all the time. Shut down the waterworks every now and then, ya big sissy.

First Shane's back, now Brian Friedman is back! The judge and choreographer from the first two seasons returned after taking a break for a couple of years, and he has since ditched his Sideshow Bob hairdo for that shaved chrome dome look (probably because he started losing his hair in the interim). I had always found Brian's choreo to be so-so -- I remember liking one contemporary piece he did, but this Jazz number for Max and Kayla did not do anything for me. It reminded me a lot of the Mandy Moore Jazz piece Chelsea and Thane had last year, the one where it looked like Chelsea was wearing a diaper. Lots of posing, ugly, ugly outfits, and uninteresting choreography. Max has all the charisma and sex appeal of a customer service rep at an auto parts store, and he looks 40-something. I don't understand the love for Kayla -- her face has alien features and while she may be technically outstanding, I don't get any charisma off of her and I don't really care that she's dancing. She didn't really wow me during last week's Salsa, and I only barely remember that she danced a jazz piece. Those eyelashes were distractingly weird looking.

To me, it really looked like Jonathan was faking it, so I was surprised at how much tongue-bathing was going on. The piece was good and Karla was up to the technical challenge, I just didn't get anything from Jonathan, and I don't think these two did the choreography justice. I really want to like Karla, but she hasn't impressed me so far. I think Jonathan is a lost cause.

There was a point, during the beginning of Phillip and Jeanine's Tango, that Phillip was more or less pulling off the chorepgraphy and getting the character, and I thought, "hey, Phillip may surprise some people tonight!" That lasted for about 30 seconds. Then you could see Phillip just following the steps without any dancing, and as game as Jeanine was, there was a point where it was a bit painful to watch, and I just wanted it to be over. It appeared that they cut some of the harder lifts from the final product, which probably saved Jeanine's life but made the routine even less interesting. The performances on the show are actually pretty short... on paper. This one seemed excruciatingly long. I hope Phillip can make it past this, as they danced my favorite number last week, and I think Phillip can develop the chops for contemporary to smooth over his inevitable failings in ballroom.

Shane Sparks is back! Okay, this time, Shane's choreo was really, really good, with a neat concept (Ashley is Kupono's shadow, moving on the floor sometimes to match his movements) and lots of great synchro moments. I agree Ashley & Kupono could have/should have danced it better (I liked it a lot, but it's neither as memorable nor anywhere near as good and Phillip and Jeanine's Nappy Tabs routine from last week), but I didn't see this as the failure the judges were making it out to be. I was enjoying the choreo too much to notice all the myriad technical and performance failings that the judges glommed on in their critiques.

I've saved Brandon and Jeanette's Disco routine for the end because it just blew everyone else out of the water. Doriana's disco routines get a bad rap because the dancers are often not up the the choreography, and when you take out the spectacular lifts that are the higlights in her numbers, you're really gutting them. Brandon and Jeanette didn't take out a thing, and the performance was a series of spectaular lifts, one more jaw dropping than the other. The dancing in between had that certain disco flavor that goes missing a lot of times on SYTYCD, and the speed of the performance was breathtaking. This disco routine is the only one that has even come close to touching Melody and Nick's disco routine from season one -- that Doriana routine has always been the gold standard for disco on SYTYCD, and this one is better on some levels and not quite as good on others, so I'd call it a push. So far, Brandon has killed the Foxtrot and demolished disco, and you have to give a ton of credit to Jeanette for that -- having him paired up with a fearless ballroom dancer allows Brandon to go beyond the normal lifts and tricks seen on the show. That said, I'm not sure how they're going to top this routine any time soon. At this point, I cannot imagine Brandon not winning this -- he's like Danny from season 3, a physical freak who is head and shoulders better than practically anyone else in the competition (although it needs to be noted that Danny somehow lost to Sabra that year). Brandon's only failing may be that an underdog may end up getting more votes since Brandon is clearly the favorite in the competition so far.

Re: So You Think You Can Dance: Season 5

Was it me or did Kayla stumble during her solo?

The bottom three consisted of both Shane Sparks routines and the Brian Freidman routine. Welcome back guys, we really missed ya! Not.

I did really dig the Mia Michaels group dance. It was very Sonja-ish, but much, much better than anything that cross-eyed freak has ever done.

Lil C dropped a couple of Lil C-isms last year, and they were sort of charming every now and then. This season, he's trying way too hard to incorporate one with every critique, and it's turned into Mary Murphy level schtick. It's quickly become unbearable. So much shit-talking.

I wasn't surprised to see Ashley leave (she had fodder written all over her), but I was surprised that they broke up a couple so early.

I don't think that there is as mismatched and as uncomfortable a couple than Asuka and Vitolio. They are oil and water in regards to personality and temperment. I did get a kick out of Kayla's bitchface in reaction to Vitiolo's OTT celebration:



But c'mon dude, that was kind of uncool.

Re: So You Think You Can Dance: Season 5

The girl who has impressed me the most is Jeanette. You can be the best dancer in the world, but if your partner can't keep, it won't really show. I didn't think that Jeanette could keep up with Brandon, but the fact that she has has made him look that much better. It's especially impressive considering she's not a trained dancer -- she's a "street salsa" dancer (that's Alex DaSilva's term, not mine) like Susie from last season. This is the closest thing to Katee/Josh, only the genders are flopped. After Jeanette, no one really stands out, although Asuka and Kayla are getting way overpimped for what they've been doing. And as it turns out, Kayla was Brian Friedman's assistant, so she's like this year's Lauren Gottlieb -- a former assistant to an SYTYCD choreographer who gets undeservedly high praise from the judges (I mean, she stumbles during her DFYL solo and the judges don't even note it?). I want to like Caitlin and Karla (because, let's face it, they're very attractive), but neither have really done anything impressive.

As for the guys -- obviously, Brandon is on top of the list. Phillip, for all the grief he got for his tango, is still high on my list, because I think he will surprise a lot of people when he gets contemporary. Ballroom will probably remain his achilles heel, but his next ballroom dance will have to show improvement. Ade, Evan, Jason and Vitiolo are in the same boat -- they're supposed to be excellent dancers, but they haven't wowed me yet. The rest are fodder.

Re: So You Think You Can Dance: Season 5

Anyone catch Nigel's gaffe? When he was talking about Farrah's death, he referred to her as, "Farrah Fawcett... Majors". She hasn't gone by that moniker since the the early 80's. OKay, no big deal, but obviously, the Ed McMahon and Farrah obits were tacked on so they could talk about MJ's death.

The right two people went home, which surprised me. I thought they'd foolishly keep Asuka around because they've pimped her so much. But Karla is a much stronger (and hotter) dancer, so that was the right call. Jonathan was in waaay over his head and had to go.

Why can't Caitlin and Jason get it together? On paper, they should be a power couple. But they're both really meek and have zero chemistry. And what was with Caitlin's outfit? The bottom consisted of a sheer skirt, sheer granny panties, and white panties. So you could see her panties anyway, but when she danced, it looked like she was wearing bloomers.

My take on the boringness of this season is that aside from Brandon and Jeanette, there are no power couples to speak of. Last season had Mark/Chelsie, Josh/Katee, and Twich/Kherington all vying for the top spot. Ade/Melissa and Evan/Randi are second tier, Courtney/Gev level couples, and the rest are subpar. The only routine that was really memorable was Brandon and Jeanette's disco routine -- at this point last season, there were 5. And there have been more flat out bad routines this year.

I think that it is all nice and good to pair fodder with a pimped dancer, but it appears it's better for the audience to pair fodder with fodder and couple up your best dancers. It also didn't help that dancers like Jason, Caitlin, Asuka, and Phillip just aren't delivering on their promise. And none of the fodder is really stepping up their game.

I still don't know what the big deal is about Kayla. She says she wants to be a model -- maybe she should try out for ANTM since the producers of that show tend to go for girls with high cheekbones, alien features, and no boos like Kayla. Straight guys don't watch that show because none of the models have been hot since season 1.

Wow Patrick, it appears we have wildly divergent opinions on the dances.
 

For me, Janette and Brandon absolutely smoked their Cha Cha Cha, although there was some weird moment where I couldn't tell if they missed a lift or if it was choreographed that way.  I will have to give them props for covering so well if it was a bobble.  The most impressive thing for me was that it had no really flashy elements other than the brisk pace, and they still absoultely nailed it into the wall.
 

I thought that Caitlin absolutely OWNED her dance, as weird as it was.  For someone who spent weeks dancing a bit tentatively, she really threw herself into it and it was the best thing she's done on the show so far.  Jason, OTOH, wasn't much more than a prop, but a lot of that will have to fall on Brian Friedman.  Anyone who remembers Ashlee & Dmitri's Ballerina and soldier dance from season 2 knows how weird Friedman's dances can be.  Mary open dislike of Brian's choreography parallels Dan Karaty's dissing of that dance from season 2.  Apparently, you can't openly criticize the choreography unless it's from Brian Friedman.
 

I didn't appreciate Melissa and Ade's pas de deux nearly as much as the judges did.  Melissa was okay, the choreography was meh, but Ade was lumbering and heavy footed.  The lifts looked awkward, partly because of Ade and partly because of the choreo (why was Melissa bent-legged with her ankles crossed in the last lift?  It looked gangly).  No big deal for me -- watch this pas de deux to see what real ballet dancers can do:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDdtnKuxfFU
 

I don't really like Sonya stuff, it all looks samey to me.  Kayla is so devoid or charisma or personality or looks that I can't even tell if she's dancing well or not because I barely notice her when she's dancing and I cannot remember a single thing from her performances.  So this was a double-whammy for me, a boring, unmemorable performance that didn't look different from any other Sonja job.  In five season, I've never been so underwhelmed by a dancer as I have been by Kayla.  I don't even dislike her -- she's just a non-entity.
 

I loved Phillip and Jeanine's hip hop because of the really tight synchro parts.  Most hip hop dances lack flashy lifts and holds -- what really gets my attention when I watch hip hop are the intricate synchro parts.  So I loved this one.
 

About five measures into Brandi and Evan's Broadway, I realized that it was already 10,000% better than anything Tyce has done, so I loved it from start to finish.  The judges' critiques elicited a shrug from me -- I didn't see any of the flaws they were pointing out (I didn't even see them on the replays).  Great, great, bullet-proof choreography. Have this lady back and let Tyce (if he has to choreograph anything) stick with contemporary.
 

Karla and Vitolio were good, not great.  This was another case of bullet-proof choreography -- it may have been better for them to take some of the time away from nailing the steps to getting the performance level higher.  A bit underwhelming in that department.
 

So... we agree on Karla/Vitolio, agree somewhat on Brandon/Janette (I liked it much more than you did) and split on everything else.