So You Think You Can Dance - Season 6 - Page 4

I wonder if Ashleigh has enough of a fan base to stay in despite not competing? A smooth move from the hubbie during his moment...

The strongest couple for me was Ryan and Kathryn. Jacob and Mollee actually beat out Legacy and Ellenore as far as consistency. I didn't like the latter's hip hop number. The costumes were awful and didn't help with the choreography.

Can we have more of Alisha, the Bollywood dancer?

Agree with you on all those points.  That hip hop number.  Yikes.  What was Nabitabs thinking.   Kathyrn proving again what a talatened dancer she is.   And yeah why not some more Alisha :)

Kinda had to chuckle at Ellenore's "wait a minute." I'm glad she made it through though. Mollee seemed genuinely bummed from the moment she found out she had to dance for her life.

Big upset with Legacy going out I think, though he's proved to be one classy, talented dude. His touching Mollee's cheek was sweet.

I want Kathryn to win, but who knows which way the wind will blow?

I'm kind of tired of baggin' on Ashleigh. If she wins I'll pitch a fit, but otherwise I'm mostly ignoring her.

I guess people need a couple to root for ever since Jon and Kate split up. :D

Ashleigh doesn't even dance and she makes the finals anyway?  I thought this was a dance show? Seriously, why do they even practice dancing when they should be practicing their little speeches and work up their sob stories? 

This is pretty much a microcosm of everything that is wrong with America.

People are voting for Ashleigh because of her backstory or because she's obviously not as good as the other dancers but she tries real hard. I root for the most talented, so AFAIC, Ashleigh shouldn't even be in the competition since she cannot hang on a talent basis.

I might have been more forgiving if she were hot, but someone pointed out she looks like Ernestine, Lily Tomlin's ringy-dingy operator.  Also, she's the worst latin dancer in her own specialty I can remember. She's not as good as Kathryn this season and four or five other contemp dancers from past seasons. Kayla is a better latin dancer than Ashleigh, and Kayla doesn't have a soul. Or a reflection. Ashleigh may be only slightly better than Courtney Galliano if that.  Ashleigh has no hip action.  How did she even compete in latin dancing?

Sooo happy Kathryn made it to the finals -- that Cha Cha was her ticket, and it was the kind of performance where you start smiling and laughing and in the end you realize that there's an ear to ear grin plastered to your face.  There were sooo many good things in that dance, and the luckiest person of the night was not Ashleigh -- the luckiest person was Ryan for getting paired up with Kathryn.  Legacy's downward trajectory can directly be traced to the moment he split up with Kathryn -- in the meantime, Kathryn coaxed Nathan's best performance out of him and got afterthought Ryan into the finals.  When she dances with Jakob in the finale, it will be, in the words of Borat, a liquid dance explosion.

Russell doesn't desrve to be in the finals either.  Russell's hip hop was terrible. For a guy dancing in his own style, it was boring as all get out. I know a lot of it was due to Shane Spark's unchallenging choreography (it wasn't about dancing as much as pulling attitude), but I would have rather watched Russell Krump than dance around with what appeared to be Melanie and Tony's daughter. The Bollywood wasn't that great -- Nathan danced his better earlier this season (Russell kept hitting moves like it was hip hop) and it was almost impossbile to watch him because the assistant he was dancing with was super hot and waaaay better. She showed him up in that number.

How many weeks now and what has he done that was noteworthy? Only a lack of mugging and self-promotion keep him from being in league with Godawful Twitch. OTOH, Russell has shown zero personality. Why is he a fan favorite exactly?

It looked like Mollee was in shock after losing out in a dance competition to someone who didn't dance.  I would have forgiven her for cursing into Cat's mic -- that might have been the unfairest thing I've ever seen on a reality talent competition.

BTW, if Kathryn does win, I expect her winner's speech to climb so high in pitch that eventually dogs will be howling back in recognition and then glass will shatter through the land.

At one point in the performance show, Mollee's hair got caught in Jakob's mouth, creating a Lady & the Tramp moment:



Ryan was rocking a Charles in Charge hairdo last night:

You know, having two injured partners could be a sign that Russell is a bad partner.  Rather than bad luck, it could be lack of skill and he's literally hurting his partners.

After some great performances by all, my favorite is still Kathryn, though I would not complain if Ellenore or Jacob won. Next would be Russell, Ryan and Ashleigh, in that order.

Who the hell hates Tabitha and Napoleon?!  Not anyone that I know with any substantial knowledge about dance--a lot of people I know consider them most solid choreographers on the show (in that they deliver great numbers most of the time, and are called on quite a bit, not just once or twice a season).

I think people are overly hard on Ryan, and to say he shouldn't even be in the top 20 is pretty harsh.  Sure, he may not be the strongest soloist, and his dances for his life were pretty crap, but he's one of the best *partners* the show has ever had.  Of course, it isn't called "So You Think You Can Partner," but let's be honest, has Ryan ever really, truly let any of his partners down in a routine?  To quote the oft-stated phrase on the show, Ryan's been "there every step of the way for his partner."  Plus, he did well in genres outside his speciality.  I think he's way more entertaining that Russell, who I think should have been swapped for Legacy in the finals.

Tyce's broadway piece was, I thought, quite good.  There were numerous little intricacies, especially on behalf of Ellenore, that really captured Fosse's style--the shoulder position and posture to name just one.  As a concept piece, that of evoking Bob Fosse style of jazz, it was great.

I really enjoyed the Ryan/Ellenore jazz piece, but agree it was far to esoteric for the masses.  It was like watching a curious blend of yoga moves and studio jazz, in the final minutes of an all-night rave.  There were some deceptively-difficult moves there that really required a strong core and precise lines, and it was pulled off with only a few errors (which Nigel seemed to latch right on to).

The paso was merely "ok," as I couldn't stop thinking about how poor Russell's paso-posture was (he did *not* get the pelvis/shoulders thing right).  However, the music was amazing--I'm going to buy the Blood Diamond soundtrack today.

Kathryn and Jacob's contemp. routine was indeed great, and went pretty much as expected.  I think Jacob is easily the best dancer on the show, and perhaps the best male dancer on the series (yes, better than Will, better than Brandon, etc).  However, he seems to have no personality at all, and that keeps me at a distance from him.  It seems the judges share this concern, as their usual comments are essentially "you are so good, you could be a total dick/prima donna, but you aren't, so props."

I didn't think Travis' routine for Ryan/Ashley was boring so much as it was unchallenging.  I've seen perfomances at my University, by first year dancers, that were way more complex than this.  I did think there was a ton of emotion, but you should expect nothing less.  But come on, at least toss in a few jaw-dropping lifts, Travis, it's not like Ryan can't handle them.

All-in-all, a pretty mediocre season, which I chalk up to the close pairing of it with the previous season.  The dancers were up to the task for the most part, but even with choreographers of this calibre, you can't ask them to come up with challenging and entertaining routines for virtually every week for a year (even more for some, like Jean-Marc, who also was a judge in Canada, and all those who choreo'd for the Canadian dancers, too).

You could really tell some of the routines weren't up to par, and they let the dancers down in that respect.  Also, I'm still not sold on not having the guest judge each week.  As much as I like Adam (I think he was by far the best of the guests), I enjoyed seeing other judges, too.

Also, just a fun jab, but does danskin even make clothing for men?  Every time I've been in there with my girlfriend, all they have is women's stuff :)

Nappy Tabs are not popular on the other boards I post on (words like "hated" and "despised" are thrown around when discussing NP).  I happen to like them in general, but their output this year hasn't been very good -- the best thing they did this season was a results show group dance (which was barely hip hop).  In fact, hip hop was wofeul this year -- other than the Dave Scott routine for Legacy & Kathryn (which was the best competition hip hop piece this season, and from week one no less) the other hip hop routines haven't been very good (I'll throw a bone to the Karen/Kevin racecar peice, but only because Karen was super-slinky in it -- I think that was Nappy Tabs).

Someone pointed out elsewhere than Ashleigh's injury was probably not a one week thing, and that her shoulder was still probably not 100%.  This is why she stood around during the Sonya piece and the Travis piece lacked any lifts or eye-popping moments.  They should have DQ'd her after her injury -- I would have much rather seen Mollee than Ashleigh in the finals, and Mollee was annoying as shit.

I like the pieces to have some sort of flow or purpose, but most of Tyce's pieces, and specifically ALL of his Broadway pieces are jumbled pastiche.  I can always tell it's a Tyce piece when the dancers go off in different directions and then start jumping and rolling and kicking on opposite sides of the stage and then remerge in the middle only to have one dancer throw the other to the side, and then it's back to random jumping and kicking.  It's just too scattershot for me to appreciate.  That was basically the second half the the "Fosse" piece -- just terpsichorean noise.

To me, what really ruined the season were the scheduling conflicts that resulted in no votes for the first two weeks of the competition (World Series) and the need to go to a top 6 because of the showcase episode.  Gotta go back to top 4 -- with a top six, that's only two weeks of competition with the top 10 dancers.  And why on earth did they chop the final competition show to one hour?  For a Gordon Ramsay one off?  Bizarre.

BTW, Danny was the best dancer on the show.  He could pull off Jakob's celebrated jetes whilst pantomiming a yawn.

And in regards to Danskin:

http://www.barryscapezio.com/barrys/product.asp?prod_name=Danskin+Men's+Supporter&pf_id=PAAAAAFHBGPONLPL&dept_id=3094&s_id=0&

Which is perfect since it's essentially a jock made by Danskin.  Admittedly, "can't sniff Joshua's Danskins" it was just meant as a play on words, but like many of my Separated at Births, the way these unplanned things just happen to match up perfectly is eerie at times.
Edited by Hanson - 12/16/09 at 11:21am

I don't think that dance belt is actually made by Danskin, rather, that seller (who evokes Capezio in his own store name, though I doubt he is affiliated with them in any way) is using the term as a synecdoche for "dance clothes."  I can't find any official references by Danskin themselves, regarding making actual clothing for men.

Regardless, what I was really implying was that you were making a joke about Joshua being a girl :)

Oh, I most certainly was.

One thing I forgot to ask: Is that Michael Bublé cover of "At This Moment" actually him doing a duet with himself?

Meh.

The only thing that impressed me was Kathryn managed to keep it together.

It sounded like when Kat's mic went out, people were standing off the stage, then she was saying come on come on and you heard a noise and someone yelp.  It may of been Russell falling right then, who knows?  Snooze fest last episode.  J-lo was terrible, that song was awful.  This season really bored me and I may be skipping the next one if I start to feel the same way.  Ashleigh was not good, not good even in her own style.  The latin girl from last season, and even kayla, were twice as good at her in that style.

You can't rock a snugly fitted glen plaid two piece anymore, no matter who you are.  Because an suit like that always makes you look like Pee Wee Herman.

I'm not saying tap dancing is boring (and if you've ever seen a clip of The Nicholas Brothers, you know it does not have to be), but the three tappers were a snoozefest.  I was verrrry close to skipping over it, but I fell asleep before I could grab the remote.  Putting all three on the same season was a big mistake and watered down the talent greatly.

Channing still didn't look like she wanted to be there.  Poor thing -- it seems like she didn't quite know what she had gotten herself into, and she was in over her head.  In many ways, that's what happened to Nathan as well.
 

Russell is easily the worst winner on the show:

1) He was not in any of the top ten dances of the season.  In fact, they had to pretend that the African Jazz piece and the Nappy Tabs hip hop with Kathryn were highlights of the season.  The Nappy Tabs piece was just okay and lacked the synchronicity and precision to be considered great, and the Frog Dance was a big who cares unless, I suppose, you're a huge fan of anilingus.

In fact, they ignored a ton of much better dances to stick this into the show in order to justify Russell's victory.  I mean, if they kept showing nothing but Jakob and Kathryn dances, it would look odd if Russell won out of nowhere, right?  And BTW, the Legacy/Kathryn hip hop was waaaay better than the Russell/Kathryn one.  By a lot.

2) He kept injuring his partners and then eventually himself.  And by getting hurt in the middle of the performance show, he ended up screwing over all those dancers who were waiting to perform again.  I'm not saying he did it mailiciously, but he definitely let everyone down.  He seemed surprisingly spry after he won, didn't he?
 

3) His entire backstory is a lie.  "Unpolished diamond" my ass -- he's been dancing professionally since 6 and was training at the Boston Arts Academy before going on the show.  But because he's a black and specialized in a hip hop style, Nigel took the ball and ran with it, taking every moment to trumpet how Russell was "untrained" and "grew on the show".  Keeping these compliments exclusively to Russell ignores the fact that Kathryn pulled off Broadway and Latin styles like an expert despite not having trained in those styles and acquit herself better in hip hop than Russell did in any of his ballroom dances.  But since she's a white girl, Nigel can't pretend she's from da hood.  In fact, many of the dancers did better in styles outisde their specialty than Russell did, but Russell gets bonus points for being "untrained", right?  Suuure.
 

But Russell's big advantage was that he fit into Nigel's formula.  The Nigel formula is a David vs Goliath storyline where the "favorite dancer" wins over the most talented dancer.  In season 1, Blake was the odds on favorite to win going in, and his antics also layered a good vs evil storyline on top of the David vs Goliath story.  But Blake was was so OTT bitchy he got the boot before the finals.  Since then, Nigel has picked technically brilliant dancers with less than magnetic personalities to be the Goliath -- Travis, Danny, Will, Brendan, and this season it was Jakob (note that with the exception of Will, the rest are also fey, so the little girls don't develop crushes on them).  The Davids always have the "growth"/"untrained" storyline -- Sabra was presented as having only been dancing a couple of years (ignoring she was a gymnast), Russell is supposedly untrained and both Twitch and Joshua were presented as "street" dancers (even though Joshua obviously had formal training and Twitch was a freaking dance teacher).  In the case of Russell, Twitch, and Russell, Nigel makes it seem like they auditioned right after a Bloods vs Crips gang fight.  You know... 'cause they're black.  Niiice.  Nice and racist.

Russell winning means this show no longer has any credibility.  It's not quite Sanjaya winning Americal Idol, but it's no better than Twtich winning SYTYCD.  Just should not have happened.

The annoying thing to me is that if they wanted to pimp the whole untrained, unpolished diamond angle, Legacy was a much more compelling story. Personally, I wanted him to win the competition. His b-boy skills were incredible and for someone who truly has no formal training in other dance styles, he did extraordinarily well for the most part, save for a few clunkers which I think were more the fault of bad, uninspired choreography than anything else.

Since he got the boot earlier, my next favorite was Kathryn, who was incredibly versatile and very attractive.

Like everyone, I saw the Russell win coming weeks ago but was hoping for a surprise. IMO, it should have gone to Kathryn or Jakob. Am I alone in thinking that Kathryn is a better dancer than Janine from last season was?  I don't know, maybe she was just cuter.

One thing I gotta say is that I hope they never, ever bring a married couple into the top 20 again. That whole angle was nauseating.

I don't know if Kathryn is better. I watched some of Janine's work from the last couple episodes and they're still awesome (the Matrix paso doble and the samba). I think J. has more performance energy, but based on K.'s exit interview on ew.com, her focus on performance instead of technique is a new development.

Apparently Russell and Kathryn will be showing up at the Oscars (I guess it pays to know the director).