SYTYCD
YAY!!!!!!! I'm very happy with the results and I think Lauren completely and utterly deserved it. Watching dancers revisit their older routines last night, it was obvious that all of them have grown, but Lauren I think has become a real professional. I also just love her strength--she's inspirational.
Billy and Ade's Mad World routine still choked me up. Powerful stuff. Robert's homage to mom was also beautiful. I was very surprised by how much José and Dominic's Excalibur hip hop had improved. I suspect the choreography was rewritten a bit to give it more of an obvious plot, or maybe they just learned it better. Time off and a month to focus on his own style have done José a world of good--if he'd danced like he did last night throughout the competition, he would have made it much further than he did. He and Dominic are working very well together. It was sad but good to see Alex up on stage in the opening number; he can dance more with his arms than many other dancers can dance with their entire bodies. Also, while I groaned when Ellen appeared on stage with Twitch, it ended up being endearing and fun, and how awesome for Alex that this huge celebrity was so taken with him that she wanted to be him? Funny that Mia's favorite routine pick ended up being one with Adechike, though I think she was really picking it for Comfort. Great to see Russell again, and with Lil C. Interesting to note the difference between their dancing. I don't think you could honestly say one was better than the other, but Russell had a quality of youthful go for broke, whereas Lil C had a smooth confidence born of years of dancing. It was a good study in contrasts.
I was sick of NappyTabs last season, but this season they wrote some great stuff. Hope they stay on that trajectory!
Seeing a brief clip of it last night reminded me that Wednesday's pillow routine with Robert and Lauren was one of my favorites of the season. I also really enjoyed Lauren and Twitch's presidential debate. Her hip hop clearly isn't as good as his (really, whose is?) but her force of personality made the routine believable. I did not like Kent's Bollywood; he wasn't very grounded. But the song was so hip hop influenced that I suspect that would have been a confusing factor for somebody who doesn't know much about Bollywood dancing. Though it would certainly behoove any would-be contestant to learn something about it in advance at this point.
The season was pretty uneven, but I feel reasonably sure that Lauren had a good chance from the get go, so I don't feel like her win was undeserved when looking at the entire original pool of contestants. I still would really, really have liked to see Alex not be injured, and I felt that Christina the salsa dancer had a lot of potential that we never got to see. Lauren really earned her win though, no doubt about that. And I'm glad that apparently America ultimately voted based on skill rather than charm or good looks (though I suppose there's always the theory that the cute boy voting contingent was split between Kent and Robert, giving Lauren the edge--I don't really buy that, though).
And finally, Cat Deely continues to be one of my favorite tv personalities ever :-)
I got less than five hours of sleep last night and I forgot my glasses today. It's going to be a long, headachy day... In my own dance news, my new dance sneakers arrived last night and I wore them around the apartment to break them in a little--so glad I bought them! They are not at all attractive, though as M said if I ever take up hip hop I'm all set for footwear. But they provide a lot of support while still allowing flexibility, and the turning spot on the ball of the foot is pretty excellent. I was doing pirouettes all night. They will get a lot of use this weekend.
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Billy and Ade's Mad World routine still choked me up. Powerful stuff. Robert's homage to mom was also beautiful. I was very surprised by how much José and Dominic's Excalibur hip hop had improved. I suspect the choreography was rewritten a bit to give it more of an obvious plot, or maybe they just learned it better. Time off and a month to focus on his own style have done José a world of good--if he'd danced like he did last night throughout the competition, he would have made it much further than he did. He and Dominic are working very well together. It was sad but good to see Alex up on stage in the opening number; he can dance more with his arms than many other dancers can dance with their entire bodies. Also, while I groaned when Ellen appeared on stage with Twitch, it ended up being endearing and fun, and how awesome for Alex that this huge celebrity was so taken with him that she wanted to be him? Funny that Mia's favorite routine pick ended up being one with Adechike, though I think she was really picking it for Comfort. Great to see Russell again, and with Lil C. Interesting to note the difference between their dancing. I don't think you could honestly say one was better than the other, but Russell had a quality of youthful go for broke, whereas Lil C had a smooth confidence born of years of dancing. It was a good study in contrasts.
I was sick of NappyTabs last season, but this season they wrote some great stuff. Hope they stay on that trajectory!
Seeing a brief clip of it last night reminded me that Wednesday's pillow routine with Robert and Lauren was one of my favorites of the season. I also really enjoyed Lauren and Twitch's presidential debate. Her hip hop clearly isn't as good as his (really, whose is?) but her force of personality made the routine believable. I did not like Kent's Bollywood; he wasn't very grounded. But the song was so hip hop influenced that I suspect that would have been a confusing factor for somebody who doesn't know much about Bollywood dancing. Though it would certainly behoove any would-be contestant to learn something about it in advance at this point.
The season was pretty uneven, but I feel reasonably sure that Lauren had a good chance from the get go, so I don't feel like her win was undeserved when looking at the entire original pool of contestants. I still would really, really have liked to see Alex not be injured, and I felt that Christina the salsa dancer had a lot of potential that we never got to see. Lauren really earned her win though, no doubt about that. And I'm glad that apparently America ultimately voted based on skill rather than charm or good looks (though I suppose there's always the theory that the cute boy voting contingent was split between Kent and Robert, giving Lauren the edge--I don't really buy that, though).
And finally, Cat Deely continues to be one of my favorite tv personalities ever :-)
I got less than five hours of sleep last night and I forgot my glasses today. It's going to be a long, headachy day... In my own dance news, my new dance sneakers arrived last night and I wore them around the apartment to break them in a little--so glad I bought them! They are not at all attractive, though as M said if I ever take up hip hop I'm all set for footwear. But they provide a lot of support while still allowing flexibility, and the turning spot on the ball of the foot is pretty excellent. I was doing pirouettes all night. They will get a lot of use this weekend.
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