Dance it Brandon/Evan/Jeanine! May the Force with either one of you tonight!

Speaking of dance perforomances, thank GOD the new season of So You Think You Can Dance is back on! I’m already hooked even though it’s just audition time because of the return of three compelling auditioners from last year who came so very close but didn’t make the top 20 (I especially love the musical theater guy from last night, Katee’s roommate and the powerful 19-year old male dancer who performend to Orff’s Carmina Burana. Sorry, didn’t quite catch their names yet).

Dance on!

Speaking of hip hop class, it’s tonight, and so is the America’s Best Dance Crew concert tour. Because my hip hop class is having a performance on Feb. 1, I can’t miss class, so I’m going to have to miss ABDC. **bangs head on wall** I tried selling my lone ticket on Craigslist but there were no takers, and I can’t resell them on Ticketmaster because the event isn’t sold out. Crap. What a waste of $74! And they’re really good seats too. I’m afraid the same thing’s gonna happen to my SYTYCD ticket. It’s also on a Monday night (why?! why?!) and I’m not going to be able to go because of rehearsals.

Any of you guys wanna buy my ABDC ticket? Or my SYTYCD ticket?

Now let’s talk about the actual show itself. I posted a rant-ish commentary on TWoP and the Fox boards, but all in all, I enjoyed the finale. Okay, here come the listmaking again:

Things I Thought Were Notable:

1. Will and Katee nailing the pas de deux. I gotta rewatch this because I was so caught up in trying to see if they were going to flub the turn again that I couldn’t pay attention to the overall performance. And when they did nail it, I was so joyous for them I was blinded to the rest of the routine.
2. Nigel’s tap number with the kids. That was…surprisingly entertaining. When Nigel stepped out I thought it was going to be all sorts of cheez-whiz, but the old man actually pulled it off. The cheese factor was greatly reduced by the fact that (a) he surrounded himself with kids (Aw, Nigel’s dancing with kids! And babies! And puppies! We have to like the routine!), (b) he was actually genuinely good, and (c) it was a tap number so we were forced to focus on his feet instead of his toothy smile.
3. “No Air” and “Bleeding Love.” Just as good (and in the case of BL, better) the second time around.
4. Chbeeb vs. Muraine. That was ah-mazing! Makes me love Nigel even more for bringing this type of dancing to the same stage where a Desmond Richardson, Debbie Allen and Mia Michaels routine were performed. In Li’l C parlance, it totally pushes the legitimization of the art form to new heights of imagination. Did I do good?
5. Mark. Mark. And more Mark. Despite the fact that no judge picked his Argentine Tango with Chelsie (Die judges, die!), I loved it that he got to dance five times last night — two pairs dances and three group numbers. So what if the camera cut him off during parts of “Five Moes?” (Die cameraman, die!)
6. Loved seeing the alums, esp. Donyelle, Travis, Ivan (who is really growing into his überlong limbs), Sara (backup singing AND dancing? You go girl!), Dom, Pasha, Dmitry and Anya. And I loved seeing the early-eliminated dancers (Chelsea T! Jaimie!).
7. Loved Shane’s hip hop number. It was definitely a highlight.

And now, for the Top Things I Hated the Most:

1. I said it already: why didn’t any judge picked the Marksie Tango?
2. Jonas Bros: Get the fuck off my stage and leave the performance to real, legitimate artists!
3. Mary’s dance number. Sigh…I know she sprained her ankle the week before, but if she was going to give a subpar performance, she really should have bowed out of the number.
4. Where was Danny? Sabra I cared not for (and I hear on the Internet grapevine and Nigel has all but disowned her), but I wanted my Danny during either the montage of former contestants and/or onstage! Where was he?
5. Uh, wtf was up with that dead rabbit routine? I found it to be subpar Wade. If he was trying to channel Gillian Lynne and Cats, he needed to have studied the natural movement of rabbits more. I found nothing rabbit-y about the dancers’ movements, unlike the choreo in Cats where every twitch, twirl, whirl and arabesque of the dancers was unmistakably feline.

For next year, I’m hoping they’ll show a segment of the dancers finding out who their partners are, a complete set of choreography for the elimination rounds of Vegas week, more Shane Sparks, less Mary Murphy (as in, get rid of her altogether), more Melanie LaPatin (on the judges’ panel), less contemporary boys, more ballroom guys, more women with personality, more Brian Friedman, more behind-the-scenes footage (what about shots in hair-and-makeup? In wardrobe?) and a week-long break for the dancers before the finale week to give them time for R&R.

Next post…let’s analyze some routines. Good weekend, all!

1. I miss Mark. I do. I missed my Marky-Mark. He was my favorite ever since I saw his “Bohemian Rhapsody.” I think the Russian Kepak would have been a much stronger dance if Mark had performed it instead of Twitch. That number was from a ballet after all. Notice how the choreographer didn’t include that sit-down-on-your-heels-and-kick-forward maneuver. Mark could have done it with his eyes closed. Speaking of which…
2. We finally get a ballet number on SYTYCD! Okay, it was a Russian trepak, but it was from the Nutcracker! Kinda boring. No grace, no style, just a lot of jumps and tricks.
3. The Jive was meh. Forgettable. I don’t want to see it on tour. And that Broadway routine was positively VOMITOUS! They had Gillian Lynne on the show two weeks ago! Why can’t they do a number from Cats?
4. I think Courtney totally outdanced Twitch in that hip hop number. He basically just phoned it in. But Courtney really has improved over the course of the season. I was just telling DH that she was lucky to have been partnered with Gev early on. Their chemistry and sexual tension really sucked voters in when it was still vote-for-your-fave-COUPLE time.
5. At this point, I don’t care who wins, just as long as it’s not Twitch. I think he has more of a future in acting or producing or choregraphing than in actual dancing. He can prolly choreo for SYTYCD or ABDC.
6. Mary. Shut the fuck up. Can’t you say anything original anymore? I think Nigel needs to replace you with another ballroom expert. How about Melanie LaPatin??? She was all sorts of awesome last night with her, “Okay that was totally not it but let’s try again.” Heh.

Did I vote last night? No. Who do I think will win? Joshua. He’s just the perfect storm of greatness, humility, charisma and good looks. I hope he becomes an honest-to-god celeb from this show. I want him in movies and music and videos and concerts!

My favorite routine of the night: