August 13th, 2010 by soullldiva

It’s going to be a show packed with amazing dance–and we get to see all our favorite pieces from the entire season as well! All that before we find out who is America’s favorite dancer on season 7 of So You Think You Can Dance. Let’s get movin’!

First off, let me say that I love Cat’s dress, it’s very ballerina-ish. And I always love her hair. Her stylist manages with extreme precision to style it in a way that it does not look styled, just like she pushed a brush through it after a couple hot rollers and went. Brilliant.

What we are treated to first is a completely amazing, whirlwind, entrancing number to “RA” by Nathan Lanier. This is very high-concept and stylized and just great dancing. The top 11 dancers and all the all-stars are in it, and nothing makes me happier than to see Alex skate out on a chair with wheels and do an incredible solo with only his hands and arms. Makes me tear up. I begin to think this is looking a lot like an LDX piece when it’s announced that Christopher Scott, from yes, the LDX choreographed it. A great beginning to the night.

There are SEVEN choreographers/judged shoved in behind the microphones:
Nigel Lythgoe (we get a montage of his hair, very funny–and I want to see him do the full dance with the kids!)
Mia Michael (we get a montage of her making up words and sayings, I didn’t realize she did that)
Adam Shankman (great montage of all his funny and rico suave faces)
Tyce DiOrio
Stacey Tookey (Emmy nominated, btw)
Kenny Ortega (lahhhve)
Mary Murphy (Mary’s back! Mary’s back!)

First up is the judge’s pick for their faves of the season. Kenny Ortega picks Tyce’s “Shoeless Joe” from Damn Yankees with Kent and Neil. Kenny thought that Tyce’s piece was a great homage to Fosse and the the thing that Kent needed at that monent in the competition to push him forward. I would agree with the great Ortega.

Nigel’s pick is Stacey Tookey’s number with Billy and Ade, “Mad World”. A real moment for Billy, and he left the following week. An exceptional piece of art, and I am torn between this one and Travis Wall’s piece with Kent and Neil as my favorite of the season. I’m sure we’ll see that one later.

First special guest tonight is Quest–which happens to contain all-star Dominic. How does Dominic land on his back like that and not rupture countless vertebrae? Love the music for this, combination of hip hop, disco, and old fashioned vaudeville. Great fun.

Mia’s favorite pick is AdeChike and Comfort with their lyrical hip hop NappyTabs number. Very interesting, as I would have pegged her to pick Travis’ piece. As I recall AdeChike got really emotional afterwards the first time. I do love this piece, I always love it when hip hop can successfully tell a full story. I like it when it just jams, too.

Next is not a pick, but Kent and Anya doing their Cha Cha Cha to “My First Kiss”. I have to say that Kent still pulls the faces, but he’s got it down to an art and a science now. He knows exactly when to pull them, what type and how much. Watch the cha cha again and see what I mean.

Tyce’s pick is another NappyTabs, the clown piece with Robert and Dominic. I can’t decide whether this is ultra cool or ultra scary with the clown makeup. Oh well.

We get a peek around the US at National Dance Day from July 31st. I love that there is a national day for dance and that dance is being recognized as a physical and athletic pursuit, one that you can do to not only express your artistic creativity, but to exercise your body and get into shape, Yea Dance!

Next is a Tap number featuring none other than judge and exec. producer Nigel Lythgoe. And he walks out on crunches claiming a season 7 curse. Suddenly there’s a seven year old on stage saying he wants to tap dance. Well let him tap dance! And he does. Boy he does. I guess no Nigel tapping (sniff).

The next tap routine by a duo of brothers was probably the most entertaining tap I’ve seen since Gregory Hines. Nice treat!

Nigel’s second favorite pick is Lauren and Pasha’s Argentine Tango to “Oblivion”. Oh, Pasha, you haunt my dreams in skin tight black tuxedo pants and patent leather shoes. This is really an outstanding Tango and I love it even more the second time around.

Adam’s pick for the season is Travis Wall’s “Fix You” with Allison and Robert.

OMG. Is that RUSSELL FERGUSON???? Where the hell has he been? Rehearsing with Lil C, I guess! And C really gives the stage up to him for practically their entire Krump. This is a good pairing, they compleiment each other well. I love getting a dose of Russell’s power and energy through the TV. Fab ending slamming down on one knee and jumping back up. Then they flash their abs. Cute.

Mary’s favorite number is Dominic and Jose doing their duet to the music from District 9. I hardly remember this piece. Oh, it’s because I missed it the first time! Love Jose and hate to say I really didn’t care for this one.

Next special guest is the winner of SYTYCD UK Charlie, dancing with Neil. Great lyrical jazz piece, not sure if it shows her uniqueness, but good all the same.

Robert, Lauren and Kent are called on stage right now, in their next costumes. Can we tell what they are dancing next? Yes. One will be eliminated now. Third place goes to: Robert. A disappointed “awww” escapes my throat. Robert is a fantastic dancer who only got better as the show went on, more able, diversified, emotional and available. Congrats to him.

Blue Steel, AKA Adam’s next pick is another NappyTabs number, who are dubbed the “MVP”s of the season (I would agree with that). Lauren and Twitch dance like no tomorrow to “My Chick Bad”. I just love this song because it talks about how bad-ass a gal is.

We get one more look back at my early pick for the winner season seven, Alex. They replay a recording of his Sonya Tayah piece with Allison to Jeff Buckley’s “Hallelujah”. I remember not quite liking this as much the first time around, but I have such nostalgia for Alex that I can see it in a new unit of time and it’s really a heart-wrenching piece. I heart Alex.

Stacey Tookey’s favorite for the season was the Dev Nakul Bollywood danced by Billy and Robert. A harem pants, arm waving, foot slapping great Bollywood piece, Dev’s best for the season and amazingly done by Robert and Billy.

Mia gets to pick last and she picks the only one left to pick: Travis Wall’s “How It Ends” with Kent and Neil. Real perfection in storytelling through dance, excellent from Travis and amazingly well done emotion and moment to moment from the boys. A great way to end the performances.

The group Black Gold performs their fab single “Shine” and it’s too bad they do it through a video montage. Although I like the clips, I think the band deserves the full time on screen.

Ok, what is this super duper huge surprise fabulous guest Cat has been hyping the entire show (and who we have to wait for the results through)? Ellen DeGeneres??? Doing Alex’s part with Twitch for “Outta Your Mind”? Whoa! Ok, I have to say that I LOVE this. It’s light, totally un-serious, adorable and really fun. Ellen is such a fan of dance and of SYTYCD and this was a real treat to have her dance for us, and that she tells America that you can dance and have fun even if you’re not schooled. Alex is obviously thrilled.

Last up, the crowning. Kent and Lauren both deserve the title, and for different reasons. Kent for discovering his artistic roots and his emotional value, and Lauren for her womanly power and willingness to put it all on the line. I have no favorite, I have grown to love them both.

And the winner is: Lauren. I am shocked, but absolutely not disappointed. SO well deserved! And Russell brings her Gatorade bottle with her picture out for her (she of course also gets the exclusive Gatorade contract as they are now acknowledging dance as a sport!)

That’s it for Season 7 of So You Think You Can Dance everyone! So glad you could make it through the season with me. I’ll be there for Season 8 next May!

Until then, I have more dance videos, dance quotes, and of course the upcoming season 11 of Dancing With the Stars, so come back for more!

P.S.: I WILL get the performance night music up asap tomorrow, I promise ;o)

March 16th, 2010 by soullldiva

I’ve been tuning in here and there on America’s Best Dance Crew and seen some pretty nice stuff. Crew dancing is not usually my bag (although the kids are certainly talented), so I don’t normally jump up and down about it.

But last week was Disco Week on ABDC, and first that made me perk up. The crews were going to be given a disco song, and they had to incorporate some movement from the song/video clip AND put in a disco dance lift. Easy peasy, right? Well, just tell that to the Heavy Impact Crew who are just that–heavy. AND sooooo much fun to watch!! Just look at these guys. They embrace their differences, rub the bellies and just get to work. Sincerely, although there were great things about all the dances that night, I don’t think I enjoyed any group as much as Heavy Impact. Plus their song was “You Should Be Dancing” by the Bee Gees. Nuff said.

Just watch them tear up the dance floor. That is passion, enthusiasm, and love for dance:

I HEART me some Heavy Impact boys.

March 15th, 2010 by soullldiva

I am nothing if not nostalgic. While watching the latest episode of America’s Best Dance Crew I spied this amazing clip of the Jackson 5 performing live on Soul Train. I quick did a search for it.

This is classic, timeless and pretty darn cool. Sure, it has the standard group moves in it, and “Dancing Machine” was such a huge hit for the Jackson 5, it really put them on the map.

But just watch MJ take stage do the robot. Smooth, effortless, super quick and very robot-like. Watch him do a fast turn, walk with his head moving side to side, then smile like “hey, that was FUN!” Amazing.

Michael Jackson was certainly a born artist and entertainer. We miss you. Sigh.

January 27th, 2010 by soullldiva

…where there is some pretty darn great crew dancing going on. Now, I admit it, I’m not usually a stand up and cheer fan of this type of group dancing, I tend to prefer more contemporary-style dancing where more communication of emotion is involved. But that absolutely does not discount this type of high-energy, super complicated, tricky-tricks, high rhythm and syncopated dancing. It’s pretty amazing at times to watch, you just go “wow, how did they do that?” In addition, there’s the necessity for everyone to be completely in-synch with each other and look exactly the same. Also not something I’m a huge fan of (I like it when people dance and look like individuals). But then, that would defeat the idea of a “crew” right??? Of course. I’ve learned to love the synchronicity. ;o)

When the show first debuted on MTV, I loved the commercial for it, which showed a kind of a “melting pot” of dance: cloggers, ballerinas in toe shoes, break dancers, hip hoppers, etc. etc. I looked and looked for this video online and had no luck >o(. Oh well, onward!

Of course the most famous of the crews to come out of America’s Best Dance Crew is the Jabbawokees. You can’t turn on a dance show without seeing them. And rightly so, they are super skilled and really fun to watch.

The are so recognizable as a unit, as a team, the masks really contribute to that so all you are aware of is the movement, sometimes as one. They’re style is just really interesting, very almost laid-back, relaxed, easy going. But still full of energy. I also like this commercial for ABDC season 2 (right after they won). This is Jabbawokeez cranked up, dramatic and full of force:

I love the camera work on that bit as well, really added to their dance.

Another crew that’s made their name from ABDC is Quest Crew, they are super. Here’s their commercial for ABDC after they won:

Pretty snazzy, huh? Ok, that move where the guy flips in the air while two other guys pass above and below him? C-R-A-Z-Y. Nuts. Slammin! And I really dig the whole church theme. Didja see the pictures of the other crews in the stained glass?

OK and finally, a bunch o Girrrrlz won the competition last season, We are Heroes. And they give it as good as the guys do:

Was that enough hoppin’ videos for ya? Hope you had fun. Do you have any other ABDC faves? Let me know!