Head judge and executive producer of So You Think You Can Dance Nigel Lythgoe seemed to say over and over in season 6: “The chair is here for you Paula, come and join us!” Well, those weren’t his exact words, but you heard him talk about it enough through the entire season. And did Ms. Paula Abdul show up? No.

Well, that’s very unfortunate for her, because Nigel has officially withdrawn his invitation for her to come on SYTYCD. Pity. Seems her deal for a new Star Search just fell through (as reported by PopWrap).

At first I kinda chuckled about that, you know, “loopy Paula” and all. But then I went, wait. I would have really liked that. I mean, enough with her being a judge, why couldn’t she come on and choreograph? If you will remember back a few years ago, Paula Abdul was the go-to choreographer in Hollywood and the music industry. Yeah, remember “it’s Janet. Miss Jackson if you’re nasty?” I do.

I mean, look. Paula was discovered by THE JACKSONS for pete’s sake, at a Laker’s game. They saw her dancing with the Laker Girls and invited her to create the choreography for their “Torture” video, a process she’s not sure how she even got through. “My only problem was how to tell the Jacksons how to dance. Imagine me telling them what routines to do. I was young, I was scared.” But survive she did and went on to choreograph their Victory tour.

And tell me you didn’t know she choreographed this scene from the beloved american film Big:

I didn’t!!!! (thanks bunches Wikipedia)

Geez, I mean she even did those great African dance scenes in Coming to America (one of my favorite comedies), and she IS an Emmy Award-winning choreographer (for The Tracey Ullman Show and American Music Awards).

What really brought her to the forefront and ultimately, I think, led her to a music career is her close relationship with Janet Jackson during the Control era. And you have to remember that Janet was just coming up, too. Control really put her on the map and set her apart from the Jackson family. And damn if they weren’t hyper-danceable songs.

Ooooooo, I got chills just watching the open dance moves. Hot Hot HOT!! And it’s more jazz than hip-hop (didja SEE the guy do a zillion pirouettes??), something you just don’t see anymore in music videos. Little elements of West Side Story thrown in as well. Hurrah for 80′s stirrup leggings and big jackets with shoulder pads.

So loopy or not, she is a dance icon in America, and in my heart. Love ya, Paula–come back to the dance world!!

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.

Alright. Everyone remembers the Ok Go video for “Here We Go Again”, right? Dancing on treadmills, all one shot, cheap silver backdrop, pure genius?

Well, they’ve taken it TEN steps further in their new video for “This Too Shall Pass”. Thanks to Dancing Branflakes‘ latest post, otherwise I might have missed it!

This video doesn’t have dancing, but it does have movement. And LOTS of it. It’s a riff (a big riff) on setting up dominoes to fall. On crack. Good crack I mean. Not that I mean crack’s good and all…

Let’s just enjoy:

I adore that they even refer to their treadmill video (and then take a sledgehammer to it). I’m not sure how many cuts are in the film, but I think only one or two–which is completely amazing. This is choreography with objects instead of people. My favorite moment is the rainbow colored flags. What is yours? There’s almost too much to choose from.

This video was making the rounds about a month ago. It has over 11 million views on YouTube.

Awesome, right? Pure genius.

When Jim died in 1990 from pneumonia (a tragic, needless death), my brother and I rented The Muppet Movie and cried. The intro with “The Rainbow Connection” is such a tear-jerker. For those of you who don’t know, Jim did the voice of Kermit and that is him singing the song. They tried to have his son continue with Kermit The Frog’s voice, but it just wasn’t the same and that’s why you don’t see Kermit much anymore.

What a special person Jim was. He gave us Kermit, Miss Piggy, Sesame Street (40 years ago!), The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock, The Dark Crystal, Yoda, Animal and a pantheon of puppets (he named them Muppets by combining the words marionette and puppet and was the first to combine a puppet form with marionette-type strings and sticks for the hands and feet). And the Muppet technology today is quite amazing, just rent any new Muppet movie (like Elmo’s Adventure in Grouchland) and you’ll see what I mean.

That’s the legacy that Jim Henson left us. Bless him!

This fall ABC will trot out an interim dance show for the break between seasons of their juggernaut Dancing with the Stars.

Called “Let’s Dance” and an adaptation of the British reality show “Let’s Dance for Comic Relief”, the show will once again call on stars to dance. But instead of a lengthy and grueling time commitment, the stars will only need to work on their dance for a week.  The dances will be re-enactments of famous dances from movies, TV, videos, or Broadway (like dances from Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” video or Baby and Johnny’s dance from “Dirty Dancing”).

The concept sounds pretty neat, but it seems with Kathy Griffin hosting, this show will not be too serious in it’s nature and in fact intends to be much lighter than Dancing With the Stars and focus on a comedic angle. Celebrity will compete against celebrity, be judged by a panel, then America will phone (or text) in votes for their favorite. The winner from the week will go on to compete in the finale for a $250,000 prize.

Let’s Dance will premier November 23rd, right after the Dancing With the Stars Finale.  Another dance winner for ABC? Stay tuned to find out!

Tonight Dancing with the Stars had a nice tribute to Michael Jackson, with LaToya and Jermaine Jackson in attendance. It was well done, and just slightly different as Michael didn’t really choreograph couples dancing. But of course they reserved the best for the end: I NEVER get tired of the choreography from the “Thriller” video. This video changed the way music videos were done, does everyone realize this?? John Landis, a motion picture director, famous for Animal House and American Werewolf in London directed this, people. Michael hand-picked him and called him and said “you and I are going to do something awesome together “. Well, I like to imagine that’s what he said.

Thriller Video, 1983

In any case, the production value was off the charts and I remember watching not only the video countless times in my parent’s bedroom (cable TV), but also the making of the video on HBO and being amazed every time. And the dancing just made me so excited, I’d never quite seen anything like it. Dancing like zombies? Sounded odd, turned out to be super cool and scary.

Way to go Michael. You were a revolutionary. And I still miss you.