July 29th, 2010 by soullldiva

Aaaaaaaaand Billy Bell is back IN! After getting spanked for not dancing on the results show, that is. Seems that he was better on Thursday and said he wanted to wait it out. Good for him, I say. Gave America a chance to drool over some other dancers for a change. Don’t get me wrong, I am a Billy Bell fan. It’s just…whatever–what happened last night you ask?

The top six performed again on SYTYCD, after the judges made a never before made decision to NOT cut anyone last week because they couldn’t make up their frackin minds. I don’t blame them, really, but in the back of my mind I’m thinking: “how much longer does Casanova Jose have? I mean really?”

Cat looked luscious in a drape-y python print number, much better than last week. Good work, kitty! This week the contestants get to talk and reveal secrets they now know about each other–which I find intriguing.

First up is little Kent, who has a Jean-Marc and France Cha Cha Cha with lovely Anya. His second Cha Cha! And I have to say, all face-pulling aside, the kid is an amazing dancer. Lots of head popping, though. And looks like a little slip in the lift near the end. The camera angle was wide, though, I could be mistaken. But a pretty exciting dance with a great song choice. Mia spanks Kent again for his face–which he still really needs to work on. He defends himself a little (guts, babe), but he agrees that he needs to change it.

Next on the floor is Robert, who drew a Contemporary with sweetie Kathryn and choreographer Stacey Tookey. I absolutely loved the very first movement of this piece with Kathryn’s leg coming up over the army bag (crazy extension) and Robert coming up behind her. Very tender and desperate. Very well danced by both and the story and emotion was right there for us to see. Robert is a super strong partner and this piece really showcased that. Did LOVE the twist at the end that it’s HER going off to war and not him. Great moment. Nigel praises Robert for his growth and maturity and I would have to heartily agree with him. He’s fab and definitely my second fave to win this season.

And then Mia went further with Robert to say this delicious item that pretty much all dancers should listen to: “Allow your emotions and the reality of what you feel be the catalyst of your movement. Allow that to let you begin to move from there. And then it won’t look like you’re dancing steps to then try to conform and speak through steps, you’re speaking through your soul. And then your steps are secondary. And that will take it even to another level.” Thank you, Miss Mia for that lovely Mia Michaels Dance Quote, that’s why I heart ya.

Jose’s solo is the first of the night, and here’s what his fellow competitors have to say about him:

• clueless in the cutest way (this is Lauren’s comment)
• he’s a fighter and like my brother
• smooth, explosive and kind hearted
• the most focused and determined person
• he’s like a wise tortoise

Pretty interesting. Safe to say they like him a lot. There’s that personality again. His solo is good and I love the music, but it’s so much more about his personality than his dancing now. I feel like his solos are exactly the same. Maybe that’s my unfamiliarity with break dancing but…

AdeChike picked a Tyce DiOrio Jazz routine with Courtney and Tyce says it’s the nightclub up in Spanish Harlem. Yummy! Dizzy Gillespie is the music, so here we go! This is fun and super well dance with a ton of sparks flying between the two. I think this some of Tyce’s finest Jazz choreography. I feel like I’m watching an early 60′s B movie with fantastic music and hot , out of control dancing where everyone wears shades and is possibly toking in the back room (you know those movies). And they looked like they had a ball. AdeChike is my babe, and his note from Nigel was to just let go. Have abandon and not make it look like moves. It’s a good note from him, because it’s what will give him the edge to win.

Lauren’s solo is next and here’s what her peers had to say about her:

• she’s the only girl
• she’s crazy, hyper, loving
• she has two bunny slippers she’s named Joshua and Leviticus
• she’s the baby sister, everyone wants to look after her
• she’s a ball of energy, hyperactive

Looks like Lauren is definitely the baby of the bunch that everyone wants to take care of. That’s good for the only girl in a group of guys. She does her “Natural Woman” dance, which is a great choice after all the things that were said about her. I love her when she dances to Aretha, she becomes part of the music and part of Aretha’s voice. Lovely.

Jose very luckily pulls a Hip Hop with Comfort choreographed by Marty Kudelka and Dana Wilson. From the video before you can see that Jose and Comfort have a great chase game kind of dynamic which should be great for the piece. They use “Try a Little Tenderness” by the great Otis Redding which goes right to my soul. Hip Hop to Otis? Love it more than words can say. Their costumes are just awesome, straight out of the late 60s old school, you think they just left a blues club and are ready to hook up or get a ride home. This is a great new spin on Hip Hop that is so refreshing. Low on tricks, high on story and charisma. I really loved this piece. As usual Jose loves and wants the girl, and his tone with her is very much the spirit of the dance. He does get smacked for the flappiness of his arms by Nigel, Mia thought there was no swag in him and Adam said dance from the intention of the piece (meaning Jose changed it). Ouch.

Now here’s what everyone says about Mr. Billy:

• he’s messy, leaves clothing all over the place
• he’s helpful and willing to lend a hand
• he’s focused but can crack a joke
• he’s loud
• he is a crazy, sarcastic, outgoing, nutjob

Hmmmm…interesting. I would have not thought all that of him. But then I see his solo and I get that extra layer of him with those comments. Can’t quite explain it, but there it is.

Now we get to hear what’s been said bout Kent:

• he is the cutest little competitive farmboy
• silly and oblivious
• kind, generous and a great person to have around
• (Billy has to think of something nice to say)
• he’s a cool kid and a ladies man
• he’s a baby brother to me

He dances solo to “A Song For You” covered by Eliott Yamin, which I didn’t know he did. Very nice and the best since the original done by Donnie Hathaway. No face pulling here for Kent. This is a damn good solo. It just kinda goes to show how a dancer can really fully connect with a piece of music. Really, really good, I was moved.

Lauren draws a Broadway number by Tyce with All-Star Allison. Yea! A two gal piece, been waiting for this. And Lauren needs to really pull it all out, Allison is really the queen of Broadway. Lauren is great here, but I just can’t take my eyes off Allison, she’s really got the Broadway style and feeling down and gives it all. Fun piece, but not my fave of the evening. Judges gush over her, they love it. Nigel thinks she’ll be in the finale.

**Side note: has anyone noticed that Mia is much, much harder on the guys than on the girls? Not that Lauren ever deserved a beating, but I’ve never heard Mia say one negative thing about her. Agree? Disagree? Let me know!**

Now here we go, listen to what the contestants had to say about Robert:

• the songbird of our generation
• always singing and surprisingly well
• arrogant sideburns (what?)
• the class clown of the group
• goofy

Now, class clown is way different than a crazy nutjob and it makes me like Robert even more. His solo is great once again, he really knows how to channel the music and express it. Well done.

Billy gets to dance this week with Ade to a Stacey Tookey Contemporary. Yea, I love Ade! This is the story of a homeless man and a high-powered business man. And then they realize they are old friends. I’m very interested. This was an outstanding piece and I really loved it. The moment when they realized they knew each other could have been longer, but their discovery of each other and the emotions and frustration and anger that came out of them after the moment of discovery were really wonderful. There are far more girl and boy in love routines than something like this, which is another thing that makes it so special. Nigel notes that he’s glad they made their non-decision last week and kept him. I agree.

What does everyone say about AdeChike?

• a man of many names (Cheeky is one)
• Mr. personality, best friends with everyone
• ladies man
• flirtatious, loves to compliment the ladies
• a magician, puts a spell on the ladies

So AdeChike is the lady killer. Cheeky does his solo in jeans and I am wondering how do dancers dance like that in JEANS? Will someone tell me, please? Because I sure as heck can’t do lateral splits in my Gap 1969 jeans.

Next Jose draws Kent to do a Spencer Liff Broadway dance where the two of them are girl watching. Jose claims Kent has no game but is jealous of how he can simply turn his head and the girls scream. Very cute. And the piece is very cute as well, no doubt. I love this 50s style Donald O’Connor/Gene Kelly stuff. I can’t keep from looking at Jose, but for all the wrong reasons. Kent kills this piece and Jose, while his personality is completely present, dances the entire thing like a break dancer, which is not really what the piece calls for. All of Jose’s jumps were very compact, with his legs very close and bent towards his body, instead of length and air underneath them. And oddly enough, I am harder on Jose than Mia is this time around. Kent is named a contender for the title.

Lauren draws AdeChike to do a Foxtrot by Jean-Marc and France. Is this the first Foxtrot of the season? Will it be the kiss of death? We’ll see. It’s a sexy Foxtrot to “Fever” covered by Beyonce, so it’s not the normal dance. Definitely not your normal Foxtrot, but it just didn’t light my fire as much. I liked the last few moments though. I think the judges were right in that it wasn’t danced like a ballroom dance and so it just didn’t go right.

Robert picks Billy and they get a Bollywood dance choreographed by Nakul Dev Mahajaan (love that name). This is Indian fused with western dance and the story is two actors vying for the same role in a Bollywood movie. The music is from “Bombay Dreams”, which I am excited to hear. They have to dance in sync in throughout nearly the whole dance and they are not always exactly together which is a little distracting. The two are super cute together and really attack the moves and this is a super challenging and endurance-testing dance form which they do really well. And apparently Robert is a big, cheesy hamburger. I will concur.

Hamburgers and Pizza aside, it’s not hard to deduce who will be going home tonight. Well, one at least. And I will be sorry to see him go. Who will be the second? Who? Who? ;o)

March 18th, 2010 by soullldiva

Today I needed a little injection of beauty into my world. There’s no better excuse to share a Dance Quote from lovely Isadora Duncan:

“The dancer’s body is simply the luminous manifestation of the soul.
The true dance is an expression of serenity;
it is controlled by the profound rhythm of inner emotion.
Emotion does not reach the moment of frenzy out of a spurt of action;
it broods first, it sleeps like the life in the seed,
and it unfolds with a gentle slowness.
The Greeks understood the continuing beauty of a movement
that mounted, that spread, that ended with a promise of rebirth.” Isadora Duncan

To accompany the poetry (that’s always what her quotes sound like to me), I found a fantastic video of the Isadora Duncan Dance Group performing in Bologna in 1997. These are just snippets, but you get to see choreographed pieces from Isadora herself, including “The Butterfly”, “The Furies” and “The Revolutionary”.

I attempted to find the group’s website to no avail (even tried to find an archived page). If you know where this group’s webpage has gone to, let me know!

Hope you all enjoy the day ;o)

February 9th, 2010 by soullldiva

I found this fantastic video of an Isador Duncan style-dance and thought it would go perfectly with this luscious quote of hers:

“Every movement that can be danced on the seashore
without being in harmony with the rhythm of the waves,
every movement that can be danced in the forest
without being in harmony with the swaying of the branches,
every movement that one can dance… in the sunshine,
in the open country, without being in harmony with the life
and the solitude of the landscape – every such movement is false,
in that it is out of tune in the midst of nature’s harmonious lines.
That is why the dancer should above all else choose movements
that express the strength, health, nobility, ease and serenity of living things.”
Isadora Duncan

I love the idea that to dance is to be in harmony with the land, the sea, the air and the fabric of life around us. Dance is living and dance is life.

Isn’t Tamara Rojo gorgeous? Just look at the expression on her face, her joy, her FEET!! More on her later…

February 3rd, 2010 by soullldiva

“What is dance? I am dancing all the time.
Every gesture, the body line of every pose,
the way I get from place to place, the movement in the acting –
none of it would be the way it is if I weren’t a dancer.”
Ray Bolger

If you aren’t familiar with Mr. Ray Bolger, have I got a treat for you. Ray played the Scarecrow in one of the most glorious movies ever created: The Wizard of Oz. I love how he recognizes that dance is also in every day movement. Who couldn’t use more dancing in our lives every day? I sure could! Here’s his timeless and beautiful “dance” to “If I Only Had a Brain”.

January 29th, 2010 by soullldiva

“I was born into the studio and all I really know is dance.”   Travis Wall

And know it well he does!  He didn’t win the So You Think You Can Dance title when he was a competitor on the show (he came in second to Benji Schwimmer), but who cares? Travis is now a permanent fixture on SYTYCD as a choreographer. Can’t get much better than that, huh?

He started in season 5 with Jeanine and Jason’s Contemporary number to Jason Mratz’s “If It Kills Me” (known as the locket dance), a really gorgeous dance full of dynamic, passion and a little bit of craziness.

A really, really, fine debut for the show and absolutely goes on my “Best of the Best” list. He went on in season 5 to choreograph the top 8 in a Jazz number to “Let it Rock” by Kevin Rudolph.

In season 6 he continued contributing with contemporary numbers for Ellenore and Ryan, Ellenore and Legacy, and Ashleigh and Ryan. But the one dance that I felt was forgotten too quickly was with Bianca and Victor very early on. Most likely because the dancers were among the first to be eliminated for the show. But their dance to “Wasted Time” by (goooorgeous) Me’Shell Ndegeocello worked very well, even for a tapper and ballet dancer. They have this very sensual moment where he holds her near the end and she body rolls against him so subtlety. They took time in the moments and I noticed.

Well done by all.  Thanks for some great dancing, Travis!