(S05E03) L.A. saw Adam Shankman joining the esteemed Nigel Lythgoe and Mary Murphy. At one point he was coaxed onto stage to perform with one of the would-be contestants, where he proved that he can still hoof it. As a bonus treat, we got to see several of the finalists from last season, including winner Joshua and runner-up Katee, critique him and give him a ticket straight through to Vegas. It was a fun diversion from the true auditions.Mia Michaels, who showed up in Seattle, is one of the most brilliant choreographers on the show, bringing some of the most exciting contemporary routines we've seen. Which reminds me that I want to see more contemporary dancers lift their left leg instead of their right one. Just mix it up people. You can do it.
In the battle of the cities, L.A. smoked Seattle. Seattle only brought four people to Vegas on day one. Four! Nine more joined them on Day Two for a staggering thirteen representatives.
Blew Me Away
- This appears to be the year for people coming back who got cut just before the Top 20 last year.Bianca Revels was one of those who came back, and she continued another streak I'm seeing this season. Strength in tap. It's awesome to see the tappers coming out in force and showing that you can rock the stage in this form of dance.
- Another who almost made it was International Latin Ballroom dancer Asuka Kondoh, who brought incredible sex appeal to the stage with her partner Ricky Sun. And they owned every minute of a very difficult routine. It was the kind of choreography you see on the actual show that trips up everyone and they were just beautiful to watch.
- Philip Chbeeb, who didn't make it to Vegas due to pneumonia last year, came back and went straight through without even dancing. But in his defense, he was that amazing last year. But he did anyway, partnering with Arielle Coker who was more lyrical contemporary. And their two styles actually blended together beautifully, though there were some glitches along the way. Still I loved the union of genres.
- I could totally feel for Nathan Trasoras for quitting dance due to being made fun of. It's a tough thing as a male dancer, and it pushed me to nearly quitting several times despite success I was having. And I would never say that I was anywhere close to what this kid was able to achieve at 17. It was absolutely stunning. I think contemporary haters wouldn't be able to keep their eyes off of him. Look for him in Vegas next season, though, as he's ineligible this year.
- Wrestler turned dancer Sammy Ramirez even pops and locks his eyes and hair and is mesmerizing to watch.
- I'm not sure why Nigel was more drawn to Amanda Kerby's beauty than her dance because her movement was beauty. Her center was amazing; the turns she could come in and out of were just stunning.
- Redeeming Seattle was Kelsea Taylor. She locked in contemporary and had a wonderful command of her body and the stage. She knew how to put quirk into her performance and really stood out from the pack for it.
- Dancing with props is always risky, but Kuponohi'ipoi Aweau did it anyway, though he could just as well not have for as much as he used it. Luckily, he was good enough without it.
- Boyfriend/girlfriend Brother/sister duo Brynelle & Xavier Blanton love each other a lot. They hit a garbage can while rehearsing, which was foreshadowing to their actual performance. It was all trips and stutters and ... just ... wow. They seemed to technically know the steps but just had no idea how to execute them.
- If Shakira watches the show, she may just stop performing altogether. I certainly wouldn't want to have inspired what Kevin "Shakiro" Cormier did to us. And the cameraman made it worse with all those pelvis tight shots.
- Christopher Keller brought a style I've never seen: resistant dance. Dancing as if he absolutely did not want to be dancing, which made the whole thing look odd. I think the style has a fun potential, though.
- Tattoos and attitude are what Nick "Nasty" Salzman had. His approach was very hard and aggressive, but he had more strength than actual technique. It was very old school street dancing, but the judges might have let him through if his negative attitude hadn't sabotaged him. I don't think he would have gone much further anyway.
- I give Dmitrious Bistrevsky credit for realizing he was a terrible dancer after watching a home video he'd made of himself. I'd suggest Sex do the same thing, and a lot of these other contestants. Maybe they've just never seen themselves perform.
- Why do they keep putting David "Sex" Soller on my screen? This year, Nigel put him into choreography to try and give him a reality check about how horrible he was. But it didn't work.
- It looks like we now have the second coming of Sex with Leonid "Wise Leo" Knyshov, except that he was, sadly, much better, as proven in an impromptu dance-off between the two concocted by Mia.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-29-2009 @ 8:37AM
Sigma982 said...
Amanda Kerby was great, wasn't 100% on the wrestler dude, Kelsea was great as well....Kupono didn't do much for me, either....
But THE best by far was Nathan...easily could have been top 5 this year, without a doubt. Looking forward to seeing him in the fall....his technique was amazing, and some of the things he was doing showed that he probably had the versatility to do some other mainstream styles like hip-hop, etc.
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5-29-2009 @ 11:02AM
Vince said...
Looks like this season will be pretty good from the dancers they have showcased so far. They do need to ban "Sex" and his Mom so as not to encourage deranged behavior which leads to stacking and worse.
Would love to see this show re-use some of the best routines from previous seasons. Its a waste to see a great cherographic routine only once performed by only one set of dancers. How about a special once a week "famous" winning routine selected from each season or cherographer? Its got to be hard to continue to top themselevs every year.
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5-29-2009 @ 11:51AM
Ggrrl said...
Just wanted to point out that Katie came in third place last year - Twitch was the runner up.
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5-29-2009 @ 1:05PM
Kate said...
Someone please contact the Director/Producer of the show and tell them it is very annoying when the cameras constantly bounce back and forth between dancer and the judges....I really don't care what look is on the 3 judges...it severely interrupts the performance when the camera jumps to judges so much...!!! LOVE THE SHOW...BETTER THAN IDOL !!
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5-29-2009 @ 1:38PM
Melinda said...
Does anyone know the name and/or artist of the song that Kevin "shakio" cormier danced to last night in Seattle? This song was on dancing with the stars this season too, but i cant remember which couple danced to it.
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5-29-2009 @ 5:23PM
RobynM said...
And here I was thinking this was the year they finally got a restraining order against Sex. No such luck.
So you're the one that's the big Mia fan. Personally, I can only think of a small handful of bits she's done for the show that I've even found interesting. But then, lyrical leaves me cold most of the time, so that probably explains it.
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