I think we need to call the folks at the Fox network. In between berating them for canceling the best science fiction shows of the last decade, someone really ought to tell them what "premiere" means. You see, So You Think You Can Dance aired its first episode of season 5 last week (hence, the previous post on this blog regarding Nigel's comments about... yada yada...). However, they've been referring to the episodes airing this week as the "2 Night Premiere Event". Not quite, Fox.
It's a weird thing, trying to review these audition episodes because, even by the standards of reality show competitions, they are edited and packaged right down to each second, with every frame we the audience see having been decided well in advance. This makes them pretty much the least spontaneous and surprising of all episodes, and kind of hard to get a handle on as a reviewer without just recapping.
Did anyone stand out particularly for me? Sure. Did people get my attention? Yes. Of course, they were the auditioners who were given the spotlight, the ones with video packages and interviews and lots of screen time. Very few of the folks who got a second or two in montages grabbed my interest enough to wonder who they were and how well they actually did on stage. And that's a shame, because every season, a good half or so of the eventual top 20 contestants are ones we the viewer had almost no exposure to until the end of the Las Vegas auditions.
Anyway, with the city-by-city tour episodes come and gone, I can at least lay down a few opinions on what I saw, outside of my "In defense of Nigel Lythgoe" essay.
Without fail, if they were an auditioner whose feet had graced the SYTYCD stage in a previous season and lasted at the least to Vegas, they returned to the auditions improved.
Going across the six hours of audition episodes (six cities, six hours-- are you paying attention, American Idol?) here's some of the standout moments:
*I've come to love Cat Deeley. At first, I thought she was just another duller-than-dirt too-skinny co-hostess, a la Samantha Harris, but she's become a lovable goof and kind of Den Mother to the contestants, especially in the top 20. I also greatly admire her ability to chat with some of the weirdos in the audition eps and never let them on that they're about to get humiliated.
*That zombie-breakdancing "mutation" stuff? Kind of novel to watch, but it's almost performance art. Plus, no sympathy at all when they walk out of choreography.
*Tiffany Geigel is who people should have been talking about after this episode. Born with spinal thoracic dysplasia, she is inspiring in her courage and determination, and most impressively, she's completely devoid of attitude.
*I admit, I was totally ready to write Nobuya Nagahama as a "goofy Asian loser", but then his popping/vogueing thing turns out pretty great.
*I nearly fell off the couch when Nina Estrina and Igor Zabrodin did their Cha Cha and finished with that un-ending pot-stir (I was told it's called a coffee grinder, but that's dance for you). Awesome trick.
*As a choreographer, Sonya never really blew me away. I liked her stuff, but didn't love it the way I do Mia's or Wade's, for example. As a judge, though, she's absolutely impressive for her ability to simulate orgasm whenever she likes a dancer even a little. Sheesh.
*Natalie Reid, the redhead whose roommate Katee came in third last year, has really come into her own as a dancer. She's amazing.
*Tyce Diorio as a judge was highly amusing. Whether or not he's gay, he starts out the hour with enough mannerisms to pass. However, as the day wore on and the auditions wore on him, he got more... well, Jewish is the best way I can describe the tone and almost-accent of his comments.
*Lil'C, on the other hand, continues to impress me mightily as a judge.
*Janette Manrara and Romula Villaverde returned, and she's still good. He's still, well, passable enough. She went to Vegas and got cut, and supposedly they worked on a lot of new tricks. I wonder if they worked on any, you know, other dances. We'll see in Vegas, I guess.
*Paris Torres can dance quite well, but all I could think of when I watched her was Star Trek: Voyager. That would be the sound of my geekdoms crashing.
*I thought Caitlin Kinney would be just another talented cute blonde contemporary dancer, and she was those things. However, she also had her hip reconstructed at one point, and is still a talented dancer. Whoa.
*I was also suckered by Travis Prokop, who when mentioning that his dad is a football coach, was ready to see his disapproval, but Coach Dad was awesome.
*Evan Kasparzak is still a total joy to watch. Maybe 5% of the voting demographic for this show will get his old-school Gene Kelly style, which is a shame.
*A few bad-audition quickies: the brother-sister duo look like they totally want to do Mia Michaels dancing, but have zero training, which... well, trainwreck; the heavy-set girl got some excellent notes and the show did not mock her for her size, so yay; and I want to know what "fairy medicine" that one girl was taking.
*I love Adam Shankman. Beyond the fun he brings to judging and his spectacular choreography, now he gets up to do some swing with an auditioner. It's especially hilarious when Nigel makes him step to the mic and replaces the panel with former competitors Joshua (last year's champ), Katee, Lauren and Comfort, who do a fine job of being grave and serious as they consider him. He bursts through the doors with a Vegas ticket in hand, spazzing out and screaming to beat the band. Awesome.
*You are correct, Asuka Kondoh and Ricky Sun, people do not think of Asians when they think of Latin dancing. But damn, if that wasn't a freaking great performance. Ricky was strong and masculine without that fakey machismo crap that a lot of Latin dancers put on and she was just fantastic, both in technique and lots of personality. Go Asians!
*Nathan Trasoras was a wonderful contemporary dancer, with some of the most stunning turns I've ever seen. Since he's 17, Nigel gives him a Vegas ticket with a note attached, essentially giving him a bye for season 6, which will air this September (auditions going on now!).
*Popper Phillip Chbeeb, who missed out on being a contestant when he got pneumonia in Vegas, gets a pass, but stays around to perform with lyrical dancer Arielle Coker, his (girl?)friend. Their duet routine is just wonderful. They're adorable dancing it, they're having so much fun, and the blend between her contemporary and his popping works beautifully.
*Um, someone tell "Shakiro" that almost no one can make tight white jeans look good.
*Leonid Knyshov would have been just another annoying bad auditioner, but then gift-from-the-heavens Mia Michaels comes up with the idea that he should dance battle David "Sex" Sollar. After "Sex" confers with his exceptionally creepy mother, the battle begins, and it is a mercifully short display of epic fail vs. epic fail. In the end, Leonid triumphs by a judge vote of 2 to 1 based on his greater stamina and ability to jump up a few inches and turn a complete revolution awkwardly. However, in order to give "Sex" a reality check, they're sending him to choreography which for my money is still a mistake, since it inflicts his awfulness on some innocent partner. He's cut, of course, but it's clear he intends to perpetrate this crap on us again.
On his Twitter, Nigel insists this is the last we've seen of "Sex" (who Nigel, to his credit, steadfastly refuses to refer to as anything but David). Since nothing to that end was explicitly said, can we hope the producers will turn him away from the auditions in the future?
*Also, after the actual audition days, Nigel tweeted that Seattle was the worst group of auditions he'd ever seen, and considering it seems about just 14 or 15 people from both days were Vegas-bound, I think it's safe to say SYTYCD won't be returning.
In total, we'll see 177 hopefuls next week get whittled down mercilessly to 20.
See you then.
...Read more
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Friday, May 22, 2009
Inauspicious Beginnings?
This wasn't supposed to be the first post in this blog. When I got the idea to add this particular journal, it was intended to be the new home for my laboriously long Dancing with the Stars reviews and my newly-commissioned So You Think You Can Dance reviews (and it still will be, this particular entry aside). But I've been watching something happen out there in the electronic ether, and I really feel like commenting.
Last night, I watched the first episode of the fifth season of SYTYCD. As is typical, it's the first of two or three weeks' worth of preliminary auditions, taped in a half dozen cities around the country. I've only really got a few things to say on the episode itself and the dancing and dancers therein, but in fine internet tradition, controversy has exploded in a matter of less than half a day.
On last night's episode, a pair of men auditioned for the judging panel. Their chosen style was ballroom dancing (specifically, they were performing a Samba), and they were dancing as partners. The two did their dance, and then waited for comments and to discover their fates.
Head judge and co-Executive Producer Nigel Lythgoe, judge and ballroom professional Mary Murphy and choreographer Sonya Tayeh gave their opinions, all of them at least in general agreeing that they had difficulties with judging and appreciating the performance because the two men were doing a dance traditionally done by a male and female partnership. Mary had trouble with the fact that the two were constantly switching the roles of leader and follower, and that if they had stuck to just one each, she would not have been so distracted trying to follow the dancing. Sonya indicated that by having two male presences dance in that manner, she missed the typical male/female tension typical of the dance style.
Nigel's comments, which are garnering almost all of the ire, were that he believed the concept of same-sex ballroom dancing would "alienate some of [the show's] viewers" and that he personally did not care for the presentation. Lythgoe is being vilified at the moment as a homophobe for these comments. As an ballroom dancing enthusiast and former professional instructor as well as a fan of the show, I have to call the majority of the criticism unfair and reactionary.
Firstly, Nigel was being, I believe, pragmatic when it came to the audience appeal of same-sex ballroom dancing. While yes, the country on the average is growing more accepting of homosexual relationships, the continuing battle over such topics as same-sex marriage clearly indicate that this opinion is not universal. And as a producer, Nigel must also keep in his priorities the possible marketability of those accepted as contestants. Of all the offense being taken by his comments, this one I can at least understand. It's an unfortunate situation that not all people can accept all other people, but it is a fact.
Lythgoe's personal preferences, however, are also under attack, and I have to go on record as agreeing with him. In the recent hours, Nigel has clarified some of his stance, indicating the specific reasons he did not personally care for the performance. Primarily, he has a dislike for what he terms "effeminate" dancing from men. He's stated this numerous times on the show, and I agree. For my money, it's a case of mechanics. The male body, on the average, is to me more suited to graceful demonstrations of power and strength, while the less angular female body lends itself more strongly to fluid, extended movements. This is not to say that female dancers cannot be powerful and males cannot be fluid, only that my aesthetic sense finds them working better in those roles.
On the subject of same-sex ballroom dancing specifically, I also can't fault Nigel's opinion. The dances themselves are originally based on, and so have always been structured around, a male-female couple. By their design and construction, they are intended to take advantage of the presence of either tension or cooperation specifically between opposite sexes. Watching the performance, even though whichever dancer was following adopted distinctly and characteristically feminine movements of arms and hands, I found that dynamic lacking.
So You Think You Can Dance is not a program that shies away from dancers of the same sex dancing as a pair. In the later rounds, two men and two women will dance as teams, either in cooperative or confrontational themes for their dances. In fact, in two instance on that very episode, teams of two men were passed on to the "choreography" round of auditions (or, specifically, one pair-- the "mutation" dancers and a single man who had danced in tandem with his brother who was too young to be accepted as a contestant).
The ballroom couple in question were, I believe, treated entirely fairly as dancers. Technically speaking, their dancing was passable, but not extraordinary, and they did fall during the routine. Deciding that they could not adequately judge their dancing based on the routine, both men were passed to the choreography round where they would be split up and assigned female partners in order to gauge their ability to dance in that mode, as well as deal with other styles of dance that would be utilized. As it turns out, on the basis of their performance in that round, neither of the men were passed on to the final auditions in Las Vegas.
All in all, I have to consider this yet another online tempest in a teacup. Detractors are overreacting to comments made in a specific context, and are both ignoring that context and reading more into the comments than I believe was intended.
...Read more
Last night, I watched the first episode of the fifth season of SYTYCD. As is typical, it's the first of two or three weeks' worth of preliminary auditions, taped in a half dozen cities around the country. I've only really got a few things to say on the episode itself and the dancing and dancers therein, but in fine internet tradition, controversy has exploded in a matter of less than half a day.
On last night's episode, a pair of men auditioned for the judging panel. Their chosen style was ballroom dancing (specifically, they were performing a Samba), and they were dancing as partners. The two did their dance, and then waited for comments and to discover their fates.
Head judge and co-Executive Producer Nigel Lythgoe, judge and ballroom professional Mary Murphy and choreographer Sonya Tayeh gave their opinions, all of them at least in general agreeing that they had difficulties with judging and appreciating the performance because the two men were doing a dance traditionally done by a male and female partnership. Mary had trouble with the fact that the two were constantly switching the roles of leader and follower, and that if they had stuck to just one each, she would not have been so distracted trying to follow the dancing. Sonya indicated that by having two male presences dance in that manner, she missed the typical male/female tension typical of the dance style.
Nigel's comments, which are garnering almost all of the ire, were that he believed the concept of same-sex ballroom dancing would "alienate some of [the show's] viewers" and that he personally did not care for the presentation. Lythgoe is being vilified at the moment as a homophobe for these comments. As an ballroom dancing enthusiast and former professional instructor as well as a fan of the show, I have to call the majority of the criticism unfair and reactionary.
Firstly, Nigel was being, I believe, pragmatic when it came to the audience appeal of same-sex ballroom dancing. While yes, the country on the average is growing more accepting of homosexual relationships, the continuing battle over such topics as same-sex marriage clearly indicate that this opinion is not universal. And as a producer, Nigel must also keep in his priorities the possible marketability of those accepted as contestants. Of all the offense being taken by his comments, this one I can at least understand. It's an unfortunate situation that not all people can accept all other people, but it is a fact.
Lythgoe's personal preferences, however, are also under attack, and I have to go on record as agreeing with him. In the recent hours, Nigel has clarified some of his stance, indicating the specific reasons he did not personally care for the performance. Primarily, he has a dislike for what he terms "effeminate" dancing from men. He's stated this numerous times on the show, and I agree. For my money, it's a case of mechanics. The male body, on the average, is to me more suited to graceful demonstrations of power and strength, while the less angular female body lends itself more strongly to fluid, extended movements. This is not to say that female dancers cannot be powerful and males cannot be fluid, only that my aesthetic sense finds them working better in those roles.
On the subject of same-sex ballroom dancing specifically, I also can't fault Nigel's opinion. The dances themselves are originally based on, and so have always been structured around, a male-female couple. By their design and construction, they are intended to take advantage of the presence of either tension or cooperation specifically between opposite sexes. Watching the performance, even though whichever dancer was following adopted distinctly and characteristically feminine movements of arms and hands, I found that dynamic lacking.
So You Think You Can Dance is not a program that shies away from dancers of the same sex dancing as a pair. In the later rounds, two men and two women will dance as teams, either in cooperative or confrontational themes for their dances. In fact, in two instance on that very episode, teams of two men were passed on to the "choreography" round of auditions (or, specifically, one pair-- the "mutation" dancers and a single man who had danced in tandem with his brother who was too young to be accepted as a contestant).
The ballroom couple in question were, I believe, treated entirely fairly as dancers. Technically speaking, their dancing was passable, but not extraordinary, and they did fall during the routine. Deciding that they could not adequately judge their dancing based on the routine, both men were passed to the choreography round where they would be split up and assigned female partners in order to gauge their ability to dance in that mode, as well as deal with other styles of dance that would be utilized. As it turns out, on the basis of their performance in that round, neither of the men were passed on to the final auditions in Las Vegas.
All in all, I have to consider this yet another online tempest in a teacup. Detractors are overreacting to comments made in a specific context, and are both ignoring that context and reading more into the comments than I believe was intended.
...Read more
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