SYTYCD Recap: Deja POO

33 Comments

1. 1
   hot cawfee
   Posted August 20, 2012 at 6:43 am

   Great recap, love!!!! I tell ya Pottykins– am with you muchly here.

   I am a Mia Michaels fan and was happy to see her as a focus tonight. Not sure either why the show couldn’t run during the Olympics–maybe Cat had a hosting gig??? Or maybe b/c the baby was due–and the baby is a sweetie.
   I only remember a few of the originals–I remember “Gravity” vividly b/c I was sobbing at the end of it. It was that good–chilling, emotional, intense. This reprisal was good–pales to the original. For people who are dancing to maintain their spots, I would have expected better performances. It was time for Janelle to go and esp Amelia. I am not a fan or hers at all. She had a couple of fair performances. I don’t think she likes partner work. Some dancers don’t—they are better soloists. Fine but then you better dance circles around your partner to save yourself.

2. 2
   vallegirl
   Posted August 20, 2012 at 7:52 am

   Ratings are mostly derived from people who watch the live show, even though there is some tracking of DVR viewing, and for a show that’s already stuggling for ratings it probably was a good idea not to broadcast during the Olympics.

   And while the original “Gravity” was a great dance I liked the idea of changing the male part to being more of an overbearing presence instead of a seductive one. Metaphorically its probably more true to addiction, but I agree that Lindsay was just too pert and pretty in her styling. If they’d just pull the women’s hair back it would be far less distracting and I think would have made this dance come off better.

   But while Nigel’s correct about dancers having to learn choreography created on other dancers, I don’t think it applies here. There was just that one performance, so people have very specific opinions and feelings about that one performance. There isn’t a body of performances to judge against.

   Finally, Mia picked the absolute worst version of Calling You for the dance. Jeff Buckley’s is way sexier. So while I have no dance reference to compare against, since I didn’t see the original until I watched the link, I do have a musical reference…and hated Celine’s version.

3. 3
   jerseyj
   Posted August 20, 2012 at 8:01 am

   Well, once again my DVR crapped out on me. At least based on your recap this wasn’t a bad week to miss. I was surprised to see Matthew went home, but when I read the recap and realized George was in the bottom too, it made more sense. Definitely not sad about Janelle and Amelia, it was their time to go. You better believe I’ll be double and triple checking my DVR next week!

4. 4
   Pikey578
   Posted August 20, 2012 at 8:05 am

   To piggyback on what vallegirl said: I like the way Cole changed the character of the addiction. The original showed an addiction when it first starts out – seductive and alluring, beckoning the person in. Last weeks was further down the addiction scale – it already knows it has you hooked so doesn’t have to play the seductress anymore – it knows that you will keep coming back because you have to. This definitely would have been much better if Lindsay didn’t look so together. I did not like Kayla but she really pulled it off in the original.

   I thought the DDD (Dead Daddy Dance) was dangerous for the dancers. They could have been injured if they slipped on one of the flowers on the stage.

   I read an interview with Mia where she mentioned that the straps in the opening dance represented the phone/computer lines that link her to her boyfriend of 3 years. Why they are suspended from the ceiling is anyone’s guess.

   Love your recaps as usual, PottyMouth and looking forward to the next one.

5. 5
   Honeybee
   Posted August 20, 2012 at 8:29 am

   I was not a huge fan of this episode, but I can say that the bench dance and addiction are the reasons I started watching this show. A couple of years ago, there was a count-down special that had the “best of” moments. I remember watching it, then immediately went online and looked up the past shows and dances. I have been hooked ever since and have actually gotten my sister and mother addicted as well.

   The addiction dance is my favorite. It made me cry the first time I saw it. When I realized what they planned for this episode I KNEW that they would give it to Cole…because he is so into the acting part of the dances (remember the nerd bit). Anyway have now watched both the origianl and the new one over and over. I personally think that Cole was better than Kupono. Yes there was a seductive quality about him, but Cole was like this monster that owned this girl. He was in control…she had nothing. And that for me was the problem. Lindsay just couldn’t compare.

   I think Kayla was hands above Lindsay in this. The way they were both filmed were very different as well. The original really focused on Kayla where as the new one really focused on Cole.

   As for the other dances, I liked Hometown Glory and agree that the camera work really effed them. And I liked Whitney and Cheon, not as much as the original, but I didn’t hate it. The rest where just “meh…” didn’t really care.

6. 6
   fawm316
   Posted August 20, 2012 at 8:36 am

   I thought this was a waste of Mia, she is an incredible choreagrapher and to have everything be a rehash seemed a waste. I guess that it would have been very hard to come up with a bunch of great routines at once, but still… Also I don’t think it was fair for these dancers to have to follow in very well remebered footsteps, the reason most of these dances were so succesfull was not just that Mia coreagraphed them (sorry for the crappy spelling), but the dancers themselves left a memorable stamp that can not be fogotten no matter how well the new dancers did. (ok rant over) And was it just me or did Mia seem less mean this time around? Love your recaps and look foward to them every week the show is on, keep up the funny work.

7. 7
   Enrique's Mole
   Posted August 20, 2012 at 8:49 am

   I liked the idea of this episode and was excited about it, but as I watched it, I realized how unfair it was to these dancers because the dances are so linked to the original dancers (in my mind). There’s no way they could measure up. Plus, in many cases, the original dancers were further along in their seasons, and presumably more experienced by then. Some of the dances selected were awful (really, the butt dance made the cut?!). I absolutely hated “Gravity”. It was nothing like the original in intent or impact, imo. “Calling You” was pretty good. Something that stood out to me was that some of the dancers this season seem physically larger than the dancers in the original “scenes”, so it seemed weird to see them doing the same moves.

   I actually liked the Bed dance – but I’m no expert. Speaking of, it was nice to have real, constructive criticism from judges for once (I’m looking at you, Ballet Boys).

8. 8
   cattyfan
   Posted August 20, 2012 at 10:10 am

   None of the dances during this show had the impact of the originals, primarily because the originals were crafted (not necessarily created) for the dancers we saw do them the first time around.

   I am unimpressed so far with this season, and this show may very well be losing me after all these seasons.

9. 9
   Liz
   Posted August 20, 2012 at 10:11 am

   I agree with the comments about the girls’ hair – it was especially distraction when Lindsey was doing the addiction dance. I actually didn’t like Kupono that much but loved Kayla, but I liked Kupono’s version much better because he seemed sinister and unfeeling – Cole seemed too invested in her and a bit cheesy. But, that’s just my opinion. I also agree this was lame – those dances, being a one time thing created specifically for those dancers and which we so memorable to begin with, can’t possibly live up to the way we remember them. And yeah, the opening group number wasn’t quite Mia-riffic enough for me.

10. 10
    cattyfan
    Posted August 20, 2012 at 10:18 am

    There was a malevolence to Kupono in this dance that was perfect…and ewithout it, the dance was not as convincing for me.

    Couldn’t watch the “Dead Dad Dance,” as we had buried my father-in-law just hours before. Whether I like the dance or not, the concept would have broken me at that point.

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    Kammie
    Posted August 20, 2012 at 11:48 am

    I was eagerly waiting to read your recap because I wanted to know if you saw the episode the same way as I did. Then I read your title – and knew the answer to that question is “yes.” It made me laugh. On to reading!

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    wcsdancer
    Posted August 20, 2012 at 11:51 am

    I, too, thought it was unfair to the dancers to perform pieces that were so memorable. The only ones that I thought were done fairly well were the Bench Dance and Addiction. Still not as good as the originals. I thought Cole was smart to take make it his instead of trying to imitate Kupono’s character. I like Kupono’s portrayal better, but as Pikey said, Cole did a good job showing that addiction is pretty indifferent to those addicted. Kayla wasn’t my favorite but she was stronger than Lindsay.

    Amelia and Will weren’t good in the Koop Island routine. The original was fun, and Randi had such an ease about her while dancing it. Amelia was very show dancy to me. I agree with that ballet boy judge who commented (maybe not about this particular dance) that subtlety is a good thing.

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    ww
    Posted August 20, 2012 at 12:12 pm

    They probably didn’t broadcast during the Olympics because they were afraid either no one would phone, or else it might not be fair to some of the dancers. But I hate the “two gone” AGAIN.

    I love Cyrus, but you know, now that he is in the “top ten” (Nigel needs him on that tour) he will get the “Evan” treatment. This week is when we will see them really start going after the people they want on tour, but not as winners.

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    blazergirl
    Posted August 20, 2012 at 4:04 pm

    I was so frustrated with this week’s episode because it is impossible not to compare them to the previous routines, but unfair to compare them. The original Hometown Glory was one of my all time favorite dances on the show, partially because Katee and Joshua danced it so well and partially because it was the first time we saw Joshua (a hip hop dancer) dance contemporary and he did such an amazing job.

    Second, Cyrus seems like a wonderful guy, but he has no business still being on the show when dancers like Matthew are going home. He was yet again given a dance with minimal dancing and even then it wasn’t done that smoothly (at least not as effortlessly as Twitch – again with the unfair comparisons) and the only critique was “you need to work on keeping your shoulders up.” WTH judges?!?!?!

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    hot cawfee
    Posted August 20, 2012 at 5:03 pm

    You know– thank you to all who are calling out bad hair and bad camera work– I agree with you—And there have also been instances of poor lighting. Too distracting.

    Amelia had to go tho– I have been gunning for her for ages. There I said it.

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    AshleyS
    Posted August 20, 2012 at 5:20 pm

    I was overall unimpressed with this episode but a bit torn over the Addiction dance. On the one hand, the original was more gritty and the *feel* was more real. If I’m not mistaken, Kupono had a friend die from a drug overdose? That could contribute to his menacing quality in that piece. On the other hand, I think Cole’s *portrayal* may have been better, though I think the lighting was too bright (which made the makeup stand out and really just detracted from the piece). With Kupono I got the feeling that he, as the drug addiction, was in a way seeking her to hold her back, like it was deliberate and going after her specifically. Cole barely looked at her and you get the impression that she could be anyone and it doesn’t matter to him, he doesn’t have to go after her with intent because he has her and she will be back.

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    AshleyS
    Posted August 20, 2012 at 7:40 pm

    @honeybee yes, yes you did ^^ I commented before I read the comments so I didn’t see that we both took more or less the same thing from the addiction dance, which I find cool!

18. 18
    georgiababe
    Posted August 20, 2012 at 8:29 pm

    Did anyone else notice that Cyrus did virtually NO dancing in the opening group number? He just walked around the stage and climbed some stairs and then walked back and laid down.

    And giving him and Eliana “Mercy” was SO lame because again, all he had to do was walk around. Ugh. He seems like such a nice guy, but it’s a crime that he’s still there and that Matthew is out.

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    georgiababe
    Posted August 20, 2012 at 8:41 pm

    Also, WHAT was with the ladies’ hair being all in their faces? I couldn’t stand Hometown Glory simply because Tiffany’s hair was in her face the whole time. I realize they didn’t want to make her look the exact same as Katee (whose hair was up) but couldn’t they at least have gotten some clips or something?

20. 20
    Lizbot
    Posted August 20, 2012 at 9:24 pm

    The main effect this week’s episode had on me (other than boredom and annoyance) was to make me miss previous seasons. Especially Season 4. Reminded me how amazing the combo of Josh/Katie/Twitch was.

    The closest of the night for me was the addiction piece. I thought Cole created a strong character and he’s a riveting dancer (for me). Lindsay did better than I expected as a ballroom girl dancing contemporary. Nowhere as powerful as when Kayla danced it, but out of a night of big disappointments, I thought it was pretty darn good. I was never as impressed with the original Bench piece as most people were, but but watching Witney and Chehon dance it made me appreciate what Heidi and Travis brought to it more than I ever have before. Not that Witney/Chehon didn’t have their moments (Witney captured some of the emotion and Chehon had beautiful movement), but there was an angst that oozed out of Heidi/Travi’s movement from the beginning to end of that piece that I don’t think those two captured.

    George is an amazing soloist. I thought his DFYL was breathtaking. But he’s just leaving me feeling nothing during his partnered dances. Maybe they need to give him a good hiphop piece to break him out of his shell….

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    Lizbot
    Posted August 20, 2012 at 9:25 pm

    By the way, did anyone else think the Ballet Boy gave Witney a backhanded compliment when he talked about all the amazing dancers in Utah but made absolutely no comment on her own abilities? Not sure if I missed something there….

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    T&T-lover
    Posted August 21, 2012 at 4:17 am

    Glad I wasn’t the only one annoyed with the show. How can you NOT compare these dancers to previous dancers and seasons? It was a complete waste of a show for me. I didn’t find any of the dances as good as the first time around.

    I loved the Butt dance the first time around (I loved Randi and Evan as a team together), and seeing Will and Amelia perform the dance really hit home for me how difficult the choreography really is. Randi and Evan made it look effortless, while Will and Amelia looked clumsy and awkward.

    I thought the Bench dance didn’t nearly have as much longing as Travis and Heidi had. I don’t feel the chemistry with Chehon and Whitney.

    The Addiction dance didn’t even come close for me. I love Cole, but there was something about Kupono that was creepy and menacing and strong all at the same time. Lindsay didn’t hold a candle to the grittiness of Kayla’s performance.

    Bleh, so sad I wasted 2 hours watching that episode. Can’t wait for the All Stars to bring some life back to this season.

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    Moli
    Posted August 21, 2012 at 5:14 am

    I HATED this episode, they could have paid tribute to Mia in a different way. I didn’t like any of the performances more than the first time around.

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    Honeybee
    Posted August 21, 2012 at 7:04 am

    @AshleyS – I like the way you think

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    lifesabeach
    Posted August 21, 2012 at 8:20 am

    First up-they needed to do this with WADE. Who was in the audience which made me quite happy.

    Why did Nigel think this was a good idea? All he did was complain about how the previous performances were better. All this did was show how the camera work continues to suck, the stage continues to suck, and the dancers (with the exception of Will and Eliana) can in no way compare to seasons 2-5. Also interesting how many of the favorite moments from the dancers and the choreography are from season 2 and season 4.

    All of them were dancing way to tentative and trying way to hard to be like dancer X. Not a single one of them made those dances their own. And the judging comments from Nigel and Mary just showed how flawed this whole premise was. Lightning doesn’t strike twice man.

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    lifesabeach
    Posted August 21, 2012 at 8:21 am

    PS. I knew Ryan Gosling was toast once his solo consisted of him rolling on the floor for about 80% of it. What a let down.

27. 27
    sfspurri
    Posted August 21, 2012 at 5:58 pm

    Okay, it could be because I didn’t watch the Kayla and Kupono performance originally, and looked it up after this episode, but I actually preferred Cole’s portrayal. I liked the detachment from her. And if you compare when the guys run their faces/mouths up the female’s leg, Cole did bring more seduction than Kupono to that one part. So I liked how he was like, “It doesn’t really matter what I do, or who you are, what your goals are, how high you want to fly. But know I’ll catch you and you’ll always be back, just like the rest of them. But in that face/leg thing in the middle, it was like, “Here’s a little taste. Doesn’t it feel good?”

    Yeah…I’m totally kinda crushing on Cole.
    And that’s all I really have to say. The rest of it was kinda blah for me too.

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    emptymailbox
    Posted August 21, 2012 at 10:27 pm

    I’m on the Cole bandwagon. I found his character in the Addiction piece far more interesting, unsettling, and accurate than the original. Swap out Lindsay for Kayla, and I think the dance would have been clearly improved.

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    nooneinparticular
    Posted August 22, 2012 at 10:53 am

    ” When I realized what they planned for this episode I KNEW that they would give it to Cole…because he is so into the acting part of the dances (remember the nerd bit). Anyway have now watched both the origianl and the new one over and over. I personally think that Cole was better than Kupono. Yes there was a seductive quality about him, but Cole was like this monster that owned this girl. He was in control…she had nothing. And that for me was the problem. Lindsay just couldn’t compare.”

    This. I was afraid because how could Cole compare to the seductive evilness of Kupono? So I thought not even trying was brilliant. Instead he went to this cold menacing not even making eye contract with her as he bends her to his will. I thought it was stunning and stark and brilliant. Lindsey was no Kayla though. I agree on that.

    I thought Bench was next best. Without the Travis/Heidi version I probably love this as much as I loved that one. This one fell _just_ short but was still very very good. The others were varying shade of mediocre. I wonder if they gave Matthew and his partner the dad dance because Matthew was gone anyway and why bother wasting a good dance on him? I had not seen the original of that one and I still found it dreadful.

    Like many others I was so excited about the idea of this and then as it got going I realized how not good it would be in practice. Nigel’s comparison to “in the dance world you have to step into already choreographed routines” was not really on point because a lot of these dances were originally choreographed to play to the strengths of the original dancers and then given to dancers who lacked those strengths and in some cases lacked the same physical characteristics. “In the dance world” they don’t give me the part if I’m not suited to make the movement work in the same way as it was meant to. So yeah meh.

30. 30
    PottyMouth
    Posted August 22, 2012 at 1:50 pm

    Thank god I wasn’t the only one disappointed last week! I kept wondering if I was just being cranky or something. Glad to see others felt the same way, but sorry to see the show keeping to its downward trend of late.

    hot cawfee: Yeah, I wasn’t sorry to see Janelle or Amelia go. Honestly, I don’t really feel all that invested in ANY of them this year. I mean, I have dancers I really like, but no one has me sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for them to dance this time around. That makes me sad.

    vallegirl: You make a really good point about the dancers and choreography created for other people. I think this was definitely an idea that sounded better on paper than we got in reality. Nigel would be kicking himself if he ever admitted he was wrong about something.

    jerseyj: No, it wasn’t a bad week to miss. Hopefully this week will be better with the all-stars added in. Although I heard someone I can’t stand is an all-star. Damn Devil spawn!

    Pikey578: I hear what you guys are saying about Cole changing the character, and I’m glad he made it his own, but for Kupono’s version was still better. Which is crazy because I really like Cole and I really couldn’t stand Kupono. Between Lindsay and Kayla there is really no comparison at all.

    Honeybee: The camerawork on this show is so crappy. You would think on a DANCE show they’d know how to film DANCERS. It makes me nuts!

    fawm316: I agree that Mia is less mean. Hopefully it’s a combination of her being happier in her life and watching herself when she was a judge and what a twatwaffle she was. I totally agree that this was a waste of a Mia episode.

    Enrique’s Mole: Yes!!! I completely agree! I’d like it if the Ballet Boyz came back again – it was nice to have judges that haven’t watched season after season after season as well.

    cattyfan: I’ve heard a lot of people say the same thing. I blame Nigel for fucking with a show that wasn’t broken. He’s continued to make changes that weren’t necessary and fucks over the show in the process. UGH. Can’t stand him.

    Liz: I think the lighting and camerawork didn’t help that opening number either, but still, it wasn’t her best.

    cattyfan: So sorry to hear about your loss. Skipping that dance was probably a good idea as it would have been really raw for you to watch it. {{hugs}}

    Kammie: Yeah, that title wasn’t coy, was it?

    wcsdancer: Koop Island Blues was never a favorite of mine, but Randi and Evan were phenomenal compared to Will and Amelia. So true about Randi’s ease vs. Amelia’s ”showmanship”.

    ww: Ahhhh, yes. The Evan treatment. It will be really interesting to see how they treat Cyrus now that he has made the tour. I still love the guy for his heart, but he needs to go as it’s become painfully clear that he is not capable of rising to the occasion like a Twitch (or even Legacy).

    blazergirl: Katee and Joshua had great chemistry together (as did a lot of the original performers) that I think is lacking in the dancers this season.

    Ashley S: Lighting could have been a factor – Cole’s makeup was bugging me. I think it’s pretty great that we seem to split about Kupono vs. Cole in the piece. I think everyone’s got some valid points and I think it’s interesting that we can each interpret these versions in very different ways.

    georgiababe: I’m so used to Cyrus doing little dancing in the group numbers that I barely even notice it anymore! I think the hair and makeup on the whole episode was JACKED. Someone’s been drinking on the job!

    Lizbot: I know! It made me long for seasons past as well!! LOL about the backhanded Witney compliment!

    T&T-lover: Amen to everything you said!

    Moli: I’m right there with ya, girl!

    lifesabeach: WADE!!!!!!! They need Wade back on this show, STAT. Aside from the two little foxes dance, I can’t think of anything of his I haven’t loved. Sigh.

    sfspurri: I understand your Cole crush. I still like Kupono’s performance better, but that’s just me

    emptymailbox: I do wonder if I’d like Cole more in it if we paired him up with Kayla. Maybe his performance bounced off of hers would tip me to his favor. I actually think it would have been interesting to see all of these with one of the original partners paired up with a dancer form this season. I still think they might have paled, but maybe they would have been somewhat better.

    nooneinparticular: Interesting thought on why Matthew got the Dead Dad Dance. I thought he was completely wasted in that routine, but maybe Nigel didn’t want him to shine and then boot him off. Hmmmm….

    Thanks so much for reading and commenting everyone. Like I said before, it’s great to know I wasn’t alone in my disappointment. And even though we don’t agree on all the performances, I think the Cole lovers make some really great arguments regarding his performance.

    Tonight we’re getting the all stars. Hopefully they can breathe some like into this season because I feel like it’s dying right before my eyes! See ya soon…..

    SWAK, PottyMouth

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    wcsdancer
    Posted August 22, 2012 at 4:00 pm

    PM, I really love how you respond to all your commenters!

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    nooneinparticular
    Posted August 22, 2012 at 4:46 pm

    I am excited for tonight.

    Potty I totally get the love for Kupono. I was also not a Kupono fan but man he _killed_ that piece. Killed it dead. And Cole’s take was obviously as different as you could make two people doing the same dance. So I can totally get why that might not translate for everyone. Just for me it’s another that on its own without the original would be the one dance we’d all be talking about. When they first started I wasn’t sure how it was going to go and there was one part (where the guy sits on the floor and then sort of throws the girl behind him) that either was botched or didn’t translate well with Cole’s different frame. But as a whole the “you’re so unimportant to me that I can’t even be bothered to look at you meanwhile I’m looking for the next person to eat” approach worked for me. He was like a shark. I don’t think I could even say I prefer one over the other because there were so different. But yeah I thought he killed it but I also love Cole and he does remind me of my favorite ever, Mark. Different quality but still interesting.

    I am not happy that we lost Matt. I hated the way Nigel talked to him about “having to find a way to connect” when he had one bad week. It’s not like he’d consistently been in the bottom! They had a crappy dance and they both did crappy and then he had the bad luck to have that happen in a week they were going to cut two guys. I would have preferred to see Cyrus or Will go first. I like both of them but exactly as you said Cyrus is not even close to Twitch.

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    Lizbot
    Posted August 23, 2012 at 6:09 am

    After all the discussion about Cole vs. Kuppono, I had to go back and watch the two pieces side by side. I have to say that I prefer Kupono’s version (there’s no point even discussing the comparison between Kayla and Lyndsay — Lyndsay got through the piece, but Kayla lived it! — I also noticed that Lyndsay has ridiculously long legs and the costuming made her look awkward, but anyway).

    Even though I think Kupono’s characterization was more fitting to the piece, I still love Cole and think that he kind of had no choice (“character artist that he is”) but to try to make the piece his own by taking it in another direction. Yet another reason why they never should have put these dancers in this position in the first place: either they had to try (and fail) to mimic the original dancers, or they had to try to put their own spin on it with the spectre of the past dances lurking in their heads. Not to say that it couldn’t be done — I think Cole came the closest to being successful with it — but I agree that if they were going to do this, they should have saved it for when the All-Stars came in.