SYTYCD: And So It Begins….Again


Here we go Gasmi, it’s time (finally) for season eight of So You Think You Can Dance! It seems like I’ve been waiting forever for this season to start but honestly I think the break seemed even longer than it was because of shows like Live to Dance and Skating with the Stars.  **SHUDDER**.

Thankfully all that is behind us now and I am so excited to be back.  Are you all as excited as I am?

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Wow.  Tone it down a little there Hugh, people will begin to think you don’t have anything better to do with your time than hang out with me.  Oh, wait.  Nevermind, carry on.

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So, a couple of things I’ve heard for season eight.  We’re back to a top twenty (THANK YOU!!!) and then at the top ten Nigel will bring back the all stars format.  Which I guess means there won’t be two dances per dancers at that point.  God I hope that Satan’s daughter isn’t on the all star list again.

In other news, my sources tell me Alex Wong will not be returning as a contestant, but may be among the all stars selected for this season.  Personally, I like that choice for him.  We’ve all seen how coming back after an injury can turn on you (Billy Bell) and Alex went out on such a high note I don’t know that he could recreate that magic again.

SYTYCD20110526cThat said, I am happy as a pig in shit that we may get to see him dance here again.

In sad news, it also seems that one of our favorites from last year, Anthony Burrell, will not be auditioning again.  Now, I haven’t heard that from him himself, but all evidence points to the fact that we will not be seeing him here this season.  WAH!!  Lizbot discovered other news that Anthony is apparently a sexter, but I think I’ll just choose to have a selective memory and remember him the way I want to.

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So now I’ve been blathering on and on and on and we still haven’t even started on the show yet!  Jeez!  Someone tell me to stick a sock in it or something!

Cat welcomes us to the season, telling us no other show has talent like this.

SYTYCD20110526eOr hosts for that matter

I love Cat.  And I’ve missed her SO much.  She tells us we’re going to see spectacular moves, incredible talent and non stop action.  Are you tall enough to ride this ride?

We’re starting out this season’s auditions in Atlanta.  Nigel is joined at the judges table by Lil C and Mary, who is returning to the role of a full time judge.  I guess I sort of missed Mary?  I mean, I missed her because I think she genuinely cares about the dancers and tries to give them real critiques, but I didn’t miss her screaming and hot tamale train bullshit.

SYTYCD20110526fAlso?  Please lay off the botox, Mary.  It’s not doing for you what you think it’s doing for you.

You remember how this works, right Gasmi?  You suck, you go home.  You kick ass, ticket to Vegas.  In between, you may get sent through to choreography and then either to Vegas or home.  Got it?  Good, let’s get going then.

First up is Latin ballroom dancer Bianka Hinklerian with her partner Giovanni.  Giovanni is not auditioning today.

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They’re pretty good, and Nigel specifically says he wants Giovanni to come back and audition next year.  Mary thinks it was fantastic and says their feet were on fire.  Lil C says that when tempo is that fast sometimes you can lose focus but they did not do that.  Yes to choreography from all of them.

Next up is Melanie Moore, an art major at Fordham University.  We get our first sob story of the season as Melanie tells us about her dad dying when she was twelve.  She tells us it has made her closer to her mom who has been a huge advocate of her following her dreams.  Okay, enough crying missy, let’s see if you can dance.

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HELL YES SHE CAN! I freaking love this girl.  I know the season just started, but already she is one of my favorites and I really hope she can make it through Vegas week because her dancing is fucking amazing.  Shit, I got tears in my eyes watching this girl!

And for those of you that want to see this routine in its entirety click below…….

Melanie Moore

Don’t you just love You Tube?

So of course the judges all love her too and Nigel talks about how sometimes awesome dancers fall apart when they get to Vegas and if that happens to her he is going to hunt her down.  Considering he’s a giant perv that’s really disturbing.  Obviously she’s going straight through to Vegas.

After Melanie (and a break) we meet two friends Deon Lewsa and Damon Bellmon who are using their time at auditions to try and pick up girls.  UGH.  Is this going to be a joke audition?

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Thankfully, no.  They were fun and pretty good.  I hope the judges put them through to choreography.  Nigel thinks anyone that watched them would be entertained and Mary loves the both of them and really thinks they came in with a plan.  Lil C says you can’t buy the kind of connection they have and hey, they can also dance.

Nigel says for him Deon brought a little more to it so he’s going to suggest that Deon go straight through to Vegas.  Mary and Lil C agree and then after fucking with his head a little, they put Damon through as well.  Yeah, the fakeouts are always so great, aren’t they?

SYTYCD20110526jThat was a rhetorical question

We get a montage of ticket getting dancers that we may or may not ever see again.  I swear we see one chick a couple of times.

Then we settle on Marko Germar.  What makes him so special, you may ask yourself.  Why, he has a story of course.  You see, he was shot in 2009 and refused to give up dancing in spite of that.  Of course it probably helps that he was shot in the arm.

SYTYCD20110526kAll kidding aside, he’s good.

Nigel asks about the shooting, confirming that the bullet is still in Marko’s arm.  Why?  Because he has to wring every moment out of this that he possibly can.  All three judges really like and put him through to choreography.

It just so happens that we’re ready for the choreography round and Marko will be joined there by Bianka the ballroom dancer who you might remember from the beginning of tonight’s show.  They both make it through to Vegas along with eleven other dancers.

The second day in Atlanta.  We start out with Kimalee Piedad and her partner who is not auditioning.

SYTYCD20110526lProbably competes with modeling for romance novel covers.

I’m honestly not all that impressed by her.  Sure, she can get lifted and carried and thrown around, but there wasn’t a whole hell of a lot of actual dancing in her audition.  The judges don’t care and put her straight through to Vegas.

We take a break from dancing now to shine a light on the judges’ firm grasp of the English language including Mary calling something organtic before we veer off into Lil C country.

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Among the gems dripping from him this time around are being absent while present, oxymoronical, gracefully clumsy, hard to ingest yet even harder to digest, and submissive to your own dominance.  Yep, he’s back.

This segues into what is clearly going to be an audition of delusion by a guy that calls himself White Chocolate.  Barf.  He’s pasty and sort of looks like the Pillsbury doughboy’s retarded cousin.

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Lil C’s face says it all….

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Nigel thinks it was really juvenile and not strong enough for the competition.  Mary wonders if he’s ever seen the show.  He has.  He wants to hug it and squeeze it and name it George.  He tells them at least he has rhythm.  Nope, says Lil C.  Nu uh.  So White Chocolate asks for a hug.

SYTYCD20110526pIt’s at times like these that Mary wishes she could still move her face.

We take a break and return to a montage o’losers.  We pause at a guy named Kyre whose grandma has come along to support him at his audition.  Nigel decides it would be a good idea to have her join them at the judges’ table to critique her grandson.  Well, this could be awkward.

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He’s not half bad.  His grandma says he should have connected more with the audience and then spanks Lil C when he says he disagrees with her.  Yeah, it’s all in good fun but that belt sounded like it was wacking his butt pretty good there.

SYTYCD20110526rThank you Grandma, may I have another?

In the end they send him off to choreography.  Once there he can’t hang and gets sent along his way.  He says he’s only eighteen so he’ll be back again.  Grandma threatens more spankings for the judges.

Cat tells us seven more dancers were moving on to Vegas, including some poor kid that Nigel fucked with before giving him a ticket.

SYTYCD20110526sPlease stop, Farmer Ted.

And now it’s on to San Francisco.  Here Nigel is joined by Sir BitchyPants and Toni Redpath.  UGH.

SYTYCD20110526tReally?!?!?

And then, just because I’m not pissed off enough yet, we start this round of auditions with a giant annoying goober named Amber.

SYTYCD20110526uMy palms are already itching to smack her.

Of course she tells us that she’s naturally like this, like ALL of the time and she doesn’t care what anyone else thinks, she’s just gotta be herself.

SYTYCD20110526vI’m guessing her mom tried to drown her at birth.

If not, then she should have.  Good lord I can’t stand this girl and I’ve only been subjected to her for about 30 seconds so far.  Of course it would be too much to ask that this be a joke audition, right?  The girl can dance somewhat.  Some.  What?

Sir BitchyPants thinks she is great and he loves her quirky personality.  She goobers out all over the place and I wish I had a shotgun.  Toni also loves her and Nigel compares her “quirkiness” to Shirley MacLaine, Juliet Prowse and Ann Margaret.  Have I mentioned yet that I think Nigel is a stupid asshole?

SYTYCD20110526wConsider it said.

Hopefully b-boy Timothy Joseph can quell the rage that’s bubbling up inside of me.

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Phew!  That was a close call.  He is really good, but as is the case a lot of the time with the b-boys you have to wonder if he can do anything else.  Nigel and company agree and so they send him over to choreography to see if he’s capable of anything more.

Well Gasmi, if you’re anything like me I know you just can’t stand when they show really awesome dancers because it’s just SO MUCH FUN to watch shitty and delusional people stinking up the show.  Right?  RIGHT?!?

SYTYCD20110526yWRONG.

Why do they feel the need to subject us to shit like this all the fucking time?  Why?  Meet Aisha Moss.  She saw the news about the auditions on the news this morning so thought it would be great to come on down and try her luck.

SYTYCD20110526zSadly, she forgot to go potty before she left the house.

This is terrible.  And I strongly suspect that this lady is not all there in the head.  When she tells Nigel she gets her booty shaking from her stripping days I can only imagine what nasty ass stripper hole she crawled out of.  Damn.  I don’t need to tell you she’s sent along her way, do I?

She hangs out in the audience to cheer on the next guy who is also terrible.

SYTYCD20110526aaAnd perhaps her soulmate.

Sir BitchyPants calls him a grande cup of not so good.  So witty that Sir BitchyPants.

Cue montage o’crap.

Next up is Danielle Ihle who has a sob story to share.  Her dad bankrupted his family and then left them homeless.  Sounds like a great guy.

SYTYCD20110526abI’m wondering why he took half of each pair of socks with him.

The one sock thing is really distracting.  Toni thinks she’s a great spinner but the emotional content left her flat.  Sir BitchyPants says she’s solid but would like to see more from her.  Nigel doesn’t like all the angst in the routine; he just wanted to enjoy the movement of it.  They send her through to choreography.

Time for Ashley Nicole Rich who seems a tad bit full of herself.

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Perhaps with some reason.  Sir BitchyPants yells out WOW a bunch of times while she’s dancing and I think he may have creamed in his pants.

SYTYCD20110526adSo did Toni.

They all love her and she goes through to Vegas.  I sort of hope she falls flat on her face once she gets there.  Mostly because she causes the judges to start singing.  Blech.

We get a very very brief montage of goodness before……

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Yeah, you know you saw this one coming a mile away, even if you didn’t see the teaser earlier in the show.  D’on-que Addison is an attention whore of epic proportions.  He sees himself as an underdog.  Whatever.  He’s there for attention so of course the fucking show is going to give it to him.

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Good Lord.  Someone stick a fork in him.  Or a knife.  Or a gag in his mouth.  Just shut him the fuck up.  Nigel tries to talk to him about his audition but he says he has done what he came here to do.  Oh shut up, Donkey.  Nigel says no and so does Toni.  Sir BitchyPants refuses to even acknowledge it and for once I actually don’t want to punch him the face.  Don’t worry, I’m sure it won’t last.

Choreography time!

SYTYCD20110526agAnd Will is looking FINE.

Yowza.  Where was I?  B-boy Timothy Joseph hurts himself while learning the choreography and chooses to bow out rather than adversely affect his partner.  In happier news (for her at least), homeless Danielle makes it through.

SYTYCD20110526ahAnd proceeds to give Nigel a completely inappropriate hug.

EWWWWWWWWWW. So Nigel ends day one with a boner while I go off to puke.

Day two starts with b-boy Jeffrey “Machine” McCann.  He’s been on his own since he was fifteen and seems like he’s got it all together.

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He is GOOOOOOOOD.   Sir BitchyPants loves him and just keeps yelling heck yeah.  Ticket to Vegas!  Heck Yeah!

Next up is Ryan Ramierez who auditioned last year and got cut in the home visits last year by Lil C.  She’s back and hoping to make it onto the show this time.  Since she has previously assisted Mia, I’m going to go ahead and call that she will make top twenty this year.

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I wouldn’t mind that terribly since she’s really good.  Not as good as Melanie, but still, I could watch her some more without wanting to gouge my eyes out.  All three judges loved it; Sir BitchyPants says they can tell that she’s worked and Toni says if there’s such a thing as controlled abandon, she has it.  They fuck with her making her think she’s going to choreography before sending her on to Vegas.

We see a snippet of a girl named Lily Nuygen and I wish they’d shown us more.  She looks like she’s possibly a combination of contemporary and b-girl.

SYTYCD20110526akMore please.

After another brief loser montage we get Levi Allen, a local “turfer” who shows us his stuff after explaining that turfing is a combination of swagger, footwork, pantomiming and storytelling.

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It’s actually a lot cooler than it sounds.  He gets put through to choreography, but the road ends there for him when he is unable to hack it.

And that’s the first round of auditions, Gasmi?  What did you think?  Any early favorites for you?  Next up are audition rounds in Salt Lake City and New York.  See you there!

SWAK, PottyMouth




PottyMouth

When she isn't screaming curses at various dance show judges or washing her OWN mouth out with soap, PottyMouth is a proud mama to a gorgeous little boy. And yes, she knows everyone says that about their kids, but it's true when she says it. YES IT IS. Fuck you. She also laments throwing away the chance to be a trophy wife, and would like to find a rich husband so she can sit on her ass all day long and watch TV. If you are fabulously wealthy, look like Hugh Jackman (or ARE in fact Hugh Jackman), and are turned on by foul-mouthed, mature, slightly smooshy women, then she just may be the gal for you. Please send picture, references and your latest bank statement for review.

44 Comments

  1. 1
    DonnaRonna
    Posted May 30, 2011 at 6:47 am

    I’m with you, PM. I am SO glad this show is finally back (and the insanity that is AI is over). I loved, loved, loved Melanie. There were a few of the too-common contemporary moves, but there was some beautiful, unusual stuff too. Also I love her cuteness (which I normally don’t love –EVER). I also agree that there were too many trainwrecks shown, but as always I’m sure that a lot of those we saw snippets of will turn out to be lovely surprises for us later.

  2. 2
    CattyFan cattyfan
    Posted May 30, 2011 at 7:42 am

    A.) I missed Mary Murphy. Screaming be damned…the woman knows her ballroom, and her perspective was sorely needed during last year’s Mia Michaels Bitch Fest which featured more contemporary dancers than anything else. (No balance at all.) Not to mention Mary usually gives pretty salient advice (Unlike Mia, who either just heaps huge amounts of hate or blows so much smoke up an undeserving ass it’s nauseating.)

    Plus Mary gets leway this year for having survived her cancer. That is no walk in the park, and earns ya plenty of good will.

    B.) I am so glad the producers heard the complaints and scaled back on featuring so many attention whores, instead giving viewers about 80% decent contestants. Far better than in past years. And even most of the not-so-great dancers were interesting on some level. (Like the stripper.) The only one I really regretted getting screen time was the multi-hued I Need To Tell My Story.

    C.) I still loathe Tyce and Lil’ C. What a pair of posers.

    D.) I didn’t like Ryan Ramirez (is that her name?) last year…and there’s still something about her that rubs me the wrong way. It might be the quantity of flailing versus actual dancing she does…and the fact that she gets praise for it. I also hate it when a choreographers assistant gets put in with no mention of their ties to said choreographer…and then they get all kinds of passes when they suck. And you know who I mean.

    E.) Sooooooooo happy you and Hugh are back. I just watche Wolverine: Origins again the other night.

    Hey…can any out there who knows X-Men stuff tell me why in Origins Wolverine and Sabretooth’s histories go back to the early 1800s…but in the movie that comes out next week (X-Men: First Class,) it’s implied the first mutants arrived in the early 1960s?

  3. 3
    Bioscotto
    Posted May 30, 2011 at 8:00 am

    I’m so happy this show is back on, finally! It’s nice to have a dancing show with standards for things like…talent…and…goodness.

    Like cattyfan, I was also pleased with the relative lack of attention whore contestants, and really wish they had skipped the crier all together, because all they did by featuring him was make him 100% likely to return next time…ugh.

    I won’t know their names or their styles until we get to like the top 7 (I suck at names!), but I totally agree with you about that Nyugen girl…I wanted to see more of that!! I was watching the show with my parents and pretty much said the same thing you did, “I think that girl just combined modern dance with b-girling! I want to go to there!”

    Looking for to more fun and excitement! And dancing!

  4. 4
    Pikey
    Posted May 30, 2011 at 8:59 am

    I am so glad SYTYCD is back! Yeah Cat! Yeah good dancers! Yeah PottyMouth’s great recaps! I would love to see Alex on as a professional in the top 10. Hopefully the judging will be fair and not pushing the judge’s agenda for a particular dancer…

  5. 5
    mel
    Posted May 30, 2011 at 9:56 am

    First of all, words cannot explain how I’ve missed your SYTYCD recaps!
    Secondly did you know those two brothers sort of copied the choreography from the Les Twins? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XLGYxeL1iQ
    Kinda lame of them

  6. 6
    lalalilo
    Posted May 30, 2011 at 10:41 am

    I think First Class is just about mutants gathering up for the first time in little super clubs. I think technically mutants have existed since the B.C. times, they just became more and more populous as time went on. Or I’m totally wrong, but I took a stab.

    Long time lurker of this show, thought I’d finally speak up and show a little gratitude for the caps :) Thanks for the youtube video. For the sake of not dooming any of the contestants this early in the show, I won’t pick favorites for a few weeks at least.

  7. 7
    ohhhyeah
    Posted May 30, 2011 at 1:29 pm

    It did seem like this season took forever to get here. Glad it’s back and glad to see you’re back recapping PM.

    I’m against the all-star format in general, but what they’ve come up with this season I think I can actually live with. We’re back to having partners at top twenty, and when they bring in the all-stars at top ten it will mean more variety (because couples won’t be dancing multiple times) and hopefully fewer injuries. I assume this also means that they guys and girls will be voted off at an even pace again, so that’s good.

    “Hey…can any out there who knows X-Men stuff tell me why in Origins Wolverine and Sabretooth’s histories go back to the early 1800s…but in the movie that comes out next week (X-Men: First Class,) it’s implied the first mutants arrived in the early 1960s?”

    I heard that the people who produced Origins didn’t stick to Marvel canon and changed quite a few things to suit their own story. I’m not familiar enough with Wolverine or Sabretooth’s back story to be able to say how accurate the movie was. Even so, the X-Men team was formed in the 1960s, but I’m pretty sure mutants existed before then, so the stories aren’t necessarily incongruous.

  8. 8
    sagittariuskim sagittariuskim
    Posted May 30, 2011 at 2:25 pm

    I’m glad SYTYCD is back. I loved Melanie too, hopefully she makes it through Vegas week. Great Recap!
    @cattyfan: From what I understand, mutants have been around forever. But the Xavier Institute wasn’t started until the 60s. Wovelrine backstory started in the 1800s because he’s been alive since then. Mutants who heal instantly apparently age at a slower pace.

  9. 9
    CattyFan cattyfan
    Posted May 30, 2011 at 4:38 pm

    Thank you all for clarifying. I don’t know the character histories, but I love a good action and/or sci-fi movie.

  10. 10
    georgiababe
    Posted May 30, 2011 at 5:45 pm

    I echo the sentiments of my fellow commenters when I say that I am so glad that SYTYCD is back! I honestly LOVE this show. Sometimes the judges tick me off, but in general, I love the dancing. In my opinion, this show kicks Idol’s ass because everybody on this show is TALENTED, unlike on Idol where if you’re a pretty boy you can skate through even if you suck. Not all of the dancers are as talented as others, but still, they are all good. And even though Mia is a giant bitch, I do love her choreography, not to mention the work of Tabitha and Napoleon, Stacey Tookey, Travis Wall, Sonja (whose last name escapes me) etc. And I’m also so happy to have your recaps again PottyMouth! I feel like you and I (and most of the people who watch this show, actually) have the same taste in dancing.

    AND, I find this totally exciting for me although maybe not for everybody else, but I’m back in dancing. I enrolled in an adult ballet class in January and I was worried that, considering the number of years I have under my belt, it would be far too easy, but it is definitely not. My instructor is a ballerina who kicks my ass all the time and I love it, it’s so much fun to be back in dancing after yearning for it while watching SYTYCD for all of these seasons. Of course, it’s almost June so my class ends for a few months soon, but I’ll be practicing my plies through the summer. I LOVE DANCING.

    I love Melanie, she was instantly one of my favorites and I love her hair. I am considering chopping mine off completely, like hers, but I’m not sure that I have the face for it. Or the guts. We’ll see.

    Amber drove me crazy as well and she also had Kate Gosselin’s awful haircut. Fail.

    So glad to hear that they’ve changed the format. I’m still not totally crazy about the All-Stars thing, but I can live with this compromise. Not to mention that we might (hopefully!) see Mark again! He is, of course, my all-time favorite dancer on this show (although Alex is a close 2nd) and I just love watching him. He was on SNL in Judas when Lady Gaga was the guest and I must say, although I think that he may be gay, I would tap that in a second. I think he’s so pretty, not to mention that he’s got a smoking hot dancer body PLUS his hair is in a mohawk for Gaga stuff, presumably, and it looks awesome. Okay, I’ll stop, I think I got drool on my keyboard…

    Anyway, looking forward to this season!

  11. 11
    Lizbot
    Posted May 30, 2011 at 5:49 pm

    Woohoo! It’s finally here. You made me lol (as per usual) with some of your comments — you said so many of the things I was thinking, only you were much funnier, of course.

    I have to admit, when that one girl first started talking about losing her father, my cynical, reality-tv-weary heart was thinking “oh great, here we go again”. And I thought something similar when I saw her mom (“oh great, and she brought her stagemom”). But then as I heard more of her story, and saw her dance, and saw her mom so proud of her — they just struck me as down to earth people, and the girl has real talent. Looking forward to seeing more of her (which probably means that Nigel will cut her, pronto).

    And thanks so much for including that picture of Will in all his hotness. I actually think he got hotter! Hopefully he’ll make an appearance in the All Stars team, cause I need some more of that (seeing as we probably won’t be getting more of Anthony).

    Oh yeah, and I too am attempting the suppression route to dealing with what I discovered about Anthony. Let’s just preserve the fantasy together, yes? :)

    Looking forward to a summer of your recaps!

  12. 12
    georgiababe
    Posted May 30, 2011 at 5:54 pm

    Also, Melanie’s mother made me cry. She was so supportive of her daughter and so happy for her, it made me so happy. I love it when parents support their kids no matter what. I certainly got a lot of flack from my parents for choosing acting over medicine and so it’s nice to see that not all parents are like that.

  13. 13
    CattyFan cattyfan
    Posted May 30, 2011 at 7:01 pm

    georgiababe…some folks do skate by. They had the guy who ended up with a scholarship to Debbie Allen’s school…and Phillip C. to name two.

  14. 14
    BlazerGirl
    Posted May 30, 2011 at 7:51 pm

    Yay!!! I’m so happy this show is back, with as you said, the best host on tv. I just love Kat.

    Cattyfan, are you talking about Will? He was the one who had worked with Debbie Allen, which is why she couldn’t mentor that season. And Will was awesome! But maybe you are talking about someone else?

    I will be agreeable to the all stars coming back if it means we get to see Alex again, and also Twitch. It actually makes me happy to see Twitch dance; I adore him!

  15. 15
    georgiababe
    Posted May 30, 2011 at 10:40 pm

    cattyfan – I agree with you that some of the guys haven’t been all-around as good, but they have all been quite good in their respective genres, which is more than most Idol contestants can do. The only glaring exception that I can remember, now that I think of it, is Jose, who was a decent B-boy, but nothing compared to ones of the past.

  16. 16
    sheesh
    Posted May 31, 2011 at 7:18 am

    @georgiababe…
    I will roshambeau you for a shot at Mark.
    Love this show!
    Love Cat!
    Love Pottymouth’s recaps!

  17. 17
    CattyFan cattyfan
    Posted May 31, 2011 at 7:58 am

    Blazergirl…no. I LOVE Will. It was a guy who struggled all season, and the judges kept keeping him, in spite of the fact he kept landing in the bottom. When they FINALLY gave him the boot, Debbie ALlen granted him a scholarship.

    He may have had “potential,” but he took a sopt in the top 20 that a more talented dancer deserved. I can’t think of his name.

  18. 18
    CattyFan cattyfan
    Posted May 31, 2011 at 8:02 am

    I broke down and looked it up. Season 3 – Cedric.

    Also, Lauren G. is the choreographer’s assistant who was treated with kid gloves.

  19. 19
    Posted May 31, 2011 at 8:17 am

    Deon & Damon completely stole a routine that was choreographed and performed by the French Hip-Hop duo, ‘Les Twins’, at the World of Dance competition many months before.

    http://tinyurl.com/3gllcnm

    Here’s a video that shows their dance moves side by side with ‘Les Twins’ and you can see how blatantly Deon & Damon stole. Maybe they thought they’d never get caught or never heard of the internet or YouTube.

    d-Trix was watching the show and twitter commenting with Neil Haskell and noticed the rip-off immediately. Thanks for pointing this out so quickly d-Trix – it kinda shows you’re aware and really know your stuff.

    Thanks for the excellent, as always, recap PM but I was a little disappointed that you didn’t mention that Katee Shean was one of the two teaching choreography. She may be the only Shean working today.

  20. 20
    Snootchy Bootches
    Posted May 31, 2011 at 8:32 am

    I don’t think they are required to audition with original material, are they? They are there for dancing not choreography, right? Or am I wrong?

    Anyway, I have also missed this show so much! I don’t watch AI or any of those other crap shows, so it feel like it has been years since last season. I didn’t miss Mary’s screeching at all, but (as mentioned above) I’ll give her a free pass because she survived cancer.

    Can’t wait to read your recaps this season. And Melanie’s dancing made me cry too so you aren’t alone! She’s amazing.

  21. 21
    Posted May 31, 2011 at 9:05 am

    @Dizzyfeet (Nigel Lythgoe) tweeted on Monday, May 30th at 13:32 via Echofon:

    “Although we don’t judge choreography I’m sorry those 2 guys didn’t acknowledge the fact that they used LE (sic) TWINS routine. It was good too!”

    I know the green mile episode was filmed last Sunday, so it was too late in the process for SYTYCD to react, but I’m pretty sure that Deon and Damon didn’t survive Vegas.

    I don’t know if the choreography needs to be completely original, Neil Haskell didn’t think so, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a complete ‘steal’ with no acknowledgement on SYTYCD before.

  22. 22
    georgiababe
    Posted May 31, 2011 at 11:21 am

    I feel like that while the audition should be based on dancing and not choreography, you shouldn’t completely rip off someone else’s routine and pass it off as your own. It’s an intellectual copyright thing and frankly, I think it should be about respect between dancers. Use some of ______’s moves, but acknowledge that you’re dancing a routine that somebody else choreographed and did. I don’t know if you can actually copyright dances, but I would guess that you can, there are probably some famous pieces by Twyla Tharp or other prominent choreographers that are copyrighted somehow.

    To be honest, I think that as long as you aren’t making money off someone else’s work, it’s probably okay, although you should acknowledge the original choreographer. However, these guys put this routine on TV – which might be something that the original choreographers are okay with, given that it gives their stuff more visibility, but I think that I would be PO’d if somebody did the same to me.

  23. 23
    BlazerGirl
    Posted May 31, 2011 at 11:52 am

    Cattyfan, thanks for clarifying. I had totally forgotten about Cedric; apparently I blocked him.

    Also, in regards to you mentioning Phillip, he was good the first few weeks and then showed that he couldn’t quite keep up. However I think he went as far as he did because he was partnered with Jeanine, who of course went on to win that season. She was so consistantly good that they didn’t end up in the bottom 3 for quite a while.

  24. 24
    cbc-cca
    Posted May 31, 2011 at 4:27 pm

    For those of you jonesing for some Alex Wong. He was on the Ellen DeGeneres show. There’s a youtube video and everything!! :)
    http://www.trandrew.com/omgdance/2011/05/31/sytycd-on-the-ellen-degeneres-show/

  25. 25
    PottyMouth PottyMouth
    Posted June 1, 2011 at 3:43 am

    DonnaRonna: I actually skipped AI this year. I ended up only watching the auditions and then I think one, maybe two shows before stopping. I’m so glad to have company in the Melanie love; I really hope she gets into the top twenty.

    cattyfan: Alright, I see your point about giving Mary a break what with surviving cancer and all, but if she starts the screaming hot tamale train again that break will be OVER. I do think she is a far better judge than Mia. Then again, who isn’t?

    Bioscotto: True, they’ve definitely cut back on the attention whores but in a way that makes it even more annoying when they show one. Ya know? It just feels so unnecessary. Fingers crossed for Lilly as well!

    Pikey: Oh Pikey, you know the judges will push their agenda; it happens every season. But with at least one rotating judge spot we’ll be getting different opinions on the dancing which is something I’ve sorely missed.

    mel: I had not heard of the Les Twins controversy! Usually my friends try to keep me in the know for important stuff because they know I’m a weirdo about not reading anything before I’m done with my recaps. Slackers!! Thanks for posting this – I think it’s messed up to blatantly rip off someone else’s choreography. Have you heard that D-Day is now backpedaling, saying it was meant to be a tribute? Balls.

    lalalilo: Hey, good to see you over here! I hope I haven’t doomed Melanie by calling her out as an early favorite. Maybe I should start saying I like that Amber chick so I can doom her.

    ohhhyeah: I’m with you, I’m not a fan of the all star format (a shock to all of you who were here last season, I know), but I knew Nigel wouldn’t completely scrap his “brilliant” idea. I agree that I can live with it in this format; hopefully they’ll have all stars that I don’t hate.

    sagittariuskim: I love all this mutant info you all have! Can it be true that there really are more comic book/dance geeks out there in the world?????

    georgiababe: That’s the other thing: the fabulous choreographers. I am so excited to see what they come up with this year. And I’m with you on Mia: LOVE her choreography (most of the time), hate her as a judge. Congrats on getting back into dancing! Those ballerinas make for kick ass teachers (literally!)

    Lizbot: I really thought Melanie was going to piss me off when they started with the sob story and her mom and all that. But her dancing was so fucking phenomenal….whoa. Oh, and I will definitely preserve the old Anthony with you!

    georgiababe: Are we doppelgangers or something?!?!? I was on the road to a career in medicine before I took a sharp left into acting!!! So weird. Are you still in the business? I’m not, although I use my skills every day; no one at work knows I secretly want to kill them all! Bwahahahaha!

    BlazerGirl: I like Twitch too. He seems like a humble, down to earth guy and I love watching him in his own genre. I will be beyond happy if Alex really does come back for the all stars. I still think if he hadn’t been injured last season was his to lose. WAH!!!

    sheesh: LOLOLOL! I never heard of roshembeau before – hilarious! Thank you for adding another wonderful word to my vocabulary!

    cattyfan: I always felt like Cedric knew he was out of his league and secretly wishing the judges would cut him. I was happy for him that Debbie Allen wanted to take him under her wing – his own style of dance was quite unique and interesting. Oh, Debbie Allen!!! I hope she rotates through as a judge!

    Gerrit Verstoep: I’m so sorry to have overlooked Katee – I was blinded by Will’s beauty. Thanks for that side by side comparison – unreal. I’m not surprised Dominic caught it – wasn’t he at World of Dance when Les Twins performed that number? Still, as you say, it’s good to see he’s not entirely useless.

    Snootchy Bootches: No, I don’t think they are required to use their own choreography. In fact, many of the contemporary dancers use solos they’ve performed at competitions. I think the outrage is over the fact that these guys weren’t actually choreographed by Les Twins (nor did they have their permission to use their routine) and in the hip hop world it’s apparently a HUGE no no to lift someone’s entire choreography. So glad to see I’m not the only crier when it comes to Melanie!

    Gerrit: I would be shocked if those guys made it past the first day in Vegas. Personally, I don’t think they would have survived choreography if they’d been out there instead of straight through to Vegas.

    cbc-cca: THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!! Loved seeing Alex perform again!

    Thanks to all of you for reading and commenting. We truly have the best readers here! I am really looking forward to this season and am so glad you all are joining me. Let’s hope we can get through the first few weeks without wanting to kill Nigel! See you in a few days!

    SWAK, PottyMouth

  26. 26
    Posted June 1, 2011 at 5:21 am

    PottyMouth: I’ve been told that Lil C was at the same World of Dance event and everyone is wondering why he didn’t call out D-Day on their Les Twins bite.

  27. 27
    jerseyj
    Posted June 1, 2011 at 8:10 am

    As much as Mary annoys me, I’m just glad there’s going to be someone who knows ballroom judging again. If I had to listen to the rest of those idiots praise terrible ballroom routines (like all of Kent’s last season) all summer I was going to start screaming louder than Mary!

  28. 28
    Enrique's Mole
    Posted June 1, 2011 at 11:31 am

    Cancer or no, Mary sucks. So sad that screaming trainwreck is back. I’ll be watching this season on mute.

  29. 29
    Enrique's Mole
    Posted June 1, 2011 at 11:44 am

    Cattyfan – didn’t read all of the comments to see if anyone came up with the dancer you were thinking of…it was Cedric. He kind of sucked, but had a sob story, so Debbie Allen gave him a scholarship to her academy when he got voted off as a consolation prize.

  30. 30
    PottyMouth PottyMouth
    Posted June 1, 2011 at 11:48 am

    Gerrit: You mean Dominic is actually more useful than Lil C? That’s hard to ingest and yet sort of easy to digest. :)

    jerseyj: I loved how last year Nigel tried to sell us on the fact that having good aesthetics in dance meant you were a good judge of ballroom technique.

    Enrique’s Mole: Mute away darlink! Unfortunately I will not be able to do the same, but I promise to let you know when anything of interest is said. Of course if my recaps were only filled with the interesting things said by judges on this show they’d be about a half a page long! Until Debbie Allen stops by at least!

  31. 31
    CattyFan cattyfan
    Posted June 1, 2011 at 12:07 pm

    Thanks, Enrique’s Mole. I actually broke down and looked it up. I never would have remembered him on my own…tells you how much of an impression he made.

  32. 32
    georgiababe
    Posted June 1, 2011 at 12:55 pm

    Whoa, seriously?! You were going to go into medicine? That is an extremely weird coincidence.

    Yup, I’m still acting. I live in a huge theatre town, so there are always festivals and tons of plays happening, not to mention several “prestigious” theatres (ones that actually pay you, haha.) I am thinking about getting an education after-degree though (2 years) and teaching drama instead – the audition game gets old after awhile, I’m sure you know what I mean.

  33. 33
    PottyMouth PottyMouth
    Posted June 1, 2011 at 1:33 pm

    @georgiababe: Yes, Seriously!!! How crazy is that? I actually wanted to go into sports medicine and was hoping to work with a ballet company someday, but how weird of a coincidence is that? Doppelganger I say!! (I just love the word doppelganger, can you tell?)

  34. 34
    Enrique's Mole
    Posted June 2, 2011 at 7:34 am

    PM – thanks for subjecting your ears to the abuse for us!

  35. 35
    Lizbot
    Posted June 2, 2011 at 8:26 pm

    A Top 20 contestant on SYTYCD Canada (I think it was season 2) completely ripped off one of Heidi’s routines when she had to dance for her life. I thought that the judges should have called her out or it then because I’m sure they must have watched the show (especially Jean Marc, who was a judge on the American show). It’s one thing to dance a routine choreographed by someone you know who choreographed for you, but I just think it’s lame to rip off someone else’s routine without permission, especially when they’ve already performed it on a large stage.

  36. 36
    here4beer
    Posted June 3, 2011 at 10:56 am

    I’m super late but wanted to say how happy I am that PM + SYTYCD is back!! YAY! Thanks for the update on Anthony, too, PM, because I was wondering where he was. I’m sad he won’t be back, because I was really looking forward to seeing him again. I felt like they set him up to win this season, too, so shame on him.

    I feel like I should be ashamed to admit this, but I’m so not… I ADORED Cedric. He wasn’t great with a partner, but he was so very awesome on his own. He actually holds dance seminars a few times a year in Milwaukee and I’ve always been tempted to go. I’m too old, though.

    So with the new format, does that mean that all the awesome people I saw in the LA audience (Sabre, Katie, Twitch, Josh, and a bunch of my former faves) will be the All-Stars? Please say yes :)

  37. 37
    Moli Moli
    Posted June 3, 2011 at 11:04 am

    Doing the Mo-Mo dance(which would never ever get me on the show, probably be part of the crappy dancers montage)……happy my show is back:) With PM recapping:)

  38. 38
    L
    Posted June 3, 2011 at 11:40 am

    Oh Potty-How I have missed you! I only read TVgasm for your SYTYCD posts anymore.

    And hugh. I’ve missed you to. :D

  39. 39
    leslilly
    Posted June 3, 2011 at 9:38 pm

    Did anyone see the finale of Glee? I SWEAR one of the show choir contestants/dancers (the girls in the white toga-like dresses) was Ryan Ramirez. I checked her out on imdb.com and it doesn’t give her credit for Glee, but I found it interesting that in addition to SYTYCD, she appeared in an episode of House.

  40. 40
    McWeanis McWeanis
    Posted June 4, 2011 at 3:55 pm

    ive watched all the audition episodes now, and melanie moore’s the only that gave me tingles :)

  41. 41
    John Bender
    Posted June 4, 2011 at 6:00 pm

    @leslilly:

    Nice catch. Ashley Galvan was on that episode too: http://ohyeahsytycd.tumblr.com/post/6004407247/jaackii-ashley-galvan-ryan-ramirez-on-glee

  42. 42
    PottyMouth PottyMouth
    Posted June 5, 2011 at 6:18 am

    Lizbot: That is crazy. I can’t believe no one called her out on it.

    here4beer: I haven’t heard any rumors regarding all star identities, but I’d love to see Katee and Will among them. I think you all know who I DON’T want to see and yet I’m sure we will see her.

    Moli: You must tape the Mo-Mo dance and post it on You Tube. I must see it immediately!

    L: Awwww…..you’re making me blush. Thanks so much. You should definitely hang around and read some other recaps as well – we’ve got some really kick ass writers here. ‘d say Hugh missed you too, but he’s ALL MINE, so you know how that goes.

    leslilly: Thanks for the heads up – I haven’t had a chance to watch it yet, but I’ll be on the lookout for her when I do!

    McWeanis: Me too! She better make top twenty.

    John Bender: Ooooooooo….I’ll have to look for her too!

  43. 43
    keenai
    Posted June 5, 2011 at 8:02 am

    PM, you had the exact same reaction to Will that I did. Boy is looking GOOD.

  44. 44
    leslilly
    Posted June 13, 2011 at 5:21 pm

    Good job, John Bender :)

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