 by Dan McCallum
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Poll: Who Should Win "So You Think You Can Dance" Season 4?
Tonight the Top 4 dancers from So You Think You Can Dance Season 4 will take the stage for their final performances and their last chance to bribe us into voting for them. It's been one hell of a season filled with buckets of sweat, a couple broken bones, one big pair of glasses, plenty of screams, a TV boyfriend or two and bare chests galore. While it's been uneven at times, one thing has remained constant: the talent onstage is banoodles! Are you a fan of Joshua and his high lifts? What about Katee's spastic yet controlled movements? Does Courtney's cuteness win your vote or is that tall drink of water Twitch the one that makes you tingle down below? Cast your vote for the win!
If you're interested in some spoilers from the finale, head on over to my TV blog, Ducky Does TV, where I've got the couplings, the styles of dance and some info on returning alumni! Submitted by on Wed, 2008-08-06 13:04. |
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Do we have any gay dish in
Do we have any gay dish on this year SYTYCD?
Each year, we usually have at least an out gay man on the internet. 2 years ago, around this time of the year we even had Travis pictures in drag or showing his butt.
It seems to me that this year the gay guys are very secretive off-camera which is a bummer.
Ya know...
The winner should have been...
Will. He was by far the best dancer in the competition. Since he was wrongly voted off, the winner should be Katie. But, clearly America doesn't know s*&t about dance, so it's anybody's guess.
I'm not sure either about who's gay, but what is up with Nigel and his homophobia???!!! Is anyone else as annoyed as I am by his constant need to heterosexualize everything? Ugh. In case he doesn't know, the majority of men in the dance world are gay, and the dance world doesn't care and is very accepting of it. Nigel seems to be the anomoly.
I liked Will more than some people, but I don't think that .....
One thing that we so agree on is Nigel, but I've beat that dead horse too long. He keeps trying to correlate "gay" with "flamboyant" AND "weak," and says the same tired thing that some of these "types" are not strong enough to do some of the required lifts or play a traditional role. Lots holes in his sweeping generalizations esp. in a field that is opening more and more each day as I see people wanting to see something exotic, organic, and at times even post gender. It also ignored how some gays are so good at play acting.
He's also a major perv., but I am glad that he brought this show to the US as it's given me an appreciation for dance, and I never had any to speak of. I am actually seeking shows to see and busting moves to make myself laugh.
I for one would love to see Mark choreographed by the chick with the Mohawk as the dance that she choreographed for him and Courtney last week was out of this world. Also, Cat Deeley for President.
Guillermo's Media Guillotine: Entertainment, journalism, politics, and popular culture.
http://springintoaction.typepad.com
More on Will
Your opinion is certainly not moot
The problem comes with a dancer like Comfort as I don't have a clue as to why she was there and kept there with the exception that they want to maintain race/dance diversity as long as they can. It's nice in principle, but even Comfort knew that she had no right being there but the judges kept keeping her as they thought that she wast the best female in her genre EVER. Hmmm....
So you danced for 20 years..... That I want to hear a bunch more about as I find it a joy to see the more aggressive/cool dances.
I am off to watch tonight's show on tape delay.
Guillermo's Media Guillotine: Entertainment, journalism, politics, and popular culture.
http://springintoaction.typepad.com
Well, thank you
for thinking my opinion isn't moot. :) Yeah, I think the producers keep certain dancers on the show for reasons of race/dance diversity, as you said, or as in the case of Miguel on Step It Up And Dance, for the bitchy, drama-queen aspect. Again, for me, as a trained dancer, it's hard to watch the better dancers get booted off and the less talented ones remain. These shows seem to bend over backwards to legitimize hip hop, and I don't really have a problem with that, except that the hip hop dancers, like Comfort, can rarely do anything else well at all, and the trained dancers, while not great at hip hop, can do it better than the untrained dancers can do the other genres. Did that make sense?
You can certainly hear more about my dance career if you like, but don't get too excited - it was not as stellar as it could have been. But that's a whole other story.
I haven't watched last night's show, so no spoilers! Although, I don't care that much since Will got the boot.
Cheers.
Speaking of Step It Up & Dance... I finally watched Step Up
I was kind of miffed as a key element that brings the two leads together just reeks of the stuff that Nigel keeps harping on as it perpetuates the idea that none of the softer looking male dancers, esp. ballet, are strong or are able to lift a girl. Not a big deal in the movie, but these shows have got to stop associating testosterone levels, perceptions based on look, and even gender with the ability to dance.
Yesterday's boy/boy dance was a perfect example as it was fun to see but did anyone catch Nigel's testosterone-charged words and (of course with no disrespect to woman as stated by the underwhelming Mandy Moore) about the joy of seeing two guys dancing with such strength. I know that she meant no harm, but I do wish that the show would showcase a wider spectrum of dancers just as they've been doing with the dances. How about a female Joshua? Or a male Katee. America is so ready to seem them. Even if they don't win, it's a victory for the show.
Guillermo's Media Guillotine: Entertainment, journalism, politics, and popular culture.
http://springintoaction.typepad.com
I'm a little behind
on So You Think You Can Dance, so I just watched Wednesday's show last night. Okay, that Trepak was a mess. And the girls Broadway routine was awful too. Tyce Dirio cannot choreograph for Broadway. His routines are awful! And what is with the judges praising the boys for having no technique? I actually had to fast-forward through most of Nigel's comments after that, as it was so insulting to the art form. To praise dancers for NOT studying shows an incredible lack of understanding of dance. Both Joshua and Twitch need to study a lot more ballet and modern. They both need work on articulation of their legs and feet, their port de bras and how they use their center. Twitch tends to hunch up his shoulders, as did Comfort, which might come from hip hop, I don't know, but it ruins the line and shortens the neck and is not attractive. These are subtleties, but they mark the distinction between a good dancer and an excellent one. And while I get that this is for a mass audience of largely uneducated (dance-wise) people, the judges are supposed to know better, so why are they praising this lack of technique. And for the record, while I think that Trepak was difficult, I've done one that was much harder, and required much more technique, so the judges going on about how incredibly hard it was, was kind of bogus to me. If you want to see truly bravura male dancing, go watch videos of Mikhail Baryshnikov from the 70s and 80s.
I thought both the girl's dance and the guy's were so gender stereotyped it was kind of disgusting. Women can partner each other and do lifts, hell, I've had women lift me, and I'm no small thing. And men can certainly do more than compete in some kind of pseudo macho sport competition. Again, I've done a romantic pas de deux with another man. Honestly, for people who are involved in the dance world, the homophobia and gender stereotypes they sink to on this show are kind of shocking.
I had such high hopes when I started watching this show, as I was so disappointed with Step It Up And Dance, and while I do applaud many things about this show, I am leaving it feeling almost as disappointed as I was with SIUAD.
I haven't watched the finale yet, so I don't know who wins. It should be Katee, but I have to say that I don't really care that much now.
End rant.
Your little behind
Carl, it's okay that you have a little behind. Not all of us need a lot of junk in the trunk. And since you also mentioned that you're "no small thing," I'm sure that compensates nicely.
As someone else with a background as a professional dancer, I feel some of your pain. Particularly since the beautifully trained Mark shouldn't have been eliminated to keep the sweet-but-lacking Twitch.
I don't feel like they were glorifying having no technique, just acknowledging how far these two hip hoppers could go with their limited training. Joshua really was kind of awesome, particularly in his versatility. Yes . . . spend enough time on his feet and you'll get depressed. But this show is about the whole package. And even though I wanted Katee to win, I have to admit that Joshua's package -- no doubt like Carl's -- is no small thing.
Okay, gotta go Google some packages on the interwebs now . . .
The blog has SYTYCD recaps for the whole season, in no small package.
I'll have you know
that I still have my dancer's bubble butt, thank you very much! It may not be quite as impressive as Joshua's, but for a middle-aged man, it's quite respectable. :) And back in the day, people used to ask if I stuffed my dance belt, which I did not! (Note: pathetic middle-aged man, desperately clinging to his youth).
I do think Joshua has a lot of natural talent, but for me, the lack of technique is a deal breaker. I'm afraid for me, the title still should have gone to Will or Katee.