In our ongoing series of choreography “EmMandy” Awards, here’s the award for “Best Group Dance” from So You Think You Can Dance season 5 (winner is in Bold). This is the final award, so take a look at the other SYTYCD Season 5 “EmMandy” Awards.
“Best Group Dance”
Tyce Diorio, “Send in the Clowns”
Tabitha, Napolean and Dimitri, “Calle Ocho”
Mia Michaels, “One”, “Higher Ground”
An amazing concept with a heartbreaking story beautifully translated into the choreography. What more could you want? It was a sad dance, but it didn’t pity itself or try to make you cry or feel bad for it. It just was. I loved Jeanine’s smile that faded from her face, and Evan’s sliding down the toy box at the end. It was perfect and beautiful and I could watch it forever. However—I wouldn’t consider it a Broadway dance, more of a contemporary or even ballet. Just because the song is from a musical doesn’t make the dance Broadway. But it did include a generous helping of acting from each performer, and I think they all delivered.
I am a blogger and reality tv lover. I blog here for SYTYCD but mostly the Canada version, since I live in Vancouver BC. I also blog about other reality tv shows on my own blog www.mandysmind.com
In our ongoing series of choreography “EmMandy” Awards, here’s the award for “Best Prop” from So You Think You Can Dance season 5 (winner is in Bold). Take a look at the other SYTYCD Season 5 “EmMandy” Awards.
“Best Prop”
“The Butt Dance”, Randi’s butt
‘Love Lockdown”, the chain
“If it Kills Me”, the necklace
“Send in the Clowns”, the toy box
“Moses”, the feathers
“Crash Test Dummies”, the robot dog
Though I agree with the judges comments about how the chain was an unpredictable, and therefore messy, prop, I LOVED the concept. When you’re in a relationship with another person, doesn’t it feel like there’s a chain holding you together? You can’t go anywhere without the other person, or do anything without the other person knowing. And I loved the end when Philip offered Jeanine the key, a way out. I mentioned in another post that the heart was a cute addition to Travis’ dance but it was not choreographed into it very well. The poor dancers looked like they were having a hard time throwing/catching/biting/etc. the necklace.
I am a blogger and reality tv lover. I blog here for SYTYCD but mostly the Canada version, since I live in Vancouver BC. I also blog about other reality tv shows on my own blog www.mandysmind.com
In our ongoing series of choreography “EmMandy” Awards, here’s the award for “Strangest/Worst Carried-out Concept” from So You Think You Can Dance season 5 (winner is in Bold). Take a look at the other SYTYCD Season 5 “EmMandy” Awards.
“Strangest/Worst Carried-out Concept”
Brian Friedman, “Aliens”
the producers, “Russian Folk Dance”
Tabitha and Napolean, “Halo” (pregnancy)
Joey Dowling, “Dance at the Gym”
I’ve been dying to talk about this one. I was really dissapointed with Nappytabs because the concept seemed so promising, and they are usually great with concepts. But this dance fell flat. Reason being: there was nothing to suggest Randi was pregnant. If I hadn’t watched the intro, I would have thought it was about getting engaged (because of Evan’s “proposal”). The movements did not illustrate the concept at all (with exception to when Evan rubbed her stomach) and there was no conflict. They never seemed scared or nervous about the baby. As for Joey’s piece, besides the beginning there was minimal connection between the dancers. If you’re in love at first sight, you don’t want to take your eyes off them!
I am a blogger and reality tv lover. I blog here for SYTYCD but mostly the Canada version, since I live in Vancouver BC. I also blog about other reality tv shows on my own blog www.mandysmind.com
In our ongoing series of choreography “EmMandy” Awards, here’s the award for “Most Innovative Concept” from So You Think You Can Dance season 5 (winner is in Bold). Take a look at the other SYTYCD Season 5 “EmMandy” Awards.
“Most Innovative Concept”
Shane Sparks, “Shadow”
Dave Scott, “Battle”
Sonya Tayeh, “Vampires”
Tabitha and Napolean, “Love Lockdown”
Wade Robson, “Crash Test Dummies”
All of these were great concepts that pushed the boundaries of dance, but I have to give it to Wade. What a great idea! The movements were strange, but exactly what a dummy would move like. He had a concept and a story, something not generally attempted, but it made the piece that much more entertaining. I liked Shane’s idea for the shadow, but it really wasn’t carried out very well. The story was not moved along at all.
I am a blogger and reality tv lover. I blog here for SYTYCD but mostly the Canada version, since I live in Vancouver BC. I also blog about other reality tv shows on my own blog www.mandysmind.com
In our ongoing series of choreography “EmMandy” Awards, here’s the award for “Best New Choreographer” from So You Think You Can Dance season 5 (winner is in Bold). Take a look at the other SYTYCD Season 5 “EmMandy” Awards.
“Best New Choreographer”
Stacy Tookey
Travis Wall
Youri Nelzine and Lilia Babenko (the Russian Folk people)
I picked Stacy because I really see her making history of SYTYCD. Her “Falling Slowly” really should have been on the finale, and both of her pieces deserved much more praise than they were given. I love her style’s fluidity and how she endows each movement with purpose. I also see Travis making a name for himself, but I think most of this is due to his “alumnus” status. Would people be lauding his name as much if he wasn’t a former contestant? The Russian Folk choreographers are mostly on there because I couldn’t remember any other new choreographers. Max had said earlier that the choreography made the dance the “worst of the season”, but I have to disagree. I blame the style of dance for its lack of an enthusiastic reception. The choreography was textbook Russian Folk and I can find nothing that breaks the cardinal rules of choreography (dynamics, energy, force).
I am a blogger and reality tv lover. I blog here for SYTYCD but mostly the Canada version, since I live in Vancouver BC. I also blog about other reality tv shows on my own blog www.mandysmind.com
In our ongoing series of choreography “EmMandy” Awards, here’s the award for “Best Choreographer” from So You Think You Can Dance season 5 (winner is in Bold). Take a look at the other SYTYCD Season 5 “EmMandy” Awards.
“Best Choreographer” (group of work)
Tyce Diorio
Mia Michaels
Wade Robson
Tabitha and Napolean
Louis Van Amstel
Sonya Tayeh
My criteria for this category was story-line, musicality, music choice and innovativeness. These guys are choreography powerhouses. Not only do they include an interesting and novel story-line, but they always have flawless musicality and really bring the music to life. Plus they continuously seem to be re-defining hip-hop as a style. Louis had the most dances in the finale, but none of them pushed the boundaries of Ballroom enough to be called innovative. But I do want to mention Mia’s impeccable music choice for “Gravity”—it brought new meaning to a song that the artist has said is about her “first big heartbreak”.
I am a blogger and reality tv lover. I blog here for SYTYCD but mostly the Canada version, since I live in Vancouver BC. I also blog about other reality tv shows on my own blog www.mandysmind.com
Hi, everyone! I’m Mandy, the brand-new choreography expert here at Pure SYTYCD. When Season 6 kicks off, I’ll be doing weekly posts about the a-mazing choreography on the show, including the auditions and solos.
But since Season 5 has ended, instead of going week-by-week to share my opinions, I’ve chosen to highlight the best of the best, and the worst of the worst. It’s kinda like our very own “Outstanding Choreography” Emmy awards, but with lots of sub-categories!
Hopefully we’ll be able to set up a voting system when we do this again at the end of season 6, but for now I’ve selected my personal “winners”. Feel free to post yours in the comments section.
So without further ado… (winners in bold)
“Best Choreography”
Tabitha and Napolean D’umo, “Mad” (Jeanine and Phillip)
Wade Robson, “Crash Test Dummies” (Ashley and Kupono)
Stacey Tookey, “Falling Slowly” (Karla and Jonathan)
Mia Michaels, “Addiction” (Kayla and Kupono)
Travis Wall, “If it Kills Me” (Jeanine and Jason)
Tyce Diorio, “This Woman’s Work (Melissa and Ade)
I chose this piece because it contains everything a moving piece of work should—a solid, provoking story-line efficiently and beautifully moved along by the choreography, phrases that highlight and play on the dancers strengths, and true musicality. The other nominees either had a great story but didn’t move it along as well (Falling Slowly, This Woman’s Work) or didn’t fit the music well enough to really hit a chord with the viewer (Addiction, Crash Test). All of them, however, were standouts of the season and will be remembered for years to come. (The addiction dance was my personal favorite though)
Keep watching Pure SYTYCD. Over the next week we’ll be awarding the SYTYCD Best Choreographer, Best New Choreographer, Most Innovative Concept, Strangest/Worst Carried-out Concept, Best Prop, and Best Group Dance.
I am a blogger and reality tv lover. I blog here for SYTYCD but mostly the Canada version, since I live in Vancouver BC. I also blog about other reality tv shows on my own blog www.mandysmind.com
Hey everyone! It`s been a really long time since I posted last, so I just wanted to say congratulations to John and his adorable new baby! I wish you and your family the best and may you all be happy and healthy!
This season of So You Think You Can Dance was really one of the best, with so much talent and many awesome dances. There were such amazing dancers that after the Top 12, I didn`t want anyone to leave! In this post I wanted to highlight my favorite performances of the season, and want to hear all of yours as well. 🙂 You can also take a look at Amanda’s post about the judges favorites.
Although each dancer possessed so much potential, I did have my favorites that I rooted for until the very end.
Kayla was by far my favorite and one of the most talented. I know I`m not the only one who feels this way, a lot of the people I have talked to have also voiced this opinion. She should not have been the first to go at the Finale! Her lines were definitely the prettiest, and in all the partner dances, I couldn`t take my eyes off her. I found a lot of the time that the guys she was dancing with had a whole barrel of trouble keeping up wit her and matching her strength. My only problem with her was that her solos were often very desperate and repetitive and a lot of the times I was worried she was going to be booted off because of them. Otherwise, her technique was flawless and she was very purdy. 🙂
My second favorite of course was Jeanine, for obvious reasons. For one, her solos were the greatest. They possessed a quality none of the other solo`s did. Musicality. That may seem like a small thing, but it really makes a huge difference. Those dances are way more appealing and probably one of the reasons she won. In the partner dancers, she was SO hard hitting, and almost always outdid her partner, whoever it was. I`m really happy she won. There is nothing bad I can say about her.
Favorite Solo this season:
My least favorite dancer was probably Vitolio. He was not dynamic or versatile whatsoever, and he didn`t have much of a likeable personality. I was really glad when he got the quickstep, but I loved Karla, and was really sad when she was partenered with him.
Now, onto the performances that I loved the most.
This season was a super good season for Contemporary dances. There were so many good ones, but my favorite one hands down was Evan and Randi`s Contemporary by Mia Michaels. This piece was full of fun, butt 😉 equally balanced out with superb technique and complex sequences. The music only added to the fun atmosphere and if I don`t watch this piece at least 3 times a day I don`t feel right.
Some other noteworthy pieces include:
Jeanine and Jason to If It Kills Me (Jason Mraz) by Travis Wall
Kayla and Kupono to Gravity (Sara Bareilles) by Mia Micheals
Melissa and Ade to This Woman`s Work (Maxwell) by Tyce Diorio
Karla and Jonathan to Falling Slowly (The Frames) by Stacey Tookey
This season also had plenty of mentionable Hip-Hop dances, and it was hard to choose my favorite, but the one I was most enchanted with was Kayla and Jason`s by Shane Sparks. The story in this was just hilarious, and surprising light hearted considering it was about zombies and eating brains. It wasn`t anything too complicated, but fun and entertaining, which, if you think about it, is what the show is about. There were other Hip-Hop dances that were less simple, and more technical, but this was just fun!
Other awesome Hip-Hops:
Randi and Evan to Hal o (Beyonce) by NappyTabs
Janette and Brandon to What A World (Common) by Shane Sparks
Jeanine and Philip to Mad (Ne-Yo) by NappyTabs
Jeanine and Philip to Love Lockdown (Kanye West) by NappyTabs
Other AMAZING dances:
Caitlin and Jason Bollywood to Jai Ho by Nakul
Kayla and Max PopJazz to Hot Like Wow (Nadia O) by Brian Friedman
Janette and Evan Jazz to Move (CSS) by Sonya Tayeh
Group Dance Top 8 Let it Rock by Travis Wall
Group Dance Top 16 I Know You Want Me (Pitbull) by Dmitry Chaplin, Napoleon and Tabitha D’umo
Worst dance of the season:
Jeanine and Philip Russian Folk Dance
Only the choreography, dancing was superb.
That`s it, my favorites of Season 5, looking forward to 6, and SYTYCD Canada starting Tuesday the 11th!!
This is a nice little interview of Jeanine Mason, Mary Murphy and Mia Michaels after Jeanine Mason was announced the winner of So You Think You Can Dance.
The most interesting part of the interview for me was that Jeanine said she was going to give a big chunk of the money to a charity (smart move to avoid some taxes). Nice thought, but it’s not just any charity. Jeanine says it’s the “Making Memories” Alzheimer’s charity which she and her sister started in honor of their grandfather. I searched to try and find a website for the charity so other people could go and support it. Does anyone know the website? If they don’t have one, I’m willing to collect donations for them if they like.
As a side note, Pure SYTYCD and my other website, Pure Dancing with the Stars, has been considering putting together some sort of community effort to support dancers. Probably partner with some organization like the DizzyFeet foundation. The goal would be to support dancers who would never have the possibility to take dance classes and not just dancers who are going to take more classes. If someone has connections for that, let us know.
Ok, now the other interview of Jeanine Mason for all to enjoy:
Here’s a list of other upcoming TV Appearances:
Monday – Live with Regis & Kelly – 9am Eastern- Local Listings
Monday – It’s On with Alexa Chung – 12pm Eastern- Local Listings
Monday – Late Night with Jimmy Fallon – 12:35 Eastern
Phillip Chbeeb tweeted the following about SYTYCD on Jimmy Fallon “On my way to NY to perform my sytycd “mad” piece with jeanine Mason (Monday on the Jimmy Fallon Show)”
UPDATE: Here’s Jeanine Mason’s interview with TV Guide
Rolling Stone is reporting that Jason Mraz wants Jason Glover and Jeanine Mason to perform their Travis Wall routine to Jason Mraz’s “If It Kills Me” during Jason Mraz’s Chicago tour stop where he is filming a live DVD. Rolling Stone says that Jason Mraz was “absolutely moved by the clip” after Jason’s parents alerted him to it. Jason Mraz was just on the Today Show this morning which says a lot about how big he’s gotten.
Rolling Stones also reported ““I woke up in bed the other night going, ‘I have to get that couple to dance!’ ” Mraz says, revealing dance is “another little guilty pleasure” of his. “I really long to be a great dancer. Whoever I choose to be my one true love has to be a great dancer. What a great way to build a relationship with someone — going to dance classes every so often and really improve your partnership.””
I checked and Jason Mraz will be in Chicago on 8/13/09. Luckily, that’s well before Jason and Jeanine will be on the SYTYCD Tour. Sounds like it could be a good possibility for them. Reminds me of my favorite Nigel quote, “These kids have got to work.” Basically, Nigel understands that the contracts with Fox shouldn’t hurt the dancers on the show.
In case, you live in some hole, here’s the video of Jason and Jeanine’s performance on SYTYCD:
