Tonight the final four dancers will be chosen on So You Think You Can Dance, and I just couldn’t let an entire season go by without airing my two cents. I hate to say it, but Season Five has been a little bit of a disappointment compared to previous years. Sure, the judges are calling the cast the most talented they’ve had yet, but the SYTYCD judges have a habit of jerking off to how great they think their show is, and how wonderful it’s been for the dance community, so I pretty much take anything those egomaniacs say at this point with a grain of salt.
While I’m on the topic of the judges…have you ever seen that episode of Friends where Joey auditions for a play that Jeff Goldblum is directing? Whenever we watch SYTYCD, Scott and I can’t help but be reminded of the notes Goldblum gave Joey: “that performance was vertical – I need you to be more horizontal.” …You know, in that they too are spewing total nonsense. Especially Lil’ C, who I was thrilled to see skewered in a montage a few weeks ago, mocking his tendency to sound like he’s reading out of a thesaurus, without taking the time to learn the actual meanings of the words he uses. Check it out:
Now back to why I think this years crop of contestants is the worst ever. The past few seasons, it’s been easy to get on board the SYTYCD train, because the contestants have been likable and memorable from week to week. (Take Season Three’s Lauren and Neil for example – they were early favorites for me, because they stood out both in skill and personality. Same goes for last season’s Katie and Joshua, Courtney and Gev, Chelsea and Mark, and Kerrington and Twitch. See? I still remember their names, but I’ve long forgotten most of those who took the top 20 stage this year.) For whatever reason, this year’s group failed to make any sort of indentation in my memory from week to week – which in my (totally non-expert) opinion resulted in a lot of the really talented dancers getting let go much sooner than their less-talented counterparts.
As for the top six: I still love Evan’s quirkiness, and Ade’s positivity has definitely grown on me. Brandon on the other hand makes me want to firebomb the smugness off his face and force him to put some freaking clothes on. (Unfortunately I think I might be in the minority on my love of Evan, who I hope gets to stick around for the final week.) Jeanine, who was one of my few early favorites, didn’t shine as much as I’d hoped last night (even when choreographed by my fave duo Nappy Tabs, who always manage to bring the comedy) and I fear may have surrendered her spot in the final to Melissa, who I couldn’t possibly be more over. Kayla’s my pick for “America’s Favorite Dancer” – because in the words of Adam Shankman, she’s just “ridiculous” in every routine she does. (Plus, her grandparents are so cute cheering her on every week.)
Oh, and I’m also over Sonya Tayeh – last night solidified my opinion of her as Wade Robson lite. File her with Mia Michaels under “faces I could go the rest of my life without seeing again.” Boo-yah. (Whatever.)
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