<p>SPOILER ALERT:</p>
<p>It turned out just as I hoped it would. Though I love him, it was time for AdeChike’ to go and he did. </p>
<p>Next week will be fun!</p>
<p>I’m so glad Robert made it. He’s my fav. Lauren is wonderful. Kent annoys me. Loved Adicheke but he seemed to lack a level of confidence toward the end. I don’t like Robert’s solos but love him in everything otherwise. He really is the Prince. Kent? Just not feeling the charm there.</p>
<p>Go Lauren and Kent!!! So sad to see Adechike go… :(</p>
<p>I really love this format. That opening dance was a masterpiece! Fantastic! All the solos were wonderful! I’m so happy to see so much real dance on TV. They’re all good, but I’m rooting for Lauren. She can truly do anything, with artistry.</p>
<p>At this point I would be very happy to see either of the three remaining dancers win. They are all so wonderful!</p>
<p>There is a youtube video up, a “behind the choreography” one, that is a montage of the opening piece from last week’s results show (the one with one girl…the “all star” Alison did it on the show because Lauren had been in the hospital). The montage goes back and forth between rehearsal footage and the performance we all saw, and at the end I realized that the rehearsal footage was of Lauren, not Alison. It’s just amazing!!!</p>
<p>^^ I know you can’t post a youtube link, but I tried googling a few terms and couldn’t find the video you’re talking about. Can you tell me what to search for? I’d love to see that!</p>
<p>If you are on Face Book, you can search for the SYTYCD page and a link is posted there.</p>
<p>Or, the title of the video on Youtube is “SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE – Behind the Choreography Top 6 (Week 2)”</p>
<p>I know that at least Lauren and Kent just graduated from high school. I wonder about college. At one point I thought I heard that Kent was going to NYU, then I heard Marymount Manhattan. I’m assuming that Lauren was going to go somewhere. It’s fun to imagine a school receiving a deferrment request so a student can go on the SYTYCD tour.</p>
<p>We’re hoping Kent wins, but Lauren is a beast.</p>
<p>missypie - we love both Kent and Lauren too. I think if either one of them wins it will be great. I’ll have to ask D if she has heard where these two are going to school. D is going to Marymount Manhattan and would be thrilled if Kent was going there!</p>
<p>This local article mentions Marymount Manhattan:</p>
<p>[Teachers</a> say Boyd was born to be a star](<a href=“http://www.sidneydailynews.com/Main.asp?SectionID=97&SubSectionID=243&ArticleID=217761]Teachers”>http://www.sidneydailynews.com/Main.asp?SectionID=97&SubSectionID=243&ArticleID=217761)</p>
<p>As a parent of a once-dancer – I’d have to say that I would assume and believe that Lauren and Kent are likely to defer college for several years while they develop their careers as dancers. The problem is that dance is a young person’s endeavor. As proud as I am of my daughter’s degree from a prestigious college, if my daughter had wanted to pursue a career in dance I would strongly have encouraged her to apprentice with a dance company after high school graduation. It is no accident that so many of the SYTYCD stars are so young – basically the very best career building years, especially for a young woman, are in that 18-22 age range – and its hard to catch up if a person has been in school while others are have been working. Also, except for a few conservatory-style BFA programs, most dance instruction at the college level simply isn’t on a par with what is offered via pre-professional programs. There are exceptions, such as the Fordham/Alvin Ailey partnership – but Lauren and Kent will probably do better for themselves in the dance world to to stick with a career focus for now.</p>
<p>I think what many non-dancers don’t realize is also the intensity of practice that professional dancers do to maintain and develop their talents. It’s hard to keep that up while attending a college majoring in an academic subject, or studying dance outside of a conservatory-style BFA program. </p>
<p>That doesn’t mean that they give up on an education - it just means that for dance, it makes sense to focus on career-building in the late teens and early 20’s – at least for the few incredibly talented individuals like Lauren and Kent who clearly have a career. (Very different, of course, for the many talented-but-not-amazing young people who want a career, but haven’t yet broken through). For individuals who aren’t so fortunate as to be SYTYCD contenders, then of course there is a value in continued training, and that training can be successfully combined with college. </p>
<p>As we’ve all seen, an injury can interrupt a dance career – but a torn tendon is no bar to a college education – so in the case of dancers – they will have the rest of their lives to pursue their educations, but perhaps only a small window of opportunity to make it in the dance world. My son had an excellent math teacher in high school who had once been a professional ballet dancer-- so there definitely is life after dance. </p>
<p>Anyway, I’m justing pointing this out because my dancer daughter did attend school and dance studios with a few rising stars… and they all went straight into their careers from high school, and in some cases during high school. (One was homeschooled and apprenticed with a major ballet company at age 16).</p>
<p>I agree calmom. I hope that the folks associated with the show care enough to advise the most talented of the contestants on their careers.</p>
<p>Kind of to follow up on what Calmom said: a good friend who was/is an instructor and mentor of my daughter’s in dance began her career just before she finished HS. She continued on for the next 10-12 years in various shows, including The Producer’s on Broadway. During that time she took some college courses, and then over the past couple of years she finished up her pre-law degree at U Penn, and did one semester in a prestigious internship in DC. </p>
<p>A dancer’s career as a performer is pretty much defined by that narrow performance “window” imposed by the effects of aging on the body. I do believe that the judges on SYTYCD are well aware of that and do indeed encourage those dancers that they nurture on the show. Good to see!!</p>
<p>I’m sorry but I have to ask if there could possibly be any serious dancers with serious talent on the face of the Earth who don’t understand that youth is paramount in pursuing a dance career and college should go on hold - unless you are perhaps an exceptional male dancer.</p>
<p>Some things are ridiculously obvious. I knew this 35 years ago when I apprenticed with Joffrey. No one I danced with didn’t understand that college would be on hold if a serious dance career was to be pursued. Duh.</p>
<p>I find it very hard to believe that any dancers at the level we are all enjoying on SYTYCD don’t “get” this. Some are smart and aware of the very short half-life of a dancer and rather meagre earning potential and are pursuing college anyway. I think they know the score a good deal better than anyone on this discussion thread.</p>
<p>Why do I feel like I just got fussed at a little? I am confused…</p>
<p>I can see why you would feel that way.</p>
<p>Personally I don’t know anything about dancers or their careers, just enjoy watching SYTYCD. I have found the discussion about timing and college etc quite enlightening and interesting so hope people aren’t discouraged from contributing to it.</p>
<p>I’m confused, too. Glad I’m not the only one.</p>
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<p>No one doubts that…but it’s not like you just go to New York and sign up for a prestigious company. There are so many very talented “competition team” kids out there. Most of them don’t have the connections to even get an audition for a prestigious company. About the best they can manage is being a dance major in a good, auditioned program. It was probably a big deal in Wapakoneta that Kent was accepted to Marymount Manhattan. Yes, now they can put college on hold…but before the show, college was probably the best option they had.</p>
<p>My daughter was a serious dancer from the time she was 5 years old. She planned from that time to strive to be a professional dancer/performer. We knew that there was a good chance that she would postpone college in order to achieve that and we went with it.</p>
<p>Fast forward to high school. She got her first professional work during her senior year and was in a pretty significant professional production the summer before she began college. By this time, she had found a college program where she could continue to train seriously and also pursue challenging academics, which she had decided was a priority for her. It was in NYC, so she also had the opportunity to audition for different things, which she did. She got additional professional work while in college, but meanwhile fell in love with all things to do with “brains” ! :)</p>
<p>She is now pursuing her PhD in neuroscience and still takes dance classes for fun. I, as a parent, really miss seeing her perform but am very, very grateful not to have to watch her go through the stress of being a professional performer. </p>
<p>All that is to say that, yes, I do have a pretty good understanding of the challenges and choices facing up and coming dancers.</p>
<p>Maybe I’m the one being fussed at. I was replying to the posts by Missypie and Showmom speculating on where Lauren & Kent might go to college. I didn’t think that the posters who were speculating that way were naive - I just thought that CC parents are so focused on the college search for their kids that its easy to forget that in some circumstances it’s better to defer college. Many CC’ers do have kids considering BFA programs, and focusing on auditions and preparing submissions such as videos to their target schools – kids who might have their hearts set on getting into NYU Tisch or Julliard. So its easy to lose sight of the fact that even those dream programs may be a mistake for the small fraction of exceptionally talented dancers who are ready to embark on their careers. </p>
<p>I just wanted to raise that point – I wasn’t trying to argue or insult anyone. I’d think that in some cases a youngster could be feeling very conflicted, with a sense of being pulled in two different directions.</p>