<p>i will state now that I would not be surprised at all if that first amazing dancer (the one who studied ballet at Joffrey and jazz with Alvin Ailey AND worked with Cirque du Soleil!) goes on to win the thing. She is the real deal. And delightful.</p>
<p>ANd I would LOVe having Mia Michaels back as a choreographer and as a judge. Her critiques are always interesting, spot on, and she tells it like she sees it. not like we want to hear it, maybe, that is not unusual in a dancer’s life.</p>
<p>churchmusicmom, at first I thought, “no she can’t win because it will be a boy this time” then I remembered that they are naming male and female winners.</p>
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<p>Exactly! :)</p>
<p>I have not seen a guy yet that i thought might take it all. But I do LOVE that we get to pick one of each.</p>
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<p>It will probably be a guy who doesn’t have a touching personal story or a weird mustache, who doesn’t do some unique or made up form a dance (*i.e. *someone who has had little or no screen time during the audition shows.)</p>
<p>We found the weird mustache to be ick, on an otherwise pretty good looking guy.</p>
<p>I think that auditioners (smartly) choose some kind of unique story or dance “style” to make them stand out, when they could audition as a modern dancer or jazz dancer or ballet dancer or ballroom or even tap dancer. There are those, of course, who only are great in their “style”, but most of those people don’t make it past the choreography round and would be out very quickly in Vegas.
Most excellent dancers have training across many disciplines, and I have known several who absolutely are up to the level of dancers on the show who didn’t get past the initial audition (which you do NOT see on the show) simply because they don’t stand out enough. </p>
<p>There is a whole process you don’t see on the audition shows: all auditioners are herded by groups into a room and told to improvise for the “judges” (not Nigel, Mary or any of that crew). All have filled out very involved paperwork, including any interesting background stories. Then those who are chosen get to perform their solos for judges—and I think there may be yet another “cut” before the auditorium-filled performances we see on the show…
It has always bothered me that Cat describes the audition process to insinuate that everyone who shows up gets to perform their solo for the judges. That is not at ALL what really occurs!</p>
<p>Sounds like am idol. However I see some mediocre dancers being praised. I was glad to get a break from Mia, she was soooo incredibly rude to some contestants.</p>
<p>That blonde ballet kid nearly blew it for himself, I was happy to see some great ballet boys. I can’t figure out if this is an amateur competition as quite a few had some real professional experience.</p>
<p>churchmusicmom, the reason I don’t like Mia is because of the way she slobbered over that B-boy Jose a couple of seasons ago. He was in over his head any time the choreography strayed into ballroom, jazz, contemporary, lyrical… well, anything except B. They kept him for weeks as they booted more qualified dancers because, IMO, they badly wanted a hiphop/B winner and they were hoping he’d figure it out. I remember after a failed ballroom attempt, Mia gushed, “No, you didn’t do the dance very well. But we love your heart.” Gag.</p>
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<p>Thanks for that. I’ve always wondered, because I was sure there had to be a big screening process.</p>
<p>Yeah, LasMa, I did not like that very much either. But all the judges were all over him…I did not understand that at all…</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure they thought (probably still think) that a hiphop winner would bring in a new demographic of viewers who aren’t drawn to the contemporaries who win year after year. You’re right, all of the judges gave Jose way too much credit, but Mia was just so transparent and disgusting about it. She’s a good choreographer, but as a judge, she’s lost me.</p>
<p>We’ve been DVR-ing this season until DD got done with classes. Now we’re watching. We looked at each other the other night and both just cracked up. Why do we watch this?? It’s pretty dumb! The poor kids dance their hearts out, get injured, then even if they win they can most likely barely eke out a living dancing. But their joy in their art just melts are hearts. We love the show. Even the goofy judges. And the gorgeous, enormous Kat and the whole nutty thing.</p>
<p>Anyone watch the Vegas eliminations? Lots of interesting guys, and many blonde girls I can’t distinguish yet. Enjoyed the Swiss ballet dancer, who apparently is not constrained by gravity, and I’m looking forward to watching Cyrus develop, assuming he makes the top 20. But oh my, those ear gauges are distracting and icky, and I don’t know how they’ll costume around them. (I’ll never understand why people mutilate themselves that way.) So glad stripper girl got called out by Debbie Allen–told her to put on some clothes and just dance!</p>
<p>I know it’s all done to create drama, but I think it’s mean and foolish to force the dancers to go without sleep. No one can perform at their peak when they’re exhausted, and the risk of injury is too high. The show should spring for another night at the hole and let everyone have a decent rest.</p>
<p>I agree with you MommaJ. I love this show because all these kids are so amazing and they will never get rich doing this. They have bad backs, shot knees and ugly feet in their future, but still they dance. I hate seeing the show risk injury like that.
I am not going to root for anyone until all are announced. All my favorites end up gettting cut early normally.</p>
<p>Agree, try not to have favorites yet until top 20. also agree - that guy is NOT constrained by gravity. Beautiful. I thought it was interesting they said they were trying to move the show in a different direction for the girls and have more varied types of dancers. Maybe they heard the complaints that there were just too many contemporary girl dancers making the top groups the last couple of years. It was getting boringly predictable - kind of like the guitar guy on Idol.</p>
<p>I have mixed feelings about the whole “adding variety” thing. It kills me to see great dancers cut when people like Cyrus, who said himself that he has NEVER taken a dance class in his life are kept. Admittedly, what he does is wonderful but, at least in the past this show has been about being versatile and strong as a dancer. Dance is not something you can just pick up with no training…</p>
<p>That being said, I bet Cyrus IS in the top 20 and it will be very interesting to see how the choreographers handle his lack of dance training. And will the audience get upset if Mia Michaels, for example, calls him out on it?? I hope he knows what he is in for…</p>
<p>I’m sad that Bacon Girl is gone. :(</p>
<p>It seemed that alot of the people they highlighted during auditions got cut in Vegas, some of them quite early in the process.</p>
<p>It’ll be interesting to see how the new emphasis on having diverse dancers actually plays out. How will the choreographers handle them?</p>
<p>Sorry, but I don’t see what all the judges apparently saw in Alexa. I didn’t think she was so much better than any of the dancers that got cut. They were right about her lack of emotion and passion. So because she got herself to shed some tears there at the end, that got her through? Gimme a break.</p>
<p>Love the Swiss ballet guy!</p>