<p>I’ll be curious if the winner takes the job in NYC. If they’re in CA and that’s where most of the work is, I’d be surprised if someone would take a role on broadway. </p>
<p>When you think about it like that–which of these contestants would I PAY to see–the choices narrow down considerably. No way would I pay to watch Valerie dance. I don’t even think she is that great at tap. And even though Jessica is talented, I see a lot of girls like her at dance competitions already. I would pay to see Ricky or Zach.</p>
<p>I’m in the ‘fan of Valerie’ camp and am surprised at some of the comments here (I should stay blissfully ignorant and just watch the show 
). As a mom of a daughter who was never the best-trained dancer on the team but who was consistently the best performer on the team, I totally get the Valerie appeal. She’s a great performer. And I thought she did quite well with Twitch in hip hop-- better than some of the other girls. And I thought Tanisha was lovely-- news to me that she’s not! I didn’t know there was only one winner this year. Pulling for Ricky. </p>
<p>Ricky’s a great dancer and Valerie’s not quite as good (but probably better than she gets credit for). She is fun to watch, and he’s very impressive. He deserves to win, but I’m not sure that I can stand to watch him do that faux humble and surprised bit when he does win; I find him cloying but enjoy seeing Valerie being her genuine self. Still, I guess it’s not a personality contest. </p>
<p>My daughter has never been the “star” of her studio either, but I still don’t like Valerie. I find the way she holds her upper body really distracting–it’s as if she has no neck and her shoulders are hunched up all the time.</p>
<p>And as for what’s faux and what’s genuine with these performers–who really knows? Ricky has probably been told he’s amazing for a long time, but he seems like a sweet kid who just loves to perform. He doesn’t seem like a prima donna and participated in high school talent shows and dance team (!). Valerie may be working the “aw, shucks, I’m just an old-fashioned girl from Indiana!” thing to get the flyover country vote. :)</p>
<p>As has been discussed, it IS partly a popularity contest in the end, which I think is sad.</p>
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<p>And the tapmom vote! There are more of us than you think muwahahahahaaaa.</p>
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<p>It’s been a long day and my tired mind totally reversed the “p” and the “m” in “tapmom” above. Whole different thing. :)</p>
<p>As for the Broadway thing, all of these dancers’ talents would really be wasted on Broadway. Particularly Ricky. I could totally see Valerie doing it, though. Still think Ricky should win. </p>
<p>lol</p>
<p>Just finishing up the performance finale. Such wonderful dancing. Not sure what else to say…</p>
<p>It was a good show tonight. But there are only three great dancers on the show. It will be interesting to see what happens next.</p>
<p>I think Zach has really come on strong at the end, but Ricky will probably still win. Good show tonight. I don’t know how they learn and remember that many routines in one week!</p>
<p>Valerie was stunning tonight in the blind girl duet. She is a spectacular performer even if she is not technically the best. We have to remember that we are not seeing this live, so we are not seeing the true energy of the dancers. She was not as strong as Jessica in the Bollywood. But, she has moved me many times, more than the other women. I have been teaching dance for many years, and Valerie for sure has that “it” factor. She is a truly great performer. They are all wonderful dancers for sure.<br>
I have to chuckle at the notion that these dancers wouldn’t want to take a job in NY. ?! New York City is the dance capital of the world, and a job on Broadway is quite a coup indeed. Los Angeles has a lot of Hip hop and shake your behind type of stuff, but most of the artistic work is centered in NYC. It would be tough to find a director/choreographer or dance company who wouldn’t audition for dancers in NY–that’s where the largest number of great dancers are, it is a center for top training, much more so than Los Angeles. Other cities, worldwide, also have large numbers of highly trained and professional dancers, including Berlin, Brussels, London and many others, but I wouldn’t put Los Angeles in that category at all, in part because so much of the work in LA is so short-lived, ie, videos, TV specials… </p>
<p>I do think one of the boys will win. Does anyone know why they decided to go back to one winner?</p>
<p>I’d place in order - Ricky, Zach, Jessica…Valerie. Sorry - I thought the blind routine was okay but required very little technique for her and the side by side bollywood did her no favors either. </p>
<p>I have no idea why the one winner, I don’t care either way. I’m just glad the winner will actually be a trained dancer this time. </p>
<p>Well, unless Valerie wins. Sopranomom, I just don’t see it. I would not call any of her dancing “stunning,” even her purported specialty, tap. Nor do I think she has any kind of “it” factor–my eye never goes to her when she is on stage with anybody else, and she has limited dramatic expression. And her technique is SO poor–she doesn’t straighten her legs in lifts, lands very flat-footed coming out of turns, and does weird stuff with her upper body. When I watch her dance the word that comes to mind is “blockish”–she lacks the beautiful arms and legs and feet of Jessica and Ricky and just looks to me like an amateur among pros.</p>
<p>Although I have been pulling for Ricky all along and think he deserves to win, I have been most impressed with Zach’s versatility and improvement week over week. I’d be happy if he won, too. Jessica holds her own and has great technique but I don’t think she is as interesting as either of the guys.</p>
<p>I prefer one of the guys, as well. Zach has improved so much over the season. I didn’t realize until last night that he had to do choreography at the audition, and that the judges weren’t all that impressed with his tapping at that time.</p>
<p>I’m also impressed that they each had to learn 4 routines and a solo for last night. My 59yo brain can’t imagine doing that. Oh, to be young.</p>
<p>Well, last night confirmed that my DVR is officially broken. Sad. Anyway, when Zach was doing his solo last week, it struck me that of any of the dancers, he would be perfect for On the Town. I fear that the results will be somehow manipulated so he gets the win. (I would be happy if Ricky won, but then they later invited Zach to be in the cast, too.)</p>
<p>Didn’t think Valerie’s blind dance was overly impressive since it didn’t have much choreography to the routine. For some reason I haven’t been all that excited with a good bit of the choreography all season long. Nothing memorable like in past seasons. I DID enjoy the tap routines with all-star Aaron last night. </p>
<p>Guest judge JTF’s sexual comments were funny initially, but then grew tiresome. </p>
<p>Nigel’s comments regarding suicide, and then interjecting the word “stupidity” a couple of times, was so strange to me.</p>
<p>I am liking the new, lower key, Mary Murphy.</p>
<p>I had also forgotten about Zack going into choreography from the audition rounds. That and Jessica dancing for her life during initial cuts has made this season really interesting. I am kind of pulling for the underdog to win this season-- Zack. </p>
<p>I also cringed at Nigel using “stupidity” in reference to suicide. I don’t know if he communicated well what he meant.</p>
<p>I haven’t seen it yet (I DVR), but Nigel does have a way of putting his foot in his mouth. I think most people sense that his heart is in the right place, so they make allowances. </p>
<p>TWO tappers in the final four! :D</p>