So You Think You Can Dance Finale
OK, I know many of you probably haven’t watched So You Think You Can Dance. I confess my wife and I have been fans even though I normally hate shows of this type. (Dancing With the Stars or American Idol) This one I really like primarily because most of the dancers have had enough training that they are good. (Some are amazingly impressive at what they do) Yet they are taken so far out of their comfort zone that it is very challenging. Anyway, tonight we find out who wins. Here are my thoughts on the season.
I think the people who tried out were much better this year than in past years. The top 20 were remarkably similar in quality whereas last year there was a fairly big gap between the top 6 and everyone else. Yet, I think that last year the top two were simply much more exciting dancers and performers. This year, quite to my surprise, I found the dancing of the last few weeks surprisingly unengaging. Quite unlike last year when Benji Schwimmer in particular had some outstanding dancing.
Interestingly the person who might win tonight (or who I think deserves to win) was fairly mediocre through most of the contest. Neil Haskell struggled in both performance and technique and tended to use his gymnastic moves as a kind of gimmick. However the past couple of weeks he’s really moved to the top of the pack and has had the best dances by far. (Although to be fair that is partially the luck of choreographers)
Will he win? I don’t know. The main judge sure pushed folks to vote a woman rather than a man. (When he said this Neil’s eyes bulged)
I know a lot of people want Lacey Schwimmer to win – the sister of last year’s winner. I don’t know why, but while she was very exciting at the beginning of the contest I felt she’s really lagged the past several weeks. Maybe this is due to injury but it just seemed like she hit a plateau. Plus there is just something about her performances that bugs me. Partially it is because she sometimes dances more like an exotic dancer (cough stripper cough) than a dancer. One can be sexual without being so blatant or in your face. (I think her female competitor – Lauren – as well as a few others do it much better despite being nowhere near as good of dancers overall) That and while it is trite on my part – but I really hate nose rings.
The person I want to win is a local favorite, Sabra. Admittedly she only lived up in SLC for four years. But those were the only years she studied dance. I didn’t care for her initially but she really grew on me and has consistently been my favorite the past month. She manages an astounding number of different styles. Her weakest performance recently was unfortunately last night’s Cha Cha. (Actually the peformances of the past two weeks with just a couple of exceptions have been underwhelming to me across the board – Sabra is typically the only standout although Neil has surprised as well)
Anyway I sometimes wonder if part of this is just cheering the local kids. (Last year, as I recall, there were 3 locals who made it into the top 20)
In terms of technique Danny is by far the best. His solos have been outstanding. (Unusual – but the women this year have really struggled with solos nearly across the board – only Sabra typically doing very well along with Shauna who struggled in partnering but did fantastic solos) He’s always been quite good in his partnering. Further he’s one of the figures who’s grown the most in the show. He started off almost annoyingly cocky and arrogant but has really grown on me. He may win, although as I said I think Neil will ultimately be the champ.
Well got to go – the show is starting. If you watched it put your thoughts here.
Posted on August 16, 2007, in Television. Bookmark the permalink. 33 Comments.
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I wanted Pasha to win…
A pretty predictable finale, although I didn’t think Lacey would leave in 4th. I’m not surprised it came down to Danny & Sabra, though. However, I was secretly hoping for a Pasha / Anya latin ballroom routine. Just because!
I thought Danny or Sabra deserved to win. But I thought Lacey was going to. She seemed to be the audience favorite all along. But I thought her attitude (well all of them, actually) about losing was great.
There was some really great choreography this year but the last few weeks, I don’t think it was as good.
That whole thing about Nigel and Cat dancing was so stupid!
Yeah, with the exception of that Eurythmics dance by Sabra and Neil and then their Casa Nobre (sp?) I didn’t find much of the choreography of the last few weeks to be particularly engaging. (Unlike last year) When the judges picked their favorites that seemed to largely be the case as well.
I found myself disagreeing with the judges a surprising amount of the time too. And it wasn’t just over technical criticisms. The judges would sometimes give a big pass to a piece that had lots of technical flaws supposedly for the performance. But often I wouldn’t like even the performance. There was a Jazz dance piece done in an African style with Pasha weeks ago that I really liked and the judges all hated it, for example.
Oh, I found this year to be much more predictable than last year when there were many upsets. I called who was going to get booted nearly every week and I called who would get booted each week correctly once the final 10 was announced.
Which made it somewhat less engaging.
Of course I was wrong about Neil winning. But I’m glad Sabra did win since she was who I was cheering for.
Oh, can I say one of the things I really liked about the season finale was the bringing back of two incredible dancers who didn’t get sent to Vegas. One was the guy with MS who was amazing once again. The other was that guy who did this weird combination of clogging and hip hop. Who I thought really deserved to get tested for choreography. He deserved it as much as some of the B-boys I thought.
Yeah I agree Clark. The guy with MS is named Brian Gaynor, and he’s posted videos of himself dancing on youtube. He actually inspired my husband to get online during the finale and look up break dancers and robot dancers on youtube all night, rather than watch the show. If you want to be impressed, look for a guy named Scott Wills and a guy named David Elsewhere.
Also, check this guy out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZmgZN1umsM
Clark: Paso Doble
I wanted Neil to win. Hehad the best “performances” in my (admittedly non-dancer, just based on what I like) opinion. I was ok with Sabra though.
What were your best and worst performances? I liked Neil and Lauren’s hip hop routine “The way that I are” the best, followed by their Citizen Cope dance that he judges didn’t like. I also liked Neil and Sabra’s Eurythmics dance.
My favorite performances were Neil and Sabra’s Paso Doble and Eurythmics dance; Lacey and Danny’s dance (it was a Samba, wasn’t it?); and then actually Jessi and Pasha’s African styled Jazz dance (which the judges hated).
Interesting, Clark. We agree on the Eurythmics at least.
Did anyone else think that Neil and Lauren were by far the most entertaining couple? I really liked them together. Their dances were three of my top five.
I thought Lauren was annoying. Good dancer, just something about her bugged.
One of my favorite routines was the angel/devil dance, though.
And Mia’s tribute to her Dad, it was sweet.
I hated Lauren with a passion. Her & her inappropriate smiling. I thought she was by far one of the weakest females (next to Jessi).
You see neither my wife nor I really dug Mia’s tribute. It was well done but it just didn’t connect. I did wonder how hard it was to make sure the flowers were thrown to the right place.
I liked Neil’s angel/devil bit. I think that was the moment he started to really step it up.
I didn’t mind Lauren. It was more Lacey who bugged me even though she was a better dancer. (I did think she deserved to be in the final four)
I thought Jessi got a raw deal – but realistically you had to expect that would happen in a contest. Her solos sucked but I tended to enjoy her parntering work. As I mentioned though, most of the women’s solos sucked. Lauren had a few that were good. But only Sabra and Shauna were consistently good. (And even Sabra had a weak one towards the end)
I disliked both Lauren and Neil.
With Lauren, it was a vibe thing (gut reaction).
With Neil, I felt he was kept around more for looks than dancing ability. (Screaming girls!) He’s a great gymnast, but based strictly on weakness in routines, he really should have been out with that horrible mambo. It ticks me off no end that he bumped Jesus. I LOVED Jesus.
But I was very happy Sabra won. Really, I would have been happy with anyone other than Neil, though a Danny or Lacey win would have been discounted due to mitigating factors (undeservedly and unhappily.)
And I was goofy elated to see the “lil’ clogger that could” again.
My favorite routines (by choreographer):
Robson’s hobo show (Jesus/Sara)
Dmitri’s Samba (a samba with no rolls? fantastic!)(Danny/Anya)
Benji’s west coast swing (Pasha/Sara)
Robson’s devil/angel (Neil/Sabra-Lauren?)
Mia’s two princes (Neil/Danny)
Shane’s make it work (Sabra/Dominic)
There’s more, but I’ll stop there. What’s interesting to note is I loved a lot of last year’s group routines, but most of season three’s groups left me cold (off hand, i really like Shane’s matrix lady one.)
I never got into the group dances as much, although I did like the one from Hairspray and to a lesser extent the Lion King one.
Huh. I guess it was just me. Here’s the thing though, it was based on voting. By people who called in. So, yeah, people who were popular (like Neil) won out over people who were just good dancers.
I recognize that Neil wasn’t one of the best pure dancers. But I thought he was entertaining, which is not the same thing. I didn’t like him for his looks (I’m a hetero male, just FYI). I liked Lauren for the same reason and thought they were great together.
I notice that even Jennifer, who claims to dislike both of them, had one of their dances on her favorites list (the angel/devil dance was Neil and Lauren), so I feel vindicated!
Neil’s not a great dancer the way Danny is, for sure. But he’s not a bad dancer. Although I do agree with the judges comments that he often relied too much on tricks.
But I think he deserved to make it as far as he did. I know a lot of people were praising Pasha, but he was often weak and many of his solos weren’t that great.
I liked the concept & choreography for the Angel & Devil dance better than the performers of it.
In other words, most of the time I dig Wade.
Who else has used Tom Waits ( although I would’ve liked to see that dance done to Modest Mouse’s “Devil’s Workday”)?
For instance – I really liked the fox dance.
Good choreography is rare in the SYTYCD solo work.
I’m not sure the solos are necessarily about choreography. That’s a bit much to expect by a bunch of youngsters. That’s not to say there hasn’t been good choreography in the past. (Think last year’s Benji and his cousin) But it’s definitely the exception. What it does do is allow one to demonstrate technique and then charisma/performance.
I think that across the board last year the performance level was superior to this year even if the technique overall was better this year.
I’d like to see more of the solos choreographed.
Not necessarily all. But more.
I’m liking that last comment, Clark.
I can’t agree with you about Pasha, though.
Interesting. I was honestly expecting more from Pasha. Especially since he’s ballroom and that’s the only dance I’ve been formally exposed to. (Not that I was particularly good – but at least I’ve done it and know what teachers yell about)
I’d say the ballroom dancers are always at a disadvantage – at least compared to everyone but the Breakers (and the cloggers – although that’s a different discussion). Yes they are better at partnering but they have a horrible time in the solos which counts for a lot. Especially the first 10 episodes.
Having said all that though Benji and his Cousin Heidi arguably were always among the most interesting solos. I notice this year when people were struggling Heidi got “stolen” from a bit. But the performance level was definitely why Benji deserved winning even though in contemporary dance he was horrible.
This year we have Sabra who was technically great and grew into being a much better performer. But it just wasn’t at the level of last year. Interestingly she learned dance in Utah where ballroom is tremendously popular. (Probably more so than any place outside of Russian ex-pats living in New York)
I liked Pasha’s solo with the manequin. Thought that was a clever way to get around doing ballroom without a partner.
Sabra did not do ballroom in Utah. she lived in Roy. ain’t no ballroom in Roy.
I thought Sabra went to East High.
Susan, I liked Pasha’s solo with the manequin as well. However, much like many of Neil’s dances, it was more clever and tricky than great.
BTW – there actually are quite a few ballroom dance studios in the Ogden area MCQ. I don’t know if Sabra was formally exposed to ballroom. But I can pretty much guarantee most BYU grads in the area would have been exposed to Social Dance 101. (Cha cha, Waltz, Swing, Foxtrot and Polka)
I have no clue if Sabra was exposed to it formally, as I said. (I suspect not) But I suspect it was “in the air” as they say…
According to the show’s website, here’s Sabra’s dance background:
No ballroom.
According to her Myspace page, she’s from Roy. I couldn’t find where she went to high school, but trust me, it would be quite a commmute from Roy to East High. See her Wiki entry here.
Clark, I don’t know what BYU has to do with anything, since Sabra did not attend there, but nothing I have seen indicates any ballroom in her background. That is also consistent with how the judges rated her ballroom technique.
It amazes me that many of you are saying that last year’s dancers were better, because the judges said several times that, as a group, this season’s were the best so far.
Also, she took dance in Bountiful, not Ogden.
MCQ, I think I said I thought the technique was far superior this year but that performance was better last year. There’s no doubt that Danny, Sabra and others were better dancers.
I was mistaken about Sabra at East High. That’s what I’d heard somewhere but doing some checking I think it was some confusion because she was in some Disney movie as a bit player that was filmed at East High.
The jidges are completely full of compost.
They are paid to be on the show.
They have a vested interest in the show staying on air.
It follows that they will claim each years crop of dancers is better than the last.
Whether the statement is “true” or “false” is indeterminable because it is highly subjective and not based on a constant/consistent source of criteria.
Clark illustrates my point, unintentionally.
Are they judging based on performance or technique?
This week’s performance/technique or overall?
Some gut evaluation of growth potential? Likability? Fan response? Short straws? A magic 8-ball?
I doubt even they know for sure.
I think the problem is that, like most competitions, it’s a bit contrived. You can have great technique in one form and it doesn’t translate over to other forms and may even be a detriment. Thus Danny’s fantastic dancing ability and lousy technique in ballroom.
The judges basically eliminate everyone primarily on technique so you’re left with 10 bruised and banged up dancers who are then judged partially by their ability to learn unfamiliar dances and then primarily by their ability to entertain.
Nothing wrong with that once you realize that’s what they are doing.
One thing they need to do though is stop letting the choreographers work around the dancer’s weakness. You had several ballroom choreographies which were barely ballroom simply because the dancers couldn’t do it.
So yeah, the competition is a tad contrived and so forth.
On the other hand Sabra did surprisingly well at techniques she wasn’t used to. And all the dancers really grew a lot. And frankly, say what one will about technique, but ultimately it is about connecting with the audience.
Further, compared to most other competitions of this sort like Dancing with the Stars, the dancers in this are quasi-professionals and the level of performance is much higher. Ditto with every other competition I’ve seen on TV. That’s why I like it most. Yes, it’s not the ballroom dance competitions. But there everyone is so in their comfort zone and the level of technique being critiqued so subtle that it’s hard for an outsider like myself to appreciate it.
This has the best combination of professionalism, being outside ones comfort zone, and competition I’ve seen.
To add, the other change I’d like to see is a mix of people dancing in their style and dancing outside of their style. Right now there’s too much luck of the draw. Finally I’d like to see the judges explain technique to the audience a bit more. I know that may go against the marketing and demographics – but at this stage I bet most people who watch the show have seen the prior seasons. Explaining and educating the audience as to what is going on would be very helpful.
Occasionally they did this – such as Lacey’s non-extensions in her arms in her waltz. But as often as not they don’t tell people that the B-boy had lousy dance position which is about as basic technique as you get in ballroom. (Heck, if I could get yelled at for it as a freshman surely a real dancer can as well)
This wouldn’t eliminate all the aspects of luck. Dancers really are stuck with the choreography they are given.
One thing I did like this year was everyone performing the same dance so you could compare them a bit better. Unfortunately I didn’t like the piece in question. (An odd war piece by Wade that came off as a bit contrived and the “yell” as really campy IMO)
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