Well, I was out at the ABT opening night gala last night and so recorded the show and, for some reason, my recording had no sound. I tried to watch it on ABC.go but the site kept telling me the episode was currently unavailable. I tried to watch on YouTube but those posts had no sound either. I wonder if ABC somehow set it up so you couldn’t record sound on the finale (to prevent YouTube posts), because that’s a little weird. They certinaly don’t make it easy on people who go out all the time! Anyway, I had no choice but to watch without sound.
It’s obviously really hard to watch without music — you can’t determine the contestant’s musicality or sense of rhythm at all — but I was pretty underwhelmed by this finale in general. Paso is my least favorite dance, and I thought they all did decently, albeit not superbly. At this point, I can’t really judge who I like most because they each have their own special, likable quality. I thought Shawn was a little lacking in passion in the Paso, I thought Melissa’s lines were gorgeous — she can make such sleek lines with that long, thin, ballet body but she also looked a little stiff in places, and I thought Gilles was more about the acting and the facial expressions than the dancing. So, even though she wasn’t perfect, Melissa was my favorite overall for the Paso.
I used to like the freestyle dance, but it didn’t do much for me this time. Of course, not being able to hear the music could have been part of it, but, in a way, sometimes it helps not having sound because you focus entirely on the visuals and really see what everyone actually LOOKS like. Shawn and Melissa looked like they were having a lot of fun up there, but their dances both looked sloppy — lots of awkwardly bent legs, no real precision, no clarity of line, no control. It was just a lot of jumping around; it didn’t look like any kind of stylized dance. I’m sure it had to do with the many tricks involved — when you’re focusing on tricks you’re not focusing on grace and line and polish — you’re focusing on not killing yourself or your partner. I could totally relate to Melissa’s nearly poking Tony’s eye out during the practice session by the way! Oh how many times have I done such things… But still, when you do a bunch of tumbling, you can’t just throw your legs up all splayed and bent and formless; you still have to tighten your body, keep your legs together and think about the shape you’re creating.
I think I actually liked Gilles’s freestyle the best because it was just kind of low-key. He didn’t move a whole lot — was mostly there to be Cheryl’s support in the lifts and she did most of the body-shaking, fast, hip-shifting moves. And Hustle’s just fun. They danced to Flashdance, right?!
Anyway, since I missed the music and talking, I would greatly appreciate comments filling me in!
I’m going back to ABT for more tonight and am going to have to record the show again. I hope I don’t have the same problem tonight!
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