So You Think You Can Dance alumni Danny Tidwell and Jakob Karr have joined Rasta Thomas’s Bad Boys of Dance and will be touring with that company this summer. I’m very glad to hear this for Bad Boys’ sake since all I could keep thinking the last time I saw them perform at the Joyce was how much better it would be if all of the dancers were at Rasta’s level. All of the dancers he had were good, but he was just … Rasta! Now he’s got more star power up there with him.

In other SYTYCD news, Alex Wong will be competing in the next season, along with Billy Bell (which we already knew). I mean, for now they made it to Vegas, but, you know, if they don’t make the top 20 I think SYTYCD may have some problems!

Above photo of Danny Tidwell from Flickr.

Photo of Desmond Richardson by Andrea Mohin, taken from NYTimes.

So, “Kings of the Dance” made the New York stop of its international tour this weekend at City Center. I was there Friday night. The last time this show toured here several years ago (it is produced by Russian dance promoter Sergei Danilian) there were only four male dancers — Angel Corella, Ethan Stiefel (both of American Ballet Theater), Johan Kobborg of the Royal Ballet in England, and Nikolay Tsiskaridze of the Bolshoi. This year, there were many more dancers and Tsiskaridze was the only one who returned (and, funny, but I totally didn’t recognize him). The others were: David Hallberg, Marcelo Gomes and Jose Manuel Carreno from ABT, Joaquin De Luz from NYCB, Guillaume Cote from Canada, Denis Matvienko from Ukraine, and Desmond Richardson from NY-based Complexions Contemporary Ballet (So You Think You Can Dance fans may recognize his photo above, since he has guest performed on the show a couple times).

What I liked about this program the last time it toured here was that there were fewer dancers, and that way you kind of “got to know” them better, by seeing them each perform several different pieces. Here, you basically only saw many dancers once, and a few twice. If you weren’t familiar with them (as my two friends who came with me weren’t), you could easily get them confused. They played a short movie at the beginning where each dancer (besides Desmond Richardson; I think he may have been a late addition to the American tour) talked a bit and you saw them dance. Jose’s cute Cuban accent seems to have gotten more pronounced — I think he did it on purpose, knowing how many female fans would be in the audience! David’s voice somehow sounded a bit deeper than it does in person. Matvienko (who, for ballroom dancers, looks A LOT like former US champ Andrei Gavriline) and Tsiskaridze spoke in Russian and their words were translated.

What I loved about this program though was that there were so many solos that exposed us to so many different choreographers whose work I’d never seen (and some of whom I’d never even heard of) before. Every company in this country is obsessed with Balanchine, so it’s a wonderful wonderful change when we actually get a taste of something else. But more on that in a moment.

As with every Danilian production, there were lots and lots of Russians in the audience, and I think Desmond Richardson and Joaquin De Luz in particular grew a new fan base. Poor Joaquin — well, maybe: after the performance and during intermission I kept hearing, “That little guy was great!”, “That little guy was just incredible,” “Where can I see that little guy dance?” So, Joaquin is the great “little guy” whom everyone is seeking out now. And everyone went wild after Richardson’s solo, Lament, choreographed of course by Dwight Rhoden, an absolute master at presenting his friend’s spellbinding combination of gracefulness and masculinity. My friends were floored, along with the rest of the audience judging by the exclamations.

After the movie, they opened with Christopher Wheeldon’s For 4, for four dancers, which is a carry-over from the last performance. On the night I went it was performed by Matvienko, Carreno, De Luz, and Cote (but the cast varied each night). It’s an adagio lyrical piece, as with the vast majority of Wheeldon’s work, and I wished there would have been some more allegro parts with bravura solos. But that’s just not Wheeldon’s thing.

Then, after intermission, we saw a solo performed by each man, ending with a drop dead gorgeous duet danced by Cote and Gomes choreographed by French choreographer Roland Petit, from his Proust ou les Intermittances du Coeur. The men were dressed in skin-toned unitards, which almost made them look naked, and the duet to me seemed to be about a man obsessed with his reflection, or another side of himself, as each’s movement was mainly a reaction to the other’s. But at some points there was some really beautiful partnering, some really beautiful lifts and it seemed like a man dancing with his soul. Breathtaking!

Anyway, other highlights of the solo section were: a really beautiful solo for Marcelo choreographed by Adam Hougland, called Small Steps, which was like lyrical iron-pumping — a series of beautiful poses showing off his musculature interspersed with flowing lyrical movement; a beautiful, lyrical piece danced by David Hallberg from Frederick Ashton’s Dance of the Blessed Spirits; a fast, fun, more virtuosity-heavy solo by David Fernandez for Joaquin De Luz called Five Variations on a Theme; Jose Carreno dancing a gorgeous adagio to Ave Maria – a modern version — by Igal Perry (which I’d seen before and fell in love with it all over again); and Rhoden’s Lament for Richardson, which, like Marcelo’s solo, reminded me of lyrical iron-pumping (which I mean in a good way of course) highlighting as it did that seemingly incongruous combination of male elegance and virility.

The only ones that didn’t really work for me well were Boris Eifman’s Fallen Angel danced by Tsiskaridze, which I think just didn’t have enough context, and Vestris by Leonid Jakobson danced by Matvienko, which was by turns a comical and bravura piece first danced by Baryshnikov in 1969. I thought Matvienko was a lovely dancer with really beautiful lines who could really deliver on the jumps and especially turns, but I just think it needed to be better acted because there were some places where it almost seemed like he made a mistake, and then you realized it wasn’t a mistake by the dancer; it was supposed to be the character who humorously screwed up. I heard Baryshnikov was excellent and I wish I could see a video of that.

Then, we saw Spanish choreographer Nacho Duato’s Remanso, which I’d never seen live before, but saw in a video performed by ABT. It involves a wall with three dancers interacting with each other around it, climbing over it, looking around it. It’s sweet, flirtatious in places, and loving and romantic. The night I saw it it was danced by Gomes, Cote, and Hallberg, though this cast alternated each night as well.

The program ended with a bravura “Grand Finale” with each dancer coming out and doing jumps and turns, and all the big fancy “male things” of classical ballet.

But the thing I kept thinking throughout was, wow, that’s really cool choreography, who’s that choreographer? Oh,  I’ve never heard of him, or, oh I’ve heard of him, how cool that I finally got to see something by him! I mean: Roland Petit, Igal Perry, David Fernandez, Adam Hougland, Nacho Duato, Leonid Jakobson. We NEVER get to see choreography by these people here. Petit is a major choreographer. As is Duato (we really see his choreography only when his own company tours here, infrequently), ditto for Eifman, and the others I’ve never even heard of. Why don’t we see more variety here? Why don’t we see more Mats Ek and Pina Bausch and John Cranko? Why do we have to drown in Balanchine over and over and over again? Why do dance companies think that we want to see Balanchine? Why do they think Americans are into this man? As far as I’m concerned, his only truly great work is Jewels. The rest, okay, his footwork is more intricate and there are certain subtle little embellishments in the variations, but really, what was so great about his ballets in their entirety? What was so great that we have to be so completely inundated with him here in the US? I mean, it makes sense that NYCB does his work because they were founded by him but every other major company in the US is likewise obsessed – San Francisco Ballet, Miami City, Boston, Pennsylvania, even the Kirov and POB when they tour here they think we want more of this crap. And whenever ABT doesn’t do classical, there seems to be an overload of Balanchine. Does anyone consider that maybe, just maybe, we might get bored? That he doesn’t speak to younger generations of Americans AT ALL? Did someone tell POB and Kirov that Americans only understand Balanchine so you have to do Balanchine when you come here? I think ballet is dying in this country because of every artistic director’s completely inscrutable obsession with this boring boring man.

Anyway, I greatly thank Mr. Danilian for allowing Americans to see something else for a change.

For a completely different perspective, see Macaulay’s review.

The esteemed Guardian critic Judith Mackrell tackles the British version of SYTYCD. And damn, their show looks so much better than ours!:

“Who knew we’d be seeing choreography by Henri Oguike, Rafael Bonachela and Mark Baldwin on prime-time Saturday TV, or hearing serious discussion of brisés volés? So You Think You Can Dance may have some of the naffest production values on the box, but it’s actually done the job of getting dance – other than ballroom – into the mainstream. And so far, I’m hooked.”

Above photo by Zak Hussein, taken from Mackrell’s Guardian review.

Where it will star Pasha and Anya! Photo (and story) taken from here.  Dancers will also include SYTYCD alum Karen Hauer and Artem Chigvintsev. The show will stop briefly in Vancouver, from April 13-18, then head to Toronto from April 22-May 1, before traveling on to Europe.

Here’s a video of Adam Shankman talking about the upcoming number he’s choreographing for the Academy Awards. According to SYTYCism, Jakob Karr will be performing in that number, and those auditioning included SYTYCD alums Billy Bell, Travis Wall, Katee Shean, Russell Ferguson, Jaimie Goodwin, Legacy Perez, Ellenore Scott, and Kathryn McCormick.

Here are some photos of Burn the Floor’s final New York performance, held January 10th. Derek Hough took over for Maks Chmerkovskiy and danced with Kym Johnson; other participating DWTS / SYTYCD alum included Mary Murphy and Karen Hauer.

Thank you to reader Jonathan for sending me the link!

in 2010 includes NYCB’s Robert Fairchild (& SLSG fave, pictured below in Paul Kolnik photo), ABT’s Eric Tamm, and SYTYCD alum William Wingfield (pictured above with Whitney Jensen of Boston Ballet), and Alex Wong (also of Miami City Ballet of course).

And go here for a behind-the-scenes video of the January 2010 cover shoot.

via SYTYCDism.

If you’re in NY and you don’t yet have plans for New Year’s Eve, I highly recommend Alvin Ailey. They’re doing their Best of 20 Years program — a celebration of Judith Jamison’s 20 years as Artistic Director with the company that includes excerpts from the various ballets she’s commissioned in that time — including Ronald K. Brown’s beatific Grace, Lar Lubovitch’s intriguing North Star, Donald K. Byrd’s tantalizing disco-y Dance at the Gym, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar’s thought-provoking Shelter — the list goes on! Excellent excellent program. And then, they end with Hans van Manen’s by turns beautifully lyrical and energetically fast-paced Solo (for three men), followed by of course Revelations. Seriously — is there a better dance to celebrate a new (and hopefully, please God, better) year? This is all to be followed by a grand grand finale.

For tix, go here.

Unfortunately, I can’t go, and my Ailey season has now ended. I’m so sad — I always feel a hole in my stomach every time this year. No one combines balletic modern with African, with American social and street, with jazz and theater… no company’s dancers are more versatile (now if they were all to compete on So You Think You Can Dance, that would be a showdown!) , and no company’s product so far-reaching. I really love them. If anyone goes to the New Year’s Eve celebration, please report back!

Photo by Kwame Brathwaite.

Yes! I knew it would come down to Russell Ferguson and Jakob Karr. I loved Jakob, but how absolutely fabulous that a krumper — the first to appear on the show — has won. I’m so happy for Russell! I was so worried, though, that he was going hurt himself worse (he hurt his leg during an encore performance on the show) with all that jumping around when he was announced the champ! And how sweet that he not only thanked God, but pointed his finger up to the sky like that What did he say, “God!” and pointed. Like a kind of high-five! Oh, I love him.

I still think Jakob is one of the best contemporary dancers ever to be on the show and he has a huge future in modern ballet, perhaps with a company like Complexions. I’ll definitely be looking for him out in the concert dance world after the SYTYCD tour is over.

I’m so ludicrously weird though. I’d honestly started to worry at the end that if Jakob won last night, well then two male contemporary dancers likely wouldn’t win in a row, and so Billy Bell’s chances for next season might be jeopardized. I know I know: Billy’s only made the top 100 at this point and I need to not get so far ahead of myself

Anyway, here’s Russell’s solo that first made me fall for him:

So, my favorite dance of the night, not surprisingly, was the Dwight Rhoden / Desmond Richardson-choreographed contemporary routine for Jakob and Kathryn. It was very Dwight Rhoden — with the passionate intensity, the movements that are so real-life: her jumping on his back and clawing at him; him falling to the ground and pounding the floor in desperation. But the choreography was very athletic and required a lot of intense concentration, particularly for Jakob who had all those jumps — and he really wanted to nail each with perfect lines — which could have taken away from the drama required to fully pull the piece off, but really didn’t.

Photo taken from rickey.org, who already has the vids posted.

Love the audience’s standing ovation, and how all the judges were so overwhelmed they could hardly speak. And love how Adam went on and on about the importance of live dance and how it needs to be supported, and Nigel telling Jakob that he absolutely must go to work for a company, perhaps one like Complexions. And so we didn’t get to see Desmond perform; we still saw him and Dwight stand up and cheer the dancers from the aud

Anyway, I really really really hope the show encourages more people to attend live dance performances.

My second favorite of the night was the very last piece, the Tabitha and Napoleon hip hop / krump for Russell and Kathryn.

I thought they nailed it, and that was one of the best hip hops I think I’ve seen on the show — a lot of bravado posturing and hard, driving, pounding footwork, yet still sweet and humorous in places. And they had such chemistry together, I thought. She looked at him like she had so much respect and admiration for him when she started kind of touching his feet in the air as he made his way around on those flips. She really looked like she was dancing with him, whereas I thought when she and Jakob danced together it seemed they were each trying to do their own athletic feats as well as possible, like they weren’t really emotionally connecting with each other as strongly.

Yeah, Nigel and Adam are right about Kathryn — she’s really excelled at everything, particularly toward the end of this season. I can see her winning.

Again, see Rickey for their hip hop video.

I have to say, regarding Jakob, I don’t remember seeing him dance much, if any at all, hip hop or Latin ballroom throughout the season? Did he? He’s a miraculous contemporary dancer, and it’s a given he’ll excel at contemporary-like dances, like jazz, theater, and standard ballroom. But he didn’t seem to be given much of a chance to demonstrate range, the same as Kathryn.

At first when I saw Ryan and Kathryn open the show with Jason Gilkison’s samba I mistook Ryan for Jakob and thought, whoa, he can really do those body rolls, he has such movement in his torso (unusual for someone trained intensively in ballet). Then when I realized it was Ryan I was pretty disappointed. We already know Ryan can do Latin — why didn’t they give Jakob the samba? Then, I thought how interesting it would be to have each couple perform the same exact routines. Then you could really compare. Hey, seriously, why don’t they do that? Because at a certain point, it seems like you can’t help but judge the choreography more than the dancing.

None of the other routines really blew me away tonight. The Travis Wall contemporary for Ashleigh and Ryan was lovely, but it lacked a certain power, as did her Foxtrot with Jakob. Oh I did like the Sonya Tayeh lyrical jazz for Ashleigh and Russell.

I just love Russell. He has such charisma, such an endearing dancer persona that peeks through with everything he does. Such a sweet guy. And he introduced me to a new style of dance for me, made me aware of the power and brilliance of krumping. I’m rooting for him or Jakob. Or, now, Kathryn.

Oh cool — Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson, founders of Complexions Contemporary Ballet, are returning to  So You Think You Can Dance for this Tuesday’s finale. They’re to choreograph a piece for one set of finalists (press release doesn’t say who). Exciting! Press release doesn’t say Desmond will dance, like last time, but who knows!?

Well, if not, here’s a vid of him in Episodes (which, coincidentally, Alvin Ailey is also performing this season at City Center, and which members of that company performed earlier this season on this show).

Photo above by Heidi Schumann, from NY Times.

Okay, here are the interviews I did with Sonya Tayeh and Billy Bell last week at the DeMa Dance Company rehearsal. (Bell and Tayeh are most known for their work on So You Think You Can Dance, if you don’t know – Bell was on the show briefly at the beginning of the season and had to withdraw due to illness, and Tayeh is a choreographer). I spoke with them very quickly, during their tiny lunch break, and I shared the interview with a writer from Dance Spirit magazine. It was hard to get everything down (especially with Billy, who is a fast talker!) and remember the other writer’s questions, etc. (I intend to get a flip camera for the future). Anyway, it’s hard to put this in a question / answer format, so I’m just going to summarize and paraphrase what they each said.

Billy was so sweetly enthusiastic and excited about his life. So much fun to talk to!

First things first – SYTYCD, since that’s how most people know him. He said he definitely plans to return to the show next season. The producers told him he’ll be automatically advanced to the top 100 – so he’ll start out at the Vegas auditions and go from there.

He had to leave the show at the beginning of this season after being diagnosed with Mononucleosis. The problem wasn’t that he was contagious any longer by the time he was diagnosed, but that the illness had significantly enlarged his spleen, and he even had to be hospitalized. Doctors told him if he moved too much with his spleen so enlarged, he could have ruptured it and died. It would likely take a few months for the spleen to return to normal size, they said, which is why he had to leave the show at that point. Now, it’s nearly back to normal though it’s still a slight bit enlarged. “That’s why I wasn’t really dancing full-out,” he said with a little laugh, referring to the rehearsal we’d just seen. Dance Spirit woman and I nearly fell off the couch at this. “If that wasn’t full out, I can’t imagine what you normally look like!” she said. And I agreed. He seemed completely healed to me, to make a massive understatement.

I asked him how he got started in dance. He said he started late, in high school, and he actually began with Hip Hop. His lack of early training didn’t matter for that dance because, unlike ballet for example, the movement isn’t codified. But he soon became interested in Jazz, for which he needed ballet training. He initially learned by mimicking movement, but he soon enrolled in the ballet academy at Ballet Florida and, in order to make up for lost time, really threw himself into it, moving very close to the studio and taking several hours of dance per day, along with his other studies. After a while of ballet, he became interested in tap, and so began training in that too. He’s interested in multiple dance forms but considers his main style to be contemporary ballet.

I asked him who his favorite dancers were or if he had any particular heroes or sources of inspiration. He immediately named Andrea Miller, choreographer and director of Gallim Dance, whom he called his “personal mentor.” He’s worked with her before – when he was 18, his first pro experience — and he performed her work at the Joyce SoHo. He loves her approach to movement and how she teaches: she wants you to experience the movement in your body, he said; it’s not just about the positions, but about how the movement makes you feel. He’s excited to be able to work with her again at Juilliard; she’s to set a piece there soon.

I asked him what other choreographers or companies he’d like to work with. In addition to Gallim, he named William Forsythe and Ohad Naharin’s Batsheva. He finds in this “dance theater” an outer simplicity and yet so much complexity behind it. “What’s going on inside you – (with Gallim and Naharin’s Gaga training) – is simple and yet so complex.” He would also love to do some Paul Taylor, Merce Cunningham, Jose Limon, Jerome Robbins, to name a few.

But his biggest passion: choreographing. He wants to dance while he’s young but eventually his goal is to create dances. He said with a laugh that he loves “destroying ballet” – kind of bending those rods ballet dancers seem to hold up their spines and freeing them up, allowing them to go back and forth between different kinds of movement. He loves being able to work with dancers and bring certain things out in them. He strives to move people emotionally, to move the audience, he loves having that power. He choreographed his first piece — 15 minutes long — at Dreyfoos, his high school back in Florida. It was performed there at a show in January.

But that’s in the future. In the meantime, he’s finishing up at Juilliard (he’s about halfway through his BFA; has another couple years to go), he has the SYTYCD Vegas auditions coming up next season, he’s participating in a choreographic competition that travels throughout the States, and he just became a principal dancer at DeMa this month. Despina Simegiatos, one of the artistic directors of DeMa, says back when she was looking for strong male dancers for her fledgling company, she found him on YouTube, through some videos he’d posted, and really fell for him. He hadn’t yet gone on SYTYCD.

He’s excited about working with DeMa because it’s a company that seeks to fuse the creative with the commercial. Companies are where artists can focus on their creative work, but commercial work is what pays the bills. In an ideal world these would be fused, but in the U.S. they rarely are, he said. He seeks to be able to transition back and forth between the two. He’s excited about working with Sonya because he was just about to work with her before he had to leave the show. A couple of other Juilliard students are also dancing with DeMa, which makes the company feel homey to him.

He sweetly said he considers himself the luckiest person in the world that he gets to do what he loves and get paid for it.

Sonya Tayeh, like her work, was very intriguing and I wish I would have had more time with her but she was so busy creating this piece. This is her first time working with DeMa. As I mentioned earlier, her dance, titled When the Love Enters, the Light Shines, is six minutes long and is set to Bjork’s Unison.

When asked a bit about this piece, she said it’s about finding moments where you look at your life and you’re just in love with it. She actually found making this dance a bit challenging, she said. She’s really in love right now, very comfortable with herself and unafraid, and usually her choreography is about fighting. Lately she’s been so peaceful. But it’s nice to exhale, she said with a laugh.

When asked what she wants of her dancers, she said all she asks is that they listen to her instructions but that they try to find the emotion in themselves, to embody it in the movement, not just go through movements she’s creating. She has a very disciplined way of working and seeks to embellish movement as much as possible. She likes to have fast, abrupt stops and starts; she likes elements of surprise. She’s high-strung, she said with a little laugh – she has wild hair, wears crazy clothes, is really out there. Her choreography echoes that.

I asked her what inspires her, how she works, and what her goals are. She said it’s hard to talk about inspiration. She’ll have an idea in her head, but not the movement. She needs to get to the studio to see the dancers in order to create the movement. She begins with a mood in her head. She doesn’t watch much of others’ choreography because she’s afraid of duplicating them. Instead she watches a lot of documentaries of dancers and dance makers for inspiration. She watches cartoons, a lot of animation, and has a rather fantastical mind. Her focus is on making a mark in the world with movement, with her choreography.

Here are some more pictures, by Kim Max, of Tayeh rehearsing with the DeMa dancers (the picture at the top of the post is of Tayeh choreographing on Bell).

Today I was invited to attend a rehearsal for a new company, DeMa Dance Company, at their studio in Brooklyn. For their first set of performances, which will be in May at the Alvin Ailey Theater, Sonya Tayeh, from So You Think You Can Dance is choreographing a piece, called When the Love Enters, the Light Shines, set to Bjork’s Unison. They let me sit in and watch her work, which was really thrilling!

Thrilling also because none other than Billy Bell (who, all regular readers of this blog will remember, I was going on and on and on about at the start of this SYTYCD season) just became a principal dancer with this company. So I got to watch him rehearse too

And then, I got to do little mini-interviews with both Tayeh and Bell. (A first for this blog!) Billy is one of the sweetest, most enthusiastic people I think I’ve ever met and I’m just so intrigued by Sonya’s unique work; she’s really endlessly fascinating, as was just watching her work — and this is the first time I’ve ever been invited to a rehearsal when the dance is at its beginning stages; you learn so much more about how a dance is actually created by watching at this stage than when you only see the finished, or almost-finished product. So I’m really thankful to DeMa for inviting me today.

It may be a couple of days though before I’m able to get the interview and rehearsal notes up because I have Alvin Ailey tonight and then tomorrow I’m leaving for Art Basel in Miami for the weekend. But I wanted to at least get some of the photos up now (all taken by DeMa’s photog Kim Max).

Above are Tayeh and Bell with the founders and artistic directors of DeMa, Despina and Matina Simegiatos (Matina is on the far left, Despina on the far right). Below is the whole company. All of the dancers (at least those I saw today) are very good, with strong technique and loads of energy (you need it to work with Tayeh). More on the rehearsal and the interviews to come, but in the meantime, check out their website — I think they’ll be a promising company. And check out the videos — I particularly like the top one — Zaloggos — about the Greek women.

For people who missed it this past Wednesday, here is our Paloma Herrera on So You Think You Can Dance:

From what I can tell through Google, it looks like nearly all responses from the gen pub have been positive

Some people mentioned they’d have preferred a pdd (since SYTYCD is about partnering, after all) — something more like this:

Dancers above are our studly Jose Manuel Carreno and the Royal’s lovely Tamara Rojo.

I miss Jose; he hardly danced with ABT this past Met season…

Okay, okay I know it was Donny Osmond, but in my mind it was Kelly Osbourne! Or Mya. I thought Mya was by far the best dancer on the show this season, but Kelly was the most improved and that’s what this show should ultimately be about, imo. And there was something so relatable about Kelly; even though her father is a hugely famous pop star, she was still so human, and somehow so normal. Which is where she got her fan base, I’m sure. And of course Louis is my favorite dancer on the show, so there’s that for me.

I thought Donny was fine though, and I’m glad someone over 50 won that ball. I do wonder what the demographic was like this season — whether it was different from the rest? Good lord, has Marie lost weight since she was on the show or what?!

Anyway, how cool was it that Paloma Herrera (above image from here) was on SYTYCD tonight? I loved her — loved the beautiful tip-toes en pointe. Unfortunately my upstairs neighbor, Godzilla, was making such a heinous racket (the girl / beast has ruined just about every holiday for me for the past two years) that I didn’t get the full effect, and didn’t hear her announcement or her reception, but I wonder how well that classical Don Quixote solo fared with this audience? I guess we’ll see.

I admit I didn’t see last night’s show (I was out at NYCB and taped DWTS; can only record one thing on my recorder), but intend to watch vids if they’re up on YouTube yet. I’d love to see how Victor and Karen fared as a partnership. I mean, obviously those two were kicked off tonight but that doesn’t mean they did badly, just that the audience for whatever reason doesn’t care much for them and perhaps the judges felt like for political reasons they had to go with the audience a bit. I mean, how many weeks can you keep the same dancer on when the audience isn’t voting for them? And how much is that going to hurt ticket sales to the live shows if you actually advance them into the top ten?

Anyway, I liked Karen and thought she brought her own thing to the show and I’m sorry to see her go, and I’m really sorry to see Victor go since he was one of my favorite males. Oh well. I guess I’ll watch for Jakob and Russell from here on out.

Wow, I’m so happy Kelly Osbourne and Karen Hauer are staying, on DWTS and SYTYCD respectively, after this week.

Re DWTS: I was really blown away by Kelly and Louis’s Quickstep Monday night and I have to take back what I said last week about her self-esteem not seeming to improve much. She danced that Quickstep with so much intelligence and sophistication and a real inner confidence. She was like a pro. I still think Mya is technically the best, but I’m rooting for Kelly!

I’m not at all surprised Joanna Krupa was booted. I think she tried hard but, as I’ve said before, I thought she didn’t have good enough dancer form and discipline in her body. Interestingly, as I was preparing to record the show, I happened upon the Ellen Degeneres show and saw her and Derrek on, where it was revealed that she’s in Playboy this month. And of course Monday night Hugh Hefner was on DWTS giving his esteemed opinion on why she should win. Anyway, when Ellen asked, Krupa denied using the Playboy cover to try to gain more votes, but I’m not so sure I believe it — even if it’s more the show’s producers who are behind such a stunt and not Krupa herself. So it backfired, unsurprisingly — I don’t think consumers of mags like that and this show come from the same demographic exactly.

Re SYTYCD: I really like Karen and think she’s so versatile and has such immense performance quality in her dancing. So I’m glad the judges decided to keep her this week and let Channing go. I kind of knew when both dancers ended up in the bottom three, the judges would do that. Karen’s different; she adds something unique. Channing’s like a slightly less compelling version of Mollee, who, with Nathan, surprisingly ended up in the bottom three as well. Well, maybe it’s not that surprising though, after what Nigel said about Nathan last week — I think his cutting him down and telling him his head was too big and he was only staying on because of his female teeny-bopper fans made all of the non-teeny-bopper watchers weigh in with their votes.

At any rate, this week Nigel told Nathan he was glad he seems to have listened to him and learned his lesson because he is truly one of the best dancers ever to be on the show. I was like “HUH???” Has he forgotten about Danny Tidwell, and don’t they keep saying Jakob’s by far the best this season? I mean, come on — what’s Nigel trying to do? Nathan is fine — he’s not a jerk and he’s not the best dancer this show has ever seen; he’s just a decent dancer and a regular contestant — stop trying to create drama.

Anyway, I do really like Russell too and he and Noelle’s Foxtrot was I think overall my favorite dance last night. That was so enjoyable. They both just floated over the floor, seemed to have perfect ballroom technique though he’s a krumper and she a contemporary dancer, and they gave it even more umph than regular ballroomers do. Excellent excellent job. I like Russell so much, I’ll even be happy if he wins over Jakob — so long as Jakob is in the finals

I also thought Victor came to life for the first time this season last night. I didn’t much care for Tyce’s kooky birds breaking out of their cage routine but I thought Victor really made the most of the movement, hitting every line right on and making very bizarrely intriguing shapes with his body.

I think overall my favorite moment of the show was when Tony Meredith asked Legacy if he knew what Paso Doble was and Legacy said dramatically and humorously, “No! I know that it’s pronounced Paso Doble (and of course he said that with a perfect Spanish accent), but other than that I know nothing!” For some reason that comment just really cracked me up; I couldn’t stop laughing. I thought the routine was okay but I really didn’t think he and Kathryn looked like professional ballroom dancers the way Russell and Noelle did. Still, I like Legacy’s personality — well, I like both of them personality-wise, and want them to go far.

I loved Jakob and Ashleigh’s hip hop and thought they completely nailed it and it was one of the best hip hops I’ve ever seen on the show. The contemporary and ballroom dancer — that shows you just how remarkable they both are.

I liked but didn’t love the other two routines. I did like Ryan in Travis Wall’s contemporary but I just didn’t feel the passion there, unlike the judges. The judges were going on and on about him, saying he was the best Latin dancer ever to dance contemporary and I felt like saying, “Hey, you all said that about Janette last season!”

I have to say I really got upset about the judges’ remarks to Karen last night — at least Nigel’s (and Mary always says whatever he says; it’s like she’s afraid to disagree with him; Adam not so much so, though he does defer). Nigel’s said each week that she’s the sexiest dancer ever on the show — the sultriest, the most sensual, the most sexual — how many ways are there to say it? And she just kind of smiles at him, not flirtatiously but like she’s a woman who knows herself too well to let his words pierce her. So he puts her into this box — she’s the official “sex goddess” — and then this week he tells her that when she’s given a routine where she’s supposed to play “cute” — when she can’t be his said “sex goddess” — then her dancing doesn’t do anything for him. I love her expression when he said that — another wholly self-contained smile. But he really made me so mad for that. It wasn’t like she did the wrong thing — it wasn’t like she did a cutely girlish character like a sexed-up vixen. She performed the character right. I’m glad Adam stood up for her and said he liked it when she could show other sides of herself — which she did, and she did so well.

I saw Billy Bell in line yesterday morning at Starbucks. I didn’t speak to him (I’m shy) but wanted then to tell him how wonderful I thought he was and how much I want to see him on the show next season. But after last night, I wanted to tell him to finish Juilliard and try to get a good job with a great ballet company instead. Now, I don’t know. I feel a bit better about the show after tonight, after they didn’t dismiss Karen and gave as their reason for not dismissing her that she was a great performer and a quality dancer and not that she made Nigel hot.

Ugh, these shows. I mean, what is dance? It kind of breaks my heart that these shows tend to make it more about selling women’s bodies than about creating art.

Tonight three dancers from Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater will be on SYTYCD! My favorite modern dance company   Linda Celeste Sims, Clifton Brown, and Constance Stamatiou (above, left to right, in photos by Andrew Eccles) will perform excerpts from Ulysses Dove’s Episodes, which, if I remember correctly, I found very intense and rather haunting.

(Linda Celeste Sims and Matthew Rushing in Episodes, photo by Paul Kolnik)

If you’re in New York, it’s almost time for Alvin Ailey season here. They open at City Center December 2nd. The season lasts for a month and this year they’re celebrating Judith Jamison’s 20th anniversary as artistic director (last year they celebrated the company’s 50th anniversary).

I so love it when great dancers are on TV!

There’s some real talent on the show this season — mainly, imo, Jakob Karr (above) and Russell Ferguson (who I blogged about before). I also think Karen Hauer is a true performer who can do just about any kind of dance, and will thus go far.

I was sad to hear Karen announce tonight that she and Matt are getting divorced. They taught at my former studio and I always thought they were a sweet and very in-love couple.

I liked Karen and Kevin’s disco routine, but I again thought Karen sold it; I could hardly watch Kevin! It was a rather Latin-y disco, which shows how much Karen made it her own, and did so very well.

But my favorites of the night were Jakob and Ashleigh’s jazz and Russell and Noelle’s Afro-jazz. More Afro-jazz on this show please please! I thought both did amazingly with that latter routine, although they weren’t quite as good as those dancers in Fela! on Broadway (review coming soon!), who just really really floored me and made me so want to learn African. I have never ever seen people move like that before! But Russell and Noelle’s routine was African combined with jazz and so should have been a little jazzier, less pure African.

Still, though, to me, no one can really touch Jakob. I mean, he always has these stunning leaps in every routine, but it’s not only that, it’s just his whole form is such perfection. They way he’d round his shoulders and kind of hunch over that cane tonight was so creepy — but it was so creepy because it was so real because his whole form transmogrified when he made that shape, you know what I mean?

I agree with the judges that Mollee and Nathan’s salsa wasn’t all there. It looked clumsy at times; it looked like they struggled partnering each other, though I think she in particular would have done fine on her own.

I also agree with Nigel and Mary that Ryan and Ellenore’s hip hop wasn’t so swift. They tried too, but to me they just didn’t make the swagger believable, and they were really out of sync on the side-by-side work. They were also both lacking in precision I think.

I agree with the judges as well on Pauline and Peter’s Quickstep, though I loved the sailor smitten with Hula dancer story! Go J.T. and Tomas! So happy they’re choreographing for this show now. (I also know them — or at least J.T. — from my old studio.) I do think both dancers were good on their own, and sold it quite well, but the technique wasn’t there at all — the shaping in closed handhold was all wrong, the runs and running jetes were sloppy and not in sync. But still, it was fun and they acted it well and sold the story.

I disagree with the judges about Kathryn and Legacy’s Broadway though. Well, the judges liked him — and so did I — I thought he nailed it, especially for a b-boy. The choreographer did use his strengths with the handstands and back flips. I thought she was good too, though in terms of the movement — the way she circled her pelvis at him, trying to get his attention. I thought she acted it fine — she was cute as opposed to angry and demanding, but I think she made it her own thing. She is rather sweet-faced and that’s what she used to try to grab his attention.

I agree though with the judges about Victor and Channing’s contemporary, and I can’t even put my finger on why it didn’t blow me away emotionally like I feel it should have. It was a story about a couple arguing, struggling, and ultimately breaking away from each other. They danced it well, they danced it with passion and intensity, and yet it didn’t make me feel all that much. Maybe it is just because they’re a new partnership this week. I have to say, I think Victor is an excellent dancer. I can tell that from his solos. His solos touch me the way Jakob’s dancing does. But for some reason he doesn’t seem to be able to take that with him to the duets …  though it looks like he’s trying hard to.

I don’t have much time to write — book issues! — but I just wanted to say how much Russell Ferguson blew me away last night on So You Think You Can Dance with his krumping solo. Holy crap! Now I know what krumping is!

Oh my gosh, I’m so glad the judges had him do that solo so we could all see such excellence. I don’t think they were really seriously thinking about kicking him off; they just wanted to let us see his immense worth to the show, just in case people (like moi) didn’t watch auditions

Ohhh, I just want to see him do that again and again and again!

I can’t seem to find any videos of him doing that solo on YouTube. Can anyone else? Here he is dancing his Foxtrot last night with Melanie LaPatin (who replaced last minute an injured Noelle).

My other favorites from last night were Jakob Karr (duh!) and Kathryn McCormick, and I thought Pauline Mata was lovely in her beautiful Waltz, choreographed by Jason Gilkison. I also liked Victor Smalley but am going to have to see him more before I form a definite opinion. Of course I’m really really really upset about Billy Bell having to leave the show over an illness. I hope he’s okay. He’d said that Juilliard had given him the year off to take part in the show so I hope they extend that another year. Otherwise, I’ll definitely be looking for him in the larger dance world.

Oh, and also, Wade Robson’s group routine from Monday night was just about the best I think I’ve ever seen on that show. Go him.

Above image of Russell Ferguson taken from Rickey.org.

Thank you to reader Jonathan for sending me this. On December 22nd, for one night only, Mary Murphy (of So You Think You Can Dance of course) will dance with the Broadway cast of Jason Gilkison’s Burn the Floor. Very very significantly, she will be partnered by SLSG longtime favorite Vaidotas Skimelis (nicknamed Vaidas), a U.S. National Latin finalist whom I’ve long thought of as the Marcelo of ballroom.

How excellent!

Above, Skimelis dancing with partner Jurga Pupelyte in America’s Ballroom Challenge, photo by Jeffrey Dunn; top photo of Murphy from Broadway World.

Well, I’m upset about Iveta Lukosiute not making it, but I am glad U.S. National American Rhythm finalist Karen Hauer did. Her husband, Matt, used to teach at my studio and they’d often perform there — and I’ve seen them many times in competition and they are very good. I’m not surprised the judges liked her. She has varied training and can dance — and perhaps just as importantly, she has the kind of body that looks good dancing — many styles.

Here are a couple of (rather bad quality — sorry!) pics I’ve taken of her and Matt at some of the comps.

We weren’t able to see a whole lot of dancing (which is what I despise about the auditions shows) but from what we have seen I’m loving this guy, Billy Bell, above. Early favorite!

Also liking these two: Victor Smalley (something about him — the way he looks anyway — initially reminded me of Tyler Angle)

and Jacob Karr

So far anyway… Apparently we’ll get to know a bit more about the dancers on a special broadcast this Monday night (8 / 7 Central Fox).

Here are the rest of the top 20.

Roberto Bolle (photo from here) is mentioned in a So You Think You Can Dance review in Entertainment Weekly. Kate Ward is a smart writer

I agree with practically everything she says in that write-up. I watched this week’s show for the first time this season and I couldn’t believe how bored I was. I had to hop around my apartment downing Sauvignon Blanc in order to entertain myself and nearly didn’t make it through the hour-long episode. No dancing is right. It was an hour of all these people sobbing at the screen (whether they made it through or not) and saying things like “It’s not just waaaa… about dance; it’s about waaaaa … so much more; it’s about life!” OH GAWD…

I also agree with her that it was rather shocking that Iveta Lukosuite got booted, and for no apparent reason. That’s what I hate so much about the audition period — you really don’t get to see what the dancers did wrong (since you really don’t see much actual dance); you just suddenly hear your favorite was knocked off. Well, if my blog stats are any indication, she was hugely popular for the time she was on the show. Not so wise of the judges to eliminate her imo…

Anyway, back to Bolle. I just feel like posting this:

I’ve been so busy with Fall For Dance and American Ballet Theater that I haven’t gotten a chance to watch any of this season’s SYTYCD. I was very happy to hear that current 10-dance champion Iveta Lukosiute made it to Vegas. (Ten-dance means she competes in all five Latin and all five Standard ballroom dances — since most couples compete in either Latin or Standard there’s a special category for those who compete in both.) I’m sure she’ll end up as a contestant on the show — she’s an excellent ballroom dancer, obviously. Above, dancing a Standard showcase with her longtime partner Gherman Mustuc.

I haven’t been watching SYTYCD this season (I don’t watch the auditions anymore), but my friend and former Latin ballroom teacher, Jacob Jason, just posted this on Facebook!!!!!

Here’s a nice video of clips from the Dancers Responding to AIDS performances, which took place during the Fire Island Dance Festival in July. Watch for Danny around the 1.43 and 3.24 marks. You can also spot Keigwin + Company (in the towels) and members of Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet (around the 1.38 and 3.11 marks), as well as others whom I didn’t recognize. Anyone recognize the classical ballet dancers? They’re good! What a gorgeous setting.

Video via SYTYCDism.

Speaking of Larry Keigwin: I’d really really really wanted to see this at the Guggenheim — his new piece set to Steve Reich’s Pulitzer-prize-winning score from 2007, Double Sextet. Unfortunately I was horribly sick with a cold-turned sinus infection-turned several days-long TAC attack and just couldn’t make it. Anyway, Keigwin and ballet choreographer Peter Quanz each created dances to the same piece of music. Their creations, which were performed by members of their dance companies, varied greatly, showing the different interpretations and approaches dance artists can take to one piece of music. In addition to the Macaulay review in the NYTimes (which I linked to above), here is fellow blogger Evan’s take (with lots of pictures).

If you missed Pasha Kovalev and Anya Garnis this weekend on WPIX, here’s the video. They talk about their own dancing, Burn the Floor, and do a fairly lengthy demo.

Here’s a CNN article that I, along with my Explore Dance editor, Robert Abrams, (among others) were interviewed for on how the dance shows on television have impacted the larger dance world, mainly ballroom.

I remember several years ago — maybe five now — sitting in another, much smaller theater on Broadway watching a Dance Times Square teacher / student showcase and nearly falling out of my chair during the all-pro part when my teacher, Pasha (Kovalev), and his partner, Anya (Garnis), danced a West Coast Swing-turned Jive to Tina Turner’s Proud Mary. They also danced a Samba and, if I remember correctly a Rumba and though I’d started lessons with him, it was the first time I saw him dance with her. It was one of those performances where you feel kind of sick afterward because you don’t have a DVD or any kind of recording and you fear you’ll never see dance like that again. I also remember thinking how they should really be on Broadway. I mean, real Broadway, like in a regular theater.

So this is, to make a massive understatement, Surreal!

Several of my friends from Dance Times Square and I went to the Longacre Theater tonight to see our friends made their Broadway debuts in Jason Gilkison’s Burn the Floor. Of course we had to go to the (insanely packed) stage door afterward.

Pasha’s about to give me a hug here I guess I repaid him by flashing my camera right in his face. Oh the endlessly annoying paparazzi…

How gorgeous is Anya?! Posing with my friend Steve and his wife, Ina.

They took over the roles of Maks Chmerkovskiy and Karina Smirnoff and of course they were radiant. I think they worked better with the show size-wise because of that small stage (which Maks was too large for — I love him, but he made it look all the more crowded up there).

If you didn’t read it, see my earlier review of the show here.

I think the dancers got used to the small floor; everything went much more smoothly. My favorite parts remain the extended Swing / Jive section that ends the first half and the two Rumbas in the second half (Peta Murgatroyd’s classic, dance-hall Rumba, and the more contemporary, sensual, half-dressed Rumba by the leads — although I noticed Pasha and Anya wore more clothes in that number than Maks & Karina did ). But … I also like the Tango- turned dual Paso Dobles in the second half. Okay, I like the whole second half (mainly devoted to Latin).

In my earlier review, I don’t think I mentioned Sasha Farber as one of the dancers who most stood out to me. He’s a character dancer, kind of like Craig Salstein, and he has a rather fun part early on during a Jive where he’s trying hard to get the girl and gets carted off, kicking madly, by two men. He’s lively, actorly, and can really move quite fast. And Murgatroyd, which I wrote about in the earlier review, captivated me again, with her long limbs and gorgeous balletic lines. I mean, I really liked everyone; it’s hard even to single people out.

Here is Peta Murgatroyd exiting the stage door, on a bike! Actually, almost all of the dancers were on them. Apparently the show’s producers or someone from the company had given them the bikes so they could get around town more easily. Peta was popular with autograph-seekers too.

Ooh, wonderful night. I miss them…

Oh and this seems to be making headlines.

The Walter Kerr Theater across the street from the Longacre is advertising the show as well. See the arrow in the sign on the right side of the street. It’s pointing across the street. It’s the first time a Broadway theater has ever advertised for another show!

Photo from fanpop.

I’m happy for her — she definitely had her moments of brilliance, and I do think overall she did the best, most original solos of the season.

The rest of the So You Think You Can Dance results were: 4th Kayla, 3rd Evan, and 2nd Brandon.

Seeing Janette dance that Doriana Sanchez disco with Brandon made me want to see her again. I do hope we see some of these dancers again, and not just on the show but out in the world. As Jonathan commented on my Pasha & Anya Burn the Floor post, it seems like season three contestants have done well on Broadway, happily. I really liked Janette and Evan, so I hope I will see the latter on Broadway as well, and perhaps the former in a travelling ballroom show?… I will try to find out what’s going on with Sabra and Cedar Lake.

I think the other star of tonight was Louis van Amstel (above image from here), with all of those routines he choreographed throughout the season — the waltz, the samba, the paso — being chosen by the judges for encore perfs. And yeah, they were all really memorable, now that I see them again. Let’s see him do a Broadway / travelling ballroom show in the near future! C’mon Louis.

I really wish they would have had other dancers / dance companies perform tonight rather than have so many encore performances. How about some Alvin Ailey, ABT or San Fran Ballet, and maybe some fun small modern dance companies like Keigwin + Company? And maybe some top ballroom dancers as well, or some more America’s Best Dance Crew winners? I loved seeing Desmond Richardson perform earlier in the season and then, bam, that was it — no more outside dance. I would think audiences would really want the chance to see what else is out there rather than see so many repeat routines, flashbacks to the dancers’ auditions and interviews, and previews of next season, right?

I know this will come as a surprise to everyone (not!), but I really agree with Mary when she commended Evan for having introduced young audiences to a dance style that was in danger of dying: good old fashion Broadway / classic MGM — Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly and all that. To me that has been the highlight of the season. To me, none of the dancers really had the sort of overall star power that Danny Tidwell, for example, had a couple of seasons ago, but Evan shone for what he excelled at. And I really believe audiences went for that — not for his cute face, as Nigel put it, or his good guy-ness, but for the way he brought that classic Broadway / Hollywood style of the ’40s and ’50s charmingly to life with character and intelligence — and with very good technique.

I don’t understand why all the judges kept harping on him. I actually thought he outshone Brandon in the Laurieann Gibson routine (at the beginning, they both jumped and his was sky high, with better lines than Brandon’s). I thought both he and Brandon did well at the more hip hop-y parts, but Evan outshone Brandon with the jumps and turns. But people will probably disagree with me on that…

And I thought he was technically better than Kayla in Tony and Melanie’s Jive. I thought her arms were way too busy. In jive your arms aren’t supposed to be swinging about wildly; your legs and mid-section are supposed to be doing the work. I feel that if you use your arms too much, it’s like your center and legs are weak — it’s like using your arms to haul your body up during sit ups or something. Outwardly you’re doing the movement pattern, but you’re not using the proper muscles. Anyway, I thought his legs were fantastic — those jive kicks had so much strength. And the lifts were spectacular — I love how they slowed them down mid-air to keep in time with the music. They almost looked like they were in slow motion. Difficult! I honestly thought that jive — and Evan’s performance in particular — was one of the best I’ve seen on the show. And how much do I love the audience chanting for him when the judges were being harsh

I do think overall, though, my favorite dance of the night was Jeanine and Brandon’s Paso Doble. What a triumph for Louis van Amstel — holy cow! Normally I don’t like non-traditional Paso music, but this (from The Matrix) worked well — can you say intense?! Great razor sharp movement for both of them, he had some gorgeous turning jumps, and what a beautiful jete into an assisted slide for her. I totally agree with Adam Shankman’s comment that the reason this worked so well is because they focused on the transitions  — the movement between the tricks — and not only the flashy things. As my former teacher, Luis, always used to say to me, the actual dancing takes place between the tricks. Nowhere was that better demonstrated than with this Paso. Kudos to everyone involved.

My other favorite moment of the night was Jeanine’s solo — by far the best of the night, I thought. That modern-y tango was so original — part Latin, part American Modern with the staccato, angular movement, the sharp stops, the isolations. And, contrary to Adam, I loved the rose stem held between her teeth. I thought it gave the dance character, and was a bit humorous to boot. And those pirouettes — totally agree with Adam there — WTF! Those were incredible! She began with a group of fouettes to give herself speed, then wound down into a combination of pirouettes that she somehow slowed to a perfect stop at the end, holding her balance after the last one ended, in perfect form. Astonishing — that was like something you’d see from Gillian Murphy and it made me think she’s been holding back all season…

But then … when she danced the Mia Michaels routine side-by-side with Kayla, I thought Kayla outshone her. I thought Kayla had greater height on her kicks and jumps, and overall more precision in her body. I think Kayla has the best modern dance technique of anyone on the show, and it really shows in the way she is able to dance with so much expansiveness, so much breadth, yet still keep such a tight form. In the group routine I found her to be the most expressive, to have the greatest range of movement in her head, neck and torso. And she’s got such stunning leg extensions. That Tyce DiOrio routine she did with Brandon — she really blew me away when she swung her right leg up, held it nearly to her ear, and then he threw her over his head in a split.

I wasn’t as in love with Brandon’s solo this week as I was last (and as the judges were), but I did love how he ended in that sudden straddle split. That is kind of his thing — making these sudden and intense lines. And his solo last week was to die for — so he’s definitely had his moments on the show.

Again, I have no idea who will win tonight. I feel that everyone has something: Kayla’s a great mover, Brandon has strength and intensity and can really blow you away at times, Jeanine excels with original solos and really brought it on this week and did something astounding, and Evan I love for bringing back Gene Kelly. Maybe Evan’s popularity on the show will lead to increased appreciation of Jerome Robbins?… Okay, I can dream