The popular DanceSport newspaper / website, Dance Beat, now has a web show called “After Hours.” Watch the first, free, installment here, focusing on a recent American Smooth competition, and hosted by Shirley Ballas (for Dancing with the Stars fans, that’s Mark Ballas’s mother). Included is an interesting interview with outgoing champs in that style, J.T. Thomas and Tomas Mielnicki (she’s pregnant, who knew!), along with some lovely footage of their dancing.
BALLROOM VIDEO FROM VAIL IS UP
The Vail International Dance Festival website has finally posted a video of the festival’s ballroom night, Ballroom’s Best. I’d been waiting for this. There are interviews with the spectacular International exhibition champions Hanna Karttunen and Victor DaSilva (from South Africa; you might remember DaSilva from that TV show Superstars of Dance) and the sweet American Smooth champs J.T. Thomas and Tomas Mielnicki. For those of you who follow ballroom, there’s a bit of footage of American Rhythm champs Jose DeCamps and Joanna Zacharewicz in there too.
Sir Alastair did not so much like this show when he saw it.
SOME FAVORITES FROM VAIL
Wow, there are a lot of video clips up of the many many companies and dancers that performed at this year’s Vail International Dance Festival. Here are some of my faves:
Dance Brazil in a modern / capoeira combo, Luna:
Daniel Ulbricht and Misa Kuranaga doing a Corsaire pdd:
Sofiane Sylve and Simon Ball in Forsythe’s In the Middle Somewhat Elevated:
Wendy Whelan and Edwaard Liang (dancing with Morphoses) in Forsythe’s Slingerland pdd:
Matthew Rushing in Ailey’s beautifully bluesy Reflections in D:
Linda Celeste Sims rehearsing Ailey’s classic Cry:
Gillian Murphy and Ethan Stiefel’s Black Swan pdd:
Tyler Angle and Tiler Peck in the pdd from Wheeldon’s Mercurial Manoeuvers:
Some Lindy Hop with Naomi Uyama and Todd Yannacone:
And some Argentine Tango by Natalia Hills and Gabriel Misse:
There are many more vids and photos though, so visit the festival’s blog. I don’t see any up yet of the Ballroom evening — Hanna Karttunen and Victor DaSilva and J.T. Thomas and Tomas Mielnicki, et al. Hoping to see some of those soon. Excellent blog though, letting peeps who couldn’t be there in on what all went on. And splendidly diverse festival!
SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE, SEASON 5, WEEK 2
Wow, hip hopper Phillip got a lot of applause during the opening solos. Did you guys notice that too?
Guest judge tonight is hip hop choreographer Lil C.
We get to know the dancers more. Evan says his partner Randi has a dog who she treats as a human, talking to him on the phone, etc. Brandi says Evan is an amateur mechanic who built his own car. They’re doing Jive this week, Louis van Amstel choreographing. So, wait, is this a “fun” routine you guys?! How many times did they say that word! It WAS fun. That leap frog he did over her! Those continuous pivot turns (those are hard, they’re hard to do without looking stiff and awkward since you’re so close to your partner but are trying to look free), the jive kicks, that fun lift at the end. They were really having fun out there. And she has a great Latin body. They didn’t really look like a polished pro Latin couple, but, they still did damn good, especially considering they are a Broadway and contemporary dancer. Nigel and Mary are disappointed; I disagree with them.
Ade says Melissa has a sister who’s married to her brother’s something or rather — complicated, slightly incestuous-sounding family situation; Melissa tries to pronounce Ade’s full African name — four words long, the first about 12 letters. He pronounces it in full, then says, see, that’s why I go by Ade. They’re dancing a contemporary routine by Sonya. Well, that was interesting choreographically — it was kind of sexually aggressive, a bit robotic, impish as Cat Deeley said. It had a lot of intricate lifts, a lot of angular movement. What I actually liked about it was how differently they did on some of the side by side moves. There was one point where they both did a simultaneous jump, unconnected, and another where they lay down on their backs and lifted their legs in the air, making interesting shapes, and on both his feet were flexed and hers pointed. I just thought that was so interesting — his movements were more African-looking and hers ballet. It was really a beautiful distinction, I thought.
Caitlin says Jason has an obsession with Michael Jackson, and we see videos of him as a child doing Moonwalks — adorable! Jason says Caitlin does baby voices and has a scream like nails on a chalkboard. They have a hip hop routine
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