perky Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 Last night they had a pas de deux en pointe for the first time. It was Romeo and Juliet choreographed by Los Angeles Ballet AD (and Colleen Neary's husband) Thordal Christensen for cotestants Ade and Melissa. It was a sweet and simple approach to the R&J pas de deux as apposed to the intense, throw me around choreography you sometimes see, so I like it. Ade is not classically trained so he looked unfortunate in his lines although his characterization was lovely. Melissa was fluid and looked so darn happy to be dancing in her pointe shoes! Nigel Lithgoe went on and on about how awesome his show is for showcasing classical ballet amidst the hip hop, comtemporary and ballroom. I expected him to sprout wings at any moment and have a choir of angels singing Alleluia while a beam of heavenly light shined down upon his smug face. Thank you Nigel for having ballet on your program tonight but it's not the first time it's ever been done. I disliked the Caitlyn/Jason alien wants to get it on with human man piece. Caitlyn is about as domineering and scary as a Care Bear. Really like Janette/Brandon. Hope they go far. Link to comment
Dale Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 Ade is a wonderful dancer, but not a ballet dancer. I thought he did well in the partnering parts and I excused him for thing like not pointing his toes (one of the judges did the same). I found it ironic that the show always downplays any dancer who has ballet training (I think they feel that America isn't ready or accepting of ballet), yet then basically was over the moon when it was performed. Mia Michaels said that ballet is the ultimate form of dance and praised the fact that there can be no cheating in ballet because technique is so exposed. Hey, if it gets some people to watch performances of the nearest ballet company - I'm all for it. Link to comment
dirac Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 I've never seen this show, so I appreciate the reviews. Thanks for posting the topic, perky. Any other thoughts? Link to comment
perky Posted July 2, 2009 Author Share Posted July 2, 2009 I think I read somewhere that Desmond Richardson is dancing in the show tonight as a guest artist. I'm not a fan of Caitlyn. I think her nerves affect her dancing and she comes off as remote and disconnected. She has however been ballet trained and does have a gorgeous high demi-point. Phillip Cheeb is a popper-locker type hip-hop dancer. He does things with his body I have never seen any other human being do. He is struggling a bit with other styles of dance. He did a really horrible Argentine Tango a few weeks ago and was slammed by the judges for doing a so-so Broadway routine last week. I actually thought he was quite good in the Broadway. Evan and Randi danced a Bob Fosse homage (rip-off) to Rich Man's Frug last night. Those two are too short and stocky to pull off choreography like that. Randi in particular had trouble getting that slinky ennui needed for the dance. Janette and Brandon danced a Cha-Cha-Cha with tremendous energy, zest and spice. I just love her. So far she has mastered Foxtrot, Disco, and Hip-Hop like she was born dancing those styles. Pretty impressive for a Salsa dancer. Kayla and Kupono are both good dancers but they leave me cold. I think I prefer a less technically perfect dancer who overcomes their shortcomings and grows rather than a superb technically clean dancer who doesn't make me feel anything. Link to comment
balletmor Posted July 9, 2009 Share Posted July 9, 2009 If I just heard correctly, SDYTYCD just announced an ABT performance of R&J next week!!!!!!!!! Did anyone else hear it>> Link to comment
Batsuchan Posted July 9, 2009 Share Posted July 9, 2009 Me three!! Is there ANY chance that we'll get to see any ABT dancers perform on the show as guests?? If so, I might just die!!! (Oh dear, that sounded awfully like Mary Murphy; my apologies.) Link to comment
balletmor Posted July 9, 2009 Share Posted July 9, 2009 I think They will be invited to be special guests on the..... TAMALE TRAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Link to comment
angelica Posted July 9, 2009 Share Posted July 9, 2009 I think They will be invited to be special guests on the..... TAMALE TRAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh dear, I feel so ignorant. What is SDYTYCD? And what is Tamale Train? Thanks for any insight you can give me. angelica Link to comment
angelica Posted July 9, 2009 Share Posted July 9, 2009 I think They will be invited to be special guests on the..... TAMALE TRAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh dear, I feel so ignorant. What is SDYTYCD? And what is Tamale Train? Thanks for any insight you can give me. angelica Okay, guys, I just googled "Tamale Train" and I got it! I think I'm the only person in the world who doesn't watch SYTYCD! angelica Link to comment
balletmor Posted July 9, 2009 Share Posted July 9, 2009 i really ONLY love Classical Ballet, but started watching SYTYCD when Danny (Tidwell) was on it and this year when Alex Wong was so wrongly turned away! Link to comment
Batsuchan Posted July 9, 2009 Share Posted July 9, 2009 i really ONLY love Classical Ballet, but started watching SYTYCD when Danny (Tidwell) was on it and this year when Alex Wong was so wrongly turned away! So true! So sad to see Alex leave! It's nice to see classical ballet represented on the show, but all through Melissa and Ade's take on 'Romeo & Juliet' last week, I could only think, "if only they could get ABT dancers to show them how it's REALLY done"! It seems like many of the girls on the show this season have had extensive ballet training. For example, although Kayla claims contemporary/jazz as her style, she's definitely done a lot of ballet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQMJQHXm_ko Ok, and now I've veered well off-topic (sorry!)...so I'll say that Diana and Marcelo have first class tickets on my hot tamale train!! Link to comment
balletnoodle Posted July 9, 2009 Share Posted July 9, 2009 If I just heard correctly, SDYTYCD just announced an ABT performance of R&J next week!!!!!!!!! Did anyone else hear it>> I heard it too. But I think what he meant was ABT will dance R&J in L.A. next week, not on the show of SYTYCD. ABT's LA R&J performances from 07/16-07/19 had been announced long time ago. Link to comment
bart Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 Here are some YouTube videos of Wong on the show, as posted on The Winger: http://thewinger.com/2009/so-you-think-you-can-dance-3/ I've also posted a couple of clips of Wong with Jeremy Cox, on the "Jeremy Cox" thread: http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.p...mp;#entry252144 Link to comment
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