SYTYCD Top 14. All Mia, all the time.

August 17, 2012 in off-color commentary by ahow628 | 10 comments

Apologies on the late post. I’ve been properly reprimanded, so I hope I learn my lesson. Anyway, let’s get on with it.

I was hoping that what I heard as a rumor was NOT going to be true. Unfortunately, it was made clear very quickly that it was absolutely true: The entire show was made up of Mia Michaels routines. Now I don’t straight-up hate Mia like I do with Tyce, but I still feel like her main goal in creating a routine is to just manipulate everyone emotionally. I mean, if you want to make a routine that has a touching story, that is fine. But Mia puts the whole “dancing” thing in the back seat. But what the fuck do I know – Mia’s won three
Emmys and I’ve won aproximately zero. In any case, all the routines will be Mia classics.

Guest judges are a couple of ballet dudes. No idea why they are there since they don’t watch the show.

Also, an announcement: Tabitha and Napoleon had their baby so maybe we can get some good routines out of them soon.

The opening group routine was really cool. Look at me eating my words – that dancing and hanging from the rope thing was pretty badass. It does remind me of that rope swinging routine from last year. It had huge potential but was pretty bland. Pretty disappointing. This one was actually really nicely done.

Starting off is Cyrus and Eliana doing the Twitch/Katee door routine. I thought Eliana did a great job, right up there with Katee. Cyrus had some pretty good attitude and his mohawk added a lot to the attitude, but you can just see why Twitch is probably one of the top 10 dancers to come out of this show. Cyrus just was not anywhere close to Twitch’s level of intensity and quality of dancing. That being said, I have a feeling there will be a lot of “that was good, but not as good as the original” in tonight’s performances.

Tiffany and George are doing a Joshua/Katee routine.

Before we get to the performance, can we just talk about how Wade Robson jumped the shark? He busted out with that Ramalama Bang Bang zombie routine and then every routine after that was nearly the same music with the same choreography. Finally, SYTYCD dumped him as a choreographer. Thank god.

Anyway, back to the performance. I’m going to be honest, I don’t remember the original of this routine. I will say that Joshua’s contemporary routines were never my favorites and I thought George did a better contemporary than Joshua, as well he should. Overall, I thought both of them did a great job.

Will and Amelia are doing the Evan and Randi “Butt Dance.” We’ll see how raunchy Will can be with Amelia’s butt. I’m having my doubts. Needless to say, that was very disappointing. I didn’t much care for Evan and thought he was on the show for far too long, but he really camped it up. Amelia didn’t have quite the butt that Randi did. Overall, meh.

Dareian and Janelle have some big shoes to as they do the Twitch and Carrington bed routine. I’ve got high hopes for this one since I feel like Dareian and Janelle can pull this off. They did a fantastic job. Also, I figured out more about that routine. I didn’t know that it was about a break up and that they never actually touch. I really watched that routine with a new perspective.

Audrey and Cross-Eyed Ryan Gosling are doing the Lacy and Neil flower routine. I know it is about her father and all, but I never cared much for this routine. Prediction: a bunch of standing ovation. Well, my feelings on this one having changed – the back story far overshadowed any choreography, which was mostly mediocre. Definite didn’t have the same emotional impact that it did the first time around.

Witney and Chehon are doing the bench dance by Travis and Heidi. I really liked Travis’s emotional depth in the original and I don’t think Chehon quite matched it. However, I thought Chehon danced it far better than Travis. Witney did a fine job and did Heidi proud. Really great work.

Cole and Lindsay are doing the Kayla and Kupono addiction dance. I really didn’t like Kayla at all and didn’t really care one way or the other about Kupono. On the other hand, I really like Cole and Lindsay doesn’t bother me. That made this routine so much better. Lindsay conveyed a ton of emotion and Cole is just always in control of everything. Really turned me around on this routine.

So now we are going to find out who the bottom three boys and bottom three girls are. Then the judges will only save 2 of the 6, so we are short-cutting straight to a top 10.

Boys: George, Dareian, and CERG. Girls: Amelia, Janelle, and Lindsay. None of the guys are a surprise, but I’m actually very surprised Lindsay is in there. Makes sense then that the judges save Lindsay. Janelle might be the biggest letdown of the season. For the guys, they save George. He is definitely the best dancer of the bottom three guys, but he just doesn’t connect with anyone, I don’t think. I’m going to continue to blame it on the mustache. The only way it would be worse is if we found out he drove a pedo van.

So we are down to the Top 10. Anyone surprising there that you never thought would make it this far? Any revised picks for a winner? Let me know any other thoughts in the comments!

Related posts:?

  1. SYTYCD Finale. Holly cost.
  2. SYTYCD Top 10. Human Millipede.
  3. SYTYCD Top 16. Broken TV.
  4. SYTYCD Top 6. Christopher Scott: Point/Counterpoint.
  5. SYTYCD Top 20. Step up – MOVIE PLUG!

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  • Em

    Thank you so much for posting with all the videos! I no longer have DVR, and I knew I could count on you to be able to rewatch my favorite parts. Thanks for the recap too. Unlike you, I love Mia Michaels and don’t mind being emotionally manipulated when her choreography is involved. You and I are so in-tune when it comes to Tyce though.

    I thought everyone did pretty well, some were fantastic (Bench, Addiction). The exceptions were Amelia and Cyrus – who unfortunately can’t compete with Twitch.

    I thought it was kind of weird that the guest judges had never watched the show before and admitted it to us all. Although it was nice that they couldn’t compare the dancing to the previous performances.

  • http://twitter.com/bethanyelarson Bethany Larson

    Ugghhhh this show. I mostly dislike the dancers in this season. I mostly hated the idea to do an entire episode of Mia pieces. I mean, I like Mia Michaels as a choreographer. Yes, she’s emotionally manipulative, but she’s also brilliant at choreography and movement. And I totally understand the reasoning behind why Nigel wanted the dancers to dance already established choreography, but.

    BUT. This has never been done on the show before and I don’t think it’s fair to take routines that are VERY FAMOUS from this show and make new dancers dance them when the format of the show is that the dancers perform new choreography every week. It wasn’t fair to the audience. I mean, how many people watching this show have the capacity to separate these performances from the original? It’s like cover bands—they can do a really great job, sometimes improve the song, but it’s never going to be the original. Ever. And if the judges on the show keep comparing the dances, then the audience sure as shit will too.

    Anyway. I’m sad Janelle is gone. I loved her. I want Lindsay and her lifeless limbs to disappear. And WHY THE FUCK is Cyrus still around?

    Gahhhhh.

  • http://twitter.com/phouse1964 Patty Housel

    Before I add my vote to the general failure of this episode, I have to say that I actually DO think the whole show of Mia was a good idea in general for two reasons. 1) 14 dancers got to work with Mia. And she is NOT easy. Everyone who works with her grows as a dancer. and 2) Nigel was right (in case you skipped over the commentary likfor I know most of you do) in that most dancers will never have anything choreographed FOR them. They will always be stepping into a piece created for or made famous by someone else.

    That said, some dancers did better than others. (OMG Cole) and some were not so good (poor Matthew). Not sure if some dancers where just intimidated by the task at hand or if this was a great way to weed out people that wouldn’t be able to cut it in the top 10.
    I was sad to see Darien and Amelia got. But we’ll see how the Top 10 does with All Stars – I can’t wait!

  • http://twitter.com/phouse1964 Patty Housel

    Oh, and those two ballet dudes are part of a new Nigel reality show on Ovation? I think. I caught it today. How many shows is Nigel involved in now? 12?

  • http://twitter.com/ahow628 ahow628

    I thought this episode was the perfect one to have judges who had never seen the show before because they COULD disconnect themselves from the prior performances because, duh, they hadn’t seen them.

  • http://twitter.com/ahow628 ahow628

    A little about me: It doesn’t really matter how much I want or need to do something, as soon as someone tries to force me to do it, I rebel. I will do the exact opposite. That is why Mia and I don’t get along well. She wants you to feel a certain way and I reject her forcing emotions on me.

    That being said, yes, she is a good choreographer, I just wish she would let the dancing stand on its own instead of trying to add a cloying amount of emotion to it.

  • http://twitter.com/ahow628 ahow628

    It was hilarious when the ballet guys almost vomited all over the judges table when they saw Dareian’s feet.

  • http://twitter.com/ahow628 ahow628

    Oh, also re: Cyrus – there is one every season. Philip, Evan, Tadd. They go home much later than they should.

  • Sarah

    The entire episode, I kept thinking, “I wonder what it would take in my life to just be so ‘myself’ that I would wear enourmous animal print sweat pants on TV”. It was a compliment to Mia, I do like her edgy style most of the time, but I agree that she can be over the top. I miss Adam Shankman, who can also be over the top, but for the most part is pretty down to earth. I agree with Bethany that I mostly don’t care about any of the dancers this season. I think Eliana is my favorite, but (and I think I have said this before, so sorry for the repeat), but I still remember last year’s auditions, loving Melanie and rooting for her all the way to victory. I think maybe she has ruined me for all future SYTYCDers, haha.
    One thing I’ve always disliked about past seasons was when the judges gushed and gushed about how well the all-stars did on a particular routine, when the contestant is standing there like “um, I’m the one being voted on, thanks”–the judges were like giddy parents or dance teachers, wanting to ride the swell of pride of their former greats instead of focusing on their current dancers. We haven’t had that this year, which is great by me, so this episode felt a little like that–where the judges were reminiscing about their favorite people and routines and comparing them to the current, and the current dancers just didn’t stack up. I mean, the ‘father’ dance, Mary mentioned that at the original time, they’d gotten a medical diagnosis about her own dad and so it had touched her. How are the current dancers supposed to compete with that? “Well, sorry, but that situation has been somewhat resolved in my life, therefore your dancing just wasn’t as compelling.” Um…okay!
    But I also agree with Patty that Nigel is right in that dancers do have to take on routines that others have done before them (and better!). I just felt like that was an afterthought, like a “Oh, well…HERE is why you should respect this idea we want to do so much”, not the actual reason for doing an all-Mia, all the time routine. Because if the “step in to others choreo” idea was the main point, they would have had the dancers do routines from all kinds of choreographers in the past. Mia has always had some sort of hold on SYTYCD, and usually the rocky details are kept quiet. She’s probably making a big comeback or something.

  • http://twitter.com/ahow628 ahow628

    I had noticed that Mia was pretty much gone from the last season (maybe two) of SYTYCD. I think she may have done a group routine occasionally, but that was about it.

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