Stephen "tWitch" Boss didn't make it to the season 3 top 20, but his Las Vegas freestyle solo won him enough fans that he now has a fanthread at IdolForums. He was also the one who advised Dominic Sandoval (D'Trix) in New York that the Las Vegas auditions would be too intense to spend any time partying. tWitch has previously been a semi-finalist on MTV's The Wade Robson Project, and has appeared on StarSearch. He has several videos at his youtube page.
Here he is, freestylin' in someone's apartment.
Saturday, June 9, 2007
Stephen Boss: tWitch
More On Shauna Noland
The Santa Cruz Sentinel comes through with a piece about season 3 finalist Shauna Noland.
LINK
Jessi Peralta
Jessi Peralta's baby oil audition in New York didn't do much for us, but we had forgotten that she came seeking an honest opinion and the brutal truth, something we admire. We rather enjoyed her "knocks me out" solo in Las Vegas.
Blogroll
Thatgirlnicole at OnMilwaukee.com makes some worthy observations about the top 20.
I have always been in awe of people who are passionate about a career in the arts. Whether a person can sing, act, paint, sculpt, sew, play, dance or anything else artistic I think...wow I wish I had that talent. I think it is amazing beyond words when people, sometimes at a very young age just know that they want to do something, and then go for it. All of us have heard a artist who said that they always knew they wanted to do something, or took lessons from the age of 2, or someone gave them a part of their craft at a young age, or they saw someone else do their skill and instantly fell in love. I wish I was blessed in that way, but since I wasnt I applaud others who do have that passion and go for it.
MORE
Rick at Idol Chatter takes notes during So You Think You Can Dance.
Seriously, I am more than mildly obsessed with this show (I take notes people), and as they flashed us the finalists at the end I kept saying, "and another person we've never seen before." We're supposed to vote for these people next week and we have No. Earthly. Idea. Who. They. Are.
More
Finalist Sabra Johnson
It has been difficult to find any information on season 3 finalist Sabra Johnson. We had not seen her before she was named to the top 20 Thursday night, and even then we weren't given a name to go with the face, until the end of the show.
The Fox station in Boise gives us some background on their hometown girl.
LINK
Lacey Schwimmer Stuff
Here's Lacey dancing with Benji at the Reno Dance Sensation '07.
You can purchase the full show here.
The USA Swing Network has a page dedicated to Lacey with links to pics and videos.
Friday, June 8, 2007
Finalist Shauna Noland
We don't know much about finalist Shauna Noland yet. Her bio says she's been dancing for 15 years. It shows. She's no joke.
Atlantans Got Hosed
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Idol blogger, Rodney Ho, says Atlantans got hosed in the top 20, and he doesn't mean it in the good way.
LINK
Curly Sue, and a Rain Pryor Look-a-like
Like us, Duckyxdale is happy to finally know the top 20. He has the official pics and an entertaining recap
LINK
Snarkolepsy
Got a couple of fun ones for ya. First, Fox News does a reality check.
Say what you will about "So You Think You Can Dance" — call it an "American Idol" rip-off or "Dancing Without the Stars" if need be — but you have to admit that it's got one thing a lot of the other reality shows lack: across-the-board talent.
MORE
EW's Adam B. Vary gives a quick rundown on each of the 20, and critiques Nigel too.
Yet again, Nigel was fast and loose with the editing, always favoring the juicy story over just letting us watch the frickin' dancing. Yes, Faina Savich fainted after her final solo routine, but did we need to get all twitterpated over a run-of-the-mill case of dehydration? Even the medical staff didn't seem too worried about her condition. And though I agree with Nigel that Janet Bombard's spirit and story are tear-worthy, the cynic in me began to wonder if we were only seeing more of Janet because Nigel wanted to show off his softer side.
MORE
Q&A With Jesus "Chuy" Solorio
We're still not sure if we're supposed to call him Jesus or Chuy, but either way, he's been growing on us. He grew up doing paso dobles in Paso Robles (oh yeah, like you wouldn't have written that if you had the chance), and making a barrel or two of zinfandel along the way. We're not sure how old this Q&A is, but we found it worth sharing. It starts about 1/4th of the way down the page.
LINK
Rumor Confirmation
From Sabrina Rojas Weiss at TVGuide, confirmation that Claire Calloway, sidelined during season 2 auditions with a foot injury, did not return for season 3 due to having a baby. That and more here
Cedric Gardner
Season 3 finalist Cedric Gardner was characterized as being an outstanding solo dancer with weak partnering skills. I found a little more background on him here, about halfway down the page. He's 23, and grew up in Milwaukee.
Top 20 Show Critique
Brett Love at TVSquad is a little frustrated with how this season's top 20 was presented to us. We feel ya.
LINK
Missing In Action
Obviously, they aren't in the top 20, but some fan favorites we were told would be in Las Vegas were never seen, at least not by me. Did anyone spot Houston popper Phillip Chbeeb? Clogger Brandon Norris? The comedy, uh, dance team of Kurt Myers and Dia Beck?
Names And Bios
JustJared has the full names, bios, and pics of all the season 3 top 20.
LINK
GirlsTalkinSmack has the individual pics.
LINK
Finalist Ashlee Langas
Season 3 Finalist Ashlee is Ashlee Langas from Tyler, Tx. Her hometown paper did a story on her.
LINK
Thursday, June 7, 2007
It's Hok, Not Hawk
I guess it's official. At the end of tonight's show, he was listed as Hok. Congratulations to him for making the top 20.
Finalist Neil Haskell
Thanks to emailer we learn Neil is Neil Haskell. He has Broadway experience. More here.
2005 American Dance Awards Male Dancer of the year.
Season 3 Top 20 As It Happens
You'll have to refresh as the show goes on.
MEN
1 Danny Tidwell
2 Dominic "D'Trix" Sandoval
3 Cedric Gardner
4 Ricky Palomino
5 Pasha Kovalev
6 Kameron Bink
7 Neil Haskell
8 Jesus "Chuy" Solario
9 Hok Konishi
10 Jimmy Arguello
WOMEN
1 Ashlee Langus
2 Jaimie Goodwin
3 Sabra Johnson
4 Anya Garnis
5 Faina Savich
6 Lauren "Misha" Gottlieb
7 Sara Van Gillern
8 Shauna Noland
9 Jessi Peralta
10 Lacey Schwimmer
ELIMINATED
Olivia Usey
Collette Williams
Anthony Bryant
Kaelyn Gray
Kevin Hunt
Janet Bombard
Heather Shore
Caitlin Cucchiara
NOTES
Jesus "Chuy" Solorio is seen in top 50 solo.
Faina Savich is featured in solo and gets evil eye from Mia.
Olivia whines after being eliminated.
No sign of Phillip Chbeeb or Brandon Norris in top 34.
Danny Tidwell finally introduced at about 15 minutes in, gets flack from Mia and Shane. "Vibe is whack". Danny: "Sure, I'll be in your competition". He's in. Shane: "He will be a problem".
Janet Bombard: "You have to seize the day". She's eliminated.
Hawk up in next segment.
Ricky Palomino up next.
Nigel to Ricky: "I find you a little strange". Mia: "You are awesome" "I'm strange too". He's in.
Anya and Pasha up next. Anya:"America, here I come" Pasha's in too.
Faina's up next. Faina's in, 2nd ballroom female in a row.
Lauren Gottlieb up next. Nigel: "There is no question you are a brilliant dancer". She's in.
Female breaker Sarah Van Gillem up next. She's in.
Jessi Peralta and Lacey Schwimmer hyped for next segment.
Jessi's In. Caitlin's out. Lacey up next.
Some confusion. We're one over on girls, one under on guys.
It's Hawk or Twitch. Hawk's in, Twitch is out.
It's Lacey Schwimmer or Kristen Stein. Lacey's in.
We're one short on guys. Will correct ASAP.
Corrected.
Dancing For The Masses
The Falls Church News-Press Online has a story on the surging popularity of dance. Included in the story are season 2 finalist Ryan Rankine, season 1 finalist Snow Urbin, and choreographer/judge Mary Murphy,
LINK
Hawk Is Reader Favorite, Caitlin Close Behind
In our highly unscientific poll, we asked the question: Which season 3 hopeful would you most like to see make the top 20? Here's how you voted: break dancer Hawk Konishi came in first with 22 votes, 18 year old Caitlin Cucchiara was second with 19 votes. Third place was a surprise to us, former football player turned ballet student Myles Johnson was chosen 12 times by voters, coming in ahead of Lacey Schwimmer and Jaimie Goodwin, with 10 votes each.
There was broad support as all dancer's except two received votes. Here's the rest of the list:
Danny Tidwell 9
Anya Garnis 7
Jamal Weaver 6
Tony Velez 6
Brandon Norris 6
Pasha Kovalev 5
Faina Savich 5
Lauren Gottlieb 5
Phillip Chbeeb 5
Morgan Larson 4
Heather Zampier 3
Jessi Peralta 3
Olivia Usey 3
Jesus Solorio 3
Dominic Sandoval 3
Michael Jagger 3
Ashley Simpson 3
Kurt Myers 2
Dia Beck 2
Yesamin Gomez 2
Janet Bombard 2
Evita Arce 1
Hannah-Lee Sakakibura and Brianne Healey were also listed in the choices.
Thanks for voting!
Dance Magazine on Tidwell and Blagg
I found this piece in Dance Magazine that mentions two season 3 hopefuls, Danny Tidwell and Dallas Blagg (the gangsta ballet dancer from last night). Seems they have both danced for the Kirov Academy of Dance U.S.
LINK
Don't Let The Spoilers Spoil You
I'm seeing a lot of searches for spoilers. I know there are some out there. I've heard from some people who should know, that most of the spoiler lists they've seen are at least 50% wrong. Take it for what it's worth.
Did I ask for my own spoiler list? No, sorry, I prefer to wait. It's like Christmas morning. So shoot me.
A Couple More
Someone claiming to be Myles Johnson says we haven't seen the last of him. It's in the comments of this Duckyxdale article.
LINK
TV Addict asks:
...is it just us, or has choreographer/judge Shane Sparks - who last season seemed a little full of himself - mellowed and become a downright likeable guy?
No, it's not just you.
LINK
Who's Still In, Who's Out - Updated
STILL IN
Pasha Kovalev
Anya Garnis
Faina Savich
Jessi Peralta
Hokuto "Hawk" Konishi
Dominic "D'Trix" Sandovol
Janet Bombard
Jaimie Goodwin
Ricky Palomino
Stephen "Twitch" Boss
Kevin Hunt
Collette Williams
Kaelyn Gray
Dallas Blagg
Lacey Schwimmer
OUT
Heather Zampier
Hannah-Lee Sakakibura
Jamal Weaver
Ashley Keegan
Katie Watts
Yesamin Gomez
Michael Jagger
Eva "Evita" Arce
Anthony "Tony" Velez
Myles Johnson
Brianne Healey
Michael Pasante
UNKNOWN/UNSURE
Lauren "Misha" Gottlieb
Olivia Usey
Kurt Myers
Dia Beck
Jesus "Chuy" Solorio
Morgan Larson
Phillip "PacMan" Chbeeb
Caitlin Cucchiara
Brandon Norris
Ashley Simpson
Danny Tidwell
Clair Calloway
A few names added, and Lacey Schwimmer moved to STILL IN per reader comment. Thanks!
Don't Be Such A Needy Blogger!
I had a nightmare of Mia Michaels yelling that at me last night. One of our favorites, Adam B. Vary, mentions Mia in his recap.
LINK
A Few More
Sabrina Rojas Weiss does a good job making sense of the chaos. At the end of the piece, I think she's referring to Clair Callaway.
LINK
TWOP does too.
LINK
Saestina at LJ is OVER Olivia Usey, but recovers well enough to give us a projected top 20 roster.
LINK
2 Hours Of Show In A One Pound Bag
Brett Love at TVSquad gets it right.
After the three audition episodes that seemed to plod along, spending so much time on interviews and back stories, this episode just felt odd. It was as if they stuffed two hours of show in a one hour bag. Dancers just appeared on screen with no names or introduction, whether we had seen them before or not.
MORE
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Who's Still In, Who's Out
STILL IN
Pasha Kovalev
Anya Garnis
Faina Savich
Jessi Peralta
Hokuto "Hawk" Konishi
Dominic "D'Trix" Sandovol
Janet Bombard
Jaimie Goodwin
Ricky Palomino
Stephen "Twitch" Boss
Kevin Hunt
Collette Williams
OUT
Heather Zampier
Hannah-Lee Sakakibura
Jamal Weaver
Ashley Keegan
Katie Watts
Yesamin Gomez
Michael Jagger
Eva "Evita" Arce
Anthony "Tony" Velez
Myles Johnson
Brianne Healey
UNKNOWN
Lauren "Misha" Gottlieb
Olivia Usey
Kurt Myers
Dia Beck
Jesus "Chuy" Solorio
Lacey Schwimmer
Morgan Larson
Phillip "PacMan" Chbeeb
Caitlin Cucchiara
Brandon Norris
Ashley Simpson
Danny Tidwell
This is totally unofficial. Spelling of some of the newer names is an approximation. Feel free to send us a correction if you feel we're wrong on any count. Did anyone catch any more names of new dancers? I didn't get the last name of Dallas, the gangsta ballet guy.
Some corrections made, thanks to the folks at Idolforums.
Other TV
If Bravo's Top Chef rounds out your evening's entertainment, be sure to check Blogging Top Chef and Top Chef: They cook, We Dish. They both do a great job of covering the show and are preparing for tonight's big showdown, season 1 vs season 2. Ilan and Marcel on the same team? Sounds like trouble to me.
Top 20 Odds
If you can stand the trashy, blinking ads and ridiculous pop-ups, foxesonidol.com has an article running down the hopefuls we've seen so far on the audition shows. There's no mention of Jaimie Goodwin or Danny Tidwell, but Claire Calloway is included. She auditioned last season but was sidelined by an ankle injury.
I do have to object to one thing in the article. Jesus "Chuy" Solorio danced an athletic contemporary style in his audition, but is categorized as a street/break dancer by the author. I don't think it takes a rocket surgeon or brain scientist to figure out why.
LINK
LV Round, Cat On Leno Tonight
Fox repeats last Thursday's Atlanta audition show at 8pm ET/PT tonight. At 9pm ET/PT we get the first show from the Las Vegas round. Also, watch for Cat Deeley on the Tonight Show With Jay Leno.
Heather Zampier Feature
Remember Heather Zampier from the New York audition show? She's the one who had 2 hip surgeries yet still impressed the judges and made it to tonight's Las Vegas round. The Baltimore Sun did a story on her.
"Dancing is something that has been in me my whole life," says Zampier, who is a student of many types of dance, including modern, jazz and ballet. "I did it once and I found home."
LINK
Heidi And Benji Appearance
ATTENTION LONG ISLAND AND TRI-STATE AREA:
Heidi and Benji will be in your area tomorrow evening and Friday evening.
WCS performances with dance party and Cha Cha lesson!
7:30-8:15- beginner/intermediate Cha Cha workshop with Louis Del Prete
8:15-12:00- dance party
10:30- WCS performances by Benji and Heidi
Admission: $15 includes: lesson, hot buffet, door prizes
Cash bar
Mirelle's
170 Post Avenue
Westbury, LI
New York
_________________________________________
Friday:
WCS Workshop and party!
8:00- Swing Out of the Box (with B&H)
9:00- Syncopations You Never Thought Were Possible (with B&H)
10:00-12:00- Dance Party
Both classes are intermediate to advanced level.
Admission: $20 per workshop (meaning $40 if you attend both), $10 party
Private lessons available with Benji & Heidi
Dance party includes coffee, tea, cake, fruit & veggie platter
VFW of Deer Park
588 Long Island Avenue
Deer Park, NY
Note: The classes on Friday are intermediate to advanced level. Although B&H would love to see all of their fans, they're requesting that only experienced WCS dancers come.
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Better Late Than Never
Somehow we missed TVSquad's recap of the Atlanta audition show. Like us, they were impressed by Tony Velez:
Anthony Velez could be one to watch in the competition. His audition showed some real talent, but beyond that, you have to be impressed by his charisma and presence. The guy is a natural in front of the camera. Shane was hoping that he could do choreography, because he was very impressed. So impressed that his going on about it chased Mary and Nigel away. He then sat in for each of them, adding a very convincing Mary scream, and put Anthony through to the choreography round. There, he showed that he wasn't just a one trick pony and moved on through to Vegas.
LINK
Ratings For Last Week
Hal Boedeker with the Orlando Sentinel reports in his blog that So You Think You Can Dance did quite well. Thursday's Atlanta audition show came in fourth with over 10 million viewers, and the Wednesday LA/Chicago audition show came in ninth, with over 9 million viewers.
LINK
Top 20 Preview
Another So You Think You Can Dance blogger has a good preview of who we should watch out for this week.
Perhaps we've seen the winner dance already -- perhaps not. As is the case with American Idol, there is always the chance that a great contestant was not featured in the initial auditions. Consider, for example, that we didn't see last year's 4th place finisher Heidi until Vegas week (and only then did we see her as "Benji's cousin"), and we only saw a snippet of runner-up Travis Wall.
LINK
A Quick Look Back
As we get ready to meet the So You Think You Can Dance season 3 top 20, I thought it would be appropriate to look back a year to the time we were just getting to know the season 2 top 20. First, the girls:
The Guys:
Monday, June 4, 2007
Ballroomers Love Benji
The folks over at the All About Ballroom Dancing blog seem to love last year's So You Think You Can Dance winner, Benji Schwimmer.
I hope you've seen the TV show "So You Think You Can Dance". If you haven't, you're missing a real treat. While it doesn't focus exclusively on ballroom dancing, there's certainly enough included to entertain ballroom dancing fans, and I found a new appreciation for other styles of dancing, some I'd never even heard of before watching the show. (Anybody out there know how to 'crump'?)
They even found a couple of videos you might enjoy.
LINK
Around The Web
Thoughtworthy.com has the track list from last Wednesday's LA/Chicago audition show.
LINK
Fans of Reality TV recap the Atlanta audition show.
LINK
Someone at 411mania lets loose a rant against Shane Sparks for hatin' on the big girl on last Thursday's show. It's about 2/3rds down the page. What do you think?
LINK
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Tony Velez
I've got to show some love for Tony Velez. He's the breaker from Cleveland who's going to be Shane Sparks' best friend on the show. When he started off with the "America, respect your roots"/"It's not break dancing, it's b-boying" thing, I thought "oh no, here we go", but he was just putting us on. He has a great personality for TV and showed himself to be media savvy. I admired the way he played off Nigel's unnecessary "hook-up" baiting. He's a talented dancer, but I wouldn't be surprised if he goes beyond the dance world to make his mark.
More On The Gold Inferno
The Gold Inferno has more videos of himself and other jumpstyle dances available through his Youtube profile. Kudos to his video producer(s). The quality is much higher than most user-generated video.
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