Favorite Routine: Mandy Moore's Table Jazz

Neil and Sabra's top 6 jazz routine, choreographed by Mandy Moore, clearly led our Favorite Routine poll for season 3. Kameron and Lacey's top 20 Contemporary, choreographed by Mia Michaels came in a distant second, closely followed by Hok & Jaimie's Wade Robson choreographed Hummingbird Jazz routine, and Pasha and Sara's West Coast Swing, choreographed by Benji Schwimmer and Heidi Groskreutz.

763 voters cast 1938 votes. Multiple votes were allowed, so the percentages show the percentage of voters who included each routine amongst their votes. For instance, 40% of all voters included a vote for the winner.

I think it's interesting to note that the 4 top routines came from 4 different choreographers and were performed by 8 different dancers.

Sabra & Neil's Jazz Routine
309 (40%)

Kameron & Lacey's Contemporary
240 (31%)

Hok & Jaimie's Jazz
233 (30%)

Pasha & Sara's West Coast Swing
219 (28%)

Full results and videos after the jump...
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Danny & Anya's Viennese Waltz
117 (15%)

Dominic & Sabra's Hiphop
109 (14%)

Sara & Jesus Jazz
110 (14%)

Neil & Lacey's Contemporary
100 (13%)

Danny & Lauren's Contemporary
81 (10%)

Pasha & Jessi's Stiff Jazz
71 (9%)

Dominic & Sabra's Contemporary
70 (9%)

Neil & Lauren's Contemporary
63 (8%)

Pasha & Jessi's Smooth Waltz
53 (6%)



Neil & Sabra's Table Jazz

Kameron & Lacey's Contemporary

Jaimie & Hok's Hummingbird Jazz

Sara & Pasha's West Coast Swing

Video From Last Year's Tour

Myspacer Did He Just Go Crazy and Fall Asleep has several videos posted from last season's tour. They're decent amateur quality but watchable, and unlike the show, the camera stays in one place and doesn't cut away just when things get interesting.

Wade Robson's Ramalama Bang Bang group dance




Mia Michaels' Park Bench dance with Travis & Heidi




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Travis & Heidi's Paso Doble




Donyelle & Benji's Hairspray part 1




Hairspray part 2




Ivan and Allison's Why




Heidi & Ryan's Cuban Rumba part 1




Cuban Rumba part 2




Travis and Benji's Nerd Dance




SexyBack

Spoiler Discussion

Please continue any spoiler discussion after the jump...

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Comments have been posted in open threads indicating that Lauren and Danny will be the 2 eliminations this week. I removed those comments in an effort to contain spoilage. Please feel free to continue discussing here. Thanks.

Jaimie And Danny Montages

Loralyn did it again. She found 2 great montages, beautifully edited by a fan named Andrew, uploaded by atcorporate

BuddyTV: Possible Spoiler

BuddyTV has a story titled Rumors About The Top 4, and warns that it contains possible spoilers. I stopped reading there, but you are free to be spoiled.

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It's gonna be a long 3 days.

Ticket Buying

Please use this post to report back on your ticket buying experience. Good luck!

Update

Click here for pre-sale passwords for all sites.

Thanks Clarita.

Around The Web

Spoilers avoided. Reports from the taping indicate all contestants were declared safe at the results show taping last night, at least publicly. Eliminations were taped after the audience was ushered out. I'm VERY happy they did it that way, but GMMR is digging for spoilers.
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So You Think You Can Dance gets a thumbs up from Giselle Barcia of The Harvard Crimson:

But while many people can’t afford to see a top troupe, most can afford a cheap television set to access network programming. And among the slough of sitcoms and game shows on television stands “So You Think You Can Dance,” a program that features an interesting cross-section of today’s most skilled choreographers, dancers, and styles. There are little to no performances—even less-so, television shows—that feature hip hop and waltz in the same segment; that hold krunking and the contemporary lyrical dancing to the same artistic standards, forcing dancers and viewers to value them equally. The show tests the physical bounds of the dancers, as well as intellectual bounds of the viewers, urging them to reinterpret diverse, cultural dance forms.

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Thanks for the tip, Loralyn.


Glamurno has some HQ photos of our Cat from a modeling session.

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Season 2 finalist Jaymz Tuaileyva reminds us to watch for him in High School Musical 2, August 17th on The Disney Channel.

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Benji Reviews Top 6

Benji Schwimmer with Kennedy on Reality Remix.

Poll Results

Results of our poll after the jump.

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Our poll asked: Which of the top 6 dancers will you/did you vote for? Multiple answers were allowed. 732 voters cast 1313 votes. The results:

GIRLS
Sabra
319 (43%)
Lacey
228 (31%)
Lauren
88 (12%)

GUYS
Danny
253 (34%)
Neil
243 (33%)
Pasha
182 (24%)

Clearly, Lauren is in deep trouble this week. While Pasha trailed Neil, the same was true in last week's poll, and Neil ended up in the bottom 2 with Dominic. Too close to call.

Nick Lazzarini Speaks Out

So You Think You Can Dance season 1 winner Nick Lazzarini posted some thoughts on season 3 to his Myspace blog

sytycd 3

hmmmmm....so i just watched the show all the way through and i have some mixed thoughts. mandys piece was amazing. loved it but the rest of the show choreography wise didnt impress me. neither did the other dancers besides sabra and neil. i thought sabras solo was amazing and for the first time i really thought neil looked like an artist. i was so impressed with him. what was pasha doing???? hes such an amazing ballroom dancer and he came out and did comtemporary??? random right. he needs to stick to his thing which got him this far cuz hes brilliant at it. i like lauren but come on over jaimie??? its a shame shes not still here cuz then we would have a real competition with her danny and sabra!!! that wouldve been dope. alrighty here it comes... due to popular demand im going to post my thoughts on lacey. i honestly was disgusted by her solo tonight. her dress was completely up her butt, she was touching herself every 3 seconds, she ended straddled on the floor, and looked trashy. i understand that shes a "good" performer but lets call a spade a spade the only reason shes on the show is cuz shes benjis sister. sorry its true. there are way more talented girl ballroom dancers in the world and she just happens to be from the blessed family i guess. there i said it. hate me if u want but its my opinion and everyone is entitled to it. just like last year travis should have won over benji. i understand its about americas "favorite dancer" but as a dancer i look at whos best and thats DANNY FRIGGEN TIDWELL!!! ok enough of my babble. just had to share some thoughts ttyl peeps!

Thanks to Gen for the tip.

Class With Shane

Amber at Confessions Of The Pink Obsessed took a class from Shane Sparks:

After everyone had a turn, Shane announced that it was getting late and that we couldn't get through everyone again, so he was going to ask 2 groups to come back and perform one more time and then he was going to call it a night. The first group called back was spectacular the first time around and everyone was excited to see them again. Talk about totally playing with the choreography and making it their own. Awesome!

Then there was a pause, he looked around and next thing I know... my group is headed back to the dance floor!!! No freaking way!!! I only had a second for it to register and my first thought was "O. M. G! I am going to be dancing in front of f'ing Shane Sparks with only 4 other people on the floor with me!!!" And instead of getting nervous, my next thought was "Okay, let's do this!"

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About The Judges

Entertainment Weekly's Adam B Vary is a bit grumpier than normal this week:

I'd chalk it up just to personal taste if the judges hadn't gushed over every single routine like grandmas after a grade-school band recital. They really want us to like these dancers, to the point where they'll, say, overlook Lauren awkwardly throwing down her arm to push herself up during that superdisco floor spin, or rhapsodize over Neil and Sabra's climactic ''doughnut'' drop even though Benji and Heidi pulled off the exact same move last season, and with smoother execution besides.

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Tom Dorsey with the Louisville Courier-Journal writes about the British Judge phenomenon on American reality shows. As so often seem to happen with traditional newspaper coverage of the show, he gets an easily verifiable, major fact wrong:

There was a judge named Nigel Lythgoe looking down his patrician nose at hoofers on "Dancing With the Stars." Nigel? Yes, there was a Nigel in our midst, lolling us to sleep with his cultured British accent and snippy attitude.

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Around The Web

Brett Love at TVSquad on Pasha & Lacey's Smooth Waltz:

Like many of the other waltzes we have seen this season, this one will probably most often be described as beautiful. As it should. Pasha was great leading Lacey through the dance, and this was the first time that I really got the feeling that Lacey was in the moment of the dance, and not performing for the audience. It felt like she took those criticisms to heart last week and acted on them. The only bad thing I could say about this one was that getting into their lift was a bit wonky. But that was just a tiny little moment, and it was still a very impressive move.

I agree it was beautiful, but I also, momentarily, missed Jessi.

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Nate Levy has adjusted his format a bit. It works! On Neil and Sabra's Jazz:

First up, they have a Mandy Moore 80’s Jazz power lunch dance. Can American Psycho please get referenced? No, instead Neil references The Karate Kid. That didn’t even have power lunches! The routine is fun, and does display some amazing moves from both Neil and Sabra. This may actually be one of the first times I think Neil deserves to be in the top 6.

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Daemon's TV has all the clips and iTune links.

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TVGuide has one more interview with Dominic:

TVGuide: What's your favorite memory from the show?

Dominic: I think the best memories of the show so far is when we were in Vegas. Every night after we finished dancing for 10 hours straight, it would be late at night, like 12 o'clock, and we would dance for hours, until like 3 in the morning, at this little bar/club, and it was just a bunch of dancers from all over the place. Everybody was in their own world. It was kind of like our own West Side Story. We danced for a few hours and we knew we had to wake up in like two more hours, but those were the best memories so far.

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Quick Reviews

Emily at Eclaire Fare on Danny & Lauren's Contemporary:

Mia Michaels had them dancing as aliens. I didn’t see where aliens came into it. I liked the first half, when Danny’s movements were flawless. He brought Lauren up a couple of notches. However, the second half of the routine seemed to waste a lot of time running around the stairs when they could have continued the interesting movements.

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Hanh Nguyen at From Inside The Box on Pasha & Lacey's Smooth Waltz:

I'm not that familiar with the technical aspects of ballroom, but I was gratified that the judges backed up my feeling that I had seen something beautiful, controlled and complex. Pasha, the ultimate partner, did a great job, and Lacey, who's not that skilled with ballroom, kept up with the rise and fall movement, had beautiful lines and actually projected emotion. I'm not so sure the lift was successful, but I appreciate the effort. Oh, and I was very happy in this case that the music had no lyrics to get in the way of the lyrical dance.

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Sabra & Neil's Jazz

Choreography by Mandy Moore

Thanks to Mickey Mac for the quick upload. View all the clips at Mickey World.

Nominate Your Favorite Routine

Nominate your favorite routine from season 3, either in comments or email me at blogsytycd at gmail dot com. A poll will be posted tomorrow evening. Come back and vote for your favorites.

I'll start. Danny and Anya's Viennese Waltz. Your turn.

So You Think You Can Dance - Top 6 Track List

Pasha & Lacey
In The Morning - Junior Boys

Sabra - solo
Rock Your Soul - Elisa

Danny & Lauren
Then You Look At Me - Celine Dion

Pasha - solo
Total Eclipse Of The Heart - Bonnie Tyler

Sabra & Neil
Sweet Dreams(Are Made Of These) - Eurythmics

Lauren - solo
Sorry - Maria Mena

Pasha & Lacey
A Daisy In December - Mick McAuley & Winifred Horan

Neil - solo
Out Of My Hands - Dave Matthews Band

Danny & Lauren
Don't Leave Me This Way - The Communards

Lacey - Solo
Le Disco - Shiny Toy Guns

Neil & Sabra
Espana Cani - Juan & Gennaro

Danny - solo
The Fear You Won't Fall - Joshua Radin

So You Think You Can Dance - Top 6 Voting Numbers

Sabra
888-836-7601

Pasha
888-836-7602

Lauren
888-836-7603

Neil
888-836-7604

Lacey
888-836-7605

Danny
888-836-7606

Talk About A Group Dance

Filipino prisoners re-enact Thriller.

Video Goodies

Youtube User SourSweetSoul has posted a montage of the Wade Robson choreographed solos from the top 10 show.


Youtuber rootkhy uploaded a series of same song, different dance compilations. For instance, this one shows 3 versions of You And Me, 2 Travis solos and Danny & Anya's Viennese Waltz.

More at rootkhy's youtube page. Thanks to Kelly for the tip.

Also there, our introductions to this season's top 20. It's interesting to look back to when we were all young and innocent.

From The Mailbox

Claudia sends us a link (thanks!) to photos of our Pasha and Anya from a professional ballroom event in 2005.

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Off-Topic - Calypso Tumblers

I haven't been watching America's Got Talent, but I understand the Calyso Tumblers have made quite a splash there. After seeing these videos of them at a personal appearance, I see why. Not dance, but amazing none-the-less.

Sara in TVGuide

Here's one more interview with Sara von Gillern, this time from TVGuide, and we get a juicy bit of tour news:

TVGuide.com: What's next for you?

Sara: The tour's coming up and what we're really excited about is that on the tour Dominic, Hok and I get to do a breaking routine. We get to create and showcase what we all do, so we're really excited about that.

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Sara Voting For Lacey

Penny Parker of The Rocky Mountain News talked to Sara von Gillern:

Of the six remaining finalists, VonGillern is rooting for Lacey-Mae Schwimmer, the sister of Benji Schwimmer, last season's winner.

Lacey-Mae? When did she become Lacey-Mae?

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Ashle Dawson

Ashle Dawson from season 1 dances at a recent workshop.


Thanks to Youtube user LaReinadeBaile for uploading.

Season 1 Dance-off

Ashle, Jamile, Melody, and Nick dance-off during the season 1 finale. They didn't do this for season 2.



Thanks Loralyn!

Catching Up With Saestina

We had somehow lost track of LJ blogger Saestina. She lives in the UK and has to download episodes, but she always adds interesting insights. Catch up with her show reviews at the...

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More Mary On The Soup

Mary Screaming News on The Soup

Around The Web

Dance spoilers for Wednesday's top 6 performance show.

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So You Think You Can Dance still tops BuddyTV's Fan Popularity Rankings.

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Laura K points out an AZCentral article about Scottsdale's Lauren Gottlieb and the studio where she developed her skills.

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Thanks to Swan Lake Samba Girl for mentioning Slow Dancing Films on her blog. It's an art project dance lovers will want to check out. Krump master Lil C is one of the many dancers featured.

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I've been a bit under the weather, so please excuse the briefer-than-usual descriptions.

Tour Tickets

Tour ticket prices have been published. They begin at $35 in San Diego. In Greensboro, they're priced at $35, $45, and 54.50. At Gwinnett Arena in the Atlanta area, they'll be $37.50 to 54.50. Also notable, at Gwinnett Arena there will be pre-sale available 24 hours before they go on sale to the public, and probably elsewhere. Check your local Ticketmaster for details in your area.

Last Year's Top 12

As we seem to be experiencing some season 2 nostalgia, here's the top 12 group dance.

Musa Freestylin'

Season 2's Musa Cooper Freestylin' at a workshop.

Missing Sara

Weeks without Sara means shorter posts from Leee at T!YBE. Fortunately for us, she'll be back for the finale in a week.

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Interview With Sara

Daemon's TV drops the other shoe with Sara's interview:

D: What would you like your fans to tell you when they see you on the street?

S: Just that, hopefully for the girls, that they’re inspired to a be little bit stronger because I think a lot of time in the hip hop world the video girls wear the revealing clothes and dance around, just sexual objects. What I do is more a strength and shows that woman can be powerful too. Hopefully, it inspires them to dance and be themselves.

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If you missed it, Daemon's interview with Dominic is here.

Is There Culture In Pop Culture?

Teacher Erica Jacobs, writing for the Atlanta Examiner, uses Mia Michaels' piece and Brett Love's TVSquad recap from last week to explore current cultural standards:

This past week’s episode of “SYTYCD” and the blog buzz surrounding it made me think about how young people judge dance and choreography. Is it a purely emotional response, or is it based on the artist’s technical skill? Do they think about the intention behind what they see or judge it merely on execution?

According to the Web blog “TV Squad” and those who read and comment on Brett Love’s analyses of each SYTYCD, all the above criteria are in play as our youth watch television.

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Tranji Are Dorktastic

From last year's final performance show, Travis and Benji. I had forgotten that it was Brian Friedman who coined the term dorktastic.

No Results Show This Week

Due to football programming on Fox Thursday night, the top 6 results show will not air until Monday, August 13th. We'll take a day off, then have the 2 hour final performance show on Wednesday, the 15th. The 2 hour season finale will air on Thursday, Aug. 16th.

I hope this week's eliminations will be taped privately, as I would prefer not to have to tiptoe around spoilers for 4 days

Around The Web

Poppy Cedes has a girl crush on Sara von Gillern and posts 2 of her favorite Sara performances. I would have included her dance with Pasha and at least one of her performances with Jesus.

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Mary Murphy is involved with a benefit for San Diego's Malashock Dance Company. See if you can spot the glaring factual error in this Union-Tribune article. Is this why newspapers are losing readers?

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From The Mailbox

Our friend Gen found found this video of Lauren Gottlieb at a Monsters of Hiphop function last year.


Kristin found another video interview with Sara and Dominic, this one from Yahoo's Buzz Session.


Thanks for the tips!