SYTYCD News Roundup

Shane at the Orange Bowl. Shane Sparks will be choreographing a piece to be performed at halftime of the Orange Bowl football game on Thursday, Jan. 3rd.

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Ashlee Nino is working. As noted on her Myspace blog, season 2 finalist Ashlee Nino, aka Lady Shiva, is performing with Miley Cyrus on the phenomenally successful Hannah Montana tour.

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Hugh meets Dan. Hugh Grant worked with Dan Karaty while filming Music And Lyrics. Apparently, Hugh doesn't think he can dance:

“Dancing was really hell, because you either have it or you don’t. I emphatically don’t! They got this brilliant choreographer, who does all those top girls, Britney (Spears) and Christina (Aguilera) and everyone. He (Dan Karaty) and I stood facing each other in a cold dance studio.

“Dan said, ‘Okay, I’m going to put the music on and just express yourself.’ He put the music on—and I just stood still for half an hour (laughter)! In the end, I say this jokingly but it’s actually true, I had to resort to alcohol and drugs to get me through all that! But, who dances when they’re not drunk? No one!”

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His mother must be proud. Bryan Kristopowitz at 411Mania.com lists So You Think You Can Dance as the worst TV show of 2007:

There's actually a show worse than American Idol, and its the Dance show that comes on the week after Idol ends. The audition shows here are worse than the Idol audition shows, the judges are lower than slime (Shane Sparks is one of the worst human beings I've ever seen on television), and the choreographers who create the dances for the contestants are pretentious douchebags. I hope that Sex guy came back during the open audition, and I hope that he keeps coming back year after year after year. The judges always whine about how most of the people auditioning can't dance and are wasting the judges' time. Please. You are being paid to sit there and watch everyone who shows up, and for the love of God you freaking asked these people to come. God I hate this show.

Bryan's second worst show of 2007? American Idol Gives Back, which raised nearly 80 million dollars to alleviate poverty in the US and Africa. What a wonderful human being he must be.

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The CBC gets it. CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) lists So You Think You Can Dance amongst it's 100 favorite pop culture moments of 2007. I'm a bit confused about which season they're referring to:

The second season of SYTYCD had better dancers, better music and more crowd-pleasing drama. This electrifying and thoroughly good-hearted series presents the very best face of reality television.

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Likely choice. Here's my pick for the song we're most likely to see used during season 4. Róisín Murphy's Let Me Know. We know Wade Robson loves Róisín Murphy's music, and the disco beat of this song makes it attractive to other choreographers as well.

Allison at NYCDA Boston

Season 2 favorite Allison Holker performing at the NYCDA Boston showcase. Stick around and see more from Taja Riley.

Aussies Can Dance

Choreographer Michael Kidd Dies

The Hollywood Reporter is reporting the passing of Tony and Oscar winning choreographer Michael Kidd:

Choreographer Michael Kidd, whose joyously athletic dances for ballet, Broadway and Hollywood delighted audiences for half a century and won him five Tonys and an Oscar, has died.

Kidd's nephew, Robert Greenwald, told the New York Times that Kidd died Sunday night at his Los Angeles home of cancer. Kidd's age is often listed as 88, but Greenwald told the Times that his uncle actually was 92.

To moviegoers, Kidd was known for 1954's "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers," in which a bunch of earthy backwoodsmen (some of them really stage dancers) prance exuberantly with their prospective brides.

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If today's choreographers are standing on the shoulders of giants, Michael Kidd is one of those giants. Here's Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse in 1953's The Band Wagon.

The Nutcracker

American Idol blogger Rickey attended last night's production of The Nutcracker featuring Danny Tidwell, Rasta Thomas, and Carrie Imler. His report includes photos and a bit of video.

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The recipients of the 2 Nutcracker tickets auctioned here to benefit DRA (high bidder was Andrew G, who passed them on to a service organization in SoCal) met Danny after the show:

We had a really great time. It was a bit confusing after the show but we ended up at the Cast Party for a bit where we were able to meet Danny. He was very sweet. We stayed for a bit until a woman told us we weren't able to stick around since we weren't on the cast party list which was all good. We had a great time! The show was fantastic and of course Danny was amazing. He was only in it briefly though. Nonetheless, it was great!

Here are the 2 pictures I managed to take!