Ellen Degeneres has hired So You Think You Can Dance choreographer Dan Karaty to whip her staff into shape to audition for America's Best Dance Crew.
Natalie Bassingthwaighte "has improved in leaps and bounds", says our friend Reality Raver.
Recently eliminated Jessica Feltman talks to BuddyTV about her time on Step It Up & Dance.
That show's host, Elizabeth Berkley, has an admirable web project called Ask-Elizabeth, intended to provide answers and information to adolescent girls. Surprisingly, there is no section devoted to choosing film projects.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
TV Dance Roundup
Friday, April 18, 2008
Step It Up & Dance News
Both BuddyTV and It Happened Last Night have recaps of last night's episode.
Two of our favorite dance bloggers watched, Tonya Plank and Maria at A Time To Dance.
I think 
we know now why Michael Silas was cast for the show, and why the judges let him survive last week's debacle. Still, I admired the way he handled the criticism from his fellow dancers ("you've got to have a thick skin in this business") and refused to turn it back on them.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Step It Up & Dance Preview With Dave Scott (Video)
Reality dance worlds collide when So You Think You Can Dance choreographer Dave Scott gets the Step It Up dancers battling.
TV Dance News Roundup
Playbill interviews Jerry Mitchell. Besides mentoring the contestants on Step It up & Dance, he is a very busy man:
Playbill.com: What will your next assignment as director-choreographer be?
JM: I am right now conceiving, choreographing and directing a new burlesque show in Las Vegas that will open around Thanksgiving called Peep Show. There'll be an announcement soon. That's the next big project for me. I'm developing, as director and choreographer, a musical based on "Mad Hot Ballroom," the documentary film. And I'm directing and choreographing a new musical called Going Hollywood, based on Kaufman and Hart's play Once in a Lifetime.. It's by David Zippel, Jonathan Sheffer and Joe Leonardo. We're actually doing a reading of that in a few weeks.
MORE
The Rocky Mountain News and the Tufts Daily try to place Step It Up in perspective in the world of TV dance.
The Herald-Sun touts So You Think You Can Dance Australia's Jason Coleman's honesty, but:
He didn't want to play the nasty judge, tearing contestants to shreds for the sake of ‘‘entertainment''.
‘‘Dancers are used to competition,'' he says. ‘‘I was one of them, I stood on that line myself.
‘‘But judges on reality shows can be unnecessarily critical.
‘‘I personally believe that Simon Cowell saying to someone, ‘Your singing is terrible, you look terrible and you have teeth like a horse' isn't going to help them become better competitors.
‘‘Reality TV doesn't have to be about manipulating and torturing people, tearing them apart.''
MORE
There's a very cool photo of Jason too.
SX profiles offed Aussie Ballroomer Henry Byalikov:
Henry entered the competition looking like the quintessential ballroom dancer – long, sleek locks, feline features and rowdy chest hair. But midway though he orchestrated his own makeover, transforming into a tanned poster boy. The long tresses were gone. Alas, so was the chest hair.
“The makeover decision was mine and mine alone,” Henry says. “Once I did it I felt more comfortable embracing the different styles and being versatile. But I think the main reason was that I’m a short-haired man at heart in a long-haired man’s body!”
MORE
Elimination spoiler alert. The two dancers eliminated from the top 6 are interviewed at TVFix. GenQ asks 20 questions, him here, and her here. The Herald-Sun gets in on the act too.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Cedric In Canada (Video)
Cedric Gardner on a panel and dancing at a dance convention somewhere in French-speaking Canada.
It's cellphone quality video, but the moves are nice.
Oh yeah, remember when Cedric said he wanted to design toys? Watch this.
Rhiannon Video
Montage-maker extraordinaire Buffmetube created a tribute to Aussie dancer Rhiannon Villareal. As far as he and I know, it's the first dedicated to a So You
Think You Can Dance Australia contestant.
Step It Up & Dance Recap And Preview (Video)
The NewNowNext guys recap episode 2 of Step It Up And Dance, and talk to Mario Lopez. I think there was only one question about America's Best Dance Crew. Guys?
Here's a preview of this week's episode.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Final 4 Revealed
Were there any surprises in the So You Think You Can Dance Australia final 4? Reality Raver has the scoop. If you want to see the performances first, SlowLorry has the videos.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Top 6 Recap
Reality Raver recaps the top 6 performance show from Australia:
With only a few weeks to go until the end of the series has Natalie Bassingthwaite finally mastered the autocue? Tonight was definitely her best night as host she looked relaxed, attempted a few jokes and had no weird eye movements.
Where the hell was Jason Gilkison? I thought Bonnie was not meant to be on the show tonight due to a family commitment.
Also what was Jason Coleman’s shirt like, for all those readers who google Jason Coleman Gay normally you would get to my previous blog here on this issue however for those who cannot be bothered to read it the answer is in the shirt.
The drawing of the couples were supposedly random - however the conspiracy theory part of me thought I bet Graeme and Vanessa are coupled together, and low and behold that was the case. I would be very surprised if either of them make the top four.
First couple of the night...
CLICK TO CONTINUE READING
Kate and Rhys danced the Rumba to a Jason Gilkison routine. It was about man in love with a woman. How many times has Rhys had to man up in this competition? More then the other dancers, but to his credit he has always done it very convincingly.
It was beautiful routine and Kate was beautiful and Rhys was a good partner.
Matt Lee said “I totally bought that you were in love,” and “Rhys each week you just step up and up and up”
Jason Coleman said “Jason Gilkison is the master of this world,”, “Kate just exquisite” and “As this competition is about versatility it shows why you two are still here.”
Bonnie Lythgoe said “It cannot be faulted from the beginning”
Tonight they appeared to mix up which judge spoke first which was the first time they had done this, and I wondered what the rationale was and it did not really add anything and I prefer it when Jason goes last as his are the best comments.
Next were Demi and Jack dancing a Contemporary Garry Stewart. Demi had a bit of drama with her ankle twisting in rehearsals this resulted in her getting upset. I am not sure if it was because of the pain, or just because she was so tired and overwhelmed.
The routine was ok I have seen similar dancing in ‘80’s video clips. A bit Thomas Dolbyish. Jack was sensational. Demi was good. The only criticism of the routine was that it was all pretty static, not much movement around the stage.
Bonnie said “Very clever routine”, “Demi executed it brilliantly”
Jason said “Abstract routine”, “You guys took complete ownership over the abstract of the nature of the routine,” and “Jack you are good at everything you do.”
Matt Lee said “It was so strong, a little bit of unison issue, but great job.”
The last couple were Vanessa and Graeme dancing Broadway by Adam Williams to Money from the musical Cabaret. It was meant to be a slapstick and I thought this may not be so great as this pair who have the two smaller personalities left in the competition are going to dance it.
I thought Vanessa started out strongly but then faded and Graeme was good but it was not a stand out performance.
Jason said “Great routine, congrats to Adam” , “Vanessa I feel that in the second verse you need more staccato (short and sharp).” and “Graeme another great routine for you.”
Matt Lee said “ Vanessa needed you to stick it harder at the end.”
Bonnie said “I didn’t mind that it was not as staccato as the guys”
Then Natalie had a big surprise .
All the girls were going to be dancing together and Nacho Pop had choreographed a west coast g funk mid nineties hip hop routine. I am sure if you are a hip hop junkie you will know what that means. Quite frankly I don't have a frigging clue.
Vanessa had to go sexy and gangsta - Nacho Pop was not convinced she could do this.
Personally I find Nacho Pop routines overrated, and this one was no exception.
Vanessa opened the routine by taking off her sunglasses and then did the startled bunny in headlights look. This was not the sexy pose Mr Pop was hoping for.
Demi was the strongest but it was not fabulous.
Matt said “Vanessa this was not so great, trying to be sexy sometimes you just have to be it” and
“Unison Vanessa you were out.”
Bonnie said “What I loved that the three girls danced together”, “I really enjoyed it.”
Jason said “I did not see three girls dancing together.”, “Nacho left Vanessa exposed”, “ Demi I did buy the gangstga chick from you.”, “Kate I bought the gangsta chick in an east side sort of way.” “Slightly difficult routine for us to comment on.” Was Jason having a go at Nacho about the fairly ordinary choreography?
The guys had Supple routine to dance to which was the concept was Madagascar meets the three stooges.
This was a much better routine- it was funny in parts. I was wondering if Graeme was going for the New Zealand vote in his last pose as he looked like he was channelling the maori haka at the end.
Matt said “Supple such a clever concept and executed so well.” , “Rhys I saw no fear with backward tumbling,” and “This routine showed the strength you guys have got.”
Bonnie said “All individually extremely good at what you did.”
Jason said “Routine brilliant…. Congratulations Supple“.
“It was hard to judge as there was no unison” Which I took to mean it was hard to compare who was the better dancer because everyone was dancing different steps. “All brilliant.”
Tomorrow night is the last live elimination show and next week will be the final four show. The series has almost finished.
Graeme and Vanessa will be the ones to go this week.
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