SYTYCD News Roundup

Mia Michaels examines reality in her new column at movmnt magazine.



SF Chronicle dance critic Rachel Howard knows her world dance:

Bollywood style, however, suits Joshua’s hip-hop skills surprisingly well. Those jumps into deep knee-splayed bends, by the way, derive mostly from the South Indian classical dance form of Bharatanatyam (as does the custom of wearing bells on the ankles). Neither Katee nor Joshua pull off the knee-turns (not fast enough), and Nigel tosses in facile “It’s a Small World” political statements, but the style is a terrific addition to the show, and Katee and Joshua do an admirable job in it.

More at Voice of Dance...



Smug Doug noticed something I had missed:

Notice that they are no longer calling the solos "Dancing for Your Life?" The term has apparently been dropped with no anouncement or fanfare. The judges just refer to them as "solos" and note that they need to impress.

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Wisebread.com is giving away tickets to this season's tour.





So You Think You Can Dance Australia's Henry Byalikov is taking his ballroom moves to Dancing With The Stars Australia after the current Aussie tour. Here's his African Samba, with Vanessa Sew Hoy, from the Gold Coast Convention Center.

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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.

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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.''

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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!”

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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.