It’s not all that often that I do recaps/reviews of specific TV show episodes, mainly because I feel recaps/reviews serve a purpose of providing additional insight into what was seen and not just be a summary. However, with the return of So You Think You Can Dance this week after a two week break, I sort of wanted to express my thoughts on the episode, as well as my thoughts on the season as a whole thus far.
On Wednesday night, SYTYCD took a departure from the norm and gave us an episode dedicated to Mia Michaels’ choreography. The Top 14 were tasked with recreating seven of Mia’s most memorable couples routines from the past 9 seasons (though technically Mia only did couples routines for seasons 1-5.) When I first heard that it was Mia Michaels week, I got excited thinking that “Oh wow! Mia’s choreographing everything for the week!” Then when I realized that they were actually recreating the classics, excitement turned into fear and a sudden sense of “WHHHYYYY????!!!!” It’s comparable to hearing that a contestant on [insert singing competition of choice here] is going to be tackling a power ballad or one of your favourite songs. You immediately start wondering what in the world compelled that person to think that that was a good idea. The same applies here.
Entertainment Weekly had posted earlier in the day on Wednesday, which routines were going to be performed. So going into watching the show, it was just a matter of guessing which couple was performing which routine; a task that turned out to be quite easy as it was pretty obvious.
“Mercy” aka “The Door” [Originally performed by Katee & tWitch in S4]: Eliana & Cyrus predictably got tasked with recreating this routine. Though they did an admirable job, in what became a recurring theme/pattern, it didn’t quite match the original (giving people a reminder of the original didn’t help matters in disassociation). Cyrus brought elements of his own animation style to some of the movements. Eliana, possibly an effect of her technical skills as a ballet dancer, didn’t go all out like Katee had previously done. The judges praised Eliana for being fierce, but her movements were way too controlled for a character that was pretty much crazy.
“Hometown Glory” [Katee & Joshua, S4]: Tiffany & George actually did a very good job, technically, recreating this routine. What lacked a little bit was the emotion and the character. I couldn’t feel the anguish from Tiffany and George, like I did watching Katee and Joshua. Another thing, which actually doesn’t have to do with the dancers, is that the lighting and the camera angles this time didn’t bring out the best of the dance (if that makes any sense). For instance, the assisted run, a great moment in the routine, felt like it faltered in this recreation because the angles weren’t there to fully capture it.
“Koop Island Blues” aka “The Butt Dance” [Randi & Evan, S5]: Amelia & Will were definitely the obvious choice for this routine, if only because they have sort of been deemed as the “quirky” pairing. To be honest, this was never one of my favourite routines. I think the only reason it worked in the first place was because it was so tailored to Randi & Evan, and they brought so much character to the piece. There really isn’t much else to say besides that.
“Dreaming With A Broken Heart” aka “The Bed” [Kherington & tWitch, S4]: Janelle & Dareian seem to always get the short end of the straw, to be honest. I liked this piece when Kherington and tWitch had originally performed it, partially because of the song (not gonna lie about that one!) But looking back, you kind of realize that Kherington actually didn’t do much in the routine. So having Janelle, who has been a bit underwhelming since the live shows started, doing this particular routine really did not do her any favours.
“Time” [Lacey & Neil, S3]: This routine I feel was a bit of a big undertaking, in terms of recreating it. We know the story behind it, it was such a personal piece for Mia, and it was a routine that really required a lot of emotion, even above the technicalities of the choreography. Audrey & Matthew, who were great in their Travis Wall piece the first week of competition, haven’t really done much else to impress. This was a great opportunity for them to really go outside themselves and truly connect, but unfortunately they didn’t bring it like they should have.
“Calling You” aka “The Bench” [Heidi & Travis, S2]: Everybody loves this routine, so Witney & Chehon had some pretty high expectations going into this. For the most part, I must say they did a pretty good job with the routine. My only gripe is, similar to Eliana in the Door routine, Chehon showed almost too much control and didn’t fully let go as Travis had done.
“Gravity” aka “Addiction” [Kayla & Kupono, S5]: Of all the pairings, Lindsay & Cole did the best job in recreating the piece. “Gravity” is such a powerful piece and Kayla & Kupono gave it their all when they originally did it. Lindsay & Cole gave it their all as well and brought themselves into the routine, so when you watched it, it was almost like you were watching the routine for the first time again.
I certainly commend SYTYCD for doing a little something different and having the dancers recreate memorable routines because as Nigel had noted, a lot of them will be expected to interpret other choreographers’ work that has already been done. But when you have really dedicated fans who remember all these routines, it becomes rather difficult to successfully pull off a show like this – it simply didn’t benefit the dancers of this season at all because they were expected to do justice to the original dance and dancers.
Thoughts On The Season So Far
Straight to the point, this season has been rather underwhelming and it is kind of giving me Season 6 vibes. Now, it would be unfair to blame it on the dancers because there is no doubt that they are talented at what they do. To me, it has a lot to do with the production of the show. I made my gripes at the beginning of the year about how it made no sense for FOX to cancel the results show. The show has dealt with this rather admirably, combining the elements of the results shows into the performance shows. In the fact that they are so cramped for time, we lose a lot of time showing rehearsal footage. Some people might not think that’s a big deal, but I feel as though rehearsal footage shows us more of the dancers’ personalities than those “getting to know you” bits.
Another thing that hasn’t really helped matters is the breaks. I understood the 4th of July break. It worked out well with them having announced the Top 20 before the break and we got right back into it afterwards. The 2-week break for the Olympics was a little rough though. Though I understand why they did it (people were too entranced with the Olympics, I was one of them), I didn’t particularly like the idea. These breaks in the schedule created an effect on the elimination process. We still would’ve reached a Top 10 this week, had they aired during the Olympics, but because the 2-week hiatus happened, we had two big cuts. As a result of that, everything has just felt rushed and we haven’t really been able to connect with the dancers. I mean I feel like I barely even know who these dancers are, and with the tour announcement, I’m questioning whether or not I even want to go for the first time since they started doing tours.
I’m really hoping that with the All-Stars coming in next week, things will really kick into gear and get me excited about the show again. Until then, let’s just watch videos of happier times.
Pop Cultured Randoms 