give it up hartford

Finally, I find some time to blog about the So You Think You Can Dance live tour show we had the great pleasure of attending Sunday night in Hartford, CT. In a nutshell, I'd have to use the f-word and say...it was so much fun! The drive back from Hartford that night and getting up early the next morning...not so much, but it was worth it.

We left for Hartford around 4, getting to Monte Alban Mexican restaurant, about seven minutes from downtown Hartford, around 6 p.m. It was perfectly acceptable Mexican cuisine, but not terribly exciting (which isn't surprising for New England). But that's neither here nor there. From the restaurant we drove downtown to the Civic Center, and by the time we stood in line to use the restroom and then pass on overpriced schwag, only had about ten minutes to wait before the show began. During those ten minutes and again at intermission, the screens displayed trivia about and featuring the SYTYCD top ten, as well as music videos from former American Idol contestants. I think this is Carrie Underwood in this one:



As we waited, I contemplated briefly trying to capture an image of each spread in the $20 program.


And then the wait was over and the show began.



It was so strange to experience live something I'd seen so many times on t.v. Here's the entire group assembled to get the show started. It was all a little Disney-esque, I have to admit.


During intermission I happened to catch a glimpse of some of the images the woman sitting next to me had taken and her zoom capabilities put my little Canon PowerShot to shame. But now that I'm home, processing it all, after some time has passed, I rather like these painterly images.

Anyway, moving right along, here's Sara doing a bit of announcing.


She was in the show a lot, actually, which isn't surprising since, well, she's so great, and considering how often she performed in the t.v. finale, which was really a dress rehearsal for the live show. Here she is dancing the disco routine with Neil, who was also a highlight of the night for me (again, I was disappointed they chose not to include Mandy Moore's suspenders routine choreographed to Queen's "Body Language").



The group dances were all pretty great, including this Matrix-y routine:


Some surprises that weren't in the t.v. finale included this breaker routine featuring Sara, Dominic, and Hok...


...and a fiery Cha Cha with a little Samba thrown in featuring Anya and Pasha.


Here we are at intermission...


...which seems to be when my picture-taking slowed. I'm not even sure who's dancing in this one.


In addition to popular couple routines and some group dances, each of the top ten got to do a solo routine. Here's Sara doing her's:


Rounding out the night, here's the entire group again, bidding fond farewells to the oh so hospitable city of Hartford before performing the Hairspray routine and disappearing into the stage.


Overall, I was surprised that this year's winner, Sabra, wasn't featured as prominently throughout the night as some of the other dancers. As lovely as she is to watch on t.v., I don't think she has as strong a stage presence as, say, Sara, or Jaimie, who did a lot of announcing herself. Of the guys, I'd have to say Neil and Dominic really stole the show, not surprisingly.

At any rate, that oughtta tide me over until next summer...