let the show begin

If you haven't been watching So You Think You Can Dance because, like me with American Idol, you find it hard to get through the first couple of weeks of auditions, you'll be happy to read that the top 20 competition gets down to business next Wednesday. The Vegas episode aired last night, when the judges whittled the group down to, as Cat says, 10 boys and 10 girls. Curiously enough, there were quite a few guys and gals in the top 20 who have yet to get much air time at all (not sure if she's in the top 20, but, for example, why would you include a clip in which you tell a girl she's possibly the best female hip hop dancer you've seen on the show but not show her audition?), but I am already looking forward to a few dancers in particular, including Twitch and Kherington (funny, they were a couple of the few who did manage to get some decent air time during auditions and Vegas week).

I'll admit that I'm biased, but I do think the SYTYCD auditions are so much easier to get through than the same intro to American Idol. They show the bad and the downright crazy, but they show a lot more talent in those first couple of weeks. What I don't understand is the seemingly random process by which they send some dancers to choreography and others straight through to Vegas. Poppers and breakers almost always have to wait until choreography, and yet not one, but two tap dancers made it straight through (and then both got cut, of course)! Maybe there's something I don't know about tap, but I don't follow that logic. I can kind of understand, on the other hand, why most of the good ballroom dancers go straight through, since so much of the show requires an ability to follow choreography and partner, which, if they're any good, they've obviously already got down.

As for Vegas week, I enjoyed seeing a preview of choreography to come. I'm a little burned out on contemporary, I have to admit (especially the male contemporary dancers...they just all seem the same to me), but I do love Mia Michaels' work. I'm curious to see what husband-wife hip hop team Tabitha and Napoleon have in store, and hope the show brings back old faves like Shane Sparks, Dan Karaty, and, perhaps my absolute favorite from last season, Mandy Moore.



Anyway, Entertainment Weekly has a pretty good wrap-up of last night's show, with bits about dancers who were altogether MIA (like Philip Chbeeb) and those sassy few who talk back (and at least one of which went home because of it). Maybe it's just me, but I'd have to disagree with his claim that Katee's response to the judges that she wouldn't necessarily try a third time if cut again are going to be a handicap for her on the show in terms of gaining votes. I mean, seriously, how endearing were those matching onesies? That alone should gain her back some points for personality.

And in closing, the Snuggle bear must be growing on me, because at the end of the show last night, I was actually considering submitting my own pregnant happy dance. How hilarious would that be, especially if I actually won tickets to the finale. Can I bring my colicky newborn along?