It’s almost 4 in the morning and I’m very tired, so am just going to post some pictures now and will blog about it (So You Think You Can Dance tour) tomorrow (well, later on today, I guess). In general, it was a lot of fun, the dancing was all excellent — really some of the best I’ve ever seen, the choregraphy so so (some good, some not as good as the rest, but oh well … there was a new group number I hadn’t seen before: the swamp creatures? Was it on a show I missed? Anyway, I really liked it — it was contemporary lyrical mixed with some African moves, very interesting). Dominic is a doll, has THE BEST personality with a great comedic sensibility and I think has a future as an actor, seriously! He also looked awesome break-dancing on that big stage! Danny it goes without saying looked great on a big stage as well, but I still think his solo (same one he did on the show) could be much better — turn some of those grand jetes into barrel turns and do some of the pirouettes on a bent knee going up and down like Angel Corella 🙂 In my opinion Pasha and Anya stole the show with their samba/cha cha, but of course I am biased 🙂 One thing I noticed is that Latin / Ballroom looks better on TV and on a small stage, ballet on a big stage. (Tidwell, by the way, introduced himself as a jazz and contemporary dancer, no ballet.)
My only real criticism of the program is that they had too many flashbacks and too much talk about the show and not enough dancing! They had three big screens erected over the stage and they used them to show all these scenes of early rounds in which bad people were eliminated (why do we need to see this again?), they showed scenes over and over and over again of people falling, they had a bunch of footage of those little off-screen moments between the dancers most of which were already shown on TV, and the judges’ reactions to things, and even some of the dancing on the show. I wish they would have axed all this and just created more original dances for the dancers to perform. I guess it was more of the actual show on tour rather than the dancers on tour. But it was still a very fun night. I’m perturbed at Danny though for not showing up to the backstage “meet and greet”!!!!! Where were you, Danny????
Anyway, here are a few pics (the rest you can find by clicking on the link to my Flickr page, which is that very last link on the right-hand side of the blog):
Pasha greeting former student, Elaine, and spotting me!!!
Anya doing the same! (greeting another of Pasha’s former students, Mariana). So many of us 🙂 He sure was popular 🙂
Sabra greeting Tony Meredith.
Dominic and Lacey.
Neil greeting what appear to be friends.
Neil and Lacey performing the Mia Michaels choreography dedicated to her father.
Danny and Neil doing Mia’s “Princes” piece.
Sorry my pictures are so blurry but I was one of the few who actually obeyed orders and turned off my flash. If you’re a dancer and you’re reading this and you’re thinking of trying out for the show, just be assured that if you make it to the end you’re going to be performing amongst bizillions of flashes going off incessantly! It was crazy — it was like a continuous light show in there!
Pasha’s solo. He used a cape this time, no mannequin 🙂
Group number.
Danny and Anya’s beautiful waltz.
Pasha and Anya’s samba / cha cha.
Pasha and Sabra’s quickstep.
Hehhe, going back in time to the beginning of the trip, when we were just boarding the bus to go out to Long Island, this is Steve, a friend of mine from the studio and Anya’s former student, telling me, apropos of my crazy rampage yesterday against poor Claudia LaRocco and dance criticism in the Times (he assures me he reads my blog, just doesn’t comment 🙂 ), that he enjoys The Sun!
One more of Pasha! Here with former student Mariana. Isn’t he cute!!!!!
Okay, that’s all for now, I have to go to bed. It was a very fun night and I really had a lovely time reuniting with all of my friends from the studio, and of course seeing Pasha and Anya, and of course watching all of these amazing dancers. I am out of my bad mood now 🙂 At least until I read the reviews!!!
Hi Tonya,
It sounds like you had a great time. I just have to know – is Pasha as nice as he seems ? I mean is it really possible to be that handsome, charming, and kind ? Surely there must be something wrong with the guy – like he walks through Times Square tripping old ladies or drop kicking puppies or something ? 🙂
Thanks for the shout-out, Gray! I wish I was going; I didn’t get an invite 🙁 It sounds great — do let us know how it is!
Hi Kristen! — Well, I at least never saw Pasha kick any puppies or trip ladies on the street and he better not do either!) Yes, he is really great 🙂 — probably why he had so many students, poor guy, he was always really overworked at the studio! I wonder what they’re all going to do after the tour’s over. I was thinking about that last night kind of getting depressed about the fact that I’m sure he’s not going to be returning to the studio, but then it made me wonder what’s in store for him, for all of them, in the future?… I guess it’ll be exciting to see what all comes of everything! Anyway, sorry to be so long-winded; thanks for reading my blog 🙂
I was thinking about that last night kind of getting depressed about the fact that I’m sure he’s not going to be returning to the studio, but then it made me wonder what’s in store for him, for all of them, in the future?… I guess it’ll be exciting to see what all comes of everything!
===x===
Jaimie, Sabra and Danny will all be touring with New York City Dance Alliance. I would guess that Lacey will continue to compete in WCS and Latin. That’s all I know 😉
Oh that’s interesting — thanks for letting me know, Selly!
Pasha is sooooo cute! I can’t handle it. I have a random question. I thought for some reason the whole deal with the top ten was that they were the only ones who would get to tour? Did this change or did I miss something?
Yes, I think that was the original idea, but they allowed a couple of the others to tour too, probably so that they could reprise some of their more popular dances. So, they let Anya come so she could do her waltz with Danny, and I’m guessing also because she’s Pasha’s main partner, it made sense to have them dance together once (especially since there was that petition going around at one point asking the producers to let them dance on the finale). And probably the same thing with Hok, who also just seemed like such a nice guy who kept trying and trying, I think everyone felt badly for him when he just barely failed to make the top 10!