Sunday, March 23, 2008

So You Think You Can Dance Review - Judges talk about the Top 10

Tonight Channel Ten clearly did not want to waste an episode of their high rating show, So You Think You Can Dance on an Easter weekend where a lot of viewers are away.

So they gave us a recap of the top 10, with Natalie Bassingthwaite asking the judges questions about the dancers.

Matt Lee looked ten times better without one of his hats on, except I don't think a cardigan on a 27 year old is cool. I know apparently they are in fashion this year, but really so were ski pants and they were not good either.

I think it is great that Bonnie Lythgoe is an example of a woman over 40 can be on TV without being botoxed to buggery, but does she have to out Gold Coast the Gold Coast? I never realised white, gold and purple went together before until I saw her outfit tonight. Actually I am not to sure it does, maybe I should send a photo to www.gofugyourself.typepad.com to get their feedback.

As it was a rehash we got to see both Natalie Bassingthwaite's and Jason Coleman previous hair disasters. Both had the good grace to laugh at themselves about it.

What we got tonight was a package of each dancer with audition, top 100 week, and snippets of routines they have danced with their partners. After that the judges gave their opinions about the dancer.

First up was Jack Chamber the 17 year old from Queensland.

Matt Lee said he had talent and charisma, and thinks he does have a future in musical theatre.

Jason Coleman said he was Mr Congeniality and he was a big fan of his. Also he was a versatile dancer.

Next was Demi the 27 B-Girl from Melbourne. I had forgotten how athletic she was until I saw her audition again.

Jason said: Likes her as she is evolving and improving throughout the competition. Also she is transforming and trys and trys and trys. He thinks she is fantastic.

Kate Wormald the 29 from Sydney was next and it was great to see her audition, as I don't remember seeing it first time around.

Kate is a professional dancer and she said her professional peers were reluctant to audition for the show. Clearly they were waiting to dance in Meryl Tankard's new work.

Jason said: Many professional dancers did not audition as they were afraid of lowering their mantle, Kate came because she wanted to learn. He really likes her performance maturity.

Graeme the 18 year old is the youngest dancer left in the competition.

Matt Lee thinks he has the maturity to go the whole way.

Rhiannon the 18 year old, who I think will be under some pressure this week was profiled next. If she is not in a great performance with her new partner she could be voted out.

Bonnie said she was very competitive, cute, sweet and sassy.

Matt wants her to do more, and Jason wants to be surprised.

Anthony Ikin who started off favoured to win the competition is slowly losing his appeal.

However, Jason thinks he is still progressing, and Matt thinks he has the wow factor.

Matt Lee said he was unhappy when Marko and Hilton were eliminated from the competition because they were his favourites. Wasn't he involved in those decisions?

Jason said he was devastated when Kassie Lee went and he also liked JD with his chocolate, honey smooth dancing.

Bonnie was sad to see Courtney and Camilla go.

Next up was Vanessa the sweet ballerina from Sydney.

Bonnie thinks she is a beautiful dancer.

Matt said he started out thinking she was a bit soulless however after seeing the African Samba he changed his mind.

Henry her partner was profiled next, and it was revealed he shaved his chest! They also had a shot of it being done. Jason can you take him aside and take him to your chest waxer, that would look so much better. Only professional swimmers prior to a final shave these days.

Jason said Henry needs to pull back his confidence a little.

Bonnie thought the haircut a good move.

Matt Lee said the hair cut took him out of the ballroom mould.

Jason also chimed in saying he looked hot, hot, hot.

So we have no idea what the judges think of his actual dancing.

Jemma the ballroom dancer from Perth was profiled next and she certainly a very versatile dancer.

Jason compared her to Anya from last seasons US So You Think You Can Dance. Personally I think Anya had more sex appeal.

Last was Rhys the lovable dancer whose previous career highlight was to appear in The Fairies.

I had forgotten he did not get a ticket straight to Sydney but had to go through the choreography round.

Apparently at the time Rhys was in a quandary over whether to go to work or to stay for the choreography round. Clearly he chose the latter, and that decision will bring him very close to the $200,000 first prize.

Bonnie said in the Pase Doble' he was great and he took on the role as the alpha male.

Next week they all have to swap partners so it will be interesting to see who has been propped up by their partner - Jemma or who has been pulled down by their previous partners - Rhiannon. Both will be trying to prove a point next Sunday to let people know they deserve to be in the show in their own right.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hmmm, I think it's unfair to say that Jemma has been propped up by her partner. I think she's one of the most versatile ballroom dancers they've had on SYTYCD (she aced that Dance Hall piece). And Rhys certainly benefited from her help in the Paso Doble and the Waltz. It's more an issue of will Australia notice her once she's out of Rhys' shadow? I think a lot of people have forgotten about her because Rhys is so popular. But I certainly don't think that Rhys has carried her through the competition so far.

By the way, Jason didn't say that she was like Anya. If you listen closely, he said that in the auditions he was waiting for his Anya Garnis, and Jemma was the closest to her, for him.

I think she lacks the sex appeal (although that Rumba audition was hot hot hot) of Anya but has that grace and classiness of Anya. Stephanie was probably more overtly sexy, but her footwork really pales in comparison to Jemma's.

Anonymous said...

I also don't think Jemma is propped up by Rhys...she is overshadowed by him though because Rhys is just so charismatic.

It is like the Lacey/Kameron partnership in the US SYTYCD3. It would be unfair to say Kameron didn't do his part in the first 5 weeks, and yet all people noticed was the over-the-top (relatively, at least) Lacey. I don't think Kameron was brilliant but if he were terrible, the pieces would fail miserably and the judges would have commented about it. Instead, Kameron was deemed invisible. So maybe he was carried to the top 10 by Lacey's vote, but not by Lacey's dancing. He certainly did his share.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I think Jemma is a LOT better than Kameron, but I certainly understand what you're saying with the comparison there.

Reality Raver said...

Anon: I don't think I was saying that Rhys was propping Jemma up. However I may have been able to write it more articulately - it was a late night blog.

I think Jemma is a talented and versatile dancer.

What I meant to say is Rhys is extremely popular and hence was this is the week where she will be standing on her own merits and it will be interesting to see how she goes.

The same goes for Rhiannon, I have been presuming she is bottom 3 because of her being partnered with JD, so if she fails this week it would indicate that was not the case.

However if either of these girls are partnered with Anthony Ikin they could both be in trouble.

As this early favourite looks to be losing his gloss if polls on my blog are any indication. And to be honest I think he is staying static, and not really imjproving like some of the others are.

However I still think Anya had a stronger technique and stage precence then Jemma. Though Jemma is extremely versatile.

But really since we are voting now it does come down to a bit of a popularity contests.

Anonymous said...

Oh yes, I agree that Anya had a stronger stage presence and technique than Jemma, by far. But then, Anya does have some pretty high international rankings herself! I'm biased towards Anya though, she's one of my favourite dancers in SYTYCD history! I miss her. And Danny! And a lot of the others, haha.

Totally agree with you regarding Anthony. I kind of think he's a horrible dancer anyhow, once you take away the tricks. I don't think he has any musicality, and I have a feeling he'd be an awful partner to work with, and yeah, I feel sorry for any female dancer that has to be paired with him!

disco queen said...

last night's show was such a waste of airtime. But i understand now why matt always wears a hat .. he has such a strange shaped head that the hat makes him look much more attractive.
My advice, being the fashion afficnado that RR knows me to be, would be to mix the hats up rather than either wear the same one or go hatless.
A beanie one week, a terry towelling number the next .. it's all in the variety

Reality Raver said...

Disco Queen it is always good to have your sartorial input.

I thought he looked better without it. As I don't think he is a funky person, and I think some of the hats he was wearing were just that. He looked like a try hard who wanted to get into the cool clique at school.

After last weeks silver outfit and this week without the hat, he just reminds me of Inspector Gadget.

Anonymous said...

matt is self conscious about his massive forehead. how do ppl not see that?

Sue B said...

I didn't get to see the show last night, b/c I'm in the US, and I STILL never got to see the results show (sob), but I was surprised that Jack is considered the front runner, according to the msn article. I think he's amazing, but my money is on Henry or Rhys.

As for Kameron and Lacey, while I am not the world's biggest Lacey fan (in fact, I think she's extremely loopy), I didn't think Kameron was that strong on the program. (Not that it's hurting him now ;-).) I wouldn't say he was propped up by Lacey, but he didn't do nearly as well with another partner. The same was true (I believe) with Dominic. He and Sabra were magical together, but he wasn't nearly as strong with other partners though Sabra continued to be. (I thought Anya and Danny were fabulous together, but the voting public did not agree, for some bizarre reason). And I think that Neil and Lauren benefited from other partnerships (one of my favorite dances was the Transformers with Lauren and Pasha...sigh, Pasha...I loved Pasha).

Reality Raver said...

Anon - I had not thought of the forehead as being the problem however you may be right.

Though the fedoras he wears don't really cover it. Maybe he should grow a fringe.

Personally I think he looks better with out the headwear.

Soobee I agree Dominic life was limited on the show once he stopped dancing with Sabre.

It will be interesting to see the new couples. If any of the short girls like Demi, and Rhiannon get with Anthony it is going to get ugly.

disco queen said...

anon, that is a very strong statement about Matt and his forehead. Do you actually know him? if not the statement that his hats are all about his forehead are just speculation