BEDA Quatre...Loving and Hating SYTYCD

Because my day was less than stellar (spent the day in Chicago to take class/kill time/shop in awful, rainy weather), I'll spare you the gory details and rave/rant about my one of my favorite (most of the time) shows, So You Think You Can Dance.

Now, for those of you that have been living under a rock for the last six years and have no idea what I'm talking about, I will give you a brief rundown.  SYTYCD, as it has come to be abbreviated (which isn't even easy to say outloud--Ess-Why-Tee-Why-See-Dee), is essentially American Idol for dancers.  Up until this season, of the thousands of auditionees, the best were sent to Las Vegas for "Vegas Week," and the Top 20 (10 women and 10 men) were chosen to compete on the show.  Each week, male/female couples would do a "routine" (btw, I hate that word, but more on that later), either in their own style or outside of it, and then the judges would critique them.  On results night, after a group number, the bottom three women and bottom three men were announced.  From Top 20 to Top 10, the judges could "save" two girls and two guys.  Then, from Top 10 to the finale, it was all up to the audience.  That format has changed a bit in the show's current 7th season.  Instead of a Top 20, there was a Top 11 (6 men, 6 women).  Each week, they have competed with routines paired either with each other or a SYTYCD "all-star" (standouts from past seasons).  Up until last week, when they announced the Final Four, the judges could save two of the bottom three, who could be all male, all female, or both, as the number of women no longer has to equal the men.  What do they win?  Well, usually money (a hefty chunk of change like $250,000 or something, which is crazy for a dancer, and the title of "America's Favorite Dancer").  Hope I'm explaining this well enough.  Aaaanyway...

I have to admit, I've had a love/hate relationship with this show from Day One...and I'll admit, I've watched it, literally, from Day One.  Season One was way back in 2005.  I think I'll do a Pro/Con list to more fully illustrate my point:

The Pros:

1. Dance is finally being given its day. The American public is actually interested in a show about dancers, and that can't be argued with.

2. Getting to see people go far outside of their comfort zones and succeed.  Nothing says that better than Alex Wong's epicness. Holy crap, are you kidding me?!!

3. Sometimes the pieces are truly inspiring. Standouts in my recent memory include the infamous bench number, Jason and Jeanine's "If it Kills Me," Chelsie and Mark's "Bleeding Love," Though I wasn't her biggest fan, Lacey and Kameron's contemporary, Tyce's very first B'way/SYTYCD debut, Katee and Joshua's Bollywood and along those same lines Caitlin and Jason's "Jai Ho," Jamie and Hok's "Hummingbird and the Flower," the first pas de deux that was every on the show, the very first number that made me cry on the show-Allison and Ivan's "Why," The "Addiction" piece, Katee and Twitch in "Mercy," Season 2's Final Four take on "Sexy Back" (which I can't find decent video of), and this season's aforementioned Alex Wong hip-hop, Robert and Allison's "Fix You," Billy and Kathryn's "Jar of Hearts," Robert and Kathryn's "Heaven is a Place on Earth," and Ade and Billy's "Mad World."  Ok, I'll stop now.  Also, I know it seems like I like this season best...it's not.  I think season 3 goes down as my favorite season in history because of Danny Tidwell.  By the way, that solo of his was totally mostly Le Corsaire :D

4. The fact that I've had the privilege of dancing with some of the contestants.  It's way more exciting to vote for someone you've known or worked with :)

5. The guest performances are by top companies and artists, people that the general public might not see otherwise.

6. It's a really fun summer show.  When I was in Orlando, all four of the lounges were overtaken by the students.  I get really into it.

7. I start to believe that I'm not quite so weird...you see, dancers are REALLY, REALLY touchy-feely and emotional and I'm like that and seeing dancers on television who have such passion for what they do and are really emotional and hug each other and whatnot...well, it reassures me that I have company in my craziness.

8. Cat Deeley. Enough said.

Now, for the cons:

1. Why are the hip-hop dancers always praised SOOOO highly for doing ballroom semi-ok because it is such a large feat to go from no training to ballroom, while the ballet dancers (very, very few have ever actually made it to the show) are constantly bashed for not excelling at hip-hop.  Newsflash: hip-hop is a completely different way of moving one's body if one has been classically trained.  The center of gravity shift is insane.  I know this from personal experience (i.e. I absolutely suck at hip-hop).  Why all the lenience shown to the b-boys and no mercy to the contemporary/ballet dancers?

2. The audition process.  Just get me to Vegas Week so we can see the real talent.  The trolls and stupid people and awful auditions are painful to watch.  UGH!

3. This doesn't really apply this season, as I don't believe she's been on once, but Mary Murphy.  For those of you who watch the show, you know what I'm talking about.  For those of you who don't, this should suffice as a brief introduction.  Barf.  So glad they replaced her.

4. The American audience's sometimes brainlessness.  Yeah, yeah I know.  Most of the people who watch the show don't have trained dancing eyes, but sometimes the best dancers don't win.  I understand why...they don't connect with the public on camera, and therefore, the public does not vote for them.  However, there are some people that overstay their welcome for reasons that are baffling to me (Some that stand out in my memory are Season 2's Heidi and Ivan, Season 3's Dominic and Lacey, Season 4's Joshua (who actually went on to win the show, and that still baffles me) and Comfort, and Season 5's Melissa and Kayla.  I didn't actually watch Season 6, as it was this past fall and 1) I wasn't a huge fan of any of the contestants and 2) I feel like this show only works as a summer series).  The other side of this coin is the dancers who don't stay around long enough, the ones who are voted out earlier than what I think their time should be (i.e. Season 2's Allison (btw so glad she's an all-star this season), Season 3's Jaimie, Season 4's William Wingfield (he's one of my favorite contestants to-date) and Chelsie (she should have been in the finals), and Season 5's Caitlin (ok, I'm a little biased as I danced with her in 2006-07).

5. The ultimate winners of the show.  I think, out of all 5 seasons I've watched, I've agreed with exactly two of the winners--Season 1's Nick Lazzarini and Season 5's Jeanine Mason.  The other winners--Benjii Schwimmer, Sabra Johnson, and Joshua Allen--have confused me since their respective finale nights, especially considering who their runner-ups were (Travis Wall, Danny Tidwell, and Katee Shean/Twitch, respectively).  I mean, come on!  Where is the logic in that?  I understand somebody must have liked the winners, otherwise they wouldn't have, you know, won.  But it just pisses me off that some of the best dancers have been totally jipped on this show!

6. The judges.  While I agree with them quite often, sometimes their logic escapes me.  I hate that they often criticize the dancers' costumes (seriously? They likely did not pick that pleather unitard off the rack and say, "Yes, I will most certainly rock this during the quick-step tonight).  I hate that sometimes a dancer's talent gets overlooked because they're criticizing their demeanor or character (a la Danny Tidwell season 3 when they could not get over the fact that they thought he was so "arrogant.")  And the constant focus on dancing from the inside-out.  WE GET IT!  The dancer has to connect with the camera.  He or she cannot do this if he or she is not passionate or if his or her passion is not showing through his or her dancing.  But they sound like broken records.

7. This. Period. End of story. Most heartbreaking and awful thing ever. Praying for Alex Wong's swift and complete recovery.

I think that's a fairly substantial list, and I don't want to make this post too terribly long and boring, so I'll quit now, but I just needed to get that off my chest.

The cons don't really outweigh the pros...I'd probably still watch even if there were more things I couldn't stand about the show, but there are just some things that irk me, and I needed to catalog them.  And not have a boring blog post.  Though I'm sure this is fairly boring to a lot of you.  I'm finishing this with a little over an hour to spare.  BEDA, I cannot give up on you yet!!  Peace and blessins, Me

Edit: I was so happy to hear to Prop 8 verdict today.  Work it, Judge Walker.

Edit 2: As if MSNBC read my mind, I found this article just now...