'SYTYCD:' A few small questions

After tonight's performance show, are we really supposed to believe that So You Think You Can Dance is truly random, because I have never been more sure that it is not. The show featured the first ever classical pas de deux and it was danced by this season's ballerina? That doesn't seem so random. AND after struggling for the past few weeks, fan favorite Phillip again drew hip hop? It has only been four weeks and he and Janine have already danced hip hop twice. Plus, both times Tabitha and Napoleon were the choreographers. That seems a bit too coincidental to me.

I think the SYTYCD people think we are idiots. But Joanna and I have caught on. I just hope they can redeem themselves in my eyes sometime soon.

Joanna,

My almost 11-year old daughter asked the same question about picking choreography out of a hat. "Mommy, if the choreography is supposed to be random, then how come no one has ever picked the same style twice or in a row?" My question: How real are those rehearsal clips? I would guess they are highly-produced. Love the show though.

My question is do the dancers get to pick the costumes? The judges seem to fault or congratulate the dancers on the costumes but it seems to me that those are picked by either the choreographer or some stylist on the show. I very much doubt that SYTYCD would leave anything up to the actual contestant other than perhaps the costume for when they do their solo. Choreographers use the costume to enhance their vision, so I think the judges need to lay off commenting on the clothing.

I don't think the picks are all that random either but I do enjoy watching the show, and I was also grateful for Mary Murphy turning her own volumn down it made it so much nicer to watch.

Maybe the contestants "switch"? Who knows... but I do believe they "pick it out of a hat." Maybe, just when Melissa picked, only the classical was in there.

I liked the Alien routine also. But, I do have a question. Who gets to say what they wear and how they wear their makeup? The daners? The choreographers? I think a little less foil (in HD and up close, it did look really cheesy) would have been nice. I don't have a favorite yet this season but only because there are SO many good dancers! I would hate to be one of the judges tonite as I think it's going to be extremely difficult trying to decide who will stay and who will go.

As far as self congratulating. Nigel deserves it. I love this idea of Dizzy Feet. The Arts are fast disappearing from today's youth. I say "Bravo" to all involved and I hope it is a successful program. And, SYTYCD is extremely entertaining and you never know what you're going to get. It really is one of the best programs on television and I'm so happy that it's going to be in the fall lineup.

Let's not forget that we aren't having a dance meeting at a local library...this is television and it has to keep viewers. You do that by giving people what they hope for. American Idol doesn't choose the best singers, it chooses a cast...SYTYCD is doing a little of that.

I agree that the Alien dance was far better than the judges gave credit. She is an alien...what was she supposed to wear, a bikini? I think if you look like she did but still pull off sex and strength, you did your job. As well, she danced it wonderfully. THeat was a case of not liking the choreography...but they would never say so: so the dancers get the ctique.

I got a charge out of Mia Michaels first saying how much she loves Tabitha and Napoleon (pan camera to Tabitha mouthing a grateful Thank You! to Mia) and then slamming the choreography, saying it was chain, not the dancers, that gave her a problem. I would have liked the alien piece better if Janette had been in it. I'm having trouble this year picking a favorite but Kayla is definitely up there. She was wonderful last night. I really wish the SYTYCD web site would have the different performances available like MTV does with ABDC. I also hope that QuestCrew makes a guest appearance on SYTYCD this season.

I still believe it's somewhat random. A pas de deux could have been done not on point, but if you picked it and you could do point of course you'd get up on those toes. It's funny, I actually thought Phillip and Jeanine's second hip-hop dance was something that would NOT have happened so soon if the picking had been planned and last night was wondering if they'd start fudging the "chance" of the picks to get some diversity. And yes, they must have a back up plan if a couple picks the same style two weeks in a row.

What I was surprised by is that last night it seemed they suggested the coupling was random. I always assumed the initial couples were paired on purpose, look at how well the height was matched for Jonathan and karla and Randi and Evan. Plus other couple has less obvious similarities, Phillip and Jeanine has similar smiles, Asuka nad Vitolio had similar features as do Jason and Caitlyn. I always thought this was intentional casting meant to help the audience connect to them more as couples. Maybe I made it all up?

Honestly, I didn't like the alien piece. There were some cool moves but I felt like their were a lot of dead spots in the piece.

For my own sake. I decided that Mia's colara was asymetrical and supposed to be that way.

I think many of us are on to this "random" pick from the hat however some of the dancers who pick their specialty don't seem to fare as well as others who dance something out of their comfort zone and this is what is so entertaining about the show; that a trained contemporary dancer like Brandon can Cha-Cha his pants off while a trained "Broadway" dancer, doesn't fare as well in his genre. As for Melissa and Ade, I do believe the dance was included specifically for them but not sure any of the other female dancers can perform en pointe so wondering about how that will work in the remaining weeks. The Alien dance was OK. Wasn't spellbound by it but did enjoy the dancers interpretation of the choreographer's mind. Much preferred Mia's Poodle Butt dance from last week.

Not only does Mia Michaels need to fix her collar, she needs to stop making her critiques all about her. Has anyone noticed that she doesn't really provide constructive criticism of the dancers but always manages to make it an opportunity to talk about herself. She must be insufferable in real life. I don't think she should have gotten off the hook so easily for her downright vicious and unprofessional comments to Brandon in the auditions now that she's pretending she liked him all along but was hard on him because he's so talented. I'm calling BS on that one!

Actually I felt that Mary Murphy was saying that she didn't really like the alien choreography all that much and that she thought the dancers themselves did a good job with it.

Personally, I didn't love the alien choreography but thought it was interesting, and thought it was danced well. I happen to like Caitlin as a dancer, overall so I may have been somewhat biased.

I had the same thought about randomness, but I think there is another explanation for Melissa being the one chosen to dance en pointe. I'm pretty sure the choreographer tailors the routine they come up with based on the dancers they get, some probably more than others. I've never seen a tap routine on the show, but I've only watched last season and this one, has a tapper ever made it to the top 20?

Anyway, I thought all of the dancers did a great job, personally I loved Evan and Randi's routine, even if Nigel & Mia thought it could be better.

I think tonight's ranking is going to be based more on overall popularity rather than last nights dance routines (other than the alien routine, which unfortunately I think fewer people will vote for). At this point I still don't have a real favorite (possibly Evan, because he reminds me of Gene Kelly), and I can't even pick 1 guy and 1 girl I like least. Tonight will be tough.

And yes I did love seeing Philip do what he does best, that routine was awesome, so I don't know if it was truly random or not, but I'm glad they did it.

My husband and I both loved the alien dance. I was so angry that they kept faulting the dancers for the things that were beyond their control and didn't mention their amazing dancing! It seems like the judges must want those two off and so are trying to guide the voters. Unfair!

Of course the fix is in. The producers want to both bos ratings and keep their favorites in a comfort zone. Personally, I would find the show more interesting if it really were random and the drawing was held in front of the cameras at the end of the results show. While I'm neither a trained dance nor choreographer, I do think that the dancers often get unwarranted criticism for bad choreography. A good choreographer would design a routine to play on the strengths of the dancers rather than move the focus of he show to themselves.

As far as any of the other couples dancing a pas de deux - all trained dancers should have a significant ballet background. So, even if they are not "ballerinas", they should have enough ballet experience to dance ballet, just maybe not on pointe. Obviously self-taught hip hop dancers and, to a lesser extent, ballroom dancers, would be more challenged by ballet.

Caitlin doesn't do it for me. She is technically very proficient but, IMO, not committed to her performance the way Kayla is. It feels very superficial. I'm guessing Caitlin and Jason will be in the bottom again. It's a little harder to say who might be joining them but I'll go with Evan & Randi and Phillip & Jeanine. I like both couples, I'm just guessing how the voting will go. And, I've been right every week so far. I'm hoping that Caitlin goes home and that Jason gets a new partner - maybe Janine.

I know we are all Michael Jackson'd out by now but does anyone think it might be awesome if they opened tonight's SYTYCD dance with the Thriller routine?

They're already planning an MJ tribute. Getting rights to the songs is complicated.

Two more reasons to dislike the over-hyped, overly-sentimental Mia Michaels:

1. She claimed last night she was only trying to teach Brandon when she said during auditions that she saw through him and that he was no good. How is that a helpful thing for a teacher to say, unaccompanied by advice on how to improve? What actually happened is that MM is too cowardly to admit that she now sees that she was wrong, and that Brandon is likely to go into the final 3.

2. She tweets in ALL CAPS (which is pretty much how she choreographs, too).