{"id":1315,"date":"2010-06-17T14:22:08","date_gmt":"2010-06-17T18:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/?p=1315"},"modified":"2010-06-17T14:22:08","modified_gmt":"2010-06-17T18:22:08","slug":"1315","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/1315\/","title":{"rendered":"TELEVISION: SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE–SEASON 7"},"content":{"rendered":"

SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE<\/em>–SEASON 7<\/h1>\n

\u3000<\/p>\n

So, I was not planning on commenting on this season of So You Think You Can Dance<\/em> because there are just too many aspects of it that are upsetting to me, and I honestly didn\u2019t want to write them down, even for myself. But then, the competition phase began in earnest last night, and I just couldn\u2019t hold it in any longer.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Mr. X and I used to love this show. We still love the actual dancing<\/em>, but there\u2019s just so little of it in the two-hour broadcasts. The judges, led by the oh-so-full-of-himself Nigel Lythgoe, are even more into hearing their own voices than ever. They seem like kids in high school who just want to show others that they\u2019re really good pals with someone, so they play to each other more than to the audience or, worse, to the kids who have actually just worked their asses off dancing for all of us! So rude.<\/p>\n

And the annoying host, Cat Deeley, has become even more of a caricature of a 1950s over-the-top British \u201cpresenter\u201d (talk show host) than ever. She made some extra-weird faces last night that Martin Short\u2019s characters would be jealous of. And continuing to make the audience say \u201cjudges\u201d for her because she makes believe that she can\u2019t pronounce the word is so insulting to people of normal intelligence who watch. (And the producers should assume that since it\u2019s basically a program about an actual \u201cart,\u201d that the viewers are a tad more cultured than the norm. Oh well.)<\/p>\n

There are several awful \u201cinnovations\u201d this season, but first let\u2019s talk about that they kept the worst one they introduced last season–the bigger stage and auditorium. It was annoying then, and still is. In the first five seasons, the show had such a cozy feel to it, with the small-ish stage and studio. We got to see the dancers perform up-close and personal, and felt like we were part of the action. We cared about them, which is hard to do now that they\u2019re so far away. It\u2019s such a shame, as this season has possibly the best actual dancers they\u2019ve ever had.<\/p>\n

And while we\u2019re on that subject, I hate that the producers want it to be more about personality than actual dance ability. Thank goodness that Rudolf Nureyev, Margot Fonteyn, and Alvin Ailey didn\u2019t have to pass tests like this in order for the world to get to witness their brilliance!<\/p>\n

But back to this humongous stage. I understand that they want bigger in-house audiences to make the show look more popular, but they lose so much of what made these short performances extra-special. One or two people dancing on an empty giant stage just doesn\u2019t cut it for TV, visually.<\/p>\n

And making matters much, much worse is the new director, Nikki Parsons. I\u2019m glad they let us know up-front that it was a different person than the other seasons, or I would have thought that the original director had just lost his mind!<\/p>\n

Directing a dance show is so much different than directing any other type of show; there should be little, or no, camera movement because it conflicts with the movement of the dancers that our brains are trying to decipher. Plus, seeing the whole body, especially the feet, is of paramount importance. This new woman is cutting them off at the feet, moving the camera all around the dancers, which is just insane(!), and doing the basic Camera Work 101 technique of starting in close and then pulling back\u2026while they\u2019re dancing!!! And she also keeps showing us them from the back and the side, which is not what the dances are choreographed to show!!! I\u2019ve never felt farther removed from the dancers than I do this season. Those poor kids are getting screwed, in every which way. Mr. X and I are both dancers from way back, and we are just in pain the whole time, which makes us want to stop watching the show, period. We can\u2019t be the only ones, so someone needs to teach that woman how to direct, pronto.<\/p>\n

The second worst new wrinkle this season, (after hiring that new director,) is the use of former contestants, labeled the \u201cAll-Stars.\u201d None of them won their season, some didn\u2019t even make the Top 10, and some, like Comfort, were continually put-down by the judges. (Comfort was so not-good that she got voted off\u2026twice<\/em>!) So, how are they \u201call-stars?\u201d<\/p>\n

Plus, we\u2019re already familiar with those dancers, so we\u2019re busy watching them<\/em>, discussing how they\u2019ve changed (or not) and often don\u2019t remember to watch the actual new<\/em> contestant until just when their number is over. The old ones, in many cases, are just trying to be seen themselves, so, outside of Anya, Allison, and especially Pasha last night, they were definitely not trying to help out the newbies. What a dumb, no-pay-off idea!<\/p>\n

And then, the poor kid has to stand there and face the judges alone, without a partner to lean on. The whole concept sucks, except for getting to see Alex\u00a0Wong and Allison Holker, two of the best dancers ever, perform the second best number the show has ever produced. (The breast cancer routine from two seasons ago, danced by Ade and Melissa, is still #1 In my book.)<\/p>\n

The one bad feature of the show that never changes is that the judges just won\u2019t criticize the choreography, no matter how weak it is. The judges and choreographers are all associates of the show and each other, so instead, they tell the poor kids that they should have come up with the parts they weren\u2019t given, and other baloney like that!<\/p>\n

It\u2019s so unfair. Alex gets one of the best choreographed pieces ever, while poor Billy Bell, who\u2019s been waiting for this opportunity since he got sick before the first show last time around, gets stuck with an inane Broadway number, with the dullest former contestant ever, Lauren. Not even close to fair. I understand those are the rules of the show, and just like life itself, the whole concept isn\u2019t \u201cfair,\u201d but you\u2019d like it to be a little easier to compare abilities in a talent show.<\/p>\n

But, with the yin comes the yang, not matter how unequal the equation might be, and in the \u201cfabulous\u201d department, we did finally get to see Alex\u00a0Wong dance a whole number, and it was worth waiting a year for. (He\u2019s the guy who made the Top 20 last summer, but couldn\u2019t get out of his professional contract. Now we understand just why Edward Villella, the director of the Miami City Ballet, didn\u2019t want to lose him!) Our mouths were hanging open in this house. I kept telling Mr. X that the judges need to tell Alex that they\u2019re honored to have him on the show. Surprisingly, Mia Michaels did say something to that effect, only not enough, in my opinion.<\/p>\n

And, I have a feeling Alex won\u2019t even wind-up winning! I\u2019m just about positive it will be farm boy, Kent, whom I actually love; I was smiling from ear-to-ear during his whole giving-it-his-all ballroom number with Anya, who could have looked like his mother, but actually didn\u2019t, due to the overall happiness of their performance. He\u2019s the only one my non-dance-knowledgeable pals have mentioned to me, so he will definitely get the plebian vote. You know he\u2019s getting the Middle American vote!<\/p>\n

So, most of the awfulness, such as the stage, the partner situation, Cat Deely, and the creepy judges (except that Adam Shankman is funny sometimes,) can not be changed for this season. But please, let\u2019s hope they change directors before Mr. X breaks the TV. And then I\u2019d miss all my opportunities to complain about the show!<\/p>\n

\u3000<\/p>\n

\u3000<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE–SEASON 7 \u3000 So, I was not planning on commenting on this season of So You Think You Can Dance because there are just too many aspects of it that are upsetting to me, and I honestly didn\u2019t want to write them down, even for myself. But then, the competition<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-television"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1315\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}