I walked into the room where my wife was watching the American program So You Think You Can Dance - sort of an American Idol for dancers as opposed to singers. To my amazement, one of the American teams, Joshua and Katee - an African-American and an Asian-American - were performing a highly emotive, kick-ass Bollywood number to to Hindi music. The song was Dhoom Taana from the Bollywood picture Om Shanti Om. This was ground-breaking fun for an otherwise cheesy television show. I loved the whole idea and was pleasantly surprised to see another of my favorite blogs, Salon's How the World Works writing about it as well. YouTube.
I walked into the room where my wife was watching the American program So You Think You Can Dance - sort of an American Idol for dancers as opposed to singers. To my amazement, one of the American teams, Joshua and Katee - an African-American and an Asian-American - were performing a highly emotive, kick-ass Bollywood number to to Hindi music. The song was Dhoom Taana from the Bollywood picture Om Shanti Om. This was ground-breaking fun for an otherwise cheesy television show. I loved the whole idea and was pleasantly surprised to see another of my favorite blogs, Salon's How the World Works writing about it as well. YouTube.
http://www.fox.com/dance/
On an unrelated note, since I don't watch the show. Does the middle judge always scream like a banshee when she's really excited or pleased about something. Cause after awhile that would be pretty annoying to hear on a regular basis.
And the dancers have 6 days to learn each new routine, at least 3 routines a week.
I'm a huge fan of this show, I think dance is an almost forgotten art these days, and not enough people are still even aware of it any more. There is on particular piece on this show, a waltz by Twitch and Kherington, that makes me cry every time due to the story behind the routine.
Bollywood was a new format for the show, and Josh and Katie rocked it, I'm not even sure how many times I've seen the routine now, but I still love it. here's hoping there's lots more to come from Nakul!
but she'd be a lot more covered up.
Well, I quit watching when the judges started talking.
Anywho, I don't think it's surprising that they didn't know what Bollywood was. I hadn't heard of it until a few years ago. Can't even remember how I heard of it :P
Anywho.. blahblahblah
SO happy Joshua and Katee are getting so much attention b/c of this routine. They're a great pairing on the show :)
I love these judges (and the ones on Dancing With the Stars). They run the show as if it were a professional audition situation, they give honest critiques, they're never snarky, they always acknowledge the choreographers, they're quick to tell what they liked about a performance, and if they don't like a performance, they not only tell the contestant exactly why they don't like it, but then they give constructive advice on how to improve the contestant's future performance.
Speaking of choreographers, the first season's winner (Benji) is one of this season's choreographers. I think that's beyond awesome.
As far as I'm concerned, So You Think You Can Dance and Dancing With the Stars are the only two REAL reality shows on TV. The rest are a bunch of hyped-up, mean-spirited, artificial rivalries, dirty tricks, gross-outs, and a lot of humiliation. (As a sometime professional singer, I won't go anywhere near American Idol; even the winners stink.)
Oddly enough, it was a "100% guy" who got me into watching the dance competitions. He first tuned in because he liked the women's costumes. ("What? You mean there are men on the stage too?" OK, I'm the same way about the men, although I think the women look pretty cool too =grin=) Then he decided the dancing was pretty amazing too, and he's become a real dance aficionado. Our housemates ROFL because we yell and cheer like a couple of drunken fratboys at a bowl game.
That said, these judges rock. Whereas American Idol judges tend to not know what the hell they're talking about (except maybe Randy), the SYTYCD judges are supremely experienced in both dancing and the dancing industry. Their critiques are usually very constructive to the dancers and informative to those of us not familiar with dance.
I find it a bit snarky of Adam, having never actually seen the show, to regard it as cheesy, yet be impressed enough with the one dance he has seen to post it here.
Do a youtube search on Robert Muraine. Some insane hip-hop dance right there, courtesy of this "otherwise cheesy" show.
Monday, learn group performance.
Tuesday, film show.
Wednesday, practice group for Thursdays live show.
Thursday, film show.
Friday, learn pairs' performance.
Saturday, practice.
Sunday, off.
So really they get two days to practice these extremely elaborate routines, with what little free time in between to steal away and practice.
Mary Murphy and Mia Michaels last season ruined the show for me, I've seen every show until this season, which I watched the try outs and finally said I'd had enough of those two annoyances and now I watch reruns of Family Guy. Maybe next season, I'll give it another go.
http://www.martialdevelopment.com/blog/so-you-think-you-can-dance/
What's insane is how well they do almost every time, and in styles they're not familiar with.
Great show.
It really is a fantastic show. I wish people would be more open-minded about it, but then most people really don't understand the difficulty and complexity of dance.
Benji is not the first season winner. Benji was on the 2nd season of SYTYCD.
The winner of the 1st season is Nick Lazzarini
As for Mia, you either love her or hate her. Personally, I find her brilliant. to each their own.