So You Think You Can Dance, S5 Top 10 + eliminations

[oyceter]

Oh show, I love you, but sometimes...

Similarly, I love Wade Robson's choreography (I'm unsure if the addition of Amanda Robson's name is one of those "she was choreographing the entire time and should get credit" or if she just started co-choreographing), but dude. Orientalism galore! I've only seen it once right now, so I can't say if I would have been as bothered by the choreography alone or if it was really the costuming and set that was really annoying.

But honestly! The straw hats. The random semi-kimono-like outfits. The stupid red lighting. GRAH.

In other news, Nigel continues to be a jerk, and I really wish he would stop those comments about Mary. I am hoping the last time she got very offended and he'll stop, but who knows.

I was extremely glad the Bollywood number Wed. night did not include people using random names for mudras, although I am still weirded out by calling the outfits "costumes" and the general appropriative look of it. At least they did bring in Amrapali Ambegaokar in one of the results shows earlier, although I think she is hyphenate, not sourcelander?

And it seems like they have brought in someone who specializes in African dance (legitimate category? One that obscures a more specific style? I do not know) to choreograph, thank god. With no animal metaphors! I am also hoping that Nigel feeling find calling out Evan's whiteness doesn't mean stupid race comments later.

Results-wise: Wow, I can't believe it's the top ten already! I am still so sad Asuka and Karla got cut, and I'm really sad about Kupono as well. And how does this show always seem to end up with a lot of men of color dancing with mostly white women and one woman of color? I think this is the third season with demographics like this!

And I don't know if it's me or what, but this year I am not feeling quite as attached to any of the dancers, although I overall like all of them much more. Um. Except Evan. I keep feeling like he is not as good as some of the other guys but gets through because the crowd loves him. Right now, I am hoping for Janette and Brandon and Ade in the final, and I can't decide on the other girl.

Comments

[chi-zu.livejournal.com]

I actually don't mind referring to what they wear in the ethnic routines as "costumes." Everything they wear on the show is a costume and what they wear in a Bollywood number is as much a fantasia based on an actual sari/dhoti/lengha/what-have-you as a Latin ballroom dress is a riff on an actual cocktail dress.

I'll grant that they muddy the waters by always pointing out Kupono's "outfits," but in this case I take more issue with the term "outfit." It's a costume. I don't care how crazily he dresses in real life, he's put it on specifically for his performance. It's a costume, not an outfit.

I also took more issue with the proclamation that Nakul made Bollywood fresh and hip when it's a huge cultural force that is incredibly alive, vital, and contemporary, just not necessarily in the States. From my understanding of it, Bollywood (if one can even call it a style) is a popular take on/development of Indian classical dance. It could be seen as an equivalent to hip hop within the Indian culture. So to imply that it has been updated and made newly "cool" just felt ignorant and careless to me.

I minded seeing Karla go, because I thought she was a good dancer, but I didn't care for Asuka. There was something that felt fake-y about her performance style to me. Very disingenuous. I thought that she and Vitolio were well-paired in that regard.

My parents got me hooked on the show! I am obsessed!

chi-zu

[glass_icarus]

i have not been keeping up with sytycd recently, but:

1. i did see the bollywood group dance on youtube today. my basic reaction was DDDDDD:! (which was still better than my reaction to the previous bollywood routine with that one couple, ugh ugh ugh.) i think what bothered me more than the appropriative look (the skin color of the remaining dancers being pretty much out of our control) was the practice clip: the choreographer was pretty clearly NOT a bollywood choreographer, or someone i would expect to have extensive knowledge about the style. i haven't exactly watched a ton of bollywood movies, but from my limited understanding: isn't bollywood dance often informed by various traditional dance forms? don't the choreographers tend to draw on those styles in addition to hiphop influence when creating dances? i'm no expert, but i didn't see very much similarity between the dances i've seen before and that routine.

2. i did not realize that Karla was cut! SADNESS; she is made of fabulous. re: Asuka, though- i dance ballroom, and she wasn't sterling to begin with, in technique OR in ballroom!attitude. i could name at least ten girls on my ballroom team who could muster up more fierceness than that! her v-waltz was pretty, but nowhere near breathtaking. (granted, i have very high standards, as someone who used to compete on the east coast collegiate circuit & has plenty of friends dancing at top amateur levels. call it new york city snobbery? ;P) i dunno. i liked some of the stuff that i saw from her, but i was never moved by her dancing, whereas watching Karla was like a punch to the gut, every single time.

... wow, this was longer and more involved than i expected to get on either point, sorry about the babbling! *g*

[quivo]

(legitimate category? One that obscures a more specific style? I do not know)
Wildish guess, I'm thinking "African dance" is definitely a sort of big bin that tons of specific styles get put in, i.e. I know each of the main tribes in Nigeria have their own specific styles, and that's just Nigeria on its own. This isn't something I imagine the creators of SYTYCD really grasp, though. So when they say "African dance" on this show, I never quite know what I am going to see.

This time, the choreographer brought out very Nigerian-feeling stuff and mixed it in with fun macho moves. Their costumes were surprisingly distracting to me--the dance styles I am familiar with are very prop-and-costume-y, and it didn't look quite right for them to be in those pants and nothing else. I still liked their routine, but.