Simple Man Entertainment

Most of you already know that I’m a sucker for anything related to dance. I’m a fan of the arts – especially music and dance. When a show combines the two, you usually get some form of magic that is incredible to watch (unless of course you have to watch David Hasselhoff on Dancing with the Stars).

One new show that just premiered this past week is “Live to Dance,” headed up by Paula Abdul. Since it was related to dance, I decided to give it a watch and see if it was any good. Along with well known Abdul (you’ve seen her on American Idol trying to keep Simon in line and never succeeding) two other judges are a part of the show. Travis Payne is another dance expert that sits as a judge, and he definitely has the credentials to judge dancers with his history of being a professional dancer and choreographer to none other than the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. The last judge is Kimberly Wyatt, singer and dancer with the well known Pussycat Dolls.

This show is all about dancers who truly “live to dance.” Dancers are encouraged to show off their talents in the “dome” and there is no age limit or particular type of dance required. From tango, to tap, to hip hop, or ballet, anything goes in this competition. Auditions were held already in New York City and in Los Angeles and judges sent many home and kept a few around to compete for chance to be in the semi finals and later the finals. Up for grabs is the title of “Live to Dance” champion as well as $500,000, which isn’t a shabby prize at all.

So, the question is, was I impressed? Actually, I was impressed and it surprised even me. I was expecting the show to be a lame version of American Idol (as you can tell, I’m not a fan), but I was pleasantly surprised. What really caught my attention was the huge diversity of dancers that showed up to audition. From 5 to 90+, there were dancers of every age. Almost every style you can think of was represented as well.

Of course, some of the dancing was laughable. Then, there were dancers that were stunning. Several of them caught my attention. Probably one of the most inspirational was a hearing impaired teen who really brought the house down with her b-girl style talent. While she didn’t make the cut, she definitely grabbed the hearts of everyone in that audience.

Another group that caught my attention was a family of five kids, with the smallest of the five introducing herself as “B-Girl Precious Moments.” Their dancing was incredible, “Precious Moments” was adorable, and their story was heartwarming. This family lived in their car for some time and when they did get a house, they actually converted the entire house into a dance studio/community center to teach dance to kids in the community. This family definitely lives to dance!

A popper performed one act that was truly magical. His moves were fresh and crisp. However, what really grabbed me is that his moves were telling the story of the music. I believe he created a new style of dance – Lyrical Popping (no doubt someone will steal my term in the next few months…so remember, you saw it here first).

These are only a few of the incredible dancers that were seen on this show. Some routines made you laugh, others made you hold your breath, and some almost brought tears to your eyes with their beauty. When dancers can touch your heart, something special is happening, which makes me wonder why so many people have a problem with dancing (but that’s a topic for another blog).

I’m looking forward to seeing what else “Live to Dance” has to offer in the future. In any event, it should give me a dose of dance until “So You Think You Can Dance” comes back this summer.

This past Thursday marked the 100th episode of So You Think You Can Dance and the show was definitely an excellent one start to finish. They had three award winning routines that were performed on the show over the span of the last five years as well as a guest performance by Katie Holmes. Unfortunately Katie did not perform in front of the studio audience, but the performance was excellent to watch.

There were also a lot of the alumni from the shows past seasons in the studio audience last night both dancers and choreographers. With all of the goings on in last nights show it really made for a carnival/good time feeling and a great celebration of the shows 100th episode. Although one male and one female dancer were ultimately cut it really didn’t do anything at all to darken the mood of anyone at last nights show.

As usual the show started off with a group routine danced by the Top 8. The routine was choreographed by Mia Michaels who is a choreographer that has been with the show since it started. The routine was danced to the song “One” from A Chorus Line and was a very entertaining piece. Mia is a choreographer who likes to use props in her routines and the use of mirrors in this one was a very good visual for the audience.

After the opening routine it was time for Kat to bring out the Top 4 female dancers and find out who was and wasn’t safe. I have to tell you that I was a little bit surprised by the voting results and the make up of the bottom 4 last night. For the gals Kayla and Janette were in the bottom 2, which did not surprise me. I always seem to be expecting Kayla to be in the bottom and cut.

After the commercial break the first guest routine of the evening was performed. The routine is called Hummingbird and Flower and was performed by alumni Hok and Jaime to the song “The Chairman’s Waltz from Memoirs of a Geisha. This routine was choreographed by Wade Robson form a previous season as well as for tonight and it was easy to see why he won an Emmy for this routine the first time.

After Wades routine Kat Deeley brought out the Top 4 male dancers in order to find out who wound up in the bottom 4 last night and this is where I was surprised. The 2 guys who were in the bottom were Jason and Brandon. Jason being in the bottom did not surprise me probably because I am used to seeing him there. However seeing Brandon in the bottom was a great surprise, which shows that the fans don’t always get it right.

The next guest routine was called The Bench and was performed by show alumni Travis and Heidi who happen to be cousins also. The routine was choreographed by Mia Michaels in a previous show as well as last night and was performed to the song “:Calling You” by Celine Dion. Mia Michaels won an Emmy for this very powerful routine and it definitely deserved the award as far as I’m concerned.

When the show returned to air after Mia’s routine we got to see the dancers in the bottom 4 perform their solos again. While all four dancers are extremely talented and danced their solos incredibly well I found that the solos performed by both Brandon and Janette to be the better two solos of the four. As I said the solos were incredible and I was not lacking for entertainment watching them again,

After the soloists were done with their performances it was time for the last guest routine of the night. The routine was called Ramalama and was performed to the song Ramalama also. The song was done by Roisin Murphy and the routine was choreographed by Wade Robson. This was a very odd looking routine and reminiscent of Michael Jackson’s thriller, which is no surprise since MJ gave Wade his big break.

Of course once all of lat night’s festivities were over it was time to get down to the results that everyone was eagerly anticipating and that was who is going home. I have to tell you that the final results of this part of the show surprised me somewhat too, but at the end of the night two have to go. The two dancers who found themselves going home were Jason and Janette, and it was Jeanette’s leaving that surprised me.

Well that’s all on So You Think You Can Dance for now on Simple Man Entertainment but we will be back next week for the Top 6 show and the results. I hope you all enjoy the videos and have a fantastic weekend my friends CIAO4NOW!!!!!