Dancers and writers

Posted: Thursday, July 26, 2007 by Travis Cody in
15

I made some progress visiting blogs last night, but I'm still pretty far behind. Bear with me while I catch up.

Those of you who are here to see another list of authors, just scroll on down past the dancing review. I think Thursday is big enough for both.



Judges tonight are Mary Murphy, the evil Nigel Lithgow, and the Emmy nominated Mia Michaels.

These are the 10 dancers that will be on the summer tour – Jaimie Goodwin, Dominic Sandoval, Sara VonGillern, Pasha Kovalev, Lauren Gottlieb, Neil Haskell, Sabra Johnson, Kameron Bink, Lacey Schwimmer, Danny Tidwell.

The judges no longer have the ability to save anyone. Tonight each dancer will dance the same peace-themed solo choreographed by Emmy nominated Wade Robson. The voting will now be for each individual dancer, and the guy and gal with the least amount of votes will be out.

As for pairs, the dancers are picking styles and partners out of hats now, splitting up the partnerships they have had through five weeks of competition.

To review, each dancer has the same Wade Robson solo and a partner dance. Then America votes for their favorites.

Lauren (contemporary jazz) and Pasha (ballroom) dance hip hop choreographed by Shane Sparks. That was really cool choreography. I expected Pasha to have trouble with it, but he really did well. I didn’t expect him to be that versatile. Lauren is terrific at this. They had fantastic chemistry and energy.

Jaimie dances her peace solo. I love the way she moves and controls her body. She is technically very good and her lines are so extended and polished.

Dominic dances his peace solo. This kid is so talented and he improves every week. He had great emotion and drama in that interpretation. He’s not the best dancer but he connects with voters, and this is about America’s favorite dancer.


Sabra (contemporary) and Kameron (contemporary hip hop) dance contemporary choreographed by Tyce Diorio. Kameron has become a tremendous partner and I really appreciate that about his dancing, but he’s really not stepping up as an individual. Sabra is able to shine as both a partner and an individual within the dance. She made that so joyous.

Sara dances her peace solo. This seemed like a manic interpretation. It was an angry dance.

Pasha dances his peace solo. Pasha is one of our favorites. He struggled with the expression of emotion. He’s been shining as a partner but on his own, not so much.


Lacey (swing and Latin) and Danny (classical ballet) dance Samba choreographed by Dimitry Chaplin, a finalist from last season. Sorry, can’t tell you a thing about Danny. Lacey was HAWT! This is her specialty – she’s a Latin champion. And she was fantastic. Wow that was impressive. Her technique is brilliant and her performance was dead on perfect. I’m no longer concerned for Danny in this competition. In fact, neither winning nor losing on this show is going to impact his career – he’s going to dance professionally for a long time.

Lauren dances her peace solo. Her movement was sharp, precise, and clean. Since that bad solo a few weeks ago, she has really improved in her preparation and commitment.

Neil dances his peace solo. He just seems to be able to hang in the air. His movement is controlled, but he’s still able to bring passion to it.

Sabra dances her peace solo. Her love for what she’s doing comes across in her movement. In this piece she danced with hope.

Kameron dances his peace solo. I looked for the deficiencies the judges pointed out, and I can see where his movement isn’t extended. He doesn’t finish what he’s doing before he moves on to the next step. But I thought he danced this with emotion.


Jaimie (contemporary) and Dominic (break dancer) dance Viennese Waltz choreographed by Toni Redpath. Her extension combined with his charm should make for a very good pair. Unfortunately this wasn’t a proper Viennese Waltz. It’s not really their fault because of the choices by the choreographer. The judges hated it. This was definitely tough for them. They didn’t have the technique and it was over-performed.

Lacey dances her peace solo. She’s versatile and strong and fantastic at everything she tries.

Danny dances his peace solo. He fills the stage. He is talented and technically brilliant.


Sara (break dancer) and Neil (contemporary) dance Disco choreographed by Doriana Sanchez. Disco isn’t my favorite style and I wish they would ditch it. I didn’t like the choreography and I didn’t like either one of their performances. The judges liked it.

Here are my rankings. I’m including my impressions from the whole season, as well as tonight’s performances.

1. Danny
2. Lacey
3. Sabra
4. Lauren
5. Neil
6. Jamie
7. Pasha
8. Dominic
9. Sara
10. Kameron

Some of my favorites have moved down the list. On the results show tonight we’ll see where the fans are falling. They won’t rank the dancers, but we’ll see who is connecting on their own with voters, and who may have benefited from a strong partner who was connecting enough for the pair in previous weeks.



Here's my quick hit Thursday 13 list of authors. For previous lists, click here.

1. Katherine Kurtz with Deborah Turner Harris - The Adept, The Lodge of the Lynx, the Templar Treasure, Dagger Magic
2. Katherine Kurtz with Scott MacMillan - Knights of the Blood
3. Stephen R. Lawhead - Taliesin
4. John LeCarre - The Russia House
5. Gaston Leroux - The Phantom of the Opera
6. C.S. Lewis - Chronicles of Narnia
7. Edward Linn - The Adversaries
8. Elizabeth A. Lynn - Watchtower, The Darkness of Arun
9. H.P. Lovecraft - At the Mountains of Madness
10. Robert Ludlum - The Apocalypse Watch, The Aquitaine Progression, The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum, The Chancellor Manuscript, The Gemini Contender, The Holcroft Covenant, The Icarus Agenda, The Matarese Circle, The Matlock Paper, The Osterman Weekend, The Parsifal Mosaic, The Road to Gandolfo
11. R.A. MacAvoy - The Book of Kells
12. Betty MacDonald - The Egg and I
13. T.J. MacGregor - Storm Surge

Thanks for hanging in there with me!

15 comments:

  1. Danielle says:

    I don't have my TT up yet, but had to comment.

    The Chronicles of Narnia and my fifth grade teacher Mrs. Randolph were instrumental in developing my imagination and writing.

    She used to every day after lunch read to the class without any assignments attached. The only rule was no sleeping. We got through the whole series during that school year.

    My eldest is 6 and we've given it a go but it is a tad bit advanced. I think I will try again.

    The movie that was recently made was alright but nothing can compare to the complete experience of the book.

    You know I don't do the dancing shows but your commentary is excellent. Really top notch!

    As always...

  1. can't speak to the dance show....but one boring summer day btween sixth and seventh grade I was forced to read the only book I could find, the Materese Circle. (I'd blown thru all the Nancy Drews) From that day on I have never been without a book.

  1. Julie says:

    Oh Travis this was a good review. I enjoyed the show last night also. It's always a wonderful escape from reality.

  1. More books...my gosh man...I really wish I had not gotten rid of so many when I just moved....

  1. Schmoop says:

    You'd think Ludlum could have put out more books during his career!! Cheers...

  1. Shelby says:

    haven't seen the dance show either - but I enjoyed reading this..

    p.s. i'm a fan of Mr. Hicks too - 'specially since he's from my town!!! love love love

    I saw him do his live event in our city park the few days before the final show - that morning before I saw him was one of the worst days of my life.. but a friend of mine convinced me to go with her to the park to see him and my mood SOARED after that.. it was a great day

    * * going around in circles * *

  1. Trav,

    My have to check out some of the books listed as Kaitlin loves to read. I believe she has read The Chronicles of Narnia. I'm not a reader myself or a fan of that dance show... yup, I tend to lead a boring life ... ;-)

  1. Sandee says:

    Wow, I'm going to have to read one of your reads. I didn't recognise one author. Yikes. Have a great day Travis. :)

  1. I really love Lacey and I think she'll win it all! *crossing fingers* Happy TT!

  1. JAM says:

    I have always loved Robert Ludlum's books. They all have certain characteristics that the critics seem to not like, but I loved them all. Except for the final one that was finished by someone else, his son I think. I couldn't read that, it wasn't very good.

    I hate to ask more of you, but you might put a simple rating out there for us to see. I'm always on the prowl for new authors, and a simple: sci-fi, C+ genre and rating would help me. I know, I'm evil, asking for more after that massive post. But I guess I can be difficult like other folks from time to time.

  1. You keep bringing up oldies but goodies for me - "Watchtower, The Darkness of Arun"

  1. Anonymous says:

    Happy TT, Trav!

  1. Danielle: I remember there was a live action series for Narnia, but I can't recall the details of the series. It's not one of my favorite books, but I do find it charming.

    Katherine: I was a Hardy Boys kid. My "book of no return" was The Hobbit. I was always a reader, but when I read that book I was off and really running.

    Julie: I think with all the dancers performing the same choreographed solo, you get a real clear idea of who the better dancers are.

    V: I get a pain when the words "books" and "gotten rid of" are in the same vacinity.

    Matt: If only he'd been more prolific eh? LOL!

    Shelby: Wooooooooooooo for Taylor!! I knew you had class.

    Dix: Not boring, just different interests. That's great that Kaitlin is a reader.

    Comedy: After I finish with my Harry Potter mania, I need to figure out what my to read list is. I've got a stack of books that have been waiting for me.

    Joely: Lacey is one of our favorites too, along with Pasha. But we don't think Pasha can win.

    Jam: Ludlum tends to get a little wordy, and he wants to tell the reader every last detail so you stay right in the central story. There's very little room to go off on a tanget. I like your suggestion and I'll see if I can remember to do it next week.

    Lara: It's been ages since I read those two.

  1. Lisa Ryan says:

    I love the way you write about dancing! brings me right there. and I love the chronicles of narnia and all robert ludlum. thanks again for sharing the list, I'll be reading.

  1. I've read several of these. I need to copy the rest. Thanks for the list. :)