And America's Favorite Dancer is...
Posted: Friday, August 08, 2008 by Travis Cody in
At the end of this post is the name of America's Favorite Dancer for 2008. In between here and there, I have tons of stuff! Bring your lunch!
Let's start with some encores from last night.
Here is the Foxtrot from Katee & Twitch. His technique is flawed, but he makes up for it with charm and personality. Katee is stunning. And check that lift at the end!
Each dancer had five routines to learn and practice for Wednesday, plus whatever dances they were asked to do on Thursday night. The boys really kicked it into high gear on this Russian Trepak.
Wade Robson returned this week to make a beautiful lyrical dance for Katee & Joshua.
So just to recap...
We started months ago with thousands of hopefuls. Twenty dancers emerged in Las Vegas. Ten of those dancers will go on tour this fall. And four performed on Wednesday for America's votes.
One of these four will be America's Favorite Dancer...Courtney Galiano, Stephen "Twitch" Boss, Katee Shean, Joshua Allen.
Let's celebrate! Who's got CAKE?
It's a full panel of judges with Mia Michaels, Adam Shankman, Debbie Allen, Lil C, and the regulars Nigel Lythgoe and Mary Murphy. Adam announces that the winner will earn a role in the third Step Up movie.
The Top 20 returns, minus Jessica who is still recovering from a rib injury, dancing a Shane Sparks hip hop routine.
Nigel selects the Bollywood number as one of his favorite dances this season.
Mary chooses the Rumba from Courtney and Gev. I think this was the first time Pam and I really began to appreciate Courtney.
Now we have a pop off between Robert Murraine and Philip Chbeeb. Philip had to withdraw before Vegas due to illness, and Robert withdrew from Vegas prior to trying the choreography. Wow. That was amazing. So who's better?
We can't choose because they were both outstanding. Judges say Philip was more musical, but Robert was more dramatic. Here's how the judges voted.
Philip - Mia
Robert - Adam, Debbie, Nigel, Mary, Lil C
I don't know how well either of those kids would have done with the demands of choreography on this show, but they sure did give us a new appreciation for popping.
Adam chooses as his favorite the hip hop from Comfort & Twitch by Dave Scott.
Lil C wants to see the hip hop from Chelsie and Mark by Tabitha & Napoleon. This is one of our favorites too.
Whoa! Mary Murhpy takes the stage with Dimitry from season 2 in a sexy Samba. I remember she said she wanted a chance to dance with him. That was fun! And I gotta figure out where I should write to get Dancing with the Stars to invite Dimitry on the show as a pro partner.
Mia says this season had the best choreography of any season, and she selects the Pas de Deux from Katee and Will by Desmond Richardson and Dwight Rhoden. This is simply stunning. And Will gets to dance it for his mentor, Debbie Allen. Beautiful.
Adam has to choose another dance to follow that Pas de Deux. He selects the jazz piece by Sonya, danced by Courtney and Mark. This was such a perfect style for Mark...it took his quirkiness and let it shine.
Oh drat! We've been having so much fun that I almost forgot why we're here. We have to cut down from 4 to 3. The first person out is Courtney. We think she grew the most of any dancer this season. She has an incredible career in front of her.
The Top 5 guys reprise the dance choreographed by Nigel to the tune Five Guys Named Mo.
Cirque du Soleil is in the house, from the cast of Criss Angel Believe and choreographed by Wade Robson. That's what he's been doing this season instead of making dances for the Top 20...being brilliant in Las Vegas.
Oh no! Now we're cutting down to the Final 2. Whoa! Katee is out. A hip hop dancer is going to win this show! Whoa! That's shocking. Either one of those boys deserves to win, but I think Katee is the best dancer in the Top 4.
But this show is about America's favorite. There's no predicting how America will vote.
Now how cool is that! As the top finishing girl, Katee won $50,000! That's fantastic!
Joshua or Twitch. Twitch or Joshua. Props to the two free style street dancers who haven't had the formal training. But guess what? They are dancers and they danced. They were charming and talented and charismatic. And they entertained us. And we picked up the phone and voted for them. And that's what this show is.
Well done gentlemen!
Debbie Allen praises how the show evolved this season, from the new dance styles to the introduction of innovative choreography. And now we have dancers from the Debbie Allen Dance Academy, with Nigel up there tapping with the kids, lest we forget that Mr Curmudgeon actually is a real dancer. And that choreography wasn't slowed down in the slightest when he got up there either.
That was terrific! You have to search that out on youtube. And Adam says he wants to take Nigel on next season, while Debbie suggests that every judge on the panel should dance at some point in the season. I say yes!
Now Mary selects another favorite dance, the hip hop from Katee and Twitch choreographed by Mia.
The Jonas Brothers are on stage. I don't get the appeal of these kids. I think the next time one of them sings a note in tune will be the first time.
Ooops...sorry to any fans of The Jonas Brothers who may be reading.
Let's get back to some more favorite dances. Debbie selects the Viennese Waltz from Kherington and Twitch by Jean Marc Genereaux. This is our favorite dance of the season...mine and Pam's together.
Nigel selects the final favorite routine, a dance made by Tabitha & Napoleon. They emerged as one of the most innovative choreographers this season, joining Wade and Mia and Tyce in making brilliant dances for brilliant dancers. This is Katee and Joshua from the very first week.
We have a great interlude with some dancers from the previous three seasons. This is cool because it isn't easy to see these kids again. That makes me smile to see the past performers on stage with the current Top 20.
I love dance.
And now we're down to it. The dancing is over and it's time to find out who wins.
Joshua or Twitch. Twitch or Joshua. Which free style street dancer will it be?
Congratulations to Twitch for making it to the Final Two.
America's Favorite Dancer is Joshua Allen!
Best. Season. Ever.
i was hoping there would be cake!!!
smiles, bee
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo