So, every year, around this time, something incredible happens. It's an event that unites the world if only for one night, where we all put our trivial worries aside for the greater good.
Of the music industry.
The Idol finale truly is always an event for the ages- the show you watch even if you didn't catch the rest of the season, to watch senile has-beens make a comeback while we user in a new potential star. It's a more watched vote-off than the Presidential Election, a more celebrated glory fest than the Olympics, only beat out in grandeur by the Super Bowl. Barely.
But there's a second half to this great paradigm shift- the annual rebirth of So You Think You Can Dance!!! While many viewers give up on FOX for the rest of 2009, I daresay Dance is far and large one of the most underrated competition shows on television. It's just as compelling, moving, and entertaining as it's predecessor, and a bit more: it offers more variety, more entertainment, less cheese, and overall, it's just more genuine: it's not for superstardom, rather for the love of the dance.
Season four, in short, was absolutely phenomenal, with hip-hopper Joshua Allen battling fantastically through signature SYTYCD styles including Broadway, Samba, Viennese Waltz, Swing, Paso Doble, etc... to win the competition, being the first hip-hop dancer to ever do so. And though he was the deserved favorite, anyone in the top 4 could have taken it. Hell, anyone in the top 10 could have taken it, in a season packed with that much talent- unlike Idol, where the winners are often picked out from the start (especially by Simon Cowell), SYTYCD only allows a few carefree weeks- once you get to the top 10, everyone is a force, it's anyone's game, and one bad week could seriously send you home. It's tough, and a bit unfair, but it's also what keeps you watching.
Four, however, though the setbacks were incredibly outweighed by the amount of sheer talent presented by its cast, hindered from a loss of it's two most influential choreographers: Wade Robson, unable to participate except for the premiere and finale due to a Vegas production, and Shane Sparks, who committed to then-budding offspring America's Best Dance Crew.
With both of those commitments out of the way, however, Robson and Sparks are back, and reunited with an incredible group of some of the greatest choreographers EVER, including Mia Michaels, Mandy Moore, Tyce DiOrio, and married team Tabitha and Napoleon D'umo, season five has a high bar to reach over last year's production. Can it match up? And with season six right on it's heels premiering in the fall (interesting decision, will it pay off? poll for me), will So You Think You Can Dance finally get the respect it deserves?
That's for me to decide. Okay, not literally, but I will be here every week trying to figure that out, by presenting the good, the bad, the ugly, and the (yipes) worse than ugly in my own personal column, coolly titled The So You Think You Can Dance Detox. Every single week expect an article from me discussing the antics, the drama, the competition, and more than anything, the moves, along with my personal predictions as to who's moving on in the competition, and who's... well... just moving on. Last year, though not in article form, I aptly predicted William Wingfield's incredible finale run from the moment I saw his audition tape in the casting episodes. (Okay, he didn't make it, but everyone thought he was going to, judges and all!) And as a dancer myself and an avid fan of the show, hopefully I can provide some insight. Or at least some controversial commentary for you all to bicker over in the comments area.
I'm not exactly new to journalism, i'm actually interning at one of the most popular magazines in the nation this summer, and I'm clearly not new to dance. But I am new to this wonderful place known as Newsvine. Sooo, hopefully you'll join me in this new universe? It's gonna be quite the ride.
