Danielle Blog

So You Think You Can Dance 2008 tour

I saw the 2008 tour of So You Think You Can Dance on Sunday.  It was incredible.  It is so amazing to see them on stage and realize that it is really them – the dancers from the TV show that I admired for a season.

One announcement right at the beginning was disturbing.  Katee announced that she was injured and wouldn’t be dancing.  The entire audience groaned in disappointment, of course, since she was the best female dancer of season 4.   I think we all quickly realized that the door routine and the Iraq/No Air routine wouldn’t be the same without her.  However, I was pleasantly surprised, because they had Kherington sub in for Katee on the door routine, and she was great at it.  AND the No Air routine was the one right before the finale, since it was such a key routine during the season, and Katee actually came out and danced for that one.  I was really glad that she was well enough to dance that number, because it was fantastic to see her and Joshua dancing together again.

As for the rest of the show, it started off with some great hip-hop including the escaped convicts routine with Kherington and Twitch.  Later in the night, we saw the hip-hop routine with Twitch and Comfort that premiered on the night she took Jessica’s place after Jessica was injured.  It was probably the routine of the night that most got the crowd going, because they got the crowd clapping and swaying their arms.  We also saw the detention routine with Comfort and Mark which was also very high energy.

Some of the highlights of the show were the briefcase routine with Chelsie and Mark.  The weirdo Garden routine with Mark and Courtney was very emotional.  The bed routine with Kherington and Twitch was dramatic.  The waltz with Kherington and Twitch was so graceful.  The Adam and Eve routine by Jessica and Will was just incredible and sexy.  And Will’s body!  Wow. The jive with Chelsie and someone else was terrific.  She is just amazing when it comes to most of the dances.  She really puts a lot of energy into  her kicks and  leg movements.  And of course, the swiveling of her hips.

The solos could’ve been longer.  I think the introduction of each person was longer than the actual dancing.  Some of them looked like they were putting more energy into their solos than others.  The group dances were just okay.  I actually liked the group dances from last year better.  Although the Bollywood one was pretty good.  And the other one that was good was the black and white routine where the guys have these big poles that they thump on the ground.  Mark is the center of attention for that one, and he plays it so well.

They do these little introductions of the dances or patter throughout the show.  Twitch and Courtney were the best at these.  Katee should stick to just dancing. 

And my seats were perfect this year.  I was in the 11th row, so I was able to see from the floor up this time instead of mid-calf up when I was in the 4th row last year.  Of course, I couldn’t take any photos.  Not only was I too far back and looking between people seated in front of me, but my camera wasn’t allowed.  They didn’t allow any cameras with detachable lenses (like mine) or lenses that were more than 2 inches long (like mine). However, it was good to just watch the show and not be looking at it from the perspective of “would this make a good photo”.

All in all, it was a really terrific, enjoyable event.  I’m so glad that I went!