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'Superstars of Dance' wraps up first round
After an uneven start, Superstars of Dance comes out with their second two-hour bonanza in as many days. Will the directing be any better? Will this set of dancers be more impressive than the last? Will that Argentinian judge stop scoring people in a "Opposites Day" fashion? We'll find out soon.
Spoilers
Tonight's offerings will be solo-heavy with a whopping eight. I have two hopes for today: 1) Obviously the US will be doing breakdancing for the group specialty and they'd better not suck; 2) I hope the remaining representatives from Ireland aren't clogging or are at least more exciting.
Michael Flatley and Susie Castillo review the group leader board and introduce our judges from Argentina, India, Australia, South Africa, the United States, Ireland, Russia and China (which is the order that the individual score are listed in, minus of course the judge for the corresponding country who don't get a vote).
Group - Team Argentina
This group, called Los Huincas Gauchos, are a mix of dance styles as well as weaponry. The music is exciting, though the lighting is crappy. There are only three guys in the group, all with mustaches, and two are playing drums while another starts with a red cape like a bull fighter. The third grabs a drum and plays too, ending the first section. Our next soloist uses bolos. It's quite impressive. He's not one of the monks, but still impressive. Cape guy comes back for his turn with the same apparatus doing a nifty trick where they're hitting his hair as they whiz past his face. We almost missed it thanks to the back lighting. All three end with unison work. Flatley calls out the fact that there wasn't that much dancing to the Argentinian judge, who responds by saying they didn't everything they were supposed to be but she can't judge. Wow.
Score: 48 (7-7-6-7-6-8-7)
Solo - Mythili Prakash, India
Didn't we already see Team India's solist yesterday? Not that I'm complaining because they're beautiful dances. Mythili will be doing a traditional dance of South India believedto be the style of dance done by the gods. Ooooo. She's a very engaging performer and her routine is great, despite the bad camera angles. Why do you cut to a long shot on a soloist during a final pose? Wtf is that?
Score: 58 (9-8-8-9-8-8-8) - Team coach Nakul Dev Mahajan said he didn't understand the 8's since Mythili is the master of this discipline in India. Not just in a town, the whole flipping country. She "sets the standard." She should've gotten at least all 9's.
Solo - Kelly Hendry, Ireland
She's a world Irish Step champ who's father had a heart attack after she'd come over. But she knows he'd want her to perform and give it her best. No pressure. It's not exactly clogging, though it uses similiar movements and footwork. It's got more of a balletic feel to it. It was solid and she's easy on the eyes but it didn't knock me off my chair. Maybe if the music had a little more drive.
Score: 56 (8-8-8-8-8-8)
Duo - Henry Byalikov & Giselle Peacock, Australia
Their specialty is ballroom and also do what I'm thinking is a Samba. They're a great looking couple and have really good technique. Their chemistry isn't as palpable as Pasha & Anya but there was some fire. I wouldn't mind seeing them dance again.
Score: 56 (8-8-8-8-8-8-8)
Duo - Victor Da Silva & Claudia Savvides, South Africa
Victor & Claudia are also ballroom dancers, emphasizing on the Latin side. Like many of the dancers here, they've won several championships and are doing a "show" piece with a lot of lifts. It's basically a Rumba but I think they should've picked something with a little more oomph as the lifts, though good, occasionally came off hinky. Perhaps if they didn't use "I Have Nothing" by Whitney Houston I wouldn't have been a little bored despite their great skill.
Score: 59 (8-8-8-9-8-9-9)
Solo - Yang Yanan, China
He's only 18 and has been touring with a show that focuses on the monks. The weapons he'll be showcasing, the single and double whip, are the hardest of the discipline. In fact, only a handful of people can use them with the same amount of skill. Oooo. Now what sets him apart from the Argentinians with their bolos is that he was moving around a lot and covered the stage. Plus he's a Shaolin monk.
Score: 51 (8-7-7-7-7-7-8)
Solo - Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards, USA
Dormeisha is a tap dancer and was in the movie Tap with Gregory Hines, Sammy Davie, Jr., and Savion Glover. Challenge! She's barely stopped moving the whole time and did it to music (that piece with the typewriter sounds that was in a Jerry Lewis movie). I like that she came out doing a more classic, 40's Hollywood type of number. She's the best tapper I've seen in awhile. Take that Australian dude.
Score: 55 (7-8-8-7-9-8-8) - This score is a travesty, a sham and a mockery. It's a traveshamockery. She was better than that dude yesterday. At least she got high enough to move on but damn.
Group - Team Russia
They doing a Cossack dance, which some of you may remember Twitch & Joshua doing in the last round of last year's So You Think You Can Dance. Dude, the director needs to chill on the back-lighting. It flares so you can't see stuff. It took a little bit to warm up to the super-impressive feats of acrobatics and whatnot but was enjoyable overall. I probably would've liked it better if the camera work didn't suck so hard. They kept missing the beginning of solos.
Score: 51 (7-7-7-7-8-7-8)
Group - Team India
This is one of the numbers I was most looking forward to, if not the number. Too bad about the bad camera work. Was anyone paying attention during the dress rehearsals? It was full of energy and exciting and I really dug it. Well, the parts that weren't ruined by the terrible directing decisions.
Score: 54 (7-8-7-9-8-7-8)
Solo - Mamela Nyamza, South Africa
She describes her solo as "Afro-Fusion," the story behind it being about a woman frustrated with her marriage and home life. And Mamela has a shaved head and working it. Her lines are fantastic. It might be a little too modern/interpretive for some, one girl in the audience looked particularly confused, but it was definitely filled with emotion.
Score: 58 (9-8-9-8-8-8-8)
Solo - Miriam Larici, Argentina
Miriam returns from her duet yesterday to perform by herself, which is cool with me since her partner wasn't nearly as engaging as she is. Her outfit is weird, but she said the number was her dreaming of a guy so the quasi-pajama look works. It was a nice little interlude that told a story but could've had a bit more content.
Score: 57 (8-8-8-8-8-9-8)
Duo - Damien O'Kane & Bernadette Flynn, Ireland
Like the soloist, they are champion Irish Stepdancers and happen to be married. I'm not sure what Damien's purpose in the dance was really because half the time he looked like he was trying to levitate her. Worst magician ever. Bernadette had much more to do.
Score: 58 (8-8-8-8-8-9-9)
Duo - Zhen Zhu Zheng & An Nan, China
This pair comes from the Nanuing Acrobatic Troupe so I'm prepping to have my mind blown. She's very light on her feet and they both have good lines. She just went en pointe on his shoulders and, among other moves, did a full turn. On his shoulders. No hands. And he walked around while she was en pointe. On one foot. Mind. Blown. If this doesn't get a good score, I'm officially calling the fix.
Score: 53 (7-7-7-8-8-7-9) - BOOOOOOOO! FIX! It's a fix!
India and China unfortunately are the two duos who had the lowest scores and won't be continuing to the next round.
Solo - Maria Kochetkova, Russia
Maria performs the first traditional ballet number of the competition. I could to without the castanets but her technique and lines are very good and she ends with a long turning sequence. Overall I liked it and have no problem at all with her moving to the next round.
Score: 63 (9-9-9-9-9-9-9)
Solo - Reed Luplau, Australia
This is somewhat surprisingly only the second Contemporary piece of the night. Eh. I'm not always a big fan of male Contemporary pieces because they read very similar to me. Very few people bring anything different or exciting. That being said, I recognize that Reed is very skilled but he's no Travis Wall.
Score: 65 (9-10-9-9-9-10-9)
The Russian and South African soloists from yesterday, both Chinese dancers, Dormeisha and Kelly have all been eliminated. There's a three way tie for the last person to go through (Miriam, Robert the Popper from USA and the Aussie tapper) with five of the judges voting. Robert Muraine qualifies with four of the five votes, the tapper got the other one.
Group - Team USA
The street crew is called The Groovaloos. Of the ten members, only one is a girl. Their number is based on the true story of one of their members, Steven, who was struck by a stray bullet and told he'd never walk again let alone dance. They especially better be good since they're using "Throw the Water On 'Em" by Busta Rhymes. More horrible camera angles AND OMG WHY ARE YOU CUTTING TO THE AUDIENCE?!?!? Sorry. Anyway, Steven was mainly doing a little popping because he's not 100% yet but it was good seeing him out there. They threw down some good tricks and danced to the whole song. I'm impressed overall despite the crap camera work.
Score: 67 (9-9-10-10-9-10-10)
The two groups eliminated from this round are Argentina and Russia.
Assorted Bits & Pieces:
- I am indescribably confused by the scoring. I don't even really want to go into it because I'll just start sputtering and I don't want to short out my laptop. What was wrong with some of those judges today? They were even worse than yesterday. I'm confounded.
- Having all the judges being from the same countries as the dancers is a tactical error. I feel like some of the low scores were given in retaliation or out of spite. Instead they should've had judges from neighboring countries - Canada, England or Scotland, Spain, Japan or Korea, etc. - to make it seem more objective.
- Dormeisha should have a dance off with the Aussie tap guy. I guarantee she wins.
- In the previews, it looks like Team China and Team USA will be having a "skills" showcase. Flips versus flips, splits versus splits, crazy skills versus crazy skills. At least there's one reason to watch next week.
What say you all? Were you as baffled by the scoring as I? Did you have a favorite number? Were you ambivalent to most of the numbers like me? Any other thoughts?
The Scoring and Camera Work have KILLED this show for me (and I have tried to hype this show up since I heard about it)
I yelled at the tv more tonight watching this than I normally did at my hockey games.
"I loved it, you showed so much passion... Some of the best dancing I've ever seen.. Eight!!!!"
Also, it's become a joke at our house that when someone does something we look at them (and in memory of our favorite Chinese judge) and say "Bah.... Eight."
Derek Van Leenen | Jan 6, 2009 1:00:25 AM | #This show should define 'dance'. It is obviously impossible to score otherwise when comparing such divergent styles.
P. Duncan | Jan 6, 2009 3:43:20 AM | #First let me agree that the camera work and direction is the worst I've ever seen on a dance show. SOME of the judging, however, I can understand. The Chinese duo were amazing and did amazing tricks, but was it really "dancing"? I'm not sure doing some tricks to music qualifies as dancing. Dancing should tell a story, relate directly to the music or rhythm and move the audience emotionally. So I get that much of the judging. But, yeah, can't figure out what they had against Dormeisha. She was great. I may give this show ONE more shot at getting their act together. Then I'm out.
Kayro | Jan 6, 2009 5:39:02 AM | #"I feel like some of the low scores were given in retaliation or out of spite."
Yeah, pretty much. It works out to be something of an East/West thing... except more lopsided. A cluster of the countries have similar styles (*cough*) and will vote well for each other. Beauty being in the eye of the beholder, those with similar styles tend to get the higher score, which is a shame considering for a more exciting show, spite should be equally distributed.
pakopako | Jan 6, 2009 5:48:35 AM | #Haha Derek, my mom and I do the "Bah...Eight" thing too! My mom says the Chinese judge looks like he could care less to be on the show.
Overall some of the choices for which dancers should represent the countries are a bit bizarre. I really respect Robert Murraine and I'm so glad he advanced. (And I love that Pasha is on this show. I LOVE Pasha!) But I really would have liked to see the Jabbawockeez as the American group dance team. But that's my personal opinion.
Anyways, I've been mystified by Nikul's dances. I've seen his choreography live before...He's so magical. However, I just don't get the South Africans. All their dances just get lost in translation... And I felt so bad about the Russian group being eliminated. They were pretty cute in those hats!
Overall the scoring is just too much to swallow. The show has only had two episodes and WAY too much to follow. I just watch it for the dances...And it's hard to do with the horrible directing.
I bet Michael Flatley goes home after shooting that show and considers jumping off a bridge. I would. It's almost embarassing to be in on that show.
paulakb | Jan 6, 2009 7:27:31 AM | #I understand there are interpretations of dance and emotion plays a role, but Mamela and her epileptic fit was brilliant? Holy crap, that was awful. It packed emotion with almost no dance. I give it a 10 for emotion and 2 for actual dance.
I agree with the camera killing the flow of the routines, and absurd audience pans during the performance as if it was stand-up comedy.
Arbitrary scoring is ridiculous. There appears to be no rubric just gut feelings. But judges contradict themselves by saying there was little to no dance so 6 or 7, yet reward Mamela who had almost no dance with 9s and 10s. Blech. Awful show.
Josh | Jan 6, 2009 9:01:15 AM | #Used to watch Lawrence Welk's variety show with my Dad. Flatley's hosting reminds me quite strongly of Lawrence Welk. Not sure that the similarity will help the show.
kjohnson | Jan 6, 2009 10:01:40 AM | #I can't believe how awful the camera work is on this show... it's worse than So You Think You Can Dance and Dancing with the Stars, though they are guilty of the same bizarre camera choices. Why do they insist on the horribly timed cuts, useless closeups, unflattering angle choices, and distracting whirling above the stage? The American single dancer's final money shot was shown from the side! We saw facial closeups during fancy footwork sequences in the pairs dancing. When a group is dancing, half the time you can't even see all the members of the group! Even when the cameras are backed off all we see is a big empty stage and 3 or 4 out of 6 of the dancers crammed off to one side with the others off camera. It's frustrating!
I watched one night and it just stressed me out to not be able to actually SEE the dances! Last night was the same so I will not watch this show any more. I can tolerate the bad judging, the bad MC, but I will not tolerate them ruining our ability to enjoy the dances with such crappy camera work.
Val | Jan 6, 2009 11:12:49 AM | #i really hope nbc is reading all of the great comments posted here, but i doubt it, and the powers that be will continue to muck it up next week. The camera work and direction left me with ADD.
maybe there are too many judges on the show. in SYTYCD, the 3 judges have more time to articulate their reasons for liking or disliking a performance. here you're getting a 5 sec soundbite that generally doesn't make much sense.
tell me again why the chinese judge is there?
tc | Jan 6, 2009 2:51:59 PM | #I like the idea of the show and applaud the dancers for their talent and hard work but I think the director is awful and should be fired on the spot. But given the fact that there are few directors in Hollywood that actually know how to film dance this will not happen. I know for a fact that they have onstage dress rehersals before each taping so where the heck is the director and AD when this is happening? Apparently not watching whats going on on the stage. Its got to be hard for the dancers to work or hard only to have their work practically destroyed "in the booth". The fact that the judges contradict themselves makes them look pretty foolish, and I fear that if America can't participate in the show (i.e. vote) I don't have much hope for the show lasting another season but I will continue to watch and hope for the best.
Bryan | Jan 6, 2009 3:14:38 PM | #My take on the show come from just being a love of movement and art.I don't think any of the participate's of this contest will ever be as strong in there ability to compete.They are very successful dancers/athletes
and have nothing to prove. Therefore, the need to prove themselves to be the best is not as important to them. I didn't see the power in the dances as I have with So You Think You Can Dance Dancers. I was however proud of The USA team. Go USA!!!!!!!!!!
This show is terrible. All the dances that are being performed are more than just their "dancing difficulty". They each are deeply culturally significant, with rich heritage and meaningful value. You can't expect them to change a style or dance's character just so they can be competitive on this show. Comparing and judging the dances with our limited ethnocentric values was a stupid idea to begin with and is like comparing apples and oranges. Many of the performers are champions in their respective fields and I applaud them for going out there and performing spectacularly despite getting judged so arbitrarily. The dancers are amazing, but the show concept reeks of ignorance. I would love to continue watching the dancers, but this show is perpetuating dance on such a black and white level - it is superficial and is not understanding or appreciating the styles for what they are. TV goers - don't even bother supporting this show. It is totally focusing on the wrong idea.
elof | Jan 6, 2009 4:59:18 PM | #The Chinese judge (as some other judges are) says the Chinese word for eight. I think one through 10 in Chinese is (phonetically): yot, yee, sum, say, uhn, loke, chot, bot, gow, sup. My daughter learned this in kindergarten and she's now married, so it's been a few years, but I think I'm fairly right.
mare | Jan 6, 2009 6:36:56 PM | #I like the show, but those judges? Did "SOME" of them previously judge the Figure Skating and Olympic competitions? Why? It went something like this:" I vote for your countries participants, because, after all, we are neighbors. Scary!
Willo | Jan 6, 2009 8:04:28 PM | #To Mare: You are right if you are speaking Cantonese Chinese. However, Chinese is a language with many regional dialects and the judge from China is speaking in the official Mandarin Chinese language so 1 to 10 is: ee, ar, san, sss, woo, lew, chee, ba, jo.
ammy | Jan 6, 2009 9:07:24 PM | #Since dance is considered an art form in many parts of the world (except for the United States, where we think throwing our bodies around and trying to emulate Justin Timberlake constitutes "dance"), giving arbitrary scores to what might be a culturally-relevant dance is ludicrous. If there is to be an international competition like this, then there needs to be a set of parameters that all teams and soloists need to follow, period, just like they do in gymnastics and figure skating. Then if the individual countries want to bring out their favorite moves in an exhibition-style showcase after the competition is over, wonderful. The way this show is set up right now reminds me of Rocky IV, where it was the United States against everybody else (with Russia standing in for the rest of the world). Apparently, TPTB haven't gotten the memo that the rest of the world ain't too pleased with America at the moment, so the people in charge of the show need to just focus on the best qualities of all the teams and leave the rah-rah-go-USA production values alone.
The judging reminds me of what Dancing With the Stars would be like if they put up a panel consisting of various TV pitch-men/women from commercials past, such as Mr. Whipple, Rosie the Bounty Lady and Mr. Clean. The Chinese judge is there so as to make the panel "international," but he looks like he lost his luggage on the way from his homeland and is on his last pair of underwear.
Could this show be better? Oh, hell yeah. But it could also be worse. Sharon Osbourne might be the host. Ponder fingernails down a chalkboard while thinking about her emceeing the festivities.
Thorny | Jan 7, 2009 10:40:16 AM | #Thorny, for as much as you think you're condemning the narrow-mindedness of the show's set up, your comments about the Chinese judge (a Shaolin monk and Master) are incredibly closed minded and insulting. Pot, kettle, black. And no, I'm not of Chinese descent.
| Jan 7, 2009 4:18:41 PM | #so far, it seems as though the judge from:
argentina is all over the place;
africa does not like much of anything;
ireland is a pretty good guy; united states is trying to please everyone;
australia (why is she there?); china follows russia's score.
not too thrilled with show so far.
To the coward who posted anonymously...no Thorny was not being culturally-insensitive, you moron. He (presuming always that he's male, of course) was pointing out that the Chinese judge looked like that he didn't want to be there and was attempting to say so in a way different than normal. From now on, just for you, Thorny will have to put disclaimers before, after and in the middle of his posts, I guess, so that you can understand FUCKING SARCASM! Jesus Christ and all his fucking angels, if you want to be offended about something, shrivel up at this particular sentence. Then go grow up and learn how to fucking read.
Malicious Break | Jan 8, 2009 12:56:23 PM | #To ammy: Thanks ... my main thing was just to say that I thought the Chinese judge was saying the number eight in his language before he said it in the English language. Anyway, I just always remember my daughter coming home from school and counting from 1 - 10 in Chinese. As I said, she's married now, so ... just memories.
mare | Jan 8, 2009 3:21:04 PM | #Malicious Break - First of all, glad to see you can make arguments in such an eloquent manner. Second of all, I get sarcasm (see the sentence above).
I understand the point that was being made but it went off the tracks with this part:
"The Chinese judge is there so as to make the panel "international," but he looks like he lost his luggage on the way from his homeland and is on his last pair of underwear."
Last time I checked, Argentina, South Africa, et al are countries that are not the US and therefore international in our eyes. Sarcasm, when executed poorly, is just insulting. I did not read sarcasm into the "underwear" comment. If the point was to say that the Chinese Shaolin Master looked bored, one could, for example, "The Chinese judge looks like he'd rather watch the People's Choice Awards" or something similar.
All I'm saying is that people need to more aware of how they present their ideas, not because I'm a delicate flower but because a wonderful sentiment can always be destroyed by a few misspoken words.
Booyakah.
Daisy | Jan 8, 2009 9:26:23 PM | #Um...Booyakah? Professing ignorance here, sorry...
Daisy, I've been reading Thorny's posts for awhile now, and while he (yes, Thorny is a he) can sometimes be, well, thorny, he doesn't mean any harm. I'm sure he can speak for himself, but just thought you'd like to know that.
As for MB...don't think I'd want to meet him in a dark alley. :)
And for the show...I'd really love to see more dancing and less judging, to be honest. I couldn't care less who "wins" in a show like this...I just think it's cool watching people from other countries bring their dance styles to a competition like this. I hope it doesn't devolve into being all about the scores, though, because I'll get bored in a hurry with that. Bring on the dancing, though...I love, love, love that!
Kara Mel Apples | Jan 9, 2009 12:15:31 PM | #Actually, Kara and MB, I don't need either of you fighting my battles for me. Thanks anyway.
Daisy, you're entitled to your opinion about what is or is not offensive, and you're welcome to rake me over the coals as you see fit. However, I write what I write, and if it ticks a few people off, I really don't care. Sarcasm, humor and wit are subjective, and what you find offensive, others might find hilarious (and vice versa). To be honest, your "replacement" for what I wrote was just as funny to me, although certain people might get offended by your comment as well (say, militant awards-show watchers, perhaps?). It's the way the world spins. So let's let bygones be bygones and drop it, eh?
To make it easier for you, I'm probably not going to be watching this show anymore anyway (like Kara and others have said, too much judging and Flatley, not enough dancing), so chances are pretty good you won't see my name in this neck of the woods again. Enjoy the show.
Thorny | Jan 9, 2009 12:51:18 PM | #Just as I thought, the judges will do anything to keep America on top, otherwise Americans won't watch the show. The only authentic judge is the Irish judge who seems to get his score correct. Ireland should win this. Rolling around on the floor or doing aerobics does not appear to me to be any form of dance.
What the heck is with this show? Why are there Shaolin monks in this competition. This alone discredits this show. I didn't watch the show but when I saw clips of Shaolin monks dancing, I was aghast. Shaolin monks are known for Kung fu. There are many types of dancing in China. This makes the chinese look ridiculous. Every Chinese American citizen should rise up and protest this atrocity. Plus the judge they picked could have at least spoke English. I have alot of respect for Shaolin Monks but they are made to look ridiculous here.
Monks don't dance | Jan 19, 2009 8:19:45 PM | #
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