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RSS'So You Think You Can Dance': And the winner is...
After weeks of dances, heartbreaks, and triumphs, "So You Think You Can Dance" finally announces the winner. Will it be Brandon, Evan, Jeanine or Kayla? Tonight, I've decided to switch it up and live-blog the results. Feel free to follow along!
The show kicks off with the whole Top 20 doing Tasty Oreos...er, Tyce D'Orio's "Brand New Day" number from "The Wiz." It works much better with more people and I love that everyone got little spotlight moments. Plus it fills out that big stage. Do I love the choreography? No. But I like it so much better this time around.
Host Cat Deeley comes out and, when she says all the Top 4's names, Jeanine and Brandon got the biggest roars. Hmm.
Introducing the judges on hand - Lil' C, Mia Michaels, Tyce D'Orio, Debbie Allen, Adam "Shankizzle" Shankman, Mary Murphy who's wearing the gaudiest necklace I've ever seen, and of course Nigel Lythgoe. We next get a full season montage, from auditions to Vegas to last week before hitting our first commercial break.
Back from the break, Cat reiterates that there were over 21 million votes last night. That's quite a few votes for sure. We next go to last night's recap. Then, we get our first Judges' Choice routine - Shankman picks Jeanine & Phillip's Hip Hop from the very first week. It's to "Mad" by Ne-Yo and choreographed by Napoleon & Tabitha in case you don't recall. Yay Phillip! It's good to see him again even if he didn't excel as much as I'd have like during the series. Jeanine is a lot stronger this time than she was the first time around. Good times.
Nigel's pick is next - he picks Janette & Brandon's Tango which is totally deserved. Double yay for Janette! They were this season's super-couple for sure and they traveled the huge Kodak Theater stage effortlessly. They got a standing ovation from the entire crowd when they finished. Awesome.
After more adverts, Ms. Allen selects the Louis Van Amstel choreographed Waltz by Asuka & Vitolio. It was absolutely their best dance. (Best dance as a couple I should say - I really liked his Foxtrot I believe with Karla.) I feel there was an ease this time around that maybe wasn't there initially. Very pretty number which gets a partial standing O.
Mary's fave number is Jeanine & Jason dancing the Travis Wall Contemporary piece. The crowd was screaming as soon as she gave the slightest indication what she was picking. A great testament to how well it was danced and choreographed and to how loved everyone involved is. And yes, they kiss again. And I don't blame them in the least, though I love how Cat mocks them slightly. Why wasn't she nominated for an Emmy again?
We go to Mia next for her favorite routine - Max & Kayla's Samba from Week 1. She gives a shout-out to Max for being one of the hardest working dancers on the show this season. I do wish he'd have stuck around longer (especially since I think they kept Wolfpack over him which is unacceptable). The dancer was very good, though Kayla's legs were a little oddly positioned at one point. I wonder if she injured herself this week?
Since they've been working so hard, apparently on Sunday the Top 4 were taken to a surprise outing - a screening of "Fame" with Kherington Payne from last season and several other stars from the movie who's names I don't know. It's shameless, shameless promotion but smart shameless promotion. Cat got super-excited when Debbie did her original "Fame" speech (I don't blame her in the least) exclaiming, "I've been waiting for you to say that all season!"
Speaking of Debbie, her second pick is the "Calle Ocho" Top 16 number choreographed by Dmitry Chaplin (yes, that Dmitry) and Napoleon & Tabitha. Great pick - it was hot like fire as the kids say. They may have done that water-on-the-table part live. Janette and Jeanine worked that section, honey.
A slight digression: Holy crap, I just saw Dale from the 90's "MMC" revival in the "Fame" commercial. Did they just cast from every dance/music show in the past twenty years? If so, I heartily approve.
Our next guest is, as Nigel explains, the winner of "So You Think You Can Dance Australia" Talia Fowler who is a ballerina. She dances to "Shot You Down" by Audio Bullys. It's choreographed by I believe Sonya Tayeh. Dug it.
Lil' C chose Caitlin & Jason's Bollywood number "Jai Ho" and gave the most wonderful, wordy, slightly convoluted explanation why. It's just as enjoyable now as it was then. And this is the second smooch for Jason tonight. Naturally, Cat mocks him playfully.
Now that we've reached the second hour mark, we get our first result of the night. Season 5's fourth place finisher is Kayla. There's a slight gasp of surprise but...I'm not particularly shocked. The audience gives her a standing ovation as Cat tosses to her highlight reel.
Kayla was a great dancer in every choreographed piece from day one. Her slight "weaknesses" were that she had an understated personality when not performing and seemed frazzled when having to dance for her life. Sadly, the perceived favoritism from the judges probably didn't help either. Silly? Yes, but it is what it is.
Adam's second Judges' Pick was Mia's Contemporary piece with Evan & Randi. For me, it was easily the best number they did together. They also got a full standing ovation for their performance.
The second pick Mary shrieked was Jeanine & Brandon's Paso Doble from last night. I have no problem with this getting an encore though I kind of hope someone picks Janette & Brandon's Disco. That was crazy and deserves some favoritism.
Okay. It's time for more results. I have no idea how this is going to turn out. Our third place finisher is Evan and he gets yet another standing ovation before we see his highlight reel. I love him but, based on last night and overall growth, he absolutely shouldn't have won so it's turning out the way it should be.
Yet another favorite from Nigel - when Mary admitted to using Botox. Oh ho! Saucy. But his actual dance pick is the Kayla & Kupono Addiction piece by Mia. Great, great number. Absolutely one of the top three of the season. After they'd done and the crowd was on their feet, Mia and Adam were wiping their eyes.
The Rage Boys Crew, that cadre of 878 kid dancers from around 7-14 years old I'd guess, return. They're much more together this time than the first time. That part where they throw that one kid across the stage is still ridiculous.
Tyce gets his first pick and he went for Brandon & Janette's super-speed Disco number. Thanks Tyce!
For the last choice of the night, Mia selects Melissa & Ade's Breast Cancer piece. Tyce then announced Michele, the person that he choreographed the number for, called him today to say she just learned she's cancer free. That news got a much deserved standing ovation. I chose to avert my eyes because I'm too much of a softy and didn't feel like weeping tonight. The number also got a standing ovation and some tears from the audience. The camera focused on Christina Applegate, sitting next to Lance Bass, who's in attendance and also a breast cancer survivor.
Before going to break, we get an encore of Mia's "One" Top 8 number featuring some special guests - namely the judges on panel tonight. WIN.
So, after a combo highlight reel, we've come to the moment of truth. Will it be Jeanine? Will it be Brandon? After months of dancing and millions and millions of votes, the winner is Jeanine!
Brandon did fantastically this entire season but Jeanine's personality and a killer night last night were too much for him to overcome. As a bit of a joke, she thanked the Academy since she never thought she'd win something in the Kodak Theater. Gotta love it.
So that's it. Jeanine is America's Favorite Dancer. Your thoughts on the big finale? Was any number not repeated that you would've liked to see? (Mine was the Crash Test Dummy number.) Thanks everyone for following along and commenting. Enjoy Season 6!
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I hate it when the best (technically) person doesn't win. But c'est la vie!
Boooo. But at least it wasn't Evan.
Wolfgang, err, JONATHAN/kARLA'S contemporary # over either Mia's Butt piece or Addiction piece, but I guess there would've been too many contemporary #'s then. Glad Jeanine won.
I agree I think brandon was better but not by much. jeanine is an amzing dancer and extremely talented and I could not be happier for her. I was scared evan was going to win. I voted for brandon but Jeanine was a very close second
Wow! I have to say that I am happy for Jeanine and all, and I am glad that a girl got to win this one, but the way they kinda dropped Brandon in the end was hurtful to me (that's a long run-on). I am still mad that Janette did not get to the end, she is absolutely amazing and did an incredible job with each dance she had. I am also mad that Max got cut so early, that boy can mooooove. In my honest opinion, this season was truly about PoPuLaRiTy; sad but true...
I thought it sucked that Brandon didn't get a chance to even say a few words and that the audience was given no opportunity to directly applaud his performance this season. The way the final announcement is made on this show, they announce the winner and the first runner-up is pushed aside, already forgotten. It's got to be a bitter pill to swallow to come that close, not win and then not even get an opportunity to say a few words and to thank one's fans. Left a sour taste in my mouth that Brandon wasn't given that basic courtesy.
They should do it like they do it at Wimbledon where the player who comes in second gets his trophy, gets to say a few words of thanks, the crowd gets to show their appreciation and then the champion gets his time in the spotlight.
In terms of the dances I wanted to see, I would've preferred to have seen the Jeanette/Brandon samba instead of the disco. Also, I couldn't believe that none of the judges picked that Wade Robson routine with Jeanette and Brandon (again) as the burglars. I loved that routine. Would've also have enjoyed seeing Jeanette and Brandon (AGAIN!!) doing that hip-hop/glam rock routine. That was another memorable one.
Maybe my ears were playing tricks on me, but it seemed like Jeanette and Brandon got the loudest ovation of the night for their tango routine.
Over all the night was a little too loaded up with the Mia Michaels routines. Kinda felt like it was a tribute show to her.
By the way, I think Fox is making a mistake starting Season 6 next month. It's too soon.
I was glad the final 2 came down to Brandon and Jeanine. The audience got it right in the end. I thought Brandon was going to win for sure until last night. His solo was great, but I preferred his Carmina Burana piece better. But then Jeanine came out and stole the show last night. So I was glad she won though I would have been ok with either of them pulling it out. Yay!
As for starting again in the fall, I'm not sure how I feel about that. Does that mean they will not show a new season in the summer anymore? Boooooo!!!! I love having something new to watch in the summer rather than the endless re-runs.
Did anyone except me notice that the lighting design for both finale shows was horrible. First those distracting slideshows behind the dancers that made me dizzy and secondly those computer-moving insturments that were in the camera's eyes (that is to say MY EYES). Most of the numbers last night were blown out by the lights. Tonight it was a bit better but ont he whole-- REALLY AWFUL. NIgel when you watch the tapes you've got to put a stop to this nonsense-no one could see the dancers--just white out.
I voted for Brandon, but was still glad to see Jeanine win. I agree with some of the comments made here about Brandon being the only one of the top 4 who wasn't given his moment to reflect on the season. Seems really odd that the show's producers don't see what a slight that is. Props to Brandon!