The Real Top 10

All but two of the 10 duets for this week got a standing ovation from the judges!  That's how great the performances are this week! Oh my gosh!  I don't have the words!  The All Stars really brought everything to the next level ten levels higher!

The show started off elegantly with the top 10 number choreographed by Chris Scott.  Clever use of the rocking chair!  These choreographers have such weirdly creative ideas for props.

The duets were started by a high energy, heart-stopping disco routine by the great Doriana Sanchez performed by Brandon and Amy.  The lifts are really scary but it's Brandon who is doing them and with those big biceps, and considering how small Amy is, they were done perfectly!  Almost too perfect really especially on that last death drop!  An inch from the floor! Oh my!

That was followed by a sharp and funky jazz performance by the beast herself, Melanie paired with Fik-shun.  Their dance really left you feeling good.  Melanie is as sharp as ever and Fik-shun for the most part was able to match her brilliance.

dancing again

I am learning a new dance, a challenging one, for me at least. This is something that I haven't done in quite a while now. It's tough. But it's fun. And exciting. And painful. And I am loving every second of it.

My knees are sore from all the kneeling that's required in the dance. My back is aching from all the arching and contracting that I have to do. My neck hurting from whipping my head left and right, up and down. But despite all these aches and pains that I feel, I am still excited, very much looking forward to the next dance session on Tuesday.

Four nights! I still have to wait four nights to learn the choreography to the next part of the song. 

first elimination, SYTYCD 10

They changed it last year, in season 9.  They were only given one night every week for the show.  Same goes for this year. Just one night to showcase all these dance talents! But they changed the order of presentation.  They moved the elimination to the beginning of the show. And that changed everything. It changed the mood. It changed the dynamic. It changed the feel of the entire episode.

On the one hand, the professionalism of the dancers was brought to light. On the other hand, it was quite a challenge for everyone to contain their emotions after learning the news and still managed to give it their best, as they should.

SYTYCD 10

Aaaaahhhh! These promos from Fox featuring the all-stars have got me all excited about the new season of so you think you can dance! As a frustrated dancer, I have been a fan of the show from the very first season where Melody, a Filipina, came second to Nick Lazarini! Can't wait to see the show and what new things they've decided to put in. I hope they retain much of the format and rules from the previous season though! Aaaaahhh!

The promo features (from 7 to 1) Kathryn, Robert, Whitney, Twitch, Lauren, Mark and Neil.

Goodbye 2012

It's less than 2 hours to the end of 2012! Oh what a year it has been!  Change has been a regular visitor.  And it has definitely challenged me.  Thankfully, I was able to go through it all without a lot of fuss and without any major incident.

I wanna recount the highlights of my year but my memory is failing me right now. Harhar.  But here are a few of them, at least those that come to mind right now. Will just try to add in a few more later if I could...

TRAVELS - I love traveling. Although it's not yet apparent in this blog, believe me when I say I do. Will just write about all the traveling later on. =)

1. With friends - I have had two major international travels with friends for this year - Hanoi and Singapore! I can only remember one local road trip for this year - San Juan, La Union for some surfing.  There's also that trip to Bangkok with BQ.
2. WORK TRIPS - I have been sent everywhere for work-related stuff - Jakarta (with side trip to Singapore), Subic, Cebu, Tagaytay, Pampanga, Oriental Mindoro, Legaspi and Tabaco in Albay,  Balanga and Baguio.
3. FAMILY GETAWAYS - My family loves traveling, too. We haven't been anywhere that requires a plane or a boat though. Here's our list - Subic Treetop Adventure. Las Casas Azucar in Bataan, and Sta. Ana, Aparri and Piat in Cagayan.

DANCES and CONCERTS

Gene Kelly

He has always been mentioned by dancers and choreographers as an inspiration to them, as one of the greatest dancer/performer. I have heard him mentioned quite a number of times by Nigel Lythgoe in So You Think You Can Dance. He has also been mimicked and talked about in so many movies. But I have never really googled him to find out more and validate why so many people look up to him when they talk about dance, about performance.

In his 100th life anniversary, Time magazine shares some amazing photos showing Gene Kelly's grace, confidence and bravado in front of the camera --> TIME: PHOTOS: Rare images of Gene Kelly at a pivotal point in his career | http://t.co/LscC5xIA (via @LIFE).

Honestly, I haven't seen one of his movies yet. I have only watched some of the clips shown in some of the dance tv shows I follow. Hopefully, I'll be able to find some of his movies. Surely, I will be as amazed as everyone else and gain more inspiration to dance and dance some more!

Season 9

The top 20 of the so you think you can dance's season 9 performed this week. Four of them will be cut next week! Too soon, I say. I wish the dancers get to stay 5 weeks before any of them gets cut. Viewers can still vote each week. But the votes will be aggregated so that come the fifth week of performances, the dances are ranked and the bottom 10 get cut. This way, the dancers will get more chances of showing their talent, their personality. The current format puts some of the dancers at the mercy of the choreographer. And talented as the choreographers are, sometimes, they miss too to the detriment of the dancer. :(

Anyway, this week's top 20 performance is freaking amazing! Christopher Scott is a genius! Choreography was superb. Use of props was seamless. And the dancers he highlighted were great. Except for one. Hehe. The stepper guy, I forgot his name - what he did in his "solo" was so-so. It didn't really add any value, I think, to the entire performance. Contrast that with Amelia's and Chohan's!

Must watch performances this week - Travis Wall's unchained melody and Jason Gilkison's paso doble! Nigel was right in saying that Travis' choreography is really mature, well-thought out. Travis uses the intricacies of the music to his advantage. He lets it enhance his artistry! The paso, too, was spectacular! The best paso doble so far in the history of so you think you can dance! Right, Mary Murphy?

I can't wait for next week's performance. I wonder, too, how they will do the cut.

So you think you can dance is happiness! :)