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SLIDESHOW: Highlights from the So You Think You Can Dance Tour 2009
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For So You Think You Can Dance fans, it was impossible not to love Monday night's 2009 tour stop in Los Angeles at the Nokia Theater. The over 2-hour event showcased all the strengths of season 5's top 10 contestants (plus their guests Caitlin Kinney and Phillip Chbeeb) and revived popular performances from last summer's series.
The biggest difference between watching them live and watching them on TV (aside from the size of the audience -- Nokia was packed) was how much more comfortable the dancers seem to feel in their element, with their fans and without the scrutiny of the judges.
The competition has ended, so now it's time to party ... on to the evening's highlights ...
Jason Glover is a really cool ringmaster. Each of the dancers had several variety show-style speaking bits in the show, but it is Jason we hear from first and then later introducing the season 6 top 16 contestants. He fits this role superbly and comes off with much more charisma than he did on television (again, large audience energy does so much for the performances).
Most improved dancer: Kupono Aweau. He was always a sweet guy on the show, though some performances seemed just a step behind the other dancers. The tour has done him well because he was the night's most pleasant surprise. His solo was primal and inventive. He also had a genuinely funny bit where he was essentially product placement for the SYTYCD workout video. It's Fox, so, hocking products is expected, but this was an entertaining way to do it.
America got it right. Brandon Bryant's solo was sick and Jeanine Mason has crazy skills. They were as close to perfect, physically and other otherwise, as you can get. For Brandon it was a long time in the making. I had totally forgotten he tried out in season 1 at age 15 (you have to be 18 to make it on the show, and yes, they do check), and in season 4 he made it to the last two guys eligible to be in the top 20, and Gev Monoukian was chosen over him.
No favorite routines left behind! Janette Manrara and Brandon's high octane disco and their Spy vs. Spy jazz routine? Check, check. Randi Evans and Evan Kasprzak's butt dance? Check. Melissa Sandvig and Ade Obayomi's touching cancer piece (they were also my personal favorite partnership)? Check. Travis Wall's first piece as a choreographer starring a perfect Jeanine and Jason? Check. Bollywood?! Check. It was everything you could ask for.
What about Russian folk dance? Don't groan too fast. It was the running joke throughout the night, with Jeanine and Philip entering at random moments in full costume trying to squeeze in the number. It culminated in the entire cast dancing the steps! Craziness. Major props to Jeanine and Phillip for getting through the dance that will never be featured on SYTYCD ever. again.
EXCLUSIVE: Examiner.com got to interview the top 10 dancers and their special guests before the show and these exclusive clips will be posted all this week. Want to know where Ade gets his favorite cheeseburger? What the tattoo on Kupono's hand says? The do's and don'ts of club dancing according to season 5's top 12? Make sure to tune in all this week. Also, there will be photo slideshows from tonight's performance courtesy of the lovely AEG Events Examiner, Susana Capra.
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