another week of auditions

i love watching the salt lake/LA auditions because there is always the chance that i'll see someone i know on the show.
this year was no exception. chase thomas? don't know him personally, but friends of mine do, and i've definitely seen him around the dance department. i can't wait to see some TO kids on it (because you know it'll happen)

btw, just heard news that deon and damien from last week ripped off someone else's choreography. that is terrible. i hope that they get cut in vegas early, (or drop out on their own) before they bring any more embarrassment to themselves...

"whacking"?? seems like it's going to be a shoddy audition. she (samara, aka princess) looks fierce though...interesting. she's not half bad. but can she do any other styles of dance? that's the real question...some of these people are awesome in their own genre, but throw in some actual choreography and they're done for. wow. vegas. that's more than i thought she would get.

brandon is good, but it's nothing more than we've already seen these last 7 seasons. i'm sure they'll send him on to vegas though because he is so good, but he's gotta stand out there, or else he won't make it through to the top 20.

overall, a pretty good slew of new dancers. not too many awful ones like they've done in the past. maybe they've realized that this isn't american idol and the audience does in fact like watching GOOD dancing over bad dancing.

tomorrow night?? LA!!
and VEGAS next week! oh boy, i can't wait! (*crossing fingers that alex is there!!*)

and so it begins...

It's about that time of the year again...when i am fully consumed with dance all.the.time. YUP. So You Think You Can Dance is BACK! as is the crazy mary murphy. man i love her. (i only hope that means mia michaels will be choreographing this year)
i even ditched out on the relief society activity so that i could watch tonight (granted i also didn't want to drive up the canyon after driving two hours round trip to salt lake)
georgia: atlanta. so far, AMAZING.
favorite line thus far? "MAN! i really thought i had it this year!!" (clearly he didn't make it to choreography)
hahaha. oh let the giant rumpus begin!

TOP 4!

i love this top 4. i think they are great.

it should be a fun episode.

glad it's not QUITE the finale.

top 4

tyce diorio

"guys and dolls"

great. loved it. i love that lauren is the only girl amongst those 3 boys. makes the dynamics so unusual, but i think i enjoy it.

i still can't believe it's how it is though. so many technicalities, leading to this top 4. ALL contemporary dancers? wow.

LAUREN with pasha in argentine tango.

i love argentine tango. so sexy. i think lauren can pull it off. HOLY WOW. so fantastic. i thought she was a little stiff at parts but holy cow, so great! gah!

ADECHIKE with lauren in african jazz.

(surprised? i'm not)

fun, but it's adechike, he makes everything he does look like afro jazz.

ROBERT with anya in viennese waltz.

FINALLY! i've been waiting for one alllll season. oh my gosh. he is beautiful. he made that look soooo easy and so smooth and gorgeous. wow. i would dance with him any day. and i would fall in love with him too. i may have already done so. oh well.

KENT with courtney in disco.

love kent. he is SO a younger version (and non-gay version) of adam. fave.

oh my gosh he's great. no faces. all smiles, totally believable. and he's SUCH a good partner. pays so much attention to them and makes the connection. so great for his first disco. looooove love him.

LAUREN with ade in jazz.

oh my gosh that lift. are you kidding me? and what is she wearing? something out of b.spears' closet?? i feel like thay aren't dancing through the movements, but maybe that's the choreo? interesting though. tough and rough. and WHOA! cheating on kent?! nooooo they're supposed to be in love! holy cow.

ADECHIKE with kathryn in contemporary.

again, pulling the strings for adechike, what is going on? it was good. powerful at times, but forgettable. we all know he's a great dancer technically, so this should've been easy.

ROBERT with dominic in hip hop.

i love nappytabs. and they've done GREAt pieces this season. so theatrical. so fun. oh my gosh i loved that. he is SUCH a character. and SO good at it. ken and barbie? yes. brilliant.

KENT with NEIL in contemporary.

i love travis. okay. i love kent. I LOVE NEIL! okay, i say this every. single. week. but it's true.

oh i loved that. so my life. so all about letting go after someone has hurt you so bad. they. are twins. all three of them together = so amazing.

my top 3: probably can't choose. i love the 4 of them. but i think it'll be robert, kent and lauren. with kent winning the whole thing next week.

top 6 (again) to top 4

will this injury prone season just go on and on forever?! (in some ways, i hope so. in others, i hope not, just for the sake of the dancers who have been beaten every week in rehearsals and shows)

jose needs to be cut. it's really not fair that they keep stringing him along because he's "got a great smile". he's no joshua or russell. can a REAL dancer win finally?!

he should've been cut last week, with billy being cut this week

(and sorry to all those billy lovers. he's great technically. beautiful lines, technique, etc, etc. but he's not a performer! he doesn't connect to the story, to his partner or to the audience. i'm done with him.)

besides, we all know that kent is going to win, so why prolong the inevitable??

okay so i failed again. i didn't post about last week's performances because i missed the first hour playing soccer. and then this week i missed the first 5 minutes, again, because of soccer and i just didn't think to grab my comp to critique the dances. oh well. not much needs to be said.
i love kent. he will win.
jose and billy will be cut this week.
lauren should also win (if they do that, a la season 4 with joshua and katee)
i heart robert also.
but kent more so. he's the loveable little brother. (or according to my own brother, he's the guy i want to date but can't because i'm a cougar? no no. i'm pretty sure that's called cradle robbing.)
anyway. i'll try to do better next week. until then, KENT.

lucky number 7

or is it? another injury. and this time to the only other girl on the show. stop breaking your dancers!

i'm liking the two dance a piece thing, but it's hard to do when the numbers are uneven.

strings were definitely pulled to get jose with dominic in a b-boy piece. just saying.

jose needs to be gone this week. it better happen.

top 8-sytycd

so i failed to post last week. why? i left my laptop at work :( but i still cannot believe the AWESOMENESS of alex's hip hop with twitch. BLEW. MY. MIND. i'm pretty sure i've watched it twenty plus times.

let's see how this week compares. especially with only 2 girls left and ALL 6 guys remaining. so strange!

they better bring in some of our male all-stars, otherwise i'd be pissed.

two pieces?! yay! double the pleasure. double the fun!

ooooh right. all star AND a competitor. i remember now...

i KNEW there was one less guy! poor alex! BAH! it's a good thing he's winning the whole thing. but he CAN'T be hurt!!! oh no. nigel you cannot let him leave!

Week 2 SYTYCD-Top 10

CRISTINA with Pasha in a paso doble (!!)

"ira deorum sanctus"

loveeeee paso. and sadly, it's not very well known. (unless you're a ballroom dancer)

wow. great. so strong! i feel like she needed more of a C shape (hips thrust forward) but she lucked out because she's already a ballroom/salsa dancer. doesn't mean much though, because salsa is different than paso.

ADECHIKE with Allison in a Mandy Moore (!) contemporary (!)

"listen to your heart"

he's sooooo good! he made that look easy! but it was hard to concentrate on the dance when i was focusing so much on whether he was smiling and bringing out the emotion. i do love his smile though. still needs to work on being consistent with that though. he needs to look like he's ENJOYING it (i know he is, but he has a hard time showing it)

ALEX with Lauren in a Tyce broadway

"summertime"

oh. my. gosh. he's brilliant. and can i say, i think lauren is brilliant too. soooo good. and fosse is not easy. so many sharp movements and nuances. i think he performed that really well though. and made it look easy with his sharp kicks and leaps, etc.

ASHLEY with Mark in a Travis contemporary (!!)

"wonderful"

mark is SO ATTRACTIVE. oh wait, i'm supposed to be critiquing ashley huh. uhm, right. liked it, and she's got great technique, beautiful extensions. i can't say that i saw the story really come out though, and maybe i'll have to agree with nigel and say it's due to travis' choreography (which i loved, btw, but maybe it wasn't enough).

BILLY with Comfort in a lil c krump.

"so u think u can krump"

oh goodness...this might just be a mess...billy can't krump!? alright, so not a disaster per se, but he's still a white boy! i can't take it seriously! good thing he can act though. glad he could get all the steps. it's like watching my brother dance hip hop (which he does very well) but he's still a white boy. doesn't matter if he's BRILLIANT in this, he's still a white boy. doesn't change a thing. a nice effort though.

ROBERT with Anya in an argentine tango (!)

"libertango"

Robert is SOOOO attractive! he's kind of a like a darker version of a young elvis. oooh. me likey. ohmygoshheissosexy. and yes i just said that. the steps could've been a little bit smoother, but he was GREAT. hands needed some work too, but honestly, that doesn't really matter because he could've fooled me into thinking he was an actual ballroom dancer.

MELINDA with ade in a stacey tookey contemporary

"squander"

SO much better than last week. i think she needs to work on her transitions though, dancing through them. it helps that she has some other dance genres behind her. i'm not sure how long she's gonna last on the show however...seems a little fake and like she's trying too hard to prove that she is a dancer and an entertainer.

JOSE with Kathryn in a bollywood

oh boy. like i said before with billy, jose and bollywood? disaster in the making...he actually surprised me. got the movements down, although he did look a little worried and kinda kept glancing at kathryn throughout. it was cute though.

LAUREN with Dominic in a lyrical hip hop

"if i were a boy"

whoa. that was way good. she hit EVERYTHING. i can't say i saw the emotion and the feeling come out as well as it could have but it was pretty dang good. oh dominic, your love for cat is far too apparent sometimes. but thanks for the laughs. 

KENT with Courtney in a Tyce jazz

"amy amy amy"

he is so precious! he is so good at getting into character! you wouldn't think he was just 18 when he dances! favorite! of all time. yup. decided. he's got amazing technique though.

i'm not sure who will be in the bottom. i honestly think that the girls will get voted off first though, leaving the boys behind. i think cristina danced the paso extremely well, probably the best of the night, but she's not my favorite. nor is ashley. kent is my favorite though.

So You Think You Can Dance? Oh yeah....we KNOW we can dance.

Okay, season 7 is new and improved.

I figure I should start blogging about it because it is just SO AWESOME.

bringing in the all-stars is still up in the air.

i LOVE seeing my faves back again, but how it's going to work, i'm not sure yet.

loved last week's performance show, in their own style.

this week, first votes!

SYTYCD season 6

I am writing this as I watch the live results show:

(aka, don't read all the way down if you missed this episode!)

number one, i LOVED this season. AMAZING.

number two, it should've been a top 4, not 6, but oh well.

however, (with the exception of kathryn/ellenore's order) the top 4 IS what it should've been.

glorious.

and with kathryn getting third place....OH. MY. GOODNESS.

top 2?!?! russell and jakob?!?! LOVE. IT.

i was so excited to see that.

i don't even care who wins now.

i love them both so so much.

but poor russell! hurt! and him crying. broke my heart.

russell. no! jakob! no, russell!

ahhhhhhh! RUSSELLLLLLL!

i. love. him.

denial?

My sister leaves Sunday night for her first year of college and it hasn't really hit me yet...the extent of that statement. Maybe it hasn't affected me yet because I haven't given myself the chance to think about it. Or maybe it's because I'll be away at school too, and I'm already used to being away from her. That's a possibility. I think it'll hit me when I see my mom break down and cry for a week. And then she'll do it again when I leave a week later. I'm sure it makes my younger brother and sister feel fabulous, especially when she says her "girls are leaving her" What? Like she doesn't have 2 other kids to keep her busy while we're gone?
I seriously can't wait to get back to Provo, have my own CAR, my freedom (again), my own room in a great townhouse...I'm not so excited about starting school again, but hey, I'm gonna make the most of it and work hard to get the grades I need, but not be totally lame. I'm going to pick and choose the events/activities I attend. I don't HAVE to go to everything. I can be a homebody every once in a while. Once season starts though, I'm gonna have to make a LOT of time to board. *sigh* I cannot wait for winter. It makes me happy. I think when I get married/older, I'm gonna have to live somewhere that has a real winter. Or at least, own a house somewhere like Utah or Colorado that I could go to during the winter. I'll do the opposite of birds...I'll go north for the winter, instead of south. Yeah that sounds like a good plan.

On another note, I just finished the second and third books in the Twilight series. New Moon was good, but not as great as Twilight (for those that haven't read it, don't worry, I won't spill anything). Eclipse was FANTASTIC. Still, not as amazing as the first, but a close second. I think I enjoyed the first so much because it was a new story, something different for me to read, and easier to relate to (well, except for the whole vampire thing) But seriously, Bella's complaints and confusion and trials are easy to relate to, and I sympathize with her and her story. Plus, as my mother pointed out to me last night (but which I already knew, consciously and subconsciously), I'm a hopeless romantic, so Bella's and Edward's love story is to die for. It just makes me gush. Which is why, I think, I liked Eclipse so much. And thank goodness Stephenie Meyer is writing the fourth one as we speak. I don't know if I could handle the story ending this way. It's not finished. It leaves so many questions unanswered.
The way this series is going, I have a feeling it's going to become Harry Potter-esqe in the number of books and the following/craze it's accumulating. But it's for a more mature (or most likely, more feminine) audience. I don't think the male population would get as much out of this novel as the female audience already does. Which is fine with me. I've fallen in love with these books, with the characters and the drama that center around this little town in Washington. (what is it with hot guys and washington??)
Anyway, if you haven't had a chance to grab a copy of this book, go get one and read it. I'm sure you'll get as addicted as the rest of the Edward Cullen fan club (since I can't really imagine any other fan club for this book...although, I'm sure they exist, even if only in small numbers)

Another note...Sabra is America's Favorite Dancer! I can't say I'm surprised. The judges loved her from the beginning and she's shown immense strength, personality, and TALENT. And this coming from a girl who has only danced 4 years!! I've danced for 5 and I'm no where NEAR as good as she is. I wish that wasn't the case. I should've dedicated more time to dance...I'm so determined to take more classes this year. Even if it's not through BYU. I'd gladly pay to take classes in Orem. And it's possible too (well except for the whole lack of money thing...) with my newly bought car (hence the reason for my lack of available money)
I wasn't shocked when Lacey was the first eliminated out of the Top 4. I mean, honestly, if she had won the whole thing 1) there would be a lot of rumors and controversy floating around about the show being rigged (or something to that effect) and 2)she went the WHOLE season without being in danger of elimination...she really couldn't think she'd be able to hold out for much longer, now could she? I mean, i LOVE her, think she's a fabulous performer and dancer, she has so much spark and energy and she's so dang cute, but I really couldn't see her winning the whole thing.
Neil. I was sad that he was the second eliminated, but I wasn't shocked about that either. As much as I knew the girls LOVED him because he's so dang hot, it's not entirely about that. He's a great dancer and got better and better as the competition moved on. He just didn't have enough of America behind him to give him that extra push that he needed. And what does it really matter if any of them won anyway? They were on the show, that's prize enough. They get their name, and their abilities, out there. People know who they are now and they're going to get a lot of job opportunities from that. As soon as it was down to the last 3, I called who would be the top 2. I'm super glad a girl won this year. The boys have dominated 2 years in a row and it's about time we had a strong class of girls.

neil = ♥

i'm in love. literally. it's his smile. brianna and i decided tonight during last week's results show. i already knew i was a sucker for smiles. (*cough*snowboarderwho'ssmilewastheonlythingisawforthefirst3weeksofclass*cough*) but oh my gosh. he has the best smile i have ever seen in my entire life. it like, brightens up his entire face and just makes you MELT.
oh man. *sigh* can i meet him??





[sorry for this gush, but i just had to say it somewhere....my family is already tired of my obsession. wonder why? haha]

i like you just the way you are

Free lunch today at work :) I love those days. I got a free (expensive!) lunch yesterday as well. Working at a law firm pays off sometimes. Just sometimes though.
Yesterday was Nick & Stef's for Tina's kind of goodbye lunch. I ordered the flat iron steak with a red wine sauce. MMMM. Delish. Today was our last supplemental luncheon thing with a bunch of the firmwide managers. GOOD STUFF. Mostly just sandwiches, but they were delicious. Plus we got presents: this week it was a thermos with O'Melveny's logo on it. Perfect for those cold, snowy days in Utah. I've been wanting one for a long time, now I finally have one! For free too! So I was eating one of the large white chocolate macademia nut cookies (another delish) and talking to Paul and Adam (bad idea). Paul was going off on how he didn't get a present because "he's Asian" but jokingly of course. And Adam was playing off that....well, that set me to laughing and I actually had to turn away to avoid spraying cookie all over the place. I know me and I knew that if I didn't control myself, I'd either choke, or spit food. So, in everyone's best interest, I left. But definitely one of the highlights of the day.

I'm still obsessed with SYTYCD. Probably even more so. I just rewatched all of last night's dances (Neil and Sabra's jazz = INCREDIBLE). Plus I watched all of the top 10's dances too. Mostly just the solos because I just love the choreography. And the way that Kameron just explodes, and after screaming he throws a punch and recoils from the pain of it. I also really enjoy Neil's performance with Wade Robson's choreoghraphy. He jumps so flippin high, I can't even believe it. I can't even start to guess as to who will be in the finale next week, but I have my hopes. Although they're not completely justified. I've finally come up with favorites, so it's not fair to the other dancers. I just hope Neil, Danny and Lacey are in there. As for the other girl....Sabra is fantastic. I didn't use to like her, but now that I've seen her progress, she's great. Lauren has been my favorite since auditions, but I don't know if she'll be voted into the top 4 since she's been in the bottom 4 the last two weeks. Unfortunately I have to wait until Monday to find out (although, apparently, they're taping the results tonight, just not showing them until Monday. Kind of stupid if you ask me, since most everyone will find out before then...)

Random thought: (to everyone, not me, since I've been thinking about it for a bit) I want to go to Italy next summer. Actually, I just want to backpack through Europe, but Italy will definitely be my first stop. My sister just got back from Italy/the Netherlands on Tuesday and I saw her pictures for the first time this afternoon and it looks INCREDIBLE. I'm so jealous that she got to go there. I want to so bad. I really hope I get the chance to go soon. If anyone knows cheap airlines/accommodations/etc. let me know! :)

i'm in love <3

tonight's sytycd was AMAZING. best dancing i have seen on this show in a long time. there was not a negative word to be heard from the judges. except for nigel's critique of lacey's hands during her smooth waltz, but who really cares about that?
and it's official. i am in love with neil. oh my goodness. he's incredible. as much as i loved travis last season and kameron this season, neil has replaced them both with his boyish charm, his goofy demeanor, his gorgeous smile, and his fantastic dancing abilities. *sigh* i want to meet him.