SYTYCD: In totes agreement. The opening number was awful. And it was the choreo that was the problem, for sure. Go away, Tasty!
LXD was astounding. Not just the moves and tricks, but the precision and how they were able to incorporate everything into a cohesive piece.
I also was happy to see Hok & Dominic, but that whole number came off weird.
I'm glad about the elims, especially because KathrynWTFAmerica? But now that Nathan's out, as well as another 18 year old, I have some minor thinky about the young'uns.
I think this show does them a disservice by wanting to cast so young. At their age, especially Nathan as a guy, they're not even finished growing yet. They just don't have full enough control over their bodies and their self-expression to be successful in this context.
Let me step aside to say that I know full well dance is a young person's game. I know in ballet if you're 14 and not in the full training regime, you're ancient and probably not going to make it. But that's in an environment of training and discipline and growth. (Hopefully. In a good one.)
This is a different thing. And it was so hard to see Nathan getting beat up like that because really, he's just a kid. Of course he thinks he's the best thing ever, and of course he is hurt and disappointed and cries. He's 18! He also thinks that he's immortal and that actions don't have consequences. I'm assuming. He may well be a perfectly mature and well balanced kid, I don't know the guy.
I'm just saying that physically, emotionally, and artistically, it's awfully young to be on such a large national stage, especially without a mentorship role on the show.
That leaves aside the other issue, which I was saving to talk about after Mollee got eliminated, but that may not be forthcoming anytime soon. I know this show is not great on social justice issues. But it's always been skeevy to me to see the judges push sexualization so hard on the young female dancers. I didn't see it happen with Nathan so much, so it's a gender thing.
I know dance and sex are kinda intertwined. And you definitely need to be able to bring the sexy to win this show. But it makes me uncomfortable to watch bubbly teenagers be told that their success as a dancer is based so heavily on their willingness to trade on their sexuality. It may be true. But I don't like it.
Not that teenagers aren't sexual creatures. By the time I was Mollee's age I was married and happily having as much of Teh Sex as possible. It just comes off as, well, off to me to see the way it's presented in the critiques on this show. Does that make sense?