I think Bravo scooped you: [link]

A friend of mine watched the first episode of Around the World in 80 Plates and hated it.

In addition to the feet (which were bad y'all), I was wanting a little bit more openness in the upper body - really stretch out from the center of chest and open through the back and shoulder blades.

SO MUCH THIS! He has too much tension in his shoulders, and so they're extending a bit above where they should be. It's hard when you're muscular, but he needs to learn to relax through the shoulders and upper body. The rest of his motion will flow much more fluidly if he can learn to do this. Unfortunately this show has less mentoring than I wish it did, because somebody could sort that out really quickly if he had someone working with him.

The feet were seriously bad. Part of it is the same deal with the shoulders, too much tension, not relaxing all the way through. A movement should extend all the way through the body, and that includes the feet all the way to the toes. A dancer who is not in control of his toes is not in control of his body.

That's part of what makes good lines, is that extension all the way through the extremities.

Dancing through your tippy toes. Testify!

I do wish we got to see a little bit more of the dancers working with the choreographers as I think they probably do mentor the kids in just the way you mention, Liese. I would watch a whole night of just the three or so days they learn, practice and block the choreo and one combined performance/results night. That would be excellent.

I feel like I read someplace that they only get like 4.5 hours to work with the choreographers -- 3 on one day and 1.5 on the next, or something similarly short.

I suddenly feel like we need TyTy up in here saying "H2T!!"

And I agree I would watch so much more than they show us. Like, I would watch every hour of Vegas week real time and love it. This has been one of my criticisms of "breaking pointe", that there's tons of semi-manufactured personal drama but I'd rather see the dancing and dance drama! (Though the lady ep did show more of that in some of the rehearsals)

Yes, I think they have 3 hours one day to actually learn the choreo (and that's when we see the choreographers usually with their assistants), then 1 hour the next day to run through it and practice. I also think they have one day to block the dances (both the partner dances and the group dance) on the SYTYCD stage (although I don't think the choreographer is there for that - probably just the director or AD).

I would love to see more of Vegas week - and by that I mean more action not more drama or back story.

omg, they could totally sell they 24 hour live streaming vegs ala old school BigBrother. man I had that up on my screen all day using the hack codes from the pancaquistas and another group.

And yes to watching the work with the choreos. They should have them as behind the scenes videos up on CBS.com or via their FB page or somewhere driving social media mentions/links for the show.

Speaking of, I saw ads for Big Brother last night! My summer TV drought is almost over.

D'oh! I was just wondering about that.