Ah, group dance. Jazz. Sean Cheesman. Ailey business. Jasmine and Aaron are ruling that center. Giving me life in that Judith Jamison way. Aaron is just a man out there. Fik Shun is doing it to it as well. I see you young man, giving me those contractions. Work! The less said about Hayley and Amy in this dance the better. Amy and her perma-smile in particular are just so wrong for this dance. Paul is keeping up better. He’s not pulling my eye in a negative way. I would’ve liked to see that routine with different dancers. I also would’ve like for it to be less of a direct rip off of Ailey. But apparently, I don’t always get what I want.
I think it was Hayley who had extreme FLAIL in this routine and I just about died laughing. Just so wrong.
oh my ... thank you, kat, for your write-ups - they help me keep track of some of the bits I miss. I did get the Ailey imitation in the opening/group ... it might have worked better if they'd done it with more than six dancers.
I join in the Aaron-crush group - he's really stretched himself. I think he should win - and Fik-shun, much as I love him, can't match Aaron's dancing. I'm betting on Jasmine to win for the girls - I never could tell Amy and Hayley apart.
But Fik-shun's solo - I thought maybe he'd managed to get some extra joints in his arms/legs/body and some of them were bending the other way than most people's.
1. I could happily live the rest of my life never again seeing Tyce DiOrio make a smarmy face and emoting about his choreography. He SQUICKS me.
2. JOSHUA! Still my favorite boo. That sweatshirt/giant belt combo was doing me no favors, though. I want that boy shirtless.
3. Alex! Shirtless! This was the first time I have ever found Alex sexy. Damn. Also, every single time I see him I think that they could do an all-stars version of SYTYCD and he would totally win.
I don't have that strong feelings about the current kids, but Fik-Shun sure is adorable and really stunning in his style, and who really needs to be able to foxtrot in life? I'd love to see him in 6-7 years, with more training. 18 is too young.
I could happily live the rest of my life never again seeing Tyce DiOrio make a smarmy face and emoting about his choreography. He SQUICKS me
WORD
JOSHUA! Still my favorite boo.
mine, too! then comes Mark and Alex of the guys.
I was super glad when Joshua pulled up the shirt to show the belt, because I really thought he had a gut!
18 is too young.
Question for people who know stuff: How long does a typical dancer keep getting better? I think it's clear that the all-stars are better because of more years dancing, yeah? And more life, obviously. But how old is too old?
The principal ballerina on Breaking Point is late-twenties/early thirties I think.
I think by the time you hit thirty, it must get more difficult. It seems like most professional ballet dancers (women, anyway) don't dance much past 35 or so.
I have no idea about other dancers, though I think like sports, your 30s is going to be when it all starts taking more of a toll on you.
Most female professional dancers are on the downside of their careers as performers by early to mid-30s. 34-35 is about the time they'd be thinking about hanging it up. they can choreograph or teach for much longer than that obviously. Guys can usually be lead performers (principals/soloists) for much longer. Early 40s.
In the real dance world, 18 would be young to be a soloist or a principal dancer in most companies. You'd probably just be in the corps. Most dancers, even if they have loads of talent, their work is just too immature at that age to carry an entire ballet or any of the pieces that most contemporary or modern companies do. I would guess that anywhere from about 24-28 is the sweet spot for female dancers in companies (ballet, modern, whatever). Some ladies mature earlier, 22-23, into gorgeous soloists. In companies, there's also usually a lot of dues paying that happens so even if you might be ready to solo at 20, you probably wouldn't get the chance. Again, for guys it varies, but I'd say that they are at their peak in their early 30s. Baryshnikov danced all of his really iconic roles with ABT in the late 70s/early 80s, so like 30, 31, 32. Of course this is just talking about ballet/modern and dancers in professional companies. It's probably different in other styles. For example, I don't know in competitive ballroom how old is too old vs. too young vs. just right. And hip hop as a codified style is still so new and the medium is not live theater but more likely videos that I don't know if the same general trends apply.
So basically, what I'm saying is I agree with Flea. 18 is too young to see what a dancer has really got - although you can certainly see promise and talent. I mean, it's amazing how much more . . . just everything Alex Wong is now and I frikkin' loved him on his season but now. Sweet fancy Moses, he is everything even more than before! Same goes for Mark. I loved him to pieces on his season, but now my love has just gone supernova. And yes some of that is experience, but a lot of it is also just maturing as dancers.
