SYTYCD Top 8 SPOILERS

SPOILERS




Couples & Dances:

Mark & Comfort - Foxtrot & Hip-Hop (Napoleon/Tabitha)

Joshua & Chelsie - Argentine Tango & Disco

Twitch & Katee - Contemporary (Mia Michaels!) & Broadway (Tyce Diorio)

Will & Courtney - Samba & Hip-Hop (Napoleon/Tabitha)

2 Hawaiian Dancers Hit Big on the National Scene

Now that Cara Horibe and her fellow dancers in Fanny Pack have made it to the Top 6 on MTV's "America's Best Dance Crew," the workload has escalated.
"It's really tough right now because all the crews that are left are really good," Horibe said from Los Angeles, where her life revolves around rehearsals and tapings. For the most part, they remain sequestered in the hotel, and MTV officials confiscate their cell phones before taping each show until after it airs to prevent results from leaking.

Horibe is one of two dancers from Hawaii to burst onto the national scene this summer, and both have proved themselves talented enough to endure brutal elimination rounds with harsh judges and even more demanding fans.


As of this week, Castle High School graduate Mark Kanemura has cracked the Top 10 on Season 4 of Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance," and fellow Castle graduate Horibe just needs to survive one more round of the second season of "America's Best Dance Crew" before she gets a shot at a national tour.

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SYTYCD's Mamma Mia

So You Think You Can Dance choreographer/Judge Mia Michaels has been on a bit of a tear this season. During rehearsel for the first week's performances she said that she didn't think dancer Mark Kanemura was turning out as well as she thought he would. Then, last week she took Jessica King to task for being "carried" through the competition so far by her much stronger partner Will Wingfield.

But according to Michaels herself, she's just misunderstood and is merely practicing her own brand of tough love.

"What America doesn't know is the relationship," she explains at the TCA Summer Press Tour, saying that what she brings to the judging table is a choreographer's perspective. "There's a beautiful, beautiful collaboration and very nurturing [atmosphere]. For me especially, I nurture them. I'm Mamma Mia and they look to me for that tough love actually.

"So, when I say it, American might go, 'Oh my God, that's so harsh.'

"[The dancers] are cool with it. They know. They know I only want them to be brilliant."

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Jessica is Out, Comfort back in on SYTYCD

Taken from EW's Live Press Tour Diary.

So You Think You Can Dance panel

9:16 am: Big news! It's announced that contestant Jessica King has suffered an injury and has been replaced by the recently eliminated Comfort Fedoke. EW's Alynda Wheat informs me that this is "big news." Oh, wait, make that "really huge deal." (Sorry, still not watching SYTYCD.)

9:29 am: Exec producer Nigel Lythgoe refuses to elaborate on the specifics of King's injury, saying only that her recovery will take "four to five weeks."

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SYTYCD Top 16 - Dance Styles & Choreographers

**SPOILERS**




Here are the dance styles and choreographers for the So You Think You Can Dance Top 16:

Kherington & Twitch: Hip Hop (Napoleon & Tabitha)

Courtney & Gev: Rumba (Tony Meredith)

Comfort & Chris: Jazz (Tyce Diorio)

Jessica & Will: Disco (Doriana Sanchez)

Chelsea & Thayne: Quickstep (Heather Smith)

Kourtni & Matt: Contemporary (Sonya Tayeh)

Chelsie & Mark: Hip Hop (Napoleon & Tabitha)

Katee & Joshua: Samba (Tony Meredith)

American Idol vs. So You Think You Can Dance Judges

THE BRITS
Simon Cowell vs. Nigel Lythgoe

Similarities: Snarky Simon is known as tough but fair, and contestants respect him because of his experience in the music industry. Likewise, Nasty Nigel has tremendous experience in dance, having studied jazz, tap and European folk at a young age. They never try to sugarcoat their comments, but aren't afraid to give props to contestants who deserve them.

Differences: Sometimes Cowell appears to delight in squashing the dreams of pop hopefuls. Lythgoe, on the other hand, adds encouragement or helpful advice on the back end of every negative comment. The high volume of returning auditioners indicates that Lythgoe and Co. actually want contestants to improve and try out again.

THE TWITS
Paula Abdul vs. Mary Murphy

Similarities: The loopy brunettes both devote a lot of their critiques to the contestants' appearance.

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SYTYCD's Gev Manoukian Has Strong Skating Ties

The competition for season four of the hit FOX show So You Think You Can Dance is and among the top 18 is a young hip-hop/break dancer with a very tight bond to the skating world. During the audition shows Gev Manoukian, 21, from Centerville, Utah, was shown doing a bit of break dancing on ice. But skating is more than a casual hobby.

To many skating fans, his last name is quite familiar. Gev is the son of acrobatic show skater Akop Manoukian, who has performed all over the world, first with Ari Zakarian and for the past few years with Armen Saakian. Manoukian and Saakian appeared in the movie Blades of Glory. He showed a tape of Gev's on ice moves to Blades choreographer Sarah Kawahara, who said he wasn't right for the movie but she'd keep him in mind for future projects.

"Sometimes we go to the rink and I teach him a little bit. Everybody stands around watching and clapping," said Manoukian. "I'm a better skater, but he does cooler tricks."

Gev Manoukian grew up in Kazakhstan with his mother (Manoukian's ex-wife), but visited his father in the U.S. every summer. After graduating high school at 16, he moved permanently to the U.S., where he attended 11th and 12th grades in Utah, and graduated from high school again. He enrolled in the University of Utah and decided to stay there with his aunt and grandparents when Manoukian moved to Jackson, Wyoming.

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Ari and Akop- on ice

SYTYCD Spolier- Styles and Choreographers for the Top 18

Read at your own discretion.

SPOILER! SPOILER! SPOILER!

SPOILER! SPOILER! SPOILER!

Thayne & Chelsea T. -- Jazz (Mandy Moore)

William & Jessica -- Hip Hop (Cicily & Olisa)

Mark & Chelsie -- Argentine Tango (Alex de Silva)

Matt & Kourtni -- Fox Trot (Jean Marc Generaux)

Gev & Courtney -- Contemporary (Mandy Moore)

Joshua & Katee -- Broadway (Tyce Diorio)

Marquis & Susie -- Salsa (Alex de Silva)

Twitch & Kherington -- Viennese Waltz (Jean Marc Generaux)

Chris & Comfort -- Crump (Lil C)

So You Think You Can Dance is on A Mission

ON AN UNSEASONABLY hot day recently, the sidewalk outside the Orpheum Theatre is filled with an unusual sight for this stretch of unreclaimed downtown -- several scores of young dancers clad in tights, sweats, tutus and belly dancing outfits sprawl across the shaded ground under the marquee. But being dancers, they don't sprawl quietly; instead the mass of them constantly undulates and seethes like some many-tentacled sea creature.

The theater's front door flies open and a young man races out to the sidewalk, where he does a series of cartwheels, back flips and winged summersaults, all the while clutching in his hand a magical sheet of paper -- a ticket past the auditions to the next round of TV's freewheeling dance competition, "So You Think You Can Dance," which kicked off its fourth season on Fox last week (8 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays).

Dance is enjoying something of a mini-renaissance, with the success of both "So You Think You Can Dance" and ABC's "Dancing With the Stars," along with the cable shows "America's Best Dance Crew" (MTV) and "Step It Up and Dance" (Bravo), as well as the "High School Musical" franchise. But we are also living in a culture that has not created a household-name dance superstar in two decades, so their shot on stage here today may be these young dancers' best (or only) shot at making their dreams of a dancing career with monetary rewards come true. (The winner will receive $250,000.)

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So You Think You Can Dance Week One Audition Clips

Now that's fast! The show ended less than 30 minutes ago and already clips are up on YouTube. Here are a few that we at Shimmy liked.

Stephen "Twitch" Boss has returned:



Clip by: DanceFan2008

So has Philip Chbeeb


Clip by: DanceFan2008

Have you seen Robert Muraine yet? We could watch this guy move forever.



Clip By: ThumpingPenguin

5 Reasons To Watch SYTYCD

It's baaack! And it's about flippin' time! So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD to those of us who are old friends) returns tonight, and not a moment too soon. (Where has all the good TV gone?)

If you have never watched SYTYCD or if you think you aren't a dance-show kind of person, I urge you to give it a shot. This is outstanding television! Never seen it? Need some encouragement? Read on to find out why you must watch!

Five Reasons to Watch So You Think You Can Dance

1. Talent: Even the best Dancing With the Stars amateurs (and hell, some of the pros) have nothing on these kids. The So You Think You Can Dance contestants will make you weep they're so good. Outside of Project Runway and, you know, Idol, I don't think any other reality talent show on TV has such legitimately top-drawer talent in play.

2. Trials and Troubles: You want character-based drama? Tune in to SYTYCD for that, in the form of stoic Eastern European ballroom dancers learning how to pop and lock, hip-hop studs figuring out the foxtrot, and classically trained ballerinas getting humped on stage by their partners. It's gold, people, I'm telling you.

3. Cat Deeley: You Brits out there know her well, as she's been all over U.K. TV for 10 years, give or take, but you 'murricans might not be familiar with her general awesomeness. A mother hen to all her little dancer chicks, not to mention a smooth and smart host in the vein of Ryan Seacrest himself, Cat keeps the show centered and grounded when judges Nigel Lythgoe and Mary Murphy are flying off the handle, and she's certainly the warmest and sweetest personality on the show at any given time. All respect to crunchy-granola genius choreographer Mia Michaels, of course.

4. Mormon Mafia: Gotta love those LDS swing kids. According to Cat Deeley, Utah is America's current world capital of dance, and certainly past SYTYCD stars like Benji, Lacey, Heidi and Allison would make the case that expelling all that sexual energy though dance is a great way to keep the kids celibate and the dance floor jumpin'. In other dance dynasty news, what are the chances that Denise Wall has another kid? Because after Travis Wall and Danny Tidwell, I'd love to see more from that clan!

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So You Think You Can Dance Gossip

And what's that I hear in the distance? Could it be the incredibly identifiable cackle of Mary Murphy? "It's so funny, I'll be at restaurants and laugh and people will just pop up from behind the corner," she told me of the trait she inherited from her late mother. "It's weird that people recognize me for my scream and my laugh -- but it's good to be famous for something, brother!"


Mary spilled that this season is going to be all about the hip-hop dancers and that the talent is through the roof! Something which her fellow judge, Nigel Lythgoe, echoes. "There is a guy called Twitch who is very good and Phillip Habib is one of the most sensational ripplers and poppers I've ever seen!" Nigel also reveals that this season may see a first: "All the kids who've had no formal training in the past -- the ones who dive onto their heads -- have started taking classes and are a force to be reckoned with this year! It's a possibility that someone who doesn't have any formal training could actually win!"

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Interview With Cat Deeley

Although she's having an early morning phone conversation with a group of reporters, So You Think You Can Dance host Cat Deeley is chipper, which won't surprise fans of the FOX reality hit.

"You know what? It's the funniest thing," Deeley says, faced with a well-intentioned accusation of preternatural enthusiasm. "I've got a friend of mine staying here and her husband called me because he was calling from England. It must have been about 7:15 in the morning and he's like, 'For God's sake, stop being so chirpy. You must have literally just got up.' I don't know what it is with me. If I wake up and the sun is shining it's not bad. Here in California there's nothing much to be grouchy about, I don't think. You've got the sunshine and palm trees and ocean and hills. Yes, I'm pretty happy most of the time I have to say; annoyingly so one might say."

It's hard to imagine anybody begrudging Deeley her happiness. In fact, her boundless supply of energy is part of why So You Think You Can Dance is now entering its fourth season as a summer success. Chipper attitude aside, the 31-year-old host isn't there to be a cheerleader and her job doesn't involve judging, but she's still every bit as integral to Dance as Ryan Seacrest is to American Idol.

"There's a definite, definite feeling where I try to make them the best that they can possibly be, but it's just different people's personalities," Deeley says of her role. "Some people if they're put in a certain position some people get very quiet and shy; other people get very loud and outgoing. I think the deal is that there is charm to both if they're both honest."

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It's Right Around The Corner!

Breaking World Records- SYTYCD-Style

Fox decided to kick off season four of its hit summer show by setting a world record. Yesterday, in the courtyard of the Nokia Theatre, So You Think You Can Dance set the world record for the largest simultaneous dance mat routine. They even got a certificate from the Guinness Book of World Records for it! The event will be entered into the new Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition book.

Here's how it went down: About a hundred Dance Dance Revolution mats were set-up outside of the theatre, which is across from the famous Staples Center. In the front of the mats, a large screen was set-up and hooked up to an X-Box. SYTYCD also had a leader of dance to make sure everyone knew the moves. After 111 dancers played DDR for five minutes, Fox gave away a video game console, a copy of Dance Dance Revolution, and a 23" LCD flat-screen TV. (I know, I thought they only had 100 mats.

Keep Reading... more about the dance off as well as chats with a few of season 3's favorites!

SYTYCD Dance Off on Monday!