As always, this year I headed out to see the latest cast of SYTYCD on their tour. Fortunately, instead of being at Time Warner Cable Arena – a venue much too large to enjoy a dance show (although I always had great seats since I went by myself so it didn’t affect me), this year’s tour was at Belk Theater, which is a true performance hall and made for a much more enjoyable show.
This year I took the kids with me. We ended up with fabulous seats because I bought singles – we all had aisle seats, one behind the other. We were in the third, fourth and fifth rows, respectively. And when several seats next to CootieGirl stayed empty due to no shows, at intermission I asked an usher if CootieBoy and I could move up to sit with her, and after a quick check with his boss, he said yes. So for the second half of the show we were all together in the third row. Woo!
As for the show itself, it was fantastic. Long gone are the awkward "witty" skits that the cast members were forced to endure between numbers. The last show I went to I was very disappointed that in some cases we only got partial routines in the midst of "dance medleys" that effectively ruined the goodwill felt for many routines during the season. But this time around, the showrunners got it exactly right. It was just one long explosion of great dancing, with video clips of the judges and choreographers reminiscing about their favorite moments throughout the season.
As for the dancers, one thing became abundantly clear: Ricky may have won, but Tanisha is the true champion. Don’t get me wrong – I loved just about everyone in this season’s cast and was perfectly happy that Ricky won. But based on last night? Tanisha is a master technician and the showrunners know it. All the dancers got solos and were in the group routines. But 9 times out of ten, if a pair was performing, Tanisha was the female. And wow is she amazing. I was a fan of hers and was rooting for her to win (and was devastated when she didn’t make Top 6) – so I especially enjoyed last night’s show since she was featured so heavily.
I went looking online to see if I could find reviews of the show in other cities to see if perhaps the focus on a particular dancer changes each night to give other dancers a break. For instance, perhaps tap dancer Zack will be in most of the routines tomorrow night, and Rudy on Saturday. I just don’t know. Either way, we got Tanisha, and it was amazing.
The tour continues into January, so be sure to check their website (http://www.fox.com/dance/article/join-the-top-10-on-tour-0) for possible tour dates in your area.