...It's the title :) {1/5/19}

The TV show that makes me regress into a squeally 16-year-old is BAAAAAAAAACK!!!!!!!!! YAYAYAYAYAYAY! Say what you will about the annoying judges and the built-in bias of the partner system, EVERY SINGLE SEASON of So You Think You Can Dance rolls out unbelievably beautiful choreography and insanely talented dancers. I LOVE LOVE LOVE to watch it and critique. (Thank you Breann, my high school best friend and national champion BYU Cougarette, for teaching me how to watch dance like a dancer. I now notice when someone doesn't extend all the way through their hands and feet, I can estimate the amount of control a dancer has in his or her spine, and most importantly, I can and will fall in love with any dancer who tries and succeeds with a smile.) The glory of the show lies in such ambitious dancers. They've been doing this since diapers, but they still have to grow into the dance genres they don't know (and let's be real: sometimes they downright suck. The Quickstep? Who even DOES that anymore?). They gripe, grind, sometimes break, but best of all, they come out swinging and we watchers reap the rewards. And the choreographers, the nation's BEST choreographers, roll out the most imaginative routines you can imagine, week after week. Addiction. A gleeful prison break. Zombies. Happy feet. As someone who is glued to her tv set during this show's summer run, I feel knowledgeable enough to compile a break-down post for you nay-sayers and on-the-fencers. Here's some of last year's greatest hits: Robert and Kathryn do a truly unique twist on West Side Story (It won't let me embed, sorry!) Watch for when she uses his tie to flip him around- SWEET! Still makes me cry: This dance tells the story of a guy taking care of his sick mom. Set to Coldplay's "Fix You." Robert is a fox. Lauren was the winner last year, and this was my favorite of her dances. Keep in mind, she is NOT a hip-hip dancer, but you would never know from this video!!! Her uh, tumbleweed flips--- didn't know those were possible!!!! I can never say enough about Twitch Boss- He is my celebrity husband. I want to make sweet sweet hip-hop magic with him all day long. I got to meet him in 2008 after the So You Think You Can Dance tour came through Salt Lake, and I bear hugged him and stammered out, "Twitch... I love you!" No lie. BEST. NIGHT. EVER! He should have won his year. He is by far the most talented and all-around likable performer the show has ever seen. Don't believe me? WATCH: SO. D@*%. LOVABLE. I could go on. and on. and on. When I get started youtubing SYTYCD clips, it turns into a two hour event. The show always inspires me to download new music (its music selection is famous for being both quirky and in tune with the Billboards). The show gives a mark of distinction to any choreographer it asks to submit routines. Many of the show's numbers have earned their creators Emmys (My favorite choreographers: Desmond Richardson, Wade Robson, Tabitha and Napolean, Shane Sparks, and Sonya Tayeh. "These Arms of Mine" is about soulmates who can't find each other and yet can feel them in their arms. Tear!) I'll leave you with my all-time favorite dance, both soulful and sick (Dancer slang for "unbelievably on point"). I have watched it probably 100 times and can picture it perfectly in my head whenever this song comes on the radio. Chelsea and Mark (Season 4) were tasked with dancing out true 21st-century heartache, depicting the way love dies when a partner gets cold and selfish. As the judges later remarked, theirs is an epic performance because they both exhibited the emotion of this story in their eyes as well as their movements: Chelsea the miserable wife and Mark the workaholic. Choreographed by my favorite husband-and-wife hip-hop duo, Tabitha and Napolean, here's the iconic Bleeding Love, which came out right at the hey-day of Leona Lewis' popularity: I tivo the show each week, so if you're in Arlington and you feel the need to be a fan, as you should, come on down!

HAMISH!