I think they can all dance. Wow, this season has produced some very high levels of truly creative art in the dance world, and presented it in a format that popularizes it and raises the visibility of what dance can express. Sure it still incorporates some of the funkier things that we expect out of popular forms of dance, but it has given us some spectacular intersections of choreography and dance performance.
What am I talking about? Last nights "So You Think You Can Dance?" All of the performances merited the judges wowed responses, and it seemed like each one was wonderful. For one thing the dances and the performers didn't pander, they portrayed movement, athleticism, story, and grace in each of the vignettes. It was like a set of vignettes throughout the show. Everytime someone complains about televisions programming they now have something like this show to set the bar for great entertainment.
I loved all the dancers and all the magnificent choreographies from last night, but for my taste, Neil and Sabra had the edge. And I don't even particularly like Neil, as he seems a bit over the top most of the time. But whether it is the pairing or the maturing of his talent, or the serendipity of the whole thing, I don't know, but that paso doble was just "wow!" for me. Their jazz, too, was an amazing combination of power and interpretation. Office politics- there is one revelation of West Side Story conflict... only with a gender twist to it. It was fun to watch.
The gypsy flamenco inflected paso doble had intensity without the usual over acting -that was what I liked. No one on fan sites such as Blogging So You Think You Can Dance seems to care much for that dance ( as indeed one of the judges seemed to indicate in her own comments). For me, it had a true flamenco feel and Sabra gave such a strong performance with everything about her equal to the man's predominant place in this dance.
