Yo yo yo! Been itching to get this sucker up since the episode aired.

For all of you who watched it, I consider you my crew. I shall pop to you… lock to you… do a windmill and pass it off to you.

But for those who didn’t watch the episode… no worries… here’s how it went:

1. A LOT of awesome dancers in a variety of styles. In fact, too many for me to remember. A really tall girl, a dude with a fuchsia tri-hawk, Asian Ballroom, a dirty ballerina, blah blah blah… it was a high talent episode, I thought.
2. Just a small handful of lame auditions where the dancer(s) either couldn’t dance, cried afterwards, or both.
3. The return of the classic SYTYCD character SEX. Only this time he was coerced into a strange battle with another goof ball dancer. And after the dust settled, our lovable time waster was given a pity pass into the choreography… yep, for the first time in SYTYCD history, SEX moved forward in the competition… can you guess how he did with a partner??

But throughout the entire episode, nothing rocked me more than the magical tale of Nickolas Nasty… aka Nick Nasty. I wouldn’t say he’s the best breaker I’ve seen. But he’s good. Certainly good enough to want to test in other styles.

But there was a li-ttle snag.

Check it out. His story/audition begins at 2:28 in the video.

(by the way, how great is this still frame of Nigel??!!)

I’m not gonna share my feelings about this in the post itself. Instead, I was hoping to have a dialog with all of you in the comments.

So what do you think? Was he treated unfairly? Did he get what he deserved?

Pass me that wave.

Sorry guys. I forgot to put up the sign saying that Movement Monday was going to be closed for Memorial Day.

But here’s a little bit from Karaoke on Sunday.

Though I’m past one hundred thousand miles,
I’m feeling very still.
And I think my spaceship knows which way to go.
Tell me wife I love her very much…

She knows!

I can’t stand watching American Idol auditions. The first season or two, I’ll admit there was a certain Schadenfreude about them. But that was eventually replaced by this scummy feeling I had for laughing… which in turn was replaced by flat out disgust in the show for setting people up to look like fools so often. I don’t like it.

And I don’t particularly love the audition process on So You Think You Can Dance either, but I do think it’s milder with that kind of thing. One of its strong points for me is that there seems to be a real love of dance coming from the judges. I just don’t get that from the ones on Idol. Maybe because when it comes down to it, the AA judges are picking a potential pop star… the judges on SYTYCD are really just handing out a title for well rounded dancer.

Also, know this. Regardless of how amazing or terrible their voices may be… Regardless of how gorgeous or unattractive they may look to you… in order for any of them to believe they have what it takes to be America’s next mega star… they all must posses large amounts of delusion.

It’s true… Delusion is actually a fuel in the entertainment industry. Because if you do have what it takes, that delusion will challenge you… help you eventually fulfill your dreams…

But if you don’t have what it takes, then that delusion will most likely embarrass you. Make you look crazy, desperate, pathetic. And in an audition for American Idol, that delusion will boost their ratings at the expense of your dignity.

But on SYTYCD, I think it’s a little different. Sure there are plenty of people who have unrealistic dreams of being a dancer. But there’s something so much less desperate about the worst of that bunch… maybe because we know that even if they could actually dance… even if they could actually make a career out of it… they’d still just be a dancer. A modest professional. Struggling to survive. Breaking their body. Constantly putting their emotions through the wringer. Little fame or glory… just a hard artist’s life. That’s an intense thing to want.

Anyway, I started watching tonight’s season premiere about 25 minutes late. I came in at the tail end of a female dancer with (what looked like) a physical deformity. Was she any good? I’m guessing no, because they didn’t keep her for the choreography.

Things I took away from tonight’s episode:

1. The Japanese locker… was I missing something there? Did anyone else think it looked sloppy as hell, and fairly one level?
2. The umbrella dance did not do it for me. At all. Way too sentimental. So much so that it actually distracted me from the dancing. And I’m not even touching the breakdown afterwards. I guess I need to see more from that guy.
3. The du(de)et was ridiculous.
4. Natalie Reid was my favorite thing on the entire episode. Gaht DAMN, girl!!!!

UPDATE: @adnauseam just sent me this link to the first girl who performed, Gabi Rojas. I missed her audition cause I came in late. But had I seen it, I don’t think I’d have cared for much else on the episode until Natalie. Check it out.

Last summer, @cosimo179 and I were deep in contract negotiations for our web series, H+. I guess the waiting was starting to drive us a bit crazy, so we decided to channel some of that nervous energy into a little weekend project. Something that would allow us to sort of shake it out.

Since Cosimo and I both have a strong interest in dance (Cosimo is a contemporary dancer and choreographer himself), we figured it could also serve as an experiment for a future dance project on the web.

So we invited nine dancers to my apartment one Saturday morning. They had no idea what we were planning to do and no preparation. And over the next three hours, Cosimo choreographed and I shot this video. Later that night we edited it. And now, almost a full year later, we’re sharing it for the first time here.

1. No… it’s not a coincidence that So You Think You Can Dance premieres this week.
2. Some of you may recognize SYTYCD star, Will Wingfield, in the video.
3. My sister is the one being swung around in a circle.
4. It was an insanely talented and fast working group of dancers… I was blown away.

And if you’ve seen the Wisely video Through any Window, you’ll probably recognize the location… except it’s from the opposite angle. Yes, this is my apartment. I’ve done a few projects here over the past decade.

The song is a remix of the Bedroom Walls tune Somewhere in Newhall. I love this band. Check out their other music on iTunes if you get a chance.