Missing Twitch

Last year, I became a big fan of the dance competition show So You Think You Can Dance, to which I was introduced by my girlfriend. In a way, I suppose you could think of it as American Idol for dancing, but the analogy requires some qualification. The overall quality of the performances is much superior on SYTYCD--even the poorest performances on any given night are quite good, especially when one considers that the contestants must master radically different styles (from hip-hop to waltz to Broadway) from one week to the next. And, as was pointed out on Television Without Pity, the difference between the judges on Idol and the judges on SYTYCD is that the latter actually seem to know what they're talking about.

This week's episode boasted some of the best performances that I've seen since I've been watching the show; the decision of who to eliminate each week has become very tough and is only going to get tougher. However, despite the quality of the dance my girlfriend and I both agree that something is missing this season, when compared with last season. That something is, in a word, personality. All of the contestants are excellent dancers, but none of them pop off the screen and threaten to become full-fledged stars. I am hard-pressed to identify a dancer that is a favorite of mine this year...I would have trouble identifying any more than a handful of them by name. This is a sharp contrast to last season, when by this time I had not just one but a number of favorites, and I can still name them today, without even having to Google "SYTYCD Season 4"...popper Joshua (who won last year), the brilliant Katie (who should've won), breaker Gev, ballroom dancer Chelsea, and the indefatigably charismatic hip-hopper Twitch.

The closest to a personal favorite of mine this year is Phillip Chbeeb, wildly entertaining within his native hip-hop element and impossible to dislike, but unfortunately beset with difficulty when attempting dance styles outside his own genre...I honestly have to say I think he is probably the least-skilled dancer left in the competition. Hopefully one of the more technically proficient dancers will demonstrate some genuine pizzazz in the next few weeks, and provide a strong rooting interest for me down the stretch.