Friday, June 15, 2007

TRAPPED IN THE BODY OF A WHITE BOY: I left something out of yesterday's So You Think You Can Dance post: the degree to which 19 Entertainment wants to see a hip hop dancer make it into the later rounds of the competition this year. I've already noted that this season's girls have been more heavily pimped going into the finals than the guys; and of the guys, all the airtime has been going to the b-boys.

(Question: I've never heard the phrase "b-boys" before this season, and I feel sort of white-man's-overbitey using it in a post -- is this a normal part of the American lexicon that I have somehow missed out on?)

Season one had Ryan and Jamile, while season two had Musa. All three eventually got sent home for failure to keep up with their more highly trained counterparts. This time we've got Hok, D-Trix, and Cedric. And you've got Jimmy and Jesus as well -- neither of whom is a hip hop dancer, but both of whom have training in hip hop along with a slew of other styles. But the proof is in the pudding, and last night's pudding left no room for doubt. Saving D-Trix and Cedric over the undeniably weird (I like to think of him as Christian Slater in Heathers minus dental work and any veneer of normalcy) but undeniably talented Ricky was a shot across the bow: the producers want to give their hip hoppers every opportunity to blossom into well-rounded dancers before sending them all home. Having more of them on the show provides some cushion - if D-Trix goes home on a given week, that gives Hok and Cedric another week to work on their technique.

B-boys, get to work: you've got a flock of producers hanging their hats on your success!

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