Sheena Beaston

Last Night: Musical Selections on So You Think You Can Dance's Finale Performance Show

Last night marked the finale dance episode of So You Think You Can Dance. The results and winner will be announced tonight, but not before I weigh in a bit on the musical selections from the evening's routines, much like I've done in the past few weeks. Quite the scattering of new and old, with a little dose of the classics tossed in for good measure, and the festivities saw everything from a Leonard Bernstein tune to Kanye West's Power get the foot-moving treatment.

 

  

Overall, the show was solid, with the top 3 dancers (Lauren, Robert and Kent), performing with each other, an all-star and a solo. Nearly all the routines garnered praise from the judges, and it's left in the hands of callers to determine season 7's winner. 

 

A highlight was both Kent and Allison's and then Robert and Lauren's contemporary pieces, but you know me and you know I love my hip-hop, so the dance done to Yeezy's current single is below in video form. So strong!

 

Now, a list of all the songs used in last night's episode.

   

florence + the machine's dog days are over used in this "look at their journey" montage

kent and lauren doing a bollywood routine to om bangala by kambahhkt ishq

lauren and twitch dance hip-hop to kanye west's power

robert and mark dance jazz to devo's whip it

kent dances solo to train's the finish line

lauren and robert dance contemporary to cinematic orchestra's that home

lauren and kent dance jazz to huey lewis and the news' hip to be square

robert dances solo to the postal service's the district sleeps alone tonight

kent and allison dance contemporary to joshua radin's sundrenched world (live session)

lauren dances solo to mary j blige's i'm goin' down

robert and kathryn dance broadway to cool from west side story

lauren and pacha dance the cha-cha to christina aguilera's not myself tonight

kent and robert dance the malevos to taylor long's the chosen/addict



  

  

mp3: The Postal Service - The District Sleeps Alone Tonight

  

 

Last Night: The Musical Selections on So You Think You Can Dance

Much like I did just over a month ago, I tuned in to FOX's So You Think You Can Dance last night, and while the overall episode lacked any sort of gusto luster, a few notable music choices stood out. Below, the songs each dancer "routined" to, along with one of my new favorite songs...one from nearly 10 years ago, that I had never heard before. Beasts gotta do some learnin' too!

 

 

Without further ado, here are the song selections from last night's top-4 featuring episode, as tweeted in real-time during the broadcast. You'll notice which song I took to most...as evidenced by the bold and the red, and the below video..which now makes me want to learn how to do SPIDER JAZZ.

 

Please pay special attention to the "um what.." -1:00 mark in the clip. Also, the song is a remix of British trip-hop trio Kosheen's Hide U, a single from their 2001 debut album, Resist. And it is on some next level sexiness.

   

the top 4 do a broadway routine to the crapshooters dance from guys and dolls

lauren and pasha dance an argentinian waltz to astor piazzolla's oblivion

adechike and lauren dance african jazz to ralph macdonald's the path

robert and anya dance viennese waltz to anouk's lost

kent and courtney dance disco to david guetta and kelly rowland's when love takes over

lauren and ade dance jazz to kosheen's hide u (john creamer and stephane k remix)

adechike and kathryn dance some weird freaking spaz style to melissa etheridge's fearless love

robert and dominic dance hip-hop to basement jaxx, kelis and chipmunk's scars

kent and neil dance contemporary to devotchka's how it ends

 

  

 

  

mp3: Kosheen - Hide U (John Creamer and Stephane K Edit)

 

 

Last Night: So You Think You Can Dance's Blog-Worthy Musical Selections

It's rare that I find myself perched in front of a television in the evening hours during the week, especially during the summer months. Usually at a show, a friend's abode or perhaps a watering hole, last night, I stayed in thanks to a head cold, and found myself drawn into watching FOX's So You Think You Can Dance. Far be it from me to turn to reality programming, however, over the past few seasons of the show, it's one that I can always count on to entertain.

 

 

This season's "catch" is that the top 10 (now 9 and after tonight's results, 8) dancers are paired up with "all-stars" from previous seasons. For this music-minded telly-tuner-inner, however, it's the song choices that highlight some great, and some ooof yikes, choreographed numbers. SYTYCD has always had a solid rapport for choosing slightly "obscure for the general public" styled songs. (Think Roisin Murphy's Ramalama Bang Bang in Season 2.)

 

Now in its seventh season, last night's episode proved no different...although this go 'round, both the partner dances and individual solos were dotted with tunes known well throughout the land of blogs. If the show maintains this heightened level of musicality, you can assure I'll skip a few more venue gigs, stay at home to watch, then most likely embarrass myself by learning the choreographies. 

 

Ladies and gentlemen, beasts, boys and girls...here are the blog-worthy routines, with video evidence.

   

 
Adechike & Lauren (hip-hop)
N.E.R.D. (featuring Nelly Furtado) - Hot-N-Fun
video

Ashley & Ade (contemporary)
Florence + The Machine - Cosmic Love
video

Billy Bell (solo)
Amanda Blank - Something Bigger, Something Better
video

Ashley Galvan (solo)
Crookers (featuring Roisin Murphy) - Royal T
video

Robert Roldan (solo)
Ray Lamontagne - Hold You In My Arms
video

Robert & Courtney (jazz)
M.I.A. - XXXO
video

Alex & Twitch (hip-hop)
Lil Jon (featuring LMFAO) - Outta Your Mind
video

 

  

mp3: M.I.A. - Steppin Up (Breakdown Remix)