Well, yes and no. There’s no question that Joshua is one talented and exciting dancer. Never before on the four seasons of the show has a street dancer managed to do such a great job with other styles. In fact, it’s amazing that both Joshua and Twitch wound up on the same season because both of them surpassed their predecessors in mastering contemporary, jazz, and ballroom styles of dance.
But … as a former dance teacher, I can’t help but weep for Will, who was, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the finest dancer to grace the stage this season. The highlight of the show’s best ever finale program tonight (which included our finally getting to see two judges dance) was Will’s contemporary dance with Katee to Imagine. There’s no way that Twitch or Joshua could have done what Will accomplished with this choreography. Don’t try to convince me – there’s absolutely no way! Okay, I’ll give you that Will probably can’t pop like Twitch or Joshua. But he can still dance hip hop very well, and his ability to execute all of the other styles is unsurpassed.
So, yes, I’m sad that Will was voted off a few weeks ago, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love my Twitch and my Joshua. I’m happy for both of them, and I was over the moon when they told Katee she’d leave with $50,000. That’s justice because she has also been the most remarkable female dancer on the show, bar none. Not only is she technically impeccable, but her acting ability and emotionality are nothing short of gorgeous.
For me, though, the choreographers are the stars of this, my favorite television show. I live in New York, but I couldn’t be more bored with many of the modern dance companies that perform abstract choreography devoid of emotion. So You Think You Can Dance has brought countless styles of dance into our living rooms and shown us some of the best choreographers working today. It has been a gift, and the contestants are the most professional performers on any of television’s competition shows.
Melanie Votaw is a freelance journalist in New York and a former pro dancer and dance instructor.
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