Friday, October 03, 2008

So You Think You Can Dance Tour - HP Pavilion, San Jose, 9/25/08

I've decided to suspend my extracurricular efforts and focus on finishing my recap of the So You Think You Can Dance tour stop in San Jose because who else can bring you what I bring you?

Except owing to my currently hectic schedule and my terrible skills at pointing and shooting (new-fangled technology my butt), don't expect a whirlwind of insight, hilarity, or media.

Oh just kidding, here's one of my better shots:

Photobucket



Anyway, on the way in, I saw Katee's dad wearing his "Katee's Dad" t-shirt headed towards the back of the arena, and once I got inside, I saw Katee's mom standing by the escalators, talking on her cell phone and looking very stressed -- she was probably in the middle of coordinating the ~600 members of Team Katee, suspecting which was enough for me to leave her to her mammoth task without running up to her screaming "YOU'RE MRS. KATEE'S MOM OMG" and then possibly finding out that I approached the wrong Japanese lady.

But it was hard to mistake Team Katee; here are just a few of them before the audience finished coming in:

Photobucket


Here are a lot more of them after one of her routines:

Photobucket


And here, human civilization should be scared:

Photobucket


Oh, and for the record, if you can afford and are willing to pay for front row seats to a dance performance, I'd absolutely recommend it. Being able to feel the wind from Will's turns or Shortney's big-hair–flipping is well worth the premium price -- even if you don't like a particular routine, you're still close enough that you're filled with its raw energy.

The set list after the jump!


(boldfaced = me like it)

  1. Group - "Elevator" (Shane Sparks)
    Photobucket


  2. Joshua & Katee - Rumba Samba

  3. Kherington & Twitch - Hip Hop

  4. Courtney & Will - Hip Hop

  5. Jessica solo

  6. Chelsie & Gev - Jive
    Fast!

  7. Katee & Joshua - Contemporary (Mia)
    The assisted run was a little less awesome than I hoped because I was sitting stage right, and Joshua and Katee basically ended up running away from me.

    Photobucket

  8. Will solo
    Sadly, he did not reprise his James Brown routine, over which I would've plotzed.

  9. Mark & Courtney - Jazz AKA Mirah "The Garden" Sonya miscellaneous google bait

  10. Katee & Joshua - Broadway
    Alas, I anticipated hotly throughout the entire routine but no a single pot stirred.

  11. Gev solo
    His solo was sort of a mashup of the first one he did on the show (with his WHOA floor move, and the front somersault that scared Cat), though he prefaced it with a pretty rad piano-playing mime.

  12. Will & Jessica - Contemporary
    Photobucket

  13. Comfort & Mark - Hip Hop
    Sometimes seeing a dance live gives you the deeper insight into how choreographers construct their routines, and with this one and the forgettable Kherington/Twitch hip hop as two data points, I concluded that NapTabs choreograph for a camera. Which is to say, if you sat in the middle, you'd be given the best view. Do they mostly choreograph for music videos?

  14. Kherington & Twitch - Contemporary AKA The Bed
    The mood lighting was aimed right in my line of sight, so I spent all of my time squinting at some bouncing silhouettes. Good job, lighting folks!

  15. Chelsie solo

  16. "Five Guys Named Moe"
    Yay! ^_^ Joshua literally came out of nowhere at the beginning.

    Photobucket


  17. Kherington solo
    The song she danced to had so much bass it shook my pants. Other pants-altering phenomena possibly caused by her shapely shapeliness.

    At this point, we had an extended interlude where most of the dancers got to catch their breaths while Gev was put into women's costumes from around the world in lieu of comedy. Courtney was the emcee for most of this bit, and she provided the best part of the whole routine, albeit inadvertently. Gev played the clueless and annoying guy and inevitably got on Courtney's nerves and she'd yell at him, "Off!" Except imagine her saying that in her Lawn Guyland accent: "Oowoff!" By the second time we heard her charming Turnpike Lilt, a bunch of people in my section echoed her "Oowoff!" and I wouldn't be surprised if she heard us.


  18. Thayne & Chelsea - Cha Cha

  19. Joshua & Twitch - Trepak
    Photobucket

    Right, so this was the routine that sent Josh and Twitch to the hospital for exhaustion, and here we are, both guys already having danced four numbers before we get to the Trepak, and all before the intermission.

  20. Courtney & Mark - Viennese Waltz

  21. Katee & Joshua - Bollywood

  22. Group - Bollywood

    Intermission

  23. Group - Contemporary (Mia's Mad Circus)
    Photobucket

    For different reasons than NapTabs', the carnivalesque was a lot better on TV because some of the angles played much more dramatically than they did live, e.g. the minions circling an exultant Evil Ringmaster Mark. Then again, at its conclusion, Jester Gev totally went nuts with the breaking, which was AWESOME.

    Photobucket


  24. Katee & Twitch - Contemporary (Mia) AKA The Door

  25. Comfort solo

  26. Chelsie & Joshua - Argentine tango

  27. Katee solo

  28. Comfort & Twitch - Hip Hop
    Photobucket

    They wore Kanye glasses! During the season, I had the hardest time enjoying this one -- of Comfort's hip-hop routines, I liked the one she did with Mark the best -- but live, it was something else in a way that I can't pinpoint. Just like the NapTabs routines, Dave Scott's number was choreographed so that someone who watched it head-on (as opposed to someone sitting in the wings) had the best view, but Comfort and Twitch brought enough energy (and wore something other than cheap homemade sci-fi duds) to reel me in.

  29. Mark solo
    "Bohemian Rhapsody," revisited!

  30. Gev & Courtney - Cha Cha

  31. Katee & Will - Pas de Deux

  32. Courtney solo

  33. Group - Broadway
    They threw fake paper money to the lucky few sitting front-row center, and once it was done, the cleaning crew swept any remaining bills off the stage so that any fans in the floor area could run up and grab them. I had too much dignity (I'm too old and am loathe to get out of a chair when comfortably seated) to do so, however.

  34. Twitch solo
    Here's Twitch coming in for his landing before getting into his solo:
    Photobucket

  35. Katee & Joshua - Contemporary (Tyce)

  36. Chelsie & Mark - Hip Hop AKA Briefcase
    Photobucket

  37. Joshua solo

  38. Kherington & Twitch - Viennese waltz

  39. Katee & Joshua - Hip Hop
    Photobucket
    Photobucket

  40. Group - "You Can't Stop The Beat"
    Photobucket

    Photobucket

    Photobucket

    Photobucket



Indie rating: Fuck Buttons - "Sweet Love For Planet Earth"

11 comments:

momo said...

It sounds awesome! was it awesome? I'm so jealous, I did not get it moving in time to get a ticket at my local stop. Watching dancers live, even not close, is so much better than on TV.
Did you do the autograph thing after?

Leee said...

It was pretty good, even though I broke my promise that I wouldn't try to take pictures during my favorite performances (takes too much concentration for me).

I didn't hang around to get autographs -- it was a weeknight, and I would've had to wait almost an hour in the outdoor peon line because I didn't manage to get a meet-and-greet pass this time. Still, I kind of regret it, I heard that my favorite dancers were super-gracious.

Anonymous said...

Yay recap! I've been anticipating your San Jose report for some time now. Though it's kind of empty without the meet and greet session. Nonetheless, thanks for recapping hilariously seasons 3 and 4 - enjoyed them tremendously. My SYTYCD experience is never complete without a Leee recap and some LOLCatDeeleys. :D

Ok, so after inflating your ego, I'm going to poke at it somewhat by saying: Josh and Katee danced to a Samba, not a Rumba at the beginning of the tour! D:

Leee said...

zacjay, thanks, and noted!

Natalie said...

Hey there Leee! Long time, no talk. Your recap was fabulous as always. I decided to skip the tour since I only wanted to see Katee. I'm still wildly jealous that you went though. Hope all is well!

Oh and I hope that the tour was sans Pussycat Dolls. :)

Anonymous said...

YAY Leee! So glad you went and made the time to share with us! I went to San Diego and Fresno including M&G (for the peons) and just about died meeting Mark, and Shortney stole my heart. She is the sweetest, most natural thing! Markney! CORK! Whatever you call it I loves me dem brunettes something fierce =)

Unknown said...

I saw the Austin tour last night. Katee must have been injured because my set list was quite different. She didn't do any of the group numbers, and only did the samba, mia's door routine and No Air. I was very disappointed that I didn't get to see Hometown Glory - it was my favorite piece all season.

They added a lot more Kherington to make up for the lack of Katee, which was disappointing to me. We saw Twitchington's broadway instead of Joshua and Katee's. Will and Jessica also did their Mandy Moore shirt piece, and Mark and Chelsea did the Mandy kiss kiss dance. I would have loved to see Mark and Chelsea's contemp from the first week though.

I sat straight in front of the stage and the view was great! I wish I could have stayed to get some pictures, but it was a work night. Le sigh.

Anonymous said...

Better late than never! YES! The first time Court said "Oowoff!" the entire audience echoed it without even thinking about it! Notes: She says she hates being mean to him on stage, and her boyfriend gave her a huge "promise" ring when he found out she was touring. Sorry. TORE-ING. haha. Poor Gev. Um, yeah... I flew out to Kansas City to see it AGAIN and to meet other Mark fans. Front row. Katee has a neck injury and the positive side of that is we saw The Rose!!! Like Kelly said they have been mixing it up. They did Beautiful the night before my show, and more recently Kherington did Mia's door routine with Twitch! Stil waiting to see Mark and Comfort do the Beautiful People routine together...

Unknown said...

I just found your blog and am combing back through it. I have no idea if you'll even see this?

I saw the tour in Oakland, and wanted to let you know that (what seemed like) the entire stadium repeated "owuff" back to Shortney. It was crazy, because I think every one of us was saying it halfway under our breaths, in a completely unintentional echo. IIRC, I was under the impression she turned and looked out, like she'd definitely heard us. One of my favorite moments!

My fiance and I were pretty new to SYTYCD and didn't follow online comments, so we didn't know what to expect. Our biggest disappointment was the lack of Cat.

Leee said...

NikiN, the beauty thing of Blogger is that it sends me email notifications when someone leaves a comment.

Having read how people echoed Shortney's "owuff" in more than one city, I kind of worry that she might think we were laughing at her, not with her and her lovable Lawn Guyland brogue.

I think every first-time tour-attendee has wondered or asked if Cat would be traveling with the group, myself included.

Anonymous said...

Hello there. I just happened to stumble across your blog, and I was wondering if you knew how to get the meet and greet passes?