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SYTYCD 6 Ryan & Ashleigh Di Lello Sizzle W/ Karen Hauer; Nathan Trasoras Most Excellent

Top 20 Showcase Aired October 26, 2009

Rik Merchant
On Monday night's So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD) Season 6, the judges were: regulars Nigel Lythgoe and Mary Murphy; guest Adam Shankman. The show's intent: to showcase the Top Twenty dancers in their own genres. The ten boys and ten girls, as glam-host Cat Deeley calls them, were divided into six groups to dance in five genres: Hip-Hop; Tap; Jazz; Latin Ballroom; Contemporary (in two groups). The absolute sexiest dance of the night was saved for last on the show- but is presented here first.

Group 6. Latin Ballroom: Karen Hauer, Ryan Di Lello, Ashleigh Di Lello; choreographer Jason Gilbertson; music 'Everything I Can't Have' by Robin Thicke. Married couple Ryan & Ashleigh Di Lello danced a sultry Samba with Karen Hauer 'a hot little sizzler' (Mary's phrase). With hair in sleek coifs, wearing heavy make-up, and dressed to kill in tight, short, revealing dresses (Ashleigh in white, Karen in black- matching Ryan's suit color), the two slinky ladies sizzlingly vied for hunk Ryan, who sexed up the stage with his presence and dance. Ryan is a cross between Sex and the City's Jason Lewis (also Absolut Vodka ad hunk) and Britney Spears' Blackout 'priest' John Coulter, who has often worn nothing more than a thong for the International Male clothing catalogs. His face is Hugh-Jackman-like and his voice is beautiful and sexy.

During a break in rehearsing the dance trio, Australian choreographer Jason Gilkison, a newcomer to SYTYCD, said he had had no idea at first that a married couple would be dancing his steamy Samba for three. He also said, "Ryan's having the time of his life 'cause he's got women coming (at him) from all angles." Laughing as he gesticulated the angles, he added, "It will be interesting to see which one gets him."

Ashleigh laughed as she flashed her wedding ring and replied, "I think this will be me." But as Karen, a Venezuelan-born beauty, had earlier joked, 'I might be touching her husband a lot." Yes, Season 6 promises to be spicy hot.

The remaining five dance groups appeared on the show in this order-


Group 1.
Hip-Hop: Russell Ferguson, Kevin Hunte, Jonathan 'Legacy' Perez; choreographers Napoleon & Tabitha D'Umo; music 'Beggin' (District 78 Remix) by Norwegian duo Madcon. This was a complex, dynamic number that the three Hip-Hoppers completely nailed. They threw each other around, tied their legs into knots, and Hip-Hopped as if there would be no tomorrow.

Group 2. Contemporary: Nathan Trasoras, Jakob Karr, Channing Cooke, Ariana DuBois; choreographer Tyce DiOrio; music 'Crying' by K.D. Lang. The dancers powerfully expressed individual tales of sadness to Tyce's brilliant choreography. As usual, Nathan Trasoras stood out as the most excellent among the most excellent.

Group 3. Tap: Bianca Revels, Phillip Attmore, Peter Sabasino; choreographer Derick K. Grant; music 'Take the 'A' Train' by Ella Fitzgerald. Tap is always about smooth upper body and the feet going miles per minute. That's what this trio's performance was all about. Their challenge in this competition is that they will have to dance all the other dancers' genres, but the other dancers will not have to dance Tap since there isn't time to teach them. The Tappers' choreographer, Derick K. Grant, is a Tapper- hence the reason why SYTYCD reined him in.

Group 4. Jazz: Mollee Gray, Pauline Mata, Ellenore Scott; choreographer Sonya Tayeh; music 'On a Cloud' by PPP. Sonya told the dancers to portray confident sexy women- each time they rose up from the floor (after flinging themselves down), they were to look sexy. Dancing in tutus and showing off their jazz hands in lace gloves, the dancers were sexy. A past criticism of Mollee Gray by the judges was that she dances as a girl. With this routine, all agreed that she danced not only as a woman but as a sexy woman.

Group 5. Contemporary: Billy Bell, Victor Smalley, Noelle Marsh, Kathryn McCormick; choreographer Mandy Moore; music 'Viva La Vida' by Coldplay. Mandy's choreography is usually awesome. This was not awesome by her standards- although the judges thought so. But it did showcase the dancing talents of this Contemporary foursome well enough.

Of historic interest: Russell Ferguson is the first Krump dancer to make it into the Top Twenty. A tap dancer has never before made it into the Top Twenty but three of them did- Bianca Revels, Peter Sabasino, and Phillip Attmore. The show has never had two Latin Ballroom female dancers before- Karen Hauer and Ashleigh Di Lello.

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Published by Rik Merchant

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  • Elizabeth Valentine 10/27/2009

    I love when Adam Shankman guests! :)

  • Tony Vega 10/27/2009

    Ditto Rachel! Well done, RM!

  • Rachel de Carlos 10/26/2009

    What a quick and excellent write up! It's obvious you are really enjoying the dancing. :)

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