SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE Man Nigel Lythgoe Talks Lauren, Ellen and If The All-Stars Will Be Back Next Season
August 13, 2010 by Korbi Ghosh
Surprised?! Why are so many people surprised that Lauren Froderman won SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE season 7? Sure, Kent is cute. And a fabulous dancer. And the little ladies love him. But the little ladies have been known to pick up the telephone for a kick ass girl contestant too.
Hello, Sabra? Jeanine?
In the video interview below, with SYTYCD judge and executive producer Nigel Lythgoe, the reporter next to me begins by asking how surprised Lythgoe was that Lauren came out on top.
But, like me, Lythgoe says, he really wasn’t. In fact, he spills that Lauren got the most number of votes last week as well!
GO LO-FRO!
Still, it did take him some time to notice what a strong contender she was.
Watch below to find out exactly when Nigel feels Lauren’s turning point came, what he thinks about this season’s new all-star format and whether the show will be keeping said format in tact next summer.
Oh, and there might be some mention of superstar Ellen Degeneres and Lythgoe’s next gig. You know, he’s rejoining some show called AMERICAN IDOL or something…
RELATED:
SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE Season 7 Winner Lauren Froderman Celebrates Backstage with GMMR
Who Won SYTYCD Season 7? Find out here and watch a couple of their best moments
SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE Lessons: Melinda Sullivan Tap Challenges GMMR’s Korbi Ghosh
SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE Lessons: Cristina Santana Schools GMMR’s Korbi Ghosh in Salsa
SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE Lessons: Alexie Agdeppa Gets Down with GMMR’s Korbi Ghosh
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Filed under So You Think You Can Dance, SYTYCD
Amazing finale episode. I feel sorry for anyone who enjoys dance and missed it. Inspired choreography and inspiring dance. Brilliant throughout.
Some people have complained about the format change, and while there were some issues, I don’t think that dancing with the all-stars was the problem, and I’m really glad to hear Nigel say they’ll be back. I think their presence brought the caliber of the dancing to a new level across the board, and I suspect Nigel is right, that having those known powerhouses inspired the choreographers right from the start.
However, I think it was evident that the way things were structured this year, it showed just how much the audience is dominated by young women, as they repeatedly voted for their favorite guys and let the women dancers fall off the bottom and have to leave the show. (Never mind that some of the male dance partnerings were truly wonderful, and obviously, in the end, enough people voted for Lauren that she won.) I think that narrowing it to the top 10 (well, 11) instead of a top 20 was also problematic.
Nigel, if you’re listening, here’s another format alternative for your creative group to discuss…
Select a top 20–10 women, 10 men, as in previous seasons. But definitely keep the all-stars. Then have the contestants dance both with other contestants *and* the all-stars each week. You can do the partner selections completely at random each week, but a slightly better way might be to randomly select from the other contestants and (separately) the all-stars with whom the contestant has not yet danced. (It gets a little tricky, because you don’t want the same contestant or all-star to perform in too many pairings in the same show, so you’d probably need to do re-draws once the chosen partner has more than N pairings.) Then each week don’t vote off the randomly partnered contestant couple… Instead, tally the votes for men and women separately and vote off one man and one woman, independently. That combination of changes:
1) lets you keep a balanced group of contestants,
2) helps in the bonding of the contestants (because they dance together),
3) prevents a preference for performers of one gender on the audience’s part from discarding great dancers,
4) prevents the luck of the draw in partnering from eliminating great dancers,
5) and still lets the all-stars be involved and up the level of performance across the board.
I think that keeps the good bits from this season and gets rid of the bad bits from this and previous seasons. Anyway, though I could care less about other “reality” shows, SYTYCD is my favorite show on the air and you could run seasons back to back all year round and I’d be tuning in without fail! Keep bringing us great dance, please!
I can’t watch the video, so I’m wondering…did Nigel say they’d just stick with the All Star format, or that these specific All Stars would be back? While I loved some of this season’s All Stars (Courtney, Pasha, Kathryn, Allison and Twitch) I would love to see some new All Stars too (Benji, Donyelle, Heidi, Danny…) and maybe even some of this season’s stellar competitors as all stars (Lauren, Kent, Robert, Billy). Overall I thought this season of SYTYCD was right up there with Season 2 (Benji’s season) as one of the best ever. While I think that the All Stars contributed to that, for me the main thing that made the season so great was the calibur of the competing dancers. Not only were they technically gifted, they infused their performances with such emotion. Many dances performed by Kent, Lauren, Robert, Billy and Alex will go down as some of the greatest in SYTYCD history! Hope they get as awesome a crop of talent for season 8!
Like the new foremat having past top contestants dancing with new ones. And am delighted to have seen Lauren win and all the youth taking part. What I couldn’t tolerate: Those stupid waving arms in the air and the constant shreeking of girls when the dancers are performing, especially when it is such an emotional piece. Those girls couldn’t care less what they are watching, they just want to scream! I hate it!!! I don’t know who the nut was several years ago who decided to stick people standing in front of stages waving their arms and blocking the people at home being able to see, but stop it, please! Sit them back down and tell them to shut up until the dancers are finished.
Oh, yes. Having a repeat choreography (did I spell that right) and then take on over it like y’all did was too much. Yes, the cancer piece is very impressive, but to treat it like it was something new? You are not giving the audience enough credit. We saw it last year. I like in a very small town, Washington, Georgia, and rarely get to a city to see performances; so, this is sometime all the dancing I get to see that is of value. And this show’s dancing has value. Clean up the people standing in front of the audience and tell them to be quiet. Most of all, bring back Mary and dump that fat raciest!
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