Tag Archives: tyce diorio

Broadway and Jazz in So You Think You Can Dance

Whenever I watch So You Think You Can Dance on YouTube (I’m usually out on Saturday nights while it’s being aired on cable), I’m more interested in watching the hip-hop or even krump routines compared to the other genres. But after seeing these two performances, I’ve now included jazz and Broadway among my favorites. Here’s Sabra Johnson and Neil Haskell in their jazz performance to “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This),” choreographed by Mandy Moore. The song incidentally reminds me of an ice cream commercial that was popular when I was a kid.

Here’s my favorite couple Chelsie Hightower and Mark Kanemura in their steamy Broadway performance to the song “I’m a Woman,” choreographed by Tyce Diorio.

Allison and Ivan from So You Think You Can Dance

So You Think You Can Dance is one of my favorite TV shows today. I don’t get to watch it regularly (I’m usually not at home during Saturday evenings) but I try to watch the performances via YouTube. For season 2, my favorite couple was Ivan Koumaev and Allison Holker. Since they’re my favorites, I guess it comes as no surprise that my two favorite performances of the entire season were theirs – a hip-hop routine and a contemporary dance. It’s interesting because Ivan is a hip-hop dancer, and Allison is a contemporary dancer, so one of them was always in their element during both performances.

SEXY LOVE by Ne-Yo (choreographed by Shane Sparks)

This is a very relaxed, “no aggression” hip-hop routine. I love how Ivan makes dancing look so effortless! I love the choreography also – it’s actually my first taste of lyrical hip-hop. This is so much better than their other hip-hop dance “Turn It Up” though maybe it was because I didn’t like the choreography so much. Unfortunately, Allison wasn’t at par with Ivan, but that’s understandable because she’s not trained in this genre. “Sexy Love” was actually their last dance together, since Allison got cut afterwards.

WHY by Annie Lenox (choreographed by Tyce Diorio)

This is a very beautifully fluid contemporary dance that showed the world how much Ivan has grown as a dancer. Really, given his background in hip-hop, his popping and locking and gliding, you’d be surprised to see him pointing his toes and doing extensions. This performance was so good that they did it again during the finale.

By the way, Allison was one of the cheerleaders in High School Musical 1 and 2. I didn’t see her there though – I’d have to watch the movies again to see.