SYTYCD Season 10 Winners Revealed + Recap

or (some) of your favourites all over again

et voilà. Here we are, finale of Season 10. The SYTYCD finales always kind of depress me because they solidify that summer is officially over, but Season 11 has been confirmed by both Nigel Lythgoe and FOX representatives, so hey, it's not all bad, is it?

I actually wasn't spoiled until like an hour before I officially watched who won, either, which is kind of surprising because I was on every form of social media possible before the show. Dammit, tumblr. 

Top 20 Performance; Wonderwall; choreography by Ivan Koumaev

Beyond neat performance. I was super surprised when I heard that Ivan was choreographing the performance, and I was super impressed with his choreography. I had my eyes on Paul in this number for the entire time. See it for yourselves;

Guest Judge Paula Abdul's Choice; Makenzie and Paul; Edge of Glory, choreography by Mandy Moore

They chose to go with the dress Makenzie wore in Lindsay Nelko's contemporary piece, dunno why, but they did. So glad they gave us another chance to see Paul and Makenzie dance together, but I dunno if they were super nervous or something because as much as I love them, I found the transitions to be very rocky and it just didn't have the same magic as the original. 

Finalist Jasmine Harper's Choice; Jasmine and Marko; Blurred Lines, choreography by Ray Leeper

Jasmine surprised everybody when she went with the Michael Jackson/Janelle Monàe style fusion number with Marko, and I thought I would tear out my own fingernails if I heard that stupid Robin Thicke song again, but it was as entertaining as ever.

Guest Judge Adam Shankman (!!!!!)'s Choice; Fik-Shun and tWitch; Hello Good Morning, choreography by Luther Brown

We saw this one like a week ago so not overly exciting. 

Guest performance by some actors in D-Trix Sandoval's new movie; Battle of the Year

I'm not a huge street/crew dance fan, but this was fun. And it was great to see D-Trix again.

Guest Nigel Lythgoe's Choice; Alexis, Curtis and Aaron; You Really Did It; choreography by Anthony Morigerato

Fun to see the tappers again. Alexis especially really shines in her own element, and it just proved how awesome SYTYCD newbie Anthony Morigerato is. 

Guest Judge/Alumnus tWitch Boss's Choice; Hayley and Nico; Kiss of the Spiderwoman; choreography by Sean Cheesman

Kind of a weird choice for tWitch as his "favourite", but it was a stellar performance originally. The lifts were not as smooth as the first time; the over-the-head split lift looked laboured, and at one point Nico couldn't lift Hayley all the way up above his head. 

Finalist Aaron Turner's Choice; Aaron and Kathryn; I'm Kissing You; choreography by Stacey Tookey

If possible, more stunning than the first time around. All-around gorgeous, and Kathryn's quality of movement has me in awe every time. 

Top 10 Guys Routine Re-play; Sand; choreography by Christopher Scott

This was one of my top favourites from the entire season; the use of sand and how Chris Scott highlighted each member's strengths were so so neat. 

Host Cat Deeley's Choice; Jasmine and Comfort; Run the World (Girls); choreography by NappyTabs

Wow, Cat really pulled for and loved Jasmine this season, didn't she? Anyways, loved to see this routine again that really showed Jasmine's inner strength, fierceness, and growth in confidence. 

Judge Mary Murphy's Choice; Tucker and Robert; Medicine; choreography by Travis Wall

I love that they got a second chance to show this number, because as special as it was last time, everything was perfectly synchronized this time, whereas the first time it was performed a lot of the aerial stuff was not spot-on.

Re-play of the Top 20 Performance, Puttin on the Ritz, choreography by NappyTabs.

Two words; Nigel tutting. 

Not sure who requested this one again?; Jenna and Mark; I Am The Best, choreography by Mark Kanemura

Again, just as fun and spot-on as the first time around. Poor Jenna with that hair, though - must have taken some getting used to.

Finalists Amy Yakima and Fik-Shun Stegall's Choice; Amy and Fik-Shun; After Party; choreography by NappyTabs

I don't understand why they chose this one over, say, Sonya Tayeh's contemp piece, or the Dave Scott hip hop piece or the Tyce Diorio hobo number, but still entertaining, and the characterization was spot-on.

Mary and Nigel Segment

I loved the video package where they basically replayed all of Nigel's cheekiness towards Mary over the season (my personal favourite being "I knew it was Paul's birthday, I didn't realize it was Mary's birthday too!", referring to the hundreds of candles onstage for Jenna and Neil's contemporary piece). It was cute, funny, and probably took all season for whoever edited this to complete it. 

However, I have some problems with the "performance" they did. I'm sorry, but I'd rather watch Malece re-do her stunning In the Embers piece or Makenzie/Paul's effortless-looking Pretty Little Heart Hip Hop than watch Nigel and Mary dance badly. We know they were dance pros back in the day, but... I dunno... What I have the most issue with is Nigel purposely mocking Amy's fall in their Let's Get It On Chris Scott hip hop performance. Amy has already addressed how traumatizing that was for her to fall on national television and then end up in the bottom because of it; Nigel was in no place to, as light-hearted the intentions might have been, mockingly recreate, literally and figuratively, the only time Amy fell down in the entire competition. 

"Online Poll" Choice; Amy and Travis; Wicked Game; choreography by Travis Wall

Really, SYTYCD? You thought there would be any competition whatsoever between the Wicked Game piece and the Silver Screen piece (w/ Malece and Jade)? The last numbers they showed were something like 80/20 in favour of Wicked Game... with no surprise. Slightly rockier and less flawless than the first time performed, but still one of the most beloved and stunning pieces this year. 

Let's be honest here- this piece with Travis really finalized Amy's edge over Jasmine in the last couple weeks. 

Top 10 + All-Stars Performance; Rock Lobster; choreography by NappyTabs

Fun tropicaly notion. Not much else to say, really, except that the All-Stars seemed to be front and center more than the actual Top 10 or even Top 4 (although, let's be honest, it probably took the Top 4 half the piece to climb up that huge lifeguard chair for their final pose). 

So who won? ----->>>>

SYTYCD Season 10 Finale Predictions

Alright, so I wrote this a couple weeks ago to predict what routines would be chosen for the finale. Unfortunately, I completely forgot about it till right now. Whoops. Anyways, I haven't seen the finale yet so I have no idea who won or what routines were chosen, so I promise you these are 500% my predictions and I'm not trying to make myself a prediction genius or something by cheating. Alright. 

Finale recap to follow up tomorrow night probably. 



Here we are; narrowed down to the Top 4 at last. One of the absolute funnest things to do on this show is, of course, predict the outcomes; and one of the funnest things in THAT to do is predict which pieces the judges/guest judges will request to see again during the finale.

Now, all the Top 20 were supposedly back two weeks before the finale (week of Aug 27th), to start rehearsing the numbers, so theoretically, the pieces were picked out probably soon after the Top 6 Performance/ Top 4 Reveal show (August 20th), so for now I'll just choose pieces up to and including the Top 6 show. Without further ado...

PIECES WITH A 98% CHANCE OF REQUEST 
or pieces I am almost certain they will want to see again
and plus also I would like to see them too

** TOP 10 BOYS GROUP ROUTINE; SAND; CHOREOGRAPHY BY CHRIS SCOTT

1) Amy and All-Star Travis Wall; Wicked Game; choreography by Travis Wall

2) Tucker and All-Star Robert Roldan; Medicine; choreography by Travis Wall

3) Malece and All-Star Marko Germar; In the Embers; choreography by Sonya Tayeh

4) Makenzie and Paul; Pretty Little Heart; choreography by Dave Scott

5) either Jasmine and Aaron; They Just Keep Moving the Line; choreography by Spencer Liff, or Jasmine and Aaron; Gold Rush; choreography by NappyTabs

6) Hayley and All-Star Leonardo Bsnjadnsjaldn (just kidding it's Barrionuevo, but I had to look it up); Este Es El Rey; choreography by Leonardo Barrionuevo and Miriam Larici

7) Hayley and Nico; Kiss of the Spider Woman; choreography by Sean Cheesman

8) Paul and All-Star Witney Carson; Live It Up; choreography by Jean-Marc Généreux (not a fan favourite but they probably want to add another ballroom to the mix)

9) Jenna and All-Star Mark Kanemura; I Am the Best;  choreography by Mark Kanemura

OTHER PIECES I WOULD LIKE TO SEE AND MAYBE THEY WOULD LIKE TO SEE TOO

1) either Amy and Fik-Shun; After Party; choreography by NappyTabs, or Amy and Fik-Shun; Elsa; choreography by Sonya Tayeh

2) either Makenzie and Paul; The Edge of Glory; choreography by Mandy Moore, or Makenzie and Paul; No Day But Today; choreography by Lindsay Nelko

3) Jenna and Tucker; Hanging by a Thread; choreography by Travis Wall

4) Makenzie and Paul; I'm With You; choreography by Jason Gilkison

5) Aaron and All-Star Kathryn McCormick; I'm Kissing You; choreography by Stacey Tookey

6) Fik-Shun and All-Star Melanie Moore; Feeling Good; choreography by Mandy Moore

7) Alan and Jasmine M.; Can't Help Falling In Love; choreography by Travis Wall

8) Hayley and All-Star Dmitry Chaplin; Meant; choreography by Dmitry Chaplin


possibly; Brittany and BluPrint; Drumming Circle; choreography by Sean Cheesman


All in all, this has been a fantastic season and I already had to cut a dozen other pieces I had on my re-watch list. I couldn't include every contestant either (Alexis, Curtis, Carlos, Mariah, Jade, etc.), so they'll probably throw in a couple more to include more contestants. In my opinion, the routines have only been getting better (generally), so I would rather include routines in my re-watch list that I would actually (AND HAVE) re-watch, instead of including some mediocre routines just for the sake of including everybody. Sorry.

SYTYCD Season 10 Top 4 Recap + Review

So, we finally arrive at the last performance episode of the season. This season has gone by incredibly quickly, and hopefully the show feels it's done enough to gain another renewal when FOX doles them out for next summer.

Anyways, sorry about the extreme lateness with this post... Not only did I have to re-watch the dances like 48390 times to really pick out the two strongest to win, but life has been insane and now has really been the only chance I've gotten in a long time to sit down and complete last Tuesday's post. And so, because I am Canadian and cannot vote for this show nor can I listen to Pandora, I am hating my inability to vote while listening to Songza.

1. Amy and Aaron - Ray Leeper
JAZZ

What a strange, strange number. I'm sorry, but I really did not enjoy this dance. Amy was very obviously stronger than Aaron in this piece, although he was there for her every step of the way. For me, it was a really bizarre mix of technical aspects and more animalistic-moves. The song was absolutely disgusting; "Primitive", by Richard Vission vs Luciana. SIgh. Maybe it's just by this point of the competition that I feel like all the routines should be stellar, or that other routines last Tuesday shot way beyond this one.

2. Jasmine and Fik-Shun - Travis Wall
CONTEMPORARY

Such a gorgeous piece. Travis took the simple and familiar notions and aspects of water, and translated them to dance. Jasmine was particularly shining in this piece. The use of the wind machine and the choice of her dress were gorgeous. At this point, Fik-Shun is kind of out of his league in technical aspects, but he held his own without looking too amateur-like next to Jasmine. Another stunning Travis piece, and this partnership was refreshing.

3. Aaron and All-Star Melinda Sullivan - Anthony Morigerato
TAP

As soon as they announced Melinda's participation as an All-Star, it was so obvious she was there to do a routine with Aaron. Hopefully the show books Anthony Morigerato more for more tap routines in the future, because this was one of the most captivating Tap routines I've ever seen. The very, very beginning I found a little un-synchronized, but they soon both fell in step with each other. The emotion was so present it was shocking, but Melinda and Aaron are both stellar performers so I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised. So fun.

4. Jasmine and All-Star Comfort Fedoké - NappyTabs
HIP HOP

One of my favourite pieces NappyTabs have done recently. Jasmine actually out-popped Comfort in some places for me, and it just showed how far Jasmine has grown both emotionally and in dance. Her confidence in this piece was through the roof, and the banana-seat bikes and hipster-like costumes were so so fun. And, of course, what would be a strong, all-female Hip Hop piece without the music being Beyoncé?


5. Amy and Fik-Shun - Leonardo Barrionuevo and Miriam Larici
TANGO

The choreography to this was so unique- Leonardo and Miriam explained that this piece was kind of a paso doblé-tango fusion, and the pace to this choreography was amazing. Sometimes fast and fierce, sometimes slow and passionate. Amy, again, outshone her partner, and the judges touched on Fik-Shun's fall behind a bit technically in this piece, but otherwise, it was gorgeous.


Jasmine - SOLO
Every contestant got the chance to tell their life story a bit in a video package before their solos. And Jasmine made the entire continent fall in love with her simultaneously with her video package. She talked about how her relationship with Cyrus fell apart while he was on the show last season, and how her confidence at that time was unbearably low. This makes sense if you think about it; someone unconfident is usually incredibly needy in a relationship, and Cyrus obviously would have wanted to focus on the competition at that time. Needless to say, the relationship crumbled. They showed us her audition in her package, and you could completely tell how much she has grown up on her time on the show. She seemed vulnerable and fragile at the time of her audition, and yet now she has an incredible strength, as well as fragments remaining of that vulnerability which makes audiences fall in love with her. The best part to Jasmine's entire story was how genuine you could tell she was.

Anyways, her actual dancing was as beautiful as always. I always have fun determining the contestants' strategizing in choosing their solos. Jasmine stuck to her original formula for this solo, and it probably worked.

6. Jasmine and Aaron - Dmitry Chaplin
SAMBA

Yikesssdasdsadskda. What a hot mess. The transitions were choppy and awkward, the set piece was basically pieces of wood slapped up together with somebody's old Christmas lights, and Aaron just could not catch himself a break. I'm not sure if this routine hurt Jasmine as much as it did Aaron, but in any case, it definitely is a bit of an ouch when these routines decided who will win in like 4 days or something.


Fik-Shun - SOLO
Now Fik-Shun's turn to get us to fall in love with him. And it completely worked. He talked about his complete lack of training experience or expectations for Vegas Week, but his love of dance and his passion for performance shone through. Fik-Shun is basically an adorable class-act. He partially credited Amy for how far he got within the competition, and how he liked how her technical skills and his performance skills coupled together to carry them all the way through the competition. And finally, he said this line that made me actually cry, "I know I'm not America's best dancer. But I would like to think that I could be America's favourite dancer." 

SOB

Anyways, his solo was as good and entertaining as ever. He knew exactly what he was doing when he chose Gangnam Style as the song for this solo. And he dances the hell out of that song way better than Psy ever could dream of. This one is still my favourite solo of his, though;

Amy - SOLO
Amy probably had the hardest time choosing something to win over audiences; she went with her fall in Christopher Scott's waitress Hip Hop routine, and how she landed in the bottom the following week. Look, I love Amy to death, but that was the only time she'd ever even hit the bottom, and she made an enormous deal out of it. I get it that it's terrifying to have something go as wrong as falling on your face in a live performance, but she got right back up and kept dancing like a pro.

Amy's strategy; tap into the young pre-teen/teenage girl vote with a song choice that was a popular routine among them last season. Anyone remember Unchained Melody, with Audrey and Matt, the Titanic-themed Travis Wall dance? She's smart.

Fik-Shun and All-Star tWitch Boss - Luther Brown
HIP HOP

Fun, perfectly synchronized. It was like watching tWitch dancing with his little brother. Not much else to say, apart from I actually think Fik-Shun is a better popper/locker than tWitch.







Aaron - SOLO
For Aaron's chance to win America's hearts, he went with his I-was-the-21st-choice story. You do have to give him props for making it all the way to the end being the 21st choice. I still would have liked to seen Emilio Dosal as well, but Aaron blew everyone's expectations out of the water this season.

Fun tap routine to a song by one of my favourite artists; Jason Mraz.

Amy and All-Star Robert Roldan - Stacey Tookey
CONTEMPORARY

Love Stacey Tookey. Love Amy. Love Robert. Loved the storyline of Robert being stuck in the "friendzone", then Amy realizing she loved him too late. Loved the song ("Say Something", The Great Big World). Loved it, loved it, loved it. Stacey is a very close second for me behind Travis as the best contemp choreographers they have on the show. The part where Amy almost ran off the stage and Robert caught her just in time - stunning.

Aaron and Fik-Shun - Tyce Diorio
BROADWAY

As annoying as Tyce is, this is one of my favourite pieces of his. The conveyor belt as a set piece was an amazing addition, and Fik-Shun and Aaron are actually surprisingly compatible partners. Not much else to say.







Amy and Jasmine - Mark Kanemura
JAZZ

Okay. Mark's piece with Jenna was beyond incredible, and pushed the envelope just enough for it to be futuristic in a fun way. This one was just strange. Their disk-skirts just seemed cumbersome and difficult to dance in, the identical black bob wigs look uncomfortable and didn't seem to be put on right, the music was too weird to properly follow them. I kind of wish this one wasn't the last routine of the night.



Pant. Alright. Still with me? Finally, I've reached the end of Tuesday's jam-packed show. As for results, I personally hope Jasmine will win for the girls, because I think she has grown more, whereas Amy has been as strong as she was when we first saw her. As for the guys, for me it's a complete toss-up and it will be interesting to see how close the votes were.

Here's an e-mail I got about Paul about a week ago;

Firstly, thank you so much for your blog! You put so much effort into it and I love seeing another's perspective on things. Almost every single thing you say is what I feel as well which makes me smile (:
Anyway, I wanted to know how sad you are that Paul is gone. Like you explained in your post, I started to really really like Hayley a few weeks ago and I would have picked her over Jasmine.
As for Paul I am absolutely astounded that he didn't win, let alone make it to the finale! He is by far the best male dancer that was left and even compared to Tucker and others who were better technically because of their training in contemporary, he completely nailed every single routine he had. I can't remember a single routine in which he stumbled in any way. In fact, his hip-hop with Comfort was one of my favorites of the season. Fik-Shun and Aaron have both lost their spark they had at the beginning of the season while Paul has been consistently perfect emotionally and technically in every single routine. He puts more emotion into everything he does than anyone else. He has always been a standout in every group routine and has adapted himself to every style they've thrown at him. There is no way that Fik-Shun or Aaron are better dancers than him. In fact, Aaron, in my opinion, is one of the most overrated dancers they've ever had. Not to say that I dislike him, the thing is that he isn't as good all-round as Paul. As for Fik-Shun, as funny and committed he is, I would pick Paul over his silly grin any day. Jasmine is only legs, really, and doesn't connect too well for me and Amy is really great in everything she does but I sometimes find her routines forgetful. I really want to know how the voting dropped Paul the week that it counted.
Sorry that I'm rambling but I just needed to vent to someone who I think might be on the same page as me! How McKenzie and Paul didn't make it to the finale I am still banging my head on the table about. The best situation for me now would be Amy winning, what about you? 
Please let me know your take on my opinions with Paul and who the person out of the top 20 that you had or still want is to win! 

Thanks for your e-mail! <3 Well, I am still emotionally unstable after Paul's elimination. He has been one of the most underrated dancers in the show's history, and the only person on the judges's side of things who really praised his talent for what it is was Kenny Ortega. Makenzie, of course, as depressed as I am about her leaving, will have an incredible career regardless, although I would have picked her to win over the other two girls anyday. My preferred winners are at the end of my post above- but I really don't care too much at this point, since they're all pretty equally strong to me.

Till Tuesday, my lovelies. E-mail me with comments/questions/suggestions if you like; sytycdfansblog@gmail.com.

All pictures from www.fox.com/dance/