So You Think You Can Dance Tour Report - St. Louis

ST. LOUIS - TOUR REPORT:
by Lizymae

Hi from St. Loius! After two hours of sleep in the last 48 hours and a flight in from Tulsa, Oklahoma, I finally got to see our favorite top ten perform. My friend (who needs to remain nameless due to work reasons) got me started watching the show at the end of last season. Last year I didn't really like the show, but I thought there was so much personality this year that I became totally immersed with SYTYCD! Oh yeah, and I called it that Benji would win the whole thing when the top 20 was announced, so to see him perform live made my year.

I'm not going to bore you with the full show rundown since its been posted in every report as before, but I do have some high (and low) lights for ya.

First up, the intro rocks introducing everyone, and Technologic was sweet. By the way, I'm a HUGE fan of European dance music. It was awesome to see my favorite routine ever, Benji and Heidi's US Open West Coast Swing winning routine performed live ... I couldn't wipe the smile off my face!

I just want to note that all the solo routines were really good. I couldn't imagine the tour without the solo's. The soloist that had most matured since the TV show was Allison. Her routine was set to an electronic dance song by Bjork, and she was wearing black dance shorts with a sporty long sleeved black shirt. It was more playful and different than her usual lyrical routine, but I loved it! Expect the unexpected! (*note from ducky: Is Julie Chen in the house?)

Everyone is getting better at MCing the show, but my boy Benji has a calling in doing impersonations. He did Zoolander, Nigel, and his español es muy bueno. There was a hiccup in programming where they started Natalie's video, but switched it to Martha's. So it wasn't too distracting. They ended with my favorite group routine, Sexyback, before intermission ... But I'll tell ya about that in a bit.

Make sure you're boned up on your SYTYCD trivia, so you can see how many questions you can answer correct! Which of your favorite dancers sleeps naked? :)

The second half opened with Ramalama, which I loved also. I do have to say it lost some drama without all the makeup, but Natalie & Allison have the best expressions to pull it off. Throughout the night I have to add that Ivan & Dan's BF Travis Wall had some killer moves and impressed me over and over.

Ok, now here's the heartbreaker of the evening. I noticed that right after Benji's solo they did 'You Can't Stop the Beat'. Martha was his partner for the duet portion of the performance, and then I realized what I saw in Sexyback ... Donyelle left the stage right after the top 4 portion of the dance but before the song ended. Donny's solo was supposed to be in the second half of the show, and she didn't do a solo. I'm not sure when she got hurt, but it was sometime early. She made it through as long as she could I believe, but it seems she has hurt herself. Hopefully she will be ok, so lets all say a little prayer for her.

The show ended a little early and I think there was a little chaos, but everyone was extremely professional and they were having a lot of fun. A couple other sidenotes: Heidi bobbled at the end of Black Mambo where she spins under Benji's leg, but it was kinda funny and the new dress was cool. Tranji should have their own comedy show together, and Jessica danced quite a bit tonight especially after intermission, Jaymz danced twice. I would expect to see more of Jessica in the next few shows.

The Fox theater did not let us bring any camera's in, but some previous correspondents have amazing pics so check them out! The cast had a meet and greet after the show so we did not get to meet them outside, my friend and I waited an hour and they were just starting the other meeting, so no autographs either. I loved the show, totally worth it so spend the cash and go check them out! I'll have more on my trip to St. Louis posted by Monday, so please feel free to check out my blog on myspace ... http://blog.myspace.com/lizymae

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Other Reports/Photos:
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- Phoenix
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