E: Almost as exciting as meeting the Top Twenty – let’s see the pairs!
And, how fun: the first competitive episode opens with four of the dancers (Jasmine Harper, Alexis, Curtis and Paul) hopping out of a car with the license plate SYTYCD and dancing their way through a loading dock, layered in sweat clothes and hats. They’re grooving to Herb Alpert’s “Putting on the Ritz” – mostly instrumental but with a little choral section which I guess is the part attributed to Lani Hall. To the side of the loading dock, Tabitha sits between Jade and BluPrint at a table, dancing with their hands. All 20 dancers, a whole raft of choreographers – Sean Cheesman, a be-feathered Travis Wall, Jason Gilkison, Napoleon and a super cool looking Christopher Scott – get in on the fun, dancing through racks of clothing (where Aaron fakes a move on a very surprised Nico), through make up and the control booth and popping out of dressing room doors. They swan through a little cafeteria area where extras/staff members snap their fingers, past a guy in a gorilla suit, past a bar where an older bearded man stands with a trumpet. Mary Murphy steps out of some staging to dance with Jason, and Nigel tries his hand at animation; all in all, there’s a great feeling of camaraderie and good spirits. The dancers end on the stage in retro tuxedos in a lovely synchronized ending, and Cat pops up a the end, laughing and smiling with sleek hair and a hot pink t-shirt mini-dress.
And, yep: the man with the trumpet was Herb Alpert himself, who Cat points out in the studio audience – and also in the studio audience are choreographers responsible for this piece, the D’umos. Napoleon is wearing their little boy in a carrier on his chest. Yay, D’umo family!
