So You Think You Can Dance?

I am a not so secret lover of the show "So You Think You Can Dance". I've been watching since about half way through Season 1 and I'm totally addicted. This has way surpassed my addiction to Top Model, but probably because the dancers on this show have TALENT.

I was a ballet dancer for 12 years through the Royal Academy Of Dance in the UK, and also did tap dancing for a few years in among that as well. My claim to fame being presented a silver tap dancing certificate by Errol "I Believe In Miracles" Brown of Hot Chocolate. I've done the excruciatingly painful ballet en pointe, had my picture taken for the local paper in my leotard (which still haunts me to this day), and found out that it takes approximately 230 bobby pins and 2 cans of hairspray to get my hair sufficiently up in a bun for examinations. Essentially, I understand the dedication that it takes to dance. Even with all that though, I can't get close to the standard of brilliant that I see with the dancers on this show.

Last night, I was honored to go to the finale taping for Season 5. My office is responsible for a lot of the music licensing that ends up on that show (including the song for my favorite dance of the season above) so my co-worker pulled a few strings and managed to get me tickets. I was giddy all week at the prospect of seeing the action live and I certainly wasn't disappointed. What's even better is that given it was the finale, they performed some of the best dances from the entire season and the top 20 finalists did group numbers together. It was like buying a best-of compilation CD!
I manage to snap this pic with my little Blackberry camera right after the winner was announced and they released the confetti (which also prompted me to feel really sorry for the cleaning crew)! I'm really happy that the win went to Jeanine last night. She's an amazing dancer - fiery, fun and classy all at the same time. Rock on girl!

A little Project Runway talk

As the most recent season of Project Runway nears the end, I do have a little to say about last night's episode. Firstly, as much as I was sad that Jerrell got a little too whacky with his wedding dress creation last night, it's really nice to see three strong females doing their thing for fashion week.

As much as Kenley drives me nuts, you can't say the girl doesn't have a style...even if parts of it appear to have been "inspired" by another designer (see the design by Alexander McQueen below left, by Kenley below right). One thing that bugs me, apart from her whining, is that she can't seem to get out of her niche. That being said, I think she'll do really well within her niche.
Korto has a great personality; very down to earth and I think that reflects in her designs. While I do think she missed the mark a little with her wedding dress last night, I have enjoyed her previous creations. The dress shown to the left is one that I like, despite being someone who's not much for crazy prints. I thought her bridesmaid dress was nowhere near as bad as the judges made it out to be, although given where they are in the competition I think they wanted her to find a happy medium between the over and under whelming that they kept talking about.

Finally, Leanne is my favorite to win right now. Apart from anything, she has an Etsy store!! She has such a classy style that is well structured, yet flows beautifully (see the dress inset right) and I really enjoy her humble nature - the absolute every day kinda girl. I'm really excited to see her final collection because the hints we got in the show last night looked really interesting and so well designed. The wedding and bridesmaid dresses were beautiful and I would be happy to wear either.

Of course, waiting another week will be torture to find out who made it, but it'll be an exciting finale this year for sure!