Increasing Standards of Competition and the Rise of the Super-Dancer
August 17, 2012

On Wednesday night, So You Think You Can Dance returned after a two-week break and got right down to business. Four contestants instead of two were sent packing, suddenly leaving the season’s top 10. (I’m pleased to note my original pick for winner, Chehon Wespi-Tschopp, is still in the running!) Now, we all know the show went on hiatus during the Olympics, so maybe they really did need to make up for lost time, but I bet the upped drama of dropping four dancers at once didn’t hurt ratings one bit, either. 

 

Season 1 winner Nick Lazzarini admitted he was shocked by the quadruple cut, and brought up the fact that when the show first started, dancers weren’t expected to be nearly as expertly versatile as they are today. It’s clearly a whole new ballgame and becoming more extreme by the season.

 

The way I see it, this can pan out one of two ways: The expecations will become so extreme and the stakes so high that dancers will crumble under the pressure and the program will implode on itself or (and this is what I’m hoping) the bar will continue to rise ever so slightly with each new season, and, just as evolution will one day cause humans to be born with cell phones growing out of their skulls, SYTYCD will begin breeding mutant, super-human dancers who will dominate all forms of choreography—from Kathak to krumping—and eventually take over the world. Much better than a zombie apocalypse, I think. And better for ratings.

 

 

Photo courtesty of FOX

 

 

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