I started watching So You Think You can Dance last season and was hooked. I don’t watch Idol, I could care less about who’s Got Talent, but SYTYCD manages to keep me interested. The boyfriend DVR’d it for me and even he was sucked in last night. This year, we have a local Buffalo boy in the competition, and he held his own in Vegas, despite having to “dance for his life.” We’ll find out tonight  if he makes it to the final 20.

His name is Tony Bellissimo, lives in Hamburg, and has been dancing since he was a little kid. He attended the Future Dance Center in Buffalo, and was instructed by Denise and Gino Vaccaro. He also belonged to Tremaine Performance Company for a year or so, and his specialty is Hip-Hop.

Tony has a lot of potential. He has a great body, he’s tall and lanky, and full of humor and personality. His solo piece in Las Vegas snagged the judges when his routine exposed various mugshots of Nigel Lythgoe to the tune of “Somebody’s Watching Me.”

Hip Hop dancers sometimes have trouble when it comes to Jazz and Contemporary but Tony breezed through most of it.  After a bit of gut-wrenching suspense from the Judges (not even SYTYCD is free from crafted commentary from the judges), Tony exploded in emotion and joined the top 32 after wiping his tears on Cat’s shoulders, who has a thing for boys with feelings (or is it boys she can feel up?). 12 people will be sent home tonight; I hope it isn’t Tony, I’d like to see this local boy make it.

The other thing that’s awesome about SYTYCD is that the music doesn’t suck, with routines set to Black Eyed Peas and the Ting Tings… it only gets better as the season progresses.

Last year, I used a now shutdown service called Red Lasso to display clips from the series. Since that went belly up, I’m still looking for a legalesque method of showing my favorite clips…

Bonus! – Check after the jump and see Tony make an appearance in “Pinch,” a local short film comedy making a tribute to Star Trek.

(Video Via Ricky.org)

UPDATE:: Thursday night comes and goes, and Tony makes the Top 20!!!! Way to go Buffalo!!!

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It all started with a kiss, and you could tell the number was going to be hot. THe amazingly talented Mia Michael took the best of Twitch’s funk and the chemistry between the two dancers to create the perfect routine. While this contemporary piece wasn’t very technical and there weren’t a lot of lifts, there was a prop: a door which took a lot of abuse from the two dancers.

Alright, so i slacked last week, and haven’t been watching So You Think You Can Dance as serious as I could be, but I’m a busy boy. I think its a little odd that buffalogeek is a more faithful subscriber than I, but then again, Mrs. Geek is a choreographer and Chris is very (cough) cultured.

I was about to attribute the best number to Twitch and Comfort. Comfort was brought back after Jessica’s injury; she proved her second chance when she nailed a Hip-Hop number with Twitch. Then Geek tweets me and says I had better pick the pas de deux ( say: pa de do), which I had not seen yet.  So i watch it on Red Lasso and I agree: Will and Katie performed the most complex, most powerful, most amazing number of the season.

I’m not an expert on dance, and especially not modern ballet, but I can appreciate the intense difficulty of the choreography. Perhaps Mrs. Geek could comment on the incredible talent of Desmond Richardson and his partner; from what I read, he’s one of the best in the world.

And since I had already clipped it, here’s the runner up best number: Twitch and Comforts Hip-Hop number to Chris Brown’s “Forever.” Choreographed by Dave Scott, this piece shows why Twich and Comfort are the best two Hip-Hop dancers of the season and why Twitch is a heavy contender for the win.

While Twitch is my personal favorite, Thursday night sealed my vote for the winner: Will. He has the training, he has the love of the audience, and he has the emotion to take the competition. I think the girls are great: Katie is awesome, and I’ll miss Kherington, but this season, it’s a guy’s battle.

Jessica and Will took the cake last night with their performance to “Alone,” a lyrical Jazz number choreographed by Mandy Moore (no not that Mandy Moore). Almost wanted to give it to Twitch with the bed routine, but Will was made to dance, and it shows with every number. Jessica is great, but I feel like she could be holding Will back a bit.

I’m watching So You Think You can Dance. I’m not so into it that I’ll vote or get into any huge discussion about it,  but I love the choreography. And as far as any blogging goes, I plan to keep it at a weekly post of my favorite routine from Wednesday. So expect it.

Yesterday’s “couple to beat” was Mark K. and Chelsie H. (found out after I clipped the show that that’s how you spell her name, stupid white girls). They danced a hip hop routine choreographed by Tabitha and Napoleon, and damn it moved me. “Bleeding Love” is a safe commercial beat that gets overplayed on the radio without even a thought, however Mark and Chelsie brought it to life as they portrayed the struggle of a workaholic and the pain it causes your loved one.

So You Think You Can Dance?

The only reality show I care about this year is So You Think You can Dance. The format is like American Idol, but with dancers, ya know, people with real talent and their own styles, The music featured on the show is anything but sugar pop, I heard Lady Gaga last night, and almost shit my pants when last night’s opener was to “Cobrastyle” by Robyn. Check it out. the choreography was by Wade and Amanda Robson.

You can get Robyn’s album on Amazon DRM-Free, for $8.99. So do it.