Toni Redpath From “So You Think You Can Dance” Reviews The DWTS 15 Semi-Finals
Toni Redpath, a ballroom choreographer and judge from “So You Think You Can Dance”, has reviewed the Semi-Finals of Dancing With The Stars. She’s got some interesting comments. Below is how she felt on the contestants first dances. Be sure you read how she felt on their second dances at her official Facebook page here. She feels like us in some cases and not in others depending how you feel….
Melissa… Argentine Tango… Thank goodness for a recognizable dance. Great dance for her, as she can show off her beautiful legs. Some parts were amazing, some parts look a little awkward (like the pretzel move just before the final walk off). Great job to Tony for pulling off this evening with a bad back.
Shawn… I was curious to see if she could pull off such a mature & sexy dance considering how, in my opinion, she’s taken a step back in her emotional performance level since the Titanic routine. Unfortunately she came across as robotic & stand-offish instead of sultry. Remarkable physical performance though, but that’s not enough to win this competition.
Apolo… Rumba is a good dance for him. I love all the basics that Karina put in. Sliding doors, Nat opening outs, fan etc… Just beautiful after all the madness that ensued earlier in the evening. Apolo did a good job, but is throwing himself off balance by sending his upper body into turns first… Otherwise, amazing.
Emmitt…. Danced his Tango with a lot of intensity and I love the set of ripple stalks. However, footwork & posture are always going to be his great downfall if it ever becomes important in the competition. If it’s just a popularity contest he’ll be fine though. He’s just so loveable
Kelly… Breakout performer of the night… She’s really pushing herself in the emotional aspect of her dancing… Shawn should learn from her; dancing is not just about technical execution & dynamic movement, you have to have an emotional connection to the music & your partner, otherwise the audience won’t emotionally connect with you.
I could care less about anything that this woman says, I truly hated her on sytycd, not only she was a terrible judge at the few times that she was on the show, but pretty much every time she got a chance to do the choreo, she did some of the most boring/worst ballroom routines I’ve seen on that show. If I remember she was called Barbie Nazi during vegas once.
Wow, she comes off very rude. She must be s sytycd snob and will say anything bad about dwts.
Yeah, I went to her site and read a bunch of past posts and she seems awful.You talk about someone only looking for the bad. I feel like I need an antidepressant from just reading her posts.
She can have her opinion,she is a professional. I do agree on somethings, not on others but so be it.
I’ve always liked Toni, but these just made me starting thinking otherwise. I read over a lot of her past post and she seems to be quite rude and hardly saying anything nice about any of them. Yes, they made mistakes, but they’re not dancers!
For me, this part of her review is very telling, “I guess in looking for ratings they are desperate to try new things, but it’s failing miserably.” That screams “agenda” to me; badmouthing a competing show in a pathetic attempt to boost the stature of the one that employs you. She lost her credibility with me at that point.
But Cidra… we’ve been saying the same things about ratings and TPTB HERE for 3 seasons now!
I think you’re off base on her having an agenda for SYTYCD (speaking of a show with real ratings issues). Her agenda is likely promoting her own brand.
I like that she states her feelings about the dancers. They aren’t dancers, but they are competing on a dance show. I prefer the realistic “judging” she offers compared with the DWTS judges who say crazy things like the stars being as good as the pros.
Agenda or no agenda I roughly agree with her. I wish there was a male pro on the show who had the ability to provoke emotional connection in his partners. However I think that the guys we have, as much as I like most of them and think some are extremely good choreographers and dancers, do not have this ability in the same respect as for example Cheryl (of old time), Karina and Kym sometimes have (Maks has it when he manages to piss his partners off but that’s emotional in a bad way lol). Maybe Tristan has some potential in this regard.
Shawn had Mark and Derek for her partners, two guys who I think are amazing and creative, but neither managed to make her what I had hoped she could be. She’s still pretty amazing but is IMO missing an important aspect of dancing.
We also have to realize that she’s CRITIQUING, not recapping. I agree with most of her critique.
Thanks for posting this, Vogue. Always good to mix it up a bit and get differing POV’s. Thought she made many good points.
Hi 🙂 will it be possible for you to post up the second part of her post? I’m in China for one month and won’t be able to assess Facebook here, but I really want to read her review 🙂 thank you! If it’s not possible, thanks anyway!
YW Faby and thank you!xx
ZJY, check out the post again. I put the second part in it now for ya. 😉
SASA: I have to disagree about Derek. That is one of the things that I think stands out about Derek. He seems to be able to connect with his partners, most of the time,no matter what age they are. I do think Shawn is more of a challenge for him in this regard, but I think he has pulled more out of her than any other pro could have.
This review nails why I don’t like Shawn.
Although Shawn gives a good physical performance, there’s no emotion coming across, so she seems stand-offish & robotic.
No emotion or not, Shawn slew that Argentine Tango. The song is really at fault here. How on earth can you expect a woman (no less) to pull off a sultry performance to “Bad?”
@Rose
Different strokes. I’m not feeling it. For me, Derek&Mark are the pros who create the most flashy and innovative choreography. But coming up with something that makes you forget choreography is even present because it’s so stripped down and the two personalities are carrying it, I don’t think that’s their strong suit. Some dances have a mood that fits well with hyper-choreographing, especially when there’s a weird twist involved (unsuitable song choice or mixing up two styles) but others require emotion to be the main driving force.
@Tony
Well, the dance doesn’t have to follow every word of the song, it’s the mood that counts. For example, Shawn could have been the bad one, a mean seductress who teases Derek and leaves him broken at the end.
Some people will grasp for any port in a storm – or anyone who agrees with their opinion. Doesn’t make it true for everyone, that’s for sure.
I don’t find her criticism all that helpful, to be honest. I’m sure she could pick apart every contestant that’s ever been on the show, but these aren’t trained dancers and they will never be up to those standards she is talking about. Good for her that she is able to spot them – I would expect nothing less out of a ballroom judge in a real dancing competition – but I don’t see the added value in DWTS world.
Woops, I should clarify that I was talking about the majority of her Facebook posts, not all of them. The ones excerpted and posted on this site aren’t as technical about the minute qualities as other judgments Toni makes note of on her page.
@voguerista: Thanks!! 🙂