So You Think You Can Dance – Of ankles and eliminations

Let’s talk about the lowly ankle for a minute, shall we?

In (most) people, it’s where the foot and the leg meet. (Duh.) The ankle is a synovial hinge joint connecting the distal ends of the tibia and fibula in the lower limb with the proximal end of the talus bone in the foot.

Technically speaking — and to many of us — this is a bunch of gibberish, so why don’t we just switch to the down-and-dirty … everyday people talk, hokay?

The ankle, my friends, is something we rarely consider unless it gets hurt or damaged. Be honest: Have you thought about your ankle today? In the last week? Month? No … I didn’t think so. You see, my ulterior motive by tossing the above information at you was to (possibly) assist in you considering the ankles of the contestants on So You Think You Can Dance.

Do you see those guys and gals leaping about without (seemingly) a care in the world as to their own ankles? And in bare feet, no less? No ankle support whatsoever! But it’s taken to yet another level all together where the girls are concerned. Those sometimes high-steppin’ heels come into play, don’tcha know! Cripes and cripes! It’s a wonder they don’t collapse in a heap with all the abuse their ankles take!

Oh, sure … there are the feet to take into account as well, but we all know feet are feet. They’re made to take the abuse … they’re designed to accept the brunt of what the rest of the body throws at them. They’ve got to accept the demands of what we toss their way or they can simply pack their bags and go seek out a better paying gig. And when was the last time you heard that happening? Huh? Never … that’s when. The feet: They’re stuck with us, for better or worse.

Now … let’s look at an actual contestant or two on SYTYCD, shall we? I’ll wait patiently while you peruse the following videos …

… oh. Wait. Seems it’s a bit difficult to provide video for your dining and dancing pleasure sometimes when The Powers That Be at SYTYCD exercise their iron grip every chance they get and quash some of those video attempts at the “usual” locations. Instead, here are some of the dancers you really need to watch out for in the coming weeks with what they do to their ankles: Clarice Ordaz and Jess LeProtto along with Caitlynn Lawson and Mitchell Kelly. Go take a gander at this week’s performances and see what I mean.

But the results were where it was at in the end.

For me, the results and recap show is sometimes overwhelming when it comes to the number of dancers on the program this early in the season. Seriously, 20 performers are a lot of performers to consider between Cheez Doodles! It’s sometimes difficult to correlate what they do, where their flaws (if any) are and who should be picked to be eliminated. So, for me, there were no huge surprises … but that’s because I wasn’t looking for anyone in particular to get the boot. What happens happens.

I could say Wadi Jones was one of my picks given the comments the judges made, but that’s really rather too easy, isn’t it, since the consensus was that just might be a given anyway.

In the end Wadi, Missy Morelli, the leggy Iveta Lukosiute and spiffy tapper Nick Young got the heave ho out of the contingent of terrific talent.

Trimmed, next week’s show will be a bit easier to take in.

Clacked by Michael Noble
on Jun 24, 2011 @ 14:36 EST5EDT