I'm so looking forward to seeing the You Can Dance finale live tomorrow night!
It's been a long time since I got to enjoy watching my girls dance outside of practice. I can't even remember the last time they competed in anything. It was either at Emerald Ball or Embassy Ball... years ago! Audrey never had a routine of her own. Every time she's competed, it was always a flash of 30 seconds or so on the dance floor in some crowded ballroom with a huge group of other beginner-level competitors. Lauren had exactly one routine that Justice (her former instructor) choreographed for her at the 2007 Promenade (their former studio) graduation, but in that skit she had to be a ghoul! It was set to the Addams Family theme song, and Lauren appeared as the macabre family's daughter, Wednesday (who was said to have been named after the phrase "Wednesday's child is full of woe" from the nursery rhyme Monday's Child), in pigtails and Gothic makeup.
Lauren waiting to go on stage as Wednesday Addams
Besides my vested interest in seeing my girls perform in a bona fide show, I'm also excited to turn up at the YCD finale to cheer on my friend, Dr. Christopher Bui (Bui Xuan Duong), who was sport enough to don glitter dancewear in place of his usual white coat & scrubs to take on the formidable challenge of being a celebrity contestant on the reality show.
I've followed and enjoyed every single episode of the show on SBTN. Paul, the girls' instructor, was curious, but could not understand Vietnamese, so in one of my emails I had to put it in capsule form for him:
"Paul, if you care to, you can view the following episodes to get a feel for the show.
It's pretty entertaining to me, because I could understand what everyone said in Vietnamese, but there was one judge who consistently spoke in English, so you could probably flesh out his comments and somewhat make sense of the on-stage action...
It's pretty entertaining to me, because I could understand what everyone said in Vietnamese, but there was one judge who consistently spoke in English, so you could probably flesh out his comments and somewhat make sense of the on-stage action...
Episode 10, Part I, featuring:
- Dancesation group performance with a special appearance from judge Thuy Van, a professional singer/dancer.
- Best looking contestant (Hang Ny Nguyen) dancing the Paso Doble hoping for a reconciliation with her estranged father who might watch the show and recognize her.
http://www.youcandance.tv/you-can-dance/semi-finals-episode-10-part-i/
Episode 10, Part II, featuring:
Hang Ny Nguyen and her instructor, Alexander Andreev (a.k.a. Sasha), at the YCD finale
- Underdog contestant Rao Nguyen, a Feng shui expert/fortune teller who came all the way from France supposedly motivated by unorthodox pressure from his newly-met girlfriend: no sex until he takes home the title. What the heck!! Amazingly, he danced much, much better than I expected!
- Vickie To (assistant manager of Lee's Sandwiches, a well-known Vietnamese deli), a dance bug who's a regular at many Vietnamese nightclubs, dancing the samba. The judges' preliminary comments have focused on the "bad habits" she'd picked up from the dance floor that were hard to break.
Vickie To and her instructor, Erik Cyr, at the YCD finale
Episode 10, Part III, featuring:
- Guest performer Kevin Phan – 14 year-old student doing the Jive. Cute, but generic.
- Linda Tong, an elementary school teacher from Texas, who almost canceled her stint in the show to cope with her husband's health crisis (he recently underwent a kidney transplant). After a return to Texas to take care of her family, she's flown back to California to compete in the semi-finals with her husband's encouragement and blessing. She's understandably all stressed out and looks it!
- Vu Khanh Nguyen, a Vietnamese regular Joe who admitted to having a sizable complex about his height and appeal (or lack of such) to the opposite sex, trying to lose his inhibitions through dancing. I like his modest demeanor and self-deprecating humor. I like his wife even better. In the short clip showing her by his side at home, she appeared easygoing, self-effacing and supportive. They're a sweet couple!
Vu Khanh Nguyen and his instructor, Petra Chovancova, at the YCD finale
Episode 10, Part IV, featuring:
- Wendy Ho, a self-described former wallflower hoping to inspire her younger sister by her hard-won transformation from shy girl to confident/sexy vixen who can dance to follow her own passions!
Wendy Ho and her instructor, Yiri Kosydar, at the YCD finale
After watching the contestants tell their personal stories and relate their journeys in dance, it's difficult not to like them more than a little bit... yes, even the Feng shui specialist who warbled that famous Vietnamese song, Trăng Sáng Vườn Chè, which included the infamous phrase: "Anh chưa thi đỗ thì chưa... động phòng!", relating to the previously-mentioned withholding of sex."
Audrey was originally invited to appear in You Can Dance, but declined because she was quite sure she wouldn't cope well with the pressure and scrutiny that could likely accompany being a full-on participant of the reality show. In retrospect, as her college schedule had been particularly challenging last quarter, Audrey would not have fared well at all juggling her activities and commitments, and ultimately, I'm glad she didn't sign on to be a contestant.
But it would be fun watching her dance the salsa to Marc Anthony's "Aguanile" in the sponsoring performers segment tomorrow night.
Lauren will be fourth in the program with a Cha Cha routine set to Lady Gaga's "Poker Face!"
By the way, my blog title, You Can Dance (or not!), wasn't referring to any contestants on the reality show... only myself.
I remember watching (and cringing all the while) that particular Dancing with the Stars episode where Kate Gosselin of "Kate Plus 8" fame strutted across the dance floor with her hapless partner, Tony Dolovani, to Lady Gaga's infectious pop tune, Paparazzi. Her awkward performance moved one acerbic judge to make a (deservedly) unkind comment, something to the effect of... It looked like Tony was pushing a shopping cart across the floor!
I'd love to believe otherwise, but to be perfectly honest, had I been both bold and stupid enough to appear on YCD (and had the show's organizers actually put me there for some inexplicable reasons), I would've put forth a performance just as cluelessly strange and artless as Gosselin's.
I'm sure professional dance instructors can work wonders with people who have a modicum of talent and coordination, but also certain there are klutzes that defy even the best training... myself included somewhere at the top of the list.
Fortunately, even with sporadic encouragement from Paul, I know enough to keep myself off the dance floor!
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