So You Think You Can Dance? - Season 9!

[Holley Calmes]

That's what I wondered too. Do ballroom dancers use marley? What do they use on the tour?

I don't know. All I know is that at the annual festival where I am in charge of the performances, my ballroom people demand marley. And their leader is an International bronze champion...I'll have to get his info, but his name is Waylon Jones. Lovely man.

But yes-they are very particular about their flooring!

[kwanfan1818]

If ballroom dancers use marley, then why wouldn the show risk injury with a slippery floor? It seems like marley is a no_brainer and they are being stoopid.

[Holley Calmes]

I'm not saying they all do, but it does seem odd that they wouldn't provide a real dance floor for these dancers. I suppose hip hop and other street dance is fine without marley, but I can't imagine any type of jazz, modern, contemporary or ballet based dance that wouldn't be extremely enhanced by the dancers knowing they had good surfaces to perform on.

[Aceon6]

I'm not saying they all do, but it does seem odd that they wouldn't provide a real dance floor for these dancers. I suppose hip hop and other street dance is fine without marley, but I can't imagine any type of jazz, modern, contemporary or ballet based dance that wouldn't be extremely enhanced by the dancers knowing they had good surfaces to perform on.

I would love to see them have a proper floor, but that's probably a shared soundstage and Fox might be too cheap to pay a crew to install and remove it every week.

[sap5]

I would love to see them have a proper floor, but that's probably a shared soundstage and Fox might be too cheap to pay a crew to install and remove it every week.

How much could it possibly cost to install and remove every week? A couple of hundred at most? Compared to the cost of health care if one of the dancers is injured because of the floor?

I totally respect what she did in that video, and she's my fave girl by far. However, the video to me seemed to be a "stop and start" affair. She'd do a few....I guess they aren't "steps" and they aren't "combinations..." whatevers....and then the camera seemed to jump to her doing something another set of skills.

I imagine it's the kind of thing that can't be sustained very long....the pole dance on the show was probably pretty max time wise. The demand on the upper body strength must be tremendous!


My husband Richard is going to take photos next weekend for a group who does aerial dance in front of orchestras. They're all ex-Cirque people, so we're told. I'm not going-got to work, but it should be fun. Somehow I compare the pole and the aerial skills as being similar...are they?

The stops and starts may also be because of the way the video was edited. We don't know if she continued doing other things, but the editor wanted to put together a "best of" series of clips.

Didn't Eliana say she did "aerial pole" for Cirque in her audition video?

That was gorgeous!

The amount of strength and flexibility required for that is insane! But she made it look so smooth, fluid and easy. Eliana is definitely my favorite girl and I really hope she wins this thing. I really think she is the best female dancer they've ever had on the show.

I can't figure out how she keeps turning during some of those moves! I'd be stuck for sure.

[Aceon6]

How much could it possibly cost to install and remove every week? A couple of hundred at most? Compared to the cost of health care if one of the dancers is injured because of the floor?

Depending on the union and the work rules, it can cost quite a bit. Let's say the contract specifies 4 installers and a supervisor. The contract will typically specify a base number of hours that must be paid any time a crew member works. It can be anywhere from 2 to 4 hours. So, at the low end, it's at least $1,000 and could be significantly more.

[kwanfan1818]

Depending on the union and the work rules, it can cost quite a bit. Let's say the contract specifies 4 installers and a supervisor. The contract will typically specify a base number of hours that must be paid any time a crew member works. It can be anywhere from 2 to 4 hours. So, at the low end, it's at least $1,000 and could be significantly more.

So double that, it's about $24K for the run of the show -- probably the judges' mini-bar budget -- to ensure that the dancers aren't hurt and that each one can dance their best.

[Aceon6]

So double that, it's about $24K for the run of the show -- probably the judges' mini-bar budget -- to ensure that the dancers aren't hurt and that each one can dance their best.

From what I've learned from relatives in the biz, cutting union technical services is the first thing to go when producers squeeze the budget. The budget item might be less than the weekly trailer rental for the talent, but the trailers stay and tech services goes.

[Holley Calmes]

However, I don't think they ever had marley. Marley isn't cheap, but it's an investment. Putting it down takes less than 30 minutes if you know what you're doing. I agree about the shared sound stage, but I just can't conceive that it would cost $24,000 to put down a few rolls of marley at least for the shows. It just doesn't take that long. Or am I totally out of touch with union costs? I could be, in which case, I'm joining that damn union.

[kwanfan1818]

I meant the cost of putting it down and taking it up for a dozen shows.

[Holley Calmes]

I know-I still can't believe it. It's incredibly simple and fast to do.

[Simka]

Isn't anyone watching the finale tonight? Rjblue, where are you?

[Jimena]

I'm not watching but I just saw that Eliana won. For the first time ever in the history of the show, my favorite wins.

[Jimena]

And Chehon won!

I really did not see that coming!

Frankly, I'm quite happy.

[cygnus]

Happy with both winners.

[Simka]

Woohoo! Great news!

[Rob]

Wow America has learned from all these dancing shows. The right result all around.

[Holley Calmes]

Can't believe it! I am so thrilled!!!!!

[lavenderblue]

Fabulous results for each! Particularly surprised but thrilled by Chehon's win.

[kwanfan1818]

And Chehon won!

I really did not see that coming!

Frankly, I'm quite happy.

I suspect that in a year, casual observers will say Cyrus won, just like Twitch, Dmitry, and Alex won and Nappy Tabs are authentic hip hop choreographers.

I'm thrilled that a university/sorority bloc vote didn't squelch Eliana. Now if the same could happen with Football Team Nation on DWTS.