Thoughts on the evolution of the show

I'm going to start this by saying that I thought this season would be a total disaster. I thought "there's no way kids can produce emotional, expressive dance that this show is famous for". But I've got to hold my hand up: I was wrong. This season was fantastic. Not only were the dancers great, but the choreographers rose to the challenge - and then some. I was really impressed that some choreography only worked, or worked best, with at least one of the dance pair being of the next generation - the mirror routine being a perfect example.

Some concessions were made to the dancers' age. I found it rather telling that some dancers took on other styles, whilst others got to stay in their comfort zone. I thought that the contestants who branched out would have an advantage. But in the end it was Kida - who I felt had mostly stuck to hip-hop - who took the crown.

Kida as winner was interesting. My early pick was Tate, obviously. I thought Tahani was in with a real shout as well. I was gobsmacked that she didn't make the final. And it was Tate and Tahani who had really branched out into diffferent styles, and looked good doing it. My next pick was JT. I think people had a tendency to label him with "bad technique" purely because of his age, but I thought that his agility and expression was second to none.

Kida as the winner is interesting because I think it reveals something about the SYTYCD audience. I had thought that they mostly preferred contemporary and ballroom. But think back to that special that was broadcast last season (during stage vs street) when they had a run-down of the most popular ever routines, as chosen by viewers. The winning piece was a hip-hop routine with tWitch that I don't recall from the first time around. I was stunned that it was chosen over the bench routine, or the statue routine ("Turn To Stone"), or a couple of pieces from the preceding season (e.g. Ricky & Jessica from the first live show). That result seemed to show that hip-hop was especially popular with the wider viewing public and thus the decision to push street dancers on that season made more sense.

Now, I'm sure someone is about to point out that Gaby won that season and she was stage. But, if you recall, her breakout performance was the geisha-themed hip-hop piece. And now Kida wins this season, over some clearly more experienced experienced and broader-skilled competitors. So, perhaps the producers have it right and pushing hip-hop is the best way to keep the show on the air.

But I wish that hip-hop dancers didn't keep getting special treatment. For example, during the "Stage vs. Street" season, it's well known that dancers who had been turned down the previous year auditioned on the street side because they thought that gave them a better chance to make it to live shows - presumably due to the lower standard of training and experience within the street section. Additionally, I felt that Jaja was "put over" with the audience by the judge's comments - she was praised to the high heavens for even attempting anything that wasn't krump (and praised as some kind of pioneer, as though a krumper didn't win season six). Meanwhile, Jim Nowakowski, who was one of the best dancers ever on the show, was pilloried every week and the viewers constantly reminded that "technique isn't everything". I felt this was an attempt to condition the viewers to look past technical skills to a dancer's "x-factor" - that unknowable quality that makes them good on TV.

Similarly, I hope that future season of this "next gen" format don't give an advantage to hip-hop contestants by letting them dance almost exclusively hip-hop, week-in and week-out. I could tell that Kida was an amazing dancer in that style, but I thought the pieces he was given did him a disservice. Whilst I could watch other contestants dance and occasionally think "wow, I can't tell who's the junior and who's the all-star", most of Kida's performances was mini-me stuff. By that I mean that he and Fikshun wore the same outfits, did virtually the exact same moves. That's okay in the first couple of weeks as a way of introducing the contestants, but it got old real fast. Furthermore, contestants who do well in styles outside of their own usually do better than those who can only dance well in their own style. So I was surprised that Kida won, and it does seem to imply that hip-hop is king with viewers.

Alright, thanks for taking the time to read all that! I'd be intrigued to know if my feelings are widely shared, or if I'm strictly in the minority. And if you just glazed over the wall of text, feel feel to reply with "tl:dr" :D