MovieChat Forums > Every Little Step (2009) Discussion > Tyce Diorio sure goes down HARD in this ...

Tyce Diorio sure goes down HARD in this movie!


You may know him as one of the choreographers on "So You Think You Can Dance" (one of the worst choreographers, I think.) Well, in this ELS documentary, he's one of the finalists for the role of Mike. Wow. It shows him as arrogant, over-the-top, and out of CONTROL. During the group audition they show how he decides it's better to do a big slow turn on the famous "turn, turn, out, in" section, than to actually do the show's choreography... what everybody ELSE is doing. It's not a show about trying to stand out. It's about fitting in. And, like Zach tells Cassie "dance like everybody else". Anyway, he obviously likes himself a LOT. It was interesting to see the phone call to his agent from the casting office, where they give feedback about Tyce's audition. Go see the movie! See for yourself what they say about him.

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Yes! Yes! YES! Really great dance technique. But SO arrogant and obnoxious. No wonder he didn't get cast.

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My thoughts exactly. The first time they showed him dancing he took my breath away because he was so talented. Then he opened his mouth and it was ruined.

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Just saw the film today! I definitely agree with you. He stands out in the film as the "one" who is a loser because of his attitude. The others accept the fact that it was an audition, and they were good enough to get a final call-back. They are not losers.

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Are you serious? Tyce? Hmm. He never came off that way on Dance before. Geez. Can't wait to see it.

Christ =
Meeting David Archuleta June 29!!

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Serious, simply based on the film, not on a television "reality" show about dance. Never heard of him. Never saw the television show. Again, my comments based strictly on seeing a motion picture about real dancers, and real auditions.

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I could see him acting that way. I Love seeing how they really are. I've been wanting to see this film for a while and I can't wait to see how Tyce really acts.

Christ =
Meeting David Archuleta June 29 and August 4th!!

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Serious, simply based on the film, not on a television "reality" show about dance. Never heard of him. Never saw the television show. Again, my comments based strictly on seeing a motion picture about real dancers, and real auditions.


Twilsonr, your post implies that "So You Think You Can Dance" is just a "reality" show and beneath notice (and far less important or realistic than this film). I disagree. I enjoyed Every Little Step, but was troubled by the film's omission of many of the talented people involved in the creation of A Chorus Line, even though I did have a chuckle at how badly Diorio (it's true) comes off here.

However, as you haven't seen it, if you are a fan of dance at all, I would hugely recommend So You Think You Can Dance, which is also about real dancers, real auditions, and real choreographers.

The show ultimately spotlights some of the most breathtaking routines I've ever seen -- over the past four years I have been stunned by both the dancers as well as the choreography and have gone from casual viewer to diehard fan.

Many of the show's routines can be found on Youtube for viewing, or via choreographer websites. I hugely recommend that you check out the gorgeous dances "Ramalama" (Group dance), "The Hummingbird and the Flower" (Hok/Jamie), "Addiction" (Kayla/Kupono), "Sweet Dreams" (Neil/Sabra), The Bench ("Calling You"), "Bleeding Love" (Mark/Chelsie), "The Garden" (Mark/Courtney), "Hip Hip Chin Chin" (Danny/Lacey), "No Air" (Katee/Joshua), Brandon/Janette's Tango, and the lovely pas de deux by Katee and Will last season, to Archuleta's cover of "Imagine." While Diorio is my least favorite choreographer by far (especially on Broadway stuff) on the show, his contemporary work can be really strong, and "Silence" (Will/Jessica) and "This Woman's Work" (Melissa/Ade) are standouts.

My hope is that if you seek out and view these, you'll get a glimpse of what makes this show -- in some ways -- every bit the landmark to dance on TV that ACL was to dance on the stage.

Cheers!

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Regarding Tyce, I was really surprised to see him do so poorly. Perhaps the reason he was permitted to audition was so that he would be that real-life Cassie who doesn't get cast (in the original A Chorus Line ending that I prefer).

Regarding SYTYCD, while the show did sometimes have great dance routines, I don't think they justify the show itself, which is mostly about grandstanding judges, with contestants chosen not for skill, but rather to provide comfortable drama to the story arc over the season. With Nigel at the helm, the show favours falsity over reality, conformity over experiment, and continues the failures of Americal Idol that you can read about almost daily on the VFTW blog.

What makes A Chorus Line and Every Little Step so meaningful is not the dance, but the characters, who are there warts and all, but you understand them if only for a few moments. It's the complete opposite of SYTYCD.

If you want to see interesting dance on film, you make like to check out some of the dance-themed shorts by recently-honoured filmmaker Norman McLaren. Narcissus (1983), Ballet Adagio (1972), and Pas de deux (1968) are all good. They combine the art of dance with the art of film to make something new, while still retaining the core of each. I'm not saying these are the best, but just than they are worth looking at, and I think more so than a season of SYTYCD.

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Thanks for the reply.

I guess for me the judges and trappings are worth the occasional truly great moments, as they don't bother me a bit. The judges can be silly, but they also truly love the medium and can be insightful, smart, and funny. Not always, true, but I'm OK with that.

The AI template means that more people watch, assuming it's mainstream, despite the fact that a fair number of the dances are genuinely unique, edgy, or experimental. So to me the show is highbrow stuff at heart, dressed up in a lowbrow disguise.

And most of all, I'd happily suffer through fifteen minutes of nonsense for every routine we got on the level of Mia Michaels' "Addiction" from this season, or Wade Robson's "Ramalama" or "Hummingbird and the Flower," or Sonya Tayeh's "Vampires" dance or "The Garden" from last season. Or the stunning pas de deux from season 4. Etc. Or dozens of others over the past 5 seasons -- "Hip Hip Chin Chin," "No Air," the park bench, the Matrix paso doble, "Thieves," "Battlefield," "Bleeding Love," "The Dance," dozens more.

The judges or window-dressing don't linger. Like many others, I have dozens of my favorite dances and clips saved to my hard drive, and it's those dances and performances that will linger, not the 10 minutes of fluff around them.

I appreciate the recommendations, and will check them out! But I do hope you at least check out some of the most lauded dances via Youtube so that you can skip the extraneous stuff. Some of the routines are really beautiful.

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Wow – I didn't see arrogance at all. I saw a struggling performer covering insecurity with bravado. Everyone has their own mechanism for pushing through the heartache. The editors of the film, of course, showed one moment out of hours and hours – months, actually – when he didn't follow the choreography. It may not have even been during an audition, only rehearsal. Helped their story arc for his portrayal, but certainly doesn't sum him up. He did get to the final three for his role, after all. Don't you imagine there must have been more to his auditions than the three or four minutes we were shown for dramatic effect?

As for his comments after losing the part, about envisioning stardom for himself and seeing himself walking up on a stage and accepting an award – that's exactly what's happened in the time since the CHORUS LINE auditions. Anybody watch the Emmys this year? Congrats, Tyce. Sometimes artists with a bigger vision are mistaken as arrogant and "wild". Read the story of any really successful artist and you'll find the same. Tyce didn't fit the mold of A CHORUS LINE, and he knew it. He had a bigger vision, and he not only followed it, he made it happen. I say bravo!

Either that, or he's just a dick.

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This was kindly said, and well put, but honestly, after this movie and then the past few seasons of SYTYCD (So You Think You Can Dance) afterward, I think Tyce is, while a superb dancer, a very uneven choreographer, and as a person, he really seems to have insecurities that actively affect his career choices. He can be a competent choreographer, often surprising with rather unique, sensual contemporary routines especially (OUTSIDE the Broadway style). Inside the Broadway style, for me unfortunately, his routines just feel like pale mishmashes of Fosse, Bennett, and others.

As far as his actions on Every Little Step, here's a difference between self-confidence and egotism. Tyce exemplifies the second. Tyce wasn't just confident and experimental, he was rude, disrespectful, arrogant, and actually felt he was so good he wouldn't even need to do the work to get what he wanted. (His daydreams of soap-opera stardom came off as more egotism to me -- just really petty and bizarre.)

The sad thing is, the guy is talented. He is a really gifted dancer, and I loved the chance to glimpse him as a dancer in his own right here in ELS. I was just disappointed in his arrogance. He's also gifted in his work as a choreographer whenever he steps away from Broadway -- his creation of the 'Eden' routine for SYTYCD was lovely (and I highly recommend anyone going and viewing it who hasn't done so, it's really beautiful). The piece has these unexpected little stops and starts and rhythms, to this very primal, sensual music from the "Unfaithful" soundtrack. (Although for me, it still wasn't quite as wonderful as D&D's "Imagine" or Mia's "Hometown Glory." The dancers -- Will and Jessica -- managed to elevate it and the overall final effect was truly haunting.)

But meanwhile, even with Emmy in hand, Tyce on the SYTYCD show has continued to show himself to be, repeatedly, everything we saw here in his reaction: an egotistical, fragile, whiny, temperamental, person who cannot take criticism or opposition of any kind, and who thrives on flattery. It's a bummer. Especially when weighed against Mia and Wade, whose accomplishments only pushed them to grow still further as artists.

Also, if you watch SYTYCD, there's this thing Tyce does that cracks me up everytime: His eyes flicker up to watch himself every time the camera catches him. You see his eyes flicker up to the camera, he smiles, then he looks back forward (or at the judges or dancers etc). It's really really funny and I think is pretty telling about the guy's ego. It's like he knows he'll be on camera and can't resist a peek.

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OMG he was so obnoxious in his interview parts I relished when the person called and said he crashed and burned. There is such a thing as humble.. see Deidre (Sheila!) He was so full of himself. He has talent, but it can only take you so far!

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Wow – I didn't see arrogance at all. I saw a struggling performer covering insecurity with bravado.

That's a very kind statement of it JB, but I broadly agree with you.

Personally I find comments like the ones he was making - "That audition was my party, that was me allowing them to come to it" - give me the irrits, because they sound like aphorisms on a trite self-help brochure. I try to be patient with them, because I do think there's a real fear of being hurt they're being used to cover up, but part of me feels prompted to slap them down as well. That's the irony of that sort of posture: it invites the negative response it's trying to defend against.

The editors of the film, of course, showed one moment out of hours and hours – months, actually – when he didn't follow the choreography. It may not have even been during an audition, only rehearsal. Helped their story arc for his portrayal, but certainly doesn't sum him up.

This is possibly very true. For myself, watching that moment was confusing - I found myself groaning and thinking, "Oh god, what's he think he's doing?", but then it also occurred to me that he really might have been trying mostly to show some individuality and inventiveness. The final callback wasn't the best time to try to do that, though. Or maybe it really was the "look at me, look at me!" moment it came across as.

But I don't think it could have been just a character arc invented and imposed by the film-makers - why would they, when they didn't do that to anyone else? For a casting agent to go so far as to say to an artist's agent that "his ego was really out of control", then that's a fairly serious thing, and must have been referring to more than just that one moment we saw on film. So in that sense the film-makers were probably kind not to show more, or worse.

Either that, or he's just a dick.

Coffee-spit moment !!


You might very well think that. I couldn't possibly comment.

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obviously from what he says and what he''s done... all he cares about is being famous. He has no love for the art or for the stage... He even mentioned wanting to be in a soap opera! right! the dream of every true actor!

For every lie I unlearn I learn something new - Ani Difranco

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He didn't decide to do a slow turn; he fell out of the turn. It's the same as if a skater tries to do a triple axle but can't finish it and so does a double. Jeeze, do you know anything about dance?

http://ferdyonfilms.com

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But Tyce's revolutions are in slow-motion on the turn. He appears to be (and says he is) turning at deliberately slow, almost slow-motion levels. It's not as if he's turning at the same speeds at any time there.

Then when the directors ask, Tyce says point-blank that he felt the character would have turned that way.

It's a lot different from a scenario where he turned at the same rate but fell out of his turn. If that was the case, he would have done it again, no problem, it happens. But here, he's not remotely turning at the same speed. He is almost making a mockery of the move, turning in extreme slow motion and then says, basically, "I just didn't think the character would turn the way you said."

So I don't buy your take on the scene, although it's a kinder reading of what happened.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I keep thinking I'm a grownup, but I'm not.

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I wasn't familiar with Tyce Diorio before seeing Every Little Step. I think he demonstrated a healthy attitude toward the tryouts. Those who succeed in show business probably need a certain amount of brash self-confidence. He didn't trash any of his fellow-finalists or the show's directing team; he simply declared that he was pleased with how he performed and looked forward to future possibilities. Rachelle Rak offered similar thoughts ("They might not like you every time; you have to like yourself"). Both responses to being dismissed--Diorio's and Rak's--seemed like reasonable, adult behavior to me.

American children (of all ages) want their showbiz performers to be "nice," no matter how phony. They also elect Presidents with whom they'd like to "share a beer", and see what that gets them!

I thought Diorio and Rak were refreshing in their candor.

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Omg I know!
Everytime I watch the movie, I cringe at that slow turn.



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