Live To Dance Semi-Finals Week 1

It is no secret that I love me some Paula and that I love dance shows... SO, for the next few Thursdays I will be giving my opinion on the new Paula Abdul show "Live To Dance".  

The show airs every Wednesday on CBS. 

Judges Kimberly Wyatt, Paula Abdul & Travis Payne.

Before we move on the the Semi-Finals... 

White Tree, Fine Art is the last member (voted by the public) to join the Top 18!! So excited! 

Ballet Ballet Ballet!

And in a general note about the show:  I DO NOT LIKE the numbers being displayed while the dancers are performing. Why can't they display the number to call while the judges are speaking to them or at the end of the show only? It is very distracting. 

Week One Semi-Finalists:

(in my own personal opinion)

First up was a group from Utah. The Vibe! They were really great. They had some fantastic partnering and staging. My only real complaint was that the camera angles and lighting did not help the dance in any way. They almost made the routine look too busy and hard to focus on the accents. (This is a production issue, not the dancers/choreographers.) 

The Judges:  3 Gold Stars

Next Up was Jittin' Genius. Oh My Goodness! This guy was pretty amazing. Do I think he is the best dance act in the nation? No. Am I amazed by what he does? Absolutely. 

This guy takes the Jitter Bug and fuses it with Hip Hop & Break-dancing! It was one of the coolest styles I have seen in a long time. Very unique. And he was an absolute performer. His lighting was fantastic... note to producers! Less is more!

The Judges:  3 Gold Stars.

Chi-Town's Finest Breakers were adorable. A group of 5 siblings break-dancing together with their father as the choreographer. There are 4 older (between like 9-12) kids and 1 itty bitty girl (she must be 4 or 5). The older kids really had a groove going and the little one plays her part as the cute one. While they were an entertaining act they just were not up to the level of the last two groups. Give these kids a year or two and they will be pros though! 

The Judges:  1 Gold Star, 2 Red Stars

Austin Acevedo from Orlando stole my heart!

This kid has only been taking dance classes for 2 years! 2 years I say!!
His solo began beautifully and then turned sour. He started out with some MAJOR extensions and some really nice turns. Then he broke out into some hip hop-ish style and lost me. I think the choreography was trying to showcase that he could attack more than one style but I think he would have been better served to stay in the lyrical/contemporary style for this piece. It was just too choppy and seemed rushed. 

The Judges:  3 Red Stars

The next act is where you wanna shake Paula. 

Bev & Hap! Adorable dancers in their 80s! Yup, I said 80s! 

They were super cute. Tap dancing away. Bev (as cute as she was) was on her heels for the majority of the routine and it started to hurt my soul. I love that someone of that age is putting it all out their that way but it is fair for an act of really talented dancers to be kept out of competition for them? Probably not. 

The Judges:  1 Gold Star, 2 Red Stars

D'Angelo & Amanda! 

I am not sure what to say about these 2! They Rocked My World!! 

They are super cute and seem to act like "kids" in their interviews but once that music is turned on... they are all PROFESSIONAL! These kids are crazy good. I cannot seem to put into words how awesome I think these kids are! Sure, they had a technical bobble or two but the average eye would never know it!

The Judges:  3 Gold Stars!

So, the way it works is at the end of the show the judges pick one act to move on to the Finals and then the audience votes for the 2nd act moving forward. 

The Judges Pick:  The Vibe

You'll have to wait until next week to see who America chose.
I voted for D'Angelo & Amanda!