Posts for 'Competitions' Category

Lauren Froderman had all the right moves on "So You Think You Can Dance." Viewer votes awarded the 18-year-old recent high school graduate from Phoenix the title of "America's Favorite Dancer" and the $250,000 grand prize. Froderman bested 18-year-old runner-up Kent Boyd of Wapakoneta, Ohio, and 19-year-old third-place finisher Robert Roldan of Thousand Oaks, Calif., on the Fox dancing contest's live finale Thursday.

"I have been working my whole life for something like this," Froderman said. The bubbly contemporary jazz dancer was best known for her ability to pick up other styles, effortlessly taking on hip-hop, ballroom and Bollywood routines throughout the seventh season. She also deftly tackled a wardrobe malfunction - a dangly broken dress strap - while performing a Broadway number during the third week of competition.

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We still don’t know who will be crowned “America’s Favorite Dancer” next week, but we do know it won’t be Adechike. Forgot to set your DVR? The top three contestants who will appear in the “So You Think You Can Dance” finale next week are Kent (no surprise there), Lauren (who was looking a bit iffy after being voted into the bottom three last week), and Robert, whom Mia declared the “prince of the competition” on Wednesday night.We have to admit, the verdict is pretty fair.

For starters, we’re relieved that Lauren found her way out of the bottom three — she’s so perky and lovable that you almost forget to hate her for being a cheerleader AND student body vice-president. And, her dancing keeps getting better.

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Former Home and Away star-turned-Hollywood leading lady and Nike shoe designer, Sharni Vinson, has a few tips for Aussies males intimidated by the dance floor.Be confident, Vinson says.

A dude may have two left feet, but if he struts on the dance floor at the local pub or RSL thinking he is John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever or Fred Astaire in Top Hat, the chances are the opposite sex will be impressed.So, how do guys build confidence?

"Drink more. For guys, it seems to be the way, right? Have another shot?" Vinson laughs during a video interview in Los Angeles. "Your dancing gets better. "For girls it doesn't work. We're in heels and then it is just messy."

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So You Think You Can Dance's judges "went with America's voting," Adam Shankman told us after last night's show, in deciding to send home "brilliant" Billy Bell and the beloved but inexperienced Jose Ruiz. "America today basically voted Billy out," Adam added. "It makes me sad because he's so genius. The best dancer on this show has never won—ever. "

"It was a hard decision to make," Nigel Lythgoe told us, "[but] it wasn't a difficult decision. We took everything into account with what America's been voting...We weren't going to lose Lauren [Froderman] tonight—she's just too good to lose."

(They did lose Lauren—for a second—Wednesday night: "She was dehydrated and collapsed," Nigel said. Host Cat Deeley said, "I literally handed her over to a medic [onstage]—but I know that she's much better today." Whew!)

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When the producers of “So You Think You Can Dance” decided that this season would be different, I hope they didn’t mean the way it’s turning out.

For the second week in a row, a contestant was dropped from the competition due to injuries (and, from a selfish point of view.

The audience sat through something of a red herring of a results show).  I had a feeling Ashley would be leaving us at the beginning of the show when she didn’t seem to appear.

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Since the first installment of our "Who Wore it Better?" series seemed to be reasonably popular (and some of you requested more!) here's another helping of dittoed costumes for your consideration…discuss & enjoy! NOTE: As I (Courtney) mentioned in the comments of the other post.

we know there are many, many more dittos than this – so many that it's going to become a recurring series, hopefully with a sort of "theme" to each post. So please, bear with us as we try to find the best pix for each one, and please do list any that you'd like to see a comparison of…we will do our best to make it happen!

Battle of the 2-piece yellow fringe dress: Anna's pro dance during the Beach Boys' week 2 results show performance vs. Lil Kim's samba with Derek in season 8 Courtney: I think the color really pops on both ladies' skin – I especially love the way it looks paired with red hair.

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Saturday night’s fourth annual Dancing with the Stars Shasta County Style was the most lucrative of the shows ever, said Kristi Hanson, fundraising coordinator for the Shasta Women’s Refuge, the agency benefiting from the event. The six teams raised more than $65,000 combined, blowing away last year’s total of $16,000.

“It was an unbelievable amount of fundraising by our outstanding cast,” Hanson said Monday, adding that she was still reeling from the affirmation of the community to help the refuge. “It comes at such a great time for us.” Maria Orozco, Redding Rancheria’s public relations director, and her dance partner Jake Carver won both the champion and Judge’s Choice awards.

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Who do you want to see on next season of Dancing With the Stars? Wait till you see some of the names that are being batted around: you won't be able to resist tuning in!

The 11th season of Dancing With the Stars is scheduled to kick off in October, and if you thought Kate Gosselin and Pamela Anderson, Buzz .

Aldrin and Evan Lysacek were major-sexy gets last season, wait till you hear some of the celebs casting directors are said to be seeking out (Where is Betty White on this list?! We hope casting is eyeing her closely!). Our pals at Hollywood Life list the following as reported Dancing potentials:

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The pleasures of dance and choreography come from strange sources. It is not without embarrassment that I report my recent delight in a male pole-dancing Pierrot in Cirque du Soleil’s “Banana Shpeel.” And I am somewhat shamefaced in mentioning my pleasure in the caged-birds number performed by the transvestite chorus in the current production of “La Cage aux Folles.” These rewards came from roaming around Broadway to watch the shows nominated for the Tony Award for best choreography, after which I wandered off to catch a couple of non-nominees. I don’t envy the Tony judges their task this year: there’s no clear winner. The nominees are “Come Fly Away” (at the Marquis Theater), “Fela!” (Eugene O’Neill Theater), “Promises, Promises” (Broadway Theater) and “La Cage aux Folles” (Longacre Theater).

“Come Fly Away” certainly wins for Most Choreography, but much of that, by Twyla Tharp (who also directed), strikes me as irksome. (If you were told these dances were made by a man, you might well find them misogynistic.

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Kate Gosselin has revealed that the final week on Dancing With The Stars was her favourite memory of the experience.

The former Jon & Kate Plus 8 star was eliminated in April alongside partner Tony Dovolani but returned to the dancefloor on the tenth season finale.

Writing on her TLC blog, she said: "Tony and I spent more time laughing and being somewhat disruptive to other couples' practices than we did actually practising, which may be why our dance was so funny to us the entire one minute and 25 seconds it lasted."

She continued to say that the couple "used much time visiting" the other celebrities who they had "missed" since their exit from the show.

"[We] knew this was our last chance to 'hang' with them as the cast of season ten in its entirety," she explained. "Sad, very sad that it's all over."

Gosselin - who previously described the experience as "life-changing" - added that the entire experience had been one that she "loved more than most".