yep, and she is a great partner.

They probably need at least 1 man and 1 woman in:

ballroom, hip hop (or whatever SYTYCD thinks hip hop is), modern to start. If that is the foundation, the "all stars" can cover the other styles (broadway, lyrical, styles within ballroom and hh) pretty well. I hope they choose individuals who have been known to be good partners (e.g. Lacey, Danny, Russell).

I think it's really odd to feature people on stage in every performance who aren't being judged. What if they completely out-dance the contestant, or at least steal the focus?

That's the core problem, IMO - people will vote for New Dancer Y because she's partnered with Danny, or whatever.

The other totally killer partner was Jakob. He made every single woman he danced with look wonderful (i.e. Fug Princess and Tween Terror both!)

I thought that Kathryn did a good job as a partner, too. She carried Legacy into the Top 8, and even made the Other Tween Terror look good in the "Choreography" Broadway number.

Jakob would be heaven. Kathryn would be good, too. She worked miracles with Legacy. I want to make a list of dancers from each season who I'd love to see back.

Another reason I'm iffy on this innovation is that the all stars will only be dancing in their own styles and half the fun of this show is watching the kids really stretch and grow and push themselves to be better dancers. Half the fun of someone like Josh, say, was watching this guy who was primarily a hip hop specialist tear it up in Bollywood or do a gorgeous waltz or be so amazing in a Mia contemporary. Josh in hip hop is great, but i'd want more than just that from him.

I think a lot of the low ratings last season had to do with the ill advised attempt to do back-to-back seasons.

What Kat said.

I agree Kat.

Also the judges will be eliminating until the finale. I wonder why they are giving the judges so much power when we are down to the top 10 anyway. Any spec regarding why Mia is back and Mary is doing choreo? I thought Mia abruptly leaving last season was bad news.

Anyone know what SYTYCD's ratings were in the summer? I thought they weren't that great bug I could be wrong.

Nigel's Twitter:

I am thrilled that representing the various dance genres of Popping, Locking, Krump etc in the All-Stars Dance-Pool from Season 4 is TWITCH!

Ugh.

I like Twitch, but why would you not choose Russell? He is your current SYTYCD champion, right? Or why not Josh? He is your S4 SYTYCD champion, right? The same season that Twitch was on. And lost. To Joshua. This is exactly what I feared would happen.

Because I'm way too obssessed with this show and needed a reason to procrastinate on work tasks I just don't want to do, I wrote up who I'd like to see in an All Stars pools from each season going all the way back to S1 which I will now share with all of you so you, too, can procrastinate. Who would you choose for your All Stars pool?

Season One

This is the season that time (and the show) forgot, but it was actually really, really good with high quality dancing and great choreography. It was a short season, there were only 16 finalists, and I’d be glad to see almost half of them among the All Star stable.

Contemporary

Nick – Even though he turned out to be kind of a divo (and apparently kind of a dick if the scuttlebutt is to be believed) post show, this fool can dance his butt off. He is one of the greatest turners in SYTYCD history. I’d place him right behind Danny/Blake and Travis. He could do almost any genre. His disco with Kamilah is still one of the best of the entire series. He’s just good.

Blake – The bitch serves every time. And he has a little dog that will poop in your room. And he’s danced with JLo and been on her horrid MTV show about dancers’ lives. And the bitch serves. Every. Time.

Ashle – She was like the after thought in the very first final four, but she’s really, really good. I love her dancing in Mia’s final four piece for her and the original HMV, Melody. She was versatile and always a pleasure to watch.

Destini – I would want her but as a hip hop dancer, not as a contemporary dancer. Although she was always really quite lovely paired with Blake. She was the original big girl dancer, long before Donyelle burst on the scene. And she and Jamile absolutely destroyed a Shane Sparks hip hop number. I mean, the routine was ridiculous. Homegirl has a stripper split which would make Michael Steele drop serious cash.

Hip Hop

Jamile – Made it all the way to the finale and came in third which made me so mad when they tried to pretend like Twitch and Josh were the first hip hop boys ever to make it as far as they did. The show can pretend all it wants that S1 doesn’t exist and there never was such a creature as a Lauren Sanchez, but those of us who know, know. Anyway, Jamile was great.

Kamilah – Great partner. Great dancer. Sexy and saucy. She was incredibly versatile, not that it would matter in this all star format where she’d be trapped in the hip hop ghetto. I actually don’t think any of their current stable of hip hop choreographers would know what to do with her.

Ballroom

Artem – The original hot Russian, and one of Mary’s first boytoys. He was an amazing dancer. Great partner.