Given National Dance Day‘s origins in 2010 as the brainchild of dancer, television producer and director, and Dizzy Feet Foundation co-president Nigel Lythgoe, we’re paying tribute here with a look at a few times Lythgoe’s So You Think You Can Dance brought social dance to the stage with some success:
1-2. Heidi Groskreutz and Benji Schwimmer, Black Mambo (mambo) and La Comay (salsa)
Contestants specializing in Latin ballroom and swing would have an edge, one must presume, over contemporary or hip hop dancers thrown intricate routines in this genre. But that’s also what makes these numbers great — it’s common enough to see dancers in the other disciplines pick up great choreography in their own wheelhouses; far less celebrated, especially on the later seasons, have been ballroom and social. These are rare gems.
3. Ruby Castro and Paul Karmiryan, Malevo (Argentine tango)
Curiously enough, it’s the current Next Generation season to restore a little of ballroom’s luster, thanks to 12-year-old contestant Ruby and her All-Star partner Paul (who, in his own season in 2013, received only two ballroom assignments, and only one in his Latin specialization), and this Argentine tango — lighter and more playful than the norm, as befits the partners’ age gap — is a great example:
4. Tanisha Belnap and Ryan Di Lello, The Gaucho’s Pain (Argentine tango)
And for tango sophistication, this routine from Tanisha and All-Star Ryan — again, two partners experienced in Latin ballroom and partner dance — was a highlight of recent seasons. Belnap would, unfortunately, be eliminated at the end of the following week’s show, but she certainly gave viewers something to support.
5. Janette Manrara and Brandon Bryant, Loving Is Really My Game (disco)
But then, what better way to wrap up a day of dance celebration than with an ever-joyful disco? This one benefited from Janette’s salsa expertise, but contemporary dancer Brandon’s swift acclimation to a style like this helped him with a second disco in the same season — and fostered his future as the on-call All-Star for many a later-season disco.
