It was a passably good week for lovers of rhythm and footwork on the summer’s TV dance competitions.
Tuesday’s World of Dance included a duel between Kyle Van Newkirk and high-profile hip hop duo Les Twins. The battle, unsurprisingly, favored the latter, but it was nice to get a glimpse of a full routine from Van Newkirk, whose qualifying performance was shown only in montage:
On the first installment of So You Think You Can Dance‘s New York auditions, meanwhile, the perhaps overqualified Chaz Wolcott — he’s danced in tours for both Cats and Newsies, shows that SYTYCD alumni like Jess LeProtto have called home after the competition — made a fantastic case to take the baton previously carried by tappers like Nick Young, Aaron Turner, and Zack Everhart. And while judge and producer Nigel Lythgoe is prone to overstatement about contestants season to season, he may not be far off in suggesting Wolcott’s the best of the breed yet:
It’s also worth knowing that season 12 winner, tapper Gaby Diaz, is slated to be an All-Star in this season’s All-Star/contestant partner format. This might not prove to be an accident of fate.
Bonus: while not so footwork-heavy, this audition from contemporary dancer Kaylee “Impavido” Millis was a refreshingly grounded take on the genre:
