Who knew that last week's Top 18 performance show of SYTYCD would leave me almost as depressed as the John and Kate Plus 8 divorce announcement special (what have we come to reality television?!). After two hours worth of mediocre routines I was about to give up on the season; but I'm willing to hold off judgment (meaning judge every detail of the show down to Mary Murphy's cleavage wrinkles) for a few more weeks. Don't disappoint me, Deeley. Deliver me. (All I gotta say is that we need a huge dose of Mia and Beatrix and Geronimo, stat! And while we're at it, please throw My Little Debbie onto the panel!) It's time for So You Think You Can Dance!!!
8:00- Cat is keeping it demure tonight in a peach Greek Goddess mini-dress. Let's turn the stage into a bathhouse. Then this would really get interesting.
8:01- Philip yet again delivers during the intros, turning his body into a veritable Rubiks Cube of twists and angles. But someone neglected to tell Brandon and Ade that they shouldn't both do back flips. Come on, boys. Spice it up. And by spice it up I mean make out right now.
8:02- Although I'm not attached to any one dancer so far, Kayla and Jeanine are strong blips on my radar...
8:03- One of these days I kind of want Cat Deeley to just start humping one of the dancers' legs when she twists through the crowd of dancers during her entrance. You know she's gotta have a raunchy side to her.
8:05- Toni Basil as the guest judge!!!!! What a psychotic pleasant surprise. Apparently she's receiving a special award soon: The Living Legend of Hip-Hop Award The I-Wear-Flying-Saucers-On-My-Head-Because-They Beamed-Me-Down-From-Zorbon Lifetime Achievement Award. Congrats, Mickey. You're so fine.
8:06- Toni and the word 'street' are like Mandy Moore and outdated music choices. Besties.
8:08- We come back from the first commercial break to find Cat scolding, "Stop it! Behave!" to an undisclosed presence off screen. Chances are Nigel was trying to teach the young girls in the audience what Lady Gaga means when she says "ride on my disco stick."
Continue reading "Live Blogging SYTYCD: 6/24/09" »
To be honest, I had no idea what to expect when I walked into Roseland last night. The evening marked not only my first time attending Broadway Bares--the annual burlesque fundraiser that finds Broadway's hottest chorus dancers throwing away inhibitions to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars--but also my first time shooting a large-scale Broadway event.
I had looked at photos of past productions. I had heard stories about raunchier moments in which covered body parts mysteriously slipped from beneath their miniscule confinements. But nothing could have prepared me for the sensory overload that was last night's show, the 19th in the show's history.
Right when I walked into the theater I realized what a challenge it was going to be: not only were there enough lights to fill a stadium--blasting from every direction and changing with the pulse of the music--but there was so much flesh it made Playboy look like Reader's Digest. The stage would be filled at every instant and it was my job to find focus in the midst of chaos.
Dancers roamed around covered in glitter, hair was teased so high I worried it would catch fire on the lights, ass cheeks were as abundant and those on faces, and there I was standing on the floor, wondering where to begin. Fortunately I would get two runs to capture material. By the time the dress rehearsal was done I had become acquainted with the staging and was able to better anticipate moments when the 9:30 show began. Of course, I couldn't have predicted the amped-up energy an audience would bring; it practically blasted my lenses out of hand.
Definitely one of the more memorable nights of my brief photography career. And definitely the first where I half-expected to get arrested for all the places I was pointing my camera. More photos coming soon!
CHECK OUT MORE PICTURES (Partial Nudity) AFTER THE JUMP!!!
Continue reading "Bare Brained" »
