Studio City Tour Report

Thanks Anonymous, and whoever posted this on Livejournal! Okay, so I'm ll depressed, because today's the day the tour's near me, and I'm not going... *tear*

Anonymous said...
From Live Journal:

Roguester's SYTYCD Tour Recap: Universal City, CA

First off, I had a great time. I sold my loge tickets to my homie Deon and got orchestra seats at the last minute. So yay! I ended up being closer to the stage!!! It ain't no pit section, but at least I had a pretty decent view. It's not enough to take great pictures, though. I did a test run with my camera and all I got was a very blurry (and far away) shot of Ivan. Anyways, on to my recap:

Celebrity Sightings:
I saw Doriana Sanchez, Tyce Diorio, and frigging WADE ROBSON in the audience. Shane Sparks and Mia Michaels were also in attendance. The Schwimmer family was there... but I didn't get to see the Jones family. I hope they were also in attendance.

Loudest applause:
Travis, Allison, and Ivan... and also Benji/Heidi. Our girl Donyelle only had a mediocre response form the audience, and it ticked me off a little bit. I mean... gimme a break, Southern California!!! She's a native! Show her some love!!! But it's all good, she looked beautiful tonight (as usual)! And I'm actually starting to LOVE her hair!!!

Favorite solo:
Ivan. I can't help it. I wanted to throw my underwear at him, he was so hot. He performed his solo to Justin Timberlake's "My Love" and it was just... guh. I had done lost my mind. It's my favorite Justin Timberlake song. I love, love, love, love Ivan. He's actually my favorite male dancer on the show (although I have to admit that I'm biased... I prefer hiphop to West Coast swing).

Other solos that I enjoyed:
Martha and Travis. (Martha just had the cutest outfit on!!!! And Travis just blows me away with that damn technique of his.)

Performances that made me cry:
The "bench" routine and the "Why" routine. Every time. This is the second time that I've seen the routines live and they just... never fail to make me cry -- both on TV and onstage. Oh, and whoever has that Celine Dion song must send it to me RIGHT NOW. Because I only have the Sarah Brindell version and it's just not the same :(

OMG!YAY:
Ramalama, SexyBack, and frigging POISON. If only they had performed "Hide & Seek" too... I'd be on "group routine cloud nine."

Spot-on:
Benji's Zoolander impersonation. It was really really ridiculously GOOD. I was fricking impressed. Zoolander is like, the best movie ever known to man.

OH-NO-SHE-DIDN'T:
So why was Donyelle clinging to Dmitry's arm during the encore? What was she whispering to him? And why did he have his hand over hers?

Happy Birthday, TRAVIS!!!
At the end of the encore, CAT DEELEY came onstage and got everyone to sing "Happy Birthday" to Travis. They brought out a small cake for him too. While all of this was happening, Ivan and Dmitry were carrying Travis on their shoulders. Benji was holding up a glittery "Happy Birthday Travis" poster. Fun times :)

BENJELLE RECAP

Nothing that hasn't already been reported. Some stuff were different (I think), and I will get to that shortly. So basically, a few things seem to be the "standard" Benjelle gesture: Benji pulling Donyelle up by the waist and them adorably smiling at each other (this actually made the people right next to me say, "Awww... that was cute"); Them walking off the stage hand-in-hand (after TMB) or arm-in-arm (after the VFW); Holding hands while bowing; "Hug and point" at the end of Broadway (which, I'm sad to admit, only lasted for 3 frigging seconds).

But here are some interesting tidbits, though. After the group performed the "Technologic" routine, Benjelle came out to perform TMB. But while Heidi, Natalie, Travis and... uh... Ivan (?) were introducing them, you can see Benji and Donyelle changing their costumes behind the screen wall on the stage. HAHA! Well, you can't actually "see" them changing, but you can see their feet underneath the screen. Of course, they didn't really need to take any piece of clothing off... Donyelle just had to put on a red and white top and Benji just had to unzip his jacket and accessorize with a red bandanna... but just imagine the naughty thoughts that were running through my mind :D

Ok, so here's where I kinda lost my mind. While Benji and Donyelle were doing their skit about the Argentine Tango, she um... she uh... *fans self* she like... totally... half-humped his leg. GAH!!! Ok, let me start over... so Donyelle said that she never got to dance the Argentine Tango.... and Benji goes "But you danced the Samba with Dmitry" and she goes, "I know... but that's not the Argentine Tango." And then... and then.... *gulps*

She like pressed her body against his, right? I mean, we've all seen this in that YouTube video that's been going around. But as she did this, she lifted her leg up, grazing it against Benji's leg, and like... holy mother... I mean, her knee was almost pressed up in between his frigging thighs. I mean, she didn't lift it up *that* high to actually be *touching things* but still... Donyelle sliding up her leg and thigh against Benji? MOTHER OF GOD!!!! I mean, did I notice her trailing her fingers up his arm? NO. Did I notice if she kept a hand on his back after he pulled away? HECK NO. Why? Because SHE WAS HALF-HUMPING HIS LEG, that's why!!!!!!!!

( I did notice that his voice reached this terrible high pitch as he tried to ignore her advances. It was totally deliberate, but still...)

Hmm... what else? Oh yeah, the disco ball is a Benjelle shipper. Wanna know what made that VFW performace so visually stunning? The frigging disco ball. I know you can't see this on the VFW footage from Portland (which you can now download from Vixen's Blog), but during the performance, the disco ball was spinning and scattering little shiny sparkly lights all over the theatre. It was like... Benji and Donyelle were dancing the waltz among the stars. To those of you who had already gone to a show, ya'll know what I'm talking about. To those of you who still haven't gone, make sure you bring a mop. Because someone'll have to mop you off the floor once you've turned into a puddle of goo.

(Oddly enough, the disco ball wasn't used for the disco number!)

I actually didn't get to pay attention to their facial expressions because I was sitting too far away. I could have looked at the big screen to see their close-ups, but I just couldn't take my eyes off the stage!!! They just... frigging drew me in!!! How could I NOT look?

(SIDENOTE: MUCH LOVE to the girls sitting several rows behind me who yelled out "KISS HER! KISS HER!" at the end of the VFW. That was sooo cool. I wouldn't have had the courage to yell that out!!!)

Ok, so many of you were probably wondering how Benji adressed the Donyelle rumors tonight. Luckily, I don't have to describe anything to you guys because I actually captured it on video. THE QUALITY IS VERY CRAPPY, but it's the best I could do... (I mean, is that Benji or a big blob of white light? LOL!!!)

Benji talks about "THE SPARK"


So I guess we're back to "I don't know." I hate that he went through that rather quickly. From what I gather, he kept rambling on and on at the Seattle show. But in the last couple of shows, his VFW intro was actually cut short. No mentions of "romance?" No mentions of "I love her dearly?" Wait... was ((expletive)) in the audience? LMAO!!!

Oh, you know what else I hate? Benji's "narrator" vibe!!! You know, what made that Argentine Tango intro a little bit painful to watch was Benji's "narrator voice." I mean... dude, loosen up!!! I thought you want to be an actor! You're supposed to act out the script, not narrate it! Donyelle was definitely a better actor than Benji. I mean, the intro that she did for the Black Mambo was soooo effing adorable, I couldn't stop giggling. The pouty lips... the "Oh HELLZ NO" look in her eyes... SO CUTE!!! And the audience responded accordingly. I wish I had captured that on video too, but my camera ran out of memory space. It was just sooooo adorable!!!

Donyelle's solo --
It was very cute and jazzy. She wore this reddish shirt that goes down to her hip, some blue-ish leggings, and black boots. She danced to "Deja Vu" by Beyonce. I'm sure some of you will start squeeing just because it was Benji's My Space song at one point. LOL! I don't think it means anything, but feel free to squee at your own discretion.

Anyway that's about it (as far as Benjelle moments go). I was kinda hoping that Benji had walked over to where Donyelle was standing during Travis' "Happy Birthday" sing-along, but he kept his distance. I did notice that he glanced towards her general direction a few times. I mean, who else could he have been looking at? Maybe he was trying to get her attention. I don't know. I mean, the only other person in his line of sight was Martha...

So -- was Benjelle shippy or BFF-like?
Well, I gotta say that they're "BFFs with potential." And I'm only saying that because there really was no time for any shippy stuff to happen on stage (besides the scripted ones). Everything happened so quickly. It's one routine after another. The dancers had to rush off the stage as soon as they finish their routines. However, it's sweet how they held hands while bowing or walking off the stage. And everytime they smiled at each other it was just... a bucket-ful of SQUEE. And there was a lot of smiling, IMO. The disco routine alone was very fun and giddy. You do get this overwhelming feeling that they really really REALLY enjoy dancing with each other. Donny's smile when she was dancing disco with Benji was just... guh. And it's one of those wide-eyed, mouth-opened kind of smile. I think at one point, they made a teeny tiny mistake in the choreography and they both just looked at each other and smiled like, "Ooops!!!! We fudged that one."

And you know what else I noticed? Benji and Donyelle were the only two people who really acknowledged each other after a routine. I mean, REALLY acknowledged each other -- whether it be with a hug, a smile, a "point," or a hand-hold. Perhaps other couples did this too, but Benji and Donyelle... they just... look into each other's eyes. I mean, they REALLY look at each other's eyes. That smile after TMB? The one after he pulled her up by the waist? That moment right there happened so quickly, but the way they stared into each other's eyes (even for just a split second) really stays with you...

And I think that's the magic of Benjelle...
Whatever "it" is that they have between them... it just stays with you. And you NEVER want it to leave.

10:44 AM, September 17, 2006

~ Moose ~