Sexy Legs: Chelsie Kay Hightower

If you missed last night's SYTYCD5 show, you missed a lot. Yes, Ade and Melissa were eliminated, but for this author, the real pleasure was in seeing Chelsie in both of her Emmy-nominated dance sequences, "Bleeding Love" with Mark and "A Los Amigos" with Joshua.

THIS IS BREAKING NEWS. MORE DETAILS LATER...

SYTYCD was nominated for an all-time high 5 Emmy Awards today.

Most significantly, TWO of those were for dance sequences including Chelsie:

"Bleeding Love" - A Hip Hop Routine
Choreographed by Tabitha and Napoleon D'umo
Danced By: Mark Kanemura and Chelsie Hightower

It's time to pop a bottle of bubbly for So You Think You Can Dance. This morning the best dance show on television got some great news courtesy of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, in the form of five Emmy nominations. The majority of the nominations, of course, came in the category of Best Choreography, where SYTYCD dominated that other dance show. Out of six nominations, four came from So You Think You Can Dance. While the show has had pieces nominated for Emmy's before, this is the most nominations the show has ever received in the category. The show's fifth nomination came in the form of recognition for Outstanding Makeup for a Multi-Camera Series or Special (non-prosthetic). And no, I am not making up that category.

The four nominated routines come from Season Four of So You Think You Can Dance, from four different choreographers. Three of the nominations should come as no surprise to those of you who watched last season, as they were three of the most memorable dances: Bleeding Love, Mercy/The Door, and the Adam & Eve piece. Rounding out the nomination is the pleasant surprise of "Los Amigos," a steamy sharp tango choreographed by So You Think You Can Dance alum Dmitry Chaplin. While we were shocked that "No Air" didn't make the cut, we couldn't be more thrilled with the nominations and the deserved attention that So You Think You Can Dance and it's talented choreographers are receiving. The nominations lend extra credence to Debbie Allen's astute comment from last night that, "This isn't a competition, it's a conversation. This show is truly evangelizing dance like nothing else has, nothing. Nothing. Nothing."


Here's a refresher on the amazing, deserving dances that were honored with an Emmy nomination this morning.

"Bleeding Love" - A Hip Hop Routine
Choreographed by Tabitha and Napoleon D'umo
Danced By: Mark Kanemura and Chelsie Hightower




"Mercy" (The Door) - A Contemporary Routine
Choreographed by Mia Michaels
Danced By: Twitch and Katee Shean



"Adam and Eve" - A Contemporary Routine
Choreographed by Tyce Diorio
Danced By: Jessica King and Will Wingfield



"Los Amigos" a Tango
Choreographed by Dmitryi Chaplain
Danced By: Joshua Allen and Chelsie Hightower

Well, it's over. The fourth -- and probably best -- season of "So You Think You Can Dance" is now history. Not for the lucky few who will get to watch the tour when it gets to their town and not for the many who will buy the DVDs if they come out (or for the many who will go to thepiratebay.org and search on So.You.Think.You.Can.Dance, although I wouldn't know anything about that).

The finale was very good, although Chelsie only got to do one number out of maybe 8-10. Twitch was the yeoman there, doing about half of them, and leading me to believe he would be the ultimate winner. As I expected, the girls were eliminated first, with Katee getting a $50,000 consolation prize for "best female dancer." And ultimately, strong man Joshua won.

I am sure it was from his Final 6 routines with Chelsie that made him look good.

Now we can concentrate on where CKH goes from here.

Was it just me, or did the judges, especially Nigel Lythgowe, seem very restrained in their praise last night?

The overall tone of the comments was "you guys are fabulous dancers, but you seem really tired." Of course, in preparing a solo, 3 partner dances and a group dance, who wouldn't be tired?

The finale was a strange one choreographed by Mia Michaels, which could best be characterized as "The Skiing Bravehearts" and had strange outfits, missed lifts (Courtney needed a double jump to get off the ground) and a fairly limp theme.

While Katee was praised for "finishing her dance moves", both girls were reminded to get more dance instruction and to work on their lines. Both Twitch and Joshua got solid praise for their performances over the season, and both managed incredibly high jumps and difficult lifts without too much trouble, although Joshua brought Courtney back to earth on one with an obviously hard landing.

Nigel probably revealed his true feelings about Chelsie not being there when he said: "I really think this time America got it right. Both of these men deserve to be here." The gaping omission implied that America got it wrong in selecting the two girls.

Courtney Galliano, who had been in the bottom three more often than any other of the final four, is cute. But her lack of stature made her legs look thick and stumpy. The weather warning crawls that Fox ran across the bottom of the screen here in Denver squished her even more.

I didn't vote. My girl isn't in the competition. At this point, of these four, I would say Twitch is the most deserving, with Ironman Joshua a close second.

I hope to see Chelsie perform tonight. But after SYTYCD4 wrapped up a terrific season with the Fizzled Final Four, I am not as excited as I would have been.

Here are happier highlights from a week ago, before the bomb dropped:

Chelsie was paired with Twitch Boss for Wednesday night's performances, and the couple's first routine was a mambo choreographed by Tony Meredith and Melanie LaPatin. Since Chelsie is a Latin dancer, the routine was right in her wheelhouse and judges' comments reflected that.

"Chelsie Hightower, those hips move faster than lightening!" had commented host Cat Deeley after the performance.

"You are on fire," agreed this week's guest judge -- Hairspray director and choreographer Adam Shankman. "You are an animal out there, burning up the floor. Seriously, I have yet to see something that you can't do... All in all I was completely entertained and I thought it was a good performance."

"Chelsie just kept drawing my attention," added judge Mary Murphy. "She's a firecracker. She's in hot tamale red out there and she just brings that dress to life too. You are so fabulous when we get you into the Latin style that nobody can touch you on this show. Tremendous job."

"She's in her element, she's one of the most fantastic dresses I think I've seen up there this season," commented So You Think You Can Dance executive producer and judge Nigel Lythgoe. "We've always said she's got great legs, she uses them really well. Her feet tonight were fantastic. That whole routine made her sparkle."

Chelsie and Twitch's second Wednesday night routine was a hip-hop number choreographed by Napoleon and Tabitha D'umo. Despite it being more geared towards Twitch's genre, Chelsie still received compliments for keeping up with him.

"Chelsie, I'm still just like... Wow. I want you guys to try and find something you can't do now because I want you off the show because I just don't believe that this is possible," said Adam "Thank you so much for making me so happy and entertaining me so much."

"Chelsie, we're not supposed to believe you whatsoever in this style, and you're keeping up with Twitch tonight," added Mary. "It was unbelievable."

And a final thought of the day from the "Husband Thoughts" blog on 7/31/08:

Did you forget the rule?

Never, ever, vote out the hot blonde!

Tonight on Do You think You Can Dance? There was a choice between two brunettes and a blonde and the blonde was sent home. You morons!

Chelsie Hightower was not only blonde she was five foot two with five feet of legs. She could wiggle her hips fast enough to be an alternate energy source. I know nothing about judging dancing but I know women and she should of won it all.