Yang Yilin on China's SYTYCD

2008 Olympic Gold Medalist Yany Yilin tried out for China's version of So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD). A very rough translation is provided below.



Why are you here?
Yang Yilin: Because I like dancing

[She dances]

First Judge: You know, breakdancing comes from gymnastics and you have a gymnastics background but this chereography is bad so of course the dance is bad. But you're young, you're an Olympic gold medalist. You have the skills. How can I not give you the vote?
[So he holds up the vote]
Judge #2: Have you retired?
Yang Yilin: No, I haven't but training less
Judge #2: Still competing?
Yang Yilin: Less
Judge #2: Gymnastics is very rigorous so their golden years peak at 16, 17. And so you see, she's 20, she's already competing less. There is a little bit of dance but mostly, it's gymnastics. Your gymnastics parts are good but you're too stiff in the shoulders etc and all that posing has nothing to do with dance. I'm sorry, I won't vote for you.
Judge #3 (lady with head dress):  Hm, I think you really love dance - that's why you chose to compete. I don't think you really need to be on this stage to dance so hopefully you continue dancing. Sorry, I can't vote for you
Judge #4: I want to see you continue so i'm giving you a ticket without any reason.

Judge 2 hit the nail right on the head, in my opinion. I agree with someone who commented on TCG Facebook - Yang Yilin would do very well on a version of Dancing with the Stars where the dances are choreographed for the athlete and the athlete needs to worry about learning new styles and performing. If the remainder of China's SYTYCD is anything like in the US, Yang Yilin got a ticket to "Vegas." In Vegas week in the US version, the number of finalists is cut from about 40+ dancers to the top 20 (or 10 depending on how they decide to run the season). It's a very rigorous week. Some days, you try out the different styles (contemporary, jazz, hip hop, ballroom, etc.). Some days, you need to choreograph as a group and you're at risk of being eliminated at any moment.

I'm curious to see how Yang Yilin will do here. She has "pretty lines." Whether she can do anything with them, whether the creativity and passion and performance is there, remains to be seen.

I did a post a long time ago on Nastia's floor routine which was choreographed by the runner-up on SYTYCD, Travis Wall. He has since gone on to choreograph for the show and has produced my favorite dances by far. Check them out here. My favorites are the Prom and Fix You dances. Travis once tweeted, a while ago, way before the Olympics, that he would be interested in doing a routine for Gabby Douglas. Please, Travis! I'm still a little sad we never got to see Nastia's routine.

Source: WOGymnastike
Translation: JLG