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All right...so the the Top 10 dancers from this past season of "So You Think You Can Dance" (Joshua Allen, Stephen "Twitch" Boss, Katee Shean, Courtney Galiano, Chelsie Hightower, Mark Kanemura, Will Wingfield, Comfort Fedoke, Gev Manoukian, and Kherington Payne) were at the United Center in Chicago for their national tour on Friday (October 17, 2008), along with Top 20 finalists Chelsea Traille and Thayne Jasperson. As expected, they put on an amazing, high-energy show that was filled with the best routines of season four--and a bit of comedy from Courtney and Gev.After the show, a large crowd had gathered along these barricades near their tour buses. I got there about twenty or thirty minutes after the show had ended. It was cold and about to start raining at any minute, but everyone was eagerly awaiting the dancers' exit from the venue. It took another 20-30 minutes for the first couple of dancers to make their appearances outside.
First out was Chelsie Hightower--she waved at everyone and yelled "CHICAGO!" at the top of her lungs, and started signing and taking pictures with people at the far end of the line that had formed along the barricades. After her came Twitch and Mark Kanemura--Twitch ran right past me and joined Chelsie at the far end of the group of people, while Mark took care of the people near the middle--closer to where I was initially, but still a ways down the line from me. It took him quite a while to move down the line, but I can't fault him because he was actually engaging with his fans--signing autographs, taking pictures, giving hugs, laughing and joking. Meanwhile, the show's winner, Joshua Allen, and the show's resident B-Boy, Gev Manoukian, appeared near the head of the line. By that time it was cold and had started drizzling, so I quickly moved down toward Mark and asked him to sign a group photo from my program--and then I got Gev as well. Gev was my personal favorite dancer from this season, and he was really nice--he asked how I liked the show (I told him that his solo was fantastic), I took a picture of him (but not with him), and he shook my hand and I was off down the line to quickly grab the others, who had finally started coming out one by one. Kherington Payne and Chelsea Traille was busy taking pictures with fans, but somehow I was able to get them to sign my program through all the chaos. I had to double back to get Joshua--there were a LOT of people around him at first. By the time I'd gotten Joshua to sign (he also asked how I liked the show, and I told him that it was amazing), Will Wingfield and Courtney Galiano (two more of my favorites) had just appeared, so even though I was freezing and shivering at that point, I got them as well. Will's Sharpie didn't work well--he had to go over his signature a couple of times (plus it probably didn't help that my program had drops of rain on it--he had to dry my program on his shirt before he could sign because of all of the rain droplets on it). After I got Will, and then Courtney immediately after, I had to go--just as Thayne Jasperson was on his way out, but I couldn't get his autograph because he started heading up the line--back toward where Mark and Gev were...If I'd thought about it, I would have tried to run to the far end of the line where Twitch and Chelsie Hightower were.
By the way...most of them are TINY! I was surprised at just how short Chelsie, Gev, and Courtney were! I almost missed Chelsie as she walked past me because I'd been expecting her to be a little bit taller!
All in all, a fantastic night. A great show, followed by a meet-and-greet with a group of up-and-coming dance superstars, all of whom were very excited to see the fans and to do all that they could to make us happy...Here are pictures of the autographs:
Full Picture:
Courtney and Gev:
Joshua and Kherington:
Will and Mark:
Chelsea Traille:
I have pictures of the dancers meeting and greeting the fans after the show...I'll try to post them soon!