What’s up with Sandhu ?

By Guest Blogger Stephanie V.

Emanuel Sandhu is still not doing skating competitions for the third year in a row. His last appearance was at the 2007 Worlds, where he placed 16th. After that, he looked for other projects. During the summer 2008, he did the auditions for the first season of So You Think You Can Dance Canada. He made it somewhat easily to the final audition, although Sandhu didn’t make it to the top 20 to be on the show. Even if the judges were impressed by his potential, they thought that he was relying too much on his tricks (like doing a triple Axel) and that he had some negative attitude.

Summer 2009, Emanuel tried again. He was the first dancer to do the audition in Toronto. His solo did great impression… One of the judges, Mary Murphy, did her famous scream of appreciation and Emanuel got a boarding pass to the final audition. Still in Toronto for the final audition, Emanuel passed through all the rounds to make the top 20.

Sandhu has a big background in ballet, as he studied for 10 years at the National Ballet of Canada. For the first five weeks of the show, Emanuel was paired with Kim Gingras, a hip hop dancer. Despites their different dance background, Emanuel and Kim got a great chemistry and passed through two hip hop routines and also theatre style, Jazz Funk and contemporary dances. They got a standing ovation from the judges for their Jazz Funk routine they did for the week number 3, choreographed by Blake McGrath. Their second hip hop dance (and their last dance together) made some great impressions as well. Emanuel and Kim made their way easily to the top 12 without being in the “bottom 3”.

After 5 weeks, the dancers had to change partners every week till the end of the show. Also, the dancers had to do a solo to get some votes. So, he did a Samba with Tara-Jean Popowich. His solo of the week 6 is surely my favorite, where he showed that he was at ease in many different styles. The week 7 got a bit hard on Emanuel. Still dealing with 2 broken fingers since the week 2, he sprained an ankle during the rehearsals for the Tuesday show. Although, he hit a contemporary piece and a disco routine with his partner of the week, Melanie Mah, which got average comments.

For the week 8, where the top 4 of the show would be decided, Emanuel was paired with Jayme Ray Dailey. They had Quickstep and Jazz Funk routines. If the Quickstep had some great starting, the judges pointed out that the real Quickstep part suffered a bit. But the Jazz Funk routine didn’t impress much and didn’t look that great on Sandhu… I’m not a pro in dance, but I blame mostly the choreography for that. Sadly, it came to an end for Emanuel who didn’t get enough votes this time to make the top 4. Sandhu accepted the verdict and he said, before to thank everyone, that he never thought that he would get that far .

Although, being eliminated of the show wasn’t the end of Sandhu’s dancing career. Since November 25 till December 22, Emanuel is doing a Canadian tour with the top 10 of the show. They are visiting 18 cities from Kelowna (British Colombia) to Halifax (Nova Scotia). After that, who knows what Sandhu will do : Keep dancing or return to skating ?

Videos and pictures of the season 2 can be seen on the following web site : http://www.ctv.ca/mini/dance2009/ (Sorry, Canadians only can see the video...sad face).

Stephanie wrote the first of what I hope to be many guest blogger submissions. You can follow her musings via Twitter by following @Einnaf.

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Emanuel CAN Dance!

Last season Emanuel Sandhu fizzled out of the So You Think You Can Dance auditions. He came back this season and he's killing it! Just a little video for you to enjoy!

Around the World

To begin, in Australia, the death of 4 people on Sydney Harbor including Australian Skating Champion Morgan Innes, is again coming under investigation. In March 2007, a Sydney Ferry collided with a cruiser carrying a large group of the Australian Figure Skating Community late at night. The New South Wales Deputy Coroner Hugh Dillon is investigating the crash in which witnesses will testify that the Sydney Ferry did not have it's lights on. Tragic indeed.

To Japan where apparently Mao Asada has her own 5 minute spot on Sunday afternoon television that looks at her training, nutrition habits, and her staff as she "aims for victory" in 2010. Interesting...

In Canada, Emanuel Sandhu, has again ditched the skates for the dance floor as he has once more made it past the initial trial rounds in the Canadian Television hit 'So You Think You Can Dance Canada.' "I consider myself a performance artist" said the 28 year old Sandhu who has been absent from figure skating for the past two years. Last season he was cut before the top 20 was picked. The finalist will be announced when the show airs this fall. Also, World Silver Medalist Patrick Chan is meeting Joubert's challenge and has begun working on 'the quad.' Remember this comment: "I think Joubert is constantly, always complaining because he never has anything else to say." If you recall, Joubert threw a small tempur-tantrum due to then Buttle's and now Chan's lack of the jump in competition during both the 2008 and 2009 World Championships. Joubert won neither while a Canadian has placed higher than him for two years running. Also, program update for Chan. Free Skate will be 'Phantom of the Opera.'

In the U.S. Johnny Weir's 'Pop Star on Ice' debuted to good reviews. Johnny's screen presence will continue with a show later this year on the Sundance Channel. Also, some very fun pics were taken of some of the Figure Skating hopefuls for 2010...check out the gallery here.

Prima Donna?

The joy of having a blogroll with RSS Feeds is being completely up-to-date with all that is happening in the skating world. One of us skating bloggers is bound to find out some great info for all of us to leach onto and disseminate.

Well thank you Required Elements via Miho Entwistle favorites because this one is a gem!

Guess if Emanuel Sandhu is to make a figure skating comeback it will have to wait just a bit longer...he just made it through the auditions of So You Think You Can Dance Canada. Oh, and the whole audition video is on YouTube...which means it's posted below...priceless!

Watch the video...higlights include a perfect triple axel, the "fan the face" move, and what I'm calling the "Bollywood Robot." Wow! We'll have to keep an eye on this one.

Judge Paul Becker thinks Emanuel has a slight Prima Donna complex...O Brother! I wish I got CTV here in the U.S. Canada is getting all the good stuff...I'm so jealous of our friends just slightly to the north!

UPDATE: You can read the entire CTV bit on Sandhu's latest venture here!

SECOND UPDATE: Apparently Sandhu...can't dance...at least not well enough to make the top cut. Rumors are that he fell a bit short from making the show. Too bad...guess it's back to the ice for him. Poor alas...you can see the rejection video below as well.

Pic of the Week

What do you do when one of your favorite figure skaters is one of the biggest wildcards the sport has ever seen? I mean, brilliant beyond belief and more often than not, completely and absolutely disastrous.

I find myself wondering exactly what Emanuel Sandhu is up to these days. After basically bypassing last season to focus on acting, singing, and dancing; he is leaving his fans in a state of flux as to his plans this season.

He isn't scheduled to compete on the Grand Prix at all but stated last season that he would resume training in hopes to represent Canada in Vancouver in 2010. It would be pretty amazing for him to be there because he'd have more home crowd support than anyone, it's his home training base!

I don't know exactly how skaters qualify for Canadian Nationals and what he'd have to do to compete in that event, but I'm pretty sure he'd have to make a decision soon. I can't imagine him taking two years off and being ready to go for an Olympic run...not with the talent Canada is currently producing.

Emanuel, I hope to heck you decide to compete again. I can't imagine a better team in Vancouver than Sandhu, Chan, and Buttle. Hope to see you there!

Is it the End?

His career was looking so promising a couple of seasons ago. He was winning Grand Prix events, landing triples more consistently, great choreography. But then there was the Olympic meltdown where he finished 13th. However, he got it back together for the 2006 Worlds with a top six finish. But then the 2006-2007 season happened. No trip to the Grand Prix Final, only a third place finish at Canadian Nationals, and a 16th place finish at worlds (ouch)!

Emanuel Sandhu's career seems to be spinning out of control. He withdrew from all international competition this fall (to focus on singing, modeling, and acting prospects) and today announced he will not compete at this years Canadian National Championships. This means he is not eligible for any more international competition this season.

Is he done? He is, after all, 27. Not exactly the youngest guy on the scene and his career seems to be getting away from him. He insists that he is planning on competing in the 2010 season with a hope of making the Olympic Team, but is it too little too late? Emanuel is one of my favorite skaters but even I have to face the reality that perhaps his better days are behind him.