With the more serious business out of the way, I wanted to return to the SDC well one more time, this time to immortalize the funniest and most heartwarming parts of Season 4. The entire vibe of the show makes for a lot of laughter and a lot of genuinely sweet emotion; the competitive-yet-friendly dynamics between nearly all the contestants is nothing short of inspiring, which is why the eliminations in the show are uniquely painful, for both the captains and the viewers. For this last look-back, I wanted to highlight five moments from Season 4 that stood out above all the rest in representing what is so amazing and good about the show.
Honorable Mention: Pretty much every interaction between Henry and Hang Geng. There are far too many to rank.
Xiao Ji forgets the challenge music
As I said last time, pretty much everyone expected Xiao Ji to do something hilarious during the qualification challenges. And, while Jr. Taco might have taken the prize for pulling out the season's biggest comedic highlight, Xiao Ji- who for most of the episode sat rather quietly on the side- was also worth the wait. First he stood up to challenge. Then insisted he actually didn't intend to challenge, he just desperately needed to pee. Then he said maybe he would, but he had kind of already forgotten the music. Then, no, could he just leave, because he really, reeeeaaaaally needed to pee. Then....ok, fine, he'll do the challenge, but he DEFINITELY already forgot the music and has to just wing it.
Wing it he did....but hit it so hard that everyone ended up on the floor and the judges had no choice but to advance him. And for the rest of the season, no one (not even Xiao Ji!), was entirely convinced that he actually did forget the music, or if he ever really had to pee.
(skip to 55:05 in the video)
Disco Dance „Youth“ Announcement
Han Geng, the „old man“ of the captain team (I term I use very, very lightly) is a class act, a chipper, supportive dude who never fails to look like he's having, just, the best time. His best moment was definitely when he pulled Ma Xiaoling aside to do a deliberately terrible English translation of his overly sappy, poetic tribute to disco as an introduction to his team's dance. Burn the young, indeed.
(Skip to 57:45 in the video)
Yibo's gift to Yang Kai
In one of the more outlandish parts of the season, the captains tried to „attract“ the top dancers to their team by offering them gifts, leaving it up to the dancers to decide which to accept. This was often cute, but also raised a host of confounding questions (HOW did they know which gifts to get for whom and when to have them prepared, was there an army of assistants racing around China to get these things, how much social media stalking went into finding out personal interests, just how much MONEY did these cost, et cetera, et cetera). There was one gift, though, that was simple, straightforward, and beautiful; Wang Yibo, who one season before had led Yang Kai to ultimate victory, gifted Yang Kai a beautiful, framed picture of them hugging after the finale, with golden confetti raining down on them. Yang Kai's reaction says all there is to say.
(skip to 45:13 in the video)
Jr. Taco's Qualification Challenge
Ok, I've talked about the dance itself before- and the dance itself isn't exactly funny, per say, except maybe for how Jr. Taco tries and fails to figure out the wheelchair at the start- but what makes this whole scene so unbelievably side-splitting is the editing and added-in sound effects. While everyone is trying to process what they just saw, Jr. Taco reveals that he'd tried to hint to the DJ to give him a cue....but instead the guy just laughed at him the entire time along with everyone else. I can't begin to imagine how much fun the editors had putting this part together, nor how they manage to stay conscious the entire time.
(skip to 1:21:45 in the video)
Acky-San starts a spontaneous on-stage dance party with everyone (EVERYONE!)
The 7-To-Smoke had just ended and the final selections had been made, with all the guest dancers from the fusion rounds milling about and those who failed to make the cut saying their final goodbyes. Then, suddenly, Acky-San- who had spent the entire season proving himself the OG to end all OG's- yelled out for the DJ to start playing and announced a spontaneous, final battle for all the poppers.
And I mean....that was a) so cool, b) so sweet, c) incredibly inspiring, d) loads of fun, and e) did I mention how GODDAMN ADORABLY SWEET THAT WAS???? That would have been enough to be the highlight of the entire season. And the moment seemed to reach its natural conclusion with MT Pop, dissolving in tears of pure joy, and all the poppers coming together for a big group hug....
…...and then the captains got up, said, „DJ....play the song again!“ And then hopped up on stage for their own round of thank-you dances to Acky-San. Then everyone jumped forward, starting doing the Fresno, and we get a perfect overhead look at the stage, a shot of pure adrenaline seeing dozens and dozens of dancers moving as one to celebrate the art they devote their lives to. For the moment, there are no eliminations. No competing. Nothing to win or lose. Just the sheer joy of dance, all together, for just a moment.
It's for these moments that we create art. It's for moments like these that we are alive. There's nothing else to say.
(skip to 1:18:45 in the video)
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