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SYTYCD Season 7 Top 7 Performance Thoughts/Power Ranking

Well, this is the first week where predicting tomorrow’s result is easy…but typing it is difficult. Coming to terms with it is difficult.

Top Two

Kent – He had a great night. He really delivered energy and personality (and skillz!) next to Neil. I don’t think he outdanced Neil as Nigel claimed, but he definitely kept up. And he did what I thought was impossible and developed some real chemistry with Adechike in a great male-male contemporary. He’s maturing, but still keeping his personality, which is the right combination with this show. The cheers are so loud while he dances that I don’t know how he hears the music. He’s safe.

Lauren – She gets a lot of flak, but since my only sorta formal dance training is in belly dance, I have to say that the stuff she did in that Tahitian dance is HARD! You have to have incredible core control to do all of the thigh/knee stuff she was doing (she was doing shimmies while crouching, with her legs at different angles! Normally, you take a pretty solid stance when shimming, that would’ve put a lot of strain on her stomach and back, but it was all really smooth.) Not to mention she kept the tail on her costume bumping and that is seriously hard to sustain. The really impressive part is that no part of her body or face was telegraphing how hard she was working to do that. As impressive as I found all of that (I barely looked at Mark and that’s SAYING something), the real winner of the night was her Mandy Moore jazz with Billy. These two should dance together for the rest of their lives. I totally saw what Cat said about Judy Garland/Mickey Rooney. It was so effervescent and fluid and just fun. Loooooved it. Lauren can be really annoying in her interviews, but she continues to impress me with her dancing.

Middle Two

Billy – He’s been getting a lot of flak lately, too, after being a huge early fan favorite. He gained something back tonight he’s been missing for a while. He was so relaxed. He seemed to be enjoying himself – just plain enjoying himself and that brought back the Billy that I love. He had jive with Anya and was a strong, matched partner to her. They had great chemistry, which hasn’t been his strong suit lately. But, of course, the second of his routines, with Lauren, was just incredible, as I mentioned above.

Robert – I think every single one of his fans are going to take nothing for granted and VOTE like crazy to keep him out of the Bottom 3. He’s been there too often. There’s a good chance he’ll be there again, but I think he’ll be saved by Ashley going home due to her injury. As for his routines – I really liked the Travis Wall contemporary, but I think that the judges/producers tried to hard to make an “Emmy moment” out of it because it was about Travis’s mother’s illness and it was so heartfelt. That almost ruined it for me. It was very reminiscent of Tyce’s breast cancer peace, in my opinion. Especially the opening walk of the two characters. I absolutely adored the walk at the end and the symbolism behind it, but while I think it was well-danced by Allison and Robert, I think Travis has deserved an Emmy more with other routines. I’m glad he shared something so personal with us, but I resented being told to feel about it. I felt the same way with Tyce’s breast cancer piece, actually, and liked it more when I saw it on SYTYCD UK with less fanfare. His disco with Kathryn was a lot of fun. It had it’s problem spots but when you consider they probably only had a day or so to practice together, very good.

Bottom Three

Ashley – is in the EXACT same place Alex was last week. The same place Jessica King was in a few years ago. If her injury is what I’ve heard it is… she’s almost 100% going home tonight. Which makes me very, very sad because she quickly became my favorite once the performance shows started.

Adechike – Okay, so Chike hasn’t been getting much love from me. I’ve acknowledged that he’s a great dancer, but I feel that he doesn’t connect to his partners. His salsa with Anya was horrific – even though there were tiny patches that were pretty incredible. However, I *finally* saw what everyone else sees in him when he danced contemporary with Kent. He had chemistry with Kent!! I loooved this Dee Caspary routine. I thought Chike was so comfortable with Kent in the interview and that really played out in their performance. It was the first time I thought he got everything right. However… I think it’s too little too late. It’s only one solid performance in a night with two performances and after a pretty lackluster season. I think there’s gonna be some Chike backlash this week after all the gossip and controversy. I think he’ll be safe though, since Ashley’s almost certainly going home.

Jose – If Ashley weren’t surely going home, I’d bee 98% certain that this was Jose’s week to leave us. He was flat and unimpressive in his Broadway and he disappointed in his own style next to All-Star Dominic. I found the routine entertaining (the breaking), but it wasn’t everything it was built up to be. Just as Jose is not everything he’s been built up to be. Even the judges had to admit, after his Broadway, that he needs training and polish. He needs to layer dance on top of his gymnastics and tricking.

Some last thoughts before I go –

-I looove that Cat is speaking up more about her opinions. Her comments re: Billy and Lauren reminding her of Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland was spot on. 🙂

-I kinda liked the disco tonight and there were lots of crazy hard things in there. But…isn’t there at least one single other disco choreographer in the entire world? I’m very tired of Doreana Sanchez’s choreography. And here’s why – I think the style is already so limited that to have just one choreographer makes it very, very boring. It’s basically all the same routine!! And if there aren’t any other choreographers for disco, maybe that’s a hint that the style is played out. Dry. Done.

-We had a lot of male-male numbers tonight (what with Ashley out and Lauren being the last girl in the race, likely) and they were doozies! Loved Kent and Neil’s baseball routine! As well as Kent and Adechike’s contemporary. The Jose/Dom “battle” was aiiiright. Until they made Dom bow to Jose and I was just.not.cool.with.that. S’okay. We all saw who left with the sword. 🙂

-I think it took changing all the rules for the producers and all of us to realize what we love best about the show. I’m glad we’ve had this mix-up because it’s shown us that bringing back All-Stars and same-gender routines really do work. But it’s also shown us that we really like seeing the contestants grow together in partnerships and that the producers need to be careful not to overproduce = manipulate us. If they can even help it at this point.

– I’m *very* sad I didn’t get to see Ashley dance this week and that she’ll probably be leaving.

-It was a good week for dance, even if Alex wasn’t there. I think a lot of the dancers realized they could actually win and kicked it up a notch this week. It’s a weird season. All the rules changed and now all bets are off.

July 14, 2010 I Written By

Random thoughts about Tonights show

I got to thinking we always have the discussion blog to talk about the different dances. Usually we comment on whether or not we like the dance. Tonight I noticed I pay close attention to detail (okay well I always do).  Like during Kent and Neil’s broadway number I noticed the numbers on the back of their uniforms. Neil was wearing the number 3, kinda fitting since he place third in his season and now that I think about it he was in season 3. Kent was wearing the number 7, for the top 7 or season 7. Very clever on the costume departments part. I always get a kick out of those things. So I was wondering who out there notices these things or is it just me. Also I would like to know what other little things that happen on the show that we all enjoy. So I figure I’ll list a few of my favorites tonight and focusing on the positive.

Loved that Cat knows all of us girls love Neil.

I found myself wanting a pair of sparkly converse after that Jazz routine.

After the Tahitian dance I couldn’t help but wonder how many guys would want Lauren as one of those hula figurines to go in their car. For us girls Mark was just as hot.

Loved Mia’s comment about a duck in heat cause she has one in her back yard. That was one of the random things that just made me laugh. Plus I like that she makes up new works. I have to agree with her on the I love boys.

The sword. Nigel didn’t want Jose to have it and Cat didn’t want Dominic to have it. What really got me was when Dom took the sword off stage, I didn’t quite catch what Adam said but I definitely laughed when Cat said we don’t let him run with sharp objects.

I Written By

Dance is one of my biggest passions. I grew up dancing at Augusta West Dance Studio (the same studio that Kathryn McCormick). I have a BFA in theatre/dance from Valdosta State University. Tap is my favorite style of dance.

SYTYCD S7 Top 7 Performance Music

Here’s hoping there’s some GRRRRRREAT music tonight, as there has been before in the season. With Alex eliminated due to injury last week and Ashley sitting out due to a broken rib tonight, music is pretty much the only thing this season’s got going for it…

Dancer: Lauren Froderman
All-Star: Mark Kanemura
Style: Tahitian dance
Choreographer: Tiana Liufau
Song: Last Voices’ “Jungle” – Jungle

Dancer: Adechike Torbert
All-Star: Anya Garnis
Style: Salsa
Choreographer: Liz Leary
Song: Eddie Palmieri’s “Oyelo Que Te Conviene” – Oyelo

Dancer: Jose Ruiz
All-Star: Courtney Galliano
Style: Broadway
Choreographer: Joey Dowling
Song: John C. Reilly’s “Mister Cellophane” from “Chicago” – Mister

Dancer: Robert Roldan
All-Star: Allison Holker
Style: Travis Wall
Choreographer: Contemporary
Song: Coldplay’s “Fix You” – Fix

Dancer: Billy Bell
All-Star: Anya Garnis
Style: Jive
Choreographer: Louis van Amstel
Song: Meatloaf’s “Paradise By the Dashboard Light” – Paradise

Dancer: Kent Boyd
All-Star: Neil Haskell
Style: Broadway
Choreographer: Tyce Diorio
Song: “Shoeless Joe from Hannibal, Mo” from Damn Yankees – Shoeless

Dancers: Billy Bell and Lauren Froderman
Style: Jazz
Choreographer: Mandy Moore
Song: KC and the Sunshine Band’s “Boogie Shoes” – Boogie

Dancers: Jose Ruiz and Dominic Sandoval
Style: Breakdancing
Choreographer: Nappytabs
Song: District 78’s “Battle for the Beat” – Battle

Dancers: Kent Boyd and Adechike Torbert
Style: Contemporary
Choreographer: Dee Caspary
Song: Tom McRae’s “You Only Disappear” – You

Dancers:Robert and Kathryn (for Ashley)
Style: Disco
Choreographer: Doreana Sanchez
Song: Dan Hartman’s “Instant Replay” – Instant

You can check out all Season 7’s music here.

I Written By

SYTYCD S7 Top 7 Discussion

With Alex out of the competition and with Ashley out of the dancing tonight due to a broken rib (can she come back next week with that?!?!), I just don’t know about the rest of this season. My favorites are dropping like flies. They better bring back some amazing All-Stars to make me feel better. And I hear that  Louis Van Amstel, Dmitry Chaplin AND Travis Wall are choreographing tonight, which makes me happy. The only way things on the choreography front could be better is if Wade’s doing the group number tomorrow…

Oh, here’s the place for all your thoughts going into tonight’s show, by the way.

I Written By

Black Gold Thinks YOU Can Dance

My contact at Red Bull Records (who is a HUGE SYTYCD fan! shhhh!) just sent me the coolest thing – a special offer regarding Season 7’s elimination song “Shine” – Shine.

Black Gold want to see your best dance moves. Post a video of you, your friends, or you and your friends dancing to “Shine.” The videos will be judged based on creativity, originality, humor, vibe and number of YouTube views rather than dance expertise, so all are welcome and encouraged to participate. One winner will be selected to receive a series of dance lessons from a local dance school in their hometown.

Check out the first submitted video, which is guaranteed to pick your day up out of the doldrums. Warning – will make you smile and laugh out loud.

You can submit YOUR video and watch the others here.

I Written By