SYTYCD Season 7 Top 6 Performance Thoughts/Power Rankings
Oh.my.gawd. This week’s Power Rankings is both easier and harder than ever. But Fox, seriously? Take care of these dancers! All joking aside, while I am glad you addressed it and yes, we all have been talking/*joking about it, COME ON!
*This season of SYTYCD should probably be called SYTYCD Survivor: Dance to the Death! Sux… #sytycd 5:58 PM Jul 14th via web
Sigh. With no further…lectures…
Top Three
Kent – Man, he’s teflon. He did a solid jazz with Kathryn and I have to give him MAJOR props for using a Boyz II Men song for his solo. I think this was the first tape I bought with my own money when I was growing up. Oh man. Can’t believe I just dated myself so publicly. But he’ll get major points for that steps routine with Twitch. You couldn’t even hear a lot of the steps because of all the hooting and hollering for him – which actually sort of bugged me a bit. But they still kept it together and it was a lot of fun. He did keep up way better than I thought he would. It was no “Outta Your Mind,” and the comparisons are inevitable since they’re both Nappytabs’ routines and both feature Twitch “schooling” a contestant. I think it helped the “Outta Your Mind” routine that Alex is almost the same size as Twitch and he took up the same physical space. I did enjoy Kent and Twitch together, mind you, but Kent seemed to be getting schooled way more and I think his being smaller than Twitch added to that overall effect. Regardless, Kent had a GREAT night, as always, and even if he’d done poorly in one of the routines, which he didn’t, his fans would probably still keep him safe. 🙂
Lauren – She carried off cowboy hip-hop with Twitch (AND rode him across the stage!), had a strong solo and a fun samba with Robert. Not only is she the only girl left which helps her stand out and probably protects her to some degree, I think people (including me) are starting to get her quirky/sarcastic personality and really fall in love with her dancing.
Adechike –
FINALLY, I really get Adechike. It started a bit last week with his contemporary routine with Kent. But this week. Wow. This week. His solo was pretty incredible, but what really won me over was that Nappytabs lyrical hip hop with Comfort. I could tell in the rehearsal footage that it was gonna be incredible – he seemed way more open and connected to her than with any of his other partners (with the possible exception of Alex and Kent. This was the night that my “Adechike hate” (as Donna put it) ended. His solo was a taste of my lack of hate. His paso with Jose was… a’right. But the second I heard “Fallin'” (a song I love anyway), I was like, “ohhhhh, Adechike’s gonna make me fall for him.” And haters fall HARD. Well done, Chike. Well done. My mom says that you and Comfort should always dance together. It was amazing to see that wall break down so thoroughly that the tears came. I get him. Finally. FINALLY! But you BETTER have chemistry next week, Adechike! I know what you can do, now!
Bottom Three
Robert – I love Robert. He’s been in danger before, though he was saved from the bottom 3 last week. There’s a major campaign (especially among other dancers, from what I’ve seen) to vote for Robert. So, there’s a chance he may slip out of the bottom 3 again this week and I hope that’s the case. He danced with both the Lauren’s tonight AND it was his birthday! He danced the “you shot me with your booty” Tyce jazz which was AMAZING with “Elle” Gottlieb and then a samba with “Elle” Froderman. He *did* remind me of Dmitry in the samba, I have to agree with Nigel. He was masculine and strong and just him in both his dances. He picked a great song for his solo and it was solid. But, I gotta draw my bottom 3 line somewhere…
Billy – Automatically in the bottom 3 cause he couldn’t dance due to his knee injury. This is the LAST STRAW! This one better be the last injury or I’m calling Child Welfare on SYTYCD. Anyway, if there is any justice in the universe of SYTYCD/FOX/dance, the judges will not send Billy home when he couldn’t dance, even if he has been there before. Remember, everyone, BOOGIE SHOES!!!
Jose – Despite his puppy dog eyes, his dancing is not up to snuff. I think he’s the weakest link. Goodbye. No, seriously. I loved his contemporary with Allison. It was a great song and great choreography – and a real surprise from Sonya. But, I have to agree with the judges that there wasn’t a lot of “dancing” for him to do and Sonya masked his weaknesses well. Which made it a great routine. BUT…it’s a competition…. His solo was boring. Seen it. Done. And while I agree he made a valiant attempt at the paso, he was weaker than Adechike and the weakest parts of the routine were all the lifts/interactions between the two guys – which I think was mostly due to him. But the poses and the cape work were terrific. Still, I think there’s some major backlash against Jose since he’s the least technically skilled and he’s learning the least. Seriously, I’m tired of this “journey” arc they’re pushing on us. While his choreographers have generally been very kind and protective (with the exception of Joey Dowling, bless her) and he has soldiered through the various routines – he hasn’t been incorporating anything new in his tricks. In my mind, if he were learning and growing as a dancer, he would be using some of his new tricks in his solos. There’s only so much shuffling and hand work I can stand. I’m sorry, I really am.
Some Final Thoughts
-Love Kenny Ortega as a judge. I want him back all the time. As I Tweeted to Amanda, he’s informed, supportive and interesting, which is exactly what we need on the show. I don’t mind having four judges if at least one rotates and if at least ONE makes some sort of sense. Though, I would prefer two or three to make sense on a given night.
-But speaking of making sense, Nigel and I were on the same page tonight. He read my mind several times. The first time when he mentioned “Bleeding Love” in his comments to Adechike/Comfort about “Fallin.” I was thinking of “Bleeding Love” several times throughout their routine – in a great way. Probably cause it was the same choreographers. And a suitcase again. And about a relationship. 🙂 The second time is when Nigel told Robert that his upper body reminded him of Dmitry in the samba. I was thinking of Dmitry throughout the routine. Also, in a good way. And again when he said that the Jose-Adechike paso wasn’t everything he’d hoped it would be. Me, either.
-All this routine echoes (“Outta Your Mind” and “Bleeding Love”) brings me to two points that are related. I was WORRIED when I saw that several of tonight’s choreographers had two routines. Nappytabs, Sonya and Dmitry all had two routines and they were surprisingly close together. LUCKILY and most notably in the case of Sonya, the routines were either entirely different from each other or very different from the choreographer’s usual style. Nappytabs luckily had two very different set of dancers (Lauren and Twitch, then Adechike and Comfort), as well as different narratives and very different music. Dmitry had one male-female and then a male-male, so that automatically set them apart and the tones were entirely different. But Sonya was the real revelation to me. Neither of Sonya’s two pieces felt like a “Sonya piece” in that way that had started to actually get old tonight. Actually, Tyce’s felt more like a stereotypical Sonya piece. Her two pieces tonight had might lighter music and costumes than she normally goes with and beyond those surfaces observations, really proved to me that she does have versatility as a choreographer. Just when I was starting to get bored. 🙂
-The contestants are dancing with All-Stars they’ve never danced with before. So, clearly not random. They showed the drawing out of the hat for the double contestant routines BUT, I am suspicious yet again. How accidentally can it be that this week was all about whether Adechike or Jose would dance less successfully. SO, they got paired together in a battle dance. Head to head, pose for pose. How about that coincidence? However, that being said, I LOVED the rehearsal package we saw of A/J before their routine. East Coast OVERDRIVE!!
-I liked seeing all their parents, but I agree with Nigel that it was tough. Especially this week, for some reason. Though, they had time for it since Billy wasn’t dancing.
-Loved the Kherington sighting! I think that means she may dance tomorrow! I hope it does. What if she’s performing a blast-from-the-past routine with an All-Star?? Sure, Twitch has already danced with Comfort, but I’d love to see ANY of Twitchington’s routines again. 🙂 Really, any of them. I’m re-watching now. “Dreaming with a Broken Heart,” “Too Darn Hot,” “Don’t Touch Me,” “2 Buck 4 TV,” “A New Day Has Come.” Doesn’t matter. We just need Kherington back.
-Wow, I got a little off topic there. Alright, I’ll wrap things up. I loved the cake for the 150 episode/Robert’s birthday at the end. Loved that Kent was dancing with Kathryn and Lauren (“Elle” Gottlieb). Ladies man! And I LOOOOOVED that Adechike and Twitch re-inacted a few steps from the paso at each other. Great way to end the show.
Hmmm, what do y’all think, eh? Amanda and I were each writing our thoughts posts at the same time, though we didn’t realize it. Check hers out, she’s got some great points, especially about how stepping has been done on SYTYCD before.
I really did think of “bleeding love” too when Adechicke and Comfort performed. I think it’s kinda similar with Mark walking out on Chelsie with a briefcase and Comfort walking away from Adechicke with a suitcase. I really like that performance.
Alex and Twitch’s performance together is still the best in my mind for hip hop but Kent was a HUGE surprise 😀
I was a fan of Jose at first but now I want him off. Billy as well I’m afraid. I was never a fan of him. I found that he lost his groove. there will be a lot of people not liking that comment.
YES, EMILIE!!! Lol, one of my first thoughts after I recovered from Adechike and Comfort’s dance was if you had been converted 😉 I haven’t been particularly pro or not… have loved some of his dances, liked some, not cared for others, and had no opinion on him as a person other than he seemed like a nice young man, lol. But HOLY HOT DAMN, that was amazing. And his face after, gurrggh! He was crying, Comfort was crying, Tabby was crying, and I was crying! I’m glad that piece came along to not only show everyone what Chike can do, but also Comfort, who has been the target of a lot of “She’s not an All-Star” sentiment. She’s incredible. (And she’s got the arms of Angela Bassett in What’s Love Got To Do With it!)
And yes, his solo was remarkable. I thought Lauren’s stood out, as well.
Lauren is insanely good at hip hop… like, Jeanine good… and I loved the routine with Twitch. Wow, NappyTabs, great night for you! My favorite part was actually Napoleon in the rehearsal footage, quoting the MJ “Bad” video… “You ain’t bad, you ain’t nothin’!” lmao.
I loved the Jose and Allison piece. Sonya’s choreography was the complete antithesis to Joey Dowling’s in what in did for Jose. It may have been “pedestrian,” but it was the most I’ve felt him as a dancer and the best work he’s done on the show. But of course I still think he should go home, lol.
Robert and Lauren’s jazz was… delicious. I love that he licked her leg 🙂
Kent and Kathryn’s piece was like the boogie shoes piece on meth! I loved it. You could tell how tough it was because Kathryn is a beast and she looked exhausted!! lol
Robert and Lauren’s samba was quite good. But my favorite parts were “BobsFro” (lol!) and Robert in JEANS. Wow.
Huh. Is there some sort of correlation between having the name Lauren and having a great butt??
Jose and Adechike’s Paso was the only one that didn’t really work for me. I agree with the judges, a noble try, good experiment. The cape-twirling went on too long for me, and by the time I thought it was finally getting started, it was over.
Kent and Twitch’s Step was awesome. Kent seemingly cannot be stopped and I’m just prouder and prouder of him every week. I’m sad Billy didn’t dance, on one hand, but on the other, I’m greedily happy it was a double Twitch night!
Oh, the deja vu of freaking out when somebody’s missing in the introductions… counting… “Wait, there’s a dancer missing! WHAT NOW???” lol
“FINALLY, I really get Adechike.”
yup, me too.
his piece with comfort was so awesome, i was never even a huge comfort fan, but i she’s so great in her genre, and they really pulled it together tonight, they were great together. but i have to say the moment that “sold” me on chike was actually in the average paso – there was a very brief moment in the beginning, i think it was just after the capes had been thrown, and the camera was just on him, and the passion on his face at that particular moment was pretty undeniable. and i actually said to myself… well damn.
i’ll be crushed if billy has to leave tomorrow night, but it’s getting to that point where i’m pretty much gonna be crushed every week.
did love nigel’s little sulky moment when he pointed out that stepping had been done before in his piece. it was funny cos i had been thinking earlier when they said it was brand new to the show, and i was going no it’s not! shauna and jimmy (s2) had some stepping in their hip hop piece, and of course it was in nigel’s s5 boys number! but it was interesting to see a whole number. not sure how much i love the style, but i loved the twitch/kent combo.
-About Adechicke
What an amazing week! I was completely suprised about Adechike, because I didn’t expect at all..but it was totally wrong!!! It was really amazing routine and of course The commitment from he and Comfort was great! The best routine of the night! yoohoo~~~
-About Lauren
She’s so adorable and Hiphop routine was really fun, and really strong solo! I believe she feels safety herself tonight!
-About Kent
I can’t get something from him..His solo was too usual..Sonya’s routine was so usual..Sorry..I don’t get it at all in this week ..
-About Robert
Robert became believable to me, His solo wasn’t so good, because I feel same way with Kent’s solo..but I think other routines was better than Kent.
-About Jose
Sorry dude..The injuries of other dancers just keep u on this spot..He should show us where he can go further..
-About Billy
I don’t understand what is happening to this season..I hope No injuries anymore until the finale..
@Emilie: In your paragraph regarding Kent, you mention that they were “both nappytabs’ routines” but I think you meant to say that the stepping routine was choreographed by Chuck Maldonado…
Everyone danced well tonight, so coming up with a 3rd person after Jose and Billy is tough. I think I’d actually go with Adechike – the hiphop was great and he had by far the best solo of the night, but then had the “luck” to end the show with a male-male ballroom with Jose. that put a flat ending on a really good show.
Fro me, personally, I’d put Kent in the B3 this week. I disagree with Nigel and thought Kathryn had a lot more energy than he did in their piece, and the stepping piece was fine but could have been a bit better.
This is such a hard week to pick a bottom 3! For sure Jose and by default Billy. That last spot is really up for grabs. By dancing alone, i’d have to say Lauren, just because she seemed to be lacking a little energy in the samba and it looked like Robert pulled it together a little more than her. That being said, it was still a great samba and her hip hop was good too. I thought Robert was awesome in both dances, especially the samba, so unexpected! I think he listened to Mia’s comments about dancing more masculine.
Adechike was awesome last night. Still don’t love him, but he danced really really well.
I wasn’t a fan of the stepping. Kent reminded me of a little brother trying to keep up with big brother Twitch. I guess i’m just not a fan of his, he is SO hammy. I’m glad the judges said something about his faces again, because they drive me crazy.
To rank the dancers on performance alone last night……
1)Adechike
2) Robert
3) Kent
4) Lauren
5) Jose
I think if by some miracle Jose doesn’t land in the bottom, Billy will go home. If Jose lands in the bottom I think his time is up and the judges will give Billy another shot. Either way, i think one of those two will be leaving tonight.
Does anyone know when the voting goes entirely into the audience’s hands?
EMILIE’S A CONVERT! lol
I totally was talking about you last night (we have family up visiting from Kentucky and I made them watch with me while we play cards). After chike’s dance, I said to my mom: I can’t wait to see if that routine wins over some of my cohorts over at my fav dance website. 🙂
Anyhow, I think that Chike won the night for me, with Lauren second. I’d put Kent next and then Robert and Jose.
Robert just doesn’t do it for me…bummer because I think his technique is great. Meh.
Can’t wait to see what happens tonight.
Hooray for Chike!! I am so glad he finally won over the judges who seemed to have had it out for him since the beginning. And there was no denying his technique was light years ahead of Jose’s in the paso (no suprise that the judges did not mention this…)
Lauren did great in both routines, I didn’t understand why they didn’t like her in the samba, I thought she was perfect!
Kent’s reactions were wierd after the step…why was he so serious and aloof? It wasn’t like it was an emotional routine, and he did so well! Whatever, still love him 🙂
I wonder if Billy Bell could have pulled off that stepping routine?
I LOVED Kent dancing with Twitch.
I agree with your whole assessment to the last detail!
The standout performances for me:
–the Adechike/Comfort routine (of course). I’m so glad Comfort got a chance to really show her acting chops. In her season, she didn’t really have them. She does now. Good on you, girl! Another growth-moment for Ade in his partnering as he was with her all the way.
–Lauren and Twitch: Ride ’em! I loved her tumble-weed across the studio during the package. Her sass-move at the beginning just after she ripped off Twitch’s belt(?) was spot-on. Her whole body had the right attitude.
–Robert and Lauren jazz piece. My Life with the Thrill Kill Cult?? Are you kidding me? Tyce, you’re full of surprises. Some of Robert’s movements put me in mind of Mark (never a bad thing). They nailed the jazzy-steamy seduction that the piece required and, well, this one just worked for me.
–I enjoyed the whole dancing-on-the-edge concept and performance. I’m glad Jose got to dance it because it felt more sincere than the earlier one he did with Lauren (even though he had/has a real crush on Lauren–it’s kind of like the weird Ashleigh/Ryan lack of chemistry early in S6).
Solos:
It might have been the music, but I adored Lauren’s solo. She danced it so hard, which totally worked with the feel of Elisa’s piece.
Robert’s solo was such a sharp combo of musicality and technique. It’s too bad that his personality doesn’t have the squeaky TV appeal that Kent and Jose seem to exude.
Yep, Kent chose good music, but I’m still not moved by that solo. @Rachel–“hammy”–yeah, exactly. There is definitely a hammy quality that might have been charming at the beginning. With all the adoration he’s been getting it’s as if he’s turned up the volume.
I love reading your commentary each week. Thought I should drop and note and say hi. I too spotted Kherington. She would be a great All-Star. My husband has a great theory about all the injuries, but you’ll have to come over to my commentary to check it out. (http://tinyurl.com/2u4j69c) Cheers!
I’m really upset right now… it’s SYTYCD related, but not about last night. WHHHYYYYY, oh why… *sigh* Anyways, some more random stuff:
Here’s another interesting dilemma: if the all-stars are all having a performance, they are going to have to do 2 in one week, since they are one week short. Just sayin’… but I doubt one of them *ahem* is getting an all-star performance… 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 FROWNY FACES!!!!!!!!!
– During the first hip hop, Lauren did a handstand that kinda looked like Sabra’s invert in the “Make It Work” (:() dance…
– Courtney was in the audience and after Jose’s performance it look as if she was wiping a tear away from her eye.
– When Cat pretended to rip Robert’s shirt, Rob said something like, “What would Dominic say?” in a scandalized tone. Also, I didn’t know he had his ears pierced.
– To be honest, tonight was a sort of “meh” night for me. My faves were both the hip hops (of course).
I AM SO FREAKING UPSET RIGHT NOW IT”S NOT EVEN FUNNY. I AM NOW GOING TO GO CRY AND CUSS IN FRONT OF MY FAMILY.
I have a feeling we’re going to see a Lauren/Neil All-Star routine tonight. *Nothing’s confirmed yet* but it seems to be the most logical way to go. I’ll let you guys know if I hear about anything.
So I think we’re definitely going to see a Lauren/Neil dance tonight (crossing my fingers for Night of the Dancing Flame!), Neil just tweeted something about dancing tonight and Lauren tweeted last night about having a late late rehearsal. I’m getting excited!!
@ Margaret: I was thinking the same thing. Seriously, they’re the only all-star pairing left. Who else is there? It was kind of obvious. 🙁
the other pairing would be Lauren and Dom (which I know you would love, Lola :)) but this one makes more sense. They’re the only All-Stars who were original partners on the show. I just tweeted Neil to see if tonight is going to be a “Night of the Dancing Flame” at SYTYCD. we’ll see if he responds, I made myself laugh when I wrote that, it’s such a bad pun, lol.
I’d love Lauren and Dom 🙂 Just watched their rumba again. HOT DAMN! HAHAHAHAHA but I’d rather see Sabra and Dom. LOL Neil wrote on Twitter:
“SPOILER ALERT!!! Sabra Johnson is crowned the winner of SYTYCD season 3!”
So far I’ve seen Lacey Schwimmer and Travis Wall retweet it and they’re making fun of him ’cause she “stole” his crown. 😀
Loved your review!
Chike won me over last night, too! Wow wow wow…
Also loved Kenny Ortega on judging panel. The man knows a thing or two about dance. Wonder if he’s being “tested” as a new judge? That’d be awesome!
And Robert can lick my leg anytime. 😉
i think adechike might just rise to the top after this week.. anyone with me?
I don’t really want to venture a guess re: the final four, or even the bottom 3 tonight, but ChristineG’s comment about Adechike rising to the top got me thinking. Not only has he not been in the bottom, but he always seems… to me, at least… to get the 2nd loudest crowd reaction in the introductions (after Kent, of course). I’d say crowd noise for the dancers goes in this order…
1) Kent
2) Adechike
3) Lauren
4) Robert
5) Billy
6) Jose
I don’t know if this is actually indicative of popularity when it comes to voting or not, lol, but I do feel like those first four will probably be the top 4.
And I hope Robert’s not in the bottom 3, but really no one other than Jose (and Billy by default) deserve to be there, so. There’s no way they’d send him home before Jose (or even Billy, I’m pretty sure).
I think the issue with Robert’s Tyce piece was the music. It totally annoyed me. I liked the chore. I liked the dancing, but the music was horrible to me. Sorry, fans of the Thrill Kill Cult, but that song was ick to my ears.
I almost think that the judges are trying to sabotage Kent. In every case throughout the course the SYTYCD’s seven seasons everytime a dancer is told they could/should win, they never do. S1 Blake, S2 Allison, S3 Danny, S4 Katee, S5 Kayla, S6 Jakob. Of course, in my opinion, while Kent is a good dancer, he is nowhere close to the above mentioned dancers. What does everyone else think?
Nah, I can’t bring myself to put Kent up with that gang.
(Full disclosure: not a fan of his at all). I don’t think they can sabotage him. He’s an audience darling.
On some of the other fan sites there was horrified outrage over whether or not he said that he would help their ratings, I mean IMG it just HAS to be a lie because Kent is more pure than a little lamb!!111!! and would NEVER show even the slightest inkling of arrogance.
That attitude makes me lol.
@Nina, I think the person I would add to that group is Travis, both he and Allison were the presumed front-runners their season.
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