SYTYCD Season 9: Top 14 Performances – Music and Instant Thoughts!
Group dance: Top 141
Style: Contemporary
Choreographer: Mia Michaels
Song: Active Child – Hanging On 
Dancers: Cyrus & Eliana
Originally: Stephen “Twitch” Boss & Katee Shean (Season 4)
Song: Duffy – “Mercy”
Instant Thoughts: I really like how Cyrus emulated his character in this piece, I felt like he really made it his own. I didn’t have trouble seeing this as Cyrus / Eliana as opposed to Twitch / Katee. The chemistry between the two was there. I felt that Cyrus slipped up a couple of times here and there… and consequently it felt like Eliana was covering for him here and there… but other than that I really like how this came out.
Dancers: George & Tiffany
Originally: Joshua Allen & Katee Shean (Season 4)
Song: Adele – “Hometown Glory”
Instant Thoughts: There were a few moments that it didn’t felt like they were a couple dancing a piece together. As one of the judges mentioned sometimes it felt like two solos that just happen to be dancing in the same space. I felt myself watching George far more than Tiffany so this piece did him justice. There was something about Tiffany that was off for me… but I can’t seem to pin it.
Dancers: Will & Amelia
Originally: Evan Kasprzak & Randi Evans (Season 5)
Song: Koop feat. Ane Brun – “Koop Island Blues”
Instant Thoughts: When I realized what piece Amelia and Will was going to do I was excited, because I thought this was right up Amelia’s alley, I was more worried about Will being able to turn on the charm like Evan did. Instead I found myself watching Will at times more than Amelia, which I thought was disappointing.
Dancers: Dareian & Janelle
Originally: Stephen “Twitch” Boss & Kherington Payne (Season 4)
Song: John Mayer – “Dreaming with a Broken Heart”
Instant Thoughts: Dareian’s feet are very distracting… and Janelle… I felt that she connected the best but considering she had something to draw from it wasn’t too difficult. Dareian performed well too… but there was still something lacking between the two here.
Dancers: Matthew & Audrey
Originally: Neil Haskell & Lacey Schwimmer (Season 3)
Song: Billy Porter – “Time”
Instant Thoughts: I haven’t been feeling this couple for a very long time, and this hasn’t changed much with this routine. However, for some reason I am drawn more to Audrey in this case than Matthew, but then again Audrey emoted quite a bit in this routine.
Dancers: Chehon & Witney
Originally: Travis Wall & Heidi Groskreutz (Season 2)
Song: Celine Dion – “Calling You” (There is no individual track so here is the karaoke )
Instant Thoughts: This is probably one of the routines that I felt really did justice not only to the original but to themselves in this “update” of the routine from how many years ago. I love Chehon, I really do… and Witney I felt shined in this routine as well.
Dancers: Cole & Lindsay
Originally: Kūpono Aweau & Kayla Radomski (Season 5)
Song: Sara Bareilles – “Gravity”
Instant Thoughts: Oh. Em. Gee. Cole’s stone cold facial expression really sold this piece for me. Who knew? I didn’t really felt it as much the first time around, but dammit this really did for me. I don’t know what to do about this… Cole was just amazingly heartbreakingly cold to Lindsay and it just went to town.
SOLOS
Amelia Lowe: Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova – “Falling Slowly”
Janelle Issis: Elie Attieh – “Inta Omri”
Lindsey Arnold: Club des Belugas – “Hip Hip Chin Chin”
George Lawrence, Jr.: Explosions In the Sky – “So Long, Lonesome”
Dareian Kujawa: Joshua Ledet – “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World”
Matthew Kazmierczak: Damien Rice – “Delicate”
I’m still in the middle of watching the routines, but I didn’t get from Matthew & Audrey’s piece what I thought I would. I just rewatched Lacey & Neil, and there’s a moment about 1/4 of the way in where Neil covers Lacey’s eyes as he stands behind her but doesn’t touch her, as if he’s there but he’s not there. Matthew did touch Audrey as he covered her eyes. It’s a subtle moment, but a strong one as well. Also, all the original routines were done on the old stage!! I think the new stage hurt a lot of these numbers more than helped them because I don’t feel as connected while watching.
I agree with most of your thoughts. I felt the same about Witney and Chehon coming the closest to equaling the original. Despite Mia saying she needed each couple to be better than the original couple, I never expected that to happen, and it never did.
I am a rabid Katee fan, and Mercy and Hometown Glory are both in my personal top 10, so I was pleasantly surprised with how much I was able to enjoy the first two routines.
I really enjoyed Koop Island Blues as well. My first thought was that Evan and Randi were the same height, and how the heck was Will going to constantly maneuver his face so close to Amelia’s butt without it being hella awkward, lol? But I thought it totally worked.
The one dance I wasn’t quite able to enjoy was Gravity (Addiction). Lindsay and Cole did have the nearest to impossible task, as that is my (and a lot of other people’s) favorite piece ever, so I can’t judge too harshly. But I was a bit surprised by the judges claiming they were the best of the night. I have to say, I was expecting Cole to be really good and Lindsay to struggle. Lindsay is nowhere near as strong a dancer as Kayla, and there were a couple of movements that just did not look like they were supposed to, but overall she did a good job, and she did better with the emotions of it than I was expecting. Cole… well, yes, he was scary. But he just came off like a horror movie villain to me, which didn’t feel right for the piece to me. Kupono had this evil little smile, and he was seductive, too, like drugs are. Maybe it was something about Kupono’s loathing for drugs that came out in a particularly interesting way, or maybe it was just his chemistry with Kayla. But he was more, “I knew you’d come back, baby” and Cole was more, “I’m going to kill you!” Drugs do kill, but it wasn’t as effective for me. Honestly, I put a bit of that on the hairstyling. As soon as I saw his hair sticking up all crazy, I got the horror movie vibe. I think his hair should have been super slicked back.
@Margaret, completely agree about the old stage! Everything was so much more intimate!
Did the old stage somehow make the camera work less complicated? There was so much talk about the assisted run on Hometown Glory, and then when Tiff and George did it, the camera angle was kind of from the side instead of right in front of them, and I could hardly see it!
okay, I’ve watched the pieces. quick thoughts:
Cyrus & Eliana-I thought they both brought it, but I thought Cyrus needed to puff up his chest a little more, and it took him a little bit to get going, get into the movement. Eliana brought her crazy, but I wanted to feel her fight more. I liked them together more than I liked them apart, which was good
George & Tiffany-Her hair drove me crazy, I liked how Katee’s was up with the funky bump in it. No question they’re beautiful dancers, but it was lacking the connection that made Joshua & Katee such a special pair.
Will & Amelia-Maybe I’m just in a grumpy mood tonight, but I wasn’t digging this one
the thing that made it fun to watch Evan were his facial expressions & the way the costume hung on him (purposefully too big) but this character for Will felt like the dorky cousin of his alley cat from week 1. the dancing was great, they filled out the movements & gave it some sass, but it wasn’t my favorite.
Darien & Janelle-I liked the way that Mia tweaked the dance to fit them, especially Darien since he’s not as big & broad as Twitch. That being said, I agree about his feet & Janelle’s hair, either make it bigger so it’s a little shorter or pull it back so it was off her face. Instead of just missing each other like Twitchington did but still being on the page emotionally, this felt like 2 different dances on one bed.
Matthew & Audrey-see comment #1. Simple but so elegant & emotional & freeing. Audrey looked spectacular, white is a beautiful color on her, but I was missing the emotion. I didn’t feel it.
Chehon & Witney-FINALLY. I felt this one. It was strange at first to watch another pair do this number bc I’ll always associate it with Travis & Heidi, but I thought they did a really lovely job. Chehon does have an incredible center, his pirouette was beautiful. Witney felt very innocent, in a way. I think it’s interesting have her be 18 years old dancing about this type of love when Heidi was 24 when she did it. The look in her eyes gave me this sense of “I feel the love, why don’t you feel it back.” In the close ups, I could feel their emotion, it was sometimes harder with the far away shots. Well done to both of them.
Cole & Lindsay-my first reaction when it was over was, huh. I didn’t really know what to think. Gravity is probably top 3 of my favorite routines of all-time from the show, having seen it in person & on TV, & Kupono & Kayla were just spectacular. I thought Lindsay did a really nice job, having to recreate the movements of probably the best female dancer, technique-wise, the show has ever had was a monumental task but she didn’t let it overwhelm her, she made it her own and didn’t try be Kayla. She also handled the physicality of the dance really well. Cole went very “Edward Scissorhands” as one of my friends put it, which is a different approach than Kupono’s more sinister, emotionally revealing embodiment of the drug as her partner. I definitely felt the cold from Cole, and his movements as very staccato & almost popper-esque. It felt like that took away a bit from the connection, you could see he was controlling her with his movements, but the lack of emotion in his face kept the control from being throughout his body as it was with Kupono. You could feel Kupono’s control of Kayla from his head to his toes. I also agree with @ahs, Cole with slicked backed hair would have taken away the crazy & given him the sinister.
@Margaret, you said everything I felt about the Addiction piece(s) much better than I did! I get why Cole playing it differently *should* be a good thing, but it just made me want to watch the original over and over
Agree with most all your takes on things! Lol, I also missed the “funky bump” HG hair!
I did enjoy Will and Amelia more than you did, though I see the critique. I think Amelia’s problem was either that she just wasn’t quite confident enough in her rear end as star of the piece, or she made a choice to play the character “bored” that just came off as her not putting character into it.
When I found out that it was Mia night and what seven dances were chosen(thanks to dance sport magazine for that) I had fun trying figure out who would dance what. I completely went with my gut and surprised myself that I guess all of them right.
Cyrus and Eliana: I thought this dance was perfect for the two of them. Cruise added his own element to it but for me it didn’t work. Eliana performed it well in a technical sense but was lacking something for me.
George and Tiffany: This was a guess that they may have gotten this piece. I thought they did a great job and George shined more than tiffany.
Will and Amelia: the moment I knew this dance was going to be in the show I immediately thought of these two. Will lived up to the character more than Amelia. Overall I liked it.
Darien and Janelle: I actually liked this for Darien the things that were added for him were great now if he can learn to point the feet…lol. Janelle just go lost in the background for me.
Matt and Audrey: A huge task to take on “Time” and they gave it the best they could in the technique part of the dance. When Neil and Lacey dance they let got of the technique and danced from their hearts. Though Matt and Audrey understood what the dance was about they just weren’t able to convey it.
Chehon and Whitney: I was so happy they got the bench they were the only ones I could see doing it. They did this number well and Whitney really made me feel as if I was watching Heidi. Chehon was great as well wish he’d let go of his center a little more.
Cole and Lindsey: this had me smiling the entire time they danced. True I didn’t get the same feeling as the original but they danced this so well. I liked Cole’s take on the character. I would’ve loved to see them do the Tim Burton wedding one that Mark and Chelsie did.
I will say that elimination hurt so tough to only save one but it had to be done. Yay for all stars coming back next week should be fun.
First of all, although I absolutely adore Mia Michaels, I think that this “everybody does an old Mia routine” idea was terrible. I didn’t LOVE any of the dances, and I think many people felt the same way, because you’re constantly comparing to the original, which of course will always be better in every body’s mind because it happened first. Also, like Mia said multiple times, each routine she choreographs is catered to each individual dancer, and it was hard for the S9 dancers to try and replicate that. Overall, it was just a horrible idea.
My thoughts on the dances;
Eliana & Cyrus- I think the best is still yet to come with Eliana. She killed it, as usual, and we haven’t even seen the best of her yet. Definitely Top 4 material. I really liked what Cyrus brought to “Mercy”, and that twitchy-against-the-door move was FABULOUS. “Mercy” was probably one of my favourites all night, even though it still didn’t dial up to the original.
George & Tiffany- George is such a talented dancer, which showed in his incredible solo this week, and is very talented at both making his partner look good and making himself look good. I don’t understand why he’s constantly in the bottom. Tiffany is also a very strong dancer, but I wish someone would have tied her hair up for “Hometown Glory” last night. I think she’ll go far.
Will & Amelia- I just simply adore Will, and I think he nailed the character on the head tonight. Of course, Evan was perfect as the goofy character in “Koop Island Blues”, but Will really got it as well. This was really up Amelia’s alley, as well, and I think overall they pulled it off as well as they could.
Dareian & Janelle- I think Janelle’s sending-home was WELL overdue, because for quite some time I’ve felt like she’s all show and no substance, and I just don’t really like her personality at all. Of course, she’s simply stunning, but she comes off as vain to me. Dareian is such a physically strong dancer, but with everyone constantly nagging him about his feet, he simply had nowhere to grow in the judges’ minds. Needless to say, I absolutely hated their version of “Dreaming With A Broken Heart” and I think their time was up.
Matt & Audrey- I honestly cannot see what everybody else sees in this couple. Matt is no better, in my opinion, than Daniel was, because he cannot perform well. He can’t give any emotion. And Audrey is very talented, but no more so than Amelia, who was sent home. This was their second dud in a row, and I just don’t feel anything with this couple. We’ll see what Audrey brings next week with an All-Star.
Chehon & Witney- I think that Witney was gorgeous in this piece (perhaps it helped that she looks so much like Heidi) and I’m definitely rooting for her. She’s incredibly versatile and has had hit after hit after hit. Chehon, in my opinion, didn’t pull this off. Maybe it’s because Travis Wall, a.k.a. the eptiome of perfection, danced this first, but Chehon was very stiff and emotionally removed from this dance. When he fell down onto the bench, I just winced because I know how fluidly Travis had done it, and Chehon was just stiff.
Lindsay & Cole- Cole is really the dark horse in the competition, pretty much pulling everything off as an individual. HOWEVER, his biggest weakness is connecting with his partner, and I felt no connection tonight w/ Lindsay. He was concentrating so hard on looking creepy (which, by the way, was fantastic) that he didn’t have any chemistry with her. It was a very surgical performance on his part, that I nonetheless enjoyed. For Lindsay, it was pretty much impossible to re-create Kayla (hailed as one of the best technical dancers the show has ever seen)’s best dance, and it did prove impossible. She couldn’t dance up to Kayla’s calibre in this one, which was unfortunate, because I think Lindsay is very talented.
Overall, I hated this episode’s format and all the originals are, in my opinion, way better than any of the dances tonight. However, here is my ranking of tonight’s dances;
1. Eliana & Cyrus
2. Amelia & Will
3. Tiffany & George
4. Witney & Chehon
5. Lindsay & Cole
6. Audrey & Matt
7. Dareian & Janelle
As for eliminations, I agree with 3 out of the 4 who left tonight, but I simply cannot get over the fact that Amelia was eliminated. She was so unique, so stunning, so talented, and she could have gone way farther. Also, it made me cry when I saw the end and Will and Amelia were talking, and Will was comforting her and talking to her. *sob*
Last thing- Nigel just makes me wince every single week. Not only is he creepy (“I want to go down to Tampa, hehe” “I’ve had Randi’s butt on my mind for quite awhile, hehe”) but he is SO self-congratulating about the new format and terrible to the dancers. Poor Matt being put on the spot about Mia’s dad!! That was absolutely terrible. I know I rant about him each week, but this week was especially terrible.
Excited for the All-Stars next week! Does anybody know who’s coming next week?
@maddy completely agree with you about Nigel putting Matthew on the spot like that…truely uncomfortable to watch.
I agree about Nigel being extra horrible this week….ugh.
I actually think Cole was purposefully trying to NOT have ‘chemistry’ with Lindsay in this piece to come off as creepy and evil and cold and inhuman as possible. I thought they did a great job though I love the Kayla/Kupono original.
I didn’t love the redo week either, even though I love most of the routines. One of the best parts about SYTYCD is the anticipation of possibly seeing a superb NEW pair number or group number for the first time. These pieces were already great before so the excitement from seeing a great piece for the first time wasn’t there. And you just see the original dancers in the roles and none of these dancers were better to me….a few were equal and most were just not as good.
I enjoyed the Mercy, Addiction and Bench routines the most with these new dancers in the roles. I thought Dreaming with a Broken Heart was ok. And I really thought Hometown Glory, the ‘Butt’ piece, and Time were quite inferior to the originals.
Can’t wait to see who the All-Stars are! I really hope Eliana in particular gets a piece where she can really show off her skills and a partner more her equal!
@maddy, agree with you about creepy Nigel! I also did not appreciate him calling Mia’s group piece the 50 Shades of Grey dance. Without (hopefully) starting a debate about the (highly questionable) quality of that book, the dance was unquestionably brilliant, and I don’t think it was an association Mia in any way wanted.
Also agree that the “Mia show” wasn’t really a great idea. It would have been interesting as a kind of exhibition ep, but not for actually being judged on.
I wanted to hug Matt because I feel like he felt he failed the emotions of the “Time” piece and let Mia down.
I was really hoping they would show us a little reel of the All-Stars! It would have helped poor Kat fill in some of that extra time! lol
Ahem, *Cat*. (My best friend’s name is Kat, lol, hence the misspelling.)
The Door Routine seems like the most famous of the previous routines on the show, and it was definitely a challenge for Cyrus. The whole evening was a challenge as the dancers were being compared to the original performers. My favorite for this year is Lindsay, though you seem to hold her in less esteem. I just couldn’t wait until I normally watch with my wife so I watched the show yesterday morning. Since I can watch commercial free now with Auto Hop on my PrimeTime Anytime recordings, I get the show viewed in 1.3 hours rather than the boring two hours with commercials, which would make me late for working at Dish. Now my wife can watch the show too while I’m at work, and we’ll lament over Darian and Janelle’s departure.
That was fun, but nobody surpassed the originals, so when I want to see the dances again, I won’t be looking to this season for them.
I’m a big Eliana fan. She rocked the Amy Winehouse look. She nailed the character. She has great chemistry with Cyrus. To be honest, I keep looking for a hint of frustration from her since she’s been having to sacrifice some of her skill to be a great partner to him–I never find it. She’s a wonderfully generous partner (joining the ranks of Ade or Allison). Cyrus really brought the swagger. No question the guy is a performer.
The girls and hair. Janelle, Tiffany, even Lindsay seemed to have an extra (rather unwieldy) limb. Sometimes that works. Today it was distracting.
George stood out, but the chemistry was lacking. The chemistry is interesting for this one. They are supposed to start out selfishly, but there should be that connection of rivals, not complete separation, then come together and continue to strive. Hated the camera work which flubbed on the ONE bit of that dance I was looking forward to seeing again (even before the dancers built it up).
The butt dance–Amelia has such an animated face that every expression she makes is *blam* right out there. Randi has less distinct features, and in the original, her hair hung languidly over it, partially concealing it; that meant the seduction was entirely in the body. Amelia had the extra task of making her face work in the same vein and it missed a bit. Evan was goofily loveable (this was the routine that made me like him more). Will, I felt, was good, but more goofy than loveable.
Bed dance–I had hope with Dareian’s opening. The guy had the emotion of it. The moment Janelle came out, the door slammed shut on hope. It was a small thing that did it: she didn’t slide far enough. When K came out that first time and slid down into Twitch, so close, but not quite touching, my heart stopped. Not here.
Time–yeah, Audrey played this a little too cutesy (young) for me. Neil is a really hard act to follow. I think Matt cracked under the pressure of following that act AND trying to embody something so personal for Mia. He wanted so much to do it justice that it detracted from just living it.
I enjoyed this one. Clever that Mia saved the Bench dance for a Salt Lake ballroom dancer. She nailed it (like Heidi did) in the dancing and emotion. Chehon was never going to surpass Travis. His technique might have, but his passions/character didn’t.
This was going to be a hard one. Kayla and Kupono did this to perfection. Kupono controlled her (and ME) with his sinister seduction. Cole didn’t seduce. It was an intriguing choice to play it as creepily inhuman. If I didn’t have K&K’s routine to compare it to, I might have loved it. Tiffany did fine, but Kayla is one of my favourite dancers, and for me, she embodied that dance right down to her fingertips.
I’m really disappointed that Amelia is going home. Had she been in the bottom, I would have liked to have seen Audrey go instead. I probably would have traded George for Will too.
Another snort of disgust for how badly Nigel came down on Will (eclipsing the pervy comments that preceded it).
Oops, make that Dareian for Will.
Eek! And make that I’m disgusted at how Nigel came down on MATT. (sheesh)
Nigel was an total creep/a$$ to Matt & it was totally obvious who was in the bottom 3 for both men & women, cause those were the people who he was nastiest to. He creeps me out when he starts being “uncle nigel”….yikes. The sad thing is that Mary follows him when he statrts to slam the bottom dancers….pathetic.