Top 14 to Top 10: Thoughts
Another great show with a double elimination. Christina Applegate is back on the judges panel this week. She is my favorite guest judge, not only can she critique the dancers, she is also funny. The “I saw a lift, oh wait wrong show” line after the quickstep was fantastic. If you watch Dancing With the Stars, you know that she was kinda mocking Carrie Ann. Also her line about the guys costumes for the group number was quite funny too.
Anyways back to the show. I actually pretty much agreed with the bottom 6 with the exception of Carly. Thankfully they were able to do solos tonight. Teddy was my favorite solo of the night. Overall after all of the performances, I knew who the judges would most likely save and I was right.
At the end of the show we found out the All Star pairings. I’m just going to list the All Stars just in case of spoilers. Jenna, Chehon, Jasmine, Kathryn, Twitch, Lauren Froderman, Ade, Brandon, Amy, and Ryan.
I might do a little something different for power rankings since they annouced the All Star partners. So what are your thoughts?
Even though the bottom 6 didn’t match my predictions, I kind of agree with it. Teddy, Jessica, Emily and Casey were all expected in the bottom 6. Carly and Serge were the surprises but then who else to pick?
One could argue that Bridget instead of Carly but both are not likely to get very far in the competition. Carly just got too many contemporary/jazz style dances and therefore was becoming a forgetful face (like Makenzie last year). As for guys, it was always going to come down to Emilio or Serge and Emilio had a strong contemporary performance in the last week so Serge wasn’t too much of a surprise (he danced well though).
This week’s rankings:
Girls:
1. Valerie Rockey: I always expected her to be good but she was ridiculous. Absolutely brilliant performance and so so difficult.
2. Jessica Richens: she seems to do a complete turnaround when it comes to contemporary. She gave it her all this week and was good in the group, solo and partner routine.
3. Tanisha Belnap: I find it hard to believe she isn’t trained in contemporary, even Christina mistook her for a contemporary dancer.
4. Jacque LeWarne: The first three were outstanding but Jacque was solid. She really went from being sweet to ferocious and that is a big thumbs up.
5. Carly Blaney: I think quickstep should be removed from the show. It is so difficult and hard to judge that I have to follow Mary’s critiques. Mary says she was good, then she was good. 🙂
6. Bridget Whitman: I didn’t like this performance, it seemed a mix between jazz and hip hop and Bridget just didn’t get the hip hop inspiration parts correct.
7. Emily James: a bit of a disaster, judges were being nice. Started with so much anticipation and ended with a whimper.
Guys:
1. Casey Askew: he is back! either he places first or last, he is quite literally the season 11 version of Neil Haskell. Hope he reaches the same heights in coming weeks.
2. Ricky Ubeda: if Casey is Neil then Ricky is Danny because the guy is amazing technically. He was brilliant in hip hop though, completely sold the piece.
3. Zack Everhart Jr.: he tamed Jacque, who had gone all out. Solid performance.
4. Rudy Abreu: this piece was all about Tanisha. But the sheer amount of lifts and this 5 foot guy pulling each one off with aplomb was impressive.
5. Serge Onik: ah the quickstep, I would just refer to Carly’s note.
6. Emilio Dosal: like I said, i didn’t care about this dance too much. Neither for that matter did I care for his performance. He didn’t do much wrong but he wasn’t memorable either.
7. Teddy Coffrey: he kept going in and out in this piece but this was definitely difficult for him. The entire performance was a bit shaky and he didn’t look very balanced.
Is next week going to be a bottom 6 anymore? I am going to only do a bottom 4: Emilio Dosal, Rudy or Zack (probably Zack), Bridget Whitman and Jacque LeWarne. Also, I agree with Misty, guys are much better this year.
Interesting point about Tanisha and that brings up something that has always bothered me about the show. They tend to pigeon hole to dancers to one specific style of dance…when in reality they do other styles too. I’m sure Tanisha has taken some contemporary classes and might just be a natural at it.
Emilio is the perfect example of someone who did take the time to go back a learn other style…sure he may not be the best but he got the basics down.
I found it hard to believe that Surge has never done the quickstep maybe not to the level of difficulty but I’m sure he knows what the basics are.
Sorry for the rant but just something that bugs me.
I dislike the pigeon holing of dancers as well. Many of the kids that try out for the show now cross train in dance styles other than their own. When a dancer does very well outside their stated genre the judges act astonished and blown away. Give me a break.
I haven’t been too keen on Travis Wall’s choreography lately. I’ve just noted a certain sameness and lack of inspiration in it, but the boys group routine was incredible. I really think it’s his best piece of work and all the boys danced it extremely well.
Halfway through the competition I’d say that Emilio, Zack, Tanisha and Valerie are my favorites. I liked Serge and Carly a lot as well but I’m not surprised to see then leave last night. Serge in particular never connected with the voting audience for some reason.
I was just starting to really like Teddy. For such a tall guy he really moves his long limbs fast and funky. And I finally realized who he reminds me of, David Bowie and Tommy Tune’s love child! lol.
@Susan I can see the David Bowie and Tommy Tune thing with Teddy…maybe that’s why I thought he reminded me of someone.
Oh and Valerie with that leg wave in a split was just wow.
@Susan: I agree with your assessment of Travis Wall. He is a breath of fresh air in terms of his ability to use a larger set of movements than most of the other choreographers but the show takes it too far. Travis Wall routines have now seemed to be associated with best of the night performances and its ridiculous how anyone who does a TW routine is suddenly pushed from bottom 6 to frontrunner by just doing alright. Has anyone been in the bottom after doing a TW routine the night before? Something to think about…
I really liked Teddy, he had a certain spark about his dancing but two brutally tough routines in a row are hard to survive when the competition is this tough. Serge was good, but I agree he just didn’t connect personality wise and neither did Carly.
Glad to see Christina again.
A good show. Although I love Casey and am glad to see him advance, I am really sad to see Serge go home. I would have liked either Zack or Rudy to join Teddy in going home. I am thrilled with the prospect of seeing Cheon again and being they paired him with Jacque I think we are going to see a ballet routine which is just fine with me. A good group of all stars.
Last nights routines…
I was not a big fan of Jacque and Zack and their Paso dance.
Jessica and Casey hit a home run with their contemp routine but that is not a big surprise since it was a Travis routine.
Valerie and Ricky as usual were great. I liked the mix up of styles because it shows their versatility. I still think they both will be contenders in the finale. I love them.
Tanisha and Rudy did good. But I must say Rudy’s whole wide-eyed over the top behavior is wearing a little thin with me…maybe it’s his age. I’m trying not to be a meanie but what can I say. He just doesn’t do it for me. Let’s see how Tanisha does with Ryan next week.
Bridget and Emilio did an okay job with their jazz routine.
Carly and Serge did the best they could with the dreaded quick-step. I wish SYTYCD would just forget about putting that dance in their shows. There are many other ballroom styles that would be a better choice for me.
Emily and Teddy had the worst routine of the night. He was off balance and seemed lost for most of the dance. No surprise they went home.
Looking forward to seeing Valerie dance with powerhouse (and a favorite of mine) Ade.
And let’s see how Jessica holds up with magical Twitch.
Do you think there only will be a bottom 2 for girls and guys next week?
Renee
Not sure but since it’s back to one winner I guess we will see.
Has anyone shazamed the show yet cause it lists all the music plus other fun stuff.