Interesting difference for the Top 20 Reveal. Live performances! I’m actually kind of liking this.
Music for the Reveal the Top 20:
Dancers into the Holding Area:
[Marianya started the post, above and now I’m taking over. This post will contain spoilers, so here’s a spoiler break…]
Fox just posted the exit interviews from Ariana and Brandon, so I thought I’d post them here for you guys. I can’t even begin to say how gracious they are. These dancers are so young, but they handled themselves with so much maturity and grace. Both say it was an honor just to make the Top 20. Brandon said he can’t believe he was asked back, and he wouldn’t trade it for anything. I do hope they find a way to let him dance again next season, with some time to grow he could be a beautiful dancer. It can’t be easy to be the first ones eliminated, especially for someone like Brandon who literally just got here!
It’s out there that it’s a possibility that Ariana could be back next week if poor Noelle’s knee doesn’t heal. I obviously can’t speculate because nothing official has been released (that I know of) regarding Noelle’s condition at this point, but it would be a treat to see Ariana dance again, I wish it didn’t have to be at the expense of Noelle.
It certainly has been a crazy beginning of the season!
Ariana DeBose
Brandon Dumlao
They were so cute! I really hope this interview was before their photos where she was having to wrap herself around him because they seemed slightly awkward (in a good way). He’s Michael Jackson-influenced as well and her mom owns a dance studio – she’s been dancing since 3, with a break at 10 before she figured out dancing was what she really wanted.
Pauline used to sing. And I’m not a fan of Legacy’s, but he had a great line. “Every obstacle is an opportunity.” Good ‘tude, maybe he’ll change my mind.
Ryan says, “watch out for the DeLellos,” and that they’re gonna be in the Top 10. Her favorite dance is the paso doble and his is the rumba.
Oh my. I’m so in love with both of them after this video. They’re so funny and cute. Ariana is totally my new fav – I didn’t really remember much about her before this, so I’m really glad to see it. I love how Jeanine and Phillip’s Russian folk dance has put the fear in dancers like Ariana and after Billy said he isn’t sure how he’ll do with Paso doble, I just really hope he doesn’t have to dance it first. 🙂
I had a feeling, from the buzz around Jakob Karr, that he was no newbie to the (from what I hear) relatively small word of dancers. It’d be hard to find someone with his level of talent who hadn’t been in competitions and such before, yes?
Well here is one of our Season 6 Top 20, Jakob Karr, dancing with Season 5’s Favorite Dancer, Jeanine Mason. Enjoy.
Everyone knows that I’m all about finding videos of the various So You Think You Can Dance top 20 before they made it on the show. A good reader let me know about these 2 videos of Jeanine Mason dancing before So You Think You Can Dance.
This is a really cool video of Jeanine and Alexis Mason (can you say sisters?)
This is Jeanine Mason at age 16 doing a really interesting solo that combines contemporary and ballet to some Tango music. Quite an odd mix. Impressive dancing for only 16 years old though.
Time to go ahead and do some power rankings of the 10 couples in the So You Think You Can Dance top 20. I was amazed at how hard this would be. I thought for sure it would be pretty easy to find the bottom 3 couples. Instead, I had a difficult time ranking them. Not to mention ranking the top couples. However, here’s the rankings of the strongest couples based on their dancing last night, their popularity (which really matters on SYTYCD) and other factors.
1. Jeanine Mason and Phillip Chbeeb – Phillip already has a really strong fan following. Jeanine turns out to be a great partner for Phillip. Between the popularity and their really nice performance last night, I’m placing them at the top of the power rankings.
2. Randi Evans and Evan Kasprzak – I almost put these two at the top of the power rankings. Evan is wildly popular. Their dance last night was great to watch and well executed. The only reason I didn’t rank them above Jeanine and Phillip was that I don’t think Randi is more popular than Jeanine.
3. Caitlin Kinney and Jason Glover – This couple is a really hard one. I think Caitlin is a pretty polarizing figure with a lot of really big fans and a lot of people that really don’t like her. Jason on the other hand seems to be very popular with a lot of people. Particularly with the ladies and we all know that the ladies vote more than the guys.
4. Melissa Sandvig and Ade Obayomi – The biggest surprise dance of the night. Some people are hating on Melissa for her age, but when you saw them dance you had to be surprised. I know I was and that performance last night probably raised them 2 spots on this power ranking.
5. Kayla Radomski and Max Kapitannikov – Kayla is in a position a bit like Caitlin. A lot of big fans and haters. Max isn’t as sharp as Dmitry or Pasha and that will hurt him. Not to mention the receding hair line won’t get him any votes. A really strong dance last night, but Max was lucky to get his own style. Kayla did a pretty good job keeping up too.
6. Janette Manrara and Brandon Bryant – I think these 2 dropped a few places on this list since they got the kiss of death: the foxtrot. It’s not as bad as the quickstep, but close. I think the judges let Brandon Bryant off easy on his performance. His frame was horrible and if it were any other guy Mary Murphy would have been all over him for it. She just has that little thing with Mia going on. The next dance I expect we’ll see the true Janette and Brandon come on. Now doubt Brandon has some faithful fans.
7. Ashley Valerio and Kupono Aweau – I think Kupono was a little unlucky to have Ashley as a partner. They both lucked out and got Wade Robson’s choreography and so they’re going to last. I think Kupono seems to be quite popular and people love him. For some reason people don’t seem to like Ashley very much. I love her story of trying out 4 times, but others don’t seem to have taken to it as much.
———————Line of Death….Known as the Bottom 3———————————
8. Karla Garcia and Jonathan Platero – This performance fell a little flat to me. Karla has incredible lines and is beautiful, but she didn’t get the cha cha action which makes the dance special. Something in both of their legs was just missing. I think fans will really grow to love Karla over time, but after that performance I see them in the bottom 3.
9. Asuka Kondoh and Vitolio Jeune – Probably the worst performance of the top 20. It was pretty disappointing. No one on the judges panel will say it, but I will. Tyce Diorio’s choreography really let them down. It’s unfortunate because I like both of these dancers. However, they are going to be in the bottom 3 and I think Asuka is likely to be sent home. Paris getting sent home in her place is her only hope I believe.
10. Paris Torres and Tony Bellissimo – This couple is so cliche. Beauty queen. Untrained dancer. Dance ending injury. Degree of improvement. etc etc. There performance was enjoyable, but I think it was more due to Tabitha and Napoleon’s choreography than it was their performance. I’d be ok with both of them go home. Just don’t be surprised if Tony is kept around by the judges for the shock and awe factor.
I’ve already created a poll for people to vote for their favorite SYTYCD individual dancers (since at the end of the day it is about the individuals). However, even more important at this point is which of the top 20 couples are going to be placed into the bottom 3 and have to dance for their life tomorrow night? Place your vote now for the couples you think will be in the SYTYCD bottom 3 tomorrow night (yes, that means you’re voting for the worst couples from tonight’s SYTYCD top 20).
