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Season 8 Top 10 Power Rankings and Poll

Thoughts….

Top Three

1. Sasha (& Twitch) – Sasha had the best combination of incredible routine, chemistry with a popular All-Star and her own popularity (she came in 5th in our Top 10 Prediction Poll). I think it was the most memorable routine of the night. Plus, it came in the 2nd half of the routines and towards the end is always a nice little bonus.
2. Caitlynn (& Pasha) – Caitlynn was 4th in the same poll and she had a breakout performance with Pasha tonight. This was one of the sexiest, most sensuous Argentine tangos I’ve seen. She’s quickly become my #2 favorite and I think this routine will help win over a lot of holdouts (if there are any).
3. Melanie (& Pasha) – Melanie came in first in our poll. Her Viennese waltz might’ve been just slightly better technically than the Argentine tango, but I’m going to put it in the bottom of the Top 3 because tangos seem to be a little more popular than waltzes. That could just be me, though.

Middle Four

1. Marko (& Chelsie) – Marko was 2nd in our poll and while his samba with Chelsie was really good, it was also the first routine of the night and I think the choreo showed off Chelsie more than him. I still think the combination of his own popularity and people’s excitement that Chelsie was back on the show will make the routine memorable enough to keep him safe.
2. Jess (& Kathryn) – Jess ranked 6th in our poll. While he’s not a favorite of mine, he probably danced his best routine tonight with Kathryn, who is a very popular (and talented) dancer. She brought out a lot in Jess tonight, but I can’t help wishing it’d been another dancer in Jess’s place, in the routine and with Kathryn.
3. Clarice (& Robert) – Clarice was 7th in our poll, but I think that dancing a strong Bollywood with Robert and being the last of the episode will help her a lot. Her solo surprised me tonight and it’s hard to tell how she’ll do without Jess. I think she danced better with Robert than she did with Jess, but that she still might be one of the weakest.
4. Tadd (& Comfort) – Tadd was 3rd in our poll and his solo rocked. If not for those two things, I think he’d be in danger tomorrow (and he might still). It was one of the weaker routines, or at least not my favorite because it felt very strange. Comfort redeemed herself a bit as an All-Star last season, but she’s not the most popular of the All-Stars.

Bottom Three

1. Rickey (& Allison) – Rickey was 8th in our poll and his solo tonight wasn’t as strong as it could’ve been. I think he’s picking up more of a following apart from Ryan. He probably danced his best in this routine and it was one of the later ones, but I had to put somebody in the Bottom 3, so I put him here because of his low ranking in the poll and his solo.
2. Jordan (& Brandon) – Jordan was 9th in our poll. I could see her trying to change up her solo, but she seems over-reliant on the same moves, not growing as much as other contestants. She danced the 2nd routine of the night and while it was beautiful, it might not be the most memorable. Some people struggled to connect to Brandon in his season and sometimes people don’t connect to Desmond & Dwight routines, so those factors might not do her any favors.
3. Mitchell (& Melody) – Mitchell was 10th in our poll, danced with one of the lesser known All-Stars and was unlucky enough to get the weaker of Tyce’s two routines, an awkward Broadway (hit or miss with voters). His solo was really strong, but he looked like he was wearing a large diaper. I thought he handled the judge’s comments really well – he’s come a far way in my opinion, but I think this may be the end of the road for him.

Because we can vote for individual dancers, they probably won’t arbitrarily cut 1 boy and 1 girl anymore. Still, it might be kneejerk for the judges and I think they might cut Jordan and Mitchell tomorrow night. Oh, wait, we’ll only lose 1 dancer a week now, won’t we? Well, if that’s the case, I think Mitchell will be the one to go tomorrow night.

And here’s a poll (you can pick up to 3 couples):

July 20, 2011 I Written By

Season 8 Top 10 Thoughts and Discussion

SOOOOOO extremely happy to see Neil Patrick Harris as the guest judge. I adore him and I’m not surprised he’s a fan of the show or of Cat Deely. She cracked me up when she said, “You’re not popular at all,” after all the cheering for Neil and then told Nigel the audience didn’t have any energy left for him. Lol.

My live thoughts follow, so I guess I’ll put in a spoiler space here…

Read more..

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Season 8 Top 10 Performance Music

I’m so excited to see the routines tonight – Top 10 is always a great moment in the season and I’m excited to see what the All-Stars bring to the table. Many of them were All-Stars last season, we we already know they’re great, but it will be nice to see them interact with new dancers. And oh yes, I’m sure the music will be incredible. 🙂 Here we go…

Marko danced a Jason Gilkison samba with Chelsie to: Kate Hudson’s “Cinema Italiano” – Cinema Italiano - Nine (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Sasha danced her solo to: Duffy’s “Syrup & Honey” – Syrup & Honey - Rockferry

Jordan danced a Desmond & Dwight contemporary with Brandon to: Jessie J’s “Who You Are” – Who You Are - Who You Are

Jess danced his solo to: Harry Connick, Jr.’s “Come By Me” – Come By Me - Come By Me

Tadd danced a Chuck Maldanado hip hop with Comfort to: Chris Brown ft Lil Wayne & Busta Rhymes’s “Look At Me Now” – Look At Me Now (feat. Lil Wayne & Busta Rhymes) - Look At Me Now (feat. Lil Wayne & Busta Rhymes) - Single

Melanie danced her solo to: Angus & Julia Stone’s “You’re the One that I Want” – You're the One That I Want - Big Jet Plane - EP

Mitchelle danced a Tyce Diorio Broadway with Melody to: “Take Off With Us” Take Off With Us - Fosse (Original Broadway Cast Recording) – from “All That Jazz”

Rickey danced his solo to: Cassidy Haley’s “Daylight Breaks” – Daylight Breaks - Little Boys and Dinosaurs

Clarice danced her solo to: Crookers ft. Roisin Murphy’s “Royal T” – Royal T (House of House Remix) [feat. Roisin Murphy] - Southern Fried & Tested, Vol. 3

Caitlynn danced a Miriam & Leonardo Argentine tango to: Orquesta Color Tango’s “Malajunta” – Malajunta - Con Estilo Para Bailar

Mitchell danced his solo to: John Legend’s “This Time” – This Time - Evolver

Sasha danced a Christopher Scott hip hop to: Dorothy Moore’s “Misty Blue” – Misty Blue - Misty Blue

Jordan danced her solo to: Lykke Li’s “Tonight” – Tonight - Youth Novels (Special Edition)

Jess danced a Stacey Tookey contemporary with Kathryn to: Christina Perri’s “The Lonely” – The Lonely - Lovestrong. (Deluxe Version)

Tadd danced his solo to: Robin Thicke’s “Everything I Can’t Have” – Everything I Can't Have - The Evolution of Robin Thicke (Deluxe Edition)

Melanie danced a Jason Gilkison Viennese waltz with Pasha to: Tina Arena’s “Everybody Hurts” – Everybody Hurts - Songs of Love & Loss

Caitlynn danced her solo to: Florence & the Machine’s “Cosmic Love” – Cosmic Love - Lungs (Deluxe Edition)

Rickey danced a Tyce Diorio jazz with Allison to: Tori Amos’s “Precious Things” – Precious Things - A Tori Amos Collection - Tales of a Librarian

Marko danced his solo to: Gavin DeGraw’s “More Than Anyone” – More Than Anyone (Stripped Version) - Chariot - Stripped

Clarice danced a Nakul dev Mahajan Bollywood with Robert to: “Aila re Aila” – Aila Re Aila - Khatta Meetha (Music from the Motion Picture) from the “Khatta Meetha” soundtrack

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Introducing Your Season 8 All-Stars

Tonight’s Top 10 episode is going to rock, not least of which because it’s the first time we’ll see the Top 10 dance with the All-Stars.

First, we have Melody Lacayanga, the Season 1 runner-up. I chose her disco with SYTYCD Canada judge/choreographer Blake McGrath because I don’t normally go for disco and this Doriana Sanchez disco was fun. I didn’t watch Season 1, but looking back over the season, it seems like Melody’s partners tended to get eliminated a lot. I hope this doesn’t happen to her Season 8 partners!

Allison Holker from Season 2 was an All-Star last season and had some phenomenal routines. I’m going to resist my urge to find videos from last season and instead give you something from her original season. Here is her Alex da Silva Argentine tango with her original partner Ivan Koumaev.

Pasha Kovalev was also an All-Star from last season and I am NOT going to show you the phenomenal tango he did with winner Lauren Froderman. No, I am NOT. I’m going to stick with first seasons and show you him “out of his element,” dancing Mandy Moore jazz with Sara von Gillem.

Yet another All-Star from last season, Twitch Boss was originally the runner-up from Season 4. Chelsie Hightower, who was also from Season 4, was scooped up by DWTS along with Lacey Schwimmer, danced this fun Nappytabs hip hop with Twitch during their season.

Comfort Fedoke, also from Season 4 and also an All-Star last season, also danced with Twitch. Instead of showing you that video, I’m going to show you dancing with Mark Kanemura, Chelsie’s partner for most of the season, in another awesome Nappytabs hip hop.

Brandon Bryant was the runner-up of Season 5. I so want to show you his Wade Robson jazz with Janette, but Margaret showed that video in her All-Star post (same reason I didn’t show Pasha & Sara’s West Coast Swing). So instead, I’ll show you their Dave Scott hip hop, where they were both “out of their comfort zones.”

As an All-Star last season, Kathryn McCormick danced so much with Robert that I could just give you one video for both of them. However, let me show you Kathryn in her Season 6 glory (she came in 3rd), especially since her season didn’t get their own tour. So here she is, with runner-up Jakob Carr in a contemporary routine choreographed by Desmond Richardson and Dwight Rhoden.

Season 7’s Robert Roldan (3rd in his season) has already danced once in Season 8, with Caitlynn Lawson, so he was already an All-Star as far as I was concerned. Because the All-Stars started at Top 20 last season, most of his dances are with Kathryn or another All-Star. I wanted to show you his Dee Caspary contemporary with winner Lauren Froderman, but it wouldn’t embed. Instead, I’ll show you their Dmitri Chaplin (Season 2 and DWTS) samba because it’s fun and they were both out of their element.

Chelsie’s only going to be an All-Star for tonight’s episode and it sounds like they may switch up the All-Stars from week to week. It’ll be interesting to see who else they bring on board and all of the great routines that result. Also, I haven’t ever seen it confirmed, but Allison and Twitch may be dating and it’ll be interesting to see them together as All-Stars again. Also, I’m dying to see our Georgia peaches, Kathryn and Season 8’s Melanie Moore dance together. You know what else I’d love to see? I’d love to see a current contestant dancing with an All-Star and choreographed by another SYTYCD alumni. That would be awesome. 🙂

Are they any Season 8 contestant/All-Star pairings you’re dying to see?

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