SYTYCD Canada Top 14 Performance Show
Tonight was another great night of dancing on So You Think You Can Dance Canada. The Top 14 danced for Canada’s votes and tomorrow we will send two more home.
Tonight’s judges were Jean-Marc Genereux, Tré Armstrong, Rex Harrington, Melissa Williams and Dan Karaty.
Once again the couples were swapped up, which seems to be a weekly thing now, however, it seemed more couples had at least one dancer in their genre. I like the switch up because it moves the votes around a bit more, but it is also scary because it puts certain dancers in danger undeservingly perhaps. Tonight’s dances left me a little disappointed overall… but I will talk about that more at the end of this post…
Anyhow, here is a summary of the night:
Francois & Jordan
Samba – Gustavo Vargas
“Chillando Goma” – Fulanito
Francois was in his genre, Jordan was way out, but you wouldn’t know it (unless you watched her feet carefully ha!) There were a lot of cool twists, spins and lifts. Gustavo warned it was about hips, hair and legs – and he was right! It was sexy and fun!
Joey & Geisha
Contemporary – Stacey Tookey
“Gasoline Rainbows” – Amy Kuney
The idea was that Geisha comes from the polluted future to warn Joey and encourage him to protect the environment. To me, the story was not really told, but the dance itself was beautiful as was the song. This was good for Geisha, who I feel is not as strong as the other female dancers. She was paired with the most amazing Joey and pulled it off, though he was still the star of the routine.
Yulia & JP
Hip Hop – ShoTyme
“Give ‘Em What They Asking For” – Busta Rhymes
This was so-so for me. JP was starting to grow on me, and this being his genre I expected a lot more. Yulia, as I have always said, is a ballroom girl and generally excels in her genre and never really peaks in anything else.
Lindsey & Christian
Jazz Funk – Blake McGrath
“Blow” – Ke$ha
This was a couple reuniting again this season not only with each other but with Blake as choreographer who worked with them week two. Given that, I think I expect a bit more since they have that history together. The story was a couple who has to choose love or career. For me it was weird. It didn’t feel Jazz-Funk (though who am I to judge what that even is exactly, I expect it from Sonya or Sean Cheesman usually) and was just a bit strange. I don’t know if it was the choreo or the execution. I typically love Blake and I really love Lindsey, but this was just so-so for me.
Denitsa & Matt
Cha Cha – Francis LaFreniere & Claudia Primeau
“Give Me Everything” – Pitbull ft Ne-Yo
It was nice to see alumni Claudia and Francis back to do choreography again. This routine had a lot of potential but fell flat in some areas. First, Denitsa was in her element and did well and Matt did his best but there were some technical errors that even my husband noticed. The most obvious was near the end when Matt went to grab for al ift too soon then stopped, then when they did the lift he slipped and they kind of fell forward. We have seen this before, it is part of life, but coming off an average performance, it puts a damper on the whole thing. Also there was far too much time spent in a slow embrace when there could have been dancing, and right in the middle of the routine.
Carlena & Shane
Contemporary – Sabrina Matthews
“Wise Up” – Aimee Mann
This was about being unable to take back words once you say them, as if that can be portrayed clearly in a routine? It was pretty slow moving and as far as Sabrina Matthews goes, it wasn’t my favourite.
Adam & Melissa
Hip Hop – Luther Brown
“Buyou” – Keri Hilson
Well, Melissa has had four consecutive standing ovations from all the judges, whoever they may be that week, with whoever she may be dancing with that evening. Amazing! It was a fun, sexy, hard-hitting routine that was my favourite of the night and being last of the night will be memorable and likely get them plenty of votes to stay safe.
Power Rankings:
Top 3:
-Adam & Melissa
-Joey & Geisha
-Francois & Jordan
Middle:
-Carlena & Shane
Bottom 3:
-Lindsey & Christian
-Denitsa & Matt
-Yulia & JP
I was really off last week, so we will see how it goes this week. To be honest, I was a tad disappointed overall this week with the routines. They weren’t as impressive as past weeks. I feel like based on JUST tonight’s dances, many would risk going home. Though, some of it may have been choreography, and maybe my own mood, but I just didn’t feel it tonight as much as I usually do.
Anyhow, please comment below if you agree or disagree or have something to add….
Results Show is Tomorrow Night, I will be away camping so unless wordpress agrees with my blackberry and service is clear at the lake, I won’t post until I return Friday evening.
Also tomorrow on the results show Melissa Williams’ group routine is about relationships and rumours. Host Leah Miller reminded us a trillion times to tune in….
Why do they have so many judges????? It is soooo irritating – and they go on and on and on. Between them and Leah Miller there is only 20 minutes of a 1 1/2 hour show worth watching….
Margot I agree 110% so much so that I actually record the show and fast-forward the judges comments. I have always done this because I do not like Jean-Marc, but with so many judges it is just ridiculous. I am also not a fan of Leah Miller (in case anyone wasn’t sure from past posts ha ha)
Last night’s show was only an hour and a half vs the two hours viewers usualy endure. I wish they had more special guests or something to fill the time, or sortened the show instead of try to fill it with judges talking for so long!
I feel bad for people who don’t record it and have to listen to allll of them talkkkkkk
i think yuliya is very overrated. she cannot do anything except in her own genre (which she can do very well) and so far she has gotten either salsa or samba or cha cha or something besides this week. i hope this was a real eye-opener for the judges as to what she can/can’t do.
sort of same for carlena. i think sabrina matthews did a very good job playing to her strengths (i.e. no extensions, flexed feet, etc.), and her pieces are more breathtaking when they are danced by 2 contemp dancers. but carlena has had many different genres already and i think deserves to stick around.
top dancers on the show; jordan, joey, melissa, adam, shane.
last night was not very good. the only really good pieces were jordan and françois and melissa and adam.
2 things- don’t claudia and denitsa look exactly the same???? and plus, they’re both québecoise, both ballroom dancers… and, why do they keep switching partners? i think it’s hard for the dancers to build any kind of relationship or have any sort of chemistry with their partners when they’re switched so often.
I’m actually a fan of switching partners every week, because it prevents a weak dancer from being carried into the top 10 by a more popular partner.
Yes, there are way too many judges, and why the heck are they introduced with an interminable walk across the stage every single week? Doing it in the premiere I could maybe understand, but EVERY TIME?
That said, Dan Karaty was a good guest judge, with the best comments of the night. In fact, they could have gotten rid of the rest of the panel and just let Dan do all the judging. I seem to recall him being pretty sharp when he was on the U.S. show too, why don’t they invite him back?
As for the dancing, well I hate to say it but most of it was on a scale from “meh” to “allright” this week. The low point was that Jazz Funk: really really strange choreography that I couldn’t get into – and it seems the dancers couldn’t either. The high point was of course the closing Hip Hop number: Melissa continues to impress. Adam… eh, he did OK but was mostly along for the ride.
I can’t really predict how this will go, except to say that if Denitsa is in the bottom again, they’ll probably cut her just because she’s such a repeat visitor. And I will be sad about that because I really like her and feel that she’s been let down a lot, sometimes by her partners and sometimes by ignorant voters.
[…] we are ready for the Top 12 and I am hoping for a little more fire. Last week was probably my least favourite episode this season. The dancers and routines were not up to the level we usually see and I was quite […]