Courtney Galiano | Pure So You Think You Can Dance

SYTYCD Season 7 Top 7 Results Thoughts

Tonight’s episode. Sigh. Season Seven. Sigh. Okay, let’s do this.

-I loved Tyce’s Broadway Group routine tonight. I have a couple of thoughts about mixing the All-Stars and contestants, though. Part of me wonders if the contestants are getting to fully shine with all this sharing of the stage with All-Stars. BUT, I’m glad to see my favorites dancing, no matter how and when. Kathryn and Lauren really stood out to me, as well as Neil, Mark and Ade. Lauren was the only contestant who really stood out on her own to me.

-Loved that Cat was brought in on the couch by Adechike and Jose. 🙂 She’s so cute.

-The first two contestants came up – Kent and Lauren holding hands. Hmmm. First thought was this was confirmation that my #1 and #2 slots were correct in the Power Rankings last night. Cause no way were they sending either of the first two to Bottom 3 the way they did last week. Anyway, they were cute when Cat said the person in the bottom three wasn’t on the stage. Way to drag out the obvious, everyone.

-The Dizzy Feet/Mary Murphy dancing kids were cute. The girl seemed a little weirded out by all the attention, but that Fernando – he’s gonna be on the show in about 5 or 6 years. 🙂 I thought it was cute that Cat arm-wrestled him and even cuter than she let him win.

-Second pairing of contestants comes on stage – Billy and Adechike. I kinda had a weird feeling Billy was gonna be in the bottom again, even though I think Adechike deserves it more, even with that great contemporary last night with Kent.

-When Robert and Jose are brought on stage, I have another series of weird thoughts. Looking at Jose’s face, I think…somebody’s been reading the Internet. And I saw Robert’s face and I thought… “whoa, he looks really worried, I wonder if there’s ANY chance Ashley’s injury isn’t as serious as they thought.” But, then things went back to what I expected (and hoped, I have to admit). Robert’s safe and Jose’s in the Bottom 3.

-About this point, I’m realizing we haven’t really seen Ashley (unless I missed it) like we did with Alex, emotional in the crowd. Hmmm.

-I’m gonna get a lot of heat for this, but I wasn’t keen on the Alvin Ailey dancers Jamal and Rachel. First, I hated the music. I went through about a nanosecond of a Laurie Anderson phase and then I wondered what I’d been thinking. That and the costumes – but neither of those are J&R’s fault. They danced beautifully. But I wasn’t feeling either of those aesthetic things and I really wasn’t feeling how they each kinda lay or sat completely prone and still while they other danced. Just not my bag. Sorry, folks.

-I DID love seeing Twitch and Comfort in the “rewind” “Forever” dance from Season 4. Thanks to our reader Kayla for the term. 🙂 It was even better this time and really solidified for me how much Comfort’s grown since her season and that she really does deserve to be an All-Star.

-Billy’s solo was very much like all his others. Only, there did seem to be a fierceness in his eyes that isn’t always there. A digging in.

-Jose’s was fast and furious, as the judges said. Yet. Yet. Oh, Jose. I’m sorry. You’re so sweet and I felt for you when you said that you expected to be in the bottom 3 every week. But you need a lot more training before you can match those All-Stars. Maybe you would have had a steeper “growth journey” in another season, but in this one, you’ve been extremely lucky to get this far. It’s sad – but wise of you! – that you recognize this.

-SOOO COOOL to have Christina Perri performing “Jar of Hearts” on the show, since our love for her single enabled her to quit her job and concentrate on her music. I love that we all contributed to her career. It really gives me hope that we may see Black Gold on to perform “Shine” . I’m thinking they can do the very last elimination live with all the eliminated dancers dancing as they perform. That’d be cool, like it was UBER cool to see Allison and Neil dancing to Christina’s song. Highlight of the night for me.

-There’s Ashley. Finally. Blah blah blah from the judges. WAIT. Nigel talks about Michael Jackson and kinda refers to him in the present tense. Is Nigel one of those who believe MJ is still alive somewhere? Or just that his spirit is always with us and hence, present? Hmmm.

-Ashley needs 3-5 weeks of rest, so she’s out. Yup, I knew it. Sad. But, at least the mentioned that they want her healed up for the tour…

-…which will include SEASON 6, SEASON 7 AND ALL-STAR DANCERS!! Hurrahhh! Probably, some dancers (ahem, Jakob) have gotten contracts since their seasons and so won’t be available for the tour, so they’ll be able to include the best of the two seasons. And with Alex unable to perform…

-Awww, Cat kinda whisperes, “We want you on the tour. We want you to get better.” I love Cat. And she refuses to let Ashley apologize to us for being injured. LOOVE CAT. 🙂

-Awww, Ashley is crying so hard she can barely talk. Ah, Ashley, you’re my favorite. Get well for the tour.

That it for me. How about you?

SYTYCD Season 7 Top 7 Performance Thoughts/Power Ranking

Well, this is the first week where predicting tomorrow’s result is easy…but typing it is difficult. Coming to terms with it is difficult.

Top Two

Kent – He had a great night. He really delivered energy and personality (and skillz!) next to Neil. I don’t think he outdanced Neil as Nigel claimed, but he definitely kept up. And he did what I thought was impossible and developed some real chemistry with Adechike in a great male-male contemporary. He’s maturing, but still keeping his personality, which is the right combination with this show. The cheers are so loud while he dances that I don’t know how he hears the music. He’s safe.

Lauren – She gets a lot of flak, but since my only sorta formal dance training is in belly dance, I have to say that the stuff she did in that Tahitian dance is HARD! You have to have incredible core control to do all of the thigh/knee stuff she was doing (she was doing shimmies while crouching, with her legs at different angles! Normally, you take a pretty solid stance when shimming, that would’ve put a lot of strain on her stomach and back, but it was all really smooth.) Not to mention she kept the tail on her costume bumping and that is seriously hard to sustain. The really impressive part is that no part of her body or face was telegraphing how hard she was working to do that. As impressive as I found all of that (I barely looked at Mark and that’s SAYING something), the real winner of the night was her Mandy Moore jazz with Billy. These two should dance together for the rest of their lives. I totally saw what Cat said about Judy Garland/Mickey Rooney. It was so effervescent and fluid and just fun. Loooooved it. Lauren can be really annoying in her interviews, but she continues to impress me with her dancing.

Middle Two

Billy – He’s been getting a lot of flak lately, too, after being a huge early fan favorite. He gained something back tonight he’s been missing for a while. He was so relaxed. He seemed to be enjoying himself – just plain enjoying himself and that brought back the Billy that I love. He had jive with Anya and was a strong, matched partner to her. They had great chemistry, which hasn’t been his strong suit lately. But, of course, the second of his routines, with Lauren, was just incredible, as I mentioned above.

Robert – I think every single one of his fans are going to take nothing for granted and VOTE like crazy to keep him out of the Bottom 3. He’s been there too often. There’s a good chance he’ll be there again, but I think he’ll be saved by Ashley going home due to her injury. As for his routines – I really liked the Travis Wall contemporary, but I think that the judges/producers tried to hard to make an “Emmy moment” out of it because it was about Travis’s mother’s illness and it was so heartfelt. That almost ruined it for me. It was very reminiscent of Tyce’s breast cancer peace, in my opinion. Especially the opening walk of the two characters. I absolutely adored the walk at the end and the symbolism behind it, but while I think it was well-danced by Allison and Robert, I think Travis has deserved an Emmy more with other routines. I’m glad he shared something so personal with us, but I resented being told to feel about it. I felt the same way with Tyce’s breast cancer piece, actually, and liked it more when I saw it on SYTYCD UK with less fanfare. His disco with Kathryn was a lot of fun. It had it’s problem spots but when you consider they probably only had a day or so to practice together, very good.

Bottom Three

Ashley – is in the EXACT same place Alex was last week. The same place Jessica King was in a few years ago. If her injury is what I’ve heard it is… she’s almost 100% going home tonight. Which makes me very, very sad because she quickly became my favorite once the performance shows started.

Adechike – Okay, so Chike hasn’t been getting much love from me. I’ve acknowledged that he’s a great dancer, but I feel that he doesn’t connect to his partners. His salsa with Anya was horrific – even though there were tiny patches that were pretty incredible. However, I *finally* saw what everyone else sees in him when he danced contemporary with Kent. He had chemistry with Kent!! I loooved this Dee Caspary routine. I thought Chike was so comfortable with Kent in the interview and that really played out in their performance. It was the first time I thought he got everything right. However… I think it’s too little too late. It’s only one solid performance in a night with two performances and after a pretty lackluster season. I think there’s gonna be some Chike backlash this week after all the gossip and controversy. I think he’ll be safe though, since Ashley’s almost certainly going home.

Jose – If Ashley weren’t surely going home, I’d bee 98% certain that this was Jose’s week to leave us. He was flat and unimpressive in his Broadway and he disappointed in his own style next to All-Star Dominic. I found the routine entertaining (the breaking), but it wasn’t everything it was built up to be. Just as Jose is not everything he’s been built up to be. Even the judges had to admit, after his Broadway, that he needs training and polish. He needs to layer dance on top of his gymnastics and tricking.

Some last thoughts before I go –

-I looove that Cat is speaking up more about her opinions. Her comments re: Billy and Lauren reminding her of Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland was spot on. 🙂

-I kinda liked the disco tonight and there were lots of crazy hard things in there. But…isn’t there at least one single other disco choreographer in the entire world? I’m very tired of Doreana Sanchez’s choreography. And here’s why – I think the style is already so limited that to have just one choreographer makes it very, very boring. It’s basically all the same routine!! And if there aren’t any other choreographers for disco, maybe that’s a hint that the style is played out. Dry. Done.

-We had a lot of male-male numbers tonight (what with Ashley out and Lauren being the last girl in the race, likely) and they were doozies! Loved Kent and Neil’s baseball routine! As well as Kent and Adechike’s contemporary. The Jose/Dom “battle” was aiiiright. Until they made Dom bow to Jose and I was just.not.cool.with.that. S’okay. We all saw who left with the sword. 🙂

-I think it took changing all the rules for the producers and all of us to realize what we love best about the show. I’m glad we’ve had this mix-up because it’s shown us that bringing back All-Stars and same-gender routines really do work. But it’s also shown us that we really like seeing the contestants grow together in partnerships and that the producers need to be careful not to overproduce = manipulate us. If they can even help it at this point.

– I’m *very* sad I didn’t get to see Ashley dance this week and that she’ll probably be leaving.

-It was a good week for dance, even if Alex wasn’t there. I think a lot of the dancers realized they could actually win and kicked it up a notch this week. It’s a weird season. All the rules changed and now all bets are off.

SYTYCD S7 Top 8 Results Thoughts

Where do I start? I can’t even pretend not to be heartbroken about the elimination this week, so I’m not going to even try.

Courtney G.’s tweet says it all:

courtneyg612

Alex Wong 🙁 29 minutes ago via UberTwitter

-First, a positive. Some of the clips of last night’s performances reminded me of some stuff I loved but didn’t mention in my Performance Thoughts/Power Rankings post. Like the way Lauren lay back slooooowly against Pasha at the end of their cha cha. She seemed relieved. It was a very sweet moment. All of the little moments between the partners before and after their routines were adorable. I looooved Ashley/Robert’s where she kissed his cheek and he fell down from the “kiss of death” aka quickstep. I dub Ashley the Chemistry Queen since she works it out with all her partners. 🙂 Though I thought Robert was well-suited for the Sean Cheesman with Kathryn, I kinda wondered what it would be like if Mark were dancing the routine with her. Oh, and the other point I meant to make last night is that my visiting dancing friend said that Billy wasn’t so much a jaguar in his routine with Jose – but rather a spider monkey. 🙂

On to tonight’s show.

-I wasn’t sure how I felt about that Top 8 Group Routine. I liked that it had a lot of slow, sustained movement. I was annoyed by some of the theatrics of it. And confused to why Ade was in it, till tammi reminded me Alex was sitting out (I think I’d blocked it out).

-There was lots of Emmy talk during which Adam gave some Blue Steel. Nobody mentions how Cat was ROBBED. She’s the best presenter around.

-I was SHOCKED that one of the first two dancers was in the Bottom 3. It seemed a bit quick considering we were only looking for two more dancers. And Billy had a decent night. But I guess all that Jose v. Adechike debate resulted in some major votes.

-I’m getting ahead of myself. The rest of the five dancers were brought out. WHY did they do it this way? Why didn’t they do four and three? Why two and five? I just don’t get it.

-Kent’s safe. They don’t even tease. He went and jumped on Lauren in the safe box.

-Wow, Jose is safe. AND Robert. I’m relieved, but very weirded out. And my Bottom 3 is waaay messed up.

-Commercial for “Standing Ovation,” which I admit I want to see. AND “Step Up 3D,” of course. I saw the trailer recently at the movies.

-Back to the weirdness. Ashley and Adechike are the only two left. Adechike is standing very far away from Ashley and is in a completely different place from her. As a human being, yeah I can get why he’d maybe have to zone out. But I was soo disgusted with how isolated he was – as I have been disgusted. I’m finally figuring it out. He is completely unconnected from the other dancers and often the audience. Which read, on t.v., in my opinion, as if he’s only worried about himself. I get that this is important to him. But what I think it’s done is it’s shut him off from learning *anything* from *anyone*, including the choreographers, the judges and the other dancers. He’s not growing and he’s not pushing his energy out. He is so locked down.

-Ashley’s in the Bottom 3 and not Adechike. I officially hate Top 8 elimination nights.

-My case re Adechike was demonstrated completely (imo) when you could see that Cat was pressing her cheek to Adechike’s to comfort him and he was so stiff and unresponsive. It’s like he wasn’t even there. Unfortunately, it feels like he’s not even there, spirit-wise, when he dances as well.

-It was nice to see Anya and Pasha dance together and Cat cracked me up when she said, “Could you be any hotter?”

-I’m gonna get ragged by this, but I enjoyed the In the Heights dancers a’riiight, but wasn’t overly enthused. It was cool that they were singing and dancing in true Broadway form, though.

-Both Billy and Ashley recycled solos, but they were both VERY strong, which was good to see. Both utilized music that’s been really popular on our site.

-LOVED watching Natasha Bedingfield with the All-Stars. Best part of the night, for me. I just bet it was nice for Cat to hug on someone almost the same height as her.

-Nigel explains the results of Alex’s MRI. But I was 100% positive he was leaving when he didn’t dance a solo. I’m amazed and somewhat soothed that Alex has been invited back for the next season. I’m so glad – but it’s gonna be soooo hard on that season’s contestants. Think Billy Bell’s favored status at the beginning of Season 7 multiplied by about 1,000.

-But, the good news is that Ashley and Billy are safe. They NEVER should have been in the Bottom 3 this week. I’m fairly certain that Adechike is going next week – there’s gonna be some backlash, if the comments here on the site are anything to go by.

-I’m gonna go on the record with what I just told Marianya, even though I may be way wrong. Elimination predictions for the rest of S7: Top 7 – Adechike, Top 6 – Jose, Top 5 – Robert [Jose & Robert may be switched], Top 4 = Billy, Ashley, Lauren and Kent. There you go. Let’s see what happens.

SYTYCD S7 Top 8 Performance Thoughts/Power Rankings

I don’t know why I’m surprised that predicting the Bottom 3 isn’t getting any easier or that it’s only getting harder to lose these dancers. But I am. Still, every week, I continue to be amazed at how hard this is and how much harder it’s getting.

Even though I had one of the Bottom 3 handed to me, I am NOT happy about putting his name there, fyi. I hope Alex can stay on the show, but I think we all agree the important thing is that he gets healthy for his long-term career.

And here we go…

Top Three

Kent – I’d probably put Lauren in #1 spot, but her personality seems to annoy some people and Kent has TONS of fans, so #1 for him. His routines with Comfort and Lauren were both well-danced and fun. He had a very undramatic night and got lots of compliments on his “growth” and for dancing small (which mean he grew) rather than overlarge. In a very dramatic night, he made it through the fire unscathed and standing strong.

Lauren – She had an amazing (undramatic) night as well and danced excellently. I think her personality is polarizing – she tries for quirky and cute, but her comments come off to a lot of people as self-absorbed and cocky. However, I really enjoy her dancing and I think she is maturing in leaps in bounds. Her cha cha with Pasha was stellar – like, just the definition of sexy. She was like water dancing with him. I think she studied videos of Anya and Pasha dancing together to figure out how to match Pasha. And while her contemporary with Kent might not be the best we’ve ever seen on the show, it was very striking. I particularly loved that these two young, exuberant dancers were given a serious, beautiful routine and were able to dance it maturely.

Ashley – I’m loving her more each week. She had a great hip-hop with Dominic and while I know that the quickstep is supposed to doom dancers, I quite enjoyed hers with Robert. I liked the incongruence between the dance and the music. I thought it was edgy and enjoyable. I think she’s picking up steam fan-wise and that she had such a good routine with Dom that she’s probably safe. I think we’ve realized it’s time to start picking on some of the guys finally. Judging from the comments, two in particular.

Middle Three

Billy – Danced a solid Broadway with Katee. I enjoyed it and I agree that it’s some of his best dancing. Broadway fans, don’t tar and feather me for this, buuuut it seems like Broadway is like ballroom in that it is sometimes not dynamic for a large part of the audience. It was earlier in the evening and even with having Katee back, I think Billy’s first routine kinda got lost in the shuffle. His Afro-jazz with Adechike was underwhelming. It should’ve been great, but as it was, it was just underwhelming…

Robert – There’s a chance Robert might be in the Bottom 3 again and will go home (because he’s been there before). I’m putting him at the bottom of the middle because I’m hoping that’s NOT the case. I love Robert. There’s a lot of talk about whether the judges were trying to “save” him by coming down hard on Adechike instead of him but I thought they were unnecessarily hard on him and Ashely for their quickstep. Just because it’s gained a reputation DOES NOT mean we have to critique it as if it was bad when it was enjoyable. And I swear Nigel was pulling out technical points with the quickstep when he hadn’t really been all that technical with others (ahem, Jose and Adechike). I enjoyed the hell out of the jazz with Kathryn – I thought they were the perfect dancers for it. While watching it again, I could see some awkwardness, especially with lifts. The first time, I didn’t see any of it though because I was so charmed by the routine.

Bottom Three

Alex – From the tip-top last week after his amazing hip-hop with Twitch to the Bottom 3 this week. All because of an unlucky injury. Phewy to the new rules. I’d rather Alex go the chance to stay on the strength of just that bad-quality video clip we saw of him getting injured. I’d lose BOTH Jose and Adechike (sorry guys) just so he could stay one more week and potentially stay on the show. But, luck (new new rules) being what it is, he’s in the Bottom 3. Hopefully, we’ll get some dramatically good news that he’s alright to dance next week. But there’s a very good chance they’ll decide to let him heal and he’ll be leaving this week. In which case, a lot of hearts will break and FOX stands to lose some of its audience, judging by some of the comments. We <3 Alex, that’s clear.

Jose – I really enjoyed his contemporary with Lauren a lot and I thought he did a’riiite in the Afro-jazz with Billy. But…there’s been a lot of Jose v. Adechike debate back and forth and in the company of titans, his time is running up, in my opinion. I think he may very well be in danger this week. Whether he goes home or not depends entirely on Alex’s injury and whether there’s a backlash from the judges’ soft critique of him the last few weeks.

Adechike – Is my least favorite dancer. He’s shown the least growth in my opinion (which is NOT to say he isn’t a great dancer) and he dances with *any* partner like they’re inanimate props. He’s got to work that out and I don’t see any improvement on that so far. There were elements I liked to his jazz with Courtney (the middle section side-by-side on the floor), but that girl was working her ass off to show him to advantage. His Bollywood was fine, but I couldn’t help thinking that he should’ve been dancing the “girl’s” role with Alex instead of the masculine role with Nakul’s assistant Mara. I liked the “African element” that Mia noticed – which means that I agree with her that it was there but disagree that it was a bad thing.

I can’t predict who I think is going home tonight because the one who I think is most likely to leave us is one of my favorites and I will.not.type.his.name. There’s a good chance I have the other two wrong and Robert’s in danger. And I honestly can’t predict which was the “backlash/sympathy vote” will go if it’s between Jose and Adechike (my best case scenario). What do y’all think?

Some last thoughts before I go –

-Cat should win an Emmy for hosting this show. She’s a defender, an anti-bullshit monitor, cheeky and funny, all while looking gorgeous in dresses and heels. Yay for her calling the judges on their inconsistent comments, as many of you said in the comments.

-I was SO GLAD to see the contestants dance together. I loved the packages, especially Alex sitting behind Adechike and faking like he was going to attack him and Billy outting Jose’s obsession with Lauren G.’s behind. Lol. Soooo great. I think it really brought out a new element to this season. But what a week for Alex to be sitting out! I missed him so much (and I am not alone). Consider this. We had two routines with two male dancers dancing together last night, but they were both contestants in both cases whereas Alex had to dance male/male choreography with an All-Star and he totally rose to the occasion.

-Which brings me to ALEX WONG! Please, please, please don’t have a ruptured Achilles tendon. But, if it is ruptured, I will endeavor to deal with you leaving the show because I want you to have a LONG career. But gosh, how heartbreaking it was to see you hanging your head and tearing up, but mainly being stoic in the face of a lot of pain and doubt.

-I know Marianya and I got a bit carried away wondering what was going on with Ashley and Neil and it turns out they’re both just great at having chemistry with their partners. BUT, there IS something going on between Lauren and Kent. Anybody disagree? Seems obvious now, after his expression when she picked him out of the hat and their actual routine. Or should I say AFTER their routine. Marianya told me that she’s suspected for a long time now that the two of them are together or something. C’mon Marianya, back me up and expand on your theory in the comments. 🙂

-Nigel is a total perv (but Cat started it by referring to Lauren’s wardrobe mishap list week) and he’s annoying me. Mia is…I agree with her a lot, but it seems like she’s expressing herself in the most offensive way possible because she’s “strong” and “opinionated,” etc. Again, Cat totally made the show for me. All of her asides (“he just said he’s proud of you!”

-Ashley/Robert’s “dreaded Quickstep” TOTALLY reminded me of the Neil-Danny “2 princes” routine, and then Nigel mention it as well. I think it was even the same freaking chair and “sceptor of power,” though of course the choreography was different. Interesting.

-Comfort really has grown since her season. I was one of the haters who wasn’t sure she deserved the title “All-Star,” especially the first time having them back on the show. Same with Dom – he’s been impressing me with his routines, few though they are. It as great to have a bonus All-Star in Katee and have her back, though it sucked that Allison had to sit out cause I’m really loving seeing her dance. Pasha has such quiet strength and he’s so lovable!!! And my girls Lauren G., Kathryn and Courtney G. are so amazing! Sexy ladies! And strong! They’re three of my all-time favorite girls and I think they do a great job partnering the guys, but they’re also setting the gold standard for the two remaining girls. The All-Stars are such a wonderful element this season. I say once more – we should have a variety show in the fall with JUST alumni of the previous season and Cat emceeing. The judges can take a break (then we’ll miss them and be glad to have them back for the regular competition in the summer) and they can hold auditions for new contestants and a real tour in the hiatus. C’mon, Nigel. We know you’re reading! You know my idea is good! Fall Variety show, summer competition show!

SYTYCD S7 Top 8 Performance Music

I’ll probably miss this show, so I’ll be late tonight with the music. Feel free to chime in if you catch any of tonight’s music! As always, I’ll give you a shout out.

Dancer: Lauren Froderman
All-Star: Pasha Kovalev
Style: Cha Cha
Choreographer: Jean Marc and France Genereux [Thanks Christine!]
Song: Lady Gaga with Beyonce’s “Telephone” –

Dancer: Jose Ruiz
All-Star: Lauren Gottleib
Style: Contemporary
Choreographer: Mandy Moore
Song: Mom says Nix’s “Don’t Tear Us Apart,” but I haven’t found it on iTunes yet. [Lol. My mom’s been helping me for the start of the shows since I’ve been running late from work. BUT, this song is INXS’s “Never Tear Us Apart” – Thanks to commenters Lisa and Renee!]

Dancer: Kent Boyd
All-Star: Comfort Fedoke
Style: Hip-hop
Choreographer: Dave Scott
Song: Ryan Leslie’s “You’re Not My Girl” –

Dancer: Adechike Torbert
All-Star: Courtney Galiano
Style: Jazz?
Choreographer: Mandy Moore
Song: Dinah Washington/Rae and Christian remix “Is You or Is You Ain’t My Baby” –

Dancer: Billy Bell
All-Star: Katee Shean (in place of Allison Holker)
Style: Broadway
Choreographer: Spencer Liff
Song: “Macavity” – from the Cats Musical

Dancer: Ashley Galvan
All-Star: Dominic Sandoval
Style: Hip-hop
Choreographer: Nappytabs
Song: Ludacris’s “How Low” –

Dancer: Robert Roldan
All-Star: Kathryn McCormick
Style: Jazz
Choreographer: Sean Cheesman
Song: Roisin Murphy’s “Sinking Feeling” –

Dancers: Adechike Torbert and Markla (Nakul’s assistant stepped in for Alex Wong)
Style: Bollywood
Choreographer: Nakul Dev Mahajan
Song: “Mourya Re” – from Don the Chase Begins Again soundtrack

Dancers: Lauren Froderman and Kent Boyd
Style: Contemporary
Choreographer: Travis Wall
Song: Howie Day’s acoustic “Collide” – Collide (Acoustic Version) – Stop All the World Now (Special Edition Version)

Dancers: Ashley Galvan and Robert Roldan
Style: Quickstep
Choreographer: Jean-Marc and France
Song: The Atomic Fireballs’s “The Man with the Hex” –

Dancers: Billy Bell and Jose Ruiz
Style: African Jazz
Choreographer: Sean Cheesman
Song: Mickey Hart’s “The Hunt” –

You can check out all Season 7’s music here.

SYTYCD S7 Top 9 Results Thoughts

Is it just me, or was that opening group number very sedate, all things considered? And by sedate, I mean… boring. Nothing really popped out at me. Sad to say.

I’m glad, glad, glad Ashley and Alex are safe and that they didn’t even really try to play that they were in danger.

Annoyed that Adechike is safe since I think he still deserves Bottom 3, despite last night’s nominal improvement. They probably had to scare Kent a bit…let’s see how he does next week.

When Lauren was sent to safety, I had a feeling both Billy and Robert were gonna be in the Bottom 3, that they were gonna play off the Billy or Robert thing they did going into the Top 10. When they were both in the Bottom 3, I was a little afraid for Robert, but I mostly just felt even more certain that Melinda was going home.

When it was between Melinda and Jose, I had a wild stray thought that Jose would be in the Bottom and we’d have a freaky all-male Bottom 3 this early in the season. Which would probably have meant Robert going home, if that had happened. But, then it was Melinda and I was pretty sure again that she was going home.

I looooove that they’re going to have the All-Stars re-dance some of their iconic routines. It’s like they heard all our talk and they listened to us. Makes me start thinking about what other routines we might see in the coming weeks.

So even though this results episode didn’t feel like it was much about the Season 7 contestants, I had a lot of dancing to enjoy anyway. Namely, the All-Stars. The Viva ELVIS spectacular was pretty awesome, and I enjoyed that Chris and Marquis got to dance again on the SYTYCD stage.

The solos went by in a blink. I enjoyed both Billy’s and Robert’s. And I was glad that Melinda danced acapella. I thought it was a bit fraudlent of Adam to pretend she even had a chance by offering advice on what she had to do to stay. That made me a bit sad.

I enjoyed the Ne-Yo performance a lot, too. It would’ve been cool if he danced with the All-Stars like last week’s performance with Debi Nova. But his dancers were a’right. 🙂

So, I’m not surprised that the judges sent Melinda home. Or that the decision was unanimous. I thought it was a bit rude to tell Melinda by sending the other two to safety (they’ve done that before, though). They could’ve actually addressed her first, you know.

We’ve got to stop losing girls. We’ve only got 2 left and I really like both of them. So that’s it. Everyone, start voting for them, okay? I think we could thin out the herd of guys for a bit before we let either Ashley or Lauren be in danger again – k?

SYTYCD S7 Top 9 Results Music

We all “know,” or think we do, that Melinda is going to be in the bottom 3. But what about the other two? Kinda up in the air. It’s getting tougher and tougher every week.

Top 9 Group Routine
Choreographer: Jamel Gaines
Song: London Symphony Orchestra’s “O Fortuna” – a.k.a. Brandon Bryant’s audition song.

All-Star Performance
Dancers: Courtney Galiano and Mark Kanemura
Song: Mirah’s “The Garden” –

Professional Performance
Choreographer: Nappytabs and Mandy Moore
Dancers: The Cast of Cirque du Soleil’s Viva ELVIS
Song: Elvis Presley’s “Didja Ever” – / “Return to Sender” –

Cat mentioned Season 4’s Chris Jarosz and Marquis Cunningham, who are a part of the cast. So exciting! I wonder what it was like being on the new SYTYCD stage, but still “back home.”

Musical Performance: Ne-Yo’s “Beautiful Monster” –

And a spoiler line for the solos, just in case…
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SYTYCD Top 9 Performance Thoughts/Power Rankings

Once again, I’m going to combine my Top 9 performance thoughts and power rankings this week.

This one’s gonna be rough. Roouuuggggh. I’ve been reading a few of your comments to help me out here, but I’m still pretty confused.

Top Three

Alex – Is there any question? I think we can all agree on this one. And this is coming from me, the “hater” of hip-hop. Helllloooo…let’s just say I’m most likely to like hip-hop if it’s NappyTabs. And if Twitch is dancing, I’m always in love. But Alex is what made this routine, which was choreographed brilliantly for him and all, but he held his own with TWITCH BOSS! I mean, boss is in his name. 🙂 And Alex killed it. Did you hear that audience? Cat kept saying it was the loudest crowd she’d even seen on the show. It sounded like they were in a stadium. I especially loved Mia’s, “Who the hell are you?” Even though, I’m not really that surprised Alex rocked because he’s just phenomenal. When I saw the SYTYCDism spoilers that Alex and Twitch were dancing together, I made very girly sounds. 🙂

Billy – The judges came down hard on him (but they kinda have to, since he’s been a judge favorite all along, right?), but it was a gorgeous routine. Billy still has a lot of fans and I thought the combination of his mentioning Legacy as his role model, dancing with Kathryn (who danced with Legacy) and a powerful routine from Stacey Tookey put him up top. He was a bit stiff and arrogant while getting his feedback, I think, which makes me like him less. But the routine was lovely and his solo was strong as well. Overall, I think the judges were hard on him because they’re trying to give him a possibility at a “journey/arch” that he might not be perceived as having since he’s so technically good.

Ashley – When Top 11 started after Vegas Week, I was thinking, “Who is this girl?” I had no idea who she was. But I loooooooooove her now. Yes, she needs to dance something other than contemporary. But she’s been able to show something different in this routine and it was a chilling and wonderful routine with Ade. She has quickly become one of my favorites and will be my biggest solace when we probably lose the girl who has been one of my favorite from the beginning.

Middle Three

Robert -I love him. He got BIG cheers, supported Jose (yes he can, when Cat asked rhetorically if Jose could hold his own) and had great chemistry with Courtney. But, he danced with Courtney again to a blah-ish Sonya (not her best, at least) routine that happened earlier in the show, which makes it sadly a bit forgettable. He was compared to Mark, however, and I think he does suit Sonya’s choreography. I hope it doesn’t put him in danger cause I loved when Sonya was taking America to task for not voting for Robert. He definitely deserves to stay.

Lauren – I thought it was a fun Broadway, and though I don’t always love her personality, I do enjoy her dancing. I thought both she and Neil were technically strong and had great lines, but there wasn’t a lot of chemistry between them. She’s starting to get a lot of flak, but a lot of people still really love her, I think. Also, I think the wardrobe malfunction and the resulting brou-ha-ha (“I enjoyed that tremendously,” and “I bet you did”) will make her stand out. She got a lot of time – and honestly kudos to her for carrying on with her entire strap dangling. I think that would have been just a bit distracting.

Kent – This is a tough call. It’ll either be Kent or Jose in this or the first Bottom 3 spot, in my opinion. But, they’re kinda on the same level, I think. Both didn’t dance strongly this week, both have huge fan bases. I do have to say I don’t think enough has been said about Dmitry’s phenomenal choreography here – smart and sexy work. While Jose got better feedback (and I liked his performance better), I think Kent’s fan base is a little more rabid AND I think that he’s perceived to have danced better in genres outside his own…

Bottom Three

Jose – Whereas Jose has been giving a lot of “Legacy choreography” – stunts within the choreo that show off his skillz and remind us why he’s on the show. I liked Jose’s performance tonight, but I agree with some of the comments I’ve seen that he didn’t do a lot of real dancing, more like excellent partnering. I think the routine (and most of his routines) have cleverly disguised his weaknesses and the judges are mostly glossing them over. So while I think he may be in the Bottom 3 tomorrow night, I think he’ll be a the “top” of the Bottom 3, which will mean he’ll be back next week.

Adechike – A lot of people are raving about his Dave Scott hip-hop tonight. After watching it back three times now, I think he made *some* improvement. But you know what? He had all the personality of a prop, to me. He might as well have not been there. The only times I noticed him was when he was being sloppy and cheesy. It’s kinda the reverse of Melinda for me – I don’t get the hate for her and a lot of people probably won’t get (or agree with) me putting him in the bottom 3. But honestly, I think that any little sign of improvement was going to be seen as a huge step for him because he danced like a stick with two beautiful women in his own genre in the weeks before this. I think he should be getting a lot of heat for that and I don’t care if he danced a slightly better hip-hop this week. I would’ve rather’d seen that routine with *anyone* other than him. Even not always loving hip-hop, I could see how that could be a great routine. With somebody else.

Melinda – I love her, but… it seems like I’m one of the few left who do. Especially if you count the judges. I thought Mia’s comment was so gross. What is the constructive point of telling her “we might have made a mistake keeping you” on national t.v.? Why not, “You didn’t dance your best, or as strongly as you needed to”? And, after watching the routine back, it galls me to admit this, but it was pretty awful. I enjoyed it in the moment, I did. I thought there were some especially awkward transitions into jumps, lifts and tricks and a moment that might’ve been choreographed or might’ve been a colossal mistake. I think the only thing that could save Melinda now is the sympathy vote after Mia’s ugly, pointless comment or if ALL of Melinda’s fans stay up all night voting for her.

I’m not happy about it, but I think Melinda’s going home. (Or maybe it’s a plot to use reverse-psychology are the voting audience….) I hope that it’s two guys in the bottom with her and I’m fairly confident in my picks. Though, as I said earlier today, I think we’re ripe for a shocker.

Some last thoughts before I go –

-I love that Cat’s talking more than ever – especially about the routines. Even if she’s not a dancer, she should get to put her 2 cents in after all the years she’s hosted and participated in the show. I like knowing what she thinks!

-I thought the solos were all pretty strong and interesting. I wasn’t thrilled with Ashley using the same music as last week’s group routine – I think it was too soon and indicated (whether this is fair or not) that she didn’t try as hard to be unique. Same thing with Adechike – he used at least the same song as his dance for his life in Vegas and it might have been the same solo, I’m not sure. I thought Lauren had the strongest solo of the girls and I was very impressed by Kent’s solo (his “new Billy Belly status” has never been clearer). I enjoyed Jose and Melinda’s solos quite a lot as well.

-The minute Alex’s footage started and up to the last minute on screen was some of the best SYTYCD has ever had to offer. Pure enjoyment. Even though Adam’s “This is your world and I’m just visiting” comment was regurgitated (Marianya reminded me he said it to Ashleigh last season), I think the emotion behind it was truly genuine. How could it not be? You could see the mass hysteria going on in that studio. I think NappyTabs were incredibly smart to forsake an easy route “battle” dynamic for this routine and in doing so, they made this an incredibly memorable routine, one that showcased both of its incredible dancers. If this is the quality of dancing we have to look forward to, I don’t mind *as much* that we’ll probably lose Melinda and be at 2-6 girls and guys.

-You know…some of the problem with this season’s female-male dynamic may originate with the choreographers. Hear me out… I suspect that the choreographers are just plain more inspired by the guys and they’re using the choreography to showcase and protect the guys, yet they’re not doing the same thing for the girls. Especially when you consider the enormous amounts of ballroom that the in-danger and eliminated girls have danced. The ballroom routines usually don’t have intense back stories, are very technically fussy and difficult, usually have less appealing music (hey, I’m considering the types of songs YOU tend to click on) and are a hit-or-miss when it comes to audience appreciation.

-Did you see Legacy on stage with all the dancers at the end? He and Kathryn seemed to have a bit of a reunion. 🙂

Well, bring on my heat for all the cranky-puss comments about Ade. I know a lot of you are going to think I’m crazy for my power rankings this week, so time to hear it! 🙂

SYTYCD S7 Top 9 Performance Music

SPOILER ALERT

I’m gonna put a spoiler line, just in case. The music on tonight’s SYTYCD episode follows…

Dancer: Adechike Torbert
All-Star: Lauren Gottlieb
Style: Hip-Hop
Choreographer: Dave Scott
Song: “Hot N Fun” – [My mom helped me till I could get home and she missed the artist – I believe it’s N.E.R.D. ft. Nelly Furtado, so I’ll link to that till I hear differently. 7:55 p.m. update: I’ve watched it back and confirmed that it is N.E.R.D. ft. Nelly Furtado].

Dancer: Ashley Galvan
All-Star: Ade Obayomi
Style: Conteporary
Choreographer: Dee Caspary
Song: Florence + the Machine’s “Cosmic Love” –

Billy solo: Amanda Blank’s “Something Bigger, Something Better” –

Dancer: Robert Roldan
All-Star: Courtney
Style: Jazz
Choreographer: Sonya Tayeh
Song: M.I.A. “XXXO” –

Jose’s solo: James Brown “Super Bad” –

Dancer: Melinda Sullivan
All-Star: Pasha Kovalev
Style: Salsa
Choreographer: Fabian Sanchez
Song: D.L.G “Magdalena, Mi Amor (Quimbera)” –

Kent solo: Jay Sean’s “Down (Candlelight remix)” –

Alex solo: Danny Elfman’s “Rule the Planet” – from the Planet of the Apes soundtrack.

Dancer: Lauren Froderman
All-Star: Neil Haskell
Style: Broadway
Choreographer: Joey Dowling
Song: Debbie Gibson “Let Me Entertain You” –

Ashley’s solo: Crookers ft. Roisin Murphy’s “Royal T” – [Again! This song was also used in Sonya’s group routine last week.]

Dancer: Billy Bell
All-Star: Kathryn McCormick
Style: Contemporary
Choreographer: Stacey Tookey
Song: Christina Perri’s “Jar of Hearts” –

Robert solo: Ray LaMontagne’s “Hold You in My Arms” –

Dancer: Jose Ruiz
All-Star: Anya Garnis
Style: Samba
Choreographer: Dmitry Chaplin
Song: Shakira’s “Long Time” –

Melinda’s solo: Alicia Keys’s “Empire State of Mind Part II: Broken Down” –

Dancer: Kent Boyd
All-Star: Allison
Style: Jazz
Choreographer: Mandy Moore
Song: Alicia Keys’s “Heartburn” –

Adechike’s solo: Craig Armstrong’s “Ruthless Gravity” – [This is the same song he danced for his life to in Vegas.]

Lauren’s solo: Cyndi Lauper’s cover of “Unchained Melody” –

Dancer: Alex Wong
All-Star: Twitch Boss
Style: Hip-hop
Choreographer: NappyTabs
Song: Lil Jon ft. LM*AO’s “Outta Your Mind” –

You can check out all Season 7’s music here.

Top 9 Performance Show Spoilers

Hi all! So I know it’s the day of the show, but I’ve searched high and low this week for the spoilers and I finally found them! Courtesy of our fabulous friends at SYTYCDism
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SYTYCD Season 7 Top 7 Results Thoughts

SYTYCD Season 7 Top 7 Performance Thoughts/Power Ranking

SYTYCD S7 Top 8 Results Thoughts

SYTYCD S7 Top 8 Performance Thoughts/Power Rankings

SYTYCD S7 Top 8 Performance Music

SYTYCD S7 Top 9 Results Thoughts

SYTYCD S7 Top 9 Results Music

SYTYCD Top 9 Performance Thoughts/Power Rankings

SYTYCD S7 Top 9 Performance Music

Top 9 Performance Show Spoilers

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