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Podcast: SYTYCD Season 9 – Top 14 Week

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Episode 51 direct download

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Time Stamps
0:00 – Introduction: Ballet boys as judges, and Ms. Tedholm’s Facebook comment
3:31 – General thoughts about the Mia Michaels episode
5:23 – The Door routine: Cyrus & Eliana
8:44 – Hometown Glory routine: George & Tiffany
11:23 – The Butt Dance: Will & Amelia
14:02 – The Bed routine: Dareian & Janelle
15:58 – Time routine: Audrey & Matthew
18:07 – The Bench routine: Chehon & Witney
20:41 – Addiction routine: Lindsay & Cole
24:45 – Bottom 6/Elimination discussion
30:05 – Wrap-up: Thoughts about Brandon/Amber elimination from Top 16 week, and thoughts on the live shows thus far

Episode Length: 32:24

The Top 14 week of So You Think You Can Dance celebrated Mia Michaels and her iconic routines from the show. Each of the dancers were called on to recreate some of her most beloved routines. Our feelings, along with many fans, were mixed on this approach. Should these routines be performed again, or are they only meant for the original dancers? Can an alternate, yet equally valid interpretation of the routines be presented? We discuss these questions, along with our thoughts on the somewhat shocking elimination of Amelia in this podcast!

We found it very useful to compare the original performances against the new ones. In the time stamps above we’ve linked to blog posts that have both routines embedded for easy viewing.

Let us know what you think after listening to the podcast! You can leave us a comment here or on our blog, Reflections on Pop Entertainment. You can also follow us on Twitter and tweet with us. You can also visit our Facebook page, like us, and leave a comment there! We love feedback and will respond either with a comment or in our next published show.

August 22, 2012 I Written By

Over the past few years my fiancée Meghan slowly brought me into the world of television, turning me into a full-fledged fan of both scripted and reality shows. So You Think You Can Dance turned into one of my favorite reality shows as it is a competition that takes itself seriously, providing the audience with artistic choreography and talented dancers. It's certainly not something I ever expected to get emotionally invested in, but here I am! Meghan and I are very analytic when it comes to the things we enjoy. We constantly discussed and analyzed shows with each other and after doing this for a couple years, we decided that we should turn these discussions into a podcast. We created Reflections on Pop Entertainment, a podcast that provides commentary and analysis of popular entertainment as found in visual mediums, particularly television and film. So You Think You Can Dance Season 8 is the first television series we're covering with weekly podcasts and has allowed us to find our voice as well as actively contribute to the fan community. We hope that you'll enjoy our installments as they are posted to Pure So You Think You Can Dance!

*It’s Almost Time to Reveal the All-Stars!!*

Hi everyone and happy Monday! I hope everyone had a great 4th of July holiday! As we get into Top 12 week, I thought I’d whip up a speculation post about the All-Stars! Unlike last season where Nigel gradually introduced who would be the All-Stars via Twitter, my thought is that they’re going to be introduced during the week between the Top 12 elimination (which is going to be so hard!) and the Top 10 performance show. Though, he might also just wait and introduce all of them on the Top 10 show. I’ve been wracking my brain (and watching way too much YouTube) to figure out who some of the All-Stars might be. If I had complete show control, these are some of the dancers I’d bring back:

#1 Robert Roldan: with the amount of time he’s spent on screen this season as an assistant as well as filling in for Mitchell during week 1 (he almost had to fill in on the most recent show, Mitchell’s foot was super swollen. Robert had his costume on and everything but Mitchell stepped up to the plate and delivered a fabulous performance with Caitlynn), I’d be SHOCKED if Robert wasn’t an All-Star this season. Not only is he an amazing dancer, but the public has really embraced him, even more than last year I think. Plus, he’s pretty easy on the eyes which might help dancers like Jordan and Ryan who seem to be having trouble getting the audience to vote for them.

Robert and Kathryn’s contemporary (top 6 week)-Stacey Tookey. I think this is the best he looked the whole season, and his partnership with Kathryn was absolutely amazing, the best partnership of the whole season. You can see through the whole piece how much he gives of himself to his partner, part of the reason he’d make a perfect All-Star. (sorry for the poor video quality, it was the only one I could find where embedding was allowed)

Katee Shean: I’m not sure if people remember that she actually stepped in as an All-Star last season when Allison Holker injured her ribs. She danced a Spencer Liff broadway number with Billy and the judges say it was the best they had ever seen Billy dance. Seeing her on the SYTYCD stage again made me remember what an incredible dancer she is. I’m embedding her “Imagine” number with Will from S4, a number I think should rank in the top 3 of the best dances in the history of the series. What the two of them did in that number is nothing short of extraordinary.

I would also be overjoyed to see Will as an All-Star, he’s an incredible dancer and it would be great to see how much he’s grown in 4 years since the show.

*your All-Star choices*
Kayla Radomski (S5) In the history of SYTYCD, Kayla has to be in the top 3 of the most physically talented girls ever to be on the show. For me, technique-wise, she’s tops. Kayla’s problem during her season was that she didn’t have much of a personality. She wasn’t boring, she just wasn’t very expressive and had trouble connecting to the audience. She began to break barrier near the end of the season, her jive with Evan during the finale was the most fun I saw her have on stage since her incredible week 1 samba with Max. Her partnership with Kupono was unexpectedly great and definitely kept her going in the competition.

Mia Michaels won a very well-deserved emmy for “Addiction” but it wouldn’t have been the same without Kayla and Kupono’s electric chemistry and partnership.

Janette Manrara (S5) Personality-wise, Janette is a great choice right off the bat. She’s also really good at multiple styles which is definitely a plus. If they’re doing a “pool” of all-stars, I want Janette in it because the ballroom, particularly the latin ballroom, this season has been pretty mediocre (this is me still being annoyed that Iveta and Nick were knocked out too early). For me, season 5 is a really underrated season, Jeanine, Kayla, Melissa, and Janette as the top 4 girls that season, that’s a pretty stacked group!

here’s Janette and Brandon’s Wade Robson “Ruby Blue” jazz number, my favorite of theirs from season 5, this also makes me miss the old stage and the stairs!

Ashleigh and Ryan DiLello (S6)
Ballroom is a tough category for All-Stars, since our best (Lacey, Dmitry, Chelsie) are all under contract with DWTS. I LOVED having Pasha and Anya back last season, and because of the lack of available ballroom All-Stars my best guess is that it will either be Pasha and Anya again or Ryan and Ashleigh. They’ve also been seen on camera helping out Jason Gilkison.

here’s their jive from the finale

and each with another partner doing ballroom
ryan and kathryn’s cha cha

ashleigh and jakob’s cha cha

Sara von Gillern (S3)
the idea of sara and tadd working together right now is making me giddy!! she is the only b-girl ever to be on the show, but sara’s adaptability was outstanding. I’m not really sure they could legitimately making breaking a category because it is so much about strength and practice, and we didn’t really see her do hip hop, but I would love to see her as an all-star.

I’m embedded one of the best performances in all 8 seasons, sara and pasha’s West Coast Swing 🙂

Legacy (S6)
I miss Legacy! I’m not sure any of us thought, at the top 20 announcement for S6, that he was going to go as far as he did. For as much flack as the producers got for having a fall season, the fact that 3 couples (Ashleigh & Jakob, Ryan & Ellenore, Legacy & Kathryn) were 6 of the final 8 speaks to the fact that they picked people who America loved! Personality and stage presence makes Legacy an excellent choice for an All-Star

here’s his “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” number with Ellenore (another good all-star choice!)

…this is a list in progress. hit me up in the comments with your All-Star picks and I’ll add them + videos if I can find them to our big master list!

July 11, 2011 I Written By

SYTYCD rumblings

What a great show last night!! I sprinkled my thoughts here and there on other posts but overall I was really impressed. I thought I’d bring you all a smattering of SYTYCD news that I’ve seen over the past couple of weeks. Much of it comes from our friends at Entertainment Weekly

*added 6/24
I haven’t had the chance to read some of your comments about the results last night, but Kate Ward, a writer at EW.com has written an article aptly titled, “SYTYCD results make fans angry. you won’t like them when they’re angry”

I have to admit, I was pretty annoyed to see them keep Ryan after her abysmal “dance for your life”. I was watching the live feed online and it shorted out so I missed Missy’s and Iveta’s but from what I’ve heard Iveta’s was better. I saw all the guys and I thought Ricky really made his case to stay, his solo was great. Frankly, it’s not his fault Ryan seems to rather look at the camera and mug than connect with him. One of the posters recommended that they should have let all three girls and one of the boys go and kept Nick and Ricky or Nick and Wadi. I agree that Nick had a great personality and I would have loved to have seen him do contemporary with his long limbs to really see what he can do.

thoughts on this? I think it’s pretty interesting…

————

They’ve recently released their list of the 25 greatest SYTYCD performances of the past 7 seasons.

25. Kathryn and Ryan’s cha-cha (Season 6)
24. Pasha and Sara’s “Rockafella Skank” (Season 3)
23. Lauren and Twitch’s “My Chick Bad” (Season 7)
22. Lacey and Kameron Week 1 (Season 3)
21. Jakob and Ashleigh’s “Hit Me With a Hot Note” (Season 6)
20. Tranji’s “Gyrate” (Season 2)
19. Melody and Nick’s “All That Jazz”
18. Ellenore and Jakob’s “Tore My Heart”
17. Jeanine and Jason “If It Kills Me”
16. Brandon and Jeanette’s Disco
15. Katee and Joshua’s Bollywood
14. Jaimie and Hok’s “Hummingbird and the Flower”
13. Robert and Allison’s “Fix You”
12. Brandon and Jeanette’s “Ruby Blue”
11. Chelsie and Mark’s “Bleeding Love”
10. Ade and Billy’s “Mad World”
9. Danny and Lacey’s “Hip Hip Chin Chin”
8. Allison and Ivan’s “Why”
7. Kayla and Kupono’s “Addiction (Gravity)”
6. Heidi and Benji’s “Black Mambo”
5. Allison and Alex’s “Hallelujah”
4. Neil and Sabra’s “80’s Power Lunch (the table dance)”
3. Travis and Heidi’s “The Bench”
2. Katee and Joshua’s “No Air”
1. Alex and Twitch’s “Outta Your Mind”

This is a pretty stellar list, I must say, but there are a few glaring omissions. Where is Will and Katee’s spectacular pas de deux from season 4? Or Kayla and Max’s incredible WEEK 1 samba from season 5? I know this doesn’t include solos, but I don’t think anyone has topped Blake’s amazing solo from top 6 week in season 1, I’ve rewound it 100 times at least and still can’t figure out how he switches directions in his back handspring!

any other routines that didn’t make the cut?
Read more..

June 23, 2011 I Written By

Drop Dead Diva Features SYTYCD Dancers/Choreographer

Our reader Dennis wrote us about this clip from Drop Dead Diva that features quite a bit of Tyce Diorio dancing, as well as Katee Shean (S4) and Kayla Radomski (S5), though not enough of the latter to suit John. 🙂

Thanks, Dennis and everybody enjoy!

August 15, 2010 I Written By

My thoughts on Step Up 3D

As we all know Step Up 3D hit theatres this weekend, and being the dancer that I am I went and saw it Saturday afternoon. I was a little bit skeptical about the movie being in 3D but I decided to give it a chance, and I’m glad I did. The movie was awesome with some amazing dance numbers. Compared to the first two movies the third installment has a lot more dancing, so the storyline lack a little but it really doesn’t matter. I could just flat out review the entire movie but I really don’t want to spoil the movie for everyone. However I will talk about the dancing.

We all know there is a good amount of SYTYCD Alumni in this movie. Nine to be exact, Tony Bellissimo, Musa Cooper(who isn’t credited for being an extra), Cedric Gardner, Ashlee Nino, Ivan Koumaev, Katee Shean, Joshua Allen, Legacy, and of course Twitch. Twitch makes his acting debut playing a character named Jason. Twitch is a good actor, which really doesn’t surprise me. Though I did love the fact that his character like to wear glasses with punched out lens just like Twitch. His dancing in this movie is off the charts, insanely good and reminds you why he is an All Star this season and quite possibly the best hip-hop dancer to dance on the SYTYCD stage.

Much to my surprise Twitch is not the only one that has a speaking role. Joshua and Legacy had some lines as well. Some of the other dancers are easy to spot compared to others, so pay close attention to all of the dance scenes to find them; I know I didn’t spot them all. Also be on the look out for Dave Scott to show off his dance moves. Dave is also one of the choreographers and has been involved with all three of the Step Up movies. There are other recognizable faces from the first and second movie. You might recognize Harry Shum Jr. (Cable) from glee. Then there is Kendra Andrews, if you are DWTS fan she is Erin Andrews’s sister.

Overall if you are a dancer or if you like dancing then this movie is a must see. If you aren’t a big fan of the 3D movement this movie is also being shown in 2D. I suggest seeing it in 3D it make the dance numbers that much cooler. Oh and if you want to save money try checking out a matinee showing they are usually cheaper. I’m have to agree with Lauren with what she said after seeing the movie…it might just be my new favorite dance movie.

It ranked thrid at the box office for the weekend behind The Other Guys, and Inception

August 9, 2010 I Written By

Dance is one of my biggest passions. I grew up dancing at Augusta West Dance Studio (the same studio that Kathryn McCormick). I have a BFA in theatre/dance from Valdosta State University. Tap is my favorite style of dance.

Who was in Step Up 3D (Spoilers)

Okay, so, I went to see the movie yesterday with a couple of my dance friends. The movie was excellent and was pretty surprised they used up to 7 previous SYTYCD contestants in the movie. The 3D version is a definite see if your cinema is showing the 3D version

Here’s what I spotted and also caught with the end credits of who was featured:
Stephen ‘Twitch’ Boss (Season 4 Runner-Up) – Major character in the film who played Special Effects wiz Jason
Joshua Allen (Season 4 Winner) – Had a small role as part of his winner’s prize as ‘Samurai’ crew member in the first half of the movie. He wasn’t featured in the end for the final crew battle
Jonathan ‘Legacy’ Perez (Season 6 Contestant) – Had a minor role in the movie who played Legz was part of the ‘Pirate’ crew
Katee Shean (Season 4 Contestant) – Was featured as a background dancer in the Tango scene during Natalie’s Masquerade birthday party
Ashlee Nimo (Season 2 Contestant) (sorry if I got the spelling wrong) – Was part of the Pirate crew in the final crew battle
Musa Cooper (Season 2 Contestant) – Was a blink and you miss role. He was seen at the beginning of the movie where Moose started his first day at college where Moose spotted a group B-Boy dancers competing against each other outside NYU. Musa was the guy holding cash in his hand with a black hat
Cedric Gardner (Season 3 Contestant) – I didn’t notice him in the movie but spotted his name in the closing credits
Dave Scott (Choreographer) – Was featured as one of the crew members in the first crew battle of the movie couldn’t remember the Crew name sorry. He was also choreographer for the film
Hi Hat (Season 7 Los Angeles Auditions Judge) – Choreographed the steps in the movie and was also featured as judge in the final crew battle
Adam Shankman (Judge of SYTYCD) – Was Executive Producer of the film.

Share your thoughts on the movie. And if there was anybody I missed feel free to comment

August 8, 2010 I Written By

Announcing the Winners of the Master Dance Classes Hosted by Cliche Cosmetics

It was extremely hard to pick the winners of the master dance classes hosted by Cliche Cosmetics. I’m glad John had the majority decision, as senior administrator. 🙂

The dancers who won will be able to study with Katee Shean (S4), Melissa Sandvig (S5), Randi Evans (S5), Victor Smalley (S6) and Noelle Marsh (S6) in either Fort Lauderdale, New York City or Los Angeles.

With no further ado, let’s introduce you to the winners.

Fort Lauderdale’s class will be attended by Kat

New York’s class will be attended by Asia

Los Angeles’s class will be attended by Christine

Thank you to everyone who sent in their stories and who continues to dance. We can’t wait to hear how the classes go – congrats Kat, Asia and Christine!

July 15, 2010 I Written By

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.

July 14, 2010 I Written By

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!

July 8, 2010 I Written By

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” – 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” – Never 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” – You're

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” – Is

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

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

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

Dancers: Adechike Torbert and Markla (Nakul’s assistant stepped in for Alex Wong)
Style: Bollywood
Choreographer: Nakul Dev Mahajan
Song: “Mourya Re” – Mourya 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” – Man

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

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

July 7, 2010 I Written By