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SYTYCD Top 6 Performance Thoughts (Final Part I)

I’m so excited for tonight’s show. But just a bit cranky, also. One hour for the Top 6 finale performances. Insane. No solos. Which, is annoying. I’m not sure how much the solos would change from what we’ve already seen. But…anybody else remember Jeanine’s finale solo from last season? I sure do.

My thoughts tonight, as they happened…

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December 15, 2009 I Written By

SYTYCD Top 8 Results Thoughts

I made my predictions last night and called them the “easy” solution to a hard choice. But in the meantime, I remembered how much Ashleigh’s grown on me and how many phenomenal routines Ryan’s had this season. And then, I wondered how Ryan’s plea for Ashleigh would impact whether they’d continue to the Top 6. And your comments scared me on behalf of Ellenore. I wonder what’s gonna happen tonight.

My thoughts, as the show unfolded…

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December 9, 2009 I Written By

SYTYCD Top 8 Performance Thoughts

It’s not that far into the show, but I’m already getting the feeling that the couples I worried about having chemistry aren’t gonna do so badly afterall. My thoughts, as they happened:

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December 8, 2009 I Written By

SYTYCD Top 10 Results Thoughts

Well…no Season 5 Top 10. Sorry for that one, y’all. My bad. Must be next week. I’m a bit bummed after tonight’s show. Not just the results, but also finding out there are only two more weeks of Season 6. The finale is going to be between 6 dancers, which seems a bit…much… The results are going to be very strange, I think, because we won’t have gotten to see them dance as many routines over an extended amount of time like in previous seasons. And how long is this finale going to be? Cause if it’s only 2 hours with 6 final dancers… that seems really unfair and like a total gip, really.

As for the rest of my thoughts…

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December 2, 2009 I Written By

SYTYCD Top 10 Performance Thoughts

Let me get right into this, because I feel like we kinda dived RIGHT into the show from the very beginning (i.e. why aren’t we getting to see video packages about the new partnerships??)…

-Judging by our poll earlier today, everybody underestimated Noelle and Ryan (including me). They only got one vote for the couple that would fare the best this week. And yeah, it’s early in the show, but that Nappytabs routine was HOT! And yes, they did have terrific chemistry. I feel like we saw an entirely different side of both of them and I’m with Mary – super excited to see their next routine together tonight.

-No offense to Gary Stuart, but that was contemporary? It looked waaay more like hip hop. Which is probably why Nigel had to explain his style. While I admired many parts of that routine, it kinda bored me. It seemed more about tricks rather than substance. And it seemed like Ashleigh was lifting Legacy rather than him ever lifting her. Oddly, despite all those negative comments, I was pretty proud of both of them. They “just attack[ed],” as Adam said (sorta). But I feel like this was another instance of the judges trying to “fix” a weird/hard to understand/boring routine with their comments.

-Of course Mollee has to talk about being in HSM. I mean, how do you not? But I was somehow a bit disappointed… Her brother was really cute talking about his awesome sister.

-I loved seeing Russell’s parents talk about his dancing and watching him on t.v. So cute. And Russell killed his solo! He had so much attitude and confidence out there. Awesome.

-Just as I hoped, Kathryn made a man out of that mancub! She grew him up! She’s only a year older, but she dances with so much more maturity than he’s shown so far. I loved watching them in this Spencer Liff Broadway routine. It was so fun and cute and ON. But I kept thinking, “Heavenly” about Kathryn. She is a dream. She kept reminding me of Rose McGowan in this routine, for some reason.

-Noelle’s solo was great and I loved her interview, finding out about her trying out for Season 5 and what it took to audition again and graduate school. Love her.

-That was a BIG scream for Ryan right before the commercial. 🙂

-Elleanore and Jakob’s quickstep was cute and entertaining, but I’m glad this routine was first so they can kill it with something a bit more charismatic at the end. 🙂 I think they did admirably and quickstep is just hard to enjoy sometimes. But I thought Tony & Melanie had a funny concept staging it like a ballroom competition.

-Hmmm. Ryan’s solo was one thin shirt away from a cheesy Chippendale’s act. Love him, but that was really…not the best use of his skills. But maybe this illustrates the difficulty ballroom dancers have with the solos.

-Kathryn’s solo was a lot of fun. Loved the song. She’s from Georgia like me! 🙂

-Mandy Moore loves her 80s music. I thought both Mollee and Russell were dancing well, but I disagreed with the judges about there chemistry. I think they have it and they’ll be able to show it more later. BUT, I didn’t feel it so much in this routine because it seemed like they were kinda performing separately. Maybe you disagree with me. But I did love that crazy, unexpected lift near the end that Nigel mentioned.

-Adam cracks me up. Loose quote – “I need medical attention after that. Please don’t dance so well in the future.” 🙂

-Wow, Nathan was really close to tears after his solo (pretty solid), which was strange since Cat was talking about someone being eliminated tomorrow while holding onto him and he looked so upset you’d almost think he just got cut. But I could totally see where he was coming from.

-I love the Noelle/Ryan partnership as much as the judges do (Adam called them a “power partnership”) and that was certainly gorgeous. It was really dreamy… It didn’t have as much pizazz their hip hop. I thought Nigel actually described it very well when he said they were like the prince and princess at the end of a Disney movie falling in love.

-Elleanore’s sole was kick ass!!! She is always quirky and interesting and strong.

-Man, I disagreed with the judges on this Ashleigh & Legacy routine as well. I actually liked this one better than the Gary Stuart and felt that if one of these two choreographers should have been called to task, it should’ve been Gary Stuart rather than Dave Scott. I think the routine would have been amazing with different dancers. I liked them okay in it – they had a lot of character and personality where they might not have been in sync. I felt like two things really hurt this routine – and it’s going to sound like I’m contradicting myself here. First, the more major production on the larger stage (flames in the background, etc.) was distracting and second, I would’ve liked to have seen the idea behind this routine (vampire?) and the two discovering their partnership. This is the weakest new partnership to me by far.

-I could see the weaknesses of Kathryn & Nathan’s rumba, but I still somehow enjoyed it. I think Kathryn was a huge part of that cause she was all in. But Nathan was strong and I think he not only supporter her, but showed that he’s building his repertoire and learning with every dance. I think this was a pretty successful new couple, but I did prefer their other routine. Hope to see them dance together again.

-Wow, was that a standing ovation (or something close?) after Legacy’s solo. It was pretty cool, but I actually enjoyed Russell and Elleanore’s solos much better. His dad and Cat were pretty funny. “Are you busting a move?”

-The moment I’ve been waiting for! THIS was why I was glad the quickstep was first, so that we could be left with this memory of Ellenore & Jakob. This combined some of my favorite things: Oona & Dave, Sonya, Jakob and Elleanore. Amazing!!!! Now that sounded like a standing ovation and yes, yes it was. I loved that this is now the 3rd Sonya routine that Nigel has claimed as his favorite this season. Loved that Adam mentioned “The Garden” routine from Courtney and Mark. And then the judges standing and clapping for them together. Brilliant! Who else thinks these two are gonna be in the Top 4?

-Ashleigh finally came to play with her solo! That was pretty awesome and had a lot of personality. Not to mention, speed. But…was the harsh lipstick back? And I would’ve liked to have heard about something else rather than her illness growing up, since we’ve heard about it before. But it was good to see her mom talk about it and I guess she can’t talk about Ryan. But, there’s got to be something else we can learn about her? Great solo, though.

-This Anya & Pasha jive was perfect for Mollee & Russell and I agree with Nigel that it must’ve sucked to follow Elleanore & Jakob and they did a great job doing it. It had a couple awkward “setting up” instances, I think, but was really fun and high-energy and I’m loving this new partnership, too. I agree that Mollee’s grown up a lot in the last week or so. At least, her dancing has. And Russell rocks. They had another interesting arm lift/twirl/whatever at the end of this one, too, which was kinda strange and cool.

-Jakob’s solo was good, but not the strongest of the night. 🙂 But that’s okay.

Overall, I really missed the “packages” where we got to see the new partnerships develop, but I imagine there was just too much to do in this one episode, especially considering they were preceded by President Obama’s Address to the Nation. I hope we get to see a little of them tomorrow. I’m looking forward to seeing Quest Crew and what happens tomorrow.

December 1, 2009 I Written By

SYTYCD Top 12 Performance Thoughts

Hey SYTYCD fanatics. I’ll unfortunately be unable to blog this week and might even miss seeing the shows entirely! If I can watch the shows, I’ll probably post something, but it’ll be much later than usual. I’m counting on you to fill me in about the show and tell me everything you think in the comments, as it may be the only way I’ll get to experience the shows this week. :'( If you feel especially brave, maybe you’ll risk predicting the Top 10 in a power ranking type fashion. (Amanda? Here’s your chance!) John will post the music, though it may be later than usual as he’s in Las Vegas and not East Coast-ish like me. 🙂 Feel free to comment on the music as well and we’ll put up iTunes links as always. So sorry for this disruption and I hope you have fun discussing the Top 12 performance episode.

November 24, 2009 I Written By

SYTYCD Top 14 Results Thoughts

We’re getting closer to closer to Top 10 and the big switch up, so this is an important results show. Especially after such an amazing performance episode. I’m mixed about these results…

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November 18, 2009 I Written By

SYTYCD Top 14 Performance Thoughts

The night I’ve been looking forward to has come upon us! The music was incredible and so were the performances! My thoughts follow after the break. I hope you’ll comment with yours.

-I’m liking Ashleigh more and more each week and I really enjoyed this Nappytabs hip hop with Jakob. I’m still not sure how Ashleigh would fare without a strong partner like Jakob, but I’m slowly becoming convinced that she just might hold her own. She was fascinating in this routine and really surprising.

-I enjoyed seeing Karen do something besides “smolder,” and I think it’s really inappropriate for Nigel/the producers to keep trying to box her into this niche. I was surprised that no one said “if *Kevin’s* friends could see him now,” before Adam that is. I really appreciated Adam’s comments. It reminded me why I’m so glad he’s a permanent judge. It was a cute routine that didn’t quite gel, but I thought they did a solid job and they both surprised me. It was cute when Kevin leaned over to kiss her.

-Loved the foxtrot! Not even so much for the choreography, though I think Eddie Simon did wonders with the two of them. They just looked like they were having an obscene about of fun together, which made it really fun to watch. Adam nailed it when he said it had a lot of “joy.” It was so hard not to smile along with them while they danced. And you really could see the improvement Russell had made and that will get him far–demonstrating that he can improve that much just in a matter of weeks when given the same style. And Nigel was right that Noelle doesn’t disappear into Russell’s shadow. They’re very giving to each other and they both shine.

-Channing smiled! She really seemed to be enjoying herself. So, apparently she just has to pretend to be an animal to visibly relax and enjoy dancing. 🙂 In her package, she said who wouldn’t want to be a cat and in this, she was a bird. This was really fun and I loved the movement they achieved and the “characters” of the curious, playful birds. Adam was right that the music was really, really distracting though. Not my favorite version of “Blackbird.” I much prefer the Dionne Farris version Cirque du Soleil - Kà - Pursuit that Kayla danced to last season. But their movement always pulled me back in when I got distracted by the music.

-WHOA on the paso doble! This may be my favorite paso doble on any season of SYTYCD. This was intense and sexy and soooo good. They had a little awkwardness at the end, with her wrapped around him, but this was just stunning. A really good moment for the two of them. It was like a movie. My impression of both of these dancers is changing dramatically, but Legacy particularly impressed in this one.

-I’m so sad I don’t live in L.A. after seeing that Dizzy Feet package. I’m so glad we got to meet some of the dancers the foundation is helping! But they need to figure out some way to enable fans who can’t make L.A. to see the gala! Maybe a Pay-Per-View release after the gala, or a DVD release? Come on, I’m dying to see all those dancers!

-LOVING Travis Wall!! He is incredible! He brings so much out in his dancers and he was *exactly* what Elleanore and Ryan needed after that disastrous routine last week. So beautiful and full. It was an entire relationship encapsulated in a few minutes and I thought they were both incredible.

-Again, I think Laurieann Gibson was *just* what Mollee and Nathan needed this week. They needed her crazy boot camp to get down to business and dig deep. I enjoyed the performance a lot, but it didn’t stand out as much as a few of the other routines. Mollee was a little sexy and she was definitely powerful. Nathan looked so confused at Nigel’s comments, kinda like, “He’s saying positive things, but he’s saying them in a really negative way.” I’d be confused, too, but I see Nigel’s point and I think he made it a lot more professionally this week. Still nearly made Nathan cry, I think.

-Cat was HYSTERICAL and adorable tonight. I loved it especially when she did a Travis Wall impression. Lol.

Keep your eyes peeled for my Power Rankings. Dunno how I’m gonna do this one.

November 17, 2009 I Written By

SYTYCD Top 16 Results Thoughts

I’m so excited that we have more control over the dancers’ fates. That being said…I have NO idea how this vote’s gonna go and it makes me so nervous. I particularly don’t want to lose Peter.

My thoughts, as they happen –

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November 11, 2009 I Written By

SYTYCD Top 16 Performance Thoughts

I’m so excited for tonight’s show! Our first chance to vote this season. I wonder what will happen tonight to help us make this difficult decision.

My thoughts? Let’s put some spoiler space up…

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November 10, 2009 I Written By