Your judges tonight are Nigel, a surprisingly sane Mary, and a surprisingly non-bitchy Mia Michaels.
Carla and Turk Jeanette and Brandon: cha-cha. I got home a bit late and missed this, which was annoying for me. But everybody says it was really good and frankly I think it takes a freight train at this point to keep Jeanette and Brandon out of the top 10, so I figure they’re safe.
Kayla and Kupono: contemporary. The judges raved about this – they were in a really good mood all night – but honestly, it left me cold. Technically excellent, to be sure, but I didn’t get any feeling of connection between the two of them and Sonya’s “this is about a vampire and a dying girl” theme didn’t come through for me in the dancing at all. Kayla and Kupono are rapidly becoming two of my least favourite dancers on this show. (Which doesn’t make them bad. But I’m never excited to see them dance.)
Randi and Evan: Broadway. It’s refreshing to see a Broadway piece done by someone other than Tasty Oreo, but this felt awfully lacklustre – again, the judges were overgenerous – and given that Randi and Evan have been probably one of the least challenged couples on this show (a jazz dance, a jazzy contemporary piece, a Broadway, and a jive which was mediocre) it can only come as a disappointment. Which is a shame, because it was clear from the choreo that Joni whatsername had some really great ideas that Randi and Evan just didn’t execute.
Caitlyn and Jason: pop/jazz. Brian Friedman earns my admiration for choreographing pieces that aren’t about Boy And Girl In Love. Nigel earns my scorn for complaining that Caitlyn was overclothed – yeesh, Nigel, ease up on your dirty old man vibe for once, willya? Caitlyn and Jason did well enough here to potentially avoid bottom three – at least technically, I think their connection as a couple still isn’t there – but it was a strong week and they didn’t stand out enough to erase their previous lack of karma, so I think “potentially” isn’t good enough this week to actually manage the avoidance they want.
Jeanine and Philipchbeeb: hip-hop. Someone else somewhere on the internet called Napoleon and Tabitha’s choreo “contemporary with chest pumps,” and this was a good example of how their work can devolve that way; the actual choreo was lacklustre (and the idea of the chain was just stupid, nothing short of active sabotage towards the dancers and distracting to boot) and it relied on Philipchbeeb and Jeanine killing their hits to make it acceptable (and this week she was nearly as good as he was; I suspect he has been training her, and she him). This was fine and should keep them safe.
ASIDE: I am getting really sick of the contempo-snobs on the Television Without Pity forums complaining that it is “time for Philip to go” when he’s been in three good-to-great routines, which at a minimum outpaces Kupono, Vitolio and Jason (none of whom, incidentally, have even half of Philipchbeeb’s charm and performance quality), and when he is the only non-classically-trained male dancer left on the goddamned show (and one of only two left on the entire program). He’s danced out of his wheelhouse twice and had one solid outing and one bad miss, which is about par for most of the dancers on the show (other than Brandon and Jeanette, who have barely danced in their own styles and have been murdering everything in sight). So shut up, TWOP forum people.
Melissa and Ade: pas de deux. Wow, this sure was a good way to completely destroy whatever illusion was left that the routines aren’t pre-selected for dancers. But it was very nice. Ade wasn’t quite as solid as the judges claimed, but he was good enough, and of course Melissa was excellent what with actually being a ballerina and all. (While we are discussing dancers working out-of-style: Melissa and Ade have only left their comfort zone once, for a rumba which, while excellent, was hardly a staggering digression from their classically trained background like salsa or quickstep would have been.)
Karla and Vitolio: quickstep. The judges bent over backwards to pretend that this was great. It was at best okay. Vitolio’s footwork, particularly in some of the promenades, was laboured; Karla’s parts when she wasn’t dancing in hold were overly jazzy; and both dancers just generally lacked that lovely dreamy bounce quality that good quickstep has. The two of them have good chemistry and probably would have made a better pairing right from the start, as opposed to their mostly dead-wood partners; unfortunately I think the new pairing is a case of too little too late.
Probable bottom three: Karla and Vitolio, Jason and Caitlyn, Randi and Evan.
Should go home: Karla and Vitolio.
Will go home: Karla and Jason.
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The TWoP forums can be an awful place sometimes. I remember going there during Season Three of The Office, and the level of hate for Rashida Jones was insane, just because her character was keeping Pam and Jim apart. And the Stargate threads are a black hole of negativity (even more than is deserved).
I’ve tried to get into SYTYCD, but three hours a week is just too much.
AMEN. I used to enjoy the TWoP forum when there were a lot of dancers chiming in, but it’s too negative for me now.
Tonight’s show was fun for me. All the couples delivered more than before, even if there hasn’t been the season-stopping number yet. And Mary dialed it down, and Mia gave good critiques. Jean Marc redeemed himself with a charming quickstep after last week’s cheesetastic paso. I got a kick out of the alien reverse impregnation routine.
Here’s my theory, which I realize is a stretch: the producers attempt to randomly select the dancers’ dances. They see what’s available, they assign and then, this week, they saw they had the pas de deux (Classic, not diet) and switched J&P and M&A so that a couple capable of a pas de deux got it, thus explaining why J&P got a repeat as they would get a guaranteed pass, protecting them from producers’ tomfoolery. It’s a pretty ignorant theory, but I can’t think of any other explanation for the repeat and the pas de deux. Speaking of, poor Rayven Armijo must be ready to kick the chair out from under her, as she’s a ballerina who wore pointe shoes and is forgotten.
The cha-cha was lackluster (stateside spellin’, yo) in my opinion, because while it was well danced, neither of them lit it on fire. They didn’t seem to want to bone each other nor were they even flirty. I realize now that they haven’t had to use any type of sexy chemistry between each other yet and that lacked. I thought I didn’t get K&K’s routine, but now I realize I wasn’t alone in thinking it wasn’t invigorating. I’m starting to think Sonya is kind of limited–I feel I’ve seen this routine before. Randi and Evan’s routine makes me want to see Joey Dowling to fight Sonya. Joey wants to be the baddest bitch around and I want her to be put in her place. Poor Caitlyn. They’re just like, She’s not gonna win, so let’s make her look as stupid as possible until then. Any serious prospect would not have been put in a Sleestak costume. I really liked their routine though, even though I hate Brian Friedman. Jeanine & Philip are adorable. Jeanine is a really good actress and I liked the chain idea–not amazingly executed, but cool. Pas de deux was boring as fuck but beautiful and technically fantastic. I love Melissa–it’s a shame that she won’t win as she will succumb to osteoporosis more sooner than later. The quickstep was better than expected but not great. The slow of the QQS was muddled and Vitolio’s posture was not good most of the time. I also don’t like the storyline as the evil statue tricks Karla into his stone prison by the end.
The Dizzyfeet segment was ridiculous and overblown–we get it, there are under privileged people out there who like to dance but that may have been overwhelmed by the huge pat on the back Nigel & Co are giving themselves. Beyond that, they’re only helping 10 people? Why not 10 studios or something? American Idol took in nearly $1 billion in ad revenue, so 19 entertainment and Fox could probably cover a little more–not that they’re obligated, but they probably made quite a bit more than their giving just in the commercial break before this segment. Further more, shouldn’t Adam Shankman know that there are accreditation organizations alread? IDTA, ISTD, DVIDA. The first two do everything, the third, pretty much just ballroom. Realize, Lythgoe & Co (sounds better), that SYTYCD isn’t as revolutionary as you think.
Also, by this time last year, they did two routines. Grow a pair, S5.
Sorry about the huge comment.
The IDTA and ISTD barely touch hip-hop, and don’t come into contact with a lot of international dance forms either. An accreditation organization that actually properly interacted with the hip-hop dance community would have an advantage over either.
They really should quit calling them hip-hop routines. Please.
Amen on the STFU forum comments.
Though I’d like to see Caitlyn and Jason go, and I think I have a good chance of getting it.
I really like Caitlyn’s and Jason’s pop/jazz. It’s routines (and music) like that that first got me hooked on the show. The judges’ less than glowing critique of it/them seemed out of place to me. My sense is Nigel and Co. are telegraphing their elimination preferences which, if correct, means Karla is safe and Caitlyn is going home.