The night was kicked started by an out of this world group number choreographed by second season Alum, Travis Wall.
Janette & Evan – Jazz
For the first half of the dance I was simply stunned by Janette’s cat-like grace. Then I realized that everything I was in awe of was really prompted by Evan – his partnering skills were spot on.
Kayla – Solo
Kayla has a queenly grace that is beautiful to watch.
Jeanine & Brandon – Waltz
This left my feeling oddly lacking. There was enough power, enough connection, enough… something.
The halfway point marks a dramatic change in the competition – there was a girls group and guys group dance, new partnerships, and everyone dancing a solo. The voting also under went a change, with the judging panel bowing out leaving America to vote for individuals instead of partners.
This week the fluff is gone to be replaced with a LOT of hard work. Each couple danced twice and danced to win, because only the top 10 couples go on to dance on the tour.
Melissa & Ade – Disco
This was just exceptional. Fun, fast, flirty, everything the disco is about.
Kayla & Kupono – Contemporary
This numbers gave me chills and left me speechless. The intensity coming off of these two dancers was just mind blowing.
Caitlin & Jason – Foxtrot
This dance just oozed sophistication and class, the basic rise and fall was beautiful and the lifts were lovely.
Jeanine & Philip – Russian Folk
I was disappointed by this number. Folk dancing is a very simple style of dance, but even so there really wasn’t a lot of content to this dance.
This weeks fluff was a recap of the Highs and Lows of the last month. Janette told us about how much she loved her rocker girl costume, Kayla and Kupono talked about the challenge of getting a new partner, Evan mentioned how much he liked working with all the different choreographers, Caitlin shared how much pressure there is being in the bottom three two weeks in a row, Philip explained that he knew the moment his paint ripped, Melissa talked about how much she loved the first live show and Karla teared up over losing her partner last week.
Nigel Lythgoe announced today that he is teaming up with director Adam Shankman, “Dancing with the Stars” judge Carrie Ann Inaba and actress Katie Holmes to launch the Dizzy Feet Foundation, a foundation for the dance community that will provide scholarships and assistance to talented underserved youth to help them realize their dreams of becoming professional dancers and will also help elevate and standardize dance instruction nationwide.
This episodes fluff bit was “If you weren’t a dancer…”. We had dreams of being a jewelry maker, pilates instructor, set and lighting designer, banker, model, costume designer, teacher, newscaster, soccer star, inventor and actress.
Karla & Jonathan – Hip Hop
This was a rather bland program. True, there were some cool partnered moves, but over all there was nothing to pull me in.
Asuka & Vitolio – Jazz
Mandy Moore created an amazing routine, but it was lacking the almost frantic energy needed to match the song.
Melissa & Ade – Rumba
What a stunning dance! The emotional connection was just smoldering, the technique was wonderful and Malissa’s costume was beautiful.
Last week saw Paris and Tony’s departure from the contest (I so called it!).
The big fluff bit of the week was “Big Secrets!”, so we found out about Randi talking to her dog on the phone, Ade’s full name is even harder to pronounce then Kupono’s, Caitlin can do a dinosaur impersonation, Brandon has never been to a gym, Asuka blows spit bubbles, Max likes to cook (OMG! Likes to dance AND COOKS!!! Marry me!!!), Jonathan sings — badly, Jeanine has a teddy bear and on her first day of school, Ashley threw up.
This was the first week of competition and our introduction to the ten couples.
Jeanine & Philip – Hip Hop
It was okay. The choreography was amazing, but it was lacking the emotional connection that we’ve seen in dances like last season’s “No Air” by Joshua and Katee or “Bleeding Love” by Mark and Chelsea.
Day one of Vegas Week started off with a bang. All the dancer were asked to perform a solo and the first round of cuts were handed down.
The afternoon session of hip-hop with Tabitha and Napoleon D’umo continued the cuts and those who manged to remain went to bed hopeful.
The morning of day two was spent with Jean-Marc and France Généreux learning a waltz that sent 16 dancers home, while the afternoon’s jazz routine with Sonya Tayeh saw the departure of last season’s runner up Natalie – an action that shocked everyone in the competition.
This led into my favorite night of Vegas Week: Group Numbers!!!!
Take three to six dances from different style backgrounds, who have never danced together, some of whom have never had to create their own steps, then deprive them of sleep. The drama writes its self.
This process also lead to my favorite quote from Adam Shankman, “That was so convention 101. Barf!”
Day three continued to get harder with a contemporary number from Mia Michaels that cut another 13 dancers.
Tyce Diorio took over day four with two amazing Broadway numbers from West Side Story. First the girls got spicy with “America”, then the boys tried to play it cool with “Crazy Boy”. Another round of cuts left us with just 16 girls and 16 guys.
Tonight night the top 20 will be reviled. There are some dancers that I really like that I’m sure won’t get in, there are others who I think should have been cut two days ago that might make it, but the only thing I know for sure is that the dancing with be amazing!
“So You Think You Can Dance” airs Tonight at 9:00pm on Fox.
The last two weeks we’ve slogged through the open audition rounds. The producers have given us the usual mix of amazing, mediocre, funny and what-were-they-thinking.
My favorite moment of the auditions was judge Adam Shankman’s impromptu swing dance. Adam has become world famous for his choreography in movies like Hairspray, The Wedding Planner, She’s All That and Blast From the Past, but it’s still a treat to see the man himself in motion.
This week is Vegas Week, where the dancing talent is brought up to the next level and the top 20 is selected . I know my DVR is set so I won’t miss a moment of it.
So You Think You Can Dance airs this week on Wednesday at 8:00pm and Thursday at 9:00pm.
