SYTYCD - Top 6 Results!

Ooooh, we are getting so close to having a winner, I can hardly stand it - this season has absolutely flown by!

And there's Cat, looking like she just joined us from Emerald City, all sparkling and green...

Our Top 6 Group number is choreographed by Tyce Dorio (I think I go out of my way to spell his name differently each time...) and danced to Send in the Clowns by Judy Collins. This one is nice and mellow with great musicality and expressions. I like the costumes and the lighting. It's not a wow! number, but it's good.





We get right into it by lining up the last 3 girls, Melissa never missing the chance to stick out her foot on pointe... Cat's going to put someone straight through to the finale and that lucky girl is Jeanine, and man! Is she ever happy! I love when Cat asks C if he thinks she's a worthy finalist. Better hope he does, otherwise it could be ... awkward ... But of course, she's fantastic, dedicated, so on and so forth.

We'll find out a bit later who the other girl is to join her.

More Emmy nominations from seasons gone by. We'll be seeing 4 of them tonight, and the first one is Jessica and Will doing a Tyce piece to Silence from the Unfaithful soundtrack. As I watch this I can't help but think I don't like Jessica any more than I did the first time around. I certainly wouldn't have thought her a candidate for replays in future shows... But hey, Will has a beard! That's new, isn't it?

On to the the guys, and I have to say, I am so over Ade's pick in the hair thing. Again, we're going to send someone straight through to next week, and who could it be... are we going to go with the obvious selection? Yes, we are. Brandon has made it through, looking a bit dazed and shaky. Mary can't resist the opportunity to call out Mia and C on not thinking he was even good enough to make the Top 20. I have to wonder if some of that was a bit of a put on, because honestly, who couldn't see right from the get go that he's got it going on...

Another Emmy for Mia with her Katie and Twitch number to Mercy by Duffy. I wasn't blown away by this one last year, but it's fun enough to watch again.

And yet another flashback, this one from Chelsea and Josh. Honestly, I don't even remember this one! Did I miss this episode? A tango choreographed by Dimitri Chaplin to A Los Amigos from Forever Tango. It's good enough, I suppose, but it doesn't leave me breathless or anything...

On to the solos, which are the same as last night, so not much to add. Melissa is up first, followed by Ade.

A special performance up next by the Jabbawockeez, which I thought was amazing! Kind of creepy and eerie and a very cool song - Freak-a-zoid by Midnight Star. Loved the costuming and the crisp, sharp movements in this one. I could seriously watch them all night long.

The last of the replay dances, and this one is one of my favorites from last year. Mark and Chelsea dancing to probably the best thing Napoleon and Tabitha have ever put together to Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis. Couldn't even count how often I've watched this one on my own time, I just love it.

The last of the solos from Kayla and Evan, repeats from last night.

And a performance by Sean Paul that I didn't watch. I'm just in it for the results now...

And here we go. The last 2 girls, Melissa and Kayla.

Melissa has a look on her face that tells me she knows it's all over. And right she is. We watch her See Ya Later montage, and I don't feel moved at all, which is very unlike me, considering I cry at most everything.

And lastly, the 2 guys, Ade and Evan. Oddly Evan has the same look on his face, like he can hear the parting music in his head. Except... what the... he's safe! Man, I would have taken a bath on that one in Vegas if I had any money down on those results. Wow. Never would have put him in the Top 4. I'm... happy, cuz I really do enjoy him. I just... I don't know... But hey, America must know what they are doing...!

So there you have it, and we are only 1 week away from knowing who America's favorite dancer is... Is it Kayla? Or will Brandon leave them all (except Mary, of course) with egg on their face...

Or maybe we'll be shocked again with an unlikely result?

Guess we'll have to wait and see!

Good night!

SYTYCD - Top 6 Performace!

We’re nearly at the end, folks. Here we are for the Top 6 performance show. Each couple is doing two dances tonight, in addition to a girls group number, a guys group number and solos. Should be a packed full evening.

Joining us on the judging panel tonight is Lil C. We haven’t seen nearly enough Lil C this season and I am particularly dismayed that we haven’t had a Krump routine. I’m hoping it’s because Lil C has been working heavily on Season 6, so we’ll see a lot more of him then.

Up first we’ve got the guys working with Sonya Tayeh for the group routine. It’s Willy Wonka-esque. From rehearsals it looks like it’s going to be fun. The guys are dancing to ‘True Romance’ by She Wants Revenge and they’re done up in whacked out sort of suit costumes with neon green highlights. Though I must say they are badly placed neon green highlights.There’s some very cool throws and flips. The boys are very sharp and together. Evan’s sort of standing out to me in this piece. He seems to do quirky the best out of the three of them. Well done guys.




Sonya’s standing up in the audience cheering for them. Lil C loved it, calls Brandon dedicated, says Ade’s proving it, and commends Evan for not getting swallowed by the other two. Mary just loved it, yes she did. She was impressed with their synchronicity. Nigel says Evan stood out of the three. He congratulates all three.

First up for the couples are Jeanine and Ade. They’re doing a Samba with Louis Van Amstel. It’s non-traditional and suggestive apparently. They’re dancing to ‘LoveGame’ by...ugh...Lady GA GA (I’ve decided I’m going to say it like Nigel says it all the time now). Jeanine’s definitely got the hips down. I know nothing about the technicalities here, but these two look really good doing this piece. Oh, wait....those turns look messy...really messy. Ade looks like he has to ‘catch up’ here and there. Jeanine’s definitely the stronger of the two here. Started out well... Why at this point is Ade still sloppy in some of these routines? I sometimes get the feeling that he's not taking this very seriously.




Mary says the first 15 seconds were great and then it fell apart. I sort of agree. Lil C says Jeanine looks amazing and he was excited about the partnership. Unfortunately the piece fell short for him. Nigel says Ade didn’t get down enough but thought Jeanine did a wonderful job.

First solo of the night is Kayla dancing to ‘You Found Me’ by The Fray. Her extensions are just lovely, really. I really like the fact that she’s able to be sharp and soft all in one piece. I didn't like this solo as much as I usually do with hers, I'm not sure why... It felt a bit frantic to me...

Back from commercial and we’re on to Melissa and Evan doing a Broadway number with Tyce. Evan’s really into it. They’re dancing to ‘Get Me To The Church On Time’ from My Fair Lady, performed by Matt Dusk. Hmmm....they both seem to be making great efforts with their facial expressions, but I’m not getting a lot of energy in the dancing. Again, Broadway’s not really my thing, but I’m not feeling this at all. It was cute, but not final 4 caliber. This was just "meh" for me unfortunately. Too bad really because isn't Broadway supposed to be Evan's strength? You know, I kind of put this one on to the choreography. I thought it was going to be really good, but there just didn't seem to be a lot for them to grab on to, and it really fell short.





Lil C is disappointed that Evan didn’t take the helm. He says they both did really good but there was something missing. Mary seems to think it was Finale worthy. It was entertaining for her...which I imagine doesn’t take much. Perhaps just a shiny object waving in the wind (bwah!). Nigel praises Melissa for adapting so well to all the styles and thinks Evan brought enough personality to the routine. I’m not sure at this point we should be praising ‘enough’. I want more!

Up next for solos is Ade dancing to ‘18th Floor Balcony’ by Blue October. This piece seems better composed than last week’s. His spins are really good. Well done.

Now we’ve got Kayla and Brandon. Powerhouse coupling. And right before Finale Week... good timing for them, I'm thinking... They’re doing Contemporary with Stacey Tookey. It’s a piece about two people in an extra marital affair. This looks like it’ll be a challenging routine. Song choice is ‘All I Want’ by Ahn Trio. Kayla looks fantastic here and...oh! Brandon lost his shirt! Yay! I’m not really sure about the lighting on this. You can’t see Brandon’s face at all and it seems to be taking away from the piece. I agree but I think maybe the point was that it was supposed to be more about Kayla's feelings than Brandon's ~ and in that case the lighting hiding Brandon's face was appropriate. The movement is beautiful, but without being able to see his expression cuts off the connection to him for me. Again, the dancing is fantastic...there’s just a little something missing. Not for me - this was my favourite routine tonight.




Lil C says it was really intense and beyond amazing. Kayla’s a beast and this is the first time she was with a partner equally matched to her. I agree with C here. Mary says it was exquisite, perfection. Nigel agrees with the others and praises Stacey Tookey’s choreography. He would’ve liked to see them together sooner...hinting that they didn’t quite have the chemistry, but technically they were fantastic. Whole heartedly agree, Nigel.

Solos again with Melissa dancing to ‘I Put a Spell on You’ by Nina Simone (seriously the best version of this song ever). Sadly, the solo is pretty boring. You’ve only got thirty seconds here...it needs to have impact and this didn’t. This is just more of the same from Melissa...so "meh" from me on this.

Now I’m going to shake things up a bit and head out! I have somewhere I have to be, so Carly’s going to pick it up where I left off for the second half of the show. Enjoy the rest of it!

Good Evening dance fans! Sorry about the delay ~ my toddler was a bit of a nightmare tonight so I was unable to get to this until much later than I wanted.

Okay, moving on into hour 2 and first up we have Jeanine and Ade, with a Hip Hop routine by Tabitha & Napoleon Dumo (no I don't say NappyTabs - sheesh). The song is 'Move (If Ya Wanna)' by MIMS. The theme/story is a couple of room-mates who have been evicted from their apartment and are pissed! about it. This couple is really projecting the heavy, angry feeling of the piece. I like the use of the boxes integrated with the dancing ~ though I have moved MANY times in my life and I've never had boxes that light. I liked this very much. BUT am I going to be hated if I say that I think Jeanine is a better dancer than Ade? This boy has coasted I think on the strength of his partners. He's strong but something is missing for me. I thought Ade did get more into this one than he usually does... but I'm not really connected to him one way or the other, so I'm usually left feeling a bit 'whatever'...





Lil'C says that he thinks they "danced that WAY better" than he thought they would...and a lot of other gobbledegoook that I didn't follow. Mary goes back to the Samba of earlier and says she feels bad that she didn't tell Jeanine that she was "terrific". Nigel says Mary was "a bit mean" and mentions his ex-wife's divorce attorney(??). Mary goes on to say this in this routine, Ade & Jeanine were "tremendous". Nigel says we the audience could have been applauding the choreography and not the dancing - but we didn't, the dancing was excellent.

Gosh I'm wordy...going to try to simplify.

Brandon's solo is next - and Sweet Jebus! the boy is almost naked! The music is a very powerful piece called 'O'Fortuna (from Carmina Burana) performed by the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg & Kurt Prestel. Wow! That was really amazing (the dancing people ~ get your minds out of the gutter)! The judges and the audience are giving Brandon a standing (cringe) "O". Nigel breaks in and says "he's just given us one of the best solos we've ever seen on the show". It was incredible - I got the chills. For me, this will be You-tubed over... and over... and over again...





After a commercial break we've got Even & Melissa with the dreaded quickstep ~ routine by Louis Van Amstel. Song choice is 'As Long as I'm Singing' by The Brian Setzer Orchestra. I know nothing about the quickstep other than what I've been told - which is this is VERY hard to pull off well. Okay - can we stop harping on poor Evan's height please? We get it - he's short! I liked this better than their broadway routine from earlier, there's more energy. I agree, this one was pretty good!





The judges don't seem to agree with me. Lil'C commends Evan for "dancing bigger than you've ever danced on the show before" and then hands out some tough love saying his "contractions" needed to be better and says Melissa was fabulous. Mary congratulates Louis Van Amstel on the routine. She then says after the first few seconds things started to fall apart and she was a little disappointed. Nigel. Well Nigel goes on a bit about how Melissa is being hard on herself for being the oldest girl in the group - then says that there was just a bit of lost energy in the middle and this wasn't one of the best routines of the night.

Another break and then Jeanine's solo is next using the song 'Feedback' by Janet Jackson. This was good, a bit different for her, a little more sexy than usual.

Moving on to Evan's solo, with a song choice of 'Lady is a Tramp' by Sammy Davis, Jr. Oh my dear Evan, I like you so much, but unfortunately this solo is just more of the same. Your quirkyness will be missed, as I believe you'll be going home tomorrow night. Yeah. Sad though, cuz he is so enjoyable... didn't actually think he would make it this far...

Oh look ~ Kim's favourite commercial is on during the break. HeeHee.

Next up - Kayla & Brandon as the last couple of the night. A Disco routine, choreographed by Doriana Sanchez. Music is 'Dance (Disco Heat)' by Sylvester. Holy man - this is fast, my brain is having a hard time keeping up. OMG was that a booty slap?! Nice lifts guys and my God Kayla's legs go on for days. Uhh what was that? A "death drop" is what I think they call that - and Kayla's was awkward, but then Brandon tried one? Kayla is just not strong enough to pull Brandon up out of that and it seemed he pulled her along. This is a great routine but the "double death drop" was maybe a mistake and the only "eeg" part for me. There seemed to be a lot of hesitation before each lift, each time he picked her up, and put her down as well, just that moment of pause, it seemed. It looked they were always trying to 'get in position', which kind of wrecked it for me...





Lil'C - blah blah blah he liked it. I'm sorry but Lil'C is kind of irritating for me, get to the point for crying out loud. Mary says "Holy Smokies!" and that this was a "home run" tonight. Nigel - well - Nigel loses his shit. This is not what I expect from the British and I'm slightly disturbed. Though I think this means he likes it.

The last routine of the night is the girls' group routine choreographed by Sonya Tayeh with the theme of Superheroes. My first thought is 'my husband will love this'. Sonya says while their aestetics are very similar, the girls strengths are different and that the routine is about being triumphant. Then Sonya says that Kayla is supposed to be Storm (X-men), Jeanine is Wonder Woman and Melissa is Buttercup. WTF? Buttercup? I do a small search - because I can "Google it" and this is what I come up with:

This is Buttercup, people...that's right... a Powerpuff Girl.

Okay so this routine is fun - the music we're listening to is 'Kick It (Stereoheroes Remix)by Nina Martine' But for a routine that is supposed to show off each of the girls' strengths I'm really not feeling that. This was very synchronized and to be honest, other than the costumes I'm not getting a superhero vibe. I think that Sonya overthought this and while the girls' danced well, the routine itself was just not that great in my opinion.




Lil'C...oh God Lil'C...the short of the long: The girls should have tried to shine individually in this group routine, and because they didn't no one stood out. They were being too "courteous" to each other. Mary says "amazing is AMAZING" and that they need to be featured at Comic Con next year. **rolling eyes** Nigel's comments run along the lines of all the girls are fantastic and kind of makes an S&M comment about Jeanine's costume. Seriously!

That's it for tonight folks - it's up to the voter's now. My guesses for the two going home tomorrow night are Evan and Melissa. Not because they are bad dancers (there really is no such thing as bad dancers when you are this far along, so you don't have to apologize when someone is about to get cut :) ), because they certainly aren't, I just think that the audience wants a final four of Brandon, Kayla, Ade & Jeanine.

We'll see what happens...until my next chance to blog ~ have a good night!

SYTYCD - Top 6 Spoilery Bits!

Howdy kids! We've already got the line-up for Wednesday night...No word yet on who the third judge is but we've got the full dancer line-up already.

** UPDATE** Third judge is Lil' (Little) C. **

Evan & Melissa - Broadway by Tyce Diorio and Quickstep by Louis Van Amstel
Kayla & Brandon - Contemporary by Stacy Tookey and Disco by Doriana Sanchez
Jeanine & Ade- Hip Hop by Napoleon & Tabitha and Rumba by Louis Van Amstel

I'd say Kayla and Brandon are perfectly set to sail through this week right into the finale. They'll both rock both routines pretty easily, I'm guessing.

**UPDATE** Based on some early reviews from people who attended tapings, sounds like Evan and Melissa could be in some trouble this week. **

I'm assuming we'll get a couple of group numbers and solos as well, but nothing for sure yet. **UPDATE** Again, there will be a guys and a girls group number, both choreographed by Sonya. The girls is a superhero theme and the guys is a Willy Wonka theme. **

I'll update this post if I find out more.

Cheers!

SYTYCD - Top 8 Results!

Look at Cat, all dressed up for this evening's festivus! The 100th episode of SYTYCD!

We start off with the group performance choreographed by Mia and danced to One from A Chorus Line. A neat number with everyone decked out in white tuxes... a red carpet rolls out onto a stage filled with mirrors, creating the effect of about 60 dancers, it confuses me for a second, who are all these people! Oh. I see. It's just the 8 of them.

So tonight we're getting 3 Emmy performances, lots of previous highlights and up for the performance of a life time, Katie Holmes (eeg)... I'm not sure whose life time they mean, hers or ours... and this concerns me.

Our panel has Mia, Mary and Nigel... I guess Ellen wasn't needing a front row seat tonight... Oh, and so many familiar faces in the crowd! It's like old home coming night!

We get a pretty cool montage of the past 5 seasons, I think they did a good job of that...

After a quick review of last night's performances, we start off with finding the bottom 2 girls. And wow, did I get it wrong.

Melissa - safe
Kayla - bottom 2 - are you kidding me?
Janette - bottom - sigh... come on!
Jeanine - safe

If I may borrow Kim's formatting for a moment - Side Gripe! Some ruling ought to be made that these emotional pieces like Melissa and Ade got last night should NOT BE ALLOWED in the Top 10. Fly 'atter in the Top 20, but you should not be allowed to sway the voting audience at this stage of the game.

I'm done.

Next up is the first of 3 Emmy's, Hok and Jamie doing Wade's Humming bird number to The Chairman's Waltz from Memoir's of a Geisha. This one is just as fantastic as I remember it, and there's no need to comment further, they're not here for the critique.

Onto determining the bottom 2 guys. And again, I'm wrong in my predictions. Or maybe it's not me that's wrong, maybe it's America... I'm just saying...

Ade - safe
Jason - bottom 2 - nooo! I really like him!
Evan - safe
Brandon - oh for frick's sake... America, don't you DARE!

Another Emmy dance - Mia's Bench number with Heidi and Travis dancing to Calling You by Kim's favorite, Celine Dion. It's lovely.

4 solos in a row. I think they are all the same as last night, except that Brandon is wearing a shirt, damn him...

Ahh, now this will be good - the Ramalama group routine, and yikes! Wade Robson is actually dancing with them! Hottest Zombie Ever! (yes this is Carly chiming in) How fantastic is THAT! I contemplated stalking him a while back, but then decided that wasn't the best way to show my respect. Now I just watch him with blind admiration...

What a great dance, and Roisin Murphy rocks, all her songs are fantastic.

Sigh. We keep getting threatened with Katie Holmes. Are we finally at that point in the night where they are going to stop talking about and give us the proof we need that she is still alive?

Eeek. She looks... she looks like Tom! She's all dead eyed and Cruise-ified...

We get a fairly lengthy promo for the Dizzy Feet Foundation (http://www.dizzyfeetfoundation.org/) - it's a pretty cool concept and an interesting website, check it out if you are so inclined...

And here we go... Get Happy by Katie Holmes, in homage to Judy Garland... it starts off with a pre-taped video intro... ooooh, and I just know Tom is somewhere in there, peering out of a darkened window, or lurking around a corner! He's got to be, he wouldn't let her go out... unattended, would he?

I'm first struck by how touched up, how airbrushed the whole thing feels... and it's not that it was... baaaaad (Oohhhh yes it was ~ let's be honest here).... it was just... odd. Maybe it was touted the performance of a life time because she was actually allowed to leave the compound? I think I would have enjoyed this more if the woman had actually done some dancing ~ to use my new favourite phrase "Sweet Jebus!" what a lot of hype for nothing.

Eeeeek again - holy crap, did Joe Luft join us from... a coffin? As much as I am a die hard Wizard of Oz fan, and think Judy Garland was incredible, she did spawn... oddly. I thought he was meant to be part of Ramalama ~ he would have fit in.

And now for the results. No matter what, they can't be good, they can't be right, so it almost doesn't matter to me, because I know I am going to be pissed off in about 35 seconds.

Yup. I am. Janette? Seriously? Not that I wanted Kayla to go, because I think she's probably going to take the whole thing (if Brandon doesn't), but I really thought Janette deserved to be standing in the final 4. Nigel's pissed off too, and said this verdict has kind of ruined the festivus for him, because she was his favorite, and America got it wrong. Serves you right Nigel, for handing over the reigns. Janette holds it together beautifully, even through the See Ya Later montage. You know what? While I agree that Janette is talented, something about this chick has bothered me the whole season. I actually squee'd a little when they announced the results. I am Kim's sister - you can call me "Evil Lite"

And Jason follows quickly behind... which, if I had to choose between him and Brandon, it goes without saying, but I was wanting him to be there at least another week. He's a bit emotional, and I admit, I cried. Of course I did. That's what I do.

What the hell is that on the stage, Joe's coffin? Oh, no, sorry... it's a cake. Sorry, I must still be suffering the effects of the mirrors, everything is all out of whack for me...

So there you have it.

Join in next week for the Top 6, where I'm predicting we'll be left with Kayla, Jeanine, Brandon and Ade...I agree - and can't wait!

SYTYCD - Top 8 Performance!

Time for the Top 8 Performance show! I’m well rested-ish and ready to go. I’ve been told I’ve been going a little ‘snark-lite’ lately... (really? huh... I personally hadn't noticed that!) well, I’m fully prepared to bring the snark back full force!

Dancer intros...partners paired randomly...each doing two dances (also a group number and solos).

Judge intros...Mia’s back, Mary, ELLEN! (Big yay from me) and Dr. Nigel Lythgoe. It’s one of those ‘Dr.’s’ that doesn’t really count though...I don’t think anyone’s going to be seeing him for their yearly check-up. Ewwwww! Gross!

Cat asks Ellen if she’s ever had any formal training. Ellen gives a long response (and perhaps eludes to an inappropriate relationship with someone named Eduardo) which ultimately ends up in she hasn’t had any formal training. Honestly, I think she probably just wanted to get good tickets for the show and the producers figured they’d capitalize on her presence. As funny as she is, and man is she funny!, I quickly get the feeling she's thinking "Now this is fun... but... remind me again? Why I'm sitting at the judges panel?"

Alrighty, up first is the group number, choreographed by Travis Wall (yay Travis!). It’s a futuristic contemporary-ish routine danced to ‘Let It Rock’ by Kevin Rudolf featuring Lil Wayne. Y’know...every time I see a hip hop artist using ‘Lil’ in their name, I instinctively just want to change it to ‘Little’. It’s no more ridiculous than ‘Lil’! Does that even extend to Lil C?

This is a cool routine. Great costuming and use of light. Ade looks a little lethargic in it to me. And maybe Evan a bit too. They just don’t seem to be hitting it as hard as the rest. The girls are all fully in it.

Nigel likes it and says it’s very Lady GA GA. Seriously, he says it like that. GA GA. Ellen makes jokes about helping Travis and has everyone on stage giggling. Mary loved it. Mia praises Travis and says she loved the routine as well. She and Ellen are apparently going to be wearing those same costumes tomorrow night. Yeah, I’m not holding my breath on that one either.

After the break, Cat gives us a teaser on what we’ll see tomorrow night on the 100th episode. Gah!! Wade’s going to dance!! As to Katie Holmes’ ‘performance of a lifetime’, I’m not sure who’s lifetime they’re referring to...but I’m hoping it’s a short one. I'll admit. I'm curious.

Evan and Janette are up dancing a Sonya Tayeh Jazz routine to ‘Move (Metronomony Remix)’ by CSS. It’s all about getting people to shut up. Their words, not mine. But perhaps a hint to a judge or two. The beginning is lacking a little energy for me, mostly from Evan. It picks up a bit toward the middle, but it’s almost like there’s just not enough movement for this piece of music. I think technically it was danced well, but maybe the choreography wasn’t strong enough. I actually liked this one - I thought the music was great and that the dance was kind of edgy...

Nigel says he’s finally getting more from Evan (really?) and he ignores Janette completely. Ellen thinks it was great (and hints she may be on the sauce tonight). Mary says Evan did a good job, but he needs to be rougher (thank you!). She blathers on a bit more and Nigel shuts her up. Mary’s response? Barking. Yes, barking. I’m just going to ignore the rest of what she says. Mia says Evan did a good job but he’ll never be dark and twisty enough for a Sonya piece (thank you again). She also says Janette is her favourite. I do like that Mia is never afraid to play favourites on this show.

Kayla’s up with her solo dancing to ‘The Moment I Said It’ by Imogen Heap. I’m wondering if she’s playing it up a bit for Mia’s benefit (Mia used this song for a group number in Season 3). You all know I’m not huge on solos, but I like that Kayla has appeared to pull in elements from dances she’s done during the season. Thumbs up. I think of all the girls her solos are the consistently the strongest...

Up next is Brandon and Jeanine doing a Waltz with Hunter Johnson. Brandon looks a little baffled in rehearsal. They’re dancing to ‘May It Be’ by Hayley Westenra.

Side Gripe - Now, I realize the show may not have been able to get permission to use the original version of the song, but who in the hell even ATTEMPTS to cover Enya? Really? There are very few artists that I believe aren’t open for covers. I’m even happy to listen to covers of my favourite U2 songs. But ENYA? Gah...deplorable.

Back to the dance. Jeanine’s dress is lovely. Except... it's yellow! My least favorite colour in the world... They both have got the form/frame down solid and the turns and spins flow wonderfully. There doesn’t seem to be a hitch in this at all. Well done.

Nigel remarks on the difficulty of the choreography and says he was disappointed in their lack of ‘controlled power’. I didn’t see that, but whatever. Ellen disagrees with him and thought it was fantastic. Mary says they ‘did it respectable’, which I think in Mary’s world means they did well enough. Mia expected more from them with their training and found it lacking. Huh, I guess I don’t have a clue what I’m talking about.

Jason’s up with his solo to ‘...Slowdance on the Inside’ by Taking Back Sunday. Speaking of lacking...I’m really bored with this one. Blah. I thought he was cutting his steps short... it seemed stumble-y, like he was favoring a bad knee or something...

Now we’ve got Melissa and Ade doing a Cha Cha with Tony and Melanie. It’s brisk, and according to Melissa ‘there’s lots of steps’, which I believe is called ‘dancing’. Tee hee...! They’re dancing to ‘Yeah (Como Goza Mi Morena)’ by Chino Espinoza Y Los Buenos Del Son. Ade’s shirt needs a trim and I’m not sure the flaming red pants and heels are doing him any favors either. I’m not getting enough ‘hip’ out of Melissa and the whole thing seems a little stunted to me. They’re clearly not particularly comfortable with it.

Nigel says it was pretty good and says it was hot. He says Melissa’s hot but Ade needs to sizzle more. Ellen: ‘Are you two carpenters, because you nailed it!’ Hee. Mary spent the dance concentrating on Ade’s ass and says it wasn’t grounded enough. Below expectations for her. Mia says it was Ade’s worst performance. She says Melissa did an excellent job, considering her ballerina training. But aren’t we past the point for making excuses by now? Really? Totally agree with you.

Jeanette’s up with her solo to ‘Seduces Me’ by Celine Dion. I’m withholding Celine Dion jokes because that would be predictable. Jeanette really is a good dancer. She just needs better hair.

Jason and Kayla are up next with a Tyce Diorio Broadway piece and it looks like Kayla beat the crap out of Jason in rehearsals. They’re dancing to ‘Mr. Monotony (from Jerome Robbins Broadway) performed by Kim Criswell. it’s very jazzy and Tyce has definitely put Kayla’s legs to good use. Jason’s pretty cool in this too. Very sharp all around. Man, that girl has the best... everything! Her arms, her legs, how she positions her hands... everything with her is always so clean and sharp.

Nigel says Jason’s toes and feet were beautiful...doesn’t say anything about the rest of him. Kayla is a really great dancer. One of the best of the night. Ellen confirms what I said earlier - she wanted to come to a taping and she got good seats. She makes a nailing comment again. Mary says it just seemed to ‘flow effortless’ - does she have a problem with tenses? (I think she pulled a 'more stronger' tonight as well...) She grunts at Jason and Kayla’s on the train - now with additional sound effects. Mia loved the piece, but Jason needs to work on his upper body. She wants to beat him with a hammer. Funny...I feel that way about the judges (some of them) sometimes. She also fellates Kayla to an embarrassing degree (although not unjustified).

Ade’s solo-ing to ‘Hater’ by Various Productions Artist (?). This sort of feels like he just slapped a bunch of different moves together without really thinking of flow.

Evan and Janette are back with a Rhumba by Tony and Melanie. Janette’s got to pull out Evan’s ‘inner Latino stallion’. Yeah....I’m just guessing...but I think she’s got her work cut out for her. They’re dancing to ‘Heartless’ by Kris Allen.

Side Gripe: The Remix - See? Appropriate cover tune. In fact I think all of Kanye West’s songs should be covered and then maybe Kanye will go away.

Evan’s always got this little bit of a cute smirk on his face that just kills any potential smolder he may have. Janette’s definitely got the feel down, this is right in her bag so it’d be hard for her to screw up here. Evan’s just meh.

Nigel says it’s a hard style to get votes with, but Janette’s got it down pat. Evan has no passion in his face and he’s got heavy eyelids. Nigel was left lacking. Ellen loves Evan’s face. She says he’s special - and I think she really means special, not like, short bus special. She also thinks Janette’s great. Mary says they were on time and well connected. Mia agrees with Ellen and makes a ‘God makes us all perfect’ comment and I think in the faraway shot of the judges, we can see Nigel lean back over the back of his chair in an eyeroll moment. Hee.

Melissa’s up with her solo to ‘Heads Will Roll’ by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. She’s dressed a little like Bondage Ballerina. There’s lots of running....and not much else.

Brandon and Jeanine are doing Pop Jazz with Laurie Ann Gibson and - for what seems like the first time this season - there’s no story. Laurie Ann is beating the crap out of them in rehearsals. Fantastic! They’re dancing to ‘Battlefield’ by Jordin Sparks. It’s very hard hitting which I like, but the choreography doesn’t allow for much connection between the two. It’s mostly just synchronized dancing. It’s better a bit toward the end. Ultimately danced very well, but I’m kinda blah about the routine. This is another one I quite liked. I thought they both hit it pretty hard and stayed well in sync.

Why the hell is Laurie Ann sitting in the audience with headphones around her neck? Has she been tuning out the rest of the show and just cluing in for her routine?

Nigel says the show has finally started for him with this number. The rest of the show has apparently been the flattest he’s ever seen. Apparently he’s already forgotten Jason & Kayla’s Broadway that he called the best of the night. Mia? Hammer please. Ellen is happy that Nigel’s happy and she’s happy about the dance. She calls it da-a-a-a-a-a-ancing which I guess is a good thing. Mary brought out her thesaurus of positive adjectives and is screaming. Mia sings Laurie Ann’s praises which makes her teary. They danced it from a powerful place and praises Brandon a lot and says Jeanine kept up with him. Okay, can we not just acknowledge that Jeanine is a great dancer and stop saying she’s keeping up? There’s no way she’d have made it this far if she was just ‘keeping up’. Credit where credit is due please, judges.

Evan’s up dancing to ‘Old Devil Moon’ by Jamie Cullum. If there’s a style that lends itself solos, it’s Evan’s. I always enjoy his solos. His solo rocked. Loved it. He has the best facial expressions ever.

Jeanine’s solo is to ‘Let the Drummer Kick’ by Citizen Cope. Again, solos aren’t my thing but her choreography fits the music perfectly. I think this was her best solo to date.

Melissa and Ade are back with a Contemporary piece by Tyce Diorio about breast cancer. I’ll tell you what Carra would say right here: “Ugh, again with the personal story dance. It’s inappropriate to attach the choreographer’s personal story to the dance because it will sway the votes.” Sigh... yes. Me, I sort of feel the same way. Could we not have generalized it and just said ‘cancer’? Or even ‘potentially terminal illness’?

Side Gripe: Revisited - Again, Kate Bush? Maxwell, you honestly think you can hold a candle to Kate Bush? You don’t touch Kate Bush. Gah again.

So they’re dancing to ‘This Woman’s Work’ performed (inadequately) by Maxwell. The choreography is beautiful, some really fantastic moves. It’s very well suited to Melissa and Ade. Here’s the thing; we don’t need the story for this to be beautiful. It’s wonderful on its own. I don’t need the story to be touched by the dance. You've pretty much hit the nail on the head (ha ha) - that's the case every time!

Nigel is teary right from the get go and says Tyce deserves an Emmy nomination next year for this one. He says Melissa and Ade were the perfect couple for this one. Ellen says she is happy to have been able to see this one live and it was beautiful. Mary was deeply touched. Nigel’s still losing it. Mia really can’t keep it together. I get the feeling that if she doesn’t have a current connection to the story, she’s had one very recently. Of course, I cried right along with all of them.

Does anyone find it all ironic that we go directly from the ‘dying of cancer’ routine to the shot of ‘dancers as zombies’ in the throw to commercial?

Brandon’s up with his solo to ‘Ain’t Nothin’ Wrong With That’ by Robert Randolph and the Family Band. He’s shirtless which works for him. There’s lots of turns and flips. Very showy. I watched this one 3 times. Shirtless is soooo his look.

Finally Kayla and Jason are back with a Shane Sparks Hip Hop routine about zombies. It’s disturbing and violent. Perfect. They’re dancing to ‘They’re Everywhere’ by Izza Kizza. Very cool move with Kayla’s eyeliner right off the top. Choreographed make-up. I like it. They're very sharp and together and really feeling the theme. It’s definitely very ‘Thriller’ inspired. Jason’s definitely got the ‘half dead’ moves down. I love the strangling move at the end. My favourite tonight. Fantastic, it really was.

Nigel mentions the Michael Jackson inspiration and praises Shane. He’s been disappointed with Hip Hop so far this year (Ha! Take that, NappyTabs!). He says they were flat earlier. I must’ve missed that in his otherwise glowing review of the Broadway piece. Again...hammer? Anyone? Ellen says: ‘You two keep dancing like that and you’ll have your own talk show someday.’ I’m not sure that was a compliment to their dancing, but she says it was great. Mary yammers and screams. Mia says this is her favourite Shane piece ever and loved the strangling piece.

So there we have it. At risk tonight? I’d say Evan for sure, perhaps Ade. As for the girls, it’s a really tough call. If it weren’t for the cancer piece, I’d say Melissa and.....ugh...I don’t know. It’s too hard at this point! My thoughts are Evan and Ade along with Melissa and Jeanine in the bottom. At this point I don't want any of them to go... :(

Carra’s back tomorrow night for the results. Later all! Just so I know, is tomorrow an hour show, or is it two hours because of all the festivities?

Cheers! x2

SYTYCD - Top 8 Spoilery Bits!

Evening all! I'm just back from a much needed vacation and knew I had to come here and make sure the spoilery bits are up. Here's what we've got:

Third judge is Mia Michaels with Special Guest Judge Ellen Degeneres (!!!).

Ade/Melissa - Contemporary - Tyce Diorio & Cha Cha - Tony Meredith & Melanie LaPatin
Brandon/Jeanine - Pop Jazz - Laurie Ann Gibson & Waltz - Hunter Johnson
Jason/Kayla - Broadway - Tyce Diorio & Hip hop - Shane Sparks
Evan/Janette - Jazz - Sonya Tayeh & Rumba - Tony Meredith & Melanie LaPatin

Also, Travis Wall is choreographing a group number for this episode.

I haven't had much of a chance to ponder the pairings yet, so I don't really have much to say about them. I am thrilled that Ellen is on this week. Considering how much she loves the show, it's always been a shame that her show is always on summer break while So You Think You Can Dance is on. Another bonus to having a fall season this year.

Anyway, that's it for now. I'll be back with the recap tomorrow night. Hopefully I'll have recovered from my travel day by then!

Cheers!

SYTYCD - Top 10 Results!

Good evening fellow SYTYCD enthusiasts! My name is Carly and I'm Kim's sister - filling in for her while she enjoys some time away. I'll do my best to live up to her stellar reputation ~ but please remember that this is the first season I've watched of SYTYCD so if I miss something please be gentle.

Tonight is the first elimination show where America is in charge of who stays and who goes. The Top 10 will be whittled down to 8 ~ and I have to tell you folks, that after last night I have a pretty good idea of who is going to go - or who I feel should go. But before we get to any of the voting results we've got a few fun things to enjoy.

The group dance is a Japanese culture inspired routine choreographed by Wade and Amanda Robson, set to 'So Much Betta by Janet Jackson'. I don't think Wade's wife usually choreographs with him for the show - does she? Can anyone fill me in here? I loved the Ninja feel from the guys, though it was just about impossible to pick out who each guy was with those hats on. Melissa certainly had a chance to shine in this routine with her own white geisha costume, unlike the other ladies, and a lot of "en pointe" movement worked in. Of the other 4 ladies, 2 wore red geisha style outfits (these were Kayla and Jeanine *I think*) and the last 2 (Janette & Randi?) wore...well...more modern Japanese looks I guess, black geometric cut hair and outfits. To be honest I think these last 2 ladies were the only part of the routine I didn't like and ONLY because of the costuming. They didn't seem to fit in. The dancing itself was well done - a gorgeous routine by one of Kim's favourite choreographers, sharp yet fluid movement, a well thought out concept that was a little surreal (in a good way!) and set to great music. I hope Kim caught it tonight at the hotel!

On with the show! Firstly ~ I love Cat Deeley's sparkly black silver dress tonight - Sassy! Totally something I would wear if I was as skinny as she is. The first thing Cat does is announce that the Emmy nominations were announced this morning and SYTYCD has been nominated for 4 choreography Emmy's.

The nominees are:
Mia Michaels - Mercy/Duffy ~ Twitch & Katee
Tabitha & Napoleon Dumo - Bleeding Love/Leona Lewis ~ Chelsie & Mark
Tyce Diorio - Silence/Unfaithful Soundtrack ~ Jessica & Will
Dmitry Chaplin - A Los Amigos/Forever Tango (Original Broadway Cast) ~ Chelsie & Joshua
In addition to the choreographers ~ Amy Stroese (Sp?) and the makeup department were also nominated for their work.

On to our judges - Mary Murphy, Debbie Allen and...huh? Where the heck is Nigel? I love Nigel. Cat tells us that our esteemed judge is "graduating" today by receiving an honourary Doctorate of Arts from the University of Bedfordshire in England. Congratulations Nigel. Apparently tonight will be Ladies Night at SYTYCD - and now I'm afraid ;)

A quick recap from Cat of last night's show - which was a complicated mess in terms of format for me and so I'm not going to go over it again here.

On to the voting results - and I'm going to zoom quickly through this part because Cat simply re-reads some of the critiques from last night for each girl & guy before revealing the results. She also mentions that the bottom 2 girls & guys will get to dance a solo one more time - but this is really just to showcase their talent as the solos won't change the results at all.

Girls
Janette - Safe
Randi - Bottom 2 *are we surprised?*
Jeanine - Safe
***At this point one is safe and one is "in danger" and it's fairly obvious who's staying. Kayla has a spark that Melissa doesn't and I just don't see America disagreeing with me. Aaaannnnd...I'm right.
Kayla - Safe
Melissa - Bottom 2

After the commercial break we get another brief preview of Season 6 - looks to be shaping up to be a great season, I'm really looking forward to it. On to the results for the guys...

Guys
Jason - Safe
Evan - Safe (Yay!)
Kupono - Bottom 2. *There's some cute by-play here about Kupono's outfit and what a ham he is. I don't think cute is going to get him through.*
***Again at this point one is safe and one is "in danger" - I have no idea who's name Cat is going to announce as being in the bottom 2. These two are both very strong dancers.
Ade - Bottom 2 (really? I was surprised at this)
Brandon - Safe

More announcements from Cat after another break - next week will be the 99th and 100th shows respectively. We're told that Mia Michaels will be guest judging AND as a Very Special Guest Judge ~ Ellen deGeneres! Fun! Also several of our favourite dancers will be back dancing our favourite routines from past seasons - including The Bench ,the Hummingbird & the Flower and Ramalama Bang Bang. Oh - and Katie Holmes will be dancing. *sigh*

Solos are danced next - they are the same as they were danced last night, so for a full recap of the solos see Carra's recap of last night's show. Though I need to say Debbie Allen mentions to Randi that a dancer can be a "casualty of the style" - and that the Paso Doble is most likely why Randi is in the bottom 2 and I have to agree. What a White Hot Mess that routine was - both Randi and Kupono could have done better.

The Black Eyed Peas perform and I fast forward through it - I really don't have the patience for it at this point, all their music sounds the same to me.

Last commercial break and on to who is staying and who is going home. I don't think anyone was surprised when Randi & Kupono were announced as the two dancers who would be leaving us tonight. Again - White Hot Mess. I'm a little sad about this because I think Kupono has geniune talent, but agree that he just wasn't living up to his potential here. He was featured in a few of my favourite routines so far this season (Hello - Eyes on Fire/Vampire routine and Mia Michaels' addiction themed routine) and so I'll miss him. Randi really did "fly under the radar" and nothing she did other than the Mia Michaels "butt" routine really stood out for me - a good dancer but not very memorable.

Well - that's it for me - hopefully I haven't bored you silly. There was a LOT to smush in here tonight, what with announcements, dances, voting results and ultimate results. I'll try to slim down my next attempt (if I'm asked back at all *grin*).

Thanks for joining me and we'll see you next time on Pop Goes the Word!
~ Carly ~

SYTYCD - Top 10 Performance!

vWell hello everyone! I've been out of touch for the past couple of weeks, but I've done my best to keep up with the shows along the way (minus a few recording incidents, but that just serves me right for depending on the ole' VCR).

As Kim said below, Debbie Allan is the third judge on the panel tonight, and after Nigel admits that, being a control freak and all, he's a bit nervous to hand the reigns over to America, Debbie admits to occasionally throwing her Hagan Daas at the TV in response to some of the - no names mentioned - judges previous decisions.

We start the night off with the first of two group numbers, this one a Bollywood number performed by the girls. Nakul Dev Mahajan is the choreographer and the music is Dholna from the Pyar Ke Geet soundtrack.

The costumes are beautiful, but the masks on the back of their heads are a bit strange... They are all moving so fast that it's hard to pick up the detail! My eyes keep going to Kayla, she really stands out for me.



Nigel opens by apologizing to all the other girls who have been on the show in the past and says that this group of girls is the most beautiful of all. They lack nothing and they are his 'hot bangers n' mash tray'. Sounds weird, but I'm sure he means it as a compliment! Mary says "Bolly-wow!" and that it was stunning. Crazy Aunt Debbie says it was an amazing cultural fusion and they inhaled the style of it. She thinks they are the strongest Top 5 girls to date.

As the previous couples have now broken up, it's time to start pulling names. Kayla pulls Evan out of the hat, and as Kim said earlier, there is going to be a problem with their heights as they pull a Viennese Waltz. Choreographed by Tony Meredith and Melanie Lapatin and danced to Kiss From a Rose by Seal, I notice that they have pulled Kayla's hair back from her face - in direct response to an earlier critique from Nigel that she sometimes got lost in her hair, I would imagine... I thought they did well together, although some technicality was lacking.

And yes indeed, Kayla danced in flats and Evan in heels - it seems to have worked out alright!



Nigel seems to be a bit critical towards the choreographers, saying that he would prefer to see a more traditional Viennese Waltz, but in spite of that he felt that the lifts worked out beautifully and that as always Kayla has great lines. Mary says this was a dance about power, pleasure and pain (way to pick up on the lyrics there Mary!) and that some parts were painful, i.e the knees not being flexed, not gliding enough, but other parts were great (I'm taking that to be the pleasure part) and the lifts looked effortless (the power, I'm guessing?). She said that Evan had class and elegance and that Kayla never disappoints. Debbie says that it was a wonderful, unexpected surprise, and I laughed when she said to Evan "you handled your big woman, baby!" She nicknames them White Lightening and Gene Kelly, and I'm certain those names will stick for the duration.

Brandon is up with his solo for the night, dancing to In Your Eyes by Jeffrey Gaines. It's got lots of neat, quirky movements, and did I mention? I just love him, I have him in the Top 4 for sure.

Our next couple are Janette and Ade and I get the sense from the recap that Ade is more than ready to move on from his previous partner.

Wow! Can it be? A Tabitha and Napoleon hip hop number NOT about a couple in conflict? Crazy! Dancing to Love Sex Magic by Ciara featuring Justin Timberlake (I love this song), it's a nice, light funky piece featuring the pic from Ade's hair and I think it's a fun prop that works well for them. I didn't realize Janette was so very tiny! The choreography does a good job of utilizing their height difference and they stayed in sync throughout the routine.



In fact the pic worked so well that Nigel wants one too! But sadly all he has are pencils, so being the industrious fellow he is, he makes do. He's going to use them to get Mary out of her clothes later on, which the mere thought of... well, it makes Mary scream like a banshee, and that's never a good thing! And I can't stand the Nappy Tabs thing. Please. Now it's time for Mary to get serious and cut the crap. Silent moment. And then "that was fuuuuuuuunky, yes it was!" Debbie says she was worn out by them and to keep that pic away from her daughter thank you very much. She says they were mesmerizing and a great couple.

Second solo of the night is from Randi dancing to Dream by Priscilla Ahn. Meh. Nothing one way or another to say on this one.

Next up is Kupona with his solo, dancing to Marina Gasolina by Bonde De Role. He's got some great angles, and as far as solos go, I like this one. I'm hoping to see him in the Top 4 as well.

The third couple of the evening are Jeanine and Jason and this has all the makings for a great performance. I think they are evenly suited technically, they've got Travis Wall for choreography and Jason Mraz singing If It Kills Me (The Casa Nova Sessions), how can they go wrong!

If Kim was waiting for this to be her favorite number of the night, I don't think she'll be disappointed. It's fantastic. Lots of great lifts and throws, so many intricate movements and raw emotion.



They get a standing O (sorry Carly) from the judges and Travis gets the accolades he deserves from Nigel. The piece has left Mary speechless and Nigel requests that they perform this every week just to keep her quiet. When she finally finds her words, Mary says how proud she is of both the dancers and of Travis for showing such growth. She says that Jason has the face of a little puppy dog, but should never be underestimated for his strength and power. She tells Jeanine that she hasn't missed a step to date and the she keeps shining brighter and brighter. Debbie reminisces about Travis as a young boy and says that this show is more than a competition, it's a conversation. And that it has evangelized dance. And that she can't wait to buy tickets to see them preform live. On the road. As opposed to live on the show 10 feet away from her, I guess? Ahhh, crazy Aunt Debbie, gotta love her.

On to the next solo by Melissa, danced to Gabriel by Lamb. She's on pointe and ends in a very crazy leg position that would land most people in the hospital.

And up next with his solo is Evan decked out in a white tux dancing to Zing! Went the Strings of my Heart by Rufus Wainwright. I do love his style, and I really like this piece.

And another solo - wow, just flying through them now! It's Kayla dancing to Rock Your Soul by Elisa, and of all the girls, I think this solo is the best of the night. The height in her jumps is amazing and it's a nice, clean performance.

Cut to commercials and - wow, already? SYTYCD Canada starts on August 11th? I'm sure Kim has mentioned that before, but it just kind of hit me how soon that is!

Anyway, on to the next couple, Randi and Kupono. They get the Paso Doble with Tony Meredith and Melanie Lapatin and it seems from the rehearsals that this could be a rough one.

The music is Dies Irae by Karl Jenkins, and it is a powerful piece of music, so much so it almost drowns them out. Maybe that's for the better though. Indeed, it is rough. They have trouble with the lifts, the footwork, they seem tight in the hips and then a stumble at the end. Sigh. I don't imagine the judges will be kind with them. And I'm not sure what to think of Randi in the wig.

Nigel commends the choreography this time, says that it was strong and passionate. But the dancing was not. And for the first time ever, I think, the crowd doesn't boo him... There's no denying it, I guess... He says that they were too light, they needed to dance more into the floor, and he too wasn't sure about Randi and the wig. He didn't feel anything was authentic and they didn't work well as a couple. Mary says this fell below the bar, and critiques the wig, the dancing and the chemistry. She says that it was mediocre and it just won't cut it at this stage of the game. Debbie says it was awkward.

Ade performs his solo next to Unchained Melody by the Righteous Brothers - and was it just me, or was the song a faster version than normal? This one seems a bit too flail-y for me and falls a bit short.

Jeanine is up with her solo to Violento (Up Mix) by Bailongo! and as solos go, it's alright.

Jason is next dancing to Train Fare Home by Muddy Waters. It's a character piece, and I think it works out well. The guys solos are working so much better for me tonight.

Melissa and Brandon are our next couple doing a Broadway piece to Aquarius from the musical Hair by Tyce Diorio.

Wow, Brandon is just crazy good, he always impresses me. They both do really well, and this number has a great tempo, with lots of slow, intricate movements and attention to detail. I like it. I think the choreography used both of their styles to their advantage.

Nigel feels the same, commenting on how they used Melissa's ballet and Brandon's gymnastics to put together a great number. Mary says it was unbelievable, groovy. Debbie says it evoked a real harmony, powerful, technical and seamless.

The last solo of the night is Jeanette dancing to This is Miami by Sunder Kleinenberg. Great song and it's a fun little piece.

And we're down to the last group number of the night, the guys doing an African dance choreographed by Jeffrey Page to Ballant Funk by Ayanda Clarke and Shawn Kelly. During rehearsals it strikes me how small and white Evan is...!

This number is very impactive visually, hugely athletic and rhythmic, and for as stressed as they all seemed earlier, I think they pull it off beautifully. And did I mention how small and white poor Evan is out there?

Nigel starts by saying that anyone who knows him knows how much he loves African dancing. Huh. I did not know that. I guess we're not as close as I thought we were... He tells Jeffrey that he is the meanest choreographer ever, and that this was one of the toughest numbers that they've had on the show. He then tells Evan he looked like a dancing milkshake. I hear Debbie say "You're mean!", and it makes me laugh. Mary loved the costumes and commented on the level of energy and how exciting it was. Debbie tells us that African dancing is the origin of hip hop and jazz and that this piece was pure and authentic. Nigel closes by taking a crack at last weeks Russian folk number. Can't say I blame him. That one was awful, and would have been no matter who danced it.

And that's it for the night! If it were based on dancing alone, I'd say we've seen the last of Randi and Kupono. But it's not based on that anymore, so I'm thinking Kupono should be safe. Maybe Randi and Evan? I don't know, it gets so hard to predict anymore when it gets to this point. But if I had to call the Top 4 now, I'd say Brandon, Kupono, Kayla and Janette.

Carly will be taking the reigns tomorrow night, so we'll see you all then!

Good night!

SYTYCD - Top 10 Spoilery Bits!

Morning all! Just did a quick check for some spoilers and it seems we already have some fairly concrete info! Here's what I've got so far:

Third judge is Debbie Allen.

There will be two group dances on performance night (at least that's how I'm reading it). The boys will be doing an African routine and the girls will be doing a Bollywood number.

Each dancer will perform a solo.

So far it looks like the couples are only doing one dance each, which is unusual. Here are the pairings and dances:

Jeanine & Jason - Contemporary - Travis Wall - 'If It Kills Me' by Jason Mraz
Melissa & Brandon - Broadway - Tyce Diorio - 'Age of Aquarius' from Hair
Randi & Kupono - Paso Doble - Tony & Melanie
Kayla & Evan - Viennese Waltz - ? - 'Kiss from a Rose' by Seal
Janette & Ade - Hip Hop - Napoleon & Tabitha - 'Love Sex and Magic'

So we don't have all the choreographers, but can I just say how excited I am that Travis is finally getting to choreograph (outside of Vegas week)! He was my favourite performer on season 2. Hopefully they'll be using him for more this season and next. **UPDATE**And now to find out that they're dancing to my current fave Jason Mraz song - too much. I don't have to see it. It's already my favourite!

As far as the pairings go, I'm a little concerned for Evan. Kayla's got to be taller than him and to pull off a 'leading man' kind of dance with a girl that's bigger than you is going to be tough. **UPDATE** Apparently Kayla dances barefoot and Evan's got some serious heels on which will solve the height issue.

I'm also not sure about Randi and Kupono with the Paso Doble. I'm not sure she's 'smoldery' enough for that one. Hopefully they can pull it off. **UPDATE** It's not looking good for this pair. Sounds like this one didn't work out well for them at all and both of their solos were pretty meh.

A few more spoilers in regards to the 100th episode: According to Travis' twitter, he's coming back to perform the bench routine (which must mean Heidi is coming back too) as well as the Ramalama Bang Bang - Zombie routine. They wouldn't bring back the entire Top 20 from season 2 for that one would they? Maybe they'll fill it with some of this year's dancers.

Looks like the 100th episode is going to turn out to be quite the show in spite of the Katie Holmes bit.

There should be more info on the choreographers for tomorrow night later on today, so as soon as I have it I'll post it here.

Later!

SYTYCD - Top 12 Results!

So things turned out pretty much as expected - sort of.

We started the night with a killer group number by Tabitha and Napoleon (surprising!) to 'Seven Nation Army' by the White Stripes. This was really cool. They used a lot of the stage and we got to see a lot of each dancer. I like group numbers more as we get further into the competition because you can usually pick out who's who. This one was very well done.



Nigel mentioned that the hopes for a Michael Jackson tribute show have so far been shut down by the rights holders' for his music. I'm wondering if they made a point to mention this on the show to elicit more fan reaction and hopefully force the hands of Sony Music or whomever is responsible for the decision. It'll be interesting to see if anything changes.

Anyway, back to what we're here for, after very little suspense, our Bottom 3 is revealed to be Caitlyn & Jason, Melissa & Ade and Phillip and Jeanine. Kayla and Kupono looked quite surprised, I've got to say.

Straight into solos and they were all pretty good I thought. Song choices are as follows:

Caitlyn - Stand By Me from Playing for Change
Jason - Calm Touching - Evaline
Jeanine - Baby's Romance - Chris Garneau
Phillip - The Diva Dance - Fifth Element Soundtrack
Melissa - Kashira - Kodo
Ade - Windowdipper - Jib Kidder

Then we had a performance from one of those Destiny's Child chicks and some guy. Fast forward for me.

The judges came back and got right down to business. Girls up first, no chit chat with the safe dancers, and Caitlyn's headed home. I saw that one coming a mile away. It was time.

Then it was the boys. Again no talk for the safe dancers. Phillip is called up and - while emphasizing that the judges completely ignored the Russian Folk dance in their decision - the judges send him packing.

Quid pro quo, though. Phillip will still be on the tour (along with Caitlyn, although I think she was a bit of an afterthought) as a 'swing dancer'. We all knew the judges wanted to make sure Phillip was on the tour and they have done this before with Hok and....someone else, I can't remember from season 3. Nicely played Nigel.

I've got a quick programming note for the blog next week. I'll be doing the usual Spoilers on Tuesday/Wednesday morning as well as the performance show recap on Wednesday night, however, I'm heading out of town on Thursday and can't guarantee that I'll see the results show on Thursday night. So, agreeing to stand in for me with the recaplet, is my sister Carly. I can't say specifically when the recaplet will be posted as she's got a two-year-old to chase after, but it will be covered fairly promptly after the show. It's her first SYTYCD season, so it should be fun as she's not as jaded as I am! ;)

So that's it for today. Enjoy your weekend and we'll be back with the Top 10 next week!

Cheers!

SYTYCD - Top 12 Performance!

Here we are...the last week the judges have any say in what happens. According to the spoilers I posted earlier today, this should make for an interesting show.

We have our necessary dancer and judge intros; our third judge tonight is Tyce Diorio - it's his first time on the panel. Plus we learn that each couple will be performing two dances tonight.

Forget the chit chat, we’re straight into the dances.

First up is Melissa and Ade with a Doriana Sanchez disco routine. Melissa’s got a bit of a challenge ahead of her with this one.

They’re dancing to ‘Move On Up’ by Destination and oh my, Ade’s outfit is very shiny.The first lift seems a little tentative. This is pretty good, but nowhere near the caliber of Brandon and Janette’s disco earlier in the season. It seems a little heavy. Yup, they’re way too tentative on the lifts for me and they seemed to slow down a bit at the end. Oh, and Melissa falls.



Nigel says it’s a great start to the evening and was very exciting. Mary screams right from the get go. She says it picked her up, was a lot of fun and well executed. Huh. Tyce says it was ‘friggin great’. Seriously, did I miss something? He praises them both quite a bit.

EEEEEKK!!! New Blackberry commercial featuring U2 AND my favourite song off the new album. Have I mentioned that I have just under 4 months until the concert in Vancouver? SO EXCITED!

Alright, back to our scheduled programming. Up next are Kayla and Kupono with a Contemporary piece with Mia Michaels. It’s an addiction storyline and it’s a little personal for Kupono. It looks like it’s going to be a little tough for him.

Song selection is ‘Gravity’ by Sara Bareilles. This is really classic Mia. It’s wrenching and violent and soft and just lovely. And danced fabulously. There isn’t anything else to say about it.



Nigel calls it very powerful and superb. He says he wants to see more of Kayla behind her hair and praises Kupono for the malevolence in his character. Brilliant. Mary says Kupono’s intensity was amazing and Kayla was flawless. Tyce says the best dancers are the best actors. He says he felt like he had an experience instead of just having watched a dance.

Straight into Caitlyn and Jason’s Fox Trot with Tony Meredith and Melanie. Looks like the frames might cause some problems for them.

They’re dancing to ‘Minnie the Moocher’ by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. Is it just me or does Caitlyn seem a little shaky in her extensions? It seems overall pretty smooth and the lifts are light. That last move seemed a little off, but I don’t really know why.



Nigel calls it gentle and says Caitlyn made hard things look easy and commends Jason’s footwork. Mary says it was tremendous and they made it look easy. Tyce says they look like stars but they needed more glide. Not much enthusiasm from our judges with this one.

Now we’ve got Phillip and Jeanine with a Kalinka - it’s a Russian Folk Dance - with Youri Nelzine & Lilia Babenko. The spelling is hard enough, I can’t imagine what the dance will be like!

The song is ‘Kalinka’ by Barynya. Yeah, I can’t even hope to provide an insightful critique into what’s good and bad with this one. It’s clearly very much a challenge for them and the smiles at the end seem a little forced.



Nigel’s not sure they should have used this particular dance on the show. I’m having flashbacks to the Two Step last year. Mary said Jeanine was believable and says Phillip pulled off the tricks. Tyce says they executed it well and Phillip surprised him.

Evan and Randi are up now with a Tabitha and Napoleon Hip Hop routine. It’s apparently about an unexpected pregnancy and it’s a pretty intricate routine.

They’re dancing to ‘Halo’ by Beyonce. They seem pretty sharp and together with this although I never really buy the two of them as couple-y. They always just seem like friends, so the story is a bit tough to buy. They danced it well, but I don’t know that they sold it.



Nigel thinks it’s cool that they weren’t forced to be ‘urban’. I sort of agree, ‘cause I don’t think they would have been able to sell it. Mary says she was expecting a train wreck and was surprised with how good it was. Tyce thinks Evan needs to find more but loves Randi. All and all good reviews but it seemed a little luke warm overall. Hmmm....

Brandon and Janette are on next with an Argentine Tango choreographed by Leonardo Barrionuevo and Miriam Larici (seriously, can a girl get a break with the spelling tonight! Jeeze). I have a feeling that these two will do well with this.

From the Forever Tango Soundtrack, they’re dancing to ‘Libertango’. The moves are all really sharp and they both really look and act the part. It’s not as quick as we usually see with a tango but it’s good and well done.



The judges give them a standing O. There was a moment there where I thought none of them were going to say anything and I thought ‘How refreshing!’. Then I was disappointed. Nigel says it was as close to perfection as he’s seen on that stage. Mary says it was hot and screams. Flawless, perfection, all of that. More screaming. Tyce says they left no stone unturned and makes some bizarre orange juice analogy and there’s table slapping. Okay Tyce.

Up next is Melissa and Ade. They’re dancing a Waltz by Ron Montez. Ron feels pretty confident about it.

They’re dancing to ‘Natural Woman’ by Mary J. Blige. My favourite part about waltzes in general are the lovely dresses they always put the girls in. So pretty. Both dancers are doing well with this, they’re hitting all the marks, but I’m not really getting enough out of this one. I don’t really know why.



Nigel praises Melissa’s lines and Ade’s strength and says it was beautifully danced. Mary agrees with Nigel, but says Ade wasn’t quite powerful enough. She blathers on and calls Nigel ‘English Muffin’ which makes me chuckle. Tyce thought they didn’t rise to the power of the song, and I see where he’s coming from. Maybe that’s what was lacking for me.

Kayla and Kupono are back with a Joey Dowling Broadway number about love at first sight. Joey’s a hard ass and I kinda like that about her.

From West Side Story it’s ‘The Dance At The Gym’. You all know Braodway’s not my favourite, but this is cute. It’s a nice opportunity to see them both a little lighter and is a good contrast to their first piece. Their together the whole way through and seem in character. Thumbs up.



Nigel says it wasn’t tight enough and didn’t have enough feeling. He needs more. Mary says they did a really good job, although she can see where Nigel’s at. Tyce says they didn’t get down enough in it, but they danced really well.

Returning now is Jason and Caitlyn with a Mandy Moore Lyrical Jazz piece. This is the first time that they’re moreso in their own style, so they are both really happy about that.

They’re dancing to ‘Show Me Heaven’ by Maria McKee. Huh, I haven’t heard anything from her in ages. There’s lots of neat little movements in this. They're right together the whole way through and very sharp. Good show.



Nigel says they did good but is missing the chemistry. Mary sees the chemistry but is missing the magic. It was really good but not memorable. Tyce says their lines are beautiful. He then says something like ‘your work is very much appreciated’ which sounds to me like their getting fired. Is he anticipating a bottom 3 finish for them? As a side note, Caitlyn has very dead eyes through the whole judging segment. I get the feeling that she’s about at the end of her rope with doing well but getting overall luke warm receptions from the judges. I can’t say I blame her.

Up next is Jeanine and Phillip. They’ve got the Jive with Tony Meredith and Melanie Lapatin. Phillip says they’re ‘going there’ but not too far.

They’re dancing to ‘Stuff Like That There’ by Bette Midler, probably my favourite Bette Midler song. This seems pretty redeeming from that Russian Folk fuckery earlier. It’s goofy which suits these two well. They’re sharp and together the whole way through. Well done.



Nigel thinks the choreography was great and stalls a bit....then tells Phillip it was the best he’s done out of his own style. He also says Jeanine is one of the best girls. Mary guarantees Jeanine’s going to be here next week and was really surprised with Phillip. They’re both on that stupid train. Tyce calls it ‘fan-friggin-tastic’. It was a great package.

Second to last we’ve got Randi and Evan. Pasha and Anya are back choreographing a Samba for them. Evan’s nervous about his hips.

Music for this one is ‘Ritmo De Bom Bom’ by Jubaba. Evan doesn’t seem quite loose enogh on this, but he seems to have the steps. He looks a little ridiculous in that outfit. Randi’s into it and is really grounded.



Nigel says Evan was strong and Randi was hot, but together, not really hot. Mary says it had a slow sizzle and was a great routine. They lived up to it but wasn’t dynamic enough. Tyce says they should’ve studied Danny and Lacey and Pasha and Anya to get the right feeling for this and it doesn’t sound like they did that.

Finally we’ve got Brandon and Janette with a Wade Robson Jazz piece. It’s a routine about thieves and I can tell from rehearsals it’s going to be great.

They’re dancing to ‘Ruby Blue’ by Roisin Murphy. There is nothing better than a Wade piece with Roisin Murphy. Seriously, the zombie number from season 2 to ‘Rama Lama Bang Bang’? Lauren and Neil’s dance from season 3 to ‘Night of the Dancing Flame’? It’s always brilliant. Brandon and Janette have lucked out entirely.

Right from the get go it’s fantastic. The costuming is brilliant. I was ready to call Kayla and Kupono’s contemporary the best of the night, but this one definitely takes that title. Simply great.



Nigel says they can do anything and I think that’s true. Nigel says they should get the biggest vote of the night. Mary says the best was last. Tyce says they have ‘that thing’ and they’re in charge. I really agree. Excellent.

So that’s it for tonight. Half our dancers will be in the bottom three tomorrow night. I’d say Caitlyn and Jason should be worried. There was a lot of screaming tonight and none of it was for them. I’m not sure that’s fair, but it is what it is. If I had to say, I’d say Phillip and Jeanine and Evan and Randi will be joining them in the bottom 3, but assuming Caitlyn and Jason are there as well, the rest shouldn’t have anything to worry about.

I’m really interested to see what starts happening both when the dancers are split up and when the eliminations are out of the judges hands.

Watch for the results recaplet tomorrow night or Friday morning at the latest. See you then!

Cheers!