SYTYCD - Top 16 Performance!

Happy SYTYCD night! Tonight's Top 16 episode is the first night viewer's from the US can vote on their favourite routines and to celebrate that, Cat Deeley is rockin' the Goth look. And sweet Goddess I'm dying for Cat's shoes! Our Top 16 sashay onto the stage to be introduced (as usual) and the first thing I'm struck by is the incredible awfulness of Ashleigh's pants. Who the hell approved that wardrobe choice? Red, ruffled, gaucho pants? Terrible. Seriously, she looked like she was attacked by a deranged Fraggle.

Next, some information is passed to us about the Dizzyfeet Foundation Gala and who will be performing that night. SYTYCD's Season 5 Top 10, dancer's from ABC's Dancing with the Stars, and crews from America's Best Dance Crew. Mary Murphy will also be dancing some sort of latin routine (Salsa? Samba?) with one of the contestants (Pasha?) from a past SYTYCD season. Sorry about the vagueness, my two year old was colouring on my notes and I had already deleted tonight's show from my PVR. Note to self - Next time - check notes before delete. Maybe Kim can fill in the holes in my details.

Tonight - I'm going to change things up a little bit and list the pair of dancers, the choreographer and music right at the top of each segment, then I'll move on into my thoughts about the performance. This way YOU will be able to find the song titles etc. a bit easier. Or skip them if you like. I'm not going to go over the "thing America should know about" for each dancer, that's just filler and honestly I FFwd through a lot of that stuff.

Karen & Kevin ~ Maria Torres/Hustle ~ Music: 'Come to Me' - France Joli

Right away I'm going to break my rule about not going into the "stuff" portion of each performance: Holy crap! Karen and her husband, who auditioned with her but was cut during Vegas week, decided to DIVORCE after Vegas week. Apparently things hadn't been good for a while, but jeez Karen, fishing for a sympathy vote? Okay, how did I miss this? I didn't hear that at all! Anyhow, the Hustle was one of the last dance styles to come out of the 70's Disco era, and why they didn't leave it there I don't know. I just don't get it. While the music was upbeat, I wasn't dancing along in my seat. Something was missing here. The dancers seemed to get it, and had the choreography down but there was no real feeling and energy was low. Lifts were all done well, though the 'death drop' spins looked and felt awkward, and Kevin had a noticeably nervous look on his face with each 'drop'. I'm still not feeling like there's anything special about Karen, though the judges disagree. Kevin again got shuffled off to the side as Karen received the lion's share of the praise. And there was praise, but nothing said by the judges indicated that this was a spectacular performance.

Ashleigh & Jakob ~ Mandy Moore/Jazz ~ Music: 'Relax' - Frankie Goes to Hollywood

The first routine tonight to use a prop of some sort (and there were a few this evening). Mandy Moore has worked a cane into the movement and wants it to be used not to hold up the dancers but as an extension of their bodies. Overall I liked this. Instead of feeling awkward, the cane really worked, and the costuming was great. Ashleigh is really starting to grow on me and looked fabulous tonight, especially her hair. I still don't like her personally, but she is a great dancer. There were a couple, super brief moments where the cane tangled them up a bit, but A&J moved on so smoothly that I almost didn't notice at all. I loved the fact that these two dancers were within inches of each other throughout the routine. There was a co-ordination of movement that really showed off their talent. This was fun to watch, the chemistry was good and I think I can safely say that these two, even if they won't be the TOP couple tonight (and they won't), will be safe for another week. Though now that I've written that down, they may be doomed.

Pauline & Peter ~ JT & Tomas - NEW!/Quickstep (or Dreaded Dance of Doom 'DDD') ~ Music: 'Hey Baby! (Shake Those Hula Hips)' - Big Kahuna & The Copa Cat Pack

Our dancers are dressed as an army guy and a hula girl, which suits the 40's war era style of music. Pauline really doesn't have the 'hula hip' action I think she needs here. She's awfully stiff and not smooth and flow-y as I think hula dancers should be. Peter's got some good energy and a big smile on his face, like he's loving every minute of this routine. The actual quickstep steps, though I'm certainly no expert, don't seem quite right and feel almost as though they are a half beat behind where they should be. I have to agree with the judges on this one and say where the technique could have used more polishing, the enjoyment the dancers obviously had performing this routine made up for it.

Kathryn & Legacy ~ Andy Blankenbuehler/Broadway ~ Music: 'I Wanna Be Like You' - Swingin' Fireballs

First of all, I love the choice of music, which is actually from the Disney movie 'The Jungle Book' and not 'Tarzan' as Adam mentioned. (I double checked - Adam did say 'Jungle Book') This was Fun Fun FUN to watch. I'm constantly amazed at how well Legacy is doing with whatever style gets thrown at him. The props in this routine worked too, from the beer can to the hat and arm chair. These accessories didn't weigh down the routine at all (which we'll see later on tonight). I will say that in some parts, I noticed a lack of chemistry between Kathryn & Legacy, which seems odd considering that chemistry has been so good in the past two weeks. The minute the judges mentioned that Kathryn's performance seemed a bit juvenile I said "Ohhh that's what was wrong". I went back and immediately re-watched the number (thanks to the miracle of PVR) and agreed with the judges assessment. Kathryn didn't seem like she was taking the character seriously enough. While the whole routine was supposed to be fun, if she had maybe vamped it up a little bit, instead of playing like a little girl, a missing piece would have been filled in.

Channing & Victor ~ Stacey Tookey/Contemporary ~ Music: 'Be Be Your Love (Live at KCRW)' - Rachael Yamagata

In a piece themed around a toxic relationship, Channing & Victor proved that in their own style they can really shine. Victor really didn't need to prove this, but Channing certainly did. I FINALLY like something Channing performed, and her chemistry with Victor seems to click. Much better than it did with Phillip anyway. There were some really beautiful examples of contemporary movement. I have to wonder though, if that can be put down more to the genius of Stacey Tookey's choreography (Yay for Canadian choreographers!), than to the talent of the dancers. Because while this was really lovely and enjoyable to watch, it wasn't all that memorable. Channing still gives off more of a clunky athlete vibe, rather than a graceful dancer. A good routine, but just that...Good. Again - I agree with the judges assessment when they said that Channing & Victor, in their own style were expected to be good and so they should have given us something Incredible.

Ellenore & Ryan ~ Lil C/Hip Hop ~ Music: 'Lost Boiz Anthem' - The J Squad

This had such potential, but from the minute I saw Lil C trying to teach swagger to our favourite ballroom guy, I dreaded the result. Dressed as bank robbers (though in white? huh?) and tossing around money bags, this had the opportunity to be really awesome. Here is where the use of props becomes laboured and a hindrance (much like the tennis rackets last week). The money bags led to some really clutzy moments and it immediately felt as though Ellenore & Ryan were SO concerned about catching the bags they forgot about character and the mood of the piece. Luckily the bags were discarded just a few seconds into the piece. I thought that Ryan & Ellenore worked really hard at pulling this off. I enjoyed the effort, but a few things just seemed off. Ryan is WAY too tall- the length of his arms and legs seemed to get in the way. There was a stiffness to his movement (most likely the result of his ballroom training) that I just couldn't let go of. Ellenore's movement certainly had more swagger but instead of coming off as hard hitting, just felt sloppy. There was NO synchronicity from the very start and they couldn't pull it together. This was the first time watching Ryan, that I KNEW I was watching a ballroom dancer trying to perform in a different genre. While Adam & Mary tried to hand out some good critique with the not so good, Nigel was having none of that and said flat out that he didn't like this routine At All. Oh dear - one of our dream teams fell flat this week. Let's hope they'll get another chance to prove themselves. I have a theory about this one...I've never seen them have Lil' C choreograph in anything other than Krump. I'm thinking these two originally pulled Krump and when they came to the realization that these two weren't going to be able to get dirty enough for it, dialled it back to Hip Hop.

Mollee & Nathan ~ Gustavo Vargas - NEW!/Salsa ~ Music: 'Quimbara' - Celia Cruz & Johnny Pacheco

Gustavo Vargas is a new choreographer to SYTYCD US, but those of us loyal Canadian watchers will recognize him from SYTYCD Canada ~ Again YAY! for Canadian Choreographers. Gustavo's routines on the last Canadian season proved he's an exceptionally talented choreographer and our American friends should love what he has to offer. I was certainly excited to see what Mr. Vargas would give our Teen Dream couple to work with. And well...uhhh I...well this just didn't work. At All. While I believed Nathan more than I did Mollee, neither dancer sold this. Sloppy moves, no real sexy salsa hip action, missed & messy hand holds, no sync between the dancers and the end lift was awkward to say the least. From step one this was a mess. I won't go so far to give it my ultimate bad critique of "White Hot Mess" - it was bad, and the judges agreed with me. Mollee and Nathan should be worried.

Noelle & Russell ~ Sean Cheesman - NEW!/Afro-Jazz ~ Music: 'Frog Dance' - Mickey Hart & Planet Drum

WoooHoooo! Another fabulous Canadian choreographer - what a night for Canada! This style (a mix of African tribal and Jazz techniques) has been used on seasons past of SYTYCD Canada and is really fun to watch, so excitement filled my brain waiting for this to begin. I wasn't disappointed! Russell playing the role of the Frog Prince and Noelle as the African Princess were So Much Fun to watch. I loved how Russell threw such joy into the whole routine. The smile on his face the whole way through made my night. Noelle was great as well, but I do think she's going to have to work very hard to outshine Russell's star. The tribal movements were well executed and the flips and tricks were amazing. The tumbling roundabout was incredible. Obviously my favourite routine of the night - can you tell? The judges agreed and congratulated Sean Cheesman for bringing this new style to SYTYCD so successfully. While the judges called Russell the King of Afro-Jazz, I'd have to say I disagree and say that title belongs to Mr. Cheesman.

So here we are at the end, and I'm going to make some predictions regarding the bottom three couples. Please don't make any bets on my guesses though, I'm certainly no prognosticator. I'd have to say that there are two couples tonight that have a VERY good chance of being in the bottom 3, and they would be Mollee & Nathan and Ryan & Ellenore. However - all of these dancers are fan favourites, so we may be surprised by one or both of these couples making it through. The third couple in the bottom tonight was, for me, Pauline & Peter. They pulled the 'DDD' and while the performance aspect of their routine was good, I don't think it was good enough. Unfortunately for Pauline & Peter, I believe that if they end up in the bottom 3 this will be the end of the line. Both have been selected by the judges to be in the bottom previously , and at this point how many chances can they be given?

That's it for me dance fans. Kim will be back later to expound on the results show. Have a lovely week!