So You Think You Can Dance: Ladies’ Night

So You Think You Can Dance

By HLo | Sunday, June 20, 2010 | 8:16 am | 12 Comments
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Posted in: Featured, Recaps, So You Think You Can Dance

Now that the 1 boy, 1 girl eliminations are gone, we get to see how the SYTYCD voting population really feels and the answer is: they don’t like the ladies.  Seeing as how the SYTYCD audience is mostly women, this disturbs me on a deep level, but we’re not here for that.  We’re here to get down to our top ten dancers.  Welcome to So You Think You Can Dance!

The group number this time is a fun jazzy hip hop thing by new choreographer, Tessandra Chavez. I look forward to see what she has to bring to the performance shows.  It gives a couple dancers like, Jose and Melinda a chance to shine.  It’s a great dance, but I wish the all-stars were onstage with them.

Wanna play jump rope?

A my name is Alice and I live in Alabama

Cat looks like a stunning 40’s Scottish screen star and is still pissed that Nigel is making her salute to him at the top of each show.

Cat Salutes

Oh, I’ll give you a salute you’ll never forget you old horndog.

Then, Nigel announces that July 31 is going to be Dance Day in America.  Um, says who?  It’s really important, he says, for everyone to get up and move on that day.  So, basically he thinks Americans can only get off their asses once a year?  The cool thing is, NappyTab is putting up a routine online to learn.  You know as soon as I finish writing this recap I am learning that dance.  Nigel says everyone should figure out what they want to do for the day.  Yes, Nigel, we should all have our own choices on what to do during your fake holiday.

The first four contestants to be brought onstage to find out their fates are Kent, Lauren, Robert, and Alex.  I’m glad that Alex went first since there was no chance in hell that he was going home.

Remember this?

Oh yeah, remember this?  You’re not going home tonight.

Next Robert is safe.  Between Kent and Lauren, you knew Kent was safe, but it turns out Lauren is, too!

Anyone notice that the live show is getting to Cat?  She keeps yelling at people to get off the stage before they’ve even had a chance to take a step.  Calm down, Deeley.  You’ve got time.

Next up is Melinda – who is, unsurprisingly in the bottom three.  Nigel is excited for her solo.  Billy is obviously safe.  Next up are Alexie and Ashley.  I was sure Ashley (who?) would be the one in the bottom three, but alas, it was Alexie.  Both danced well, but I think Alexie’s personality trumps Ashley hands down.

The final three up are Jose, Adechike, and Cristina.  I am sure it’s going to be Adechike who left a lot to be desired in his dance with Kathryn last night.  But no, my dear Cristina is in the bottom three!  WTF?!?  America, this is messed up.  It was so surprising, that Cat has to remind the audience to cheer for Adechike.

Before the solos, we get an amazing dance performance from the Broadway show, Come Fly Away.  The dancers are incredible and it’s unfair the girls have to follow Tony Nominee Karine Plantadit who is one of the most powerful female dancers I’ve ever seen. Keith Roberts is amazing, too, but I’m not sure why he’s chewing gum.

Wowza

Ladies, this is how you do it.

I can’t help but wonder if the people who are in the audience for Come Fly Away in New York are totally pissed that they spent $200 a ticket and the two leads are missing and performing for a bunch of 14-year-old girls.  I would be.

Melissa’s solo is up first.  Her tapping skills are tops, but she does some weird stuff with her arms.  I see now how that translated into her jive last night.

Melissa's wonky arms

I couldn’t find the perfect still, but trust me, her arms look wonky.

Alexie’s solo is one we’ve seen many many times before.  Beautiful leaps, turns, reaching out towards the heavens.  It’s all lovely, but doesn’t make me want to jump up and down, because that is what I do when I love a dance.  I jump up and down.

Alexie Prays

Please save me from elimination

Finally, we have Cristina, who has the unfortunate task of dancing a ballroom style alone.  She does a great job, though, clearly “leaving everything on the dance floor,” as they say.

Oye mami!

You aren’t gonna get rid of this, right?

Then we get a guest performance from Usher.  He sings his ubiquitous hit, OMG.  I am so sick of this song.  It’s on the radio every other minute.  He does a nice job, though, and I’m always glad when they bring on performers who are real dancers.

Ladies to aspire to

Little girls, if you work hard in dance class, this is what you can aspire to.

Then Usher introduces the world premiere Justin Bieber video. Oh, my 14-year-old self is all atwitter!  Let me tell you a story.  When I first heard the song “One Less Lonely Girl” on the radio, I thought it was a girl singing a love song to another girl and I was so impressed that the music industry has gotten so progressive.  And then the announcer said it was a boy singing and I felt old.  And then, I saw Justin for the first time on TV and I felt really old.

Finally, we are about to find out who is eliminated. I don’t want any of these girls to go, but if I had to choose based on last night, it’d be Melinda.  Nigel tells Melinda she has to find more warmth to personality and fire to her solo.  He tells Cristina that her choreography was just okay, but she was the only one dancing for her life.  Finally, cute Alexie danced too cute and is going home.

Wrong Wrong Wrong Justin Bieber

Um, you know he’s 16, right?

Poor thing tried out so many times, finally made it to the SYTYCD stage and is the first person eliminated.  She wouldn’t have been my pick (I would’ve rather seen Adechike go), but I don’t speak for all of America.  Oh well, we still have an amazing group of dancers. I can’t wait to see what happens next week!  Thanks for letting me sub in and Potty Mouth will be back next week!

About

12 Comments

  1. 1
    vallegirl vallegirl
    Posted June 20, 2010 at 8:41 am

    The gum chewing was in the choreography all the way back to when Baryshnikov performed it some 30 years ago, so it’s Twyla’s fault. Still, I thought they were amazing.

    And I would have rather Adechike get the boot, too, but with so many contemporary dancers on the show, including the top 4 guys, Alexie was the “expendable” one in that group. I understood their critique, but that routine was cutesy, so what was she to do? The same thing with Billy’s dance where how do you criticize a guy for dancing like a “boy” instead of a “man” when the routine is about high school?

    But Bieber creeps me out. He’s 16 but looks 12 and sings like an adolescent girl and people find that attractive? Not just tweens, either. I blame Canada since they shipped him down here to torture us.

  2. 2
    Pikey
    Posted June 20, 2010 at 9:45 am

    Hey Vallegirl – as a loyal Canadian I can guarantee that we did not send him to you as a torture device! We needed the break from cute young boys and thought you could use some… The top male (imho) is Alex who is not contemporary – he is the only one representing ballet. The trouble with casting so many contemporary dancers is that we will see lots of them go in the beginning to thin out the herd, fair or not!

    I do think that the males are much better dancers this year (whether this was planned by the producers or not) and have not been impressed by the females so far. (BTW I am not even close to being a tween.) My top two are Alex and Kent and my liking for Robert diminishes each time he mugs for the camera.

  3. 3
    vallegirl vallegirl
    Posted June 20, 2010 at 11:01 am

    Like we DON’T have a ton of soulless “cute” teenage automatons…I mean boys? You can take him back whenever you want him. We’ll stick with Zac Efron. At least he’s technically an adult.

    I included Alex in the “contemporary” group because they don’t include ballet in the choreography, so if he’s going to count as any type the closest he comes is contemporary. And I think he’s only technically the best. Constipation face does not equal expressiveness and his expression via his movement is very clinical. There isn’t the freedom in Alex that I see in the other three. It’s not a lack of personality it’s his need to be perfect that’s his problem.

    That and the waterworks.

  4. 4
    Susan
    Posted June 20, 2010 at 3:55 pm

    I like Adechike and was happy he was safe. He was given a lousy dance where he was basically a prop for the female all-star. He wasn’t given much dancing at all. I’m hoping next week he gets a GOOD routine to show off his talents.

  5. 5
    georgiababe
    Posted June 20, 2010 at 5:17 pm

    Oh no vallegirl, believe me, Canada doesn’t want him back. I think he seems like a nice kid, but I am just not interested. His singing voice weirds me out.

    Pikey, I agree with everything you said (except your dislike of Robert). I also think that the girls failed to impress on Wednesday, moreso than the boys. The bottom two guys for me were Adechike and Billy and the bottom two for girls? Alexie and Melinda. I would have preferred to see Melinda go, because I like her less and less every time she opens her mouth about how she’s a “triple threat”. Barf. I saw you on ATWT darling, you can’t fool me.

    And as for her tap arms – well, that’s basically what tap is. I did tap competitively in a group, where your arms need to be controlled and precise – because it looks much cleaner, obviously – but when you do solo tap, it really doesn’t matter. It’s much more fun to just let go of the strict posture and arm positions that ballet requires and just get down into the floor and let go, which can lead to some very wonky arm positions.

    And actually, for the best guy, I’m going to go with Kent. Sure, he’s not as technically brilliant as Alex, but he gets into it and just has fun and he seems very laid back about this whole thing – not that he’s not going to try, but that this is a learning experience and all you can do is work hard and have fun. I have a feeling that Alex puts a lot of pressure on himself, probably because of the great things he has achieved in the past, like winning the Prix de Lausanne and holding the principal soloist position with Miami City. I hope he can loosen up.

    I also just found out that although he moved to Vancouver, Alex was actually born in my hometown (Edmonton, Alberta). Exciting!

    Great recap HLo! If PM ever needs someone to step in again, please do!

  6. 6
    jewel64
    Posted June 20, 2010 at 8:34 pm

    I would have liked to see MELISSA gone. I don’t know if I can stomach another week of her shameless self-promotion and yapping about being on that soap opera. I hope she is given a dance genre that once again she does horribly at. (Her jive reeked so badly…only Pasha saved that dance.
    Robert strikes me as trying too hard to be A PERSONALITY in order to get votes. It comes off as phony and grating to the viewer. He’s a good dancer, but he needs to act like himself instead of using this “TV personality” because it doesn’t work.

  7. 7
    Tenormartin
    Posted June 21, 2010 at 12:42 am

    I’d be curious to see the judges comments/scoring sheets. From my experience doing arts competitions, the harshest criticism is usually reserved for those who are doing fairly well but need a kick in the butt to get to the next level. I wouldn’t be surprised if Adechike and Lauren (who I felt got the harshest criticism last week) actually got decent scores. To be honest, though she was a cutie, I think Alexie was the right choice to send home. While she did OK in the choreography, I feel like she was the weakest dancer. I also suspect that though Jose got more positive feedback than Adechike, his scores were probably lower.

    Just MHO.

  8. 8
    Lizbot
    Posted June 21, 2010 at 3:54 am

    I’m not sure what everyone (including the judges) see in Christina. To me she’s weak in her own genre and wasn’t strong enough in the jazz to really impress me (although she wasn’t horrible).

    Melinda didn’t impress me in her own genre, much less in the jive with Pasha.

    Robert is a good dancer, I just didn’t see him as being all that great, especially dancing next to Courtney (maybe that was the problem). I agree that he’s probably trying too hard to win votes by being “cute” and maybe his real personality isn’t quite so over the top and annoying — but someone needs to tell him to stop it!

    As for Adechike, I hope he’s given choreography next week that lets him show the talent I believe he has. I still say that — although he could have tried to push it further — Travis kind of screwed him over by making him into a prop for the fabulous Kathryn rather than centering the choreography around the actual contestant!

    I loved Alexie’s personality and was sorry to see her go, but I knew that there was no other way it was going to go seeing as she was the only contemporary dancer to hit bottom 3. My bottom 3 of the night were Melinda, Christina, and Billie/Lauren (hard to choose between those last 2, and both kind of got screwy choreography IMO). I thought for sure it would be Ashley, but then she had to go and dance well!

  9. 9
    rubberduck1810
    Posted June 21, 2010 at 4:53 am

    Gutted Alexie went home! She’s the only girl I’ve really warmed to so far. I also wanted Adechike gone, and I really did think he would be in the bottom.
    Agree with vallegirl about Alex. I think he could be in trouble if he gets broadway or jive, or something that requires a lot personality. But I really hope he can pull it off, because I do really like him.

  10. 10
    CattyFan cattyfan
    Posted June 21, 2010 at 7:27 am

    I HATED Melinda’s solo. She continues to dance against the music instead of with it. No regard for the actual beat of the music at all. She needs to go watch some old movies to see how it’s supposed to be done. Use the music to best show off the moves, instead of making the music a distracting incidental. And, you’re right: she needs to learn to use her arms. Dancing is a whole body activity, not just about feet. I would have sent Melinda home, especially based on Wednesday’s performance. Alexie had far more potential for growth, and a better performance on Wednesday.

    Also, I believe Lauren and Adechike should have been in the bottom three. (Every time I have to type Adechike’s name, I cut and paste it from elsewhere because I can’t remember how to spell it. Someone give that kid a nickname. here4beer has suggested Not!Ade, which I think works nicely.)

    vallegirl said, “Bieber creeps me out. He’s 16 but looks 12 and sings like an adolescent girl and people find that attractive? Not just tweens, either.”

    What she said. And I want to know why, when this show is about dancing, the producers continue to inflict on us overproduced, auto-tune reliant pop and rap “stars.” They have a roster of supposed all-star dancers. Why not let them do a featured number each Thursday? Have them dance as a group, in pairs, as individuals in their genre…whatever. Just USE them.

    Also, the fact that this show only rarely includes ballet on the show only goes to support my contention that contemporary is for dancers who are not skilled enough and/or not disciplined enough to handle classical ballet.

    I ask again, when do the votes become the sole determiner of who continues? Because that will be the only way to get rid of Lauren, since Nigel clearly lusts after her. Old perv.

  11. 11
    rubberduck1810
    Posted June 21, 2010 at 11:40 am

    Cattyfan- I think the judges have control right up until the end (the week before the final). So looks like we’ll be stuck with Lauren for a bit…

  12. 12
    Paul Alvarez
    Posted June 22, 2010 at 3:20 pm

    I agree that the Thursday show should NOT feature crappy singers and focus on DANCE. I too would love to see the all stars featured in a longer group number or two separate routines with a subset of them in each. They could even re-do some of the prior season’s group numbers or mix that with new routines.

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