Last night's SYTYCD (better late than never?)

[kate]

Have I mentioned that I like that the couples are introduced together? I do. I like them a lot. It shorts the opening a little, which is good, and strengthens our concept of them as a couple.

OMG TRAVIS ON THE PANEL!!! IN A PURPLE VELVET(?) SUITCOAT AND LITTLE BLACK BOWTIE!!! :D :D :D

And Carmen Electra. Elektra? I… have no opinions about her.

Gah, I love Travis. And the group routines. I love the group routines a lot, too. More dance = win. New choreographer! I hope he's good. Justin Giles, and a piece about the seven stages of grief. Huh. I thought there were only five, but all of them sound familiar, so maybe I've just forgotten. Ooooh, Damien Rice excellent choice. I like the guy already. Interesting choices in the choreo there I like it; I could grow to like this guy. I enjoyed that piece immensely, actually, I expect that to make it into my 'favorite dances' collection.

Oh, Marko's package was sweet… until the drag queen bit. He is a pretty girl. I love Melanie a ridiculous amount, and hahahah, her boyfriend. Melanie and Marko dancing jazz with Ray Leeper, another new guy. I like the infusion of fresh blood. Honestly, I'm having a tough time getting past the costumes. Melanie's dress is distracting, and… I'm not fond of the choreography, turns out. I don't care for this too much, honestly. Too… loose. I don't think this couple is going anywhere, though, they seem to be favorites.

Yay, Sasha. I love her, and I love her sister. They're awesome. Alexander seems sweet, and he's a ballet dancer! That makes me like him more. SWAG CAMP. That's brilliant. And another new choreographer – Sean Evaristo. Sasha's killing it. Alexander is a little… mediocre. It's an easy routine, though – obviously for non-hip hop folk. It's interesting enough (though, wtf with the tree?) that I'm interested in seeing more from Sean. Hopefully with a different couple. Oh wait! I forgot they've already done Tabitha and Napoleon hip hop and they were brilliant! So, maybe the problem was the choreo… oof, bad comments – reminds me of earlier seasons (remember hip hop of non-hip hop folks in Season 2?).

Jordan… oh, she's so young. And sweet. I like her better after her video package. Tadd (another favorite of mine), a nice little package about his Filipino heritage. He's sweet! I like him even more. I love getting to know the dancers better. Okay, smooth waltz by Toni Redpath. Jordan looks gorgeous, with the dress and hair extensions. Actually, the detail on Tadd's outfit is nice too, and this is beautiful. That's some gorgeous choreo there. Nicely done, Toni. Also, I love Travis's remarks, very specific comments about technique – I miss those sorts of comments.

Clarisse and Jess doing contemporary again? /o\ Clarisse is a lovely young lady, and I love parents who just give whatever they can for their kids' dreams. Jess – what a little showman. Ahahaha, he needed an introduction to come out of his room when he was little. Ooh, more Justin Giles! I look forward to this. It seems a little hip hop-y. I like that Justin seems to bring other styles into his choreo. The best choreographers always do. Nice choreo, but I don't feel the connection between them, and I don't feel like Jess is managing his character very well. Clarisse did brilliantly; Jess had moments. I would've like to have seen Melanie and Marko do this routine.

Wow, Ashley had some HUGE heels on for church, there. I love her little cooking show! :D Gah, I'm LOVING the girls this season. Chris comes from a big family, yay. Whoa – go Chris for going to college. Wow, that looks like a really tough routine from Liz Lira (another new choreographer); and while I love their attitude, I have concerns about them pulling off this routine. Ooh, nice shoulder and hip action on Ashley. Wowza, that was a series of lifts, there. Wow. And Chris's hips are surprisingly better than I expected. Not fantastic, but he's working it a little. Sadly, I think this was the week of everyone being out of their genre and a little bit crappy. This was okay, but not great by any means.

Ugh, Ryan and Ricky doing jazz. Talk about unreal, she was in the musical ep of House and is a favorite of Mia. ;_; Okay, Ricky being a cheerleader is a little bit endearing. ANOTHER new choreographer – Chucky Klapow. I like him, he's a cutie, and I like the concept for the dance. So far, choreography-wise, this is my favorite, but I like the weird stuff. I like the Thriller shout-out there. This was good for the pair of them, too – I don't like Ryan and Ricky isn't a standout for me (the boys pale in comparison to the girls, I find), but the routine totally worked for them.

Caitlynn and Mitchell doing a Mandy Moore contemporary routine, this ought to be good. Awesome, Caitlynn is a tomboy; I love chicks like that (yeah, that was totally me as a kid). Her dad is sweet too. Mitchell… wow. I love this dude. I like that he wants to make sure his partner is safe. NAW MARKO READS ROMANCE NOVELS. Ahem. You know, I can always tell it's Mandy Moore from the music. I understand having music that speaks to you, but hers is so dated. These two are totally safe. Lovely routine, lovely dancing, and emotional connection and lifts out the wazoo. Totally safe.

I miss disco. Where's Doriana?

And the ladies' routine with Ray Leeper doing sexy jazz. How interesting the choreography for the women always seems to be evil and murderous. I feel like there's a terrible message there – like, because the women are stronger than the men this season, they're portrayed as evil. I know, individual choreographers, whatever, but this is the second or third routine like this. It's starting to grate. I didn't like this choreo either, and I'm not fond of Ray's apparent love of garters. Damn. That was not cool for me.

This was really a bust show for me. Let's see, what do I think about the bottom three, hmmm. I think dancewise, Ashley & Chris, Jordan & Tadd, and Sasha & Alexander. Popularity-wise, Ashley & Chris, Jordan & Tadd, Clarice & Jess. It'll be interesting to see.

AW, BILLY IN THE AUDIENCE! :D I LUUUUURVE HIM.

Okay, so. Now I have to wait to get the results show. *sigh*

Comments

[kate]

Yeah, I have no idea what the judges see in Ryan. I'd like to see her live just to see if it's something that's not coming across on TV.

Yeah, Chris had a tough season. Sometimes it's like that, poor guy. One more week of the same couples - maybe next week they'll feel okay sending home a mismatched set, since they'll be switching it up after that. And with allstars, I hear! :D :D :D

You know, you have a good point. Everyone did feel sort of dull, like they were tired. I hope that goes away. It always seemed to me that once we hit the top 10 things started to get exponentially tougher and the dancers got more focused as a result. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. (Maybe it's something to do with the schedule - maybe they usually work Mon - Weds, but this week with the 4th of July they only got Tues - Weds, and so they were run ragged a little?)

I dunno about Bollywood. I do enjoy it - the group routine was fabulous - but there was a different feel to the one that Katee and Joshua did in Season 4 than to these. These feel... watered down, to me. Bollywood was one of those styles that if you worked your ass off and got it, you'd be an instant it, but if you didn't get it, you'd be screwed. Now it feels more like any other genre, tough but not precise in the way I expect Bollywood to be, you know? But I would like more of it. I'd really like to know why they choose the styles they do; why are contemporary, jazz, hip hop, ballroom, and broadway accessible enough for any good dancer to get in a short period of time, but ballet and tap are not? I understand they're both specialized and intricate, but... I dunno, man. I'd like to see a greater diversity of dance, definitely.