SYTYCD

[alonewiththemoon]

I thought the first few routines were pretty low energy and not that exciting, but things picked up...

Jessica and Will:  their jive was pretty labored and it looked like Will was struggling with the lifts.  My attention wandered a lot, which is saying something about Will.  I think now that he's in dance forms that he knows little about, some signs of less than perfection are showing.  Their lyrical jazz to Heart with the shirt was good though.  I think the guest judges were unfair to Jessica, but Nigel made it up to her.

Comfort and Thayne:  Their Broadway was flat and dull, considering the excitement of the song.  There were some good moments, but it didn't hang together cohesively at all.  Their smooth waltz was much better.  Comfort's beauty queen background showed in her lines during those beautiful lifts.  Her dress looked a bit dowdy while she was standing still in it, but in motion it was gorgeous.  I thought she and Thayne worked together better than her and Chris did; Thayne at least throws himself into his parts, although in perhaps too theatrical a way.  Also, I thought she looked just lovely with her eyebrow ring (and I usually think they don't look that great on people), so boo to Nigel.

Kourtni L and Matt:  I missed where Cat said what kind of dance they'd be doing for their first number, and I honestly couldn't tell what it was.  I figured maybe jazz.  I was surprised to hear at the end that it was hip hop, and thus not at all surprised at the mostly negative comments they got.  I think it was also not cool of the costumers to put Matt in a low brimmed hat one week after he was told by the judges that his dancing had to go to his eyes, but I suppose  the costumers don't know these things.  Their mambo was much better, as far as I could tell.  Totally agree that Matt needed to free up his lower body and get earthy, but his partnering was good.  I thought Kourtni really threw herself into it and did a great performance.  Of course there were technique things, like that bounciness the judges remarked upon, but not at all bad for somebody who's out of their style.

Chelsie and Mark:  I love these guys together.  It was hilarious to hear that cover of Kiss Kiss/Simarik, though Tarkan's is much sexier.  Mark did seem a little constrained in his movements, but their musicality was very good.  It was nice to see Chelsie do something in her own style with the foxtrot.  She just ate up that floor.  One thing I noticed is that even though she was wearing all that flowing dress, when Mark flipped and spun her, the dress was always in its proper place, never getting caught on his head or somebody's arm or foot.  To me that seemed like a mark of a ballroom pro, to know how to handle the costuming on top of the dancing.  He kept up and was always there for the lifting, and she looked lovely in all those feathers.

Kherington and Twitch:  Paso doble is the secret trap of the show, I think, because it's so easy for the non-Latin dancers to take it over the top and make it cartoonish.  I think Kherington and Twitch managed to stay just this side of cartoon, though their technique was eh.  I did really like seeing fierceness on Kherington, seeing that she's capable of more dimensions, and they did convey the battling nature of the paso doble.  I loved Kherington's outfit, though you know you are a belly dancer when you find yourself thinking "she really needs something on that skirt to make her hips look bigger."  Their Mia Michaels contemporary was really moving, and just as it was nice to see Kherington expand for the paso doble, it was nice to see Twitch expand past tough guy/reserved guy for this number.  Also, I am not at all complaining about the sight of him rolling around half naked on a bed being all vulnerable, no I am not.

Katee and Joshua:  as I mentioned last night, Katee blew me away in their Mia Michaels contemporary number.   As Joshua said, it was more than just dance.  That was art, pure and simple.   It was by far my favorite piece of the night.  That leap through Joshua's arms with the stop was breathtaking, and all the emotions the piece was meant to convey came straight through.  Katee went way up in my estimation last night.  Their West Coast swing was lively but I thought needed a bit more shaking it.  It clunked in a couple of places, but where it worked, it really worked, and I think Katee is making a lot of progress in letting herself be sexy.  That hip bump at the end was great.

Courtney and Gev:  I disagreed with the judges about their hip hop.  Courtney looked like she was playing a part, and Gev danced it like a second skin.  Maybe he was too understated about it, but she looked too frantic and hammy to me.  I often question myself when I'm watching the white people do hip hop if I'm tougher on them than the black people just because they don't fit one's mental image of a person doing hip hop a historically black dance form, but the white boy from Kazakhstan looked totally convincing.  Their Broadway was better, but I still felt like Courtney was too hammy and busy.  Gev needed cleaner lines esp. in his arms, but he did it well enough that I agreed with the judge that said he might develop a new dance form, hip hop on Broadway.

Bottom three?  I have no idea.  My guess would be Comfort and Thayne, Courtney and Gev and then I have no idea.  Unfortunately I think this is probably the end of the line for Comfort.  If she'd had a better partner from the start she'd be in a better position now, but as it is, she hasn't really had a fair chance to show what she can do.  I had a feeling watching her last night that fatigue is setting in pretty heavily as well, so maybe it would be better for her in the long run if she did go home, sadly.  For the men, I don't know--I'd guess Thayne, I suppose.


Last night I had a dream that featured amphibious elephants, small ones about German shepherd sized.

Now I go pull weeds from the garden.  Fun, fun.
 

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

With Comfort and Thayne's broadway routine, their costuming threw me off. I love West Side Story but they should have dressed her down for the 'Cool' routine. It was like she was dressed for the dance 'Gym Mambo' number and that threw me off. I also agree that they should have been more energy there.

[akashablue.livejournal.com]

That was me. Computer was acting up!