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alonewiththemoonLast night was a pretty stellar show, I'd have to say. I will hate to see almost any of the couples in the bottom three, but I suppose somebody has to be. My run-down:
Janette and Brandon, cha cha: that was so good I didn't want it to end, seriously. You could see in Janette that she was happy to be getting closer to her own style, and of course I *loved* that Brandon was singing along with part of the song, as an inveterate and uncontrollable lip syncher myself. I don't really know what to make of that whole thing with Mia and Brandon, whether it was a set up or whether she genuinely didn't like him at the start. I think I'm inclined to say the latter, but that the producers played it up into something bigger than it really was, so a little bit of a set up as well. I do think he hasn't yet quite hit the balance between technique and personality that a great dancer should have, but I could see him getting there. Janette I think has it already.
Kayla and Kupono, Sonia vampire dance: do I really need to say anything more than that? *loved* it and they were excellent together. Kayla strikes me as somebody who knows she is very pretty but wants to be experimental and wierd more than she wants to work the prettiness in a conventional manner (judging by the way she talked about her last routine with Max, and some of her modelling pics), so Kupono makes a great partner for her, as he's not at all afraid of the wierd. I thought the routine was intense and emotional and the dancers really projected a supernatural feel. At the same time it was the strength of their technique that made the rest of it convincing. And Kayla was utterly adorable in her Lolita vampire doll garb. I am not ashamed to say I actually picked up the phone and voted for them, because I am afraid what they did will be overlooked among all the other great routines last night.
Randi and Evan, Broadway: I would have expected that combination of dancers and style to be great, but found it honestly a bit joyless. They looked like they were doing choreography, not communicating anything. Maybe this was at the choreographer's direction, but I also felt that their movements were too tight and contained. Not that I'm an expert but it seems to me that Broadway dance has to be big and large and over the top so that the people sitting way in the back of the theatre get what's going on. I would expect them to be in the bottom three.
Jason and Caitlin, alien pop jazz: I will give Caitlin credit, I think she really has started to step up. The judges were a bit lukewarm on this one but I enjoyed it quite a bit. Jason occasionally crossed a border into hammy but Caitlin admirably threw herself into her role and looked like she was having fun. Plus, Santigold! Watching this one, I wanted to see a B movie made about the story starring Caitlin. Unfortunately I think this one might have been too wierd for the at home audience so I expect to see them in the bottom three, even though I thought they were strong.
Jeanine and Phillip, lyrical hip hop: it was great to see Phillip doing what he does best after seeing him struggle for a couple of weeks, and Jeanine really does keep up. The quality of her movement is softer, but having learned myself a couple of weeks ago just how difficult it is to hit those hard locks and pops I am not going to be judgemental about it. I liked the conceit of the chain; I admired the skill it took to dance around it without looking afraid of it. I disagreed a bit with Mia Michaels about the chain being distracting because it was slinky and organic while the dancers were hard and rhythmic--I liked that contrast, and thought it said something about the need to feel in control of yourself while life unpredictably ebbs and flows around you.
Melissa and Ade, classical pas de deux: Melissa is so beautiful and was so full of palpable joy, it covered up for occasional clunkiness on Ade's part. It was a gorgeous routine and made me smile. I'm glad to hear, judging by the audience screaming, that Melissa seems to be very popular with the girls, perhaps because they've all done ballet and can see themselves in her up there.
Karla and Vitolio, quick step: it was very fun and very entertaining. Although the quick step bounce was there, I thought they both needed to loosen up a bit in the upper body, as their upper stiffness deadened the movement a bit. But their footwork was great and never looked labored. When the couple first appeared on screen, I thought "who in costuming hates Karla enough to put her in a dress that makes her look like an overstuffed sofa?" which made the dress trick all the more delightful.
The only couples I would be shocked to see in the bottom three would be Janette and Brandon or Melissa and Ade. And I really don't want to see Kayla and Kupono in the bottom three again. I do feel that Evan and Randi deserve to be in the bottom three this week. But apart from that, I have no idea who the others will be.
BTW, if you want to see videos of the routines, go here for the seekrit hidden video clips.
I'm surprised this hasn't happened sooner, but SYTYCD exercise DVDs are coming out later this month, here's one and you can find the link to the other one on the page. Might check them out if Netflix gets them...
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Janette and Brandon, cha cha: that was so good I didn't want it to end, seriously. You could see in Janette that she was happy to be getting closer to her own style, and of course I *loved* that Brandon was singing along with part of the song, as an inveterate and uncontrollable lip syncher myself. I don't really know what to make of that whole thing with Mia and Brandon, whether it was a set up or whether she genuinely didn't like him at the start. I think I'm inclined to say the latter, but that the producers played it up into something bigger than it really was, so a little bit of a set up as well. I do think he hasn't yet quite hit the balance between technique and personality that a great dancer should have, but I could see him getting there. Janette I think has it already.
Kayla and Kupono, Sonia vampire dance: do I really need to say anything more than that? *loved* it and they were excellent together. Kayla strikes me as somebody who knows she is very pretty but wants to be experimental and wierd more than she wants to work the prettiness in a conventional manner (judging by the way she talked about her last routine with Max, and some of her modelling pics), so Kupono makes a great partner for her, as he's not at all afraid of the wierd. I thought the routine was intense and emotional and the dancers really projected a supernatural feel. At the same time it was the strength of their technique that made the rest of it convincing. And Kayla was utterly adorable in her Lolita vampire doll garb. I am not ashamed to say I actually picked up the phone and voted for them, because I am afraid what they did will be overlooked among all the other great routines last night.
Randi and Evan, Broadway: I would have expected that combination of dancers and style to be great, but found it honestly a bit joyless. They looked like they were doing choreography, not communicating anything. Maybe this was at the choreographer's direction, but I also felt that their movements were too tight and contained. Not that I'm an expert but it seems to me that Broadway dance has to be big and large and over the top so that the people sitting way in the back of the theatre get what's going on. I would expect them to be in the bottom three.
Jason and Caitlin, alien pop jazz: I will give Caitlin credit, I think she really has started to step up. The judges were a bit lukewarm on this one but I enjoyed it quite a bit. Jason occasionally crossed a border into hammy but Caitlin admirably threw herself into her role and looked like she was having fun. Plus, Santigold! Watching this one, I wanted to see a B movie made about the story starring Caitlin. Unfortunately I think this one might have been too wierd for the at home audience so I expect to see them in the bottom three, even though I thought they were strong.
Jeanine and Phillip, lyrical hip hop: it was great to see Phillip doing what he does best after seeing him struggle for a couple of weeks, and Jeanine really does keep up. The quality of her movement is softer, but having learned myself a couple of weeks ago just how difficult it is to hit those hard locks and pops I am not going to be judgemental about it. I liked the conceit of the chain; I admired the skill it took to dance around it without looking afraid of it. I disagreed a bit with Mia Michaels about the chain being distracting because it was slinky and organic while the dancers were hard and rhythmic--I liked that contrast, and thought it said something about the need to feel in control of yourself while life unpredictably ebbs and flows around you.
Melissa and Ade, classical pas de deux: Melissa is so beautiful and was so full of palpable joy, it covered up for occasional clunkiness on Ade's part. It was a gorgeous routine and made me smile. I'm glad to hear, judging by the audience screaming, that Melissa seems to be very popular with the girls, perhaps because they've all done ballet and can see themselves in her up there.
Karla and Vitolio, quick step: it was very fun and very entertaining. Although the quick step bounce was there, I thought they both needed to loosen up a bit in the upper body, as their upper stiffness deadened the movement a bit. But their footwork was great and never looked labored. When the couple first appeared on screen, I thought "who in costuming hates Karla enough to put her in a dress that makes her look like an overstuffed sofa?" which made the dress trick all the more delightful.
The only couples I would be shocked to see in the bottom three would be Janette and Brandon or Melissa and Ade. And I really don't want to see Kayla and Kupono in the bottom three again. I do feel that Evan and Randi deserve to be in the bottom three this week. But apart from that, I have no idea who the others will be.
BTW, if you want to see videos of the routines, go here for the seekrit hidden video clips.
I'm surprised this hasn't happened sooner, but SYTYCD exercise DVDs are coming out later this month, here's one and you can find the link to the other one on the page. Might check them out if Netflix gets them...
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Date: 2009-07-02 04:28 pm (UTC)Jason & Caitlin: I think Jason really stepped it up in this one, but I'm still not feeling Caitlin. I was not convinced that she was an alien that had just destroyed the world, though I did see that she was having fun up there. She was one of my favorites coming out of LV, but now I'd really like to see her go.
Jeanine & Phillip: I think Jeanine is so excellent, and I'm a Phillip fan-girl, but I also thought this choreography was pretty bad. They performed it well, but it held no interest for me.
I think Karla looks emotionally exhausted. I think she's quite talented and still has a lot more that she can show us. If she doesn't land in the bottom 3 tonight that will hopefully give her enough of a reprieve to come back refreshed next week. If she does end up in the bottom 3 I wouldn't be surprised to see her go. A dancer needs to have a thick skin, and she unfortunately hasn't shown us that quality.
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Date: 2009-07-02 04:42 pm (UTC)I like Kupono for a lot of the same reasons I like Mark, but it was interesting seeing Mark's style again and seeing how different they really are.
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Date: 2009-07-02 04:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-02 04:52 pm (UTC)I think you are right about Karla. If she has to dance for her life tonight, I have a hard time seeing her being sharp enough to stay.
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Date: 2009-07-02 04:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-02 04:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-02 04:59 pm (UTC)I think Fosse style choreography can be an acquired taste, too!
He basically took ballet and turned it inside out, so a lot of the stereotypical moves are the opposite of what you'd have in ballet (in-turned feet, jutting elbows, quick/abrupt movements, jarring head/hand positions and very slinky/sexual). It'd definitely not 'big' in the traditional Broadway sense, but Broadway just gets less and less traditional as time goes on, which I think is a good thing.
There's a good DVD from the show "Fosse" showing a nice selection of his stuff from various shows if you're curious to see more, and the movie "All That Jazz" gets into his life story, a bit - fascinating guy.
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Date: 2009-07-02 05:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-02 05:39 pm (UTC)A lot of the Fosse moves last night were the minute details, like the flick of the wrist that Nigil was talking about, etc.
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Date: 2009-07-02 05:47 pm (UTC)Janette and Brandon, cha cha: I really don't want to like these guys but I can't help it. They are _amazing_! That was one of the best routines last night. I think the one thing they are going to struggle with is that because we really haven't seen them falter, it's going to be tougher for the judges to see how they're growing.
Kayla and Kupono, Sonia vampire dance: I was really worried that Kupono was going to be disappointing and pull Kayla down. I was really really happy to see that he didn't.
Randi and Evan, Broadway: They don't have enough sparkle like some of the other couples. They are solid dancers, though I would have liked to see more from Evan.
Jason and Caitlin, alien pop jazz: Oh god, can someone just vote her off already!?!? I think she was lucky in the sense that the piece really hid how much she doesn't keep up with other dancers' technique and ability. She needs to go.
Jeanine and Phillip, lyrical hip hop: I really really love Jeanine. I don't think she'll win, but hopefully Phillip won't drag her down so much and she might stay in a little longer. I like that she's not stick thin and she seems really sweet.
Melissa and Ade, classical pas de deux: That was so awesome! It was great to see Melissa in her own style. And, I think Ade kept up better than anyone could who doesn't do ballet. It would have been interesting to see how another couple would have pulled off this piece. Maaaabye Kayla. Maaaybe Janette and Brandon but I doubt it.
Karla and Vitolio, quick step: Better than I thought it was going to be. And the costume change was pretty cool. I don't think Vitolio is going to be around for much longer, though. Mia is right - there's something about him... maybe he just really isn't consistent at all.