Cat's in a sparkly turquoise number this week, looking even taller than normal, and makes another "jidges" joke.
Adam Shankman, choreographer of Hairspray, is the guest judge this week. Cat asks what he's been up to since the last time, and he plugs Hairspray, which Nigel points out has had the highest grossing opening weekend of any musical of all time. Wow. With all the musicals Hollywood puts out, that's amazing. Then Adam makes a Paris Hilton joke, which was fun for everybody. Nigel talks about how the show's a bit of lottery these days, what with randomly drawing the partner you're going to work with, as well as the choreographer you're going to work with. Then Mary tops him in the uselessness department by giggling about the diamonds she's wearing, as though that has anything to do with anything.
Danny's paired up with Sara this week, and they're dancing the Argentine tango and hip-hop. Alex da Silva is doing the tango choreography, which involves Sara kicking up through his legs. During rehearsal, Danny holds a clipboard over his crotch so Sara won't castrate him. "Whatever Lola Wants," by Sarah Vaughn and Gotan Project, is the music of choice. The crotch kick comes early on, and it looks like Sara doesn't de-ball him. She does seem to have some issues getting through his legs. He's in a suit; she looks like a wannabe Argentinean Pussycat Doll, complete with a fan. At one point, Danny leaves Sarah lying on the stage fanning herself, while he pirouettes. They perform a nifty human pretzel move, with Sara's legs going up and over and under and over. In the end, Danny finishes with a flip and whips out his own fan to cool himself off.
Adam says he would have thought Sara and Danny would be a mismatch, but this was "un-beepin'-real." He says he's proud of Sara, calling her the most transformed dancer on the show, because there wasn't a trace of B-girl in that dance. Then he says Danny has the best centre of anyone he's ever seen in his life, and he's probably the best male dancer ever on this show. Not to oversell it or anything. He says he's not sure about Danny's fan, though, since it wasn't very "butch." Well, if anyone would know, it's this guy. Mary praises Danny's technique (specifically the pirouettes and how he came out of them), although she's not sure of the appropriateness of the flip in an Argentinean tango. Nigel liked it, although he would have liked to see more performance-wise from Sara, in her face. He loved the pretzel. He also praises Danny's centre. As for the flip? He figures it's not traditionally done in the tango because the dancers aren't capable of it. That doesn't sound right to me. So no matter the style of dance, if you can do a flip like that, you should do it. Sure. And opera singers should go all Mariah-Carey-melismatic if they can.
Dominic's paired with Lauren, this week. They're going to be krumping and rhumbaing. "Lil' C" is going to choreograph the krump, which Lauren explains has a slow movement but is still "so fast." This clears up nothing for me. "I Get Money" by 50 Cent is the music. From the outset, it appears Dominic's going to do the entire routine holding his balls. This turns out to not be the case. In retrospect, that might have been the most interesting thing in what was a really underwhelming routine. We've seen so many better routines than this. It's a lot of arm-swinging and stomping, and they don't seem too terribly synchronized. The entwined flips at the end are cool, but it's too little, too late, and Lauren even stumbles and falls as she attempts to run over a crouched Dominic's back. It ends sloppily.
Adam calls it really hot. He says krumping is all character, all explosion. He says "hot" again. Mary says they had all kinds of energy at the beginning, but it started to die towards the midsection and onwards. She says the word "gangsta." She and Nigel both admit they don't know anything about krumping. Neither do I. Of course, I'm not two-thirds of the judges on a dancing idol show. Nigel says there's a line between hip-hop and krumping, and he wasn't sure he got that. Yeah, I'm still confused as to why, if this is "krumping," it's necessary for it be considered distinct from hip-hop. While Cat's giving out the numbers, Dominic wraps himself around her, and Deeley has to shoehorn him off and orders him to paw at Lauren instead.
Neil's dancing with Lacey this week; they're doing Latin jazz and contemporary. Choreographer Maria Torres had a "special move" that she calls the "crunch," which involves Lacey leaping into a kind of one-handed lift by Neil. They spend the rest of the rehearsal clips worrying about whether or not they're going to be able to pull it off. "Acid" by Ray Baretto is the track. Neil is actually shirtless. I suppose if my abs looked like that, I'd go shirtless a lot more often. ["Yeah. I don't watch this show, but I was flipping past it at the beginning of Neil's routine and, suffice it to say, I stuck around until his segment was over." -- Joe R] They seem to do the lift okay -- although it looks like since rehearsal Neil's been instructed to use his other hand as well, so I guess he couldn't do it. The dancing itself, while looking pretty good to my untrained eye, doesn't seem all that emotional. Lacey does a little bit of her sexpot-imitation but there is no spark between them; even I can see that. So Neil going shirtless doesn't seem sensual so much as "damn, I forgot to put on a shirt."
Adam makes a joke about how if Neil gets a lot of votes, this'll turn into So You Think You Can Dance In The Nude. He calls them beautiful dancers. He points out that Lacey almost never looks at her partner; she's always looking out, in contrast with Neil, who seems very focused on her. He tells Neil to be careful of levels, and not to be at "11" the entire time. Mary says the chemistry just wasn't there at all. "It's what I call a 'forced chemistry,'" she says, after the boos die down. She busts on Neil a little bit for not looking at Lacey enough, especially during what's supposed to be a passionate Latin dance. Adam has to interrupt by saying that he never got the impression that they wanted to tear each other limb from limb (note to Adam: that would indicate they hate each other -- I think you mean it didn't look like they wanted to tear each others' clothes off). Nigel says it needed to be sexier, more passionate, and agrees that there was no chemistry. They need to use each other better, and says they looked like dance-school pupils, and sexiness is more than just Neil coming out with his shirt off.; Cat bites on a finger and nods excitedly at Neil's sexiness. So week in, week out, the judges drool over how hot particular contestants are, but now it's gotta be all about techniqu, right? And given the chance to respond, Neil shrugs off what the judges said and says he was happy with his performance.
Pasha and Sabra are the last pairing, and they're going to be dancing Broadway and the quick step. First up: Broadway with Tyce Diorio. It's a "wild party dance," according to Pasha. They're going to be all over the place.
"A Wild Wild Party" is the song, by The Wild Party. Sabra lounges on the stage, and Pasha comes over and tries to get her off her ass. She resists, at least during the slow opening to the song. As the tempo quickens, she's up, and they're racing across the stage, palms pumping the air, which must be required in all Broadway routines. They finish with Pasha flipping Sabra over his arm. I guess it's pretty good -- I like both of them as dancers -- but this kind of dancing usually just leaves me cold. So much of it is indistinguishable from any other Broadway routine you've ever seen.
Adam calls it "wild." He says he didn't think he was going to like it, and points out that these kinds of pieces usually work with a big chorus behind them. He calls them the first to perform with the character and overall performance that he's been talking about. I seem to recall him calling everybody "hot" and giving the thumbs-up. He also thinks Sabra stole the show. Mary, who I really wish could learn to speak without yelling (and also laughing after just about everything she says), says Sabra is always a revelation. Then she says she wants to talk about the things she didn't like. This means she shuts up, blessedly. She turns to look over at Nigel, and just when you think we might get out of this night unscathed, Mary screeches. As television catchphrases go, she's more annoying than Urkel. Nigel says Tyce's choreography forces you to perform, and calls it a wonderful performance, and he's sure they'll be on the show week.
up: Sara and Danny are doing a Shane Sparks routine. We flashback to Shane saying it's going to be a mistake putting Danny on the show, and Shane, present-day, says Danny really surprised him, and one day he's going to feel he was privileged to work with him. "He totally changed my mind," says Sparks, like he's going to say, "Yeah, I was totally right about Danny: he sucks." "Push It" by Salt-N-Pepa. Excellent. I could not be happier with this song choice, unless maybe somebody busts out some "Pump Up the Volume" by MARRS. Sara and Danny are old-schooled out, in T-shirts with "Push It" spray-painted on, and berets. Only -- am I crazy? Did this not start out especially strong? I'm sure I saw a lot of the same moves at my junior-high talent show when this song was originally released, aside from some of their interlocking robot routine towards the end, which was pretty cool. I was disappointed, especially after Shane Sparks' Transformers routine from last week. I know Sara's capable of more; maybe Danny isn't (as far as hip-hop goes) and he just couldn't match her. On the plus side: floor humping. When in doubt, hump the floor.
Adam says Sara and Danny got punk'd by the wardrobe department. He calls it a solid routine, and that Sara and Danny are always good, and they're maybe the most versatile couple. And he adds that they have to be nice to the wardrobe department. Does he remember 1987? Does he not remember Salt N Pepa? I don't think he does. I'm going to go with the wardrobe department on this one. Mary points out that the costumes aren't up to the dancers, but then says the routine didn't do it for her. "It wasn't hard-hitting enough," she says, before the cattle start booing. Nigel earnestly says he's going to "keep it real," and blathers on about how they have to be right on their games every time, and since hip-hop is right in Sara's wheelhouse, either Danny has to bring up his hip-hop game, or Sara's got to bring it down to his level, since they didn't really do it together.
Lauren and Dominic are doing a rhumba by Tony Meredith. Tony says Dominic and Lauren really have to focus on each other and make that connection. Lauren says she can't think she's a hot, sexy woman. She is a hot, sexy woman. I'm not sure Lauren has the self-confidence for this routine. Cough. "Ain't No Sunshine" by Bill Withers is the music choice. Nice slow tempo for these two, who start off very close. They split up for some spins and twirls. Danny pushes a stiff Lauren across the floor. That's not a criticism of Lauren's performance; that's what literally happens. At the end, Dominic spins Lauren into his arms, pulls his face towards him, and they kiss. It's hard to tell if that was planned or not -- it almost looked spontaneous, like they weren't going to, and then said, "Ah, screw it." In fact, it looked like the only question was if the tongues were going to get involved (they didn't). In the audience, Tony Meredith and Mia Michaels pretend to make out, but can't stop laughing.
Adam says all Dominic's B-boy friends will be impressed once they scrape their jaws up off the floor and figure out what the "hells" he was doing. He says Lauren was really good too. But then he says it didn't really look like a rhumba to him. He says there was a lot of posing, a lot of lines, but not a lot of rhumba. Mary points out that that's not their fault. She allows there's usually a little more movement in the rhumba. She's also quite critical of what rhumba was there. up: Nigel, who throws wardrobe a bone by praising the costumes (and then slobbers over Lauren in her sexy dress). He gives Dominic kudos for keeping in the right character, instead of the caricature Dominic displayed last week. He says he figures the choreography had more to do with playing to the dancers' strengths; but starting week, the choreographers are going to be throwing everything they've got at the dancers, who are going to have to keep up or get left behind.
Lacey and Neil are up with a Mia Michaels contemporary routine. There are flowers all over the studio, and Mia (who can't put down her damn iced tea or whatever to choreograph) says it's about "reunion" and "heaven," and also her dad, and Mia herself. Mia ensures that no one's going to criticize the routine, because it's about her dad, who died of lung cancer two years ago. Lacey is playing Mia, Neil is playing her dad, and they're dancing again. Neil figures he has to get this right, or Mia will feel like she wasted this idea on him. Dude, don't worry about it. Thanks to Mia, you're getting a free pass on this dance.
"Time" by Bill Porter. Lacey waves at Neil from across the stage. They reach out to each other, and twirl a little bit. She tosses him a flower, and he does some kind of David Beckham-soccer juggling with it. They're in white and barefoot, which hopefully will give them a little extra traction with all the frigging flowers all over the stage. I'm sure this was very emotional for Mia, but the dance itself does nothing for me. I didn't think the judges were in any way going to be able to look at the piece critically, as they know Mia, and likely knew her dad too, not exactly a nobody in the dance world. I think, without the backstory, this dance would have provoked more reactions of "meh" than it did. In contrast to most of the other dancing on this show, a lot of this routine looked like something anyone can do, given just a little practice. I think freighting it with so much personal history, especially before the dancers even took the stage, was manipulative.
"I'm so in love with what you just did," says Adam, who says they weren't dancers, but acting in their own little world, and it's one of the best routines that's ever been on television ever. Mary is actually crying (as is Mia in the audience) and can't speak. Nigel speaks for her, saying that she's going through her own personal tine right now, "so forgive her." Then he speaks about how honoured he is to be on the show with Mia Michaels, and how touched he was by the routine, and how it's one of the most beautiful things ever. He also seems to be on the verge of tears but (I'm sorry) it looks like he's trying to make himself cry. As Cat gives out the numbers, Lacey and Neil classily pay their respect to this "moving" tribute to Mia's dad by mugging for the camera. Lacey actually sticks a flower in her mouth and spits it out. No tears in heaven, guys.
Sabra and Pasha are up with the quick step, done by Tony Meredith. There's a lot of hopping and jumping. Sabra says there's a lot of running. She's confused but determined. "Mr. Pinstripe Suit" by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy is the song. They're in their finest 1920s attire, albeit with more sparkly things all over their clothes. They look good to me, but I'm a big fan of Sabra and Pasha -- no matter what they're doing, they seem to have so much fun that their actual dancing seems effortless.
Adam calls it awesome, praises the choreography, notes how well they used the entire stage, and lauds the attitude. "You freak me out, you are so good, young lady," says Adam, who I'm kind of surprised, in keeping with the theme of the evening, doesn't say she's maybe the best female dancer who's ever existed ever or will ever exist. Mary loved it too. "You guys just tore this up!" she yells. And then she yells it again. And she laughs a lot. She blows them kisses. Nigel says after the emotional routine that preceded them, they needed something with a lot of energy, and they got it. He says they did a terrific job, and coupled with their Broadway routine, "you're the best couple of the night for me." Finally, something we agree on.
Predictions on eliminations: Dominic. And Lauren.