Nothing terribly notable in the intro dance-off, except to say that the way the tappers' shoes are miked is really distracting. It's necessary, I'm sure, but it makes it sound very post-production. Like the tap shoes are the wheelchair kid from Glee. Also, Noelle appears to be up and dancing again, which is good news. And I ended up yelping at Legacy's intro, which shocked me way more than it should have, given the fact that my transformation from Legacy-hater to Legacy-yelper was pretty much complete after that awesome caveman routine last week.
Cat notes that once again it's a performance/results show mashup tonight, due to the "slightly less prestigious event" called The World Series. It doesn't get a single laugh because nobody in this audience gets that she's being sarcastic because WHAT ARE SPORTS? Still no guest jidges this week, which still makes me sad. I love Adam a lot, but if I'm denied my Debbie Allen and Lil' C, I'm gonna be pissed. Oh! But thank god the stupid Paula Abdul chair is still there, and Nigel wheels it down to Adam, where it may be more enticing to everyone's favorite chronic-pain sufferer. Nigel also announces that the Fox and 19 legal eagles have declared that Billy Bell gets a fast pass to Vegas season, and that Brandon can re-apply for the show as well. Here's hoping they both end up Top 20 in Season 7.
That out of the way, let's get dancing! The first pair is Noelle and Russell. The clip-package gimmick this week is "What's the best and worst thing about your partner?" I know it's just filler, but I generally like the contestants on this show, so sometimes these things can be charming. Don't quote me on that. Anyway, I'm only gonna mention it if it's interesting, and... it's not, in this case. Russell and Noelle draw hip-hop with new choreographer Jamal Sims, and the routine somehow involves tennis rackets? Wimbledon Funk, y'all! On stage, the whole thing is a little too much concept weighing the dance down, shocking as that may be to comprehend. It takes me a while to even get into the dance since I'm so fixated on Noelle's terribly unconvincing racket work. That western grip would make Steffi Graf weep stoic German tears. Unsurprisingly, Russell's pretty great at this -- even makes a credible tennis player, what can't this guy do? Noelle is really struggling, though. Not hitting hard enough, half-assing many of the maneuvers, it's really quite brutal. I really loved her in that group routine last week and so was fine with her getting a second chance after the injury, but to save her for a performance like this? It's disappointing.
Adam tells us that Jamal has been the choreographer on all the Step Up movies (now I know who to send the flowers to) and he shouts out the weird choreo on this routine. He does say the routine was bigger than the dancers a bit. Mary found it "a bit labored," but she really liked Russell's work, and compliments Noelle for not appearing to be injured. Con...grats? Nigel (after making a sad and labored Andy Roddick joke) didn't think either of them kept up, but Noelle's the one who could be in trouble.
Jakob and Ashleigh are , and they've bonded over their shared tendency to over-sweat, Girl, I feel you there. They'll be doing a Viennese Waltz with Tony Meredith and the formidable Melanie LaPatin. The gimmick is that it's a wedding dance, which isn't much of a stretch for a waltz, but which gives us many an opportunity to be reminded that Ash is married. She's married, you guys! In other news that's not news, I love Jakob. So, you know. I guess my trademark neutrality will have to take a back seat here.
They appear onstage in full wedding garb, dancing to Etta James's "At Last," which is a cliché but actually works in this context. They're tremendously well-suited to each other as partners, and that's particularly apparent here. Jakob's lines and extensions continue to knock me out -- Fred Astaire comparisons are trite and easy, especially when the dancer in question is wearing a black tie and tails like Jakob is here, but the poise and the fluidity really bring Astaire to mind. He also throws in a lightning quick split-leg leap that defies most laws of physics. Ashleigh rocks it out on a couple spins near the end where she is almost flat on her back while Jakob twirls her around. It's gorgeous to watch.
Adam is madly in love with them, and since he can find no fault with them, he takes the incredibly rare opportunity to give notes to the choreographers. This is kind of why I love Adam, because nobody else really dares to do this. He says the routine could have done with fewer lifts (or Jakob's leap, which Adam calls something completely French and I will love you forever if you could tell me what it is). I get what he's saying, but in the context of a show where you're playing to the audience, a straight waltz may not be enough, so I appreciate what Tony and Melanie tried to do. Mary is actually able to nitpick Jakob on some of his footwork, and I do see it. Mary should only be able to speak after the ballroom routines -- she actually sounds like an expert when she has specific critiques to make rather than random shrieking. Nigel makes a brief note about Ashleigh's arm-work but in general he thought they were wonderful.
Victor and Bianca. Slowly but surely, Victor's working up to a fauxhawk to replace the Mohawk those tight-assed judges made him shave off. He also constantly looks like he's high, right? With the sleepy eyes? Whatever, he's amazing. Hi, I love Victor, too. I can love two dancers! They're doing Broadway with Tyce, and he's chosen a Color Purple number, apropos for those of us who are still making the Bianca/Fantasia comparisons. The routine is very Southern-gospel-revivalist, which Victor isn't used to. He gives a hilariously quiet rendition of his church's usual stylings. Bianca hopes to imbue him with the spirit. Tyce is obnoxious. That's all.
The routine kinds of treads water until the seriously upbeat gospel praisings begin. Victor and Bianca are dancing it well, but it all feels like it could be so much more. This tends to be the problem with Tyce's Broadway choreography; it feels lesser than the shows it's trying to be, plus a whole lot of disconnected movement. But again, the dancing was fine.
Adam takes the opportunity to reference choreographers like Alvin Ailey and Jerome Robbins and how they were able to produce religious ecstasy routines that (though Adam doesn't say it in these words) blew their routine away. He says the dancing is fine, but it felt too mannered and not enough like they were actually going wild with the spirit. You guys, Adam Shankman is the best. Mary agrees about the lack of abandon (and does criticize the choreo, albeit indirectly). Nigel echoes Adam and Mary -- he feels Victor didn't find the character of the piece, and Bianca wasn't exuberant enough.
Mollee and Nathan. In the "Mollee's barely adolescent" column, I think we can mark the fact that she raises her hand in rehearsal when she needs to go to the bathroom. On the bright side, she cutely notes that Nathan is very attractive. God help me, I at least think she's genuine. She's cutesy to the extreme, but it doesn't seem to be an act. So far. They're doing Bollywood (they seem suited for that, right?) with Nakul Dev Mahajan. Mollee promises they will do Bollywood like no one has ever seen Bollywood before. Which is good, because outside of this show, most of the audience has never seen Bollywood before. She also dubs her and Nathan "Molleewood, doing Bollywood, in Hollywood." You know... uncle. You win, Mollee. You win.
As for the routine, well you just watch all the Bollywood knowledge I'm gonna drop on you. ...Did you see it? Yeah. Nathan's a warrior in this piece, while Mollee is his lady. I can tell you there is a ridiculous amount of spinning going on, and Nathan is really performing with a lot of strength. Mollee's face looks weirdly lost whenever I see it, maybe because she's wearing eight pounds of makeup, but other than that, she's keeping up nicely. Adam compliments Mollee's progress on the show thus far, while Mary screams. She thinks their energy together is astounding, yes she does! Nigel likes how Dev has brought some western movements into his choreography, and has nothing but praise for the kids. And seriously, look at them. They are children. Children of the dance.
Channing and Phillip. Who I HATED last week and should have been eliminated. NOW DANCE! (tm LaurieAnn Gibson) They'll be doing the samba, as choreographed by Tony and Melanie. They look to be struggling in rehearsal, not that I blame them, because samba looks insanely hard. On stage it looks... okay. Channing looks amazing, and she seems credibly Latin-ballroom in her carriage (while Phillip seems more hunchy). The dancing itself feels labored, especially on the lifts, and overall it seemed slow, much like that jive did. I liked this better, mostly for Channing, but not by much. Oh, and the ending featured Phillip essentially jumping on top of Channing while she was bridging backwards, and I'm like 90% sure she smacked her head on the stage.
Adam praises Channing for her hip action (yes), and liked their interaction, but overall he thought it wasn't working. Mary also says they struggled (she says "labored" but I said it first) and places the majority of the blame on Phillip. Nigel, as opposed to Adam, didn't like the chemistry, and ends up comparing Channing to a "beautiful sack of potatoes." There's a gorgeous little Irish song that goes by that title, I truly believe it. Nigel also compliments the shade of blue Channing's wearing, which delights Cat for some reason.
Karen and Kevin. Who are both very good dancers. And I can't for the life of me bring myself to care about them. What's up with that? Kevin notes that the "worst thing" about Karen is that "every time we get up there" in front of the judges (you know, that... one time), he just fades into the background. Yes, I can see where that would be Karen's problem. They get hip-hop with Tabitha and Napoleon. Kevin seems way to happy to have Karen out of their element. I'm sensing a "competitors" vibe here rather than partners. That could hurt them.
The theme here is NASCAR, and once again Nap and Tab have the girl all dressed up in some rubber-suit abomination. The routine feels slow in spots, and it never gives Kevin the opportunity to really go off, but there are a handful of inventive and fun spots where they're each "riding" one another, and Karen gets to be crazy sexy, seemingly to play to Adam's "AAOOOGA" eyeballs again. Oh, and Kevin goes sliding off the front of the stage again, which is what? Tabitha and Napoleon's new calling card?
Adam kicks the judging off by promptly falling out of his chair on account of Karen. Heeeee. And, no doubt much to Kevin's chagrin, he thought she was more confident that Kevin out there. And he falls down once more for good measure. Mary -- screaming her entire critique -- keeps Karen on the hot tamale train and once again gives about 80% of the praise to Karen. Cat has to nudge Mary to put Kevin on the hot tamale train. And Nigel completes the trifecta that says: Kevin was predictably good, Karen was unpredictably great.
Kathryn and Legacy. Whose routine from last week I must've watched about 20 times already. Love. They're both really cute together in the clip package, Legacy impressing her with all the languages he speaks (though, honestly, I'm not sure how much credit one should get for "oui, oui"). Legacy likes Kathryn because he can cry in front of her. Yes, he did. Somewhere in Louisiana, AB Chao just reached for her second box of Kleenex. He's not fond of how she keeps accidentally hitting him, though. Kathryn shows a miniscule bruise on her arm and is all "He says I injure him?" At which Legacy's like, "Oh yeah, that's when my teeth hit her elbow." You guys, I love these two. Maybe the best. When did THAT happen? Some credit must go to Legacy's preternatural cheekbones, but surely not all.
They're doing contemporary with Stacy Tookey. Be gentle, she's Canadian. The theme of this dance will be: fear. As portrayed by Legacy. There appears to be a lot of him grasping her ankle and she dragging him along. That shows up a lot in contemporary choreography, I find. They should really give that an impossible-to-spell French name. On stage, dancing to "2 Steps Away" by Patti LaBelle, I'm kind of blown away. I mean, on the one hand it is a complete rip-off of Mia's addiction routine that Kayla and Kupono rocked so thoroughly, but I think Legacy and Kathryn do enough to distinguish themselves. First Kathryn: She's just a gorgeous contemporary dancer, smooth and passionate. And she's a perfect fit for Legacy, who is once again rocking my life. He's so QUICK. He infuses the routine with just enough of his b-boy style (including a headstand that doesn't seem possible). At one point he leaps at Kathryn and wraps himself completely around her midsection. Just nimble and cat-like. To think this dancer has been hiding inside him for all these years. I keep pausing the TV to write and every time I do I end up with these gorgeous freeze-frames. Best of the night so far.
Adam praises Tookey (ehh, more originality time) before saying how proud he was of Legacy and Kathryn. He can't wait to see what they do week. Me too! I'm suddenly crossing my fingers that Legacy can pull off ballroom. Mary doesn't think we've seen anyone grow as fast as Legacy has on this show. She doesn't have much to say about Kathryn, which you can tell by how she just starts screeching nonsense words at her. Nigel calls out the Mia addiction routine explicitly, and Legacy's dive onto Kathryn. Like Mary, he notes Legacy's growth and Kathryn's journey out from under the radar.
Before the break, we see Peter and Pauline dressed like crazy derelicts from the future, which means they must be doing Wade Robson. Indeed they are! Here's Wade's concept: Peter and Pauline will play characters from an early draft of Van Gogh's "Starry Night" who were later excised from the painting, and now they've come back to haunt Van Gogh. You guys... Wade Robson. I love that he's on this planet, shouldering the burden of our collective weirdness. With "Starry Night" projected in the background (and dancing to "Little Green Bag," which only makes me think of Reservoir Dogs), Peter and Pauline creep around the stage dressed like human-sized pain smudges. This is the rare routine that uses this gargantuan new stage to the dancers' advantage -- they really do feel like little characters inside a painting. As odd as the concept sounds, the whole setup -- stage, props, costumes, dancing -- really does kind of come together. If Vincent Van Gogh had been alive long enough to watch David Lynch's Mulholland Dr., got freaked out by the tiny old people who tormented Naomi Watts, and then dreamed about his own work, this very well may have been what transpired. I tip my ear to you, Mr. Robson!
Adam says you need to be 1,000% committed to a Wade routine, and they were. It feels like Adam didn't totally like the idea of the piece -- he calls it "controversial" -- and Mary appears to agree. She doesn't think it will "take [them] anywhere." If what she's getting at is that the routine was more showy than the dancers were, I might agree with that. But since the audience isn't voting this week, who cares? Nigel appreciated the big concept of the routine more than the other two. He tells Peter to watch out for his stiff shoulders, at which point Peter, for some unknown reason, licks his pinkie and forefinger and smooths his eyebrows, then winks at Nigel. Which just makes him look like an ass, really. And I don't think he is. Anyway, Nigel really liked Pauline.
Ellenore and Ryan. We learn that Ryan has muscles (it's worth learning multiple times) and that Ellenore is a total weirdo who talks in strange accents and made up alien voices. Then they do a little bit where Ryan gets "abducted" off the screen and it's beneath them and us, frankly. I'll ignore. Anyway, they drew Argentine Tango with Miriam Larici and Leonardo Barrionuevo. Ryan should rock this, right? Though Ellenore is petrified of the lifts.
On stage, the lifts go off without a hitch. In fact, Ellenore manages to keep up with Ryan quite well. It's not the hottest tango I've ever seen, but they kept some excellent lines. Mostly. There one excruciating segment where Ellenore gets her dress caught under her heel and there's just no way to dislodge it, and it ends up preventing her from extending her leg on a couple turns. But by the end, her leg is free and all seems well.
Cat and Adam immediately freak over how well Ellenore covered for the heel disaster. Cat says the dress was caught for 40% of the routine, and Adam says they almost stopped it so they could start over. Which made me rewind back, and yeah, the dress gets caught way earlier than I first recognized it. Which means I have to give mad credit too, because she managed to make me not notice for so long. Mary was similarly blown away and says she knows how frustrating that kind of thing can be. I love how this all went from disaster to triumph so quickly for Ellenore. Nigel spends his whole time shilling for the Argentine Tango rather than talking about the dancers.
So that's everybody! Before the judges pick the Bottom 4, Cat kicks us to the rundown. As will I, in order of my most favorite to least favorite: 1) Kathryn and Legacy's contemporary; 2) Ellenore and Ryan's tango; 3) Ashleigh and Jakob's waltz; 4) Pauline and Peter's jazz; 5) Mollee and Nathan's Bollywood; 6) Karen and Kevin's hip-hop; 7) Bianca and Victor's Broadway; 8) Noelle and Russell's hip-hop; 9) Channing and Phillip's samba
.Rather than last week, when Cat just called out four dancers and that was that (which I loved in all its cruel abruptness), Nigel calls forward Noelle and Russell, Bianca and Victor, and Channing and Phillip. Hey, look who agrees with me! Nigel says the bottom four comes from these six. Then he sends Russell and Channing to safety. Based on tonight, that seems fair, though Victor and Bianca better not be going anywhere.
After the break, it's solos: Noelle, to her credit, puts it ALL out there, leaping around with abandon and stretching her body past any normal limits; Victor doesn't really show off anything spectacular, save for his amazing legs; Bianca taps to "Tootsie Roll," earning her a place in my heart forever -- and maybe Cat's too, as she totally flips for her afterwards; Phillip's solo, to Nat King Cole, looks so tame and pale in comparison to Bianca. He's gonna be done, right?
After one last break, the judges make their decisions. We start with the girls. Bianca or Noelle? Nigel says neither of them did particularly well in their pair routine earlier; I keep waiting for him to mention how awesome BOTH their solos were, but he doesn't seem all that impressed with Bianca's. They really liked Noelle's, though, because she's staying. DUDE. Disagree. Nigel said it wasn't unanimous, and I would love to know who dissented. Cut to the other dancers, and Jakob is SHOCKED. Bianca takes it like a champ, to her credit. Her goodbye package reminds us of that killer dance-off with Ryan.
Boys. Victor's staying, right? RIGHT, NIGEL? He says this decision "upsets [him] personally, more than anyone can really know" which I guess is because of the tap thing because Phillip is leaving. THANK GOD. And by now, all the dancers are in tears, for one reason or another. After his goodbye package, Phillip mentions that his father died a week and a half ago and "more than half of the Top 18" attended his funeral, which Phillip appreciates. I wish I didn't find him to be a complete fake, because that seemed very touching
So Phillip's gone a week too late, and Bianca's gone several weeks too early. Is that balance? Not sure. But week, America gets to decide! Kind of!
Joe R blames Tyce for Bianca's ouster. Agree with him at joseph.reid21@gmail.com.