Yesterday, sixteen dancers hoofed it for your approval. You're all fickle bastards, so and two dancers will pay the ultimate price for that. Welcome... to So You Think You Can Dance!
The opening group dance is an African tribal hip-hop (in that it's a hip-hop routine with an African tribal theme, rather than a fusion of African dance and hip-hop), choreographed by Dave Scott. Am I the only one, by the way, who makes a game out of guessing the choreographer on these group numbers and waiting with baited breath for Cat to tell me if I'm right or not? (By the by, I'm 0-1 as I guessed Sean Cheesman for this.) Anyway, it's hard to pick out standouts in a group this large. Or it is until Legacy comes FLYING from stage left to do a somersault leap over four prone dancers. And thus my streak of involuntarily yelping at Legacy in sheer joy remains alive! Legacy and Jakob then do a short dance-off, which is pretty much my finale dream coming true. Ryan gets a moment to shine, showing hip-hop moves ten times better than he did last night. All in all, it was a fun, energetic dance from Dave Scott, who I continue to wish would choreograph more.
It feels like we transition from pre-taped to live as Cat gives props to Dave. I'm assuming so the dancers could get out of all that intense tribal makeup in time to do their solos? Cat introduces the jidges, and Nigel makes a cryptic comment about how tonight's results kept one pair safe who may have been eliminated otherwise. Given that Nigel verbalized that Ryan and Ellenore would be in trouble last night, I'm assuming it's them. Though I've spent all day worrying my Victor would get the boot, so I'm crossing my fingers it's him and Channing. Either way, Cat is now eyeing Nigel suspiciously. Meanwhile, Adam stresses a pair of fundamental truths about the show -- a) America votes for their favorites rather than, necessarily, the best; and b) the nature of the show is to keep eliminating dancers every week -- and it's kind of adorable that he thinks either one will keep the people in the studio from booing.
Cat brings the first three couples out: Kathryn and Legacy, Channing and Victor, and Ellenore and Ryan. Ellenore and Ryan were pretty bad at hip-hop and the judges couldn't stop blaming it on them being too nice. NICE! NICE! NICE! Cat opens their envelope and places them in the bottom three! Wow, I was really expecting that to not be the case. But it's warranted, much as I generally like them. Channing and Victor were gorgeous doing contemporary, and Victor has completely captivated me, and all Nigel could complain about was that they didn't make anybody cry or whatever. Meanwhile, Kathryn and Legacy did a refreshingly non-Tyce Broadway, and while it didn't blow the doors off like their first two, it was still pretty great. Legacy got all the love for his "growth." And maybe time to find a new talking point for Legacy? Like how everybody has just agreed to call him "Legacy" like it's no big thing? Cat declares Channing and Victor safe ... then tells Kathryn and Legacy they're safe as well. Not fooled, Cat! But Legacy and Kathryn may have been, so Cat dances around like a goof. You guys, Cat laughing and dancing while Victor and Legacy give man-hugs. It's my ideal evening.
After the break, there's kind of an extended advertorial segment where Dominic from Season 3 shows up and asks the fans outside to perform certain dance moves. It's not really recappable except to say that I am still not into Dominic, lo these many years later. time, shell out for Hok, FOX.
Back on stage, Cat has Ashleigh/Jakob, Russell/Noelle, and Peter/Pauline on stage. You'd figure Peter/Pauline are the sacrificial lambs here, yes? Jakob and Ashleigh did that SLEEK Mandy Moore jazz routine that reminded me not so much of anything Mandy's done before but that angel/devil dance Wade Robson choreographed for Neil and Lauren back in S3. Both were superb, and Jakob, as ever, was mesmerizing. They are so unbelievably safe.
Pauline and Peter did a pretty good job with that darn quickstep. I can't remember the last time anyone got raves for a quickstep, so the fact that they got Nigel to basically say "technically flawed, but I was having too much fun to care" is a big win. Noelle and Russell had the advantage of doing a style we've never seen on this show before (African jazz). With one glaring exception (The Russian folk of our nightmares), that tends to work out well if for no other reason than the judges and certainly the audience doesn't really know what they SHOULD be seeing, so it all just looks new and fun. That being said, Russell and Noelle were pretty great. Cat delivers the unsurprising news that Peter and Pauline are in the Bottom 3.
After the commercials, Cat's back with Nathan/Mollee and Karen/Kevin. Flip a coin, says I. Karen and Kevin delighted the judges with a Hustle, though Adam failed to fall out of his chair for Karen again. Meanwhile, Mollee and Nathan were pretty terrible in their salsa routine, but the judges keep reminding us that they have these ENORMOUS fanbases (which is what they said about Phillip last season, and that only protected him to a point). Nathan also kind of lost me with that desperate attempt to deflect criticism by appealing to the audience. He's young, but that's not a good color on him. But Cat tells them America kept them safe. Cat goes to Nigel, who confirms that this is the couple he was talking about earlier. Initially, I was fairly dubious that he would have eliminated either one of them this week, but then he really gives Nathan a dressing-down, for the "That was HOT!" comment and for generally getting by because teen girls (and middle-aged women) find him so cute. I don't know how this does anything but galvanize Nathan's fanbase even more, but it also feels like a challenge to Nathan to make his dancing live up to his vote totals. Which, for the record, he's totally capable of doing. I'm not Nigel's biggest fan, but respect to him for saying what we were all thinking. Anyway, so it's Karen and Kevin in the Bottom 3, fairly undeservedly. Let the wailing about tween power-voters begin!
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, a trio of dancers from the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater take the stage to perform some seriously impressive contempo-jazz. It has no bearing on the competition, and if I weren't recapping, I likely would have FF'd, but I'm glad I didn't. It was very minimalist, but watching professional dancers move around like these three can is always worth a look.
Once we're back, it's solo time. Ellenore dances to a song called "Eleanor" by Alexa Woodward, which shows either chutzpah ("that's right, bitches, it's ME!") or self-loathing (her name's spelled wrong). Anyway, she does a decent job combining her trademark weirdness with some contemporary movement designed to impress.
Ryan's dressed like a soldier returning home from V-E day and dancing to Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. It still amazes me how he's able to move that giant frame around the way he does. The solo starts off super impressive but does devolve into a series of kicks for no reason, capped off by a leaping somersault that he doesn't land very well.
Pauline gets kind of aggro-sexy on her solo, which delights Cat. After the break, Peter attempts to tap his way into our hearts. He's really good, and I think it might make Nigel cry to eliminate all three tappers within the first three weeks, but I can't see Ryan or Kevin going home tonight. Also, Nigel should have thought of the tap-pocalypse when he was eliminating Bianca.
Karen gets her salsa on to Tito Puente and Celia Cruz, and it's all as hot as you might imagine. Adam, quick! There's still time to fall out of your chair! And finally, Kevin busts out to a Wade Robson track (!) and just throws his whole bag of tricks out there. Which I think is the smart move, but the judges are so fickle on the solos, so who knows?
Based on the entire season to date, I'd eliminate Peter and Pauline. Based on these solos? I might go Pauline and Ryan. After the judges deliberate, it's time to eliminate a girl. But not before Nigel shits on ALL the solos and says they pale in comparison to last season's standouts like Ade, Jeanine, Kayla, and Brandon. They were awesome, I'm not gonna lie, but I seem to recall Kayla being subject to the yo-yo of Nigel's solo critiques too. He also wags a finger at the audience for booing him, which: he's right, they're dumb, but they won't ever change.
Anyway, the results: Karen is obviously safe, though Nigel warns her that the tween audience may be "intimidated" by her "senssssyewality" (hee). Man, it really feels like Nigel got spooked by those vote totals, right? Nigel finally gets to the point, and it's Pauline who is eliminated. She doesn't look shocked. Cat hugs her and shows her video journey. And here's where I bitch about this season's goodbye songs bring super inferior to last season's good bye songs. Bring back Kelly C!
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And now for the guys. Nigel says both eliminations tonight were unanimous, slams the solos once again, and then eliminates Peter. He's not very surprised either. It's a strong group this season, we're already losing great dancers. Peter's video journey reminds us of when his hair was really bad (I'd hope the same judges who made Victor shave his head did the same for Peter's flat-top abomination).
Cat hugs both Peter and Pauline goodbye, and we brace for week. When Nigel will open the show by pleading with the teens to either vote for Karen or go watch Twilight for an hour instead.
Joe R is breathing a sigh of relief. A sigh that sounds suspiciously like "Victor." He always appreciates a good email at joseph.reid21@gmail.com.
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