Nothing stood out as extraordinary as the Top 10 performed on this week’s So You Think You Can Dance. The show was still packed with good dances, but there was nothing that could top Alex’s dance from last week.
The good news is there was redemption for Lauren who really stepped up her game and delivered a great routine that was way outside her own genre. Unfortunately, Ashley and AdéChiké continued to underwhelm as they struggle to bring emotions into their technically great performances.
Here are my top three dances for the week:
- Lauren (Tessandra Chavez lyrical hip hop): I’ve loved lyrical hip hop since I first say it in Season 4 with Mark and Chelsie doing “Bleeding Love.” Lauren and all-star Dominic did a great job here in this piece that looked at an abusive relationship. Lauren found her emotions too. Just a redemption for her in week two.
- Robert (Jean-Marc Genereux & France Mousseau Argentine tango): Robert was also pushed way outside his comfort zone with a very complex argentine tango and he came through with a stellar performance. The leg work was outstanding as were the multiple lifts. It’s nice to see there’s a ballroom dancer in there.
Kent (Tyce Diorio jazz): Kent found a new side of himself last night as he tackled this jazz piece. Check out the look on his face in the picture–that’s not the face of goofy Kent that we see a lot. We know Kent can do this kind of dance from a technical perspective, but it was great to see him find the character here too. He’s still got work in that area, but this showed he’s well on his way to fulfilling his potential.
Here’s the rundown of the other seven dances in the order in which they were performed:
- Christina (Jean-Marc Genereux & France Mousseau paso doble): I loved this. Christina and Pasha made a great couple and this dance had a lot of wonderful, dramatic flair.
- AdéChiké (Mandy Moore contemporary): Another disappointment as AdéChiké continues to struggle with the performance side of things. Mia nailed it when she said he comes across as “dishonest.” That said, the beautiful choreography was well executed. He did have great emotion in the final seconds of the piece and I wish he’d had that through the whole thing.
- Alex (Tyce Diorio Broadway): I wish Tyce would stay away from Broadway, especially Fosse. I think Alex and all-star Lauren did the best with what they were given, but it just didn’t work out as an overall piece. At best it was Fosse light.
- Ashley (Travis Wall jazz): Smokin’ hot choreography that was dance technically great. Unfortunately Ashely’s smile came across as false and forced. She didn’t really seem to connect to Mark at all during the piece.
- Billy (Lil’ C krump). I agree with Comfort in her defense of Billy. He did a solid job here. He kept up with Comfort, who rocks this style and he did so believably. In fact I thought Billy looked more fierce than Jose did in his hip hop number from last week. It was great to see Billy so far out of his element and do so well.
- Melinda (Stacey Tookey contemporary): I was very impressed with how well this turned out. I wouldn’t have guessed the tapper could move this gracefully. She seemed to dance a little small at times rather than really extending her body, but when she did it her lines were beautiful. She also found her Mother Earth character very well, especially in the closing seconds.
- Jose (Nakul Bollywood): Here’s another contestant who went way outside their comfort zone this weekend and seemed to pull it off respectably well. He looked to be having such a good time, any technical gaffes were easy to over look.
I got the top three so wrong last week, and I suspect I will again this week because I’m apparently not thinking the same way the rest of the voters are. My bottom three would be Ashley, AdéChiké and Melinda. Melinda is the one I don’t really want to put there, but I think she was among the weaker performances across the night despite how much I liked it. I’d like to see Ashley go home (but of course she won’t if for no other reason than her upcoming Birthday was talked about).
Results Update: Another disappointing week here. Ashley and AdéChiké managed to escape the bottom three again. I’m sad that Christina and Robert were in the bottom three given their incredible ballroom performances. I’m surprised Christina went home because I did think Melinda turned in the weaker solo tonight.
I loved the opening number. Sonya does such great work. Remote Control was fantastic (they should hook up with The LXD). Debi Nova was fun and it was great to see a musical guest use the All Stars with their performance. I hope that is a trend.
