So You Think You Can Dance "Top 9" 6/18/08 *spoilers*

[Kamakzie]

I thought Mia's comments about Kherington were way off as did the rest of other judges. I liked her and Twitch, and Katee and Joshua once again.

[JoBeth66]

Chelsea & Thane - Jazz, Mandy Moore - Interesting costumes...Opening looks more contemporary than jazz. Um. Yeah. Ok, not liking this routine. I just don't see it as jazz. Not a great way to start the show, IMO. She still has no footwork. Totally flat, for me. And the judges agree.**My pick for bottom 3

Chelsie & Marc - Argentine Tango, Alex Da Silva - She can kick. :) Still not a lot of footwork, but better, and their timing was good. I liked the routine, and I love Alex, but I think we still need to feel more passion in the latin.

Jessica & Will - Hip Hop, Cicely Bradley & Olisa Thompson - Ok, THIS was a fun routine, and they had fun doing it. But Jessica was missing *something* in comparison. She was good, but Will is amazing, and it's so clear that this is HIS style. I think Mia & Mary were way too hard on Jessica.

Kourtni & Matt - Fox Trot, Jean-Marc Genereux - Wow. The choreography was beautiful, which was expected :) Just gorgeous. I think they were incredibly strong dancers, but they couldn't match the choreography. The judges liked it, but they had the same feeling I did. It was just little things that threw the performance off.

Courtney & Gev - Contemporary, Mandy Moore - Wow. Beautiful, even with a little flub at the beginning. There is absolutely a connection between them, and the piece was gorgeous. This is my favorite so far. I expected Mia to be harsh, and I'm surprised she wasn't. Nigel didn't believe the emotion, but I disagree with him, I felt it.

Katee & Joshua - Broadway, Tyce Diorio - WOW. Joshua's back flip was amazing. Well, I don't think Katee kept up with Joshua at *all*, she was definitely outmatched. A second watch of that without music REALLY showed it. It was a fun routine, but it wasn't my favorite, and I don't think they were better than Courtney and Gev *as a couple*.

Susie & Marquise - Salsa, Alex Da Silva - Ugh. No heat, and it felt like watching a dance demonstration. Did the steps, but no feeling. They weren't a match for the choreography, and they failed to do it justice. (Going back & watching the pre-dance was interesting. Alex doesn't see her as a salsa dancer. "Street salsa", he said - yikes.) ** My pick for bottom 3

Kherington & Twitch - Viennese Waltz, Jean-Marc Genereux, Very pretty, but...where was the waltz. There were few poses, none of their pair dancing had the rise & fall it should have had. I'm not a fan of this choreography at all, which disappointed me. Having the judges argue through the critique was a little off-putting, and Mia was really harsh. Call me cynical, though, but the dancers get gigged when they don't perform as the style demands - I think the choreographers should be gigged when they don't choreograph as the *style* demands. What Jean-Marc created was a very beautiful contemporary routine, but it was not a Viennese Waltz, IMO. And while I appreciate the personal stories that they create, I think that when they bring in the personal stuff, the judges are INCREDIBLY forgiving and emotional, where if this choreography were done *without* being related to his daughter, I think the reaction would've been different.

There's my soapbox for the evening. :)

Comfort & Chris - Krumping, LiL'C - I give Chris credit for doing as well as he did but Comfort WAY outclassed him. Nigel was tough, but I think he was on. Based on Chris' performance, I don't think they're safe.** My pick for bottom 3

I'm missing Dan on the panel, this week. I think everyone could have benefited from his constructive criticism.

Is it just me, or is no one else seeing real memorable "wow" performances, besides Joshua & Twitch (to a lesser extent)? Everyone else just seems a little forgettable, to me. While I've seen some good routines danced by some good dancers, I'm just not seeing anyone else that really feels like "they could take it all" at this point.

Based on tonight's performances, for girls, I think Susie should go. For guys - Chris.

[WhiskeyTango]

I'm probably the farthest from a dance expert but Mia seemed particularly harsh towards the women and very easy on the guys. Just about every guy she gave great reviews too while telling the women they didn't bring it. Telling Kherrington that she smiled too much seemed like she was just looking for something to criticize her about and that was the best she could come up with. Even after the other judges and contestants explained the dance to her, she still stuck by her judgement.

This is my first season watching but is the audience always full of 12 year old girls? I noticed from the opening sequence on. Cheers for the guys, nothing for the ladies. And the booing every time a judge said something remotely critical was beginning to grate on my nerves.

[mwhip]

Yeah Mia's sucks up too much especially to the choeroegraphers. Love her routines but her judging is spotty at best.

Favorites tonight were Kherington and Twitch and Katie and Joshua.

Still can't wait for Susie to go home.

When will we get some Shankman on this show?

[murgatroyd]

For those of you who FF through everything that isn't a dance, an important announcement: Shane Sparks is doing the group routine tomorrow night! :up: :up: :up:

I'm missing Dan on the panel, this week. I think everyone could have benefited from his constructive criticism.

Is it just me, or is no one else seeing real memorable "wow" performances, besides Joshua & Twitch (to a lesser extent)? Everyone else just seems a little forgettable, to me. While I've seen some good routines danced by some good dancers, I'm just not seeing anyone else that really feels like "they could take it all" at this point.

Based on tonight's performances, for girls, I think Susie should go. For guys - Chris.

I agree with the last two paragraphs. While I agree that Dan has been particularly good this season, in years past he has had his own 'eh, I just didn't like it' moments, too.
I always want to hear Nigel's comments (and in the best and worst cases, SEE Nigel's notes) no matter what, but we're sort of stuck now, with Mary locked into the center seat. That means we always get just one alternate voice a week. :( And I am interested to hear Mia's comments, even when I disagree. Pity we won't be able to hear Mia and Dan duking it out.

Theme of the night is taken from Tom Lehrer's classic song "Smut": More, more, I'm still not satisfied!. :p

Most dreadful performance: Susie and Marquis (salsa, Alex da Silva). When da Silva does good and his dancers perform well (Benji and Heidi's 'Black Mambo'), the results can be stunning. Sharp moves, fiendish connections, blazing intensity. Great stuff. But I knew I wasn't likely to see any of that tonight with Susie and Marquis drawing da Silva. :(

Turn the music off and watch the connections. Every time the two of them separate and come back together, they are out of position. The pretzel-connections are labored. This choreography is hard -- and they make it LOOK hard. As Nigel said, where's the hip action, why isn't Marquis down into the floor? It's just a big mess. Okay, they got the big highlight move, but even that lost the impact it could have had, had it been done by a couple more in sync and who could have made it look truly effortless.

Most disappointing: Comfort and Chris, krumping (Li'l C). Dang, girl, Nigel said you were the best girl hip-hop dancer he has ever seen, and yet you couldn't out-krump the white girl that krumped last year. Because when Sara and Jesus had krumping, they went out and killed it. As pathetic as Chris was, I could almost say that he outperformed her, because it was so alien and he had so much farther to go, except he was such a p---y about how he danced.

Seriously, when you draw krumping, you had better hit as hard as you can, and then dig down and find some more strength so you can hit even harder, because you do NOT want to be on the receiving end of a demo from Nigel that he can out-krump you. :eek:

To round out the group of shame AKA bottom three: Thayne and Chelsea T. First of all, I'm not feeling the Chelsea T. love. Okay, I'll come right out and say it -- I don't like ANY of the girls this year. I either don't like them, or I'm just neutral. We'll see if that changes, but for now -- eh.

As far as Thayne goes -- think of Neil and Danny, our two dueling princes last year. They would have blown Thayne right off the stage. Totally agree with Nigel that the costume department didn't do them any favors. But you've gotta be able to dance the dance -- you should be able to carry off the attitude even in practice duds. It was just -- forgettable.

The middle of the pack:
Department of "more, more, I'm still not satisfied": Courtney G. and Gev, contemporary (Mandy Moore). Props to Gev for solid partnering work, good job there, but I agree with the comments that the emotion was lacking. A nice job, but it needed to be turned up several notches.

Department of 'half terrific':

Mark and Chelsie H, Argentine Tango (da Silva): I liked him, her not so much. Something was niggling me about this performance, and Nigel nailed it. Not sleazy enough. Though I give her props, if she had the shoe mishap in the routine, thumbs up to her for being able to finish. That's gotta hurt.

Jessica and Will, hip hop (Cecily & Olisa): Will killed it. Just killed it. Jessica did a good job, but didn't get the 'flava'.

Kourtni and Matt, foxtrot (Jean Marc G.): Liked most of Matt's performance (although I agree about his arms) -- her, not so much. Okay, I'm spoiled by watching Charlotte Jorgensen (world champ at foxtrot) on Dancing With the Stars. So sue me.

Favorite performances:
Kherington and Twitch (alleged V. Waltz, Jean-Marc). Okay, if Wade Robson can slip in a ballet under the umbrella of jazz, I'll have to give Jean-Marc a pass on this one, too. It's only fair. And when you compare this waltz to the one we saw last time, look how much more solid the lifts are. Okay, it doesn't have the rise and fall it should have, but nice sweep across the floor, good unison, secure lifts, nice musicality. Coulda been LOTS worse. I'll take a game effort that's in keeping with the feeling of the music any time.

Katee and Joshua, Broadway (Tyce): performance of the night.

(Obligatory disclaimer: I had a friend in high school who loved Godspell. Really loved it. Loved it. Played the LP. LOTS. So I have the score sort of ingrained into my brain. Anybody who dances to one of those pieces of music has an automatic advantage or handicap because I'm SO familiar with it. Either I hate it, because it's way too obvious that they are off the music, or the choreography doesn't seem to fit, or whatever, or stuff goes right, and I love the routine more than it deserves because I love the music.)

Yeah, she wasn't as good as he was, but who is? She was in the ballpark at least, close enough that it didn't screw up the routine. And this was a killer number. Bravo to Joshua!

Go home signal goes to: Susie, and Chris. Susie, for talking so big about how she's a salsa dancer, then not stepping it up when she's got the opportunity to work with a choreographer the likes of da Silva. And Chris, for being a wimp.

Jan

[Ment]

Comfort & Chris : I didn't feel the performance either. Part of it was the song 'Come and Get Me' by Timbaland, the choregrapher should have chose a different song for a network broadcast. All the lyric 'blank's that they couldn't let go made it sound like it was playing on a record that had a skip in it and it ruin the flow of the song IMHO.

Chelsie H & Mark : I can watch those legs 24/7 and Mark is coming out of his quirky shell.

Twitchington: I can see Mia's point. Kheryington needs to show the judges a wider range of facial emotion. She has a 1000watt smile but you can only stare into a spotlight for so long.

'I'm hot for teacher' Suzie is gonzo. The routine was right in her ballpark and she bunted..

[Cearbhaill]

Like most everyone else Joshua/Katee and Twitch/Kherrington were the performances of the evening to me. I love Joshua and he is my definite horse in this race. As for Twitchington, I let out an audible gasp watching them. I too was waiting for the waltz to begin, but soon decided I didn't care- that was gorgeous.

Anyone else think they added double shots to the judges glasses this week? Nigel especially must have been sipping out of Mary's cup because he was on fire!

[JoBeth66]

Favorite performances:
Kherington and Twitch (alleged V. Waltz, Jean-Marc). Okay, if Wade Robson can slip in a ballet under the umbrella of jazz, I'll have to give Jean-Marc a pass on this one, too. It's only fair. And when you compare this waltz to the one we saw last time, look how much more solid the lifts are. Okay, it doesn't have the rise and fall it should have, but nice sweep across the floor, good unison, secure lifts, nice musicality. Coulda been LOTS worse. I'll take a game effort that's in keeping with the feeling of the music any time.

Damning with faint praise? :) Seriously- when "coulda been worse" is the BEST you can say about a performance, (and I absolutely agree with you) this does not bode well for this group.

I was really excited at auditions, we saw SO much talent...but it just doesn't seem to be shining through the way it should be.

It was beautiful to watch, there is NO question and they danced it beautifully. But dancing a beautiful contemporary routine when the style was Viennese Waltz does not give them a pass with me. It's not THEIR fault, it's the choreographer's fault, but IMO they didn't compete in the style they selected. That makes it hard for me to judge them fairly I know, but it is what it is.

Katee and Joshua, Broadway (Tyce): performance of the night.

(Obligatory disclaimer: I had a friend in high school who loved Godspell. Really loved it. Loved it. Played the LP. LOTS. So I have the score sort of ingrained into my brain. Anybody who dances to one of those pieces of music has an automatic advantage or handicap because I'm SO familiar with it. Either I hate it, because it's way too obvious that they are off the music, or the choreography doesn't seem to fit, or whatever, or stuff goes right, and I love the routine more than it deserves because I love the music.)

I have to be honest - I was that girl too. In fact, the first time I watched their routine, I watched it without the music (rather than the on-the-break second go-round) because I really was afraid that I would be more harsh than I should be based on the music. (And hubby yelled at me because when I watched the 2nd time with the music, I was singing. And didn't realize it. :D ) And I think watching it the first time without the music is why I am a little more heavy-handed with Katee on this one, because when you just watch them working, it was so clear she was doing her best to try to keep up with him, and she wasn't dancing the music, she was dancing the performance, if you know what I mean.

that's not to say I didn't like it - because I did. I just don't think that again, as a couple, they were better than Courtney & Gev, who turned in my favorite performance of the evening.

Most dreadful performance: Susie and Marquis (salsa, Alex da Silva). When da Silva does good and his dancers perform well (Benji and Heidi's 'Black Mambo'), the results can be stunning. Sharp moves, fiendish connections, blazing intensity. Great stuff. But I knew I wasn't likely to see any of that tonight with Susie and Marquis drawing da Silva.

Turn the music off and watch the connections. Every time the two of them separate and come back together, they are out of position. The pretzel-connections are labored. This choreography is hard -- and they make it LOOK hard. As Nigel said, where's the hip action, why isn't Marquis down into the floor? It's just a big mess. Okay, they got the big highlight move, but even that lost the impact it could have had, had it been done by a couple more in sync and who could have made it look truly effortless.

Ugh, this was SO awful, too awful for words. Alex was so incredibly disappointed when she was in rehearsals, and watching the performance I can see why. He thought he had a pair of latin dancers, and he had *mush* to work with. And I compared it to Black Mambo, too. :) They just missed on every connection, there was ZERO emotion, zero sexy, and they're totally forgettable. I really hope this is it for her. I don't want to be subjected to her butchering any other choreography. If she can't bring it in her own style, she deserves to get the boot.

[Cainebj]

Yeah Mia's sucks up too much especially to the choeroegraphers.

+1

Kind of.

In some of the performances last night I thought the issue wasn't so much with the performances as it was with bad choreography. But I guess we won't be hearing any of the judges saying -
"I think you did your best with what you had to work with, but the choreography just sucked."

[WhiskeyTango]

'I'm hot for teacher' Suzie is gonzo. The routine was right in her ballpark and she bunted..

I was thinking about this during her routine. Even though she did poorly, I'm sure she'll be the wet dream of many a male student given her outfit and movements.

[wooh]

When da Silva does good and his dancers perform well (Benji and Heidi's 'Black Mambo'), the results can be stunning....
Ehh, the greatness of that was Benji and Heidi. Their tricks, their moves, ADS just used their stuff. In the salsa world, ADS is not all that impressive at all. Heck, I know local guys that can do better work with less talented dancers than anything ADS has done.

Kourtni and Matt, foxtrot (Jean Marc G.): Liked most of Matt's performance (although I agree about his arms) -- her, not so much. Okay, I'm spoiled by watching Charlotte Jorgensen (world champ at foxtrot) on Dancing With the Stars. So sue me....
It was just too heavy and hard. I think the choreography might have been nicer on short people, but you choreograph ballroom very differently for short and tall people. Tall people look better with power moves, short people with quick showy moves. Doing quick showy with tall people, just ends up looking heavy and hard.
Kherington and Twitch (alleged V. Waltz, Jean-Marc). Okay, if Wade Robson can slip in a ballet under the umbrella of jazz, I'll have to give Jean-Marc a pass on this one, too. It's only fair. And when you compare this waltz to the one we saw last time, look how much more solid the lifts are. Okay, it doesn't have the rise and fall it should have, but nice sweep across the floor, good unison, secure lifts, nice musicality...
It was quite beautiful, but not a lot of VW. (And little note, VW doesn't have the rise and fall of slow waltz.) And it was awful sneaky to skip wearing heels. We know contemporary girls can dance barefoot, but can you dance in heels without falling over?

Overall, the choreography just didn't do it for me. Mandy Moore's just left me feeling meh. The hip hop and krump looked like boring club freestyle. Everything could have just been better.

[jlb]

I just want Kerington to know that I am inviting her to hop on board my hot tamale train......er....the hot tamale train......

[Mishkin]

I feel Chelsea & Thane were weak but came off a lot worse due to the ridiculous costumes and annoying music accompanying a so-so piece of choreography.

Regarding Jessica & Will's hip-hop routine, it didn't flow for me. It was disjointed and to me it looked as if the choreographers took a move from every hip-hop routine from the past five years and tried to stuff it in there.

I think Mia Michaels is a stoner. I bet she smells of dirty bong water.

Disclaimer - I know nothing about professional dance.

[murgatroyd]

Ehh, the greatness of that was Benji and Heidi. Their tricks, their moves, ADS just used their stuff. In the salsa world, ADS is not all that impressive at all. Heck, I know local guys that can do better work with less talented dancers than anything ADS has done.

I doubt Benji and Heidi would agree that Alex 'just used their stuff', but we can't ask them, so let's move on.

I hear what you are saying -- but da Silva is what we have on the show. If you want salsa this week, you get da Silva or nothing. And that's true for any of the styles on the show. Some people don't like Tyce and wish someone else would do Broadway. I'd love to see more Latin stuff from Ron Montez. But I'm not picking the choreographers, am I?

So maybe your local guys could have done 'better work with less talented dancers' but that's not really the point of the show, is it?

If you are dancing, and you draw ballroom, you don't have the luxury of saying "oh, I like Hunter Johnson's work better, I wish we were working with him instead of Jean-Marc". The job is the job, and you have to do what you are given, regardless of who the choreographer is.

And the choreographers have to work with the dancers they are given. Now it could be that other choreographers are better at using the skills that the dancers bring to them -- but you have to bear in mind that part of the show mandate is for the choreographers to get the dancers out of their comfort zone, too.

My criticism is that da Silva isn't very good at compensating when he has dancers who are taller than he is. The timing has to be different, and he just throws them into the deep end, regardless. Maybe this is one of the things you meant when you said that your local guys can produce better work with less-talented dancers. If so, I think it would be helpful to the people here who know less about salsa than you, if you could give specific comments on where you think da Silva fell down as a choreographer (as you did in the rest of your post), rather than blanket statements. Then we can see where you are coming from, maybe learn something, and we have something to talk about.

Edited to add: I agree with your comment about the barefoot dancing in Jean-Marc's routine (the alleged V-Waltz). Thanks for your other notes, too.

Jan

[murgatroyd]

In some of the performances last night I thought the issue wasn't so much with the performances as it was with bad choreography. But I guess we won't be hearing any of the judges saying -
"I think you did your best with what you had to work with, but the choreography just sucked."

In past seasons we have heard choreographers saying that they didn't like the choreography. I think Mia herself has done it.

I suppose that's another reason JoBeth might have to wish Dan Karaty was in the house. ;)

He's certainly not afraid to say so.

At any rate, one of the jobs the dancers have to do is to convince us the choreography is the best thing since sliced bread, whether it is or not -- so if we can see the choreography is terrible, they haven't distracted us enough. :p

Jan

[JoBeth66]

In past seasons we have heard choreographers saying that they didn't like the choreography. I think Mia herself has done it.

I suppose that's another reason JoBeth might have to wish Dan Karaty was in the house. ;)

He's certainly not afraid to say so.

At any rate, one of the jobs the dancers have to do is to convince us the choreography is the best thing since sliced bread, whether it is or not -- so if we can see the choreography is terrible, they haven't distracted us enough. :p

Jan

Totally with you on all points!!

(I forgot about the barefoot thing, I had meant to mention that because it jumped out at me during the performance, and it's one of the reasons I likened it to contemporary instead of VW. I'm sorry, a woman waltzing should be wearing shoes.)

[debtoine]

Dear Jidges,

If Susie is on the bottom 3 girls, please send her home.

Thanks,

deb

[jehma]

Is it just me, or is no one else seeing real memorable "wow" performances, besides Joshua & Twitch (to a lesser extent)? Everyone else just seems a little forgettable, to me. While I've seen some good routines danced by some good dancers, I'm just not seeing anyone else that really feels like "they could take it all" at this point.

I'm just not getting sucked in this year. Some of the performances are good, but nothing is really wowing me. Last season I sought out the performance on YouTube so I could see them again. This year I can barely remember any of their names.

I was wondering about the Viennese Waltz too - where was the waltzing? Last season was really bad with the choreographers taking liberty with the styles. I think the dancers need to dance the style they draw, not some hybrid that isn't a style at all.

I'm also looking for Susie to go home this week.

[zalusky]

It's only the second week. Once they start pruning down and the dancers start learning anticipating their partners it will gel. The choreographers have to dumb down based upon what the dancers are able to do at this point.

I think overall the guys this year are much stronger than previous years. Is anyone stronger than Nick or Travis individually that remains to be seen but there is potential.

[thurston608]

reminds me of these kids competing in the young lions festival....they're competing to see who could put together the best 60-second viral video for MTV Switch, a climate change initiative created by MTV...check it out here: http://www.nseries.com/index.html#l=campaigns,cannes

[realityboy]

Chelsea & Thayne
Susie & Marquis
Comfort & Chris

I hope this is the bottom three. If so, I would be extremely happy to see Susie leave, and I'm on the fence about the guys, but I'd prefer either Marquis or Chris. I think I like Chris better, but I want to see Comfort with a new partner. There just doesn't seem to be much chemistry there.