Another Wednesday night, home late, blitzed through on FF stopping just for the routines and notes from judges. It's a frantic pace, but in ways I like seeing the routines fresh, with no pre-conceptions from the behind-the-scenes commentary.
Wade is on the panel!
We get to hear Wade's notes! :up: :up: :up:
But that means -- no routine from Wade.
Sabra and Dominic: Jive, choreographed by Tony Meredith
Lots of fun, lots of energy. Nice lift. I liked her better than him. Good way to start the show, enjoyable, but is it re-watchable? (contrast Joey's jives on DwtS, super fun)
Jamie and Hok -- Broadway, with Tyce. Lighting director went all-out again. Jamie was gorgeous. Obviously, I liked this more than the judges did, but have to agree with Nigel somewhat in that I wanted more for Hok to do.
Sara and Pasha -- jazz, Mandy Moore. Very spiff, lots of fun. Some good moments.
Lauren and Neil -- contemporary with Mia. Loved the choreography. [Okay, it's twisted, but come on, what's not to get? It's weird. It's about the music. Does everything have to have to beat you over the head with a story? This is dance, for crying out loud, you use it to express stuff that you don't say in words.]
But the execution, not so much. Granted, it's hard to dance with the sunshades on. And granted, they only have so much time to perfect it. But think of what the piece would have looked like, if it were danced by a couple who could do perfect unison. Think how awesome it would be.
As it was, I thought it exposed just how different Lauren and Neil are stylistically. When they move, you can see the type of motion is really different, and in this piece, it shouldn't be. Kinda unfortunate. And as I've said in previous weeks (at least, I'm pretty sure I've pontificated on this before), if they had nailed the piece, the judges would not care so much if they didn't get it. Their dancing wasn't enough to convince the panel that Mia's choreography was the most kick-ass routine ever.
Anya & Danny: Foxtrot, with JMG. The kid comes out of his shell! Finally!
Performance of the night, definitely. But hey, how convenient that they have a ballroom dance this week. (Oh, was that my outside voice?)
Lacey and Kameron: Oh, lordy! did Lacey and Kameron get it from the judges, or what? Not that they didn't deserve it.
I would be very interested in hearing from Dan about how HE thought the two of them did. There were several spots in the routine where I thought Kameron had nailed Dan's attitude really nicely. It wasn't that he learned Dan's routine and then went out and danced it, he was doing a Dan impression. His expressions, the way he holds his head, the whole deal, it felt like Dan all over. Pretty funny. So in that respect, I really enjoyed the routine.
Could it have been performed better? Probably. I can't tell, because there have been so few times where I've seen a routine of Dan's where I've felt the dancers knocked it out of the park. It's partly because his style is so smooth -- if you dance it with a real laid-back vibe, it's nice when you are watching it, sure, but then -- the memory just pops like a soap bubble and you are left with this vague 'well that was nice' afterimage, which fades.
The killer knock against Kameron is, though, if you send somebody's partner off and they've got their solo thing and you find your mind wandering and looking around for the other person instead of being rivited to the soloist -- that's a sign that the soloist isn't exactly knocking your socks off, you know? But was it him, or the choreography, or some of both? I can't say.
Performance of the night: Anya and Danny
a lackluster thumbs up to:
Sabra and Dominic
Sara and Pasha
and my predictions for the bottom three:
Lacey and Kameron
Lauren and Neil
Jamie and Hok
It will be interesting to see what happens if that turns out to be the case. I suspect Wade will feel bad about arguing hard in favor of Hok and Jamie precisely because they performed his piece so well (trying hard to be fair to everyone else).
Taken as a group, without regard to couples, my top 10 would be:
Girls:
Jamie
Sara
Sabra
Lacey
Lauren
Boys:
Danny
Hok (duh)
Pasha
...
and then it gets tough, because in order to choose between Kameron and Neil and Dominic, I'd want to go back and look at all the tapes again -- which I obviously don't have the time to do before tomorrow night. Or see them with different partners, which we won't get to do until next week.
It's not that I don't like Anya, but as the judges have said, she's not compelling as a soloist. And for the ballroom routines -- Anya and Pasha are very good technically, and they're great to watch together, but I don't like either one of them anywhere near as much as I like Cheryl Burke or Tony Davolani on Dancing with the Stars. I know it's not fair to say that, because Tony is a (current) champ, and they are both pros. But Cheryl and Tony draw my eye -- if I am watching a group of the pro dancers I am always looking to see where they are. And I can't say the same for Pasha and Anya. If you had all the girls on stage at once, I don't think I would be looking for Anya to see how she was dancing.
That's what it comes down to, for me. Which dancers compel you to look at them? It's just like what Julia says, which dancers make you say "I can't take my eyes off" him/her?
Which routines are the ones that make you want to go back and watch them again?
As a whole, I think this episode was weak, choreographically for sure, maybe performance-wise, too.
Jan