SYTYCD Top 16 Performance Thoughts
I’m so excited for tonight’s show! Our first chance to vote this season. I wonder what will happen tonight to help us make this difficult decision.
My thoughts? Let’s put some spoiler space up…
-LOVE Cat’s look tonight. Pretty stunning (not that she isn’t always…)
-Wow, Season 5’s Top 10 is in the audience, it’s so good to see them!
-Lots of announcements about the Dizzy Feet Foundation special on the 29th. I wonder if this is going to be televised? But basically, everybody and their mother that we love to watch dancing is going to be dancing, including: the Season 5 Top 10, the Step Up 3D cast, Quest Dance Crew and the first recipient of a Dizzy Feet ballroom scholarship, 11 year old Fernando (didn’t catch his last name). Sounds like an amazing evening.
-Karen & Kevin’s hustle was really enjoyable. I was amazed with how Mandy Moore was able to transform that song (“Relax” by Frankie Goes to Hollywood) into something funky and stylish. I totally got Nigel’s comparison to her “table routine” with Sabra and Neil. Kevin did look incredibly nervous with that “death drop,” but it seems like he’s pretty trained, so I don’t know why they’re consistently underestimating him. Unless it’s to give him a lot of credit.
-Ashleigh & Jakob’s jazz was surprising because I’m continuing to love their partnership. There were a few of those “oh crap” moments that Adam pointed out and it seems like Ashleigh’s movements are a little too studied, a little too self-conscious, but I’m enjoying her a lot more than I ever thought I would. Jakob’s great.
-I adored Pauline & Peter’s dreaded quickstep. It had so much personality, even if you could see some clear mistakes. I’m glad that they noted how well Peter did and gave Pauline due props. Mary was right that it was entertaining. And how gorgeous is Peter in that uniform? Sigh.
-No clue why the judges were so rough on Kathryn. I totally agree with our reader Christine that this routine reminded me of Jeanine’s breakout Broadway routine. It had a lot of personality and I was loving her the whole way through. I think only this combination could warm me up to Legacy so much and it’s great to see him growing so much. But let’s give Kathryn all due credit, here.
-Channing & Victor did a wonderful job, but I can kinda see Nigel and the other judges’ caution. However, it was beautiful and I liked seeing what they brought out in each other. I think they’ll be great in other styles, also. What do you think?
-If ever there was a time to call out a choreographer for a routine, it would be Lil C for that krump. I think maybe the judges were calling him out, but in a very subtle way. Too subtle. I think Elleanore & Ryan did a respectable job, but that krump was heavy and monotonous with the barest attempt at story and character. The song was awful and I don’t think Lil C cared at all about working with the dancers he was given. If he had a great routine concept and ignored his dancers in order to present it, I could almost understand that. But this was a really boring routine and I think the dancers did an incredible job given that and how far they had to go from their own styles.
-Oh no! Mollee has to be sexy! That salsa was awful. I love them both so much, so I want to believe that this is just a blip in their dance education. But oh no. Worst routine so far.
-LOVED the Noelle & Russell Afrojazz! My favorite routine of the night, by far. Wow. They were both so strong and powerful and beautiful. And yes, it had great character and story. And I really loved how after the requisite princess kissing the frog moment at the end, Noelle rested her forehead against Russell’s in this relieved, “we did it!” moment. It really expressed their partnership to me. I hope we see a lot more of Sean Cheesman and a lot of Noelle and Russell in the future of this show.
Be on the lookout for my Power Rankings coming soon for my final thoughts. And be sure to let me know what YOU think! 🙂
Taking a quick break from voting. No sadly the Dizzy Feet thing isn’t going to be televised…I wish it was maybe like a pay per view thing with the money going towards the foundation. I want to say both Nigel and Adam have mentioned this on twitter.
I got why they were a bit tough on Kathryn…see went the cute route but they wanted her to go more of the vixen route. Still a fun dance.
One more thing before I go back to voting….wow did anyone keep count of the new choreogaphers.
I don’t know. Seems like they were really hard on Kathryn, they had her costumed as Ellie Mae not as a vixen. I thought she did fine.
I enjoyed all the dances except the Ryan Elinore krump and Nathan/Molee salsa
I loved Kevin and Karen, I thought they both looked liked they were having a great time, even if that death drop was a little funky, loved how they turned his almost-drop into a dramatic end to the routine, hilarious.
Ashleigh and Jakob might be the couple clicking the best right now, consistently from the beginning of the show, and that is a total surprise to me. I thought they were great.
From what I had found about Peter and Pauline’s quickstep, I had thought it might be a bit more polished technically, but I agree with all three judges that performance-wise it was fabulous.
I really really wanted to love Legacy and Kathryn’s number because I love both of them and Andy is one of my favorite choreographers. I was trying to figure out what rubbed me the wrong way about this routine and I think it was the song! It’s such an iconic song, and I can see how it would make a great routine, but the context that everyone knows of that song is sooo over the top that it just felt a bit underwhelming.
Channing and Victor were beautiful, especially the move where she slid down his side and his hip bump was right in time with the music. However, something was just missing. I can’t quite put my finger on it.
I’m confused, was Ryan and Ellenore’s routine supposed to be krump or hip hop? And you’ve got these 2 awesome dancers and they’re totally covered up by these bulky costumes. Lil C did a great krump routine with Melanie and Cody from this season of SYTYCD Canada, but this just was so lacking, the music and the choreography didn’t help them at all.
Oh Mollee and Nathan, oh goodness. They make the cutest couple, but they’re still kids! I love Gustavo (check out my post with the salsa he did for SYTYCD Canada S1 with Arassay and Nico, that is what I was hoping for with this one). However, nothing seemed to go their way tonight.
They saved the best for last! Noelle and Russell totally killed that routine. From Russell’s first hop as that frog I knew this was going to be a great number and they didn’t disappoint. Something about afro-jazz seems to work really well for hip-hop dancers (see S1 Vincent and Miles from Canada). Sean Cheesman is my favorite new choreographer, I really hope he comes back.
Several of the “new” choreographers are regulars on SYTYCD Canada.
Sean Cheeseman choreographs Afro-Jazz, and Theatre (Broadway) and Gustavo Vargas has done various latin dances. Stacey Tookey is also a regular on the Canadian show (although I think they introduced her as being the best choreographer from the Canadian show when she first Choreographed for US in Season 4 or 5.
Also Lil C did a routine to the same song for the first season of SYTYCD Canada – same props etc. although there may have been a few differences in the choreo. and they actually danced it! It was 10 x as good.
@Amanda: Way to switch it up! I defend Kathryn and you defend the judges’s comments. ;”) It’s okay. I know you still love her. I’d pay to see that show on Pay-per-view, for sure. Too bad. 5 new choreographers, who haven’t choreographed on the American version of SYTYCD before. Maybe that’s one of the reasons it was an odd night. It kinda felt like you didn’t know what to expect and that could (and did) go either way.
@CoffeyCup: I’m with you on those two dances.
@Margaret: You got me thinking maybe I’m wrong about putting Pauline and Peter in the bottom 3. I’d be so happy to be wrong about that. 🙂
@T: Oh yuck to Lil C using the same routine! I am so disappointed in him. But wow, did it have so much more energy and oomph in that video you linked to. Thanks for that. Unfortunately, it kinda invalidates everything I said about Elleanore & Ryan not having much to work with cause Natalli & Vincent killed it. But I’m sooo disgusted with Lil C for recycling a routine like that.
I knew that song from Ryan and Ellenore’s routine sounded familiar! Ugh that’s annoying, I usually really like Lil C’s stuff and it’s usually super original but he dropped the ball with that one.
I agree with @CoffeyCup about Kathryn’s outfit, it didn’t exactly scream vixen (though it did look a bit like Katee’s outfit from her Broadway routine with Will).
I was pretty familiar with the work of the “new” choreographers. Unfortunately, Andy hasn’t had a particularly good track record (he did 2 pieces during S4 and both couples ended up in the bottom 3), but he’s fabulous.
With Gustavo, he’s super talented, but I felt like the choreography didn’t fit the dancers or the song. The song was super fast, and I think Nathan and Mollee had a hard time keeping up.
Shaun killed it. Period.
There is another afro-jazz choreographer from Canada, Vicky Lambert, she did a great piece for finalists Miles and Allie from S1. Here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6m4bUPv7Go
@Emilie lol I only defend the judges because they didn’t say her dancing was bad they just didn’t like her choice of character. Which really the choreographer did actually say that you should be sexy…he left it open for interpretation.
I was surprised to learn about Karen and the divorce. I like learning things about the dancers. Though I think we all knew Jakcob is BFF with Jeanine.
As far as the “new” choreographers they are new to me cause I don’t well can’t watch SYTYCD Canada. So they are new to me :P. Stacey was introduced on season 5. For me all the “new” people joining the US show is a breath of fresh air.
@Margaret: WOW! I loved that routine you linked to – thanks. I hope they bring Vicky Lambert to choreograph for our SYTYCD. I’d love to see what she can do with any of our Top 16.
@Amanda: That’s cool, I got Kathryn’s back. :)- I guess I can see that point. I just really enjoyed watching her move and I guess I don’t really think of “sexy” when I think of a song from The Jungle Book. So I liked her kooky, feisty-ness. That’s sad about Karen and her husband, but pretty amazing she has the strength to do a show like this while going through that, but to talk about it, too. I want to watch more SYTYCD Canada after that link Margaret put up, and after digging Stacey Tookey and some of their other fine choreographers. They are breaths of fresh air.
Thanks for the link, T. That was interesting. I was also thinking that part of the reason for that poor performance was the song/choreo, but the two dancers in the youtube video did great.
I don’t mind recycled dances when it’s from a long time ago on a different show. There’s nothing wrong with that in my book. Sometimes dances are just good dances.
I thought Lil C’s choreography/concept was good, I just didn’t think Ellenore and Ryan could do it. I actually felt that Ellenore did worse than Ryan. She was flailing a bit, etc. Neither of them really got into character at all. I love them, too, which is what sucks even more. I thought the dance would have been better with Pauline and Peter. 🙂
In terms of my fav of the night? Def AfroJazz. Russell is by far my favorite of the season, though I’m not as into this season’s dancers as last summer’s. I know everyone hated on last season, but I loved them. I wish Billy were still around.
Anyhow, I didn’t care much for Mandy Moore’s cane choreography either. (I know, I know…shoot me, lol). Mandy is hit or miss to me, and this was a huge miss. I couldn’t believe the table dance comparisons. Wow.
Poor Mollee and Nathan. Really. That was painful to watch.
I thought Pauline and Peter’s quickstep was adorable. Hope they stick around.
My bottom four?
1. Ellenore
2. Pauline
3. Peter
4. Ryan
I think that Ryan and Pauline might be leaving us this week.
Did anyone find the juxtaposition of the backstories interesting? Peter volunteers and teaches dance to the mentally retarded, while Pauline eats a lot. Wow.
@Beth, I don’t mind recycled routines either, but I think as a choreographer whose routines get watched over and over both live and on the internet, Lil C would have put together that people might figure out where they’d seen that routine before. Plus, the routine was from just last year with clips all over YouTube. Ryan and Ellenore aren’t helped by the fact that Natalli and Vincent (the couple from Canada who did it) totally killed it. It really is a shame, but I think there’s only so much that we can put on Ryan being this big muscular guy and both of them being “too nice”. Vincent might be one of the nicest guys I’ve ever seen, and he was able to find that swagger that both Ryan and Ellenore were missing last night.
Blegh. I just watched this on DVR and I wasn’t all that pleased. I liked five dancers tonight: Kathryn, Legacy, Channing, Ashleigh, and Russel.
I didn’t like their critiques of Victor & Channing’s contemporary, I thought they danced it amazingly. I feel Victor may be leaving the show soon because he’s just…not growing. Channing, however, found a lot of confidence once she found a new partner and I thought she went at it with such abandon. Her movement was beautiful.
I also disagree with their critiques of Kathryn & Legacy in regards to Kathryn. I thought her character was well done, she was cute and fed up, but also trying to seduce Legacy away from the TV. I thought the routine was great and I am constantly surprised that Legacy doesn’t let the steps ruin the character. He really really brings it.
Russel is just great, I think he does so well at what he does. I loved the routine, I loved the lifts. I think Noelle needs to find something that makes her distinctive, because right now there’s no reason to remember her. I don’t get excited.
Yes, Jakob is amazing, blah blah blah. Ashleigh, though, I think is becoming the star from that pair. I love watching her dance, and this style, which is pretty far from ballroom (to my ignorant eyes), was beautiful for her.
The rest of the night was either boring or forgettable for me. 🙁