So yes, I am a big So You Think You Can Dance fan… I prefer to call it a guilty pleasure, right up there with those “Top 100” shows on VH1 (Top 100 Songs from the ’90s!; Top 100 One Hit Wonders!) and Kelly Clarkson.
Last night was the Top 6. Overall, this has been a really solid season – I don’t think I’ve been as emotionally invested in any of the dancers as I’ve been in the past (like I said, guilty pleasure), but everyone can really dance.
So without further ado, here is my review of the 6 dancers left in the competition, in order of my rankings for last night (best to worst).
1. Joshua
Paired with Katee, he danced a Tyce contemporary and a paso doble. There is an obvious chemistry or synergy with Katee, his original partner, and it absolutely came out last night. The judges pimped it, the two contestants pimped it, even Tyce put it out there. Heck, I even got a little excited about it. But bottom line, the contemporary piece was flat out amazing, with an incredible lift/catch that had Joshua catching Katee seemingly mid-leap (more on Katee’s performance later), plucking her out of the air. The paso doble, in my opinion, was even better – it seemed more of a complete performance rather than just lifts and aerials and tricks, with a passion in it that matched what I would expect out of two traditional paso doble dancers.
Joshua is my pick to win the whole thing. Part of it is the immense support he gets from the judges. But also, if one is to make the (unfair?) comparison with Twitch, I think Twitch is a great soloist, with real variety and intrigue in his choreography, but when it comes to more “mature” dances that require real facial solemnity, it’s Joshua who is much more believable as a dancer. Plus I think he’s technically great, at least in my uninformed opinion.
2. Katee
Well, I think it makes sense that the strongest couple from Week 1 (helped immensely by the fact that it was the first time we saw the user-friendly stylings of Nappy Tabs, also known as Tabitha and Napoleon) are the two top dancers right now. I think there’s an important lesson for contestants in SYTYCD or American Idol that may already be obvious, but here it is: You have to be great on week one – that’s the most important time to make that emotional link with viewers. Once you do that, you have set everyone’s expectations with you, and you can simply ride the wave of votes to the final.
Not that Katee isn’t incredibly deserving! As mentioned above, she danced the contemporary and paso doble with Joshua. Arguably, Katee’s performance was even better than Joshua’s. I definitely think she’s the better “dancer” both technically and artistically. Her ability to freeze mid leap, to use her face as a tool to convey emotions, to be fluid and hard in the same routine – I think she’s one of the top 5 dancers all time on the show. Better than Sabra partly because of her natural build, there really hasn’t been one single off performance from Katee. That said, I think she is number 2 behind Joshua for one reason, her solos just don’t do it for me. They’re good, but this season, the female solos have been subpar and even worse, boring. I think we’ve seen the contemporary-dancer-solo bit a few too many times by now, and ballroom dancers just can’t carry off solos at all.
3. Chelsie
I think there’s a huge gap between 2 and 3 on this list, but let’s not shortchange Chelsie! No one, absolutely no one, has been better with ballroom or latin style dances than Chelsie, ever on this show.
Paired with Twitch, she started with the Mambo then went to Hip Hop. I thought (again, in my uninformed opinion) that she was absolutely flawless in the Mambo. She really knows how to dance those latin styles – you really couldn’t take your eyes off her, and Twitch just faded right into the background (as perhaps males are supposed to do?). The judges keep talking about her legs and their length… I don’t know if it’s that or just that her movements are so precise yet dynamic, a killer combination in these dances. The Hip Hop, however, I felt was a dud. I expected more out of them, considering it was Twitch and Nappy Tabs, but I should remember, Nappy Tabs don’t really do hard hip hop very well, and Twitch is much better with popping styles than with “lyrical hip hop” (a derided term amongst hip hop dancers). Chelsie didn’t embarrass herself by any means, but it did not measure up to Katee or Joshua at all. Plus, Chelsie’s solos really could just be copied and pasted from one week to another, except with different colored lingerie outfits.
4. Mark
A huge surprise for me if he makes it into the finals. I liked Mark in his performances where he had to assume a role – it seemed to actually improve his dancing technique as well when he could disappear into a distinct character – but overall, he seemed like a one-note dancer (a weird note at that). His solos are strange, almost Samoan (perhaps not surprising given his Hawaiian roots), but yet he’s lasted longer than Will (who should be in the Alvin Ailey company anyway).
Last night, he danced with Courtney and drew the Viennese Waltz and Jazz. The waltz was terrible in my eyes, but the judges (particularly Adam) loved it. However, the Jazz, choreographed by a person even more outwardly different than Mark, fit him to a T. The music, the movements, the character all meshed with his profile perfectly, and it was a good dance as well. I think this will be enough to carry him into the finals, in a mild upset over Twitch.
5. Twitch
Probably an early favorite to make it into the finals, due to his popping style and his personality. The judges tried very hard to pimp him into the finals for sure, and he has a fan-friendly presence on screen. But after a mild scare in the Top 12 results, where the judges were guaranteed to put him through to the Top 10, he took another blow last week when he again landed in the Bottom 2. That surprised me more than any thing else because I had thought his popularity was high enough to not have to worry. That shows me he’s vulnerable, and last night didn’t help his cause.
With Chelsie, Twitch got out danced in the Mambo and came up short in the Hip Hop. I think he needed a more dynamic routine in the Hip Hop to save him, and Nappy Tabs let him down. While it was a funny routine, I just don’t see any connection with the fans. Also, Twitch really really struggles when he needs to be a seriously male lead. Perhaps because the choreography gets more difficult for him when it comes to waltzes or paso dobles or what have you, but also because he’s just not believable as a romantic lead, a quality you desperately need to pull those off (see: Mark). For that reason, I see Twitch as off this week.
6. Courtney
And last (and least), Courtney. I think she’s been carried here by her looks, and while she can dance, I think she’s too much of a one noter as well. I didn’t buy her in the Waltz, and I didn’t really pay any attention to her in the Jazz. I guess she’s another dancer I just don’t believe in when it comes to dramatic characters – I feel like she puts on her practiced “serious look” (mouth a little open, eyebrows knit, hands outstretched) and that’s it. I think she’s a lock to go.
Thoughts??
Until 3 a.m. 