SYTYCD Top 16: Two Get a Cane and Two Get the Hook

This week's SYTYCD was overall not very good. Possibly one of the worst installments I've seen in any season I've watched. There were only 2 and half routines I enjoyed out of 8, and that's just not a winning percentage by any estimation. Cat Deely was still beautiful and giggly and lovely. That's enough for me to watch every week, but I'd like some awesome dancing as well.

The only dance I really enjoyed was Ashleigh and Jakob's jazz routine where they had to work with a cane. Individually, I'm not a huge fan of either Ashleigh or Jakob, but they definitely know how to make their partnership work for them. I also liked Russell and Noelle's Afro-Jazz routine, and I liked Legacy's contribution to his Broadway routine. That's it.



Everything else was weak. The Ellenore/Ryan Hip Hop number was soft and sluggish. The Peter/Pauline quickstep was sloppy. The Channing/Victor contemporary was not particularly moving. The Karen/Kevin hustle felt irrelevant. The judges were routinely disappointed and so was I.

But the winner of the Numfar Dance of Shame Award for this week, goes to Mollee and Nathan's Salsa. This dance was just terrible. They were out of sync from the first step and it just got worse from there. It was awkward and not sexy and just a really poor showing. They are both young dancers and the style didn't suit their strengths, but... that's kind of the point of the show. You're supposed to push yourself and kill it each week. For so many couples to fall short on the same week... it's not a good sign.

Since Mollee and Nathan didn't land in the bottom 3 vote totals, Nigel took some special time to yell at them for sucking so hard. Thanks, Nigel! Hopefully they will take his advice and take it up a few levels in intensity and dedication. It's still early in the season, and they can turn it around, but so far I'm just not impressed. Since they weren't up for elimination, ultimately we said good-bye to Peter and Pauline, which wasn't too big a surprise considering their lackluster quickstep. Now all three tappers have been eliminated from the competition, and most likely, none will be featured on the tour. Nigel seemed really sad about that fact, but maybe he should've thought of that LAST week, when he let Bianca go well before her time.

I still feel like the new stage set up is not helping the audience connect with them and the dancers always seem too far away, but the dancers also aren't bringing enough of themselves to the routines. It's a shame because I like a lot of them, they're just not giving me anything to get behind right now. Better luck next week, Dancers! Show us what you're really made of!