(FOUR NO MORE - The judges achieve their summer-long goal of eliminating AdeChike from the competition and all they needed to do was rely on the popular vote of the Viewing Public. Who would've thought? Still, group hugs are in order.)It's the Final Four this week and usually that means we're at the Grand Finale (except for last season when they decided they were done whittling down the competition at Top 6...), but we continue to switch it up this season and we're cutting it to a Top 3. Of the four who remain, we've got 3 contempos, and 1 jazz hands left to shake their money makers! Woohoo! Welcome... to So You THINK You Can Dance!
Intros and everyone's healthy two weeks in a row, thank goodness. The final four's final pose downstage center is totally uninspiring. Two of them stand back to back and two of them crouch on the ground. I could do better than that. C'mon people. I'm sure we'll all tired, but dig deep! Tyce is on the judging panel this week along with the regulars. I'll take a guess right now and say his commentary will add nothing for me. There is a Top 4 group number this week that Tyce choreographed to The Crapshooters Dance from Guys and Dolls. It opens the show and it's the dumbest routine I've seen in a long time. It's totally boring and showcases no one's skills. They might as well have done jazz squares for the length of the music and it would've been cooler. My high school production of Guys & Dolls had choreo to blow this out of the water. I don't know why I'm spending so many words on such a weak routine. I liked Tyce's group routine from the Results Show a couple weeks ago, but this one is just a bunch of nothing. Tyce does take a moment afterward to compliment Kent, Robert and Lauren, but says he wants to see more fight in AdeChike which I take as a harbinger for more criticisms against AdeChike still to come tonight. These judges have agendas! The contestants won't be dancing together at all this week. They'll be dancing two routines with different All-Stars. I want to see an effing waltz finally and also maybe a Robert hip hop routine. Will the show continue to deny me??
Lauren - Argentine Tango with Pasha. The dance is very very passionate. Pasha clearly knows what he's doing and Lauren just lets go into him. The routine has a voyeuristic quality given how intense they are with each other in their own little world. I just wish it had more kicking, because i do like between-the-legs kicking in my tangos. When it's time for the panel to way in, even the usually "No-Homo Nigel" admits that he wants to dance with Pasha, that's how intense it was. Tyce and Mia really liked Lauren's maturity in the dance and Adam literally sings his praise to her, and also gets Nigel to agree to marry him now that Prop 8 was overturned in Cali (woohoo!).
AdeChike - Afro-Jazz with all-star Lauren as choreo'ed by Sean Cheesman. The dance is fun but not even midway through, I notice how tight AdeChike's shoulders look, and I know the judges will pounce on him. They do, especially Mia who never misses a chance to dis an AdeChike performance. In truth, there's wasn't enough joyful abandon from AdeChicke in this routine. The judges have been trying to get him in the bottom 3 for FOREVER. This is their last chance to get him off the show and they're going for it!
Robert - partnered with Anya and dancing a Viennese waltz! A waltz! What I've been waiting for all season! Thank you, producers. This one will be choreo'ed by Jonathan Roberts. As soon as I see the rehearsal footage, I start to think this may be a case of After You Get What You Want You Don't Want It. Robert's actually done several ballroom routines this season, and in almost all of them I feel like I can see him concentrating too hard on the steps. I can see him thinking about it. He's got a decent connection with Anya though, who of course dances it beautifully. The judges, for their part, showed up wearing their "Go Go Roberto!" T-Shirts tonight and all profess their love for the routine. Superlatives all around, which makes me happy because I want Robert to make it to the final round next week. As Cat is wrapping things up with Robert you can see he's gripping her very tightly, mostly out of adrenaline and probably a little because it's Cat and how could you not if she was already that close to you? Cat doesn't seem to mind it at all.
Kent - gets himself Courtney and Disco by Doriana Sanchez. Hmm. Disco hasn't been too succesful this season. It's like hip hop was for the last two seasons. I'm glad hip hop is on the rise again for this show. The dancing is fun - if not a little cutesy - as Kent continues not to be able to clamp down his face. BTW, Courtney's hair is twelve miles high. It's insane. They do this one airplane spin that's so fast it looks like it might go completely out of control, but they maintain it. The judges are not wow'ed - even Nigel, who has a soft spot for disco routines. Mia calls it Kent's worst all season. The discussion gets so bad that Nigel breaks off his engagement with a nay-saying Adam. Dance is tearing love apart.
Second Round!
Lauren - partnered with Ade doing Sean Cheesman jazz. This is a reunion from Top 11 week, when the judges didn't like Lauren's performance so much, nor her lack of connection to the amazing Ade. Let's see how things go this time! Lauren is a black widow spider spinning her web of sexiness around Ade. It's a very sharp, athletic and energetic piece. i was really into this one. Two stand out moments - an insane lift where Ade grabs Lauren's arms, and then flips her upside down with her feet on his shoulders, and then pulls her up above his head. It sounds confusing and painful, but it was awesome. The other cool moment was an extremely quick hand movement sequence which Lauren and Ade nail. Really really good. Nigel loved it, but some of the others wanted more sexy ferociouness. Seriously, judges? You try to do that routine better.
Robert - paired with Dominic for a hip-hop routine! Choreo by NappyTabs. This is what I asked for as well! Producers, tonight you are spoiling me. Robert and Dom are sad clowns. Dom looks like the Joker from Dark Knight and Robert's got static hair like he rubbed his head on one of the many balloons populating the stage. This is a very fun routine. Robert and Dom have good chemistry and Robert keeps up with all the moves. The judges dig it and again do their best to keep Robert around for Top 3. Adam says Rob outdanced Dom, and I wish they would stop saying bullshit like this. None of the All-Stars have been outdanced this season. They are not supposed to be pulling focus from the contestants. They are trying to make the contestants look better, so don't diminish them for it in the critique. It's annoying. Mia thought the routine was "dope" and I'm happy that Robert has two champions in Nigel and Mia.
Kent - closing the show with Neil doing Travis Wall contempo. The theme here is the breakup of "a friendship," Neil literally punches Kent in the back at out point as if a knife is going in. Neil is wearing a black tank top so you know he's the baddie. This is a very good routine. There is a lot of emotional weight to it that compliments the very athletic dancing of Neil and Kent. Those two make very good dance partners. I don't see why they have to be "friends" instead of lovers which is really what the implication is here anyway. Maybe if Prop 8 had fallen a couple days earlier it would have been more explicit. :) Travis is very broken up about the routine afterward because it's based on his life, and Mia and Adam also cry for the 900th time this season. This was a very good recovery for Kent after his not-so-great Disco earlier tonight.
My preference for tonight's dances goes a little something like this:
Kent and Neil's contemporary
Lauren and Ade's jazz
Lauren and Pasha's tango
Robert and Dominic's hip-hop
Robert and Anya's waltz
Kent and Courtney's disco
AdeChike and Lauren's African jazz
AdeChike and Kathryn's contemporary
Tomorrow: the final cut! Voting America will make its first real impact all season. Hopefully Robert did enough to stay alive. I sure voted for him!
Results Show: We open with a weird sorta dance that I enjoy, but it takes me a long time to realize part of my unease is that i can't identify any of the people on stage as contestants. That would be because there are none. It's all all-stars. I guess that's a result of the Top 4 wasting their time on that Tyce number that opened Tuesday's show. Dee Kaspary did the choreo for this and it was a nice job indeed. i
National Dance Day happened but I don't feel like writing about it.
Nigel talks a bit about the finale. He slyly mentions NASA is involved, so who the hell knows what crazy ass thing they have planned there. He'll also be getting his tappa tappa tappa on for our viewing pleasure. And for some reason instead of just showing us the Alex/Twitch "Outta Your Mind" routine on video they are performing it with a surprise guest replacement. Who could it be - Baryshnikov? An "Only Mostly Dead" Michael Jackson? Otherwise, just play the tape of Alex doing it, please.
Before results, there is already filler in the form of Janelle Monáe, singing a song about a tightrope. It's actually kinda cool and interesting, but seriously just tell me who is going home, Show.
Everyone does a solo tonight. All of the solos are fine.
There's an extended commercial for Gatorade within the show. Please, can we have some results?
Finally, the dancers are out on stage. Lauren is safe first and then Kent. There's more to it than that but I'm cutting to the chase.
Desmond Richardson is on hand to dance awesome for the masses. It's fantastic, but will I never get to see my Transformers routine with All-Stars Pasha and Lauren, Show? You gave me a waltz and Robert's hip hop, now give me my Transformers!
The Final Four went to see Step Up 3D. I did not. Flo Rida is on hand to perform a song from the film. Several All-Stars dance around him. Cat assures us Flo Rida smells great. Please just let me know if Robert made it to next week's show already!
AdeChike is out and Robert is in! Hooray! The montage for AdeChike is very nice. He did have some good moments throughout the season! The three dancers who didn't just lose, run back on stage to hug AdeChike.
On Tuesday, The Top 3 dance for all the marbles and then Wednesday we award Kent (or maybe someone else!) the title of America's Favorite Dancer! I can hardly wait!
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