This is the story of how Fox wasted my damn time

[jlh]

So the first half hour of So You Think You Can Dance was a review of "auditions we didn't see." It even had separate credits. So I'm pretty annoyed about that. Anyway, moving on.

1. Heidi and Ryan's hip hop routine was really great, though Karaty was right about it looking like a cheering routine.
   
2. Martha and Travis worked out that salsa routine but depending on the rest of the night I might vote for them to make sure they're coming back.
   
3. Ashlee and Dmitry's contemporary dance was kind of a mess IMHO. I'm not sure I agree with Karaty that they didn't play their characters, and I'm not sure if it was the choreography, but it just seemed like a lot of frenetic running around with flexed feet. And I even like that song!
   
4. Disco and Natalie and Musa could have been great and here I actually fault the choreography, which I think is why the judges were so pleased with them. The choreographer I think saw big strong Musa and thought, "lifts!" I could have done with a little less strength and a little more dance from him. And he can be graceful—remember the beautiful contemporary dance they did?
   
5. Donyelle and Benji's Viennese waltz, I mean, what is there to say? They're magical. That last lift where she was in his arms for like thirty seconds? Wow.
   
6. Allison and Ivan's west coast swing was so much fun! They've really come a long way.
   
7. Jessica and Jaymz have really left me cold in the past. I find them personally annoying, with Jaymz so arrogant and Jessica so pouty. While it was really fun to see a seriously old-school popping and locking routine (Shane Sparks is an amazing choreographer) they just didn't get the break through they needed. And frankly, I don't think they ever will, because that disco routine they did the first week was fantastic and they were still in the bottom three.

My picks for the bottom three: Jessica and Jaymz, Ashlee and Dmitry, and probably Martha and Travis, with Jaymz and Jessica out. Man, starting next week I'm going to be pretty sad as people go . . .

Comments

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I taped the show and got home late, so I was sort of grateful to be able to ff through the non-show and go straight to the dances.

Jaymz really blew it. I mean, the fact is the judges were right in saying that they did the dance fine, but that you can tell the difference between someone who gets the technique and doesn't. He should have just accepted that gracefully. Instead he's defending himself like the only person who has to dance out of his comfort zone--meanwhile Ivan's throwing himself in the West Coast Swing and the tango. I agree about their disco routine being the best and they were still in the bottom three. Jessica took a much better route by saying she enjoyed hip-hop and was going to take classes in it when she got home. Sometimes when the judges come down hard on people the audience jumps to defend them, but not when they lose the audience's sympathy by whining.

And also ITA about Dimitry and Ashlee. It was just a not very interesting dance. Too frantic to even really get the characters--I don't think it was that they weren't playing them. But they were lucky that they were obviously trying something different.

Ivan was so cute this week, btw. I love watching him get better at things. It doesn't matter when/if he gets voted out, I think he's really gotten something from this whole experience.

I thought the comments about the salsa routine and Travis being masculine were kind of interesting, especially given that that seems to be the consistent fear of Benji's choreographers. We always hear how worried they are that they can't make him a man but he never gets that criticism when he's on stage. Those two were also particularly endearing in their rehearsal video this week. Benji with his "she's closing her eyes and thinking of Dimitry" and her with the Vietnamese Fighting Waltz. It could have been rude to laugh at her mispronouncing the name of the dance, but she didn't come across as stupid to me. I could see why "Vietnamese" was just the more natural thing to say, and why one might read it wrong initially. Especially since, as Mary said, however she pronounced it she sure could dance it. Usually waltz is the kiss of death, and it was great to see one excite the crowd.