SYTYCD: Contemporary Masters

So You Think You Can Dance: "Top 10 Performance Show"

My predictions for the night: Jason and Ade bust out.

The play-by-play:

• Cat appears wearing a form-fitting multi-tiered (pleated?) green frock. I think this maybe be my favorite of her dresses this season. It's rather mermaid-y.
• The third judge is...Debbie Allen! I was wondering when she'd show up.
• Cat addresses the height issues associated with pairing up some of the Top 10 (a.k.a. Evan).
• Debbie Allen says that in the past few weeks, some of the comments by the judges have caused her to throw her Haagen-Dazs at her TV screen. I wonder if Haagen-Dazs had to pay for that mention or not.
• I feel like Cat's teleprompter is just flashing "Stall!! Stall!!" at her because we are going NO WHERE fast here tonight.
• We're starting the night off with a group Bollywood number with the girls. Did they do gender-based group numbers in previous Top 10 shows? I'm not convinced it's necessary. (After some quick research, it seems last season they did gender-based Top 5 numbers during the Top 10 results show. So they did them, but they didn't affect the voting.)
• What would SYTYCD do if they actually had an Indian or Indian American dancer on the show one season? That poor kid would probably end up doing Bollywood numbers week after week after week. I mean, yes, Bollywood is cool, but we may be getting close to overdoing it.

Girls' group number (Bollywood):

• The dance: One thing about Bollywood numbers is that most audience members don't understand enough of the nuances of this style of dance to know if the dancers are doing it well or not. Plus it's so fast that it's hard to tell if there are mistakes. Example A: Jason and Caitlin did a Bollywood number that the judges thought was amazing and the same judges hated (or didn't love) everything else those two subsequently did.
• The judging: Nigel says the girls are beautiful. That's pertinent, Nigel, thanks. Nigel puts the girls on his "Hot Bangers and Mash Train." Ugh. Mary thinks any of these girls could be in the final. Debbie thinks this is the strongest Top 5 girls in the show's history.

Kayla and Evan (Tony and Melanie Viennese waltz):

• The featurette: To prove that the producers "aren't fixing the couples," they let tall Kayla pick short Evan's name out of the hat. And then we get to hear about the height difference for about 5 minutes.
• The dance: Kayla's not wearing shoes so there's not that much of a height difference after all of that build-up. I really like the dance--Kayla looks lovely in this style. I don't love the faces Evan's making--he keeps pulling out this strange forced smile that doesn't seem to fit with the music.
• The judging: Now as they're waiting for their critique, Evan looks taller than Kayla. In a semi-lengthly exercise in irrelevance, Nigel goes on and on about how he didn't see the difference between their "Viennese waltz" and a "fast waltz." Mary says that Evan's "natural turns" were slightly painful to watch. Go Mary! The gloves are off, as she says. Debbie tells Evan that he "handled [his] big woman." Poor Kayla--under no one's definition should she be considered "big."

Brandon's solo: Very strongly choreographed to his music ("In Your Eyes," I think it was the Jeffrey Gaines version). Packed a surprising amount of movement into a stripped-down acoustic version of the song. Also surprising was that he was wearing pants AND a shirt instead of the tiny spandex shorts he usually wore for solos during auditions.

Janette and Ade (Napoleon and Tabitha hip hop):

• The featurette: This could be a super couple. But, yet, there is more bitching about height differences (Ade is tall; Janette is short). Ade seems kinda happy to not be dancing with Melissa anymore, but I might be misinterpreting him. And the boy finally gets to do some hip hop! It's a banner day for Ade. But then Nappy-Tabs shows up... (Seriously, are those two blackmailing Nigel or something? Nobody choreographs as much as them.)
• The dance: For having no funk, Janette's pretty good at butt wiggles. Ade should have kept the frumpy outfit on Janette because once it was off, she's started stealing the show. Ade finally got to wear his hair pick during a routine. And he got to do something other shlep his partner around the stage.
• The judging: Nigel just wants to say "Nappy-Tabs" again. ACK--Nigel just said that he's going to try to talk Mary out of her clothes later. Cat: "That's a terrible visual." LOL, Cat! Now Mary says, "We've got to get serious and cut the crap." I guess there's a first for everything.

Randi's solo: It was ok, but ultimately rather similar to every other generic girl contemporary solo ever.

CAT SAYS THAT AFTER THE BREAK WE'LL SEE A ROUTINE CHOREOGRAPHED BY TRAVIS WALL!!! And suddenly I don't care about anything else regarding this competition and am only thinking about how much I like Travis and that his hair is dark now. It might not be a good strategy by the producers to remind audience members how much more they liked the contestants of past seasons (like Pasha last week). I'll take it though. This Travis appearance will help to tide me over until I get to see The Bench Dance and "Ramalama" next Thursday!

Kupono's solo: Holy crap, it looks like he spent more than 5 minutes planning what he was going to do in this solo! What a nice change of pace! And he made his costume himself. (Meaning that he ripped up a wife-beater, I guess.) Is there no end to this boy's talents? Lol.

Jeanine and Jason (Travis Wall contemporary):

• The featurette: The two dancers who lost their partners last week got paired together anyway this week. Jeanine thinks she and Chbeeb stole the show with the Russian folk dance last week. Lol. I think it's appropriate that Travis is choreographing for Jason, since I pegged Jason as being a student of the Travis Wall School of Dance the other week. I think Travis might be trying to kill the dancers with this choreo.
• The dance: Ok, I love this because the movements they're doing look like Travis movement. And, whoa, there were some borderline softcore porn moments toward the end there. That Travis is pushing the envelope a bit.
• The judging: The judges all give a standing ovation. Nigel begins by raving about Travis' choreo, saying that it was only bettered by the dancers who performed it. And I was right--now the judges think Jason is awesome. Mary's fighting back tears over Travis' evolution into a top-notch choreographer. (Frankly, it wasn't that much of an evolution, since back in Season 2, his solos were always well-choreographed.) Debbie's reminiscing about when she first saw Travis when he was 14-years-old. Jason's brags about what a good job he did of tearing Jeanine's dress. Combining that performance and those critiques with the residual Travis love, there's no way either Jason or Jeanine goes home tomorrow.

Melissa's solo: I'm not impressed. I think she could get more extension in her leaps and she spent about 70% of the time just doing a lot of Bourree-ing, which I learned in my beginning ballet class at the Y when I was 3-years-old. (Granted, we weren't on pointe in the beginning ballet class, but you get my drift. Also, this girl I just found on YouTube's Bourrees blow Melissa right out of the water.)

Evan's solo: Well, at least he did an 180-degree split. But, yeah, I'm over Evan's shtick. (Although I was never especially taken with it, I guess.)

Kayla's solo: She's definitely got the leaps and the extensions, but I think she could used some choreography help with the solos.

Randi and Kupono (Tony and Melanie paso doble):

• The featurette: Um, on-paper this is like the opposite of a power couple tonight. Unless they get an awesome dance, these two might be heading straight out the door tomorrow night. The concept of the paso doble is confusing Pono. The practice session was rough.
• The dance: Randi's got some killer hair extensions and doesn't even look like herself. With the help of her extra hair, I think Randi's doing a surprisingly good job of selling this. Pono, however, I'm not so sure about. When he's just standing there giving attitude, he's good. When he was dancing by himself, he was ok. But when he was dancing with Randi, I wasn't impressed with him, and he could barely handle the most basic of lifts.
• The judging: I think Nigel's blaming the routine's lack of passion on Randi's wig? I think Pono's jig is up tonight. This is what happens when he doesn't get to do contemporary routines, people! I think Randi got thrown to the wolves with this partnering, but she was probably in trouble anyway.

Ade's solo: Attacks "Unchained Melody" with a kind of reckless abandon that probably could have used a little restraint (there were some bent knees in jumps, etc.) The highlight, though, was a very speedy succession of pirouettes.

Jeanine's solo: Redeems herself for her lack-luster solo-in-hooker-outfit last week with a nice solo featuring leaps and spins and kicks to some fiery Latin music that I'm sure was someone's floor exercise music. (I think it was Alicia Sacramone's music, which--heaven knows--should be engraved in my consciousness by now.)

Jason's solo: Also better than his solo last week. Tonight, he seemed to relax and just do a nice
Southern-inspired dance that showcased both his technique and his musicality without the near-panic and slight desperation of last week's effort.

Melissa and Brandon (Tyce Diorio Broadway):

• The featurette: Dear Lord, now Melissa's bitching about height differences too! We don't care anymore, people! Aaaaaaand it's Tyce. Who is here to choreograph a number from "a very famous musical called 'Hair'." Thanks for being so educational, Tyce. I'm sure few of us have ever heard of "Hair" before (eye roll).
• The dance: The routine started out definitely not being the typical Broadway style, but then it kicked in. I kind of hate this version of "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In"...so much so that I'm having problems watching the whole routine.
• The judging: Nigel tries to continue the history lesson by pointing out that the '60s was the first time period that white girls danced with black guys. In the over-statement of the evening, Mary says the routine was "unbelieveable."

Janette's solo: Janette powers through her solo, refusing to buy into the idea that ballroomers can't do decent solos. And she isn't even relying on the help of a fringed costume.

Guys' group number (Jeffrey Page African dance):

• The featurette: Um, poor Evan just does not scream "African dance" to me. Pono: "It's just rhythms, a true, true dance style, and I just cannot get it!" So Pono just admitted that he doesn't have rhythm and can't handle true dance styles?
• The dance: This looks like one massive aerobic exercise. I'm having a similar issue with this routine that I had with Bollywood: I just don't know what it's supposed to look like. Were the arm motions supposed to be more fluid like Jason's or more abrupt and staccato like Brandon's? In any event, it looked freaking exhausting and they all deserve credit for just making it through. And, damn, how hot did Jason look during that?
• The judging: Nigel and Mary call more attention to Evan's lack of African-ness. It's generally agreed that they were all wonderful and no one in particular stood out. Nigel can't result throwing in one more quip about how much Russian folk dances suck. He's going to have a Russian-American boycott on his hands if he doesn't watch out.

My favorites:
Couple dance: Jeanine and Jason's contemporary (followed by Evan and Kayla's waltz and Ade and Janette's hip hop)
Guy solo: Jason
Girl solo: Jeanine

And I just want to take the opportunity to gloat one more time about the fact that my prediction that Jason would kill tonight (which I first made last week) was spot on. Booya!