SYTYCD: The Dancing Dozen

So You Think You Can Dance: Top 12 Performance Show

Wow, it's the last week before the Top 10 already! Time's flying.

The intro:

• Cat is wearing a sparkly silver dress with a trim of white feathers at the bottom.
• We get two routines from each couple tonight. Good. That means there will be less time for the judges to babble.
• Speaking of the judges, the panel is Nigel, Mary, Sonya and Jesse Tyler Ferguson of Modern Family, so this could be interesting. Jesse doesn't strike me as someone who will just sugarcoat everything.
• Mary looks less orange this week, which is a plus.
• Jesse says he has done Broadway and theme parks.
  

Sasha and Alexander (Tony and Meredith paso doble):

• The featurette: This is a nontraditional paso, because it's a battle between the two of them. I guess Tony and Meredith realized that Sasha is too fierce to just be Alexander's cape. Wow, that was a short featurette; we're not wasting any time tonight!
  
• The dance: This is kind of weird. It looks like time they had two guys (AdeChike and Jose) do a paso last year. I don't really feel strongly one way or the other about this one.
  
• The judging: Nigel says that Tony and Meredith recognized Sasha's strength and that Alexander managed to keep up with her. Mary says they deserve an "Ole!" Mary says Alexander had a breakthrough. Jesse says Sasha is a pillar of strength and Alex came up to her level. Sonya loves Sasha's strength. Alex says Mel and Tony dedicated this dance to their friend who is fighting cancer (and there wasn't a head scarf in sight!).

Jordan and Tadd (Travis Wall contemporary):

• The featurette: The dance is a metaphor about women who take advantage of weak men. Travis: "Everything's painful. There's nothing Tweety Bird about this." I'm noticing a trend: Jordan attacked Tadd last week too.
• The dance: Jordan is dressed like a bird. This is cool. Hey, Travis even worked Jordan's patented leg-kick-spin-flash-crotch-to-audience move! That was considerate of him. Kidding aside, Jordan does do some fabulous leg kicks and spins. Nice routine. Tadd snapped her neck at the end; finally a boy makes it through a number without dying ;-)
• The judging: Mary says Travis has outdone himself again. Mary says she's no longer surprised how well Tadd dances and that Jordan "just demolished that, from beginning to end." Jesse liked that take on the classic boy-meets-evil-vulture story we all know so well. Sonya says that dances like this with true conviction are what makes her cry. Nigel calls it the story of Thanksgiving. Nigel raves about Tadd and says they were both terrific.
  

Ricky and Ryan (Spencer Liff contemporary):

• The featurette: Nothing to declare.
  
• The dance: Ryan's dressed like Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's. This dance is taking forever to get going. And it's massively slow. I am, however, enjoying Ricky in this. Wow, he just did a really nice pirouette. I'm on the fence about Ryan. Her performance isn't horrible, but I don't love it.
  
• The judging: Jesse felt like a glass ceiling was on the performance; it felt a little muted to him. Sonya felt like they were questioning it the whole time and letting it simmer too long, but it was okay. Nigel doesn't think the complete Broadway style set comfortably with them. Nigel now admits that BOTH of them have had problems connecting with the audience (in last week's elimination episode he said that Ricky had connection problems). Mary liked the first 30 seconds (when they were standing there doing nothing), but then they lost the style and could have done more with what they were given. Ricky looks kind of ridiculous in that hat, which is not helping matters.
  

Kaitlynn and Mitchell (LXD's Chris Scott hip-hop):

• The featurette: I've been a supporter of Invisible Children for years, so I'm excited to see a routine inspired by a cause close to my heart. The featurette didn't provide much of an explanation of what's going on in Uganda and the Congo, but hopefully people will be inspired to check out the Invisible Children website and learn more.
  
• The dance: If not told the story/inspiration in advance, I wouldn't have gotten it from this routine, however, the dancing is fairly solid. They are having unison problems though.
  
• The judging: Sonya said the lack of unison jumbled the message for her, and I think I agree. Nigel didn't really get the message about the abductees in the Congo from that routine either, and he wanted them to get in front of a mirror and dance together. Mary thinks it was still respectable and strong, but came up just a little, little bit short tonight. Jesse likes the power they dance with. He didn't really see the message in the dance either.

Melanie and Marko (Louie Van Amstel tango):

• The featurette: No story, just tango. Bring it!
  
• The dance: Goodness, Melanie's lacy red backless dress is all kinds of sexy. I don't know what's moving faster: the dancers or the camera that's showing them to us. I feel like I'm going to barf. They did some of the routine rather dangerously close to the edge of the stage. HOLY CRAP that back bend/swing lift thing at the end was stunning! You can tell this style is more foreign to them than anything we've seen them do thus far, but for two non-ballroomers, that was pretty darn good.
  
• The judging: Nigel says they did that routine was tremendously better than they did in the dress run. Mary explains some kinds of tango for us. This was American style tango, which is a combo of everything, and Louie put it all in there. Mary says there were some few awkward shapes, but they did a really good job for non-ballroomers. Jesse thinks they both have "that spark." Sonya says every time she watches them dance, they make her loose her breath because of their conviction, which comes from their souls. She says they're timeless dancers.

Clarice and Jess (Christopher Scott lyrical hip-hop):

• The featurette: The routine is about a woman's insecurities.
  
• The dance: Jess is a painter. He can't really pull off the stocking cap hipster look, unfortunately. This is a little weird because they're hip-hopping really hard to a very slow, melodic song. I think that makes it harder for them to pull the dance off. It would be easier to tell if they were together and on-beat if you could actually hear a beat. It was all right.
• The judging: Mary thinks this number was so cute. Mary thinks they both have a pulse and swag and she loved the performance. Jesse loved it. Jesse wants to marry Clarice even though they both have boyfriends. Sonya thinks they're always adorable and that they slayed this routine. Nigel wasn't sure at first, but then he thinks they found the funk.

Sasha and Alexander (Tyce Diorio jazz):

• The featurette: Oh, look, it's Tyce. I hadn't been missing him.
  
• The dance: There's a street lamp on stage. Cause that makes so much sense. The music's Aretha Franklin, though, so that's pretty darn cool. Ooh, really nice lift there with Sasha's hands and flexed feet up in the air; very interesting. And another nice spinning lift towards the end too. I actually really liked this one. I love that they just really got to let loose and dance. Something weird happened at the end, and I'm not sure what. I think the lamppost was malfunctioning.
  
• The judging: Jesse thinks this was amazing and his favorite number so far tonight. Sonya keeps wanting to swear. Sonya says that this performance from Alex was what she's been hoping for all season. She was finally watching him too. Nigel says Sasha's carried Alex through a few weeks, but not tonight. Nigel: "The only shaky thing on that stage is that lamppost."

Jordan and Tadd (Spencer Liff Broadway):

• The featurette: Jordan is a princess and has been asleep for 100 years. Jordan doesn't have acro skills apparently.
  
• The dance: Jordan's doing a lot of lying on the table to start this one out. Watching this routine, I feel reminded that Broadway so very rarely works on this show. And that's through no fault of these two, who danced this pretty well. Jordan pulled out a nice pirouette at the end. Spencer's had kind of a rough night.
  
• The judging: Sonya was underwhelmed. She knows their abilities and didn't see them here, but she loves these two dancers. Nigel thought it could have been a little quirkier/sillier. He thought they could have brought more character to it. He thinks it was "okay." They're lucky they had a Travis routine earlier this evening. Mary says she likes cotton candy, but not too much of it. Jesse felt it was a bit of a grab bag of style and music and costumes.

Ryan and Ricky (Louie Van Amstel cha cha):

• The featurette: Holy crap, they're making them do ballroom! I never thought I'd see the day! Ricky's excited because this is out of their comfort zone and it's hot.
  
• The dance: Ok, I know Ryan's got her share of haters, and I'm not trying to pile on, but there is something a bit heavy about the way she steps when she dances. Otherwise, I'm pretty solidly impressed by both of them; I wasn't expecting much from Ryan with ballroom, and Ricky's quite good. The death drop was definitely something.
  
• The judging: Nigel thinks Ricky had great style and class. Nigel thinks Ryan was overselling it--"over egging the pudding"--and was a little bit sloppy. Perhaps Nigel has finally realized that he's not doing Ryan any favors with the relentless praise. Mary says that was the fastest cha cha she's ever seen. She thinks Ryan started good but then got a bit sloppy. But she thinks Ricky was awesome and she puts just him on the Hot Tamale Train. Jesse likes that Ryan was flirting with him during the dance. Jesse says it was his favorite performance from Ricky of the season. Sonya likes that Ricky was basking in the fun of it. She thinks that Ryan gets too tense and stressed and needs to embrace how wonderful she is.

Caitlynn and Mitchell (Travis Wall something--I missed the classification for this one--jazz?):

• The featurette: Caitlynn is a rock star who has just found out that her boyfriend is married, which is one of the more oddly specific concepts we've had in a while.
  
• The dance: But it's an excuse for a little Janis Joplin, so who cares? This is somewhat out of the Travis Wall norm, which is interesting. It included some rather fancy split lifts and stuff.
  
• The judging: Mary thought it was a little dirty and she liked it. She loved the whole thing. Jesse (to Caitlynn): "Only you can prevent forest fires, by not dancing like that in a forest." Jesse thought it was fantastic. Sonya thought it was really hot, esp. Caitlynn. Sonya thinks Mitchell loses his intention when he focuses on the partnering (it looks like work). Nigel doesn't want to say anything to Caitlynn because he'll look like a dirty old man. His one criticism is that she didn't need to play to the crowd, and should have just focused on Mitchell (and smacking him down).

Melanie and Marko (Dee Caspery contemporary):

• The featurette: I'd usually call BS on a contemporary couple drawing contemporary again, but I don't care--I want to see these two dance contemporary again! It's a nice swan song for them as a couple.
  
• The dance: So freaking beautiful. The light bulb thing was a nice concept, but it didn't get in the way of the dancing.
  
• The judging: Jesse has lost the ability to be coherent. He thought it was brilliant and it's his new favorite from them. Sonya is so grateful that this is the future of dance. She thanks them and hopes they stay humble and true. Nigel's excited about next week, except for breaking these two up because there's something magical about them together. Nigel's favorite style of choreo is when it flows and doesn't just look like a series of steps put together, and this flowed magically. Mary says Dee's work was amazing and relevant. The connections, transitions and everything else were flawless.

Clarice and Jess (Tony and Melanie jive):

• The featurette: Really? We're closing the show with a jive? That's ballsy. Jess says, "You name it, it's in this jive."
  
• The dance: Now Clarice has a feather-trimmed dress too. I'm not sure I like jive with this pop-style music, but the dancers seem to be doing a pretty good job with the jive style. Clarice almost fell over after a series of spins at the end, but otherwise I thought it was good.
  
• The judging: Cat: "Glad to see you got the memo on the frock." Sonya love, love, love, loves it. Nigel thought the footwork was good, but would have liked a little more energy in parts. Mary agrees that Jess' leg kicks were fabulous. She thought Jess lost some steam as it went on and didn't quite see the jive joy from him. But she thought Clarice had it and kept it up the whole time. Jesse thought it was fun.

The wrap-up:

• Jesse scores major points from me by saying that Emmy noms come out tomorrow and Cat deserves to be recognized because she is one of the most fabulous reality show hosts. Amen, brother! Cat turns bright red and looks rather embarrassed about being singled out, but she needs to hear the truth!
• Tomorrow they're announcing the All Stars! WOHOO!!!
• Nigel encourages us to vote for whoever we like, which is the point after all.
• Marko scores points with me by pretending to stomp on Jess while they're dancing during the end credits.
  

My favorites:
Melanie and Marko's contemporary
Sasha and Alexander's jazz
Jordan and Tadd's contemporary

**I couldn't remember exactly which two boys did the paso doble last season, so I went back in my blog archives to check and noticed that I was so much meaner last year! I'm going to have to bring the snark back out for the rest of the season!