- Not quite sure how to describe Cat's dress tonight. It's kind of blue and kind of kimono inspired and there are some flowers on it. She's paired it with a high, curly ponytail and some big earrings.
- Yeeeaaaaaa for "the stunning" Travis Wall. He does look serious and grown up this evening. Very professional hairdo.
- I'd forgotten that Carmen Electra is a dancer.
- I hope Travis brings the truth tonight.
- This is the first time a former contestant is serving as a judge, I'm assuming. I can't remember any other instances anyway. Awesome sauce.
- Ok, so we're clearly going to compensate for the fewer dances tonight by having immensely long commercial breaks?
Marko has to make a quick stop at wardrobe and come right back. Luckily, he's only wearing half an outfit right now, so it shouldn't take too long to change...
Marko and Melanie (Ray Leeper jazz):
- The featurette: Is it wrong that I want these two to have to mambo or waltz or krump or something? I know they can do jazz and contemporary. I have a suspicion that they can do everything, but I want to see it! Marko is from Guam. He worked in a drag queen show on a cruise ship, but he wasn't the drag queen. Melanie's boyfriend came to the show last week and saw her kiss Marko in the hip-hop. Oops... This dance is the story of a young Latin couple...played by a guy from Guam and a white girl.
- The dance: Marko's not wearing a shirt for this one either. Melanie's dress is weird. Mel's pirouette in the middle was to die for. I wasn't totally sold at first, but the longer it goes, the more I like it. Very fun.
- The judging: Cat thinks Marko looks like a sexy firefighter who has forgotten his shirt. Travis has been taking Ray's class since he was 9 years old. Travis seems to have thought about what he's going to say (which is impressive because he only found out he was judging yesterday). Travis says that Mel is "by far" his favorite dancer in this comp. I didn't pay attention to anything Carmen just said. Mary says they have the passion. Mary liked the pirouette too. Mary is looking far, far, far too tan. Nigel says their technique matches their performance.
- The featurette: We already know Sasha's family or at least we know Natalia. Sasha's family is Trinidadian. Alex started dancing because he didn't want to do P.E. I do not find that shocking. Alex's dad was an actor in the '70s. Wow, we've got a whole bunch of different choreographers tonight. They are trying to teach Alex swag, but it's not taking.
- The dance: You know what, Alex is not bad. Better than I was expecting anyway. Sasha's good, but that's less surprising. And there's suddenly a random tree on the set. It's not the hardest-hitting hip-hop choreo we've ever had, but it was fun enough.
- The judging: Carmen said she loved Sasha and didn't really watch Alex. Mary didn't see the swag. Whoa, now she just called the performance "lacking." She didn't think they connected with the piece and she didn't connect with them. I guess it needed some Nappy-Tabs "ripped form the movies" plot line. Nigel thought it seemed like Hip-Hop 101. Travis didn't hate it as much as the other judges did. Travis says they do need to work on their shading and musicality. And spews out whole bunch of actual things they can work on instead of just saying some general mumbo jumbo. I love Travis...
- The featurette: OMG, Jordan is from Chino! Suddenly things make sense... Ok, her Chino looks a lot nicer than Ryan Atwood's. Didn't these two just waltz? Enough with the waltz. Tadd is here to represent the Filipino community. In this routine, Jordan is a siren who seduces Tadd and then kills him.
- The dance: I actually like these hair extensions on Jordan. The smoke, however, is out of control. How can we see their dancing, if the smoke is up to their knees? Jordan seems more focused on seducing the audience than Tadd during most of this. Otherwise, it was fine.
- The judging: Cat: "If the kiss doesn't get him, the smoke will!" LOL. Mary gives us a nice little history lesson on the waltz. Thanks, Mary! That was actually constructive! She says it was dreamy and romantic and especially liked the beginning. I agree that Jordan's "floor sweep" was nice. Nigel thinks Toni's choreo was clever. Nigel's thinks Tadd's arms were fantastic. As were his "progressive twinkles." Travis thought it was beautiful, but, "Could it have been a little smoother? Yes." LOL! He thinks they should have flowed the moves together better. And gives Jordan a tip on her extensions! TRAVIS WALL FOR THE WIN!! Carmen says she doesn't know much about the waltz, and we're all shocked. I hereby propose a judging panel with Travis Wall only!!!
- The featurette: Jess' dad was an actor too. This is a contemporary piece about a couple that has been through a very intense love that is coming to an end. Shock. Couples are so rarely happy in contemporary pieces...
- The dance: Why would Clarice have ever been in an intense love relationship with Jess in the first place? Ok, ok, I'm going to focus now. Really nice side-by-side unison moment there towards the beginning. I'm liking Clarice in this. And I'm liking that Jess is being rather understated.
- The judging: Travis' favorite routine from them this season. First time he felt their chemistry was honest. He loves it and still gives Clarice a practical tip on her supporting leg! Nigel loves Justin's work in both of his routines tonight. Nigel liked the jerky movements in this one and really felt the anger. Carmen really believed the story. Mary thinks this partnership has been growing every single week. Mary liked the synchronization section too. (I'm starting to get concerned that Mary and I keep liking the same things tonight...)
- The featurette: Salsa is kind of a rough draw for a couple that was in the bottom three last week. Ashley dreams of hosting her own cooking show. Chris comes from a huge Texas family. "There's always something to do and always something to clean." He suffered from severe dyslexia. This is one of the most difficult salsa routines that Liz has ever choreographed. There are lots of crazy lifts and swings. Godspeed, kids.
- The dance: Bless poor Chris for going out there in those white pants and looking all Saturday Night Fever. Ash has kind of a nice salsa flair at times. Her dress and shoes are fantastic. Chris is certainly giving it a solid try, but it's not working all that well for him. The flashy ending was nice though.
- The judging: Travis says it started out really hopefully and the lifts were good. When they broke apart it started to get iffy. He thinks their chemistry with each other has been better. And, oh my gosh, the audience is booing Travis! WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?! And Chris says, "You're so mean! I love you!" LOL. Carmen thinks it was ok but that something wasn't quite there. Mary doesn't think this was as hot as their week 2 number. She did think there were moments where Ash was on fire, but she didn't maintain her Latin swagger the whole time. Mary could tell Chris felt awkward, but does commend his partnering work. Nigel agrees that the lifts were quite good. Nigel says he feel uncomfortable talking about Chris' hips, but he didn't have the right feel.
- The featurette: Sooooo many Californians... Ryan gushes about Mia a lot. Ricky loves the beach. Ricky moved to Tampa and ended up cheerleading. He seems to have rather enjoyed the experience. This dance is about fashion people who follow the fads and end up dead. Or something to that effect. Whatever it is, it's heck of a lot more interesting than the usual.
- The dance: Actually this concept and choreo reminds me of Wade's "Sexy Back" group number in Season 2. And that is not a bad thing whatsoever. Ironic that Travis is on the judging panel. I'm liking this routine all around, but I think Ricky is rather out-dancing Ryan (and not just when she fell out of the pirouette at the end).
- The judging: Carmen loved it--the music choice, the energy, etc. Mary says it was an experiment of movement down on the quirky side, and she likes a little bit of quirkiness in her life. She thinks Ricky was as good as ever and that Ryan went "full-tilt zombie." She gives it a scream. Nigel says he is the quirk in Mary's life. He calls it "zombie Zoolander." He loved their togetherness. And Nigel says it reminded him of Wade's "Ramalama." Travis: "We killed 'Ramalama,' and you killed this too." Ok, but guys, this was obviously "Ramalama" plus "Sexy Back." I miss Season 2...
- The featurette: Caitlynn's dad works overseas and only comes home every other month. Mitchell's dad died when he was 2. He and his mom were homeless and lived in a car for a while when he was a kid. For this piece, they are in love.
- The dance: The song is Celine Dion and not something from the '80s! Huh. Cait shows off some nice extensions. I don't know if they're in love, but Caitlynn is rocking the dancing to the extent of being almost Kathryn-esque. And Mitchell doesn't get much attention here, but he's doing a good job with the lifts and supports.
- The judging: I think Cat just said: "It was almost like Joshua and I at the Fourth of July barbecue, but not quite." Lol, what?! That was Mary's favorite number of the night. She's all crying and flustered. She says Mitchell is injured. Mary thinks this is their time! Nigel says the emotion grabbed us all. He liked the leaps and lifts. The whole routine took his breath away. Travis liked the unexpected partnering and agrees that this is their time and they should seize it. Carmen picks her last opportunity to offer her most legit sounding comment, which was something about dance taking you out of yourself.
So after a couple weeks of me not being super impressed with anything, tonight I've got four favorites:
Clarice and Jess' contemporary
Melanie and Marko's jazz
Ryan and Ricky's jazz
Caitlynn and Mitchell's contemporary
I can't help but think that tonight's inspired choreography is connected to the amount of new blood among the choreographers. Since eventually the work of almost every choreographer starts to all look similar, it's probably best to cast a wide net with the talent.
Nigel says Season 6's lovely Kathryn has just gotten a "fabulous part in Step Up 4" (which begs the question if there are really any fabulous parts in Step Up 4... and also reminds me that I need to get Step Up 3 from Netflix. I wanna see tWitch!). Yea Kathryn!
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