Opening Number
Kate: No opening number again?! Not cool Fox.
Erica: Don’t they know group numbers are what we like best?
Cat’s Ensemble
Kate: Eh….
Erica: It felt like a good idea that went bad in the execution.
Kate: I mean, at first I liked the hair and dress, but up close she looked a little crazy. Perhaps she is just not aging well?
Erica: Oh, geez, Kate.
Kate: On the other hand, holy moly those shoes. Those are SO Carrie Bradshaw, and NOT in a good way.
Erica: I actually sort of love the shoes, because they are insane, but just a little black dress with them would be fine. Kind of digging Paula Abdul’s hair, what do you think?
Kate: I generally oppose feathers, sorry. I do dig it, but the amount of hairspray it took to make it look like that makes me cringe.
Erica: Also, I’m confused. Was there no vote last week? And we get to vote on some pieces for next week? I don’t like that.
Kate: Yeah, I was wondering how tonight would be a “finale” since they changed the voting/elimination process at the beginning of the season.
Amy & Aaron – Jazz: “Primal” by Richard Vission and Luciana; choreo by Ray Leeper
Kate: Their costumes are freaking me out.
Erica: Yes. Especially his, actually. Because while hers is insane, at least it’s one look. He’s got the bizarre sex club black bands, and the earthy hippy vest, and pants that, like, my dad wears on casual Friday. WTF?
Kate: I really do not like him as a dancer. He is so clunky and awkward, basically the opposite of Amy.
Erica: I don’t have the problem with him you do. I think, on the continuum for dancers between strong and graceful, he’s definitely on the strong side, but I like him overall. But yeah, he’s not anywhere near as good as Amy, who is both insanely strong and insanely graceful.
Jasmine & Fik-Shun – Contemporary: “Spiegel im Spiegel,” by Vadim Gluzman & Angela Yoffe; choreo by Travis Wall
Kate: So this is the only realm where Fik-Shun really doesn’t shine, because he has to be serious and can’t show his wonderful charisma.
Erica: He looks like he can do the steps, but he doesn’t feel it in his body. He’s thinking, “Okay, now do the thing with my chest. Okay, now hold out my hand for her. Okay, now leap.” And he leaps well, and he does the thing with his chest well, and whatnot, but the motion is just not inside him in the way it should be.
Kate: You know I don’t normally like Jasmine, but she outshined him in this piece. He did some things very nice and clean, but like last week he looked too hesitant to really push himself into the style.
Erica: I just adore her. I think Amy will win, but I like Jasmine better. At the beginning it looked like he was holding her back. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Paula Abdul is judging but she’s also hosted another show that Fik-Shun was on? Isn’t that…No fair?
Kate: I had no idea what she was talking about – what show? Not Idol?
Erica: No, they said the name. I can’t remember now.
Aaron & Season 7’s Melinda – Tap: “When I Was Your Man” by Bruno Mars; choreo by Anthony Morigerato
Kate: Bruno Mars, Aaron, and tap. It’s like my worst SYTYCD nightmare.
Erica: Heeheehee.
Kate: I hated this. I really did. The taps sounded awful with the song, and not just because I hate Bruno Mars.
Erica: Yeah, I don’t know why they did a song at all. I know you CAN tap, and well, with actual music in the background, but you don’t HAVE to, and in this context, why would you?
Kate: Also, I watched season 7, and I have zero recollection of Melinda.
Erica: The more I look at her face, which is lovely, the more I think I remember it. But look, they haven’t had a lot of tappers. They had to find one. I would like someone to explain to me the logic behind her costume. She looks like a 15-year-old band geek who suddenly shot up five inches over the summer and now her skirt’s too short.
Kate: This has to have been one of, like, five times they’ve even done a tap number on this series, right?
Erica: Yeah, well, they don’t handle it all that well when they have it. I mean, I’m all for not losing tap; I like tap. But this wasn’t a good representation of it.
Jasmine & Comfort – Hip-Hop: “Run The World (Girls)” by Beyoncé; choreo by NappyTabs
Kate: It shocks and amazes me that my email spell checker knows to put that little accent on the “e” in “Beyoncé”.
Erica: That is fairly awesome.
Kate: This was very enjoyable for me, but only because of the song, NappyTabs and Comfort, not really because of Jasmine. Well, also because of their 90s grunge outfits.
Erica: I have to say, I respect her decision to choose to dance outside her own style. It’s saying, “I came to SYTYCD to do something different, and lookie, I can now.” And yes. Their outfits. Love.
Kate: But no, she can’t dance outside her own style very well. I just don’t think she ever loosens up or gets down low enough to do stuff like hip-hop, and that in turn makes her look sloppy and lazy. Especially next to someone like Comfort.
Erica: I thought Jasmine acquitted herself fairly well. She could get a little lower in her hips but I thought she looked good up there with Comfort and I loved the routine. Oh, my God, Nigel, do you have an Olympic athlete on the panel or something?
Amy & Fik-Shun – Tango/Paso Doble: “Hazardous Zero” by PP Music; choreo by Miriam and Leonardo
Kate: Um, I didn’t know you could combine the two genres?
Erica: I guess if you can combine any two ballroom styles, it’s those two.
Kate: Fik-Shun was better in this than the contemporary, I think, but still not as strong as I know he is/wish he could be in the performance finale.
Erica: These two have trouble looking hot together. She was very good but not particularly sexy; he looked awkward and little boyish, even though he didn’t, like, obviously screw up.
Kate: They did a great job with lifts, though, and Amy was flawless as usual.
Jasmine’s Solo: “Ready for Love” by India.Arie
Kate: Sorry I was distracted during this routine by my very macho male roommate/boyfriend singing along every word to this India.Arie song. ?!!?!
Erica: I am not surprised. Ian is quite the music aficionado.
Kate: She looked lovely in this, but I still like Amy a million times better.
Erica: I adore her. How does a person who looks like that and dances like that and has such a sweet personality lack confidence? I like her better than Amy. I think Amy is amazing. And she is so So You Think You Can Dance. But Jasmine? Oh, she’s just a dream to me.
Jasmine & Aaron – Samba: “Can’t Touch It” by Ricki-Lee; choreo by Dmitry Chaplin
Kate: Oh boy.
Erica: I still really like her.
Kate: Those dreadful 10 seconds when he just could not get her extra skirt thing off was so awkward and uncomfortable and awful – he did NOT recover well from a mistake.
Erica: Well, he might not have recovered well, but that’s also the costumer’s fault. And the outfit looked so much better without the extra skirt.
Kate: She, however, surprised me; I still think she needs to loosen up for some styles, but she shook it pretty good here. Not great, but good.
Erica: I could watch her all day. I defer to Mary Murphy always on ballroom, but I still enjoyed Jasmine’s performance in this one.
Fik-Shun’s Solo: “Gangnam Style” by Psy
Kate: I will never accept that fact that this song’s lyrics are not in fact “Open condom style”.
Erica: Ha!
Kate: I was disappointed that he chose this song, but he did a great performance. I very much want him to win.
Erica: He was mouthing the words, though.
Kate: Eh, only a little.
Erica: No, you’re right, he did really well with this.
Amy’s Solo: “Unchained Melody” by The Righteous Brothers
Kate: She edited the song really weird.
Erica: I love this song. She just used a very particular section. But the outfit was a weird choice.
Kate: It was beautiful, and she had great control over her legs, but she actually did a couple weird stomps in this that didn’t go with the rest of it.
Erica: I don’t think she’s as good at choreographing as Jasmine is. Which is not to say that her dancing isn’t amazing, but I just don’t like her choreo.
Fik-Shun & Season 4’s Twitch – Hip-Hop: “Hello, Good Morning” by Diddy Dirty Money; choreo by Luther Brown
Kate: Um, YES!
Erica: Yeah, this is what we pay for.
Kate: Not to agree with Nigel or anything, but it really was like Twitch and Twitch Jr.! Because of their height difference I really was thinking during the performance ‘It’s kind of like they’re father and son’.
Erica: I was thinking brothers, but okay. I was actually thinking about that number in Meet Me in St. Louis where Judy Garland performs with her total ham of a little sister. But, you know, with hip-hop.
Kate: OMG YES! Side note, I was just talking about that movie because our friends we visited in St. Louis have never seen the movie, so I am now forcing it upon them.
Erica: It’s the best. Well, not the best. But supremely enjoyable.
Kate: I almost almost almost think Twitch held back a little to let Fik-Shun shine, and that he did.
Erica: This was just a ton of fun. Loved it.
Kate: I do wish the routine was a little faster and really showed off both of their hip-hop skills, but that’s the fault of Luther Brown. They were really great together.
Erica: I liked the choreo. I didn’t need it faster. Also, can we please, PLEASE see Nigel and Paula Abdul dance together next week? That would make MY life awesome.
Aaron’s Solo: “You and I (Acoustic)” by Jason Mraz
Kate: No.
Erica: Just, we don’t need music for a tap routine. We just don’t.
Kate: Just, no.
Amy & Season 7’s Robert – Contemporary: “Say Something” by A Great Big World; choreo by Stacy Tookey
Kate: Oh man, I love watching Robert dance.
Erica: Oh, man, this storyline is one that gets me right where I live. And I loved the song. And I may or may not be a little teary-eyed.
Kate: They were obviously great together. I think her best moment on this show was her routine with Travis a couple weeks ago, and this wasn’t too far off.
Erica: This was amazing. Choreo, dancing, all of it. Amazing.
Fik-Shun & Aaron – Broadway: “The Jitters” by Big Bad VooDoo Daddy; choreo by Tasty Oreo
Kate: Do you see that, America? Can you tell the difference between someone who has clean, sharp, energetic movements versus someone who is sloppy and clunky and overall oafy but relies on a semi-decent personality?
Erica: Meh, I didn’t think either of them particularly shone, dance-wise, in this piece, so what we had left was two personalities, and Fik-Shun is just more bouncy.
Kate: Seriously, the difference between them is night and day. Fik-Shun MUST win.
Erica: Well, he will. But can we discuss? Has Broadway run out of songs? Is their a problem getting rights? What on earth is going on? This routine was strongly reminiscent of Gene Kelly’s “Gotta Dance” number in Singin’ in the Rain, or at least the on-the-street part of it…So we couldn’t set it to “Gotta Dance”?
Kate: I don’t know what’s going on with Broadway on this show, but this was my favorite in a while.
Erica: Paula, you’re responsible for releasing Tasty Oreo on the world? I’m not sure I wanted to know that about you. I still have a lot of “Opposites Attract” affection left for you.
Amy & Jasmine – Jazz: “The Diva Dance” by Eric Serra; choreo by Mark Kanemura
Kate: What the hell was that?
Erica: It was a routine from Gaga’s lead dancer.
Kate: Truly one of the most bizarre routines to appear on this show, and not in an awesome way like Sonya’s.
Erica: Well, I didn’t like Sonya at first, either. In all types of art, you can teach a wack job to pull back a little, but you can’t draw out wackiness from someone who doesn’t have it. I think what we’re seeing is Mark Kanemura before he’s learned to pull back and I think he’s got an interesting career ahead of him.
Kate: But…They actually looked pretty good together? Very in sync, very energetic, good kicks and leaps. What a pain in the arse it must have been to have that hula hoop around their waists the whole time, eh?
Erica: Yeah, I thought they did well. They are both terrific. I thought Amy had the slight edge over Jasmine in terms of acting here, but they were both so good.
Kate: Can we comment on the judges real quick?
Erica: I LOVE commenting on the judges.
Kate: They got a lot of stupid judges this season, meaning people who added NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING, to the dance conversation. Gabby, you’re great at flipping around and all, but saying “good job” to every dancer is not a critique. Paula, seriously, what happened to you? Did you have a stroke and lose certain speech functionality? And Carly Rae Jepsen? I can’t even.
Erica: Didn’t that happen to Paula a long time ago? I mean, they don’t have people like Gabby on because she’s going to be really good at critiquing dance; they have them on so Nigel can be all, “An Olympic athlete wanted to be on our show!!”
Kate: Wait, that really did happen to Paula? Now I feel bad. She just always sounds like she’s about to cry. And I prefer when they have fun celebrities on who – SURPRISE! – happen to have a dance background most people don’t about, like Christina Applegate.
Erica: No, not actually, I just mean that at “Idol” she had the reputation of being all loopy and weird and like maybe something had done some damage at some point. So her persona on this show is not new.
Kate: Oh good. Well the finale is almost here, folks! Tune in next week to see who wins — I already cast my votes, make sure you do the same!
Erica: I totally didn’t. But you should. But can I say something? Next year, let’s have only one winner, but let’s not commit ourselves to voting off one boy and one girl every week. Maybe for the first 5 weeks. But once we’re down to a top 10, let’s just vote off the two lowest regardless of gender. I mean, we already know they can choreograph dances for two members of the same sex, so who cares, right? And then we’ll be going purely on best dancer, not best boy and girl.
Kate: No, I like that they changed it to best boy and best girl, because the two genders do dance very differently.
Erica: I don’t know; Tucker and Jasmine dance pretty similarly. I think differences have more to do with genre. Anyway, it’s been a fabulous run, and I can’t wait to see all these people do their thing next week! Praying now that one of their favorite dances stars Makenzie! And/or Malece!
Katie Boe 