Was it just me, or were the judges really kissing off Ivan and Natalie tonight?
C’mon folks, they just weren’t THAT bad, were they?
I thought the show was just so-so tonite! But my money is still on Benji to win the whole thingie!
Oh, how I dislike Benji.
I’m not real enthusiastic about Travis, but I gave him one vote because I like Benji less.
Watching Ivan & Natalie’s contemporary made me miss Allison. With Allison gone, I just want Natalie to win.
Ivan/Natalie (Jive): They worked so hard on getting the steps right (at which they succeeded magnificently) they had nothing left to give us some character.
Travis: All that was missing was a streamer on a stick and that would have been a great rhythmic gymnastics routine.
Benji/Donyelle (Broadway): Together again! Fantastic as usual. Donyelle should take heed of Nigel’s nitpick, however.
Natalie: Everybody’s kicking up the acrobatics tonight. Some very unusual moves, though, especiallly on a healing knee.
Travis/Heidi (Smooth Waltz): Well done, but a little dull.
Ivan: That was actually kind of neat by the end there.
Benji/Donyelle (Hip Hop): Well done again. Love 'em.
Heidi: Certainly eye-catching.
Ivan/Natalie (Contemporary): The interplay between their individual moves was cool. I liked the choreography in that one a lot. The judges got really unforgiving at about this point last year, too.
Benji: Gimmicky, but fun. A very good one, if not quite his best to date.
Travis/Heidi (Pop): Neat, but it reallly didn’t leave much of an impression on me. Technically intricate, and well-performed, but it didn’t do much for me.
Donyelle: Damn, I think she hurt herself on that one. I liked the fact that she stretched into a contemporary solo when she is nominally a hip hop dancer. She’s the most adventurous dancer on the show.
Natalie I think has gained a bit of momentum with the audience, and Heidi had an off week (two lackluster dances and a solo that was the same old-same old.) She’s going to have to hope her fan base is still there.
My favoorite dance was Benji and Donyelle’s broadway. However, she rather got lost on stage next to him. He’s so energetic and dramatic as well as talented that it takes an equally talented partner to hold their own, and sorry to say, Donyelle just isn’t that partner.
It seems to me that these last two weeks she has brought the level of performance with her partner and the overall performance down a notch. I like her personality and expression but the technique and overall line just isn’t there.
Just as Dony lowers the performance level, Heidi pushes it up. She makes anybody look good.
I think Donyelle and Ivan should be the unlucky pair to go home this week. My opinion is that the judges are especially harsh once the call in voting takes over to hopefully sway audience perceptions and get the results they (the judges) feel are best
I really respected the last judge’s comments (can’t remember her name). Especially the comment about not being famous once they leave the show. How many famous dancers are there? Enjoy it while they can.
Yeah, she wasn’t looking so hot when it was over. Hopefully, she didn’t hurt herself too badly.
And that was the first time all season I really noticed how heavy she looks. She seemed to have been slimming down as the weeks progressed, but not so last night.
Heidi always dances the exact same solo, it’s so boring. In fact, all the solos are really getting kind of boring to me, I was thrilled that Donyelle did something besides hip hop for hers (I thought her pink jazz costume especially did her no favors tonight). I loved the smooth waltz, I thought Heidi looked absolutely weightless (like she was flying) in several moves. I know everyone loved the final African pop routine, I didn’t like it (although liked Heidi’s hair!) Hated Nathalie’s solo, thought it looked like Elaine’s “full body heave” dance. Benjy’s solo was okay, but what is up with all his pointing at his ass? The judges apparently have decided Ian needs to leave, it was so obvious.
From the beginning of the season, I didn’t want to like Benji. But damn, last night his solo really blew everyone else’s solos out of the water. He almost had me last week, when he did the terrific dance with his cousin, but I couldn’t quite get there since I figured they had been working together so long that it should be expected. But the solo did it for me last night.
I loved Donyelle from the auditions, but as time goes on, she just seems to have lost the spark.
Ivan – I was done with you weeks ago. Your solo last night was mediocre. I saw better hip-hop routines in the auditions. I actually think he’s better in the other categories than in hip-hop now.
I agree that they were overly harsh on Ivan and Natalie. Mia Michaels was especially harsh with Natalie, saying that her fake facial expressions bugged the shit out of her.
Mia Michaels bugs the shit out of me with her “organic” talk.
Donyelle is a beautiful woman. Her costumes just don’t do anything for her figure. She’s darling but I agree that her performances just aren’t in the same league as, say, Heidi. I also picked up that she didn’t finish the air drum thing. It’s frightening that I’m on the same wave length as Nigel Lithgoe.
Now that Alison is gone, I think Heidi has this thing wrapped up. She’s shown amazing versatility.
Natalie has zero chemistry with Ivan. He’s simply too young to be her partner. Surely he’ll be the next to go, though he’s done far better than I would have imagined.
Benjy is a great dancer and I think he’s a genuinely nice kid. Sometimes he’s just too effete for me, though.
Travis needs to learn something other than that twirly thing on his solos, which he clearly has down. He’s a wonderful dancer though and I think he and Heidi were hands down the best couple of the evening.
I didn’t vote but I think Ivan and Donyelle should go.
Last week Heidi and Benji blew me away with both performances. This week everything was just … meh. Nothing really stood out for me. I did like the pop routine that Heidi and Travis did, as well as the smooth waltz (those lifts were beautiful!). When Travis did his solo, though, I was thinking that he’s done that same routine about a hundred times. I’d like to see him try something different.
Donyelle looked like she really hurt herself during her solo. I thought she was about to cry at one point, but she pulled through. I hope she’s OK.
My prediction is that Ivan and Natalie will go this week, leaving Heidi, Benji, Donyelle and Travis to compete in the final. At least that’s what I’m hoping. I want Heidi to win!
Wow, that was some hour of TV…I’m quite happy, from a fangirl perspective, about the top four. I could see where others would argue (well, on the ladies’ side) though. That being said, I’ll miss Natalie and Ivan (all the eliminations have, and will continue to be, difficult to watch).
I also respect Mia Michaels’s routines, and I feel that I have learned something about the theory and purpose of contemporary/lyrical dance (I’m pretty much a dance neophyte, as I’ve said elsewhere) by watching her choreography and listening to her comments. That being said, there is a time and place for stuff, you know? Both my profession and my hobbies are similar to the dance world in that there are far more able and willing people than there are slots and blunt criticism is the order of the day, so I’m not shocked/offended by her comments, and I’m sure that, after reflecting on them, the dancers will find (most) of them helpful at some level. I just wish she had chosen to be more blunt and direct on the competition night instead of tonight’s results show. It was quite clear that the emotions and stress were taking an incredible toll on all six of them, and I really question whether that was the moment, particularly after her far more positive comments previously. It struck me as a bit of a blindside.
Then again, that’s reality (actually it’s not, because in reality there wouldn’t be millions of people watching) and like I said, I’m sure upon more sober reflection people will see the favor that she is doing them with tough comments. You have to be able to take the heat, even if it makes the audience uncomfortable to watch. My kudos to all of them for dealing well (given the circumstances) with the remarks from all the judges.
Me, too. I guess I just don’t like Mia Michaels. . . or her choreography.
I agree that Travis relies too heavily on pirouettes in his solos. There’s a lot more to dance that pirouetting. I wish he’d do something about that strange hairdo, however. I don’t really mind Travis; I just think Benji is fabulous!
What crawled up Mia Michael’s ass tonight? Did she NOT get the memo to let these people leave with their dignity?
I hate her.
Not surprised by the results, but don’t think the women’s contest will be close. I think Travis has a bit of an edge over Benjy.
Overall, though, I think Heidi will win.
Well, I guess it was more predictable than I thought it would be.
Could someone tell me what the format for next week’s competition will be? I missed that part of the show.
Disappointed but not surprised about Donyelle. She has an unbelievable fan base.
Someone (maybe Cat) said that next week all four finalists would have to dance with each other. I wondered to myself: Does that mean Heidi has to dance with Donyelle? And Travis has to dance with Benji as well as with Donyelle and Heidi, etc.? Could be a very long, very strange show.
Oh, and they have to do solos, too.
That’s the way they did it last year. (f/f and m/f as well as the four m/f pairings.)
But it doesn’t have to be any longer than an hour. When there were three couples we had six pair dances plus six solos, while the finale (assuming they do the above plan) is six pair dances plus only four solos.
But I bet they’ll drag it out to two hours anyway. 
First off, let me just say that I’m glad that Natalie & Ivan went home. As a couple, they weren’t as good as the others. Individually, they weren’t as good as the others. I enjoyed the jive, but could see what the judges were talking about re: technique w/jive and chemistry w/contemporary. I was mostly just impressed with how much Ivan’s learned. His solo was pretty good but the thing at the end, dropping his vest: that was amazing! He dropped it so smoothly, and kept moving in rhythm with the falling of the vest to the ground, totally in synch with gravity itself. Natalie’s solo was more of the same, blah by now.
Heidi & Travis were pretty good, but I don’t know if they were the best couple like Nigel said; I still think Donyelle & Benji will win next week. The Afro Pop routine really was great though, no question about that, so perhaps that counts for something. Their solos were also a little blah by this point…we need to see something new next week if they have a chance of winning. Glad they’re both still in it.
Donyelle & Benji are the top 2. They’re both massively entertaining. Donyelle’s solo was awesome. Benji solos and partners well, plus there’s the whole ‘performer’ thing.
The judges did seem to telegraph the elimination of N&I, but I think it was fairly obvious anyway. I agree with almost all the comments the judges made, even if at times they were harsh. Mia really kept taking it Heidi, though, and was a little over the top; wifey thought she was a bitch. I thought it was a case a reverse/self-discrimination, whatever you call it. Being harder on the women in general because they’re women and have to be better than men, etc. Mia really was ga-ga over all three guys, while being very critical of all three girls. Her comment to Travis about it being an honor to hire/work with him after the show was one of the best comments to any of the dancers this season.
Didn’t have to fast-forward THAT much this week. I still can’t believe the show a couple weeks ago when they had the losing dancers do the same dance 3 times. WTF was that? I hope they’re never that retarded again.
While I said that I’m glad N&I went home, I was half expecting Ivan to stay. He’s shown himself able to get lots of votes, and I worried for Travis. I guess his fans got out the vote. There was never any question about the girls. Opa! Anyone sick of hearing “beautiful girl” yet? (I was 4 weeks ago.)