I’m with you. Jazz is like Freezer Night on SYTYCD (“Let’s just eat whatever’s in the freezer!”). Don’t know what style you are doing? Jazz, baby. Jazz.
And as for my thoughts (just to keep the thread going)… I am going to use ArchiveGuy’s order so I can cut and paste:
Janette & Brandon: I really liked their disco number. I know Brandon is really good (because they keep telling me so), but I can’t keep my eyes off Janette. She’s got “it”.
Melissa & Ade: I was totally underwhelmed by their hot pink mating dance. I had one of those surreal moments where I say, “meh” and then the Judges start talking about how amazing that was. WTF?
Kayla & Max: She is probably the best dancer on here. Too bad you couldn’t see either one of them with those ridiculous outfits. Sorry, but just adding a crappy story line does not make a routine good. And what was up with those outfits? Did I mention the outfits were distracting?
Randi & Evan: I really liked it. I think they are strong competitors. I could not see him slopping through the steps (even when they slowed it down). I’ll just have to trust the judges. I’m pretty sure people will call in for them though.
Asuka & Vitolio: It was good for a waltz. Really good. However, maybe I’m heartless, but just saying “Oh, this is about your incredible life journey” and “Dance with the pain” does not automatically give the dance some deeper meaning for me. I’m more of a WYSIWYG kind of guy. And on that level it was good. Not killer, but good.
Caitlan & Jason: Garbage. But, I will say, I think he is a really really really good dancer. I think he’s a little bit of a dark horse. I have not been a huge fan of her since the start, so maybe that has been coloring my judgment. But he really makes everything look effortless (or “smooth” if you are Lil C).
Ashley & Kupono: Blech. Dance for your lives! It started out okay with the shadow concept, but quickly fell apart in the execution. They were so out of synch that it killed the routine.
Jeanine & Phillip: Garbage. She did okay, but it was pretty obvious he did not know what the hell he was doing. However, like ArchiveGuy noted, I think they should survive this round on their personalities.
Karla & Jonathan: Oh man, this is not a good sign for them. I have already forgotten their routine. Total blank. I think I liked it okay, but I can’t remember anything about it at this point.
Final comments: What is the deal with Lil C trying to … ahem … pontificate and elevate and resonate the conversational dialog of the informational medium? In other words, what the hell is he talking about? That was annoying the crap out of me. Yes, you own a dictionary. No, you still do not know what those words mean. STFU and GBTW.
I see the costume designers are still messing with Cat this season. WTH did they have her in last night, a dustruffle fashioned into a toga?
I just love seeing what crazy getups they get this poor girl to wear on the show…
It reminded me of wine criticism – using words in ways that normal people do not understand
But then, dance people are different from you & me. I don’t think I would ever wind up in tears after watching someone dance, yet we’ve seen it a couple of times from Mary & Adam.
Indeed, indeed. *Somebody *has an education complex. It was like he was secretely practicing for the SATs. There was one moment where he was all quiet, trying to stitch together the phrases in his head and he said “Dance… is a language”. I just about lost it then. It’s like he’s trapped in between street credibility and fine arts, where he stumbles over fancy words one minute and then has to proclaim how “buck” something is the other minute.
Which brings me to Philip. He was pretty much safe from any serious critique, wasn’t he? Nigel certainly covered him up. With a street background, you’re low culture and you’re not supposed to be able cover different areas, so they tolerated his incompetence. Classicaly trained contemporary artists, ballroom dancers etc. are “disappointing” when they fail other genres, including hip hop. They are obviously judged on different criteria.
I don’t think so–they make concessions for people’s various skillsets, but if Philip continues in the other styles like he did last night, he’s not long for this Earth, regardless of how much they like him.
I don’t agree with the male dancer being voted off (for women I pretty much hope for whichever one I think is hotter until I find my favorite). I liked Max a lot better than Kapono, just listening to him annoys the crap out of me.
Looking at the final 6 pre-solo, I would’ve guessed Caitlin & Kapuno, but as soon as I saw the solos, I guessed right about the two voted off.
Ashley was a grade-A GND cutie, but probably the only one of the 3 ladies who had zero chance of making the Top 10. Max’s ouster should be a warning for Asuka that the ballroomers will always have a disadvantage with the solos, so the next time she’s in the bottom 3 (and she will be), she’ll need to vary things up, especially since we’ve seen her typical moves once already.
Besides those two, the big loser tonight is Kayla, since Max was a good match for her, and I don’t think Kapuno will measure up by comparison. She was clearly torn up by his ouster.
Oh, and congrats to Evan’s bro Ryan, who’s heading to Vegas this fall.
To work or for vacation? 
Of the 3 male solos, I thought Max is the only one who danced for his life. Kapuno/Kapono underwhelms me and should have gone home.
And Lil C- STFU. Even Nigel and Mary didn’t know what to make of your gobbledygook. It’s like he Forrest Gump’d his way onto the panel and decided he better learn some new vocabulary, so he slept with a thesaurus under his pillow one night.
Oh- and I guess I’m in the minority, but I’m sort of disappointed we’ll be seeing more of Evan’s brother next season. The guy gives me the willies. As a dancer he’s in the middle of the pack, and personality-wise he’s the kind of person who I’d avoid at a cocktail party.
My husband has been watching this show, which means that it enters into my ear space. Is the woman judge always like that? Is she based on any form of reality I might be familiar with? Has she been with the show since the start?
How the hell can you watch that show with her on it and NOT mute it?
We only watch Nigel’s commentary, unless it’s a ballroom dance, and Mary can actually string together three coherent sentences without screaming her head off.
I was also disappointed to see Max go. I was actually really surprised to see him and Kayla in the bottom 3, and I liked his solo better than Kupono’s. I do like Kupono as a dancer and contestant, though, and think it will be interesting to see him with Kayla.
And did Lil C really say “The purpose of criticism is to induce labor…”? Hilarious. Try that on a full-term pregnant woman sometime. 
Yeah, but it was “induce labor so progression can be born.” Not a human baby. Unless you’re planning on naming your baby Progression. I wouldn’t put that past Lil C.
I didn’t actually watch the results show, but I’m kinda glad Max went home. Something about him was really creepy to me. I thought Ashley was great, though, and that Caitlin stinks, so that’s disappointing.
I still don’t love anybody yet. Last year, I (and probably a million other people) loved Katee and Joshua immediately. I like Ade & Melissa, Philip & Janine, and Evan & Randi, but no one truly stands out yet.
His tortured metaphors were definitely the worst, though I’m glad the show playfully called him out on his bloviated feedback.
I don’t think she stinks, but she hasn’t proven her chops completely yet–her Bollywood was better than either of Ashley’s numbers, but her hip hop was worse than them, too. I think Caitlin’s obviously benefitting from the fact that they were lucky enough to bio her pre-Vegas, so we’ve followed her path (and personal story) for much longer than Ashley, who was an under-the-radar contestant with whom we barely became familiar before she made the Top 20 slot.
That’s the thing is that Mary’s not just a kiss-ass in the Paula/AI mode–she really knows her stuff in the different ballroom styles and disciplines and her feedback in those areas is always grounded in specific examples that demonstrate some genuine skill in observation.
But when she loves something or gets excited about a routine or person, yikes!
I like it when Mary and Nigel gives “notes” not so much the “other” judges. I think the dancers take the critique to heart when Mary and Nigel talk to them about their dancing.
I just saw that Kherington Caine from last season is in the remake of “FAME”. Good on her!
I think Mary’s over-the-top enthusiasm makes the show more fun. She always gets my spirits up. I think the dancers are really fantastic this year, and was sad to see Max go, since I like him better than Kupono. My favorite dances so far this season were the Bollywood number and the the hot pink dance with Ade and Melissa.
For reference, in past seasons, I liked the table dance with Neil and Sabra, and Lacey and Kameron’s performance of “Dancing” choreographed by Mia. I used to love Mia, but her bitchiness towards Brandon this season has revealed her true personality, and it is really ugly. She might be a genius, but I wouldn’t want to meet her. I hope I hear an apology from her.
Max was very visibly heartbroken. It was extremely painful to see. Choosing between Max and Kapono at this early stage of the competition is unfair, because it’s too early for both of them. They both had room to grow on this show. The choice was, I think, between technique and artistry, and they already chose technique when they picked Caitlin and thusly booted Max rather than Kupono. Very tough decision.
Kapono better be fantastic in the upcoming shows.
This week was the first one I got to see since the first night of auditions, due to me being on my honeymoon and forgetting to set my TiVo not to delete stuff. Doh!