Audience voting determines who the bottom three are – that’s popularity – and the judges pick which one (or, grr, ones) go home. I’ll be honest – I don’t have a problem with their role, since I don’t recall a whole lot of instances where I’ve fundamentally disagreed with the judges. They try to pick the strong, versatile, expressive dancers to remain – it’s not like there’s favoritism based on extra-dance criteria like race (I’m lookin’ at you, Mia), personality, etc.
I’m trying to remember when the judges stopped sending contestents home in prior season. I know the voting audience was always in charge when it came down to the final four (which is why we ended up with Benji beating Travis, or Sabra beating Neil).
Also, keep in mind, the judges offer their critiques and opinions on the work from here on out but they don’t have any say on who stays or who goes. It’s strictly the one with lowest number is out.
If they sent Jose home last week instead of Billy it would have sent a horrible precedent. I know that’s what they wanted to do but Billy didn’t even dance on the Thursday night show, despite having the full go ahead from his doctors.
Now, not dancing may have been the smart thing to keep himself healthy, but who’s to stop another dancer saying they’re “hurt” (I’m not saying Billy did this, but someone in the future might) if they get that Russian Folk Dance or Quickstep?
So last week the judges had to either keep everyone or get rid of Billy.
No, I seem to remember in a prior season, another dancer did not perform for a reason I don’t remember (may have been minor injury) and the judges based keeping them solely on their prior work. Last season they finally decided that if a dancer missed a week, they were automatically out but they were not obligated to keep the same rules this season.
The only other time I remember something like this happening was in season 3 (I think) when Pasha’s partner missed their dance and she automatically had to dance for her life. But you may be right in that they would judge them on their prior work.
I still think it’d set a bad precedent if they had gotten rid of anyone but Billy.
I think that Adechike, not Billy, belonged in the bottom three. Don’t get me wrong — all the dancers at this level are very good, but I still don’t feel he has shown the same connection to his partners as others.
I’m wondering if Billy’s flexing and straightening his knee after the grueling (for someone with a bad knee) Bollywood number the other night sealed his fate. The producers know that the audience is getting pretty annoyed at this season becoming a cage match to the death for these dancers, and decided not to risk further injury to Billy by keeping him in the challenging competition over the next couple of weeks.
I generally agree about Adechike, though he arguably got ripped off last week in that he drew a plum routine with Comfort and danced it well enough that he avoided the bottom three for the first time in weeks, only to have that achievement effectively voided.
Billy was cut solely because Lauren, rather than Adechike, was in the bottom three with him. She has become one of the judges’ favorites (I think deservedly so – she’s a dance chameleon in a league with Kathryn and Kayla of previous seasons, but with a more outgoing personality than either) and there’s no way they were getting rid of her unless she had a serious injury. Billy might have had a shot vs. Robert, but I think Robert has grown on the audience and judges over the past few weeks, and he clearly shone brighter during the Bollywood number.
The big question in my mind is whether Lauren ended up in the bottom three solely because the audience thought she was injured. I don’t think, under the rules, that she would have automatically been in the bottom three even if injured, since she completed her performances. So either the audience didn’t realize that, or they thought she might be badly injured enough to have to withdraw anyway, or they just weren’t as keen on her as they were in previous weeks.
They also may have become complacent because she hasn’t been bottom-ranked all season, and late-stage voting tends to focus on whomever the audience sees as undeservedly at risk, to the misfortune of those who’ve been going strong all along. We saw something similar two seasons back with Janette, who hadn’t been in the bottom all season and then drew two unimpressive routines (one with love’m or hate’m Evan) and was suddenly gone. It will be interesting to see where Lauren turns up next week.
I agree with olivesmarch4th that, while the prize money (and this year, a no-doubt lucrative commercial endorsement deal) is nice, the real prize for the contestants is simply the exposure of the show and subsequent tour. That has to be a nice leg up for them in terms of future professional auditions.
I thought last night’s episode was a really strong one.
I greatly enjoyed Lauren’s black widow dance and Robert’s hip-hop with Dominique. I like whatever the latter’s in.
I didn’t care much for either of Kent’s pieces, but I know he’s still safe. I wasn’t moved at all by Travis’ choreography this week, which is weird for me because I’m a huge fan of him. I didn’t not like it, it was just firmly in the “meh” category.
I think it’s obvious that the judges are trying to make it to where Adechike goes home this week.
Yeah they really raked Adéchiké over the coals, which seems kind of unnecessary at this point. I feel like the emphasis should be more on celebrating the dancers and how far they’ve come. And that was a huge moment for him, dancing to something choreographed by his heroes and with that powerful montage about his life. It just didn’t seem like the time to be so critical.
But ultimately I am thinking that Kent, Lauren and Robert deserve the finale. I hope to god Robert finally starts getting the recognition he deserves. And I’m worried Lauren might slip through the cracks just because everybody thinks she’s safe. The hardest part of all this is figuring out the voting politics!
But if I get my wish, and Kent, Lauren and Robert end up in the finale, I’ll honestly be pleased with any outcome. They are all top-rate dancers in my book.
Agree last night’s episode was very good, a ton of great dancing. I was surprised how confident Kent was with the disco - thought he looked much more comfortable than Robert did during his disco piece. I think Robert’s Viennese waltz was fantastic though. That did not look easy. And then to nail hip-hop so soon after that–he’s really showing versatility.
We were commenting last night on how much poise Lauren has on stage. She seems perfectly comfortable and is always riffing jokes off of Cat and the judges. Compare to Kent who can barely string two sentences together! I don’t think he even finished half the sentences he started when asked to say a few words on his experience there.
As Evil Economist alluded to earlier in the thread (top of page 4), it does seem like it’s an ugly trend for Mia to be hypercritical to the black dancers: Brandon two seasons ago and Adechike this season. I’m not saying that she’s racist but I’m definitely going to pay more attention during the next season.
I thought Kents Disco was kind of weak, but his second piece was great (although the explanation about it being about “friends” was clearly was not what it was actually about). Robert is just such a reliable dancer, he pretty much does anything great. But for me Lauren is the star, she just owns the stage when she is dancing.
That reminds me: Mia and Tyce in the same panel? Agony.
I loved last night’s show! I thought that the number with all four dancers was the weakest part of it.
I agree that the judges set Adechike up to go home tonight, but I also agree with them in that regard. I think he should have left before Billy did.
Robert is my favorite (a smidge more than Lauren), and I was blown away by his hip-hop. I loved that routine, too – my favorite hip-hop since Mark and what’s-her-name did “Bleeding Love” a couple of seasons ago. There was one part where he was doing some moves that included something with his foot/feet on Dominic’s back, and I actually found myself looking twice to make sure it was Robert – I didn’t think he could do that!
Kent and Neil’s duet was awesome. It was both moving and compelling. I might watch it again tonight. Gotta love how Mia said she had no words but then managed to ramble for five minutes. :rolleyes:
They’re like the same person! I’ve never been a huge fan of Mia (her personality or her choreography), but I used to really love Tyce. Now I wonder if it was maybe just his choreography that I loved. He’s so bitchy! And I’ve noticed all season that whenever they show him right after anyone has danced his choreography, he’s never smiling. :dubious: I still like his routines, just not him so much anymore.
I thought last night was much better than any show for the past month. Overall I thought the criticisms were fair and not overly critical. It’s fine to celebrate where they have all come, however, as artists they need to continue to grow in their craft and cannot do so unless they have constructive criticism even when they perform well. Adechike has tremendous potential but just has not developed the performance maturity that the other finalists have. And I think the judges are trying to express to him the areas he needs to work on in order to become even better. All the critiques were on point and not mean spirited or nasty as some have been in the past.
Adechike had two weak performances last night. He was called upon to soar and celebrate in both pieces and failed to do so.
Robert and Kent both had a weak piece and a strong piece IMO. Kent’s disco just did not work in any shape or form and I’m sorry, but Robert’s Viennese waltz just did not seem smooth and flowing to me. A lot of that was the choreography, but it just seemed like a lot of holds and poses. I’ll have to watch it again. The hip hop was really outstanding. Nap/Tap have developed into really superb choreographers.
Lauren was great in both her performances. They had a real depth and I was compelled to become part of the whole atmosphere of the dance. I cannot believe how far she has come since I first watched her during auditions. She has definitely matured and developed much more than the others. At this point I am rooting for her to win.
I think the guys are somewhat better dancers, but Lauren’s my favorite dancer of the 3 of them.
Forgot to mention- I usually listen to about 30 seconds of the musical guests and skip past their performances, but that woman doing the “tightrope” song & dance was great. She seems really talented, as opposed to so many of the musical guests who are just there to flog their current hit and then you never hear from them again. I think she’s going places.
I enjoyed her as well, hell of a lot better than that girl who sang “Goodbye” a few years ago. She seems very James Brownesq.
I’m not surprised with the results last night. Next week’s show should be fantastic.
Did they really say Nigel is going to tapdance?
I fast-forward through most of the results shows, so I missed that, but doesn’t he usually tapdance in the finale? I feel like I’ve seen him do it a few times…
Oh, that might be true. I just picked up the show last season for the first time.
Preach it! I adore Tyce’s choreography, but Aggggghhh.
Is it just me, or are they like clones of each other in the way they express themselves? I don’t remember Tyce being that fake-y/phony last season. There’s just something so irritatingly plastic in their tones.