I’m impressed by you people that can tell the difference between jazz and contemporary.
When Nigel thanked Tyce for giving them a “real” jazz number, Travis was sitting next to Tyce so you can see that he was not pleased by the back-handed slam.
He is really talented, though, and I can’t imagine them using him any less than they planned just for one miss-step.
I don’t like Tyce. He seems like an asshole to me.
I just had to get that off my chest.
Travis is practically a success story for the show, seeing as he was in the top two in season two losing to Benji Schwimmer (who??) then coming back to choreo for them. I don’t see them cutting back any of his routines because of last night.
I thought the judges were harder on Billy than they should have been, especially when they praised others who I thought were worse (I’m looking at you Melinda and Jose) for close to the same thing.
As a judge, I think I <3 Adam. Really seems like he’s giving them advice they can use in his critiques, without being mean.
Well, Melinda’s not gone and I’m surprised. Nigel kept saying things like, “I don’t understand why the audience doesn’t click with you,” and such. I know why I don’t like her. She seems aloof. Kinda bitchy. Like, “I’m so quirky and awesome and you totally wish you were me because I’m sooo quirky.” She doesn’t show humility, humbleness or even much humanity. She’s very one-dimensional. She’s a quirky dancer. So what? I can’t wait until her smug face is gone.
Cristina’s paso doble was awesome. Sucks that she’s gone. It seems that the audience votes for hip hop and contemporary numbers. It sucks when dancers do an awesome job, but the general population seems to get hung up on not understanding the technical merits and general awesomeness of a ballroom or other unusual routine.
Sigh It used to be more entertaining, didn’t it?
Yes yes yes. He is an asshole. And so is Mia. And so is that chick who choreographed a couple dances last season (I forget her name) and bitched out a contestant for asking some simple question, with “how dare you ask me that!?!?” Where do these people get their overinflated sense of their importance? One of the thing that really appeals to me about this show over American Idol is the relative humility of the contestants. Usually they’ve been through training and auditions and have some experience with handling rejection, unlike the AI contestants who just decide some day that they’re excellent singers, and the critique they get from the panel is the first negative word they’ve ever heard.
Contrast the dancing contestants with the choreographers- at what point did they decide they were God’s gift to the art form? Some of these folks really need their bubble burst.
Oh- and Kent seems like a likable guy but only in very small doses. If I had to spend more than a couple hours in his presence I think his wide-eyed bobble-head farmboy shtick would grow old really fast.
Aaarrrghh- forgot to mention- the blond (I’m so bad with their names) who did the hip-hop routine was great. Their piece was the best of the night, in my opinion. I actually found myself somewhat moved- not quite to tears, but it grabbed me. Really liked the choreography.
Lauren is my favorite for the girls, most definitely. But this really is a guy’s season I think.
did no one but my wife and I notice the major flubs in the beginning of that Paso doble? Very unsteady into the first few lifts. Can’t believe the judges didn’t point it out.
Yep, noticed those also. It looked like a struggling power-lifter at the gym. Pascha is a small guy and didn’t appear to have the strength to smoothly lift her on arm strength alone.
Hmm… didn’t think of it that way. maybe the wobbliness was his fault, not hers, so the judges tactfully didn’t mention it.
Sorry, I don’t think I would have noticed if Pasha had dropped Cristina on her ass. For some mysterious reason technique is the last thing on my mind when that guy comes on stage.
Ha! Not that I mind Pasha being shirtless, but I did notice that Mark got the “shirtless background dancer” spot last night when Sharika Jr. was singing about ba-rum-ba-bumbum.
And I was okay with that. I believe that Mark’s body has somehow surpassed Pasha’s in terms of "my house could burn down around me and I’m still not peeling myself from this television"ess.
Yes. Without the excitement of both dancers in each couple being judged, and without 20 dancers to start with, the intensity of the show has been reduced by 50%. I love this show, and I really hate to be critical (I’m of the “if you don’t like a T.V. show, just change the channel” school of thought), but I found it hard to stay focused on the dances this week. I had to go back and watch Kent’s dance on my DVR – I think I was leafing through a catalog when it originally aired.
I hope that the producers come to the same conclusion, and go back to the old format next year, otherwise I’m not sure I’ll be back.
This week Lauren and Dominic’s lyrical hip-hop piece was definitely my favorite, and the only one that truly moved me. I find I’m disagreeing with the judges a lot more this season – possibly because I find it difficult to isolate the competitor’s performance and judge it separately from the entire dance. I certainly expected both Kent and Jose to receive much higher praise than they did.
I loved Jose’s Bollywood! He looked like he was having a blast! He radiates his joy.
Melinda’s more telegenic, smug face and all. She looks like Jennifer Connelly, back when she was a fresh faced ingenue. Contrast that with braces-smile Cristina, who probably only connects with the Latina demographic.
See I don’t get this at all. He looks like a baby piglet or something. I guess in some sort of demented, animal way there could be cuteness there? But not human cuteness. As a human I think he’s fugly as shit.
Well, for the first time ever (IMHO), the two best numbers were the hip-hop ones. While the first one with Adechike was fun (and the best thing he’s done), the one with Alex and Twitch was truly amazing. A riotiously kick-ass performance.
Alex and Twitch’s number was freakin’ phenomenal – I was sitting there with my mouth open the whole time. He is an utterly amazing dancer, and I can’t wait to see what he does next. Ballroom is going to be interesting.
I was glad the judges gave Kent some feedback on not allowing himself to slide into schtick and coast on his persona (and “cute,” BTW, refers to said persona, not to his appearance per se) – I just hope he’s self-aware and mature enough to grok what they said and try to do something about it.
Damned shame about the women this season – there’s not a single one of them strong enough to stand up to the top four men. I think they’re going to get picked off one at a time over the next four weeks.
I am digging this season – I like the all-star format, it’s great that each of the competitors is guaranteed a really strong partner each week, so when there’s a problem, it’s pretty clear where the problem is.
That was definitely the best show overall so far.
I’m starting to get what people are saying about Kent’s schtick. When you see the kind of dancing the likes of Alex, Robert and Adechike can do, you realize Kent has a lot of space to grow.
I’ve never been all that impressed with José, though I agree watching him is great fun. But when he did his solo… damn. He’s definitely excellent at what he does.
I’m really ready for Melinda to go home now. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s amazing how well she’s been able to learn totally new genres when she is obviously the least experienced dancer. She also has tremendous performance ability. But she’s not anywhere close to any of the other dancers with technique at this point.
Random thoughts:
Alex Wong is a dancing GOD. 
Holy shit was that impressive.
Napoleon and Tabitha have been favorite choreographers of mine from the start: not only are they freakishly talented, but they seem genuinely very nice and supportive of their dancers. Did anyone else notice that the new choreographer guy didn’t smile once during the performances? Not even after the routine he choreographed?
I, too, am glad that the judges called Kent out on his “jazz face” and general performance. He’s a great dancer, but he needs to mature, like, now.
I also agreed with their criticism (and praise) of Billy. Actually, I think I agreed with all of the judges’ comments last night – a first for me!
Adechike was awesome last night, but now I worry/have this feeling that his ego might run away with him…
Mia and Adam saying that maybe they made a mistake by letting Cristina go was harsh, but I think Melinda needed to hear it (and I agree with them). I thought her performance was horrible; I hope she leaves the show tonight. Unfortunately, I have a feeling that Jose will.
Of the other two girls, I think that Ashley is far and away the better dancer and the better performer. Lauren has something, but Ashley has something more. I really loved her performance last night.
Last night I finally “got” part of the reason for the new format: they don’t have to worry about having an uneven number of boys and girls! (Duh!) I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a lopsided opening “here are your girls, and here are your guys” walk.
Oh, and I love Adam Shankman. 