(S05E07) I'm happy that I'm not investing money on So You Think You Can Dance. Three of the best couples last week became the bottom three, dancing for their lives. We started off the night with a poorly shot routine. It is never good when you can see a camera man on the right taping, then switch to a shot where he magically disappears. At least try to convince America that this portion was pre-taped. Also, with the Maori-like face paint, I couldn't tell Ashley from Asuka.
Lil' C's Dictionary of Dance - I don't understand reality show judges most of the time. Lil' C is no exception. The best part was the shot of Shane Sparks. It basically said, "What the hell is this guy saying and why aren't I a judge?"
The Bottom Three
I knew for a fact that the little teen girls voting on this show wouldn't put Evan or Phillip in the bottom three. After the nine couples were broken into threes, we eventually find out that Caitlin/Jason, Ashley/Kupono, and Kayla/Max are the bottom three. Evan got a nice surprise showing that Ryan tried out for season six and made it to Hollywood doing a routine that didn't involve a whoopie cushion.
Guest Dancers
Amrapali Ambegaokar - Kathak - I had one friend in college who did beautiful traditional Indian dance and when she spun, it was mesmerizing. I was brought back to that tonight watching Amrapali perform. You have to think how hard it must be on the heels to maintain such precision and not become bouncy.
Solos
Caitlin Kinney - "Make You Feel My Love," Adele
I know I've heard Adele's version of the Garth Brooks classic before this season, and I'm convinced that it was one of the two Kinney's that performed it. Nonetheless, it did showcase her flexibility.
Jason Glover - "Superman," Robin Thicke
Jason was quite bouncy jumping around from pose to pose, but he showed a lot of quick/slow variation. The performance was a textbook solo.
Ashley Valerio - "By Your Side," Coco Rosie
By the time I got to Ashley, I was tired of contemporary dancers. It's sad to say that because she was only third to perform. Nothing impressed, but she may have given us the closest to a pole dance we'll ever see.
Kupono Aweau - "Many Moons," Janelle Monáe
If this performance didn't scream Mark Kanemura knockoff, I don't know what would. The only good part was his faux-bird dance. The rest of the time, he gaily pranced around the stage.
Kayla Radomski - "Walking On Air," Kerli
The performance showed that Kayla listened to the words of the song she chose and stayed light on her feet. She showed flexibility and it was invigorating to watch.
Max Kapitannikov - "Footloose," Kenny Loggins
Max's performance was a cleaner version of Asuka's performance last week, but his kicks had a stronger flick to it. I feel bad for ballroom/Latin dancers who don't know how to make a good solo. Jonathan isn't ballroom (Salsa is neither a Latin nor Ballroom) and he has gymnastics to fall back on, which made Max look more desperate.
Musical Guest:
Kristinia DeBarge - "Goodbye" - Wow, I knew that anything that came from the disaster known as American Juniors wouldn't be good. Kristinia is a pretty girl, but didn't she learn how to lipsync correctly in her training? The dance was basic pop, so it didn't justify the lip-syncing. I was waiting for Vanessa Hudgens to run up to the stage, clothesline Kristinia, and scream "Why didn't 'Sneakernight' become a hit?"
The Elimination
Nigel stressed the fact that the judges were not unanimous. It almost sounded like Mary wanted him to say that she disagreed with the results. Nigel started with the girls. Caitlin's performance was strong. He thought that Ashley had old Hollywood glamour, but no substance. Kayla threw the kitchen sink in her performance. In the end, Ashley went home.
Nigel again reiterated that the judges were not unanimous. Nigel loved Jason's solo and he is automatically safe. Kupono didn't do enough in his solo, but Max didn't really have much in his bag of tricks. Nigel announces that Max is going home. I'm almost floored that a true ballroom/Latin dancer didn't coast to the top ten. Max was a great frame for Kayla's picture.
Next week, Kupono and Kayla will be paired up together, which sounds like they could become a power couple for the next three weeks and coast to the top ten. Anyone out there shocked about the elimination? I'm still floored how badly Kristinia DeBarge did.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-19-2009 @ 7:53AM
laura said...
It should have been Caitlin and Kupono.
Kuponos solo was messy, unoriginal, I dont know how many times I saw the "roll up and stick my ass out" move. Max shouldnt have gone home at all.
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6-19-2009 @ 8:40AM
justelise said...
I agree about Kupono. Max has more potential.
6-19-2009 @ 11:30AM
Allison said...
I thought it was Kupono for sure. Especially after Ashley was chosen to leave. The dancers are all on a really level playing field this year. My memory may be failing me, but I always remembered that the first few eliminations were "easy".
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6-19-2009 @ 8:40AM
Brent Todd said...
Sending Max home isntead of Kupono was a joke. Here you have Max who did both dances great and his solo was good too. And then you have Kupono who had one good dance, one bad dance, and a solo that didn't look like he was fighting for his life. WTF? Seriously bogus results.
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6-19-2009 @ 3:52PM
MILW said...
No way should Max have been sent home. Wow. This is the first time the judges really disappointed me in the 5 year run of this show. Max - you got robbed!
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6-19-2009 @ 10:56AM
Ggrrl said...
I couldn't disagree with you more about Kayla's solo. I thought that of the three women, her's was the weakest. As far as the men go, I have no idea why they kept Kupono - I thought that it was pretty obvious that he was trying to recreate the Crash Test Dummies routine.
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6-19-2009 @ 11:45AM
Courtney said...
I'm not happy about Max leaving. At all. BAD decision. It makes me wonder if Nigel should just judge the show by himself, since he seems to not take anyone's advice. Clearly, the whole "not unanimous" was him vs. Mary AND Lil' C.
Kupono is weird and the show needs weird. I thought Jason should have gone home. Now we really have no variety of genres to speak of. Too many male contemporary dancers IMO.
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6-19-2009 @ 11:53AM
Michael Pascua said...
I am stuck with the idea that maybe the show is hoping that a male contemporary dancer will win since Joshua was hip-hop and Benji was a ballroom dancer.
For the females, it seems like a toss up. Karla could be an interesting choice seeing her Boogie Bot choreography, but she'd still represent contemporary. The judges seem to be on a good page with both Asuka and Janette so they could probably coast until Top Ten. Melissa is probably the best ballerina we've seen in a long time. The rest are all contemporary. We got some redundancy to cut.
I guess if I were Philip, Jonathan, or possibly Evan I would be both scared and crossing my fingers that contemporary dancers get cut the next three weeks. I could see Jason, Vitolio, and Kupono get cut before Top Ten.
6-19-2009 @ 11:47AM
Lisa said...
Sending Max home was total BS. I think the judges have decided Kayla is the chosen one and they want her paired with another contemporary dancer - Kupono.
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6-19-2009 @ 12:28PM
Michael said...
I agree that Max should not have gone home. It's crazy how they throw around the word "growth" and that it's the definition of SYTYCD, then they go and cut a ballroom dancer who had done pretty well in both of his dances. They want diversity on the show but 10 of 16 left are contemporary dancers and watching the solos gets really boring when they are all doing the same moves. Watching a contemporary dancer grow as an artist is not as amazing as witnessing a hip-hopper or a ballroom dancer learn to do other things.
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6-19-2009 @ 4:08PM
Tara said...
Make You Feel My Love is actually a Bob Dylan song - Garth Brooks covered it as well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Make_You_Feel_My_Love
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6-19-2009 @ 4:12PM
Michael Pascua said...
You know, you're right. I only mention Garth Brook's version because you knew that Adele copied almost all of his riffs.
Back to the point: I heard this version earlier in the season. I want new music.
6-19-2009 @ 8:32PM
La-Di-Dah said...
I too just finished getting mad that Max was cut. I have enjoyed his partnership with Kayla better than Jason and Kupono, and in fact, enjoyed his solo and song better than Jason's or Kupono's as well. I am extremely disappointed the judges have decided to rig Kayla and Kupono together so now I won't be able to enjoy Kayla being flicked about (plus 50% of the reason why Kayla was good with the Samba was Max, and now that said reason has disappeared, next Latin/Ballroom/Hiphop from Kayla is going to be crap. Great!
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6-19-2009 @ 7:54PM
MarcDom7 said...
Michael, you may have heard "Make You Feel My Love" done by Kris Allen on American Idol, where they also wrongfully credited it to Garth Brooks.
Adele covered Dylan, not Brooks.
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6-19-2009 @ 8:32PM
MarcDom7 said...
Whoops.
Yes, Adele's version showed up twice during the auditions, in the same episode actually.
Man, I need to lay off drinking in the middle of the workday.
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6-20-2009 @ 11:52PM
CC said...
It seems that they always tell the ballroom dancers "well, you're at a disadvantage for solos" and then just cut them anyway.
I don't know what the judges could do, though - giving them extra consideration because their style is limited doesn't seem fair either.
I just think we're a far ways away from having a ballroom dancer win SYTYCD - not that I think Max would have been the person, but I'm not surprised that they would eliminate him before Kupono.
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6-24-2009 @ 11:50AM
clara said...
Nigel has no respect for Ballroom. I just can't understand why he would send Max home. He performed great two weeks in a row, and put together a solo that combined energy, musicality and technique. He did better than Kupono for sure, and was on par with Jason. Each showcased their specialty well. Max didn't need to do anything more on that night. He justified why he deserved to stay. The judges were wrong the nth degree.
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