
(S05E22) The judges were so excited about the final four that they even critiqued the solos. I was glad to see Adam Shankman on the panel as he's one of the few guest judges who truly offers quality criticism to the dancers. Surprisingly, hip-hop was completely absent tonight, but there were some amazing performances. And ballroom came on strong!
GROUP
"Boys Boys Boys," Lady Gaga (Pop-Jazz, Wade Robson)
That was cute. It was a little more mellow than I expected, but I do believe that every man out there with a cheerleader thing just passed out. It was a hot and fun little high school number, and nobody stood out in a negative way so I'll give them that. A feel good opening for sure.
COUPLES
Jeanine & Evan
"Heartbreaker," MSTRKRFT f. John Legend (Jazz, Sonya Tayeh)
Sonya painted a powerful representation of a man pining after a woman who wants nothing to do with him. There were some amazing lifts and interactions in that. Perfect passion, performance and portrayal.
Kayla & Brandon
"Bye Bye Love," All That Jazz (Broadway, Tyce Diorio)
I loved the style of this piece as it opened, but as it went on, something seemed a little off. Maybe the choreography was stilted in the beginning. I still think they're both amazing, and there were some great moments, but I wasn't as in love with it as the judges.
Brandon & Evan
"Nasty," Janet Jackson (Pop-Jazz, Laurie Ann Gibson)
Oh no! Dancing next to Brandon exposed Evan as someone who's just not fighting as hard. Maybe he's tired? If it was a battle, Brandon dominated that one from the first note.
Jeanine & Kayla
"The Four Sections: IV (Full Orchestra)," Steve Reich (Contemporary, Mia Michaels)
That may have been a bit too weird for me. I don't think the stripping of the skirts worked as well as Mia was hoping. The girls danced extremely well, but the gimmick overwhelmed the piece a bit more than I would have liked.
Kayla & Evan
"T.R.O.U.B.L.E.," Travis Tritt (Jive, Tony Meredith & Melanie LaPatin)
I'm not sure how they did it, but Kayla and Evan made that jive boring. We know Kayla has wonderful lines, but Evan just seems to have run out of steam. That last spin was kind of a disaster and ... yeah, there really isn't anything more to say.
Jeanine & Brandon
"Tetsujin," The Matrix Revolutions (Paso Doble, Louis Van Amstel)
That's how you maintain intensity from beginning to end. But where did all the lifts go? It was a great way to end the dance portion of the series. That was an amazing piece of dance that just solidified their place as the top two dancers for this kid.
SOLOS
Brandon Bryant - "Dies Irae," Karl Jenkins
What a powerful solo. It seemed like he was out for blood with the energy. If only he'd worn something less odd.
Jeanine Mason - "Por una Cabeza," The Tango Project
It's so hard to wow an audience in her style, but I thought she brought an appreciated sultriness to it. She managed to pull out some impressive tricks.
Evan Kasprzak - "The Best Is Yet to Come," Michael Bublé
I love what Evan brings that is unique to the show. He didn't do anything outstanding over solos we've seen from him before.
Kayla Radomski - "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)," Eurythmics
I would have liked to see her use more of the stage. It seemed she was just getting started when it ended, but it was elegant and smooth.
SUMMARY
The judges seem to have made their choices. Fourth place: Evan. Third place: Kayla. Second place: Jeanine. First place: Brandon. It'll be interesting to see if America agrees with them. I kind of think I do, though Evan's overwhelming popularity may just push him forward. After all, it is "America's Favorite Dancer" and not "America's Most Technically Proficient Dancer."















Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
8-06-2009 @ 5:15AM
Thorson said...
I must be watching a completely different show than the Judges and this AOL reviewer when Kayla dances. Her dance technique is SO PITIFUL that I have to turn the TV off on her solo. She has no control of her body -- her arms just flail. Why didn't the Judges remark about her inability to execute the last spin during duet with Evan?
Agree that Janine and Brandon are strong dancers. But why do the Judges always put-down Evan? His movements are sharp, well defined; He shows his personality. From day-one they have been very dismissive of his "Broadway" dance background. Is this some elite vs plebeian put down? Finally they acknowledge he's a high vote-getter -- are they talking him down to try to make other dancers competitive in the voting? And the choreographers... they seem to be lock into the thug/goth idiom and cannot step away from it when you have Evans good-guy/bright style as a resource.
I am ABSOLUTELY CONVINCED that there is some bias in the producers/staff of the show to keep Kayla on and to ensure that Brandon not Evan is the top male.
Just to close -- it drives me NUTS when these adult dancers are referred to as boys and girls. They are men and women... guys and gals if you must be colloquial.
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8-06-2009 @ 7:57AM
loretta long said...
I truly agree with Justin. I feel that none of the choreographers were able to stretch the other dancers to come upto Evan's artistic ability. I do believe the judges are prejudiced against Evan. I was going crazy with every comment against Evan. sure hope America votes for true talent. He continually had to let go of his style to meet the expectations of everyone else but no one came upto his ability.
8-06-2009 @ 9:52PM
rn4kids said...
oh boy do I agree with you. If Brandon wins I will believe something is up. I do feel the judges were too critical of Kayla and Evan. I felt they should have not tried to sway the audience one way or the other, they should have just said nice about all 4 and not interjected their own feelings about who they wanted to win. I hope that America will vote right.
8-06-2009 @ 6:46AM
Xina said...
Well...just to be contrary, Nigell is probably at least in his fifties maybe even his sixties...to him, someone that is 19-20...even 22 as many of these kids are...is still a kid. They aren't meaning it as a putdown, they are merely showing their age.
NOt a fan of Kayla, never have been. But then again, I haven't been a huge fan of Brandon either. I really liked Ade and Melissa, and now that they have gone home...I am just not really caring about this season at all.
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8-06-2009 @ 8:03AM
laura said...
group dance- I couldnt keep my eyes off of Jeanine!
Heartbreaker- sadly Evan just faded into the backround because Jeanine was magnificent
Bye Bye Love- you know what was wrong with this number? the SINGER in the song overshadowed the music and it was awkward. Plus I felt like brandon did all the work.
Nasty- it was embarassing to watch, I kind of felt like brandon toned down his dancing to make evan look better but that didnt work. Nothing nasty about Evan!
The four sections- Hated it, the taking off of the skirts was supposed to be all symbolic and ended up being an obvious pain for jeanine, it was too contrived for my tastes.
TROUBLE- oh lord help us that was terrible! a cowboy jive? no thank you, it was so messy.
The only individual performance that was amazing was Jeanines. Brandons was too frantic, Kaylas was boring and Evan played it safe
JEANINE for the win.
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8-06-2009 @ 8:52AM
justelise said...
I just want to thank Nigel for finally saying that Kayla lacks personality. I knew that from the minute I saw her audition. There's no question that she's spot on technically. I don't, however, think that flinging yourself about the stage and randomly sticking your leg in the air constitutes a solo. During season 2 there was a contestant by the name of Ben Susak who was an impeccable technical dancer, but who was eliminated in week 3 for producing unoriginal solos where he *GASP* flung himself about the stage randomly! Kayla did it again last night. I don't understand what ANYONE sees in her, and I think the judges are partially responsible for Janet getting eliminated and Kayla taking what should have been Janet's place in the finals. When you keep saying that someone is perfect over and over again, and don't actually critique them, the people who deserve to be in the show are eliminated unjustly as a result. How Kayla managed to survive to the top 4 while Ben was eliminated in week 3 for doing the SAME thing a few seasons ago is BEYOND me.
The judges have a prejudice against Evan, and I think that they just don't like his Broadway/oldschool style. It's not flashy (like Hip-Hop), and it's not a beautiful mess (like some of the contemporary we see), therefore they devalue Evan for it. Either he's too nice, his face is too cute, he's too short, etc. The list of what's wrong with him in their eyes is endless. Did anyone else notice how they criticized his hand position in the jive last night, but they didn't criticize Kayla's hand position, which was almost identical, in the exact same video clip? Evan did a lot of lifts last night, and Kayla is almost twice his size, so I think he should get more credit from the judges (aside from Debbie Allen who DID credit him for "handling his big woman") for managing to hold his own with female partners that are simply bigger than him. I understand that Brandon did out dance Evan last night, but not by all that much. The judges would have you believe that Evan was a bumbling idiot and stumbles around the stage from their critiques. I like how the crowd came to Evan's defense last night, because they know that he's not being treated fairly.
Brandon is only in the top 4 because Mia and Lil C were downright rude to him during the auditions and at the beginning of the show. I'm really convinced that the producers intervened and had a "talk" with both Mia and Lil C, because you don't go from saying "I don't see any talent" to "you have so much potential" in a matter of a week. If you recall, I believe Mia did the same thing to Danny in Season 3, and said that he was "dead inside" early on in the competition, and Danny also made it to the top 4.
I would also like to thank Adam Shankman for saying something that had to be said last night. He said that at this point in the competition, it's the choreographer's job to create dances that will entertain the crowd and highlight the strengths of the dancers. I think a lot of the choreographers this year have been self serving, and completely disregarded the fate of the dancers in hopes to get Emmy nominations. The Russian Folk dance, last week's sloppy disco, and this week's jive (disregarding the musical choice) were embarrassingly bad, and no one could have made those dances look any better.
I voted for both Evan and Janine last night. I truly believe that Janine deserves to win, and I truly believe that Evan has been treated unfairly by the judges since the beginning of the competition. This season has been weak from beginning to end, and I think the judges at this point are doing their best to save face, and to keep people from defecting from the show because a new season starts in about a month. If Brandon does win, I will be happy for him, just because he made Lil C and Mia eat crow, but if Kayla wins, I will lose a tremendous amount of respect for the judges. Regardless of how America votes, the judges on this show shape their votes significantly even after they can no longer save contestants. They've done a tremendous disservice to Janet, Evan, and Brandon (early on) this year, and I hope they realize it.
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8-06-2009 @ 11:06AM
Xina said...
Are you talking about Janette? Because there was no janet this year.
8-06-2009 @ 9:14AM
Cyn said...
First of all, I never want to see their solo's again! How many solo's must we sit through? How new and fresh can you make them? Ugh.
I think they criticize Evan because he is too short for a dancer and especially to partner one, unless she is petite. Dancing the Jive, he was shorter than Kayla and couldn't partner her well. Also, on a season finale, what idiot decided to throw in the Jive as a dance? Couldn't the judges have selected a more relevant style of dance for the end? What an unfair disadvantage to Evan and Kayla to get stuck with that one. And, Brandon and Jeanine get an exciting number? Come on.
I loved Mia's piece. It was feminine and poignant. Both girls danced it flawlessly, each with their own spin or edge.
I think the choreographers have thrown a lot of dud dances at the dancers this season, which puts the dancers in jeppardy of being voted off. Not because they danced it poorly, but because the choreography was flat. We saw it all season.
I see the end as Brandon and Kayla, and Jeanine and Evan. But, for whomever, doesn't win, they get the tour and a big career boost. So, at this level, they really are all winners.
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8-06-2009 @ 3:46PM
am_hollitz said...
To be fair, I think the Paso Doble and Jive were used because A) no one of this season has done one well and B) they require a lot of intensity either in terms of speed and/or personality.
Brandon and Janine pulled off the PD, but Evan and Kayla were wiped by the end of the Jive--actually Evan was wiped before the show even started. That boy looked tired!
8-06-2009 @ 10:05AM
Saragee said...
Since Nigel Lythgoe is also one of the producers of American Idol I was totally surprised that he learned nothing of this past year's win/loss. Did he not learn that judges should not make their preferences so apparent and that they should not "pimp" any contestant to the audience because people will go the other way. I wouldn't be surprised if they just handed Evan the win by being so hard on him last night.
I really think they went above and beyond in their criticism of Evan. At this point in the competition they should realize that America loves these dancers and it's insulting to them to put down any dancer as badly as they put Evan down. I agree Loretta, Evan had to continually dance out of his style unlike the others and you can see he's worked very, very hard. And Xina, Nigel just turned 60 so, of course, these dancers are kids to him. At the same time having grown up with Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire as his role models, he should have appreciated Evan's abilities a whole lot more.
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8-06-2009 @ 11:08AM
Xina said...
I am unsure why you are telling me that the judges should appreciate Evan more. I found Nigel's comments to him ridiculous. But me mentioned WHY someone that is Nigel's age MIGHT call a 20 year old a kid, has nothing to do with him not appreciating Evan.
8-06-2009 @ 11:25AM
Saragee said...
Xina my comment about Nigel being 60 and seeing the contestants as "kids" was in agreement with what you had previously stated. I realized as I wrote Nigel's age that he probably had "broadway" dancers as role models so he should appreciate Evan's style. I was not referring to your comment there. I ran the two thoughts together - sorry if I was not clear.
8-06-2009 @ 11:44AM
Xina said...
SAragee...LOL, thanks for clearing that up! I was just rereading my comment to see if I had run my thoughts together, which is what I tend to do when I am in hurry!
8-06-2009 @ 10:12AM
Sarah said...
this whole, "the judges don't like Evan and his old school style" is BS. Nigel grew up in the style of dance, and they put him through to the top 20 for crying out loud, so that is just NOT true! Evan hasn't been dancing with the tenacity as the other dancers because its not in his nature to be nasty or powerful. i won't say that the judges have been completely fair, but Evan does lack the versatility to carry off other styles of dance.
i loved the Mia Michaels piece. from the music to the concept to the execution. it looked like something one would see at a dance company performance. it was beautiful.
i voted for Brandon. you can see the want in his eyes and in his performances. his gives everything with his movement and you can feel it when he dances. if Jeanine were to win, i feel it would be a great choice as well. but if Evan won, just because people felt bad for him, then the point on this show has just become moot.
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8-06-2009 @ 10:15AM
Sarah said...
oh, and i kinda hated that they were in the Kodak Theater. it took something away from the performances... like the space was too big for them to fill it. it should work well for tonight's show, but it felt awkward and limp last night, although Cat did an amazing job as always to fill in the awkward moments.
8-06-2009 @ 10:22AM
Gian said...
I think Evan is an excellent dancer in his style and definitely has
grown in the competition. I just don't get all these defenders. He
has been the weakest dancer by far in at least the Top 6. If you
watch, he actually brings whomever he is partnering with down to a
lower level. Nice guy, excellent dancer in what he does but
c'mon....this is also not 'America's Favorite Cute Underdog Short
Male Dancer'. However, I will say.....I think he has been an
inspiration to a new generation of dancers just as the judges said.
Really loved Mia's piece but I agree that the removal of the garments
didn't work as well as it should have. Beautifully danced by both
women but the ending was a bit abrupt and it really left me wanting
more. Music was beautiful and I bought it from iTunes within 15
minutes of the show's end.
I'm hoping Jeanine for the win as she has progressed leaps and bounds in the competition. However, Janette really was my favorite.
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8-06-2009 @ 10:57AM
justelise said...
No offense, but Kayla and Evan had the same hand position in the Jive last night, but only Evan got a negative critique for it. You can see it in the bit of video playback during the judges reviews. It's absolutely disgusting that even when he performs at the same level as other dancers he gets the negative critique. Every time he dances with one of the judge's darlings (Kayla, and Melissa to some degree), he receives even harsher criticism.
In past seasons, the judges took into consideration how often a dancer was out of their style during the season when they did their critiques. They'd preface the critique with "I know you're out of your style (or comfort zone), but you did a good job...." This season, Evan has danced out of his style more than anyone else, and none of the judges seem to care that he's working twice as hard, because the dances are not natural to him. The judges even went as far to say that the choreographers compliment Evan BECAUSE he's working harder than everyone else. It takes a lot of strength of character and tenacity to do twice the work of the rest of the people, and swallow criticism that is largely unfair every week. Let's not forget that when Evan did that Hip-Hop routine a while back, the judges even said that they EXPECTED him to be a disaster in it. They're prejudging him before he even starts to dance, and it's obvious in his critiques. He knows the odds are stacked against him, and I think the support he gets is deserved.
8-06-2009 @ 11:30AM
Sarah said...
Evan has gotten Broadway/Jazz at least twice, and if i can remember well, he didn't do as well in his own style. so, please stop with the "Evan is working harder than anyone" line.
8-06-2009 @ 11:01AM
JAS said...
I thought either Brandon or Jeanine would win because they have the personality & dance ability to go with it. Kayla's dancing is great, but she doesn't have the real personable personality. Evan has the personality & unless it is Broadway style, his dance ability is lacking. Anyway, Brandon is the winner. Check out:
http://dance.dialidol.com/asp/predictions/predictions.asp
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8-07-2009 @ 9:15AM
Cynabee said...
Thanks for the link! The results are as I imagined they would be.
All 4 are great dancers and someone has to win!