TVSquad

(S06E12) Yet again, because of the ongoing World Series on FOX, there was no elimination this week, which means we barely had time to process the dancing before two contestants were being eliminated. Luckily for me, it became clear pretty quickly which two performances were the weakest of the night.

There were two that were absolutely amazing as well, one that may go down as one of the top SYTYCD dances of all time. But the most important question of the night was: Did the judges agree with me as to who should have gone home?

Thankfully, by next week all these distractions will be sorted out and you and I will be able to vote for ourselves who we want to keep around.

Noelle & Russell (Hip-Hop w/ Jamal Sims)
"Move Shake Drop Remix," DJ Laz, Flo Rida & Casley
Um, so Noell is still a little injured? She had a cartwheel type of move late in the dance, and it didn't work out at all. I thought she started to falter the steps after that. Still, she did a great job of managing the choreography of the piece and mostly keeping up with Russell. There were parts that were a little rough, but overall, it was an entertaining piece.

Ashleigh & Jakob (Viennese Waltz w/ Tony Meredith & Melanie LaPatin)
"At Last," Etta James
Ashleigh is really blossoming before our eyes on this show. Jakob was right there with her every step of the way, because that was one of the most beautiful waltzes I've seen on the show. Even the transitions were absolutely beautiful, arm movements, leg extension ... it was all so beautiful! Jakob surprised me by handling the lifts better than I expected, but didn't dig into the floor as much as we'd want, which is representative of his contemporary background.

Bianca & Victor (Broadway w/ Tyce DiOrio)
"Maybe God Is Tryin' To Tell You Something," The Color Purple
Victor was so small in everything he did, he didn't throw himself into that performance at all. An incredible disappointment. He kind of brought down the entire performance, while I thought Bianca really went for it. It didn't work out great, as I found myself getting bored and I absolutely should not have been.

Mollee & Nathan (Bollywood w/ Nakul Dev Mahajan)
"Azeem O Shann Shahenshah," Jodhaa Akbar
I expected sharper angles in body movement through the beginning of that, but I thought they did a fantastic job of making such a foreign dance style both exciting and memorable. It looks like Mahajan was indeed westernizing the format a bit, while staying true to its origins. And they didn't look like twelve-year old babies this week, so it's nice to see a maturity slipping into their dance, particularly Mollee.

Channing & Phillip (Samba w/ Tony Meredith & Melanie LaPatin)
"Maracatu Funk," The Samba Squad
That was pretty terrible, actually. I needed a lot more hips from the pair of them, and way more power from Phillip. The lifts were a labor for both of them, and the whole thing looked a bit more amateur than we should be seeing on SYTYCD. But, um, that outfit on Channing was almost scandalously hot! Very, very rough.

Karen & Kevin (Hip-Hop w/ Tabitha & Napoleon D'umo)
"Ice Cream Paint Job," Dorrough
Now that they were in Kevin's style, this week was his turn to shine. He actually managed to stand out over the dynamic Karen on this one, who had wet noodle arms at times. However, this was some of the most creative and fun choreography yet from Tabitha and Napoleon. They did a great job with the story and characters.

Kathryn & Jonathan (Contemporary w/ Stacey Tookey)
"2 Steps Away," Patti LaBelle
There were shades of Kayla & Kupono's "Addiction" dance from last season, but what an amazing and beautiful performance Stacey just gave us. That will easily stand as one of the best numbers of the season, I can predict already. Legacy, who I've not been a big fan of, was stunning in capturing the power of an amazing dance. Stacey incorporated his street techniques flawlessly, and both he and Kathryn were just flawlessly beautiful. The lifts were gorgeous, and I could just go on and on about this.

Pauline & Peter (Jazz w/ Wade Robson)
"Little Green Bag," George Baker Selection
I think little Wade may have been smoking something when he came up with this concept. It was absolutely insane, but I found myself enraptured by the movements Pauline and Peter were doing across the floor. I'm not sure if I got the anger toward Van Gogh they were supposed to have, but I was able to believe that they could have stepped out from one of his paintings.

Ellenore & Ryan (Argentine Tango w/ Miriam Larici & Leonardo Barrionuevo)
"Violentango," Astor Piazolla
I think I could watch these two dance all night. I didn't even really realize that Ellenore's skirt was caught in her heel for so long because I couldn't take my eyes off the beauty of their legwork and movement across the stage. Everything about that was just breathtaking.

BOTTOM FOUR
For me, the choice was pretty obvious. Channing & Phillip and Bianca & Victor were clearly the weakest couples of the night. The judges, however, chose instead to break up couples by putting Bianca & Victor in the bottom with Phillip and Noelle. As individuals, I can't disagree with these choices, though I thought Noelle managed the choreography pretty well. The girls, though, had a strong night.

In the end, though, tap took a major hit as both Bianca and Phillip were cut. And as much as I wanted tap to represent, these two just weren't showing the diversity in range necessary. All the pressure's on Peter to make Top 10 now!