This week’s So You Think You Can Dance top 18 fought a tough battle as the true talents rose to the top, and the judges’ critiques getting harsher for some of the weaker contestants.
This week’s eliminations differed from last week in several ways. Firstly, due to fan complaints about the format of last week’s episode, this week’s eliminated contestants were revealed at the very end of the show. Additionally, only one contestant was eliminated, as another had to withdraw due to injury.
Animator Jade Zuberi aggravated an old injury during this week’s rehearsals, and ended up tearing his meniscus. As a result, he will be having surgery, which will leave him unable to dance for three to four months. Unfortunately, this means he will have to leave the competition. But fortunately for the other two contestants in the bottom three, Curtis Holland and Dorian “BluPrint” Hector, they didn’t have to dance for their lives.
In addition to the bottom three guys, the bottom three girls were revealed at the top of the show: Alexis Juliano, Jasmine Mason, and Jenna Johnson. The judges wanted to see all 3 girls dance for their lives in their strongest style, which meant tap for Alexis, jazz for Jasmine, and ballroom for Jenna. They were all strong routines, particularly Alexis’, but unfortunately it was not enough to help Jasmine, and she left the competition with Jade.
The Performances
Top 18
Choreographers Chris Scott and Sonya Tayeh teamed up to choreograph a beautiful group routine, in which the dancers were sacrificing themselves by leaping into an onstage volcano. The leaps were stunning, and took your breath away each time. This routine showed off each dancer in a solo, but the group also shined with their synchronized dancing. It was definitely one of the strongest group routines of the season.
Amy Yackima and DuShaunt “Fik-shun” Stegall
Amy and Fik-shun were the first couple to take the stage, and they set the bar high with an angry pasodoble battle choreographed by Jean-Marc Genereux. This routine was meant to show the evolution of paso as a fight to the death in which Amy and Fik-shun were enemies, not partners.
While they were great as a duo, if this had been a real battle, Amy would have won. She continues to be the beast of the competition, while Fik-shun struggled a bit to overcome his lack of training. His evolution has been incredible, however, and there are only little things he needs to improve upon.
Nigel said that he hasn’t “seen you guys as a couple do any single thing wrong yet.” He did, however, make the excellent point that this style took away their biggest assets: their personalities and bright smiles. After last week’s adorable and fun hip hop routine, this serious paso almost seemed like a bit of a letdown from them.
Jasmine Harper and Aaron Turner
Jasmine and Aaron were part of a throwback detective story in a Spencer Liff broadway routine. In this routine, Aaron was a detective investigating a crime scene, and Jasmine was the ghost of the deceased victim, trying to reconcile the fact that she’s died.
Set to “They Just Keep Moving the Line” from Smash, Jasmine and Aaron once again did an amazing job capturing the emotion of their routine. There was a part at the end that was particularly striking, in which Jasmine seemed to be fighting for life, and Aaron kept pulling her back by her leg.
And speaking of Jasmine’s legs, they get more praise than anything else on SYTYCD, but since they are miles long and she effortlessly throws them over her head week after week, they are certainly a force unto themselves. They impressed this week’s guest judges in particular, Erin Andrews saying “I have been waiting to see those puppies in person and they are as advertised!” Paula, in true wacked-out Paula style, said she’d be happy to come back to life as one of Jasmine’s legs.
Makenzie Dustman and Paul Karmiryan
In her debut appearance on the show, choreographer Lindsay Nelko put together a deeply moving contemporary routine for Makenzie and Paul. In this routine, Makenzie has a terminal illness, and she is trying to encourage Paul to let her go, but he is having a hard time coming to terms with it.
Technically the strongest couple in the competition, this routine required a lot more than just technical perfection: it needed heart and emotion. Makenzie and Paul brought that in spades, moving judge Mary Murphy to tears. Set to a beautiful acoustic version of the Rent hit “No Day But Today” from Idina Menzel, you really felt Paul’s struggle, and Makenzie’s lightheartedness as she encouraged him to set her free.
Jasmine Mason and Alan Bersten
Jasmine and Alan channeled their inner Will and Kate for Sean Cheesman’s jazz routine representing the not-so-mundane life of being a royal. While the routine started and ended with Jasmine and Alan primly drinking tea (pinkie out, of course), they let their hair down in the middle, breaking out of the mundane, crawling under tables, and leaping around the stage. It was a great routine, with some impressive lifts, but the judges felt both dancers could have brought more quirky personality to it.
Jenna Johnson and Tucker Knox
Tucker and Jenna took on a jazzy sort of hip-hop number from new choreographers Keoni and Mari Madrid. Jenna was once again a femme fatale, a character she embodied last week, and Tucker’s character had to struggle to keep up with her. He had no problem keeping up with her, and both dancers nailed the precise movements of the routine. Nigel called this his favorite of the night so far, likening Jenna’s performance to Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face.
There was some discussion that the routine, set to Michael Jackson’s “Dangerous (Immortal Version),” might be a bit more jazz than hip hop. But as Nigel pointed out, “hip-hop” is really a broad, umbrella-like term that refers to many different styles of dance, this being one of them. Plus, Michael Jackson incorporated a lot of jazz into his own performance style, which made the song a perfect fit with this choreography.
Malece Miller and (not) Jade Zuberi
In light of her partner Jade’s injury, Malece was joined by all-star Marko Germar for a Sonya Tayeh jazz routine. It was a beautiful routine that would have been interesting to have seen Jade perform. However, Jade aside, working with Marko brought out a side in Malece that the judges have been waiting to see.
A tiny sweet-faced girl, the judges have criticized her in the past for being too girlish and light in her dancing. This week, however, Nigel said “Marko brought out the woman in [Malece].” Though it was great to have Marko back, it was hard to take your eyes off of Malece for the whole routine. It was nice to see Jade still rooting Malece on from his spot in the audience.
Hayley Erbert and Curtis Holland
Hayley and Curtis took on a fast-moving “party” samba from Jean-Marc Genereux. Hayley continued her dominance within this partnership, and the difference in skill was more dramatic this time. The judges had lots of critiques for Curtis, warning him that he’s coming across as very young, and he needs to grow as fellow contestant Malece has managed to. As a tapper, his growth thusfar has been impressive, but while Hayley and her hips sold the samba, Curtis came across a little goofy.
Alexis Juliano and Nico Greetham
Spencer Liff choreographed a spell-binding jazz routine for Alexis and Nico, in which Alexis hypnotizes Nico so she can have her way with him. Both dancers were very strong, with Nico showing off some great turns, and Alexis proving she didn’t deserve to be in the bottom three this week. Alexis really stepped it up this week, taking on this style and this character better than she has in previous routines.
Mariah Spears and Dorian “BluPrint” Hector
New couple Mariah and BluPrint were at home in their best style with a Luther Brown hip-hop routine. It was less of a hip-hop routine and more of an exercise routine, as the two dancers didn’t stop moving the entire time, before finally collapsing to the floor at the end. While both dancers were incredible in their style, the problem came down to performance.
BluPrint has received criticism in the past for the lack of expression in his face, and while his pairing with Mariah was great, dance-wise, her charismatic expressions only showed by contrast how little personality BluPrint shows in his face. The judges really came down hard on him for it, and hopefully this won’t mean the last of him in the competition.
Guest judges Paula Abdul and Erin Andrews joined regulars Nigel Lythgoe and Mary Murphy to share their insights on this week’s routines.
Erin Andrews turned out to be a great judge. She finished third on season 10 of Dancing with the Stars, having come from the world of sports reporting, so there was some question of how much she would have to bring to the table as a dancing judge. However, she knew what she was talking about, and has been a fan of the show for years, so she had a lot of intelligent and well-thought-out critiques.
And then there was Paula Abdul. One would hope that as a former dancer and choreographer, she would have more to contribute as judge of a dancing show than in her questionable contributions to American Idol. Sadly, this was not the case. While she had a few small nuggets of worthwhile critique, 85% of it was useless, nonsensical rambling. For all of the effort Nigel Lythgoe put into getting her to come on the show, in the end, she proved to be, unsurprisingly, a big disappointment.
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