So You Think You Can Dance Season 9 Episode 8 Recap: Top 14 Perform
Aug 15 2012 11:01 pm ET
Because of the Olympics, it seems like four people will be eliminated. I will say that the introduction of the contestants as couples has produced some cute couple’s choreography. I'm questioning Cat's fashion team, but she still can't do any wrong.
This week all the dances were based off of Mia Michaels' choreography as Adam Shankman giggled next to her. Along with Nigel and Mary were famous ballet dancers Michael Nunn and William Trevitt. Michael and William were okay as judges, but not studied on the show. As a minor update, NappyTabs had their cute baby.
Top 14 - Group - The routine was called "Hanging On" and I loved the imagery of the restraints and the swinging. I didn't understand why there were four people that were segregated to the sides and stuck throwing roses, but the rest of the dance was a different style from what I've seen. It's very Cirque du Solei with all the swinging.
Cyrus & Eliana - "The Door" (Season 4) - I'm nervous about tonight because Katee Shean is my favorite contestant. Their practice had a lot of laughs because of the intimacy levels. When they began, I giggled because the door changed colors. I thought Eliana's leg extensions helped differentiate her and I didn't realize how easy Twitch's choreography was. It was great that Cyrus added some of his animation. It's hard to compare the original with this routine, but it was faithful to the original.
Grade: B+
Tiffany & George - "Hometown Glory" (Season 4) - Another Katee performance? This hurts watching; I hope she gets invited back as an All-Star. The big move to remember was the assisted run motion. George has the advantage of being a contemporary dancer over Joshua and I think it showed right off the bat his motions were smoother than Joshua. The routine was clean and graceful; it did lack a bit of connection between the two considering the whole Katee/Joshua pairing.
Grade: B+
Amelia & Will - "The Butt Dance" (Season 5) - This performance had an Emmy nomination and it intimidated Amelia, but I will admit she has a lot of junk in her trunk for the performance. Will added a different style, especially with his height. The routine matched the two dancers and it felt like a sequel to their "cool cat" routine. Will's faces worked perfectly for the routine, but Amelia didn't match him.
Grade: B-
Janelle & Dareian - "The Bed Routine" (Season 4) - Mia decided to tailor the piece for the two of the dancers as Janelle got to use some current emotions. Again, Dareian added a lot more precision than Twitch. I thought their timing, or the size of the two (or the bed) worked better. Janelle managed contemporary as strong as any contemporary dancer this season. Dareian continued to get the critiques about her lines.
Grade: C+
Audrey & Matthew - "Time" (Season 3) - Mia's performance was about her father so the two needed to bring the same amount of emotion. Audrey brought a softness that Lacey didn't, which made the routine dreamy. The spin from Matthew was a wobbly and I preferred Neil. The routine was still moving to see, just needed more spirit.
Grade: B-
Whitney & Chehon - "The Bench Routine" (Season 2) - Mia had an Emmy from this routine and decided to tweak the routine a bit for a modern time. There was something funny considering that Whitney and Heidi were both ballroom dancers. There was some minor nerves from Chehon when he was by himself, but when the two were together it was great. The leap was nice and the interaction between the two worked for me.
Grade: A-
Lindsay & Cole - Gravity (Season 5) - The Addiction piece was wonderful for me because Kupono was eerily dark in the routine. At least Cole knew (Season 4) Mark. Cole had to be aggressive and Lindsay had to be ugly/pretty (Tyra Banks loves that concept). Cole's quirky/martial arts motions gave his character a tic to his side. I thought his characterizations were better than Kupono. Lindsay was great, but I couldn't keep my eyes off of Cole's robotic evil.
Grade: A
Cat announced the in the old school manner with couples learning results. The bottom three girls were: Amelia, Janelle, and Lindsay. The bottom three guys were: George, Dareian, and Matthew. In all truth, I find the three guys to be interchangeable contemporary dancers. The women, on the other hand, have stood out because of their solos. While I prefer Lindsay over Whitney, as long as one ballroom girl survived, I'm happy. Nigel announced that all six would be doing their solos.
Amelia - The routine had Amelia's quirk to it as she danced, but it lacked a lot of content. There was a lot of trying to build character in too short of a time; Mia is good at that, Amelia is not there yet.
Janelle - It's been a while since we've seen the belly dancing and it was great to see it live. She went too much time with the scarf, but she sparkled as she unleashed her hips. She also had her winning smile trying to help her out.
Lindsay - She changed quickly and tried her best to fringe a Samba without a partner, again the biggest problem is the ballroom/Latin dancers all have to try impressing by themselves. Samba rolls look better with partners.
George - George tried to show us strong extensions and spins, but I was confused by the sprinkler move he added in. His leaps were high and his legs were great and he tried his best to stand out from two different contemporary dancers.
Dareian - Dareian packed much more content into his routine than George, possibly because he chose a more intense song and hit as many of the accents as possible. The judges hate his feet, so he seemed out of luck.
Matthew - Matthew took a lighter song, but again like Dareian did his best to hit the beats of the song with the motions of his dance. He spun around a lot and did some really creative floor work as he rolled around.
Nigel announced the eliminations. Lindsay was saved, which meant that Amelia and Janelle were eliminated. As for the guys, Nigel saved George, which my indifference continued. Dareian and Matthew were eliminated.
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