So You Think You Can Dance Season 9 Episode 9 Recap: Top 10 Perform
Aug 23 2012 10:00 am ET
So You Think You Can Dance
After last week's mildly disappointing Mia Michael's tribute, we're back to the competition and the top 10 at least have a little less pressure as the 10 dancers get to go on tour and considering that there will be two winners, everyone had a one in five shot of winning. That's great odds for a talent show. The all-stars are back and hopefully that would bring some gravitas to the competition again.
Along with our dad (Nigel Lythgoe) and mom (Mary Murphy), our guest judge was Benjamin Millepied. Though the name didn't sound familiar, he's a prestigious ballet dancer and was involved with The Black Swan.
The group started with a Broadway inspired routine from Tyce (he was in the routine as well) because Cole was a bit injured for the routine. The performance made Eliana look like a real star, since it gave her a lot of solo work. Interestingly, Cyrus was basically sweeping around and doing insanely easier choreography than the others. They proceeded to shove him in the back for group choreo.
Tiffany & Brandon - Disco - Doriana is finally back this season and she threw 11 different lifts like it was candy. I love Doriana for pushing the contestants physically. Tiffany had moments where she didn't have the right center of gravity, but Brandon kept her upright. She had character and sass to compensate for the moments where she looked a bit uncomfortable in the lifts. Her body was insane the whole time.
Grade: A-
Whitney & Nick - Contemporary - Travis Wall has ghost routine where Lindsay was allowed to be as sexy as possible. The character fit perfectly for Whitney and Nick really helped her look amazing because of his ease when he danced. He actually had more physical tricks than she did the whole routine as she just looked sassy.
Grade: B+
Cole & Anya - Cha-Cha - Dmitry! He created a trick heavy cha-cha that intimidated Anya. Something about Anya's wig was jarring, but it helped her look younger. It's always a challenge to match Anya's sass and Cole still had a naivety. Cole has some really great hips for the performance and his characterization works for this performance.
Grade: B
Lindsay & Jakob - Broadway - Spencer wanted to play with shadows and light where it's about trying to time with Jakob behind a screen. How did Jakob get gayer? I didn't think that was possible. I loved the concept of the routine, but Jakob stole the show the whole time. It was probably because Lindsay didn't have the same level of commitment that he did and his moves felt more natural.
Grade: B
Will & Kathryn - Bollywood - Nakul wanted a snake charmer and Kathryn had all the sexuality in the world. The section with the flute was a lot shorter than expected which worked great. Will was all smiles the whole time, but something about his routine was a bit jerky as if he was saying, "Sorry, I'm white, but I'm not trying to offend anyone" the whole time. Kathryn was natural, but Will lacked transitions.
Grade: B-
Cyrus & Jamie - Contemporary - This is probably Cyrus' biggest challenge to date. He couldn't have anyone to hide behind, but I still think the choreography that Travis gave him was pretty easy. He still lacks precision. It was the emotion that then became a challenge. The end when the music slowed back down, it was all about Jamie doing all the work.
Grade: B+
Chehon & Lauren - Hip-Hop - Dave Scott made Chehon nervous because Dave doesn't use real counts. As the two danced, Lauren had the precision I'm sure Dave was looking for. Chehon was too smooth for this performance. He needed to hit harder and he didn't. His ticking sections were awful. Yes, hip-hop was probably his biggest challenge, but it didn't improving him.
Grade: B
George & Allison - Jazz - Tyce created a French storyline about a train, and hearing George sound straight is laughable. Allison smolders as she always does, but George had moments where he was more worried about getting the props in the correct places. Whereas Allison was great all the time, George only had moments where he was truly in character.
Grade: C+
Eliana & Alex - Contemporary - I could have sworn that Alex was on Newsies on Broadway that I didn't expect him helping in this Stacey Tookey routine. This could have been time that a true ballet performance but the two looked great in this routine. Both had these amazing lines and Eliana didn't have any fears in her lifts. That was probably the cleanest performance all night where the contestant matched the All-Star.
Grade: A
Audrey & Twitch - Hip-Hop - The story is a 400 year old couple which scares Audrey. Twitch was natural and that made Audrey look worse. Audrey was too pop for the performance where the choreography was great but, it lacked the grit that Twitch had the whole time. The two didn’t have chemistry.
Grade: C
Cat then announced the bottom four contestants: Whitney, Audrey, Chehon and George. There was something ironic having the coffin in Audrey's routine right behind her. Either way, Nigel sounded like he knew who he was going to cut before the solos.
Solos
Whitney - Whitney's direction for a more "Single Ladies" execution worked better for a Latin/Ballroom dancer. She could ooze sass, but still get some technique out there without a partner.
Audrey - She went with the emotional contemporary routine and her routine tried to be technically great, unfortunately she was smiles the whole time which really upset me. This is supposed to be emotional and she had the hugest grin.
Chehon - Chehon wasted a lot of time with "confused walking" but then pumped up the volume as high as he could with some of the sharpest leaps and turns. It was worth the gamble to put a quiet moment in the beginning.
George - George has been on a short stick the past few weeks and while his solo had some creative moments and a stunning spin sequence, I doubt the judges would like him. The routine was actually good and creative.
After watching a stunning routine from LA Dance project, Nigel provided the news. The two people being eliminated were Audrey and George. That meant that Whitney and Chehon survived another week.
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