SYTYCD - S5 Las Vegas week

This review would have been to you sooner, if not for a less-than-completely-tightened cap on a bottle of Coke Zero being somewhere near the papers where I jotted down my notes for last week's Las Vegas week episodes.

SYTYCD has taken over the big theater at the Planet Hollywood Resort/Casino, which I remember quite fondly as the new Aladdin. I'm really curious about how they've re-themed and re-decorated the place, and the show doesn't give us much in the way of peeks. Oh, well.


The action starts with all 178 contestants performing a solo. As usual, the show helpfully singles a few out for us, ensuring that we'll have seen maybe half of the top 20 dance by the time they're chosen. However, they pick a couple of doozys: Alex Wong, of the Miami Ballet Company, shows off his stronger side with an awesome martial arts-flavored routine; Tony Belissimo (who to me, looks like the younger brother of Sam Witwer, who plays "Doomsday" on Smallville) is a hip-hopper with a great prop-driven solo to "Somebody's Watchin' Me", complete with multiple Nigel Lythgoe pictures spying on him.

Contestants were told there "might" be a cut (well duh...) and of course, there is one. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the "you're not as good as we thought in your original cities" speech Nigel gives-- does he do that every season? Anyway, to stay through this cut, a dancer only needed one "yes". After the smoke clears, 45 dancers are sent packing, including the awesome Travis Prokop.

Time for choreography! First up to bat are Napoleon & Tabitha, with hip-hop to the Black Eyed Peas' new "Boom Boom Pow", a song that actually uses auto-tuner as a stylistic element, and not to cover up a lack of talent. Routines, we see, must be learned in one hour before being performed-- yikes.

Mia Michaels gives great quote: "I love cutting. Because I like to see people who are not good at what they do go home." DAMN. The judges make good on that ruthlessness, paring down another 37 dancers. (For those scoring at home, we're down to 96.)

The next day, Jean-Marc & France have ballroom duty, giving them a Waltz. J-M is not having any of their milling around and talking-- he's barking like a drill sergeant. Phillip Chbeeb can't stop popping even as he Waltzes well. His gal-pal Arielle is eliminated after this round, while Japanese popper Nobuya passes and cries over it.

Next routine is Jazz, done by Sonya. She's pushing them hard. Natalie and Brandon, that dynamic duo of almost-was'es are in their element, and even are made to demonstrate for everyone. However at crunch time, something in her doesn't connect like it did in practice and one of the definite front-runners from the start of the season is eliminated. Brandon makes it through. Gabi Rojas is made to "dance for her life" not five minutes after performing, and makes the cut. Our total remaining is now 73 (the show started counting down instead of keep track of cuts).

7:30 PM on that day, and the dancers are put into their groups and given their random music selections to work on throughout the night. This is probably my favorite part of Vegas week, because it puts stress not only on them as dancers, but as people and personalities. The show is, after all, looking for America's favorite dancer.

The next morning, we get video clips on a few of the groups. The first few routines pretty much suck. Nigel and the judges do most of their yelling about people giving up to rest and sleep when they weren't confident in their routines or teammates. A not-that-bad one comes up, and suddenly things get good. Or at least, that's how it was edited.

Silky Moore, a tapper, DFYL's and fails to make the cut.

Judgement Day! It's Mia's contemporary routine. What a surprise, it's intense, tough and very complicated. In an unusual move, Tony B. is asked not to DFYL, but to repeat the routine with the last group. Caitlin Kinney does DFYL and passes by 3-to-3. The Kasparczak brothers pass, as does Tony by votes. We're left with 54.

The last routines will be a bit different. Tyce Diorio comes in to do a girls' routine and a boys' routine, both inspired by West Side Story. The girls dance first, a skirt-waving high-stepper to "America", and there will be no voting until the judges have seen them all. Cut are Gabi, Megan Kinney and a less-than-graciously accepting tapper. And we're down to 16 girls.

The guys get "Cool", and are trying to emulate the pop and power of that routine, working really hard. And they're down to 16. All of those 32 will dance a solo, which for some reason or other isn't televised, and then the judges will form their top 20.

It's the elimination, and Cat Deeley has gone with a plaid flannel shirt. Okay. Again, the dancers are made to walk past video monitors of their dancing so far.

Pass: Jeanette (the Salsa jump-flip-split girl), Vitolio (the African headdress guy), Kayla (?), Kupono (formerly long-haired contemp guy), Paris (?), Janine (?), Ade (?), Karla (?), Jonathan (?)

Pass: Brandon. I single this one out because there is a damn near catfight amongst the judges over him. Mia, who has been saying all Vegas long that she has yet to see the great talent the other judges have told her about, and that she doesn't like his seemingly smug attitude. Lil'C has also remained unimpressed. Debbie Allen praises him greatly and Mary Murphy gets really close to calling out Mia, saying she (Mary) "can't stand hearing people tear [Brandon] down like this". He passes 4 to 2. Brandon promises to make Mia and Lil'C into believers, and the choreographers for their part, look like they'd relish the chance to torture him.

Pass: Tony (hip hop Doomsday), Maxim (ballroomer), Caitlin (replaced hip), Melissa (the "naughty ballerina"), Jason (?), Ashley (?), Randi (a girl who wears unitards almost exclusively and is sporting a giant diamond ring and diamond wedding band).

Cut: Randy Sun (Asuka's partner)

Pass: Phillip (popper), Asuka (Go Asians! ballroomer).

Cut: Alex Wong. Nigel makes it clear that they wanted Alex in the top 20. However, Alex is under contract with the Miami Ballet Company and despite Nigel making a personal phone call to the company's artistic director, there will be no temporarily letting him out of the contract, making Alex ineligible to compete at this time. It SUCKS.

This being reality TV of a sort, the very last elimination comes down to the Kasparczak brothers. The judges say that essentially, they could only have one of them, due to the similarity of their styles. As it turns out, the stellar choreography of the older brother helps push the younger into the top 20.

Cut: Ryan Kasparczak

Pass: Evan (classic Gene Kelly guy).

Live shows begin this Wednesday.