SYTYCD - Top 18

Yikes, that's some odd giant-sack-bow of a dress Cat's wearing. I just read that she's styling herself this season, so any credit or blame goes right to Ms. Deeley herself. Speaking of fashion, when the dancers come out for the intros, it looks like Asuka has borrowed a pair of Edyta Sliwinksa's leg warmers. Of course, Asuka is somewhat more covered up, so I'm not sure why.

On to the couples. The theme for the intro videos is telling "secrets" about each partner-- odd anecdotes that range from projectilve vomit stories to teddy bears and as many uninteresting and boring things in between as possible.


Randi & Evan: Jive, Louis van Amstel. Apparently, Jive is Louis' favorite Latin dance, awesome. They're going for the fun, dorky side of things. In fact, the show runs a "fun" counter for each mention of the word. The routine is great with lots of speed and high knees, good kicks. Lots of energy & expression.

Mary decides to nitpick his triple steps for some reason. The "fun" counter clicks up somewhere around, um, 213, I think. I stopped paying attention.

Melissa & Ade: Jazz, Sonya Tayeh. A typical "battle of the sexes" theme, looking for the rougher side of the ballerina. Um... it's okay. They dance it cleanly and skillfully, but I got none of the conflict/attraction in the performance. Strong, but just kind of there.

The judges love it. Okay.

Caitlin & Jason: Hip hop, Shane Sparks. It's the second meeting after a hook-up, I guess. Again, they do a pretty strong job, but it's definitely short on the strength and aggressive sharpness in the movements the choreography seems to want. Ehh.

Janette & Brandon: Disco, Doriana Sanchez. Oddly, she the salsa dancer is having it tough. It's a great, very strong routine and probably the best "disco" performance ever on the show. They keep the speed and energy up and are bright and snappy without being cheesy. Really well done.

Asuka & Vitolio: Waltz, Louis. In a very Louis move, the dance is inspired by Vitolio's life stroy and will be "lyrical, spiritual" and he wants Vitolio to "dance full of pain". And it's beautiful. They do a great job with great lines and excellent movement. The partnering is shaky, but the performance is awesome.

Hey, there in the audience: Marlee Maitlin.

Kayla & Max: Pop jazz, Brian Friedman. She's a princess, being romanced by a performer... okay. I get very little of that, since they're both very frantically moving everywhere. It's well-danced and clean, but they never get a chance in all the flailing to connect really.

Again, the judges much more impressed than me.

Karla & Jonathan: Contemporary, Stacey Tookey(-tooky!). An accidental romantic meeting is the theme, and wow, they do a fabulous job with it. She is so light and he is amazingly strong and centered and very expressive. It's amazing for a salsa dancer. Great expression, fantastic lifts.

Okay, we get one interesting "secret": Karla is a member of the BoogieBots, a very successful hip hop group that competed on America's Best Dance Crew. I actually remember them.

Jeanine & Phillip: Tango, Tony Meredith. A lot of lift issues in practice, what with him groping her bits and her kicking him in the nads. Nice attack in performance, lots of attitude. His frame is strong, but posture is compressed and footwork bad. She's solid, if not great, and they performed it well.

Ashley & Kupono: Hip hop, Shane Sparks. She dances as his shadow/mirror. They're having a tough time with the speed and intricacy. Performing, I see some great isolation and lots of sharp movement, and some good sync. When they get to the end with a little breakdown, I don't love it.

And the judges didn't like it overall, but liked the end. Weird.

RESULTS SHOW

Now Cat, that tailored white suit and loose hair is fabulous.

Group dance tonight is to "Higher Ground" by Stevie Wonder, choreographed by Mia Michaels. It is spectacular. The dancers are decked in slim black "suits" and adorned with Maori-style face tattoos. Everything about it is tightly wound, shaking-muscled tension. The movements are sharp and strong, and while it's solidly grounded, it's so restrained as opposed to Mia's usual expansive style. Love it.

Video package: "Lil' C's Dictionary of Dance". They clip together the highlights of Lil' C's comments from last night into a fun string of "flights of fancy" (as Nigel calls them). The best parts are the reactions of the choreographers, especially Shane Sparks' bewildered turn to the camera. C, for his part, is cracking up.

They whittle their way through the pack. Evan gets a surprise as we're shown a cute clip of his brother Ryan delivering an inspired a capella tap routine at Season 6 auditions earlier that week and getting a ticket to Vegas.

In the end, the bottom three couples are: Caitlin & Jason, Kayla & Max and Ashley & Kupono, a totally different lineup.

Our dance guest this week is another recycle from Superstars of Dance, traditionaly Indian dancer Amrapali Ambegaokar, she of the super-fast belled feet.

Now for solos. Caitlin's is well-danced, but doesn't engage until the end. Jason's shows great control and strength, but I don't feel it. Ashley's is nicely different and has some attitude. Kupono's is the expected quirky and light, very fun but not impressive. Kayla shows a lot of her skill and technique. Max is stuck with the usual Jive-y stuff, but does it well.

This week's musical guest is Kristinia DeBarge, performing her song "Goodbye". It's a display of throughly generic pop music, boring staging, dull costuming and bland dancing. It's about as cookie-cutter as possible, and for as little moving as she's doing, she still lip syncs.

The decisions for elimination are not unanimous, and the judges would have preferred to send home no one of these six.

Eliminated: Ashley Valerio and Max Kapitannikov.

Which leaves Kayla to dance with Kupono. Should be interesting. See you then.