So you think you can Dance 7/9/2008 and 7/10/2008

This week might be the hardest one to pick.

I'm going to stick with Comfort & Thayne in the bottom 3. Joining them this week, I'll peg Jessica and Will. The third couple, I think, is a tossup between Courtney & Gev and Chelsie & Mark.

I think Chelsie & Mark have been better, but if both couples perform well, I think Courtney & Gev's solo work from last week might get them enough extra votes to pull them out of the bottom 3. I thought both their solos last week were very good.

This will be a rough week for the judges, I think, if Comfort and Thayne perform well but still end up in the bottom 3. They made strides last week, and I think now that all the dancers are basically in one "bunch". Some are a little ahead of others, but I think, in general, they're all "evenly matched".

For the first week, for me anyway, I'll be a little sad to see someone go, as I actually, for the first time, enjoyed Comfort and Thayne last week!

For me tonight the vote was simple .. The order was slightly different each time, but for each round I had the same Top-3 and same bottom-3.

Top:

Courtney & Gev
Katee & Joshua
Kherington & twitch

Bottom:

Jessica & Will
Chelsie & Mark
Comfort & Thayne

It probably will be Comfort & Thayne going home tomorrow .. and everyone was fawning over Jessica & Will's first dance .. I guess I just didn't get it .. I thought my Top 3 were better than them the first round despite the Judges adoration.

Wow, wow, wow.

Katee and Joshua ... that was some of the best dancing I have ever seen. I only wish there were fifty of each of them so as to get the full Bollywood effect. I was blown away.

I continue to be impressed by Chelsie and Mark as well. The judges were very hard on Mark, and I sense that it's because they feel he could do better. I'm sure there were technical aspects of the performances that I didn't get but I remain very pleased with the emotions coming through. They absolutely sizzled. Chelsie is very mature as a dancer considering her youth.

Twitch and Kherington had an unfortunate choice of dances last night. This "crumping" business, I just don't get it -- I think it's supposed do be a dance interpretation of a gang war. Yeah, right. Then their tango, which was nice but it seems very hard for Kherington not to smile. That's not a bad trait for a young lady, but it does make it hard to do angry dances.

I still like Will, he is the consummate professional but I do agree with the judges, Jessica is not up to his level. He's so good, she just isn't. She deserves a chance, because she's been overshadowed by him, but she is one of the weaker dancers.

I could thay the thame about Thayne. He is definitely better than Comfort, who should definitely have her bags packed tonight. He's got real star quality and if he can survive the night he should really blossom.

Courtney is another one who deserves to go on, and shed Gev who is simply not up to her level. She's passionate and sharp, and he comes off as uncommitted.

So, there you have it, constant readers, my picks for tonight's bus tickets home go to Comfort and Gev.

Now on to one more thing that you faithful watchers must help me with: Ms. Michaels' descriptions. When I was young, we said something was "bad" if we liked it, or "cool" if it was interesting. I get that, and I remember "tight" and "phat" coming and going. Still, I'm at a loss to understand Ms. Michaels' descriptions of the dances. I wish I had written some of them down; all I can do is give you my impression:

It's as if she said that the dancers were sick, ugly, disturbing, and scary, and these are good things? All night I was imitating her with lines like:

"That stank like week-old-fish."
"That was utterly moldy."
"I couldn't believe the decaying quality you brought to that. It was putrid."

and of course I meant them as compliments. Is she just so flip that she doesn't even know how to say "I liked that?"

I am torn so far this year - no real favorites yet.

I LOVE Twitch. Man, I never would have thought he was hot till about 3 weeks ago. Those fake glasses thing totally make him look like a dork. Anyway, just watched the show before going to to work today...

I loved the Adam/Eve thing Jessica and Will did but they arent my favorites.

Chelsea and Mark are always awesome. I love their partnership.

Comfort needs to go. Like 4 weeks ago!

Thayne reminds me of Benji. Not quite the personality.

Courtney and Gev grow on me each week, and may end up becoming my favorite.

I tried to review the dancers last night before I watched the elimination, but my internet connection wasn't cooperating.

Instead of trying to recap the whole thing, just a few comments.

Crumping. Agree with Stuart 100%. I don't get it. I understand it's supposed to be angry and aggressive, but.. I just don't get it. I think Kherington and Twitch did everything they were supposed to do with that dance. I think I'm not the only one who "didn't get it" though, and that, combined with a poor second performance, is what landed Twitchington in the bottom 3. I wasn't real surprised by that.

My personal rankings for this week were really jumbled up. I didn't care for either of Katee and Joshua's dances. They performed them well, I think, I just wasn't feeling it. If it was based on this week alone, I had Twitchington and Katee & Joshua in the bottom 3 with Comfort and Thayne.

As to the elimination. I was actually sad to see Thayne go. But, given the other two guys he was up against... there really wasn't a decision for the judges. He was clearly the 'weaker' of the 3 (even as good as he is and has been).

Comfort, it was time.

Jessica - gotta work on your confidence, or something. She's a beautiful girl, and at times her dancing is superb. At other times, she's missing 'IT'. I think she's probably the girl to go next week. I like her, but I think she has some growing to do before she's ready.

I'm really curious to see how the dancers do with new partners. I think Will could really benefit from being with a stronger girl. Joshua is excellent, but I worry how he might do with a dancer like Jessica, for instance. Is he good enough to carry a weaker partner? I think Kherington and Twitch could be in the same position. If they are paired with someone who isn't as good a "match", are they good enough to compensate?

Doug Brott said:

Jessica may actually be suffering BECAUSE of Will. While Will is a great dancer, maybe it would be easier for him to adapt to Jessica's way than what clearly has been Jessica trying to adapt to Will. Yeah, he's got perfect lines, excellent execution, blah, blah, blah .. but together .. not always.

It certainly will be interesting next week to see what happens.

Click to expand...

You make a good point. He should be able to compliment her strengths with his own, rather than her trying to be as good as him.

Also... are we a little too hard on Jessica just because Will is so good? Would she look better dancing with someone like Joshua? Or Thayne (before he left, obviously).

Personally, as much as I come to love the "couples" in the first several weeks of the show, it would be nice to have them switch partners earlier. Even if it was just 1 swap before we got to the top 10.

I think we'd know alot more about our top 10 if we'd seen them dance with even 1 other partner in the last several weeks. And, obviously, a dancer like Thayne may have been able to keep himself in the competition had he been in a better pairing. And a dancer like Gev may have had his flaws exposed to a greater degree if not in a pairing thats so oozing with personality that we overlook the technical parts of the dance to some extent.