SYTYCD7 - TENchnically Great

So You Think You Can Dance - Season 7 - Top 10 Performance Night - Ep. 708
Judges: Nigel Lythgoe, Mia Michaels, Adam Shankman

So Top 10. Ten great technical dancers. Still in search of some soul.

Tonight wasn't as great as last week's performances but since this week more dancers were farther out of their comfort zone, that was partly to be expected. That and with two Tyce DiOrio choreo's, one that is highly praised, how high can our expectations be?


Cristina Santana with Pasha Kovalev
Choreographed by: Jean-Marc Généreux and France
Style: Paso Doble
Song: "Ira Deorum/Sanctus" - James Dooley
Grade - Dance: B+
Grade - Contestant: B+

I think Cristina did a pretty good job. When I could tare my eyes away from Pasha, Cristina seemed to bring a similar power to the dance, and seemed to match. And the fact that she didn't mess up the dance and made it look unified with Pasha, must mean it was pretty great. No?

I still wish there was more passion between the two of them. I think Cristina has the moves and the passion within herself, but considering you're dancing next to Pasha, we should be able to see the passion between the two dancers.

But seriously, who is not looking at Pasha through that whole routine? Through any of his routines? Yes, I know you straight boys were looking too!

Here's the video of Cristina and Pasha's Paso Doble:



Adéchiké Torbert with Allison Holker
Choreographed by: Mandy Moore
Style: Contemporary
Song: "Listen To Your Heart" - (Edmée's Unplugged Vocal Edit) D.H.T. feat. Edmée
Grade - Dance: B+
Grade - Contestant: B+

Ok, last week I thought Adéchiké was the weakest male in the competition. Now, at least seeing him do his own style, I'm totally changing my mind on him. I thought it was a beautiful performance with amazing technical movements but I thought he seemed to flow with the emotions better. Nigel agrees he's improved (though seems to want even more).

Mia wants him to put more heart into the "heartform". Adam thinks he's dancing from his head. So again, seems like we have great technical dancers who need to dance with more soul. Still, much improved from last week.

Here's the video of Adéchiké and Allison's Contemporary:



Alex Wong with Lauren Gottlieb
Choreographed by: Tyce DiOrio
Style: Broadway
Song: "Summertime" - Sylvester
Grade - Dance: B (C- for routine, A for Lauren)
Grade - Contestant: B-

Damn those are ugly costumes.

And love or hate Lauren, you gotta admit she's a pretty damn good dancer.

I thought Alex did a pretty good enough job keeping up with the steps but something was missing with the movements. Oh good, Nigel seems to agree as he tries to educate Alex with Fosse style. You could definitely tell Alex was coming from ballet and needed to loosen up for Broadway more. Alex looked like he was enjoying it, but almost in a "look at me! look at me ma! I'm doing it" way.

Adam hits it on the nail. It's a lot of flash but he needs more smolder.

Here's the video of Alex and Lauren's Broadway:



Ashley Galvan with Mark Kanemura
Choreographed by: Travis Wall
Style: Jazz
Song: "Wonderful" - Annie Lennox
Grade - Dance: B
Grade - Contestant: B+

Loved the moves, though I feel the routine as a whole won't be memorable. Didn't have a cohesiveness to it and instead was a collection of many wonderful elements (by my honey buns Travis Wall). Whoa, Nigel criticizes it for not being Jazz enough and a bit too much Contemporary.

I thought Ashley and Mark did a nice job with it but like the judges, I don't think it helped make her any more memorable and considering she's the dancer this year that I keep forgetting is in the competition, she really needs to wow us. I think she already lucked out by having Travis and Mark both working for her here.

Here's the video of Ashley and Mark's Jazz::



Billy Bell with Comfort Fedoke
Choreographed by: Lil' C
Style: Krump
Song: "So U Think U Can Krump" - Tha J-Squad
Grade - Dance: C
Grade - Contestant: C+

I like that he tries to Krump it up but it wasn't quite there (as Mia basically states). He tries. But yah, it was still Billy Bell. Adorably awkward, but I gotta say, was better than I thought it would turn out better than I thought (but I thought it was going to be horrible).

Here's the video of Billy and Comfort's Krump:



Robert Roldanwith Anya Garnis
Choreographed by: Jean-Marc Généreux and France
Style: Argentine Tango
Song: "Libertango" - Bond Quartet
Grade - Dance: A
Grade - Contestant: A-

I noticed Robert double check his step at one point but the rest of the time, he looked pretty damn confident considering he's so far outside his comfort field. Anya's such a great partner but I think Robert held up his own and managed to do a pretty great job. There were split-second moments of nerves but maybe because of his dark features, I totally bought the smoldering attitude required for this dance.

Nigel thought everything was fantastic. Anya, Robert, the dance, the routine, the lighting. Mia thought Anya overpowered Roberto. Adam was Switzerland.

Here's the video of Robert and Anya's Argentine Tango:



Melinda Sullivan with Ade Obayomi
Choreographed by: Stacey Tookey
Style: Contemporary
Song: "Squander" Skunk anansie
Grade - Dance: B+
Grade - Contestant: C

Poor Melinda. She's out of her element again, AND she's in a f%$king horrible dress. Playing "Mother earth". Love Stacey Tookey, and I thought the dance and concept was fine, but I couldn't get over that ugly dress which didn't help hide Melinda's lack of lines.

Nigel thought Melinda had fantastic lines (HUH?) and was pleased with it. Mia thought her lines were beautiful too. Did I see something different?

Compared to Ade, I thought Melinda tried but just didn't compare. Maybe the dress blinded me.

Here's the video of Melinda and Ade's Contemporary:



Jose "Full Deck" Ruiz with Kathryn McCormick
Choreographed by: Nakul Dev Mahajan
Style: Bollywood
Song: "Marjaani Marjaani Kasem" Billu Barber (Soundtrack)
Grade - Dance: A
Grade - Contestant: B-

When does Bollywood NOT look fun? Unfair advantage! And I loved the Aladdin/Genie in a bottle motif. I'm a sucker for that stuff.

Ok, Jose still didn't get it quite right, especially while dancing next to Kathryn who was just so ON, but Jose did a fun job with it. (The judges basically said the same thing)

He looked like what white dancers look like when they try Hip-Hop/Krump (see Billy Bell). Still, he seemed to be having fun and trying. I'll give him an A for effort. Luckily, Bollywood has it built in that even if you're doing it wrong, it still looks good. He's really lucky.

Here's the video of Jose and Kathryn's Bollywood:



Lauren Froderman with Dominic "D-Trix" Sandoval
Choreographed by: Tessandra Chavez
Style: Lyrical Hip-Hop
Song: "If I Wer A Boy" - Beyoncé
Grade - Dance: B+
Grade - Contestant: A-

I still find Lauren's real life personality is kind of annoying with the cutesy blond thing going but I was surprised by her Hip-Hop performance. I thought it was going to be horrible but I thought Lauren did a pretty great job. There were some technical aspects that Nigel points out, and Tessandra was quite clever in giving D-Trix so many tricks to do, but Lauren and Dominic's unity was surprisingly good.

Lauren's emotional performance was actually the best part and kind of unexpected. Especially after her interview reel.

Here's the video of Lauren and Dominic's Lyrical Hip-Hop:



Kent Boyd with Courtney Galiano
Choreographed by: Tyce DiOrio
Style: Jazz
Song: "Amy Amy Amy" - Amy Winehouse
Grade - Dance: B
Grade - Contestant: B

Oh boy, Kent's so precious in those vids! And in his interviews. And while being judged.

Was it me or was that dance a mashup of Mandy Moore's Table Dance (with Sabra and Neil), West Side Story's opening, and some African Jazz thrown in? Again, some good elements cobbled together but didn't feel unified as a whole, but maybe it's because I have something against Tyce DiOrio. I admit that.

It was fun seeing Kent in a routine like this, and I thought he did some fine moves there but like Mia said, the "Kent-ness" of Kent never really leaves, and yah, Courtney could eat him alive. Still, I enjoyed watching Kent do this.

The snide remark by Nigel that was a backhanded slap at Travis Wall must've pissed Travis off. You could see him say something. I think he said "I'm going to kill you Tyce". I hope he said that. I hope he follows through. I wouldn't think any less of him.

Here's the video of Kent and Courtney's Jazz:



- - - - - - - - - - - - -
The Final Roundup:

While this new format makes it hard for me to figure out how to grade it all, it makes it far easier to figure out how the individual dancer themselves rank against each other.

The Dancers:
Best of the Night: Robert (with Anya)
2nd: Lauren (with Dominic)
3rd: Cristina (with Pasha)
4th: Adéchiké (with Allison)
5th: Kent (with Courtney)
6th: Ashley (with Mark)
7th: Jose (with Kathryn)
8th: Alex (with Lauren)
9th: Billy Bell (with Comfort)
10th - Worst of the Night: Melinda (with Ade)

The Routines:
Best Routine of the Night: Jean-Marc Généreux and France's Argentine Tango (with Robert and Anya)
2nd Best Routine of the Night: Nakul Dev Mahajan's Bollywood (with Jose and Kathryn)
3rd Best Routine of the Night: Tessandra Chavez's Hip-Hop (with Lauren and Dominic)

The All-Stars:
All-Star MVP: Lauren
All-Star MVP 2: Anya
All-Star MVP 3: Courtney
All-Star MVP 4: Pasha
All-Star MVP 5: Dominic

The Predictions:
Bottom Three: Melinda, Ashley, Adéchiké

Going Home Melinda
Also, Travis is going to murder Tyce DiOrio with a Fosse Hat.

Anyways, at this point, this is how I rank all the dancers overall (#position from last week in parenthesis):
Overall Ranking:
1. Robert (1)
2. Kent (3)
3. Billy (4)
4. Alex (2)
5. Christina (5)
6. Jose (6)
7. Adéchiké (8)
8. Lauren (10)
9. Ashley (7)
10. Melinda (11)

By the way, you can also check me, and a bunch of other SYTYCD fans over at the Social!

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