SYTYCD7 - Love, Loss, and Wanting More

So You Think You Can Dance - Season 7 - Top 6 Performance Night - Ep. 716
Judges: Nigel Lythgoe, Mia Michaels, Adam Shankman and Kenny Ortega

This is the first time Kenny Ortega has been on the show? I thought he's been on before. Maybe I'm getting confused with SYTYCD Canada, where's he's been a guest judge before.

So it seems that if I love a dancer this year, I'm going to lose them. First Alex, then Ashley, now Billy is injured and sitting out this week. While Billy's injury doesn't seem as serious as the other two, he'll miss out and be automatically placed in the bottom 3, but because he should still be able to dance next week, he will get a reprieve. Phew... cause I still want more Billy.

Speaking of Love and Loss, I'm a bit late on this post because [SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT] I was at the Opening night for the new production of Love, Loss and What I Wore in Toronto, which happens to be my latest gig (I'm not on stage, that's for the wonderful female actresses (Andrea Martin (SCTV, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Hedwig and the Angry Inch etc. etc)! Mary Walsh (This Hour Has 22 Minutes), Louise Pitre (original Broadway Mamma Mia), Paula Brancati (Degrassi: TNG, Being Erica) and Sharron Matthews (Cabaret Diva, Les Mis))). So if you're in New York, Los Angeles, and now Toronto, come check out the show! It's very cute and funny, and especially if you're in Toronto, you don't want to miss Andrea Martin telling off Mary Walsh on stage! It's a riot!

But enough about me, back to the dancers. Which as of now, we're left with 5, during the Top 6 week. Seriously, at this point, it'll be whoever survives longest who wins the title this season. And it's too bad because there are still some worthy contenders remaining, but it will probably be forever notated that the winner won without actually beating all the other Top 10 dancers.

So with that, let's see what the 150th episode of So You Think You Can Dance has to offer:

Lauren Froderman with Stephen Twitch Boss
Choreographed by: Napoleon and Tabitah D'umo
Style: Hip-Hop
Song: "My Chick Bad" - Ludacris ft. Nicki Minaj
Grade - Dance: A-
Grade - Contestant: B+

Maybe it's cause of the bulky cowboyish costumes but I thought Lauren actually hit it pretty hard here and while she didn't match hit for hit with Twitch, it all looked pretty great. Again, I didn't love Lauren at first but she is winning me over.

I thought it looked great overall, I loved the choreo that melded Hip-Hop moves with cowboy twang, and Lauren did a great job showing the attitude needed to dance up next to Twitch.

Plus that crazy circus looking role Lauren did was way cool!

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




Jose "Full Deck" Ruiz with Allison Holker
Choreographed by: Sonya Tayeh
Style:Contemporary
Song: "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Theme" - Jon Brion
Grade - Dance: A
Grade - Contestant: B

Loved the dance and having the dancers playing along the ledge, and Allison made it look all so easy, but I'm with Adam and Mia in that Jose didn't really dance much. While I thought he started off laisez-faire for the first 3 seconds, he then suddenly got really committed the dance, which saved his technical-lacking skills.

Allison, as ever, was just simply superb and along with Sonya's choreo, cleverly makes up for what Jose lacks (which Nigel mentions too) by ingeniously filling in the gaps to make it all look so smooth.

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




Robert Roldan with Lauren Gottlieb
Choreographed by: Tyce DiOrio
Style:Jazz
Song: "Wasted Life" - My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult
Grade - Dance: A-
Grade - Contestant: A

Wow. A Tyce routine I didn't hate. Granted, I love Lauren and I LOVE Robert so that may have helped. I could watch Robert dance ALL. THE. TIME.

Sometimes I think his main weakness is that he tends to overthink it and worrying about how he's looking in the dance (and I don't mean that in vain way, but more in that he should be more confident about his amazing dance skills).

But loved the odd 80's music and the odd jazz movements and Robert and Lauren just looked so good together.

Here's the video of Robert and Lauren's Jazz:




Kent Boyd with Kathryn McCormick
Choreographed by: Sonya Tayeh
Style: Jazz
Song: "Tightrope" - Janelle Monae
Grade - Dance: A
Grade - Contestant: A

SO FUN! I felt like they were two lovers frolicking on the beach or something! There were split seconds that could have been more in sync but I'm being nitpicky here.

Mia thought his smily face defies the level of sophistication that the choreo provides, but his technical skills is superb. I guess I'm one of those tween girls who isn't bothered by his smiley face, especially in this routine that was more fun to begin with.

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




Adéchiké Torbert with Comfort Fedoke
Choreographed by: Napoleon and Tabitha D'umo
Style: Lyrical Hip-Hop
Song: "Fallin'" - Alicia Keys
Grade - Dance: A
Grade - Contestant: A-

I cannot get over how F#$Ken amazing Comfort is? How come she wasn't this good in her own season?

At first I thought Adéchiké was going it all wrong but then I realized he was doing it all right, playing the role with a strength and bravado that made the story make sense. Made it a scary story, but made it make sense. He was emotionless but on purpose in an evil sense, and Comfort totally reacted to it in such a powerful way.

Here's the video of Adéchiké and Comfort's Lyrical Hip-Hop:




Lauren Froderman and Robert Roldan
Choreographed by: Dmitry Chaplin
Style: Samba
Song: "Drummer Boy (SYTYCD Remix)" - Debi Nova
Grade - Dance: A-
Grade - Lauren: B+
Grade - Robert: A-

I was worried for Robert here, and while there were some tiny missed connections (mostly in the hand), I think partly due to his confidence problems again, but he could have doubled for Dmitry (HELLO DMITRY!) and as Adam and Mia said, his lines his carriage and everything looked authentic. He could gain a bit of strength to do the lifts better but I was so impressed.

Mia was less impressed with Lauren but I thought she did a great job, and while she could have wiggled her butt a little more, I thought she was lovely here.

But it did look like Robert was the expert here, which is amazing since he seemed so worried about the Samba!

Here's the video of Lauren and Robert's Samba:




Adéchiké Torbert and Jose "Full Deck" Ruiz
Choreographed by: Dmitry Chaplin (with Legacy)
Style: Paso Doble
Song: "The Arrival/Rampage/Continued Existence" - James Dooley
Grade - Dance: A-
Grade - Adéchiké : B+
Grade - Jose: C+

LEGACY! Seriously. I miss Legacy SO MUCH.

So a Paso Doble with two guys. It's like the dancing duel. And to be honest, I thought Adéchiké looked stronger. There was more power and confidence in his movements, while Jose looked more like he was just making sure he was getting all the moves down while pumping out his chest.

Jose looked more like an act, while Adéchiké looked like he was going to truly be a bull fighter.

Adam thought Adéchiké needed to release it more. Mia and Kenny thought they gave it a good effort but the technique was lacking and flailing.

Here's the video of Adéchiké and Jose's Paso Doble:




Kent Boyd and Billy Bell with Stephen Twitch Boss
Choreographed by: Chuck Maldonado
Style: Stepping
Song: "Pro Nails Rusko Remix" - Kid Sister
Grade - Dance: A-
Grade - Contestant: A-

Damn, how cute would it have been to see Kent and Billy together? Dancing together. Or whatever...

Anyways, with Twitch in the mix, he makes the smaller Kent look like such a little boy. Twitch is so strong and while Kent didn't quite match the power, I was impressed enough with Kent for matching the speed and the steps.

Twitch and Kent were kind of cute together, like the little White brother trying to match his bigger cooler Black brother.

Here's the video of Kent and Twitch's Stepping:




The Solos

Adéchiké Torbert
Style: Contemporary
Song: "This Woman's Work" - Maxwell
Grade: B+
While sometimes I wish his lines were a teeny bit straighter, what he lacks there, he makes up for having both strength and smoothness to his solos, something that is not easy to come by.

Here's the video of Adéchiké's Solo:



Robert Roldan
Style: Contemporary
Song: "Parachutes" - Trevor Hall
Grade: A-
Robert just turned 20 today. Uh, say WHAT? He's only 20? Maybe cause his dancing feels so sophisticated and mature, but I always thought he was way older. But what usually weakens him, his lack of self-confidence in his dancing (which is totally absurd), is never seen in his solos. Now he just needs to work a routine better around a song, but that will come now that he's no longer a teen (seriously? He's only 20 NOW?)

Here's the video of Robert's Solo:



Lauren Froderman
Style: Contemporary
Song: "The Waves" - Elisa
Grade: C+
I'm beginning to love Lauren, but I still don't love her solos. Maybe it's unfair but I see her wear that skimpy sparkly costume and I can imagine sticking a pole in the midst of her solo and it's totally a stripper routine. She needs to work on her solos and connect with the music and not repeat the same move 18 times in 1 minute.

Here's the video of Lauren's Solo:




Jose "Full Deck" Ruiz
Style: Breakdancing
Song: "Give It Up or Turnit a Loose" - James Brown
Grade: B+
While I still think there have been better breakers on the US and Canadian edition of the show, I think Jose did a great job creating a bit of a routine here that matched the song, something that is often easily lacking, especially with breaking solos.

Here's the video of Jose's Solo:




Kent Boyd
Style: Contemporary
Song: "End of the Road (Acapella)" - Boys II Men
Grade: B
Love Kent, but felt he was trying to get that "Yearning" look too hard and it lacked any cohesiveness, with too much reliance on the reaching move.

Here's the video of Kent's Solo:



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

The Dancers - Pairs Routine:
1st - Best of the Night: Robert (with Lauren)
2nd: Kent (with Kathryn)
3rd: Adéchiké (with Comfort)
4th: Robert and Lauren
5th: Kent (with Twitch)
6th: Lauren (with Twitch)
7th: Jose (with Allison)
8th - Worst of the Night: Jose and Adéchiké

The Routines:
Best Routine of the Night: Sonya Tayeh's Jazz (Kent with Kathryn)
2nd Best Routine of the Night: Napoleon and Tabitha D'umo's Lyrica Hip-Hop (Adéchiké with Comfort)
3rd Best Routine of the Night: Sonya Tayeh's Contemporary (Jose with Allison)

The Dancers - Solos:
Best of the Night: Robert
2nd: Adéchiké
3rd: Jose
4th: Kent
5th - Worst of the Night: Lauren

The All-Stars:
All-Star MVP: Allison
All-Star MVP 2: Comfort
All-Star MVP 3: Kathryn
All-Star MVP 4: Lauren
All-Star MVP 5: Twitch


The Predictions:
Bottom Three: Jose, Robert and Billy who is automatically in already.

Jose should be going home, but who knows who really is gonna be in the bottom 3 this week. I've been wrong with my predictions every week. And even though I thought it was Adéchiké's best week, I still prefer Robert, Kent and Billy over him, but Adéchiké has never been in the bottom 3, so why start now? And even if Lauren was in the bottom 3, no way are the judges going to let the last girl go at this point.

Going Home Jose
His smile can only take him so far.

This is how I rank all the dancers overall (#position from last week in parenthesis):
Overall Ranking:

1. Robert (1)
2. Kent (2)
3. Billy (3)
4. Lauren (4)
5. Adéchiké (7)
6. Jose (6)

- - - - - - - - - - - - -
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