Of course there was a lot of great dancing on So You Think You Can Dance last night. Each couple performed twice as SYTYCD prepares to reveal the Top 10 on tonight’s results show.
While there were 12 dances, there is only one dance for me to talk about this week. Kayla and Kupono, who have been favorites of mine all season, danced a Mia Michaels contemporary piece using Sara Barellies’ “Gravity” as the music track. This is one of the most devastatingly beautiful dances I’ve ever seen. I always love Mia’s work, but this was above and beyond (and hopefully gets her another Emmy). She put something on the floor last night that was gorgeous yet heart wrenching and yet magical (which is an odd word to use here, but I think you’ll get it if you watch the clip) at the same time.
As for the dancers, congratulations to them for really bringing this piece to life. The pain you see in Kayla’s face as she fights the addiction that is this guy just feeds the passion of the choreography. Nigel complained last night that sometimes her hair sometimes obscured her face. I thought that only added to it, her hair’s a mess just like she is… and the moments her face is revealed show an overwhelming emotion. In the rehearsal footage, Kupono talked about how hard this piece was for him, to become this girl’s addicition… to find the really mean character that was required. But he dug down and found it. The looks on his face are appropriately evil and condescending as he wields his power over her.
When the dust settled this week I was glad to see Phillip go. I felt he’d gone about as far as he could. I’m thrilled Jason made top 10 because he’s just hunky. For the girls, I was sad to see Catlin go, but her solo last night wasn’t that good.
It was interesting to hear from Nigel that the judges now the bottom three before the results show and they consult about it before that night’s show. He indicated they can be swayed by the solos if they’re really good… but basically their minds are made up. I think that’s weird, and kinda dilutes the importance of those solos.
Also surprising news last night was that SYTYCD was denied permission to use Michael Jackson songs to do a Jackson tribute show. For all the Jackson tributes that I didn’t watch, this is one that I would’ve. It would’ve been great to see what these dancer’s and the show’s top choreographers would have come up with. Oh well…
Next week all the couples are broken up as we roll into the Top 10!
I loved this one too. Hauntingly beautiful!
Bah…”Invalid parameters” on the clip! :-(