Four of the five couples on this week’s So You Think You Can Dance were superb and one was simply extraordinary. Meanwhile, Kupono and Randi were destroyed by a paso doble and ultimately left the competition. I was sad to see Kupono go, but it was the right choice given how poorly that routine was executed.
Let’s talk about the extraordinary. Jason and Jeanine paired up for the first time and were absolutely sublime with a contemporary routine choreographed by season 2 SYTYCD runner up Travis Wall. The dance, performed to the Jason Marz song “If It Kills Me” was beautiful to watch and was perfectly executed by the dancers. They not only did the steps, but really found the characters too. Take a look…
Of the rest of the couples… Besides Jason and Jeanine, I was also moved by Evan and Kayla’s waltz and was impressed with out they worked with the the height differences (favorite line of the night here too from Judge Debbie Allen saying that Evan “handled his big woman”). Ade and Janette did some hip hop that was fantastically fun. I was surprised Ade ended up in the bottom two after this great routine. I think that shows just how tight this competition is. Brandon and Melissa danced to “Aquarius” from Hair. It was great and seemed like it could’ve come right from the Broadway show.
Everyone did solos too. Only Brandon’s stood out for me as the choreography and musicality were excellent. Brandon performed to “In Your Eyes” by Jeffrey Gaines (side note: this is a great cover of the Peter Gabriel classic). I wish I could find a clip of this, but so far I can’t. I also quite liked Evan’s personality-infused solo to “Zing! Went The Strings Of My Heart” by Rufus Wainwright. The rest, while okay, didn’t stick with me.
Group numbers were the bookends for the show. The girls did Ballywood while the guys went African. Both of these were solid and good ways to begin and end the program.
Lastly, congrats to SYTYCD for it’s four Emmy nominations for Best Choreography: Tabitha and Napoleon for “Bleeding Love” (my favorite dance from last season), Mia Michaels for “Mercy,” Tyce Diorio for “Adam and Eve / Silence” and Dmitry Chaplin for “A Los Amigos.” These are all fantastic, but I really hope “Bleeding Love” wins when the Emmys are awarded in September.
