I'm really loving the new So You Think You Can Dance format, which was originally controversial among fans of the show. Instead of the usual twenty competitors - ten male, ten female - this season there are half that number, and instead, those ten competitors (expanded to eleven for the first week) are paired with returning finalists from former seasons. What I love about it is that the returning dancers perform in their style, so, no matter how lacking a competitor may be in a certain dance style, you get to see dancers who excel in that style each week. Makes, in my opinion, for a far more stunning show.
Last week, we got to see ballroom dancer Pasha Kovalev (really one of the most exciting ballroom dancers in the world to watch) do an absolutely mesmerizing jive with the contestant he was paired with that week, Melinda, and this week we got to see him do a nearly perfect paso doble with contestant Cristina as his partner. Ditto for ballroom diva Anya Garnis, who did a mouthwatering cha cha with contemporary dancer Kent last week and a gorgeous Argentine tango with Robert this week. Twitch never ceases to amaze me with his very clever hip hop, Dominic is always fun to watch, and who can resist Mark Kanemura and his brilliant weirdness, particularly in Sonya Tayeh routines!
The drawback of course is that the returning dancers have the tendency to outshine the contestant they're partnered with, which is I think what happened last week with Alexie and Twitch. Alexie was the first eliminated and I think it's because she just wasn't memorable, Twitch so outshone her. But, still, this is what makes watching dance so fascinating - seeing dancers performing at their best, in their style. Of course the competition is to see which competitor is most versatile and can dance well in styles not his or her own. So, this way, the show can entertain with brilliant dancing and remain true to its format. It's just too bad Danny Tidwell didn't return for the contemporary numbers.
Thus far my favorite competitor this season is Alex Wong. His contemporary Hallelujah routine last week proved he's not just an excellent dancer with superb technique - which you'd expect of a Miami City Ballet principal - but that he is capable of conveying so much meaning with his movement, poetry as the judges said. They weren't as into his Fosse-esque routine this week. I thought he did really well with it though - it didn't look at all balletic to me, but very jazzy, slick and precise in hitting those lines right on the beat the way Broadway dancers do. Maybe I'll have to watch Fosse's The Little Prince too to see what Nigel's criticisms were about.
I'm also a big fan of Billy. He has splendid technique and is a really beautiful and compelling mover, but he does have to work on his artistry and versatility. His Footloose routine last week demonstrated great energy and superb technique but he didn't interact with his partner, Lauren, very much at all. It was probably nerves, because I've seen him dance live in New York (with DeMa Dance Company) and he played off his partner very well in that. And, regarding last night's Krump routine with Comfort, I actually thought he did quite well with it. He does have a naturally lyrical body; he looks feather-light - the opposite of a hip hop dancer or krumper, but all those kicks and stomps had a genuine power and aggression to them. I think he made it his as best as he could. And I loved when he play-licked her neck!
But my favorite dancer this week was Ashley. Last week I felt Neil Haskell really outshone her -- they're both contemporary dancers and they did a contemporary routine. But this week (dancing with Mark) she really blew me away, with another contemporary routine, that the judges complained was supposed to have been jazz. It was choreographed by Travis Wall so what did they expect? Anyway, she had absolutely gorgeous leg lines - -really stunning. And she was so light on her feet with those lifts. There were some very difficult moves in that routine - not just the crazy dive Nigel mentioned but her turns on the floor -- very hard, and she made it look so easy. And, she had no problem bringing the passion and emotional intensity to the dance even with the difficulty level.
I loved Jose's hip hop last week with Comfort. His style is b-boying, which is similar to hip hop but not exactly the same, and I thought he actually outshone Comfort. He looked so rubbery, vertebrae-less, and that head-spin was stunning. I liked its shaping as well - the legs in the air were kind of asymmetrical. You can see the yoga training in his flexibility. His Bollywood routine with Kathryn this week was less technically adept but charming nonetheless. Jose's lines were not what they were supposed to be most of the time, but at some points he did have the proper flexed feet and hands. But in all, he looked like a b-boy dancing Bollywood. Still, a lot of fun though. I like him!
Kent's cha cha with Anya last week was a lot of fun too. For the most part, he genuinely looked like a real Latin dancer - unbelievable on your first try when it's not your style. He really had the hips, the speed, the precision down. And you could tell he tried really hard and was really having the time of his life up there. But this week's jazz routine with Courtney didn't do much for me. I thought his best movement was at the beginning, when he was lying on the table, lifting his legs, then torso in various positions. Other than that I just didn't find that routine memorable or moving.
I liked tapper Melinda much better this week with her contemporary routine than last week with her jive. I thought she worked very hard on the jive, but she still looked like a tap dancer doing jive. She didn't have enough height on the kicks and it looked like she was shuffling her feet, which is tap. Pasha clearly outshone her. But her contemporary routine with Ade last night was very good. Her leg lines were really lovely and she danced it with passion and clarity. I have to say, though, regarding her solo last week, I have to disagree with Nigel that she did not "dance for her life." I thought her solo was absolutely spellbinding. It looked like her feet were going ninety miles an hour. It's tap; it's supposed to look free-form, smooth, subtle and jazzy and not trick-laden.
I haven't been in love with either of Cristina's performances, though I think she is an awesome salsera. Her part of the Sonya Tayeh jazz routine with Mark didn't really go anywhere for me; he is just so much more brilliant at Tayeh's odd but compelling movement. I mean, he and Sonya practically share the same brain. The judges loved her and Pasha's paso doble last night: But I couldn't take my eyes off of him, which means she didn't deliver to me. I thought she did all the steps right and she tried hard to make her body shaping proper (the hips need to be really far forward in PD) but her form just wasn't perfect, and next to his it was all too obvious. She kept up with him though, and some of the lifts were really difficult. She just didn't blow me away.
I liked Adechike's routine this week much better than last. I thought Kathryn really outshone him last week in their would-be sexy Travis Wall contemporary routine. She really came through, both with truly beautiful movement and the passion and the meaning. He danced technically very very well, but he didn't do anything for me passion-wise. He was supposed to be seduced by her and I didn't see that at all. This week's contemporary routine with Allison was much better though. He had great form, excellent technique and he interacted with her well. Big improvement, and good for him.
Ditto for Lauren, who improved greatly this week. Her contemporary dance last week with Ade was well-danced, but it was supposed to be all about flirting and the entire time she kept looking out at the audience, smiling cutely, not interacting at all with her partner. Her performance was more about playing to the audience than off of her partner. But that all changed in this week's hip hop with Dominic. I thought there was a lot of passion and intensity. I do think, however, she looked a bit too lyrical for hip hop. Her upper body was far too fluid, the way she'd arch way back. It was really beautiful though - just don't know if it was hip hop. But then again, I think that expansiveness and breadth of movement is what brought the passion and intensity here, to me. This was one of my favorite performances of this week regardless.
I'm just not as in love with Robert as the judges are. I thought his and Courtney's African jazz routine last week had a huge amount of energy, and they both tried hard with it, but I just kept thinking how that movement didn't really suit either of their bodies. It would have looked so much better on several Alvin Ailey dancers I can think of, but it just didn't look that good on them. They weren't loose enough in their pelvises or backs. I thought Anya looked gorgeous in this week's Argentine tango but I didn't feel he delivered. The footwork - those gauchos and swivels - were mad fast and he managed to get it all down, which is no small feat. But his posture was all wrong. His body wasn't firm; he was way too wavy and insubstantial. It felt like she was doing all the work and he was a good partner for her, lifting and supporting her and making her look beautiful, but he just didn't act the part; he wasn't giving her anything more in return.