ul to read posts about So You Think You Can Dance, so I'm going to do my damnedest to keep this short.First off, the title of this post refers not only to Billy's awesomeness last night, but also Cat's. Way to call the judges out on their total bullshit! Ha! More on that later...
Here's how I'd rank the performances last night (and yes, I'm way too lazy to look up the choreographers or exact styles):
Billy--Macavity
Ashley--Ninja Hip Hop
Lauren--Cha Cha with Pasha
Robert--Ken and Barbie Number
Kent/Lauren--Contemporary Prom Number
Kent--Hip Hip
Adechike--Bollywood
Ashley/Robert--The Dreaded Quickstep
Billy/Jose--African Jazz
Jose--Contemporary
Adechike--Bartender Jazz(?) Number
Was that all of them? Here's hoping. With Alex being out of action, my counting took a hit. Speaking of Alex, well that was unexpected! I think he was just about everyone's pick to win, but now? I seriously doubt he'll be able to re-enter the competition. If his Achilles (or, as Nigel would say, his "Ack-uh-leez" tendon is truly ruptured, he won't be dancing again anytime soon. Poor guy. I hope this doesn't cause any permanent damage. I mean, it's one thing to have to drop out of a TV dance competition, it's quite another to have your entire career on the line. Ouch.
BILLY
It seems like the judges and I have been at odds quite a lot this season, but with Billy's awesomely awesome turn as Macavity, I couldn't agree more. It's the best Billy's ever been. It may simply be my Broadway leanings showing themselves, but I absolutely loved it. It was really the only piece of the night that I really wanted to go back and watch again immediately. It was nice to see him get a piece that didn't totally suck this week. Seriously, a Tyce routine, then crump, then a generic contemporary routine? Yeah, no thanks. He needed something dynamic and technical and he aced it. The girl he was paired with was wonderful as well. Very smooth, and yet, very sharp as well. I liked it infinitely better than the African Jazz routine. Don't get me wrong, Billy did a fine job, but given the choreography that didn't really grab me and the fact that he was stuck with Jose as a partner meant that the routine as a whole kind of flopped. Here's hoping he gets something decent next week.
ASHLEY
Well, it's about time she got (had?) to do something other than her own style. I honestly didn't know what to expect, but was pleased to see her rock the house with that Hip Hop routine. I didn't think she'd hit that hard or that her moves would be so tight. Very well done, and that's coming from someone who isn't generally a huge Hip Hop fan. The Hip Hop this season has been SO MUCH BETTER than last season though, so maybe I just forgot how good it could be. As for the quickstep? Well, she survived. And actually did a pretty nice job. Her carriage was much better than Robert's and seemed a lot more comfortable with the style than he did. Now let's never speak of it again...
LAUREN
This was the real surprise of the night. She actually managed some sex appeal in her Cha Cha! I'm honestly shocked. I loathe her as a person, but I agree with the judges that it was like watching a completely different dancer on stage. Her movements were fluid and her partnering with Pasha was surprisingly good. Her routine with Kent was also very well done. When I saw the costumes, I literally said to my mom, "Oy, it looks like we have an 80's prom on our hands..." Little did I know how right I was. Kent was the real shining star of the piece, and to be honest, I didn't notice Lauren all that much, but she did a fair job. Now if we could just not let her speak and never have to watch a clip package of her ever again, maybe she and I could be friends (and by "friends" I mean, of course, that I don't actively want to set her on fire).
ROBERT
I have had some qualms with Robert here and there, but arrogance was never the issue. I don't know where people got that impression, but I certainly never saw it. Although his Ken and Barbie number with Kathryn really could have used some cleaning up (it was a bit sloppy here and there), I still really liked it and thought Robert totally committed to the piece. For once, Kathryn's partner wasn't getting upstaged by her, so that's really saying something. He survived the quickstep, but only just barely. His carriage was pretty bad and his posture looked awkward. I liked this quickstep more than most quicksteps though because of the music. It reminded me of Labyrinth and made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, so they basically could have fallen off the stage and I'd have been fine with it. :)
KENT
Like I said before, he was the real powerhouse in his and Lauren's number. It seems odd that this is the most mature he's looked, and it was a piece about a high school prom... Whatever. It worked. He can do a lot better than Lauren though, so let's hope the romance was purely dance driven. I actually quite liked his Hip Hop routine as well. It was one of the mellowest Hip Hop routines I've ever seen though, and I think that's the main reason Kent was able to rock it. Very smooth and controlled. I was afraid he was becoming this season's Evan Kasprzak, so it's nice to see he can actually dance. "She's the man I'm supposed to be, but can't!" Heh. I still like his clip packages more than the actual dancing, but the gap is narrowing.
ADECHIKE
First off, as near as I could tell, there wasn't any actual dancing to speak of in that bartender routine, so I can't really judge it. Honestly, that was the lamest thing I've seen on this show in a good long while. The fact that Tyce had nothing to do with it is a shock. Also, I'm with Mia on this one. He didn't even kind of embody the character, and when there's no dancing to fall back on, you have to embrace the character. Yikes. I actually liked his Bollywood well enough, even if he did dance it like it was a different style. Hats off to Cat for calling the judges on their favoritism!!! Adechike's Bollywood number was a million times better than Jose's, but Jose gets goo-goo eyes and praise and Adechike gets raked over the coals?! Say what?! You get 'em, Cat! Honestly, I find myself hating Jose more for the fact that the judges cut him so much slack more than because of his actual "dancing."
JOSE
Speaking of dancing in quotation marks, Jose is pretty terrible. Oh sure, he's gotten better than he was, and his contemporary routine wasn't as trainwrecky as expected, but that doesn't mean it was good either. Seriously, his partner was doing 96% of the actual dancing and Jose was just kind of there to support. He was the pole to dance around, essentially. Oy. I hope he goes home soon so I don't have to hear how adorable he is anymore. Oh, and that African Jazz routine? Well, Billy was doing his best to save it, but Jose is quite simply not a dancer. I pity the poor choreographers who have to keep coming up with ways to give this kid something he can actually do. Geez, I never knew how truly amazing and wonderful Legacy was until now. I don't care how adorable you are if you can't dance, Jose!
Anyway, last night's routines were better overall than recent weeks and I have to assume that that has more to do with the total lack of Tyce than anything else. Here's hoping Tyce and his chinstrap beard fell into a well or something.
Who should go home? Jose (!)
Who will go home? Probably Robert :(
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