Bellisima08

This has got to be one of the most wavy jump split lines I've ever seen! Judy must have been yanking out her hair! It looks like the girls closest to the right (looking at the picture) either jumped late or too high. And Taylor...in this pic you can see she's not just gained in her waist & face. Her right thigh is looking thicker too. That's got to make for a rougher landing because the heavier you are, the harder the impact.

Yikes! Is VK taking Taylor out for milkshakes or something to sabotage her?

If the fact that Julia was on a conflicting channel is the true reason she was cut, then it makes it all the worse because they essentially wasted her time. I mean here they have a beautiful girl & clearly talented dancer who appears to meet all the requirements for making the team. Plus she really seemed to be dedicated to the hard work and the majority of her potential teammates all loved her so those all seem to be great reasons to keep her. I guess my question is that if her TV career was truly a conflict, why did they even accept her into Training Camp in the first place? It's not like she didn't disclose where she worked or lied about her job & they let her go for that. Did they keep her so long thinking she was going to quit her job, but she didn't? Or did they take her just to be able to cut her for the sake of creating drama? If that latter is the case then that's really messed up because not only is it cruel, but by doing that, they prevented her from maybe getting another job performing somewhere else.

Amen to all of this! Madeline S seems like a smart, talented girl with a good head on her shoulders & she could be successful in any career. Given the fact that, since they have to audition every year, being a DCC doesn't mean you have job security, Madeline is smart to have a backup plan for a career. Just because Kelli got to be director doesn't mean that everyone else can have a ready made job waiting for them in the organization once they retire. Madeline would make a beautiful Rockette.

VK & Lisa working together? That sounds like an unholy alliance.

Oh yeah! It was VK who who said that. Wow, that says a lot when you are afraid to tell Mommie Dearest!

I knew one of our forum CSI techs would investigate this & uncover the truth. VK is not even in his eyeline at this moment. He's clearly talking to either Kelcey or Amanda. CMT just inserted a shot of VK smiling & nodding to make it look like he was speaking to her.

Amen to all of this! I remember how we used to see more of those veteran-rookie sessions a few seasons ago and now that you mention it, the spa scene (scene is the perfect word for it because it totally felt scripted) did have that vibe but with VK cast as the mentor. And what is VK doing giving advice to Kelcey? Sorry to tell you VK, but Kelcey has outdanced you several times. She doesn't need your advice! And you know I seem to remember that a few years ago, a rookie who had returned for a 2nd time through training camp, was scolded by Kelli for giving advice to a 1st time rookie. I can't remember who it was, but I recall that Kelli told the returning rookie that some of the long-time vets felt that the rookie was acting like a know-it-all and prancing around like she was a vet. I also recall that at the time Kelli said something like "I know that you might feel like because you've been here before, you have insight & help to offer, but you should really leave that stuff to the group leaders to do." Of course that all seemed to get thrown out the window this year when the edict came out about how all feedback for rookies should only be given by Kelli & Judy. I mean going by either of these instances, VK should not be giving advice & acting like some sort of cheerleading guru.

Well another episode in the can and halfway through training camp. Not quite as maddening as the show group fiasco, but still offered things to puzzle & fume over. For example, how many episodes have we had now where we get Kat speaking within the first two minutes? Is there no one else available for them to talk to or check in with? Could we rotate them out so we hear from a different rookie at the start of each episode? The guest choreographers: I'm kind of a bit over them in general. It seems like there's been one every week this season. In thinking back to previous seasons, it didn't seem like they had so many come before. I did enjoy Evan Miller as he seems to have very positive energy & I like how he he gave his critiques & didn't call people out so much with the mistakes. I will say that I didn't like how they edited his "fun to watch" comment to make it look like he was talking to VK when its clear from the direction he was looking & pointing in that he was talking to someone further on her left. I personally thought that she was rushing a bit in his moves & at one point her arms were flailing like a windmill. As for Tyce, he had a weird vibe to me. And the thing with how everything was "magic" to him...I guess its his buzzword, but really he used it a bit too much. I did notice that when VK was doing one of his leaps she was not getting the same height that many of the others were. I also saw that when VK was dancing next to Jalyn and then later next to Kelsey, they were both outdancing her in terms of making their moves pop & dancing cleanly. I did like the Tyce liked Jalyn & called her a "bullet" to Kelli's face. Her lack of reaction to it though was very telling. Meredith: Yes honey, it is indeed, as you said "the same old story with you". Messing up and tears has become your thing. Evan saying she's great & a star was shocking to me. I mean really Evan, her shoulders are what you notice? To me, if that's the best thing about it, it's cause for concern. And that fact that during both choreographer visits it was mentioned that she was flailing and all over the place, says it all. And this is not new. For at least the last 3 episodes she has been called out multiple times for mistakes and for the life of me I'm failing to understand how she made the team over people like Julia or Shania and why Kelli is so invested in her that she's crying over her. Even Madeline S. would have been a better choice because, while she may not have been as clean in her movements, she certainly wasn't making nearly as many mistakes as Meredith was. That Spa visit...ugh it was just so contrived & forced. "Such a great idea VK, thanks." Yeah VK came up with that ALL on her own?! Please! And that whole bit about how VK was giving advice to Kelsey? So I guess VK is allowed to give advice to Rookies, but the Vets are not allowed to give it to her. The part were Kelsey was talking about how the Rookies who made show group had to step up their game to prove they are worthy of being there was cringeworthy. I can just imagine that VK was thinking "hmm maybe you feel that way, but honey I'm in like Flynn so I'm not worried about that." I will say that VK looked WAY better without all the makeup on after her facial, but I did notice that she's gained weight. She's lost some of the stomach definition she had during auditions & I saw a bit of a jiggle a few times. Now she's not as heavy as she was last year at this time, but I do think the weight is starting to creep back up on her. As for some of the other girls, I thought Kristen looked a bit blah through the whole thing and Christina was looking a little frail in her arms and I could tell she was tired. She pretty much had no pep or sparkle, but I can understand that with her full-time work schedule and that long drive is draining her. Shania look good, but we still haven't heard any mention of the accident where her friends were killed. Lisa I'v noticed has a tendency to make herself look shorter when she's dancing, particularly when she's getting low to the ground and it looks like she's gained some weight in her thighs. Bridget was amazing & Hannah looked fabulous so I was glad they got some positive feedback. I did feel sorry for Madeline S. when Kelli was questioning her motives for wanting to be on the team as it being a stepping stone for her or if she was doing it for her mom. I would say that criticism is more appropriate in describing VK's motives as her mom is clearly all wrapped up in this and being a cheerleader is a stepping stone for getting a rich man that's connected to the DCC organization. Madeline S is making no effort to trade in on her mother's association with the team & from what she said about school, it does seem like she still wants to do it and is thinking ahead to options outside DCC which is smart. But clearly Kelli wants them all thinking of the DCC as being the end all, be all and the only job worth having even though it has no job security & requires major sacrifices of your time and physical heath. Anyway, those are my thoughts on it. There seems like there's so much more to cover so hopefully we will be getting to the meat of the series soon.

Oh come on VK! You know you want to finish that "it can easily be taken away" sentence with the words "from the rest of you". Geeze when she said that I don't think she could look any more smug or pleased with herself!

Well if that is what Kelli meant then my God she is just terrible to be taking such a dig at Dayton & Shelly! I personally don't think that Dayton was doing it for her Mom because she seemed to be truly crushed to have not made it both times. This was the kind of crushed you see when its your own dreams not being realized. In the case of VK, while I do believe she wants to be on the team for herself, her mother's dreams are totally wrapped up in there as well.

Thanks for sharing this. It really does provide some insight into the DCC. The fact that so many of the girls date athletes is interesting. I've always thought of athletes as being high maintenance to date, particularly during the sport season. Personally I've never found football players attractive. I did find the details about the physical requirements for the girls fascinating. Having to stay within 5 pounds of your audition weight really doesn't leave the girls with a lot of breathing room. And yet Kelli & company didn't say anything to VK about her weight last year until she was 11 pounds over. You'd think if they wanted her on the team so bad they would have been on her about it as soon as she passed the 5 pound mark.

Thanks for sharing this!

I bet the calendar shoot will make a return next season. Kelli will want us all to see her "beautiful storm" in a variety of poses, lighting and skimpy bathing suits. If they do bring it back, I'm skipping it.

I agree that VK has toned herself up & has great legs. I do however have doubts that she will be able to maintain the figure she has now. How many times have we seen the girls come back after the break between seasons & were clearly no longer at their rookie weight? The DCC look is hard to maintain & for someone like VK, who has stated that she has some less-than-healthy food habits at times, I can see that weight creeping back up on her, particularly as she seems to be the type to let things slide as she gets overconfident or too comfortable. As for show group, I saw no need for her to get into it this year nor did I see anything in her performance that indicated that she outdanced Jalyn. I mean take for example, the part where each girl got the chance to show off any tricks or wow moves to the judges. VK's few turns & leaps (while they do show off her legs nicely) did not hold a candle to Jalyn's back handsprings & roundoffs. VK's leaps out of her turns are designed to show off her legs while helping her to exit her turns as quickly as possible since we all know she can't sustain them. I guess she figures it's better to leap out of her turns then to fall out of them. The leaps also allow her to somewhat hide any movement or traveling out her space that happens if she starts to fall out of a turn. That may be why we don't have more clips of VK dancing during the auditions because they clips they showed were the best of her they had. As for clips of Jalyn, I don't think they have any of her dancing badly. If they did, they would have shown them. Instead, they did their best to minimize her in the episode. I think VK making show group was mainly about two things. One was to placate Tina after VK didn't make it last year (I'm sure Kelli didn't want to deal with another year of Tina hassling her about why VK was left out of show group again) and two was to put Jalyn in her place after whatever happened between her & VK.

Same here. The promo showing Christina in the office was the only thing to distract me from being ticked off on Jalyn's behalf. She must have done something because there's been no mention of her on the show since her snafu in the interview. I can't even recall if there was a mention from any of the insiders of her being called into the office on any of the earlier pages.

Oh Kelli's body language in relation to Jalyn was totally tense & negative. Whether someone mentioned Jalyn to her or when she was in Jalyn's presence, I saw a whole lot of side-eye, pursed lips, narrowed eyes and stand-offish body positioning from Kelli. As for who was being toxic, the only person I got any toxic vibe from in that whole episode was Kelli. One thought I had about her comment of Jalyn not being "supportive of her teammates" was that for Kelli, the underlining meaning is that Jalyn is not being supportive of VK. I think the real reason that Kelli was ticked off over Jalyn going to the locker room was that she didn't immediately run over to VK to hug her & say congratulations. Kelli wants to see these girls bow to VK & "kiss the ring". In regards to the cameras being focused on Jalyn, I think that was done in the hopes of catching her being negative or having an attitude such as making a face, avoiding VK, pouting all through rehearsal, ect. Anything that could be used to show her as not being a team player & that could justify her being cut. I got the feeling that Kelli was looking for an excuse to cut her, but she knew she would need visual proof so that once the episode aired she could be like "well look at how Jalyn was behaving. She gave me no choice. We can't have someone with an attitude like that on the team no matter how good of a dancer she is." In that she was disappointed because Jalyn kept it together even when face to face with Kelli's hostility so Kelli was just left with excess shots of Jalyn that she probably worked hard to construct the flimsy premise we saw. Hence all the weird & choppy editing. Speaking of the editing, how did that shot of the names of who made show group get allowed in? I mean its basically proof of sketchiness since we can see that Jalyn's name was on it, then crossed out and VK's name written in place of it. You would think that Kelli would have squashed that shot, but maybe she didn't think we'd see it. But obviously she doesn't know how we pause, screenshot & zoom in on many of these scenes!

Well it's clear from this list that Judy at least believed/expected that Jalyn was going to be in SG. I assume she wrote this out during the auditions. I do wonder if this list is who she thought should be in it or who she was originally told would be in it before the substitution of VK. Between this & Judy reminding Kelli that Jalyn differed from Savannah in that its natural for Jalyn to be more upset than Savannah since she was actually on SG. it seems she felt that a disservice was being done to Jalyn. Still it feels like too little too late of defense/support for Jalyn.

I don't know but maybe part of the reason that Kelli picked VK for show group is that she just doesn't want hear Tina complain about her daughter not being picked for it again.

Wow! So last night's episode was.....certainly lacking in "clarity" on a number of things. But let's start with the biggest one..show group. Normally the show group episode is one of my favorites in the whole season, however, the whole thing was overshadowed by what happened with Jalyn. I paid special attention to Jalyn thinking we were going to see something that justified her being cut and the comment that she "got outdanced" such as her being behind in the music or making mistakes. Instead I barely saw her dance and the bits of her dancing that I did see were excellent. That bit where she did back handsprings/roundoffs was awesome, particularly compared to VK's few turns (yay VK, you stayed upright on your turns so I guess that makes you showgroup-worthy). I was hoping that in the deliberations we'd see some explanation about why they were considering cutting her. I thought "ok maybe since I only saw a little of her dancing, there was something the judges saw that wasn't shown and they'll mention it." But nope! There was just that mention of her name, Cheryl asking if she'd been on show group before and then Kelli giving some side-eye and then cut. What the hell was up with that? In the past when a Vet was cut from show group there was usually a mention of why like with Angela when Kelli said she didn't always make herself available for appearances. I find the cutting out of the conversation about Jalyn really shady. However, I was glad that Cheryl was not referring to Jalyn when she said "I just didn't notice her" when the promo make it look like she was. The fact that Cheryl was referring to VK when she said that (minutes after Melissa raved about her) was one of the few good moments. As for the show group reveal and the conversation that Kelli had with Jalyn, it was uncomfortable to watch. First off, I noticed that Kelli seemed to be watching Jalyn like a squinty-eyed hawk (even before she went to the locker room) after the group announcement. Before Jalyn left, there was a shot of Kelli looking in Jalyn's direction & as she walked to the locker room, I could see Kelli's head turn & track her. It was like she was wanting to see Jalyn break down. It made me wonder if she was hoping Jalyn would react like Angela did by pouting all through the practice, thus giving Kelli a reason to tear into her. I personally think that Jalyn was very professional by removing herself from the situation to give herself a few minutes to calm down. I mean its certainly better than her standing there trying not to cry in front of everyone or heaven forbid laying her head on Kelli's desk. I bet if VK had fled to the locker room Kelli would have been like "oh she's disappointed, give her a minute." After seeing that and watching how nervous Jalyn was as she asked if being cut from show group had anything to do with something she did outside of it makes the news from insiders about Jalyn & VK seem far more accurate. As for the rest of show group, really the only good things about it were the solo bits with Hannah, Amber & Maddie being my favorites and Cheryl's fair & impartial thoughts on everyone. I did pick up on that when Cheryl said that she didn't notice VK at all, Kelli was pretty quiet, compared to when Melissa talked about how much VK had improved and Kelli very excitedly said "hasn't she though?" Makeovers were very blah this season. Aside from Shaina's hair color change, there was really no new or drastically different looks done on anyone. Really I could have done without the whole segment if it meant we got a more in-depth explanation for Jalyn being left out of show group. And I certainly would not have missed VK's giddiness over getting her roots done. Really Veruca? That's what makes you feel like a woman? Speaking of Shaina, she did pretty well in last night's episode & looked great so I'm kind of feeling that the loss of her friends & her grief might be a factor in what gets her cut if she lost focus. Even with that I still think they should have kept her over Meredith & Kat. Kat's dancing is still very hit & miss and Meredith is just losing me with the errors and the crying. In that way she kind of reminds me of Morgan who was on the team in 2013. She had a lot of memory mistakes also and had a tendency to cry. I don't know. I just think that based on what I've seen so far, if they had to have alternates, Shaina, Madeline S or Julia would have been better options than Kat & Meredith. Also I just have to saw how badly I felt for Alexandra. I know she made some mistakes, but man she had the heart & amazing attitude for it. I did enjoy seeing KaShara again. She was so bubbly & her energy seemed to spread through the studio. A true breath of fresh air. I did think it was interesting that she picked Caroline for point but I thought she was fair & honest and had good reasons about why. I don't get why K&J disregarded her so that they could have two points. Otherwise it was great to see her. If there's a fan vote for who gets Kelli's job when she retires, KaShara gets my vote! Really it was just a very disappointing episode. I almost don't want to watch next week, but after seeing the promo, I do want to know why Christina was called into the office.

Yes to all of this! Everything in this episode pertaining to show group was just a complete & utter mess. I was expecting to see some explanation of what we've been hearing went down, but if anything it just made me more confused. Now I don't know if this is due to poor editing or if this stuff wasn't being explained/covered during filming, but either way, it makes it all look very shady & unprofessional.

Amen to ALL of this!

Man the line is so wonky, I didn't even notice VK until I made the effort to look for her. You know the line is horrible when its so bad that it even distracts from VK's blinding chompers. It's funny but when I first saw this picture I swear I could hear Judy's voice in my head yelling "LINES"!

I agree that its very hard to watch them leave in the middle of practice & then have to walk out without their teammates. On the one hand I get why K&J are doing it this way so that that no one has to stay longer than they need to (and then they don't have to pay them for that time), but it sucks for the girls who are leaving. Now they don't have that moment of group support with shoulders to cry on in the immediate aftermath of getting cut. I mean maybe they make plans to meet up later after the others finish practice, but still..they have that lonely walk out to their car now.

Well if it was anyone else on the team posting the squad picture early, I'm sure there would be consequences, but Kelli probably saw the photo and was like "oh look how great my bestie Tina looks. Go ahead & share that so EVERYONE can enjoy it!"