S11.E06: First Live Performance Show; Meet the Top 20 Performances

[crowceilidh]

Yes, I felt that dwelling on Serge's sweatiness was rather like throwing him under the bus.

[traboule]

Stanley was the stand-out to me in this round of performances. His lightness and the extension of his limbs were gorgeous. And I think it bodes well that his audition was a completely different mood than this Bonnie Story routine: shows he can exhibit some emotional range in his dancing. I hope he has a strong fanbase - I want to see him go far on the show.

 

The other dancers that shined for me were Zack, Ricky and Malene. That said, there are few of the dancers this season that I dislike and so am looking forward to seeing how they get paired up next week.

[thewhiteowl]

Yes, I felt that dwelling on Serge's sweatiness was rather like throwing him under the bus.

 

 I agree and it made me like Brooklyn even less for bringing it up. It's disappointing because he was my favorite of the ballroom guys before this. He danced well for a guy dancing with a limp noodle. I thought Brooklyn was less than average and dragged him down. I also thought Nick dragged Tanisha down and would much rather have seen Serge and Tanisha paired.  I thought Marquet and Malene were good, great samba rolls but a little frantic and lacking control.

I liked Zach much more than Valerie.  I felt bad for the poor ballerinas, they were screwed. I liked both Hip hop guys, I hope they stick around.

I'm not a huge fan of Comtemp and even less of Sonya, so I was taken completely by surprise with my reaction to Ricky and Jessica. Like that judge, I forgot to breathe, I was invested from the moment he touched her neck and she smiled.  The rest of the Contemp kinda blurred but I recall that liked Casey and Emily and was shocked that I enjoyed Bridget and Stanley.  That's all I remember.

[NextIteration]

Something about the way they lit Jessica's face, I really expected to see different makeup on her when she came into the normal light - they really made her look ethereal with the lighting.

[Morrigan]

Well I'm fed up with Dancing with the Stars rigged outcomes, so I guess I'll try this season's SYTYCD rigged outcomes, for a change of pace.  Speaking of rigging, they hire some kind of Russian ballet expert to make those girls look exactly the same, despite their faces already looking almost exactly the same?  Is that to get rid of them or keep them - since we can't tell them apart?  And I agree with crowceilidh, at LEAST give one a black tutu to contrast with the white.  But if they cared one whit about either of them, they'd give them a male partner and bring out the dull all-girl pas-de-deux much later on, when we have some remote clue about who's who.

 

Another rigged-to-fail number, imho, is that staircase tap mess.  Did they overcomplicate the routine to make sure that neither tapper could add any showmanship whatsoever?  Or maybe I'm judging the guy too harshly because I couldn't take my eyes off the humped-over girl with the extraordinarily hideous and enormous red orthopedic shoes.  Does she hump over because she has to watch her feet?  Is that normal in tap??  If so, I understand why it's so unpopular.  At least Fred Astaire could manage to look at his audience and smile, even on stairs.  Yuck.  She looks dopey too, with no upper lip, not that that's her fault, but it's part of what makes dancers make it, as unfair as it is.

 

And I know why I don't want to like Tanisha, whether she's any good or not - her chin and nose are too long and pointy.  Just not pretty enough.  I know that's not politically correct and maybe sexist but I also think Nick and Casey, of the guys, are not good enough looking either.  Doesn't mean they can't win - I mean, there's Benji Schwimmer - but it's harder to warm up to them.  And back to rigging, they already threw the 18-year-old ballroom dancer Brooklyn under the bus when they cast the accomplished rival Malene, who's 25, a Danish ballroom star or something.  Of course Brooklyn sucks in comparison, with or without wardrobe malfunction.

 

And my God, I watched this show a few years ago and don't remember Nigel and Mary being so tedious -- UN-heartfelt canned praise that went on and on and on....  Jason was a breath of fresh air despite not knowing what he was talking about.  What's the difference -- scripted fake bullshit from the "experts" or honest mumbling appreciation -- I'll take the latter anytime.  Was there another judge?  I'm sick of Christina Applegate so I feel like she was there, boring me, whether she was or not.  Being pompous when you don't know what you're talking about is much more irksome than honestly shrugging a la Jason (though I fast-forwarded his song - was Snoop Dog really there?)  Not my cup of tea whether he was or wasn't, but not much was - except Dmitry but they never seem to ooh and ah over him, like they do Sonia and the Walls guy, who does the same old melodramatic overwrought stuff all the time - it makes me giggle - and Sonia's opener was crap, as well.

 

I think they're propping Serge, who's been on DWTS a lot and is close friends with a bunch of pros there, including the Chmerkovskiys, so maybe he's our next winner so they can keep on with the cross-pollination between shows, contemporary now blurring the divide between both franchises.  I did love Cat, as always, but she needs some Pantene or whatever it is that makes split ends lie down - maybe some Brylcreme or mousse?  Sorry I missed her underwear - I'll have to go back and look for it.  She's the brightest light on this show but I guess it'll have to do, DWTS having jumped the shark for me.  Not sure why I'm watching this - I guess to be proven wrong about all my presumptions - there's always hope.

Edited July 6, 2014 by Morrigan

[OnceSane]

 

was Snoop Dog really there?

 

Yes.

[Morrigan]

Thanks - maybe I'll watch again and check him out.  Along with Cat's underpants.

[Princess Sparkle]

Jason, the guest judge, mentioned "Jordan" his gf. Sparks? I thought she won AI at 17 and married (someone else) at 20. She's 24 now and divorced? Am I confused and a fart fossil?

Jordin Sparks is his fiancé and did win AI, but she's never been married. He did a much better job as a judge than I was anticipating.

Finally got around to watching the show. I really hope Zach doesn't get lost in the shuffle, because I thought he had charisma for days. I couldn't take my eyes off of him during his number with Val. Same with Stanley, Nick and Emilo. I thought Emilo was head and shoulders above Teddy; Teddy consistently looked like he was a beat behind Emilo.

The girls blended together a bit for me, but I'm excited to see some of them dance outside their style next week. I think that's usually when the girls start to stand out for me - I remember being pretty "meh" on LoFro until she killed it in My Chick Bad, and then she was my pick to win. Or Janine putting her heart into that Russian dance, even when it was evident that she and Phillip knew it wasn't going well.

I am going to dip into the shallow for a second - I'm glad the show still uses Dmitry (since DWTS seems to forget he exists), because he is a gorgeous man.

[luvthepros]

.

Finally got around to watching the show. I really hope Zach doesn't get lost in the shuffle, because I thought he had charisma for days. I couldn't take my eyes off of him during his number with Val.

 

I'm on the Zack train also. Take a look at this....

 

 

[ToxicUnicorn]

Finally watched the show.  Already, I like this group better than S8-10.  This group, as a whole, has charisma where the past three groups have been incredibly  boring to me.  I can identify six of the girls and 9 of the guys (the leftover one must be Teddy) on the basis of this show, which is far and away more of an impression than I've had in the recent past.  I liked seeing the selection of more so-called ballroom people, as well.

 

Another reason the night was so strong for me is that I thought almost all the choreographers showed up with good stuff.  With the notable exception of the always overpraised Travis, who was (big surprise) super overpraised.  Even though Travis comes up with some new moves that might be interesting, I find the way he puts everything together to be monotonous.  Mostly rhythmically.  As opposed to, say, Sonya's routine for Ricky and Jessica, which had pauses intermingled with flowing movements that made that piece absolutely gorgeous.  My first impression is that it was indeed worthy of making it on a short list of notable contemporary duets from this show.  It was certainly my favorite Sonya routine ever by a mile.

 

I liked all the side by side work in so many of the routines.  When it worked, it was spectacular, and we saw it in several styles.  Although, as people have noted, this was disastrous for the ballerinas.  Interesting to read here about all the reasons why that looked the way it did.  Still doesn't take away from the impression (to me, at least) that it was pretty awful.  Then again, I don't profess to love ballet on this show.  Mostly, I find it underwhelming and a bit annoying.  Except for Eliana.  She gets a pass.

 

I loved Marquet and Malene, thought they had incredibly hot chemistry, and was reminded why Louis van Amstel can be such a fantastic choreographer.  That was so much fun to watch ... a showcase of fun, Latin competition ballroom.  They were so strong and sure and sexy.  And the fact that all 3 of them made Latin competition look fun deserves compliments all by itself.  The other two couples didn't hold a candle to them, although I liked Dmitry's choreography a lot and thought Serge was good.  (I thought the judges did acknowledge Dmitry, a couple of times.  Was that wrong?)  Nothing about the last number (the second cha cha) impressed me.  I'd be happy to let both Brooklyn and Tanisha go, on the basis of those performances.  Then again, I didn't think much of Tanisha when she auditioned, either.

 

All the comments about Valerie's hunched over style and back to the audience echo mine, too.  It looked ugly to me and was very distracting from Zach, who seemed to have an easier time.  I would be happy if Valerie left at some point with the two ballroom girls.  The ballerinas, I will give another chance.

 

Count me in as one who loved Christopher's Scott unconventional choice of music.  I loved his choreography although it made it look as though Teddy couldn't do much.  Emilio completely stole that number for me.  I like his personality, too.

 

Best dancers of the night, for me, were Ricky, Stanley, and Jessica.  I could watch those three do their thing sall day.  Loved them, and I really, enjoyed Stacy and Bonnie's choreography as well, and could have called it a good night already, and then to have the treat of Sonya blowing me away... 

 

To wrap up: Emily outshone Casey, Bridget held up pretty well to Stanley, and I don't remember Carly at all.  Nothing.  Nada.  Zip.

 

The guest judge was awful.  I hate these celebrity judges, I really do.  And Facebook, for voting?  Now I have no incentive at all to tune in live.  I just won't vote.  Boo, show, on an otherwise pretty auspicious start.

Edited July 13, 2014 by ToxicUnicorn