S12.E07: Top 20 Perform

[Caelicola]

What the effing eff was up with the camerawork?! Dammit, that totally ruined the Jaja-Lily-Burim-Asaf performance for me; one breaker at a time! A tiny bit of Jaja! Now closeup on Lily, but not the lower half of her body! And that really pissed me off, because those blessed few seconds of the two girls we got, I loooved.

Brian Friedman is still hot, and he rocks stilettoes way better than me, but I found his choreography a bit cheap, and, what's worse, unimaginative. There was nothing new or surprising there, just a whole bunch of prancing  around looking like strippers.

I love both JJ and Megz, but those were not superheroes, more like ordinary people trying desperately -and mostly failing- to keep up with each other. So, Agents of SHIELD, I suppose.

Stacey Tookey's was ok, I guess, nothing earth-shattering, and the freaking artificial fog on the floor is NOT A GOOD IDEA to showcase dancers, come on. So, even in the big night where they were supposed to showcase dancers in their own style, the tapper gets shuffled off in a flaily contemporary piece. Good to know, I guess.

The ballet boys were good, because they're good ballet dancers (by the way, Paula, NOT the first time we got two ballet boys; Chehon and Daniel were both ballet dancers in the same season, and they even did a trio with Eliana!), but again, the choreography was a bit paint by the numbers, not particularly interesting. And what does it mean, Nigel, that you need "more light in Darion's eyes"? That's a crap critique.

The Yorelis-Virgil-Ariana piece was entertaining, but a lot of fluff with very little substance.

Travis's piece was Travis's piece, as usual, a few interesting, lovely moments in the middle of a whole lot of obviousness (there was even a "go to sleep, Bich" thrown in there!), and while I liked Kate in it, I found Edson quite unremarkable. If Nigel had any balls, he wouldn't reprimand the dancers for the empty, emotionless reaching, but the choreographer himself, since that's a staple of most of his work.

As for the group dances; first of all, if you use Body Language, I'm automatically gonna think of Blake, and it's not a favorable comparison for any of this crop of contemporary/jazz dancers. Anyway, I enjoyed both more than any of the smaller group performances, maybe because the camerawork was less annoying.

Wow, I realize I'm a bit curmudgeonly, but I came away disappointed, especially on the street side, because I feel like they got a lot of really really good dancers who are being let down by either the choreographers or the other, less good, dancers in their teams, and that's such a waste.

[rollerblade]

I'm confused with the format too ...... and shouldn't the reverse be true as well;  "force" the street dancers to perform routines that aren't watered down or give them a pass because the "pointed their toes?"  I cannot stand the condescension (or flat out lies) by the powers that be.. 

 

Just think of this week as your token "Meet the Top 20" episode, where the dancers are all featured in their own style (except Gabby). But unlike the previous Meets, we get to vote.

 

I'd feel more motivated to vote if I get to vote someone OFF vs voting them through. Guess I'm evil.

[scowl]

What the effing eff was up with the camerawork?! Dammit, that totally ruined the Jaja-Lily-Burim-Asaf performance for me; one breaker at a time! A tiny bit of Jaja! Now closeup on Lily, but not the lower half of her body! And that really pissed me off, because those blessed few seconds of the two girls we got, I loooved.

 

It looks like the director never bothers to see the rehearsals to decide how to shoot the performances so he's just randomly switching between cameras. There was also a great shot of a cameraman carrying a camera in front of the stage.

[crowceilidh]

I think that Nigel was dead on with his criticism of the girls in underwear.  They are the ones who turned it into stripper work rather than jazz because of their attitudes towards the choreo.  I like to see some racier choreo (it was what I always loved about SYTYCda), but it was the dancers' working grind attitude that didn't allow it to be burlesque jazz and pushed it into more exploitative territory.  Some of that's on BFree and Travis for not catching the problem.

 

The mentor clutch at the end of each dance is going to get tiresome fast.  Esp if the mentor is concerned to control what the dancers are saying.

[MrsMoltisanti]

Who wants to see Twitch do some Magic Mike?  yep. I do.

[innocuouspuff]

I too, enjoy Paula very much here. I'd love to see her dance and let Jason sit the hell down. He was doing moves and SHAH! that MJ did (much better) 30 years ago.

Ha, I'm a bit of a Jason fan - he writes catchy stuff and that's pretty much all I require out of life. But I remember coming across comments on an early video of his criticising him for ripping off Justin Timerberlake, and *headdesk*. All these solo pop guys copy MJ's style and moves constantly so it's not that notable to me, but imagine being young enough to think JT invented it all. *shakes old lady cane*

He is improving as a judge though, and honestly Paula mixing up words and shouting random things is part of her charm imo.

If everyone was showcasing their style shouldn't Gabby have gotten to do a tap solo? Not to mention not saddling anyone with the struggling bboys. Asaf is going to be so over his head next week, I can't even imagine.

Edited July 14, 2015 by innocuouspuff

[Rick Kitchen]

The devil and her prey went to hell.....hence jumped off the stage for effect.

 

No, I mean the last number where all ten Street performers danced

 

 

What I really liked about the ballet routine is that some of the side by side was in the same direction and some of it was mirrored. Some of it was the two guys doing the exact same steps but some of it was different so it wasn't just synchronized side by side choreography the entire time. They each got their own moments to do different leaps and turns

 

Actually, that bugged me because I couldn't tell if they were dancing out of sync.

[realdancemom]

I was wondering if the camera work was purposely off for the Jaja/B-boys/Lily routine because the B-Boys were not synchronized with each other.  I think the B-Boys should have danced together so they wouldn't have affected the other two girls.  Lily should have been paired with JJ if she was a wacker.  Jaja could have been paired with Neptune since I think he's a krumper.  Except for Virgil, the girls are the better street dancers.  The one that doesn't stand out is the one that wore white in the Locked Out Of Heaven dance.

 

Jim and Gaby are my favorites for the stage side.  Both ballet boys were good but I think Jim was better.  Hailee was the standout in the jazz routine.

[luvthepros]

......If everyone was showcasing their style shouldn't Gabby have gotten to do a tap solo? Not to mention not saddling anyone with the struggling bboys. Asaf is going to be so over his head next week, I can't even imagine.

Why not bring in one of the previous tappers (Aaron, Zack, Valerie) and have Gabby dance in her own genre?

 

Paula went to bat for Asaf, claiming to Nigel the "he is teachable". We'll see, Paula.

No, I mean the last number where all ten Street performers danced

 

 

Oh, sorry. I misunderstood which performance you were referring to. As for the last number....I'll have to watch again.

[Wootini]

Yeah, I noticed in the final group street number that the two B-boys jumped off the stage towards the end. So for the final bit where everyone was dancing in sync, they simply had to make their way back up to the stage so they could be in position for their final B-boy moves at the ending bit. Convenient, eh? ;)

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Asaf did a flip and then slid off the front of the stage (on purpose)  and I think that B1 just ran off the stage at the same time. While the other eight street dancers who are actually capable of learning choreography did the last synchronized section, you could see Asaf then enter stage right and crouch down by the set piece in the back (I think it was a cargo net or something). After the synchronized section, B1 ran to the front to do his solo while Asaf joined the rest of the group before hitting the final pose.

 

When two dancers leave the stage like that, it's because they can't do the choreography so if either of them gets a non-bboy style next week, they are going to have to rely on their charm and personality for votes. Or maybe one of them will get a choreographer who tries to be nice and gives them a routine where the guy just stands there posing while the girl dances around him (we used to call this prop dancing in high school) and then he gets a few solo moves and then picks her up a few times.

Edited July 14, 2015 by ElectricBoogaloo

[ari333]

Has this ever happened before where a person/s get to leave the stage if they cant do the dance?

[Kat]

 

the bboys leaving during the hard choreo during group dance was lame.

This was SO lame. And I think at least Burim would have been up to the challenge. Anyway... 

 

As usual my boyfriend Christopher Scott's routines were the best of the night for me. And although I was underwhelmed by his choreography this week, I was so damn excited to see Brian Friedman back on this show that I did a little jig in my living room. Damn it, I wish they'd have him be a judge again. He was the bitchy-straight talkingiest-constructive feedbacker-best!

[crowceilidh]

There have been times where people have left the stage before in group dances.  I cannot remember who, although Twitch had quite a rep for being choreo'd around at one time.  I didn't really agree.

[Mason]

Are there to be no guest judges this season? I don't like that the same people who decided on the auditions and Vegas also decide who makes top 10.

[cali1981]

Anyone notice that among the All-stars was Kayla Rodamski from Season 5, she of the great Addiction number by Mia Michaels? I was big fan of hers that season and felt that she was a better dancer than Jeannine Mason who won.  On that season's finale, after she had been eliminated, Kayla and Kupono reprised Addiction and when it was done she got a thunderous, prolonged standing ovation which the director showed when he/she switched to the camera at the back of stage so that you could see Kayla standing there and the audience on its feet when the house lights came up.  Its nice to see her back.

[KLovestoShop]

I really can't fault the three girls who did the overtly sexual dance. I blame the choreographer, period. They were only dancing the routine that was given to them, so blaming them for being too sexy was wrong. They should have been lecturing Friedman, not the girls.

[rollerblade]

Are there to be no guest judges this season? I don't like that the same people who decided on the auditions and Vegas also decide who makes top 10.

 

Since when do guest judges have any decision making power? They usually just critique (and to market their show/movie/whatever). Voting public and producers do all the decision making. "Judges deliberation" for the bottom 3 folks is just a false front.

[Mason]

Since when do guest judges have any decision making power? They usually just critique (and to market their show/movie/whatever). Voting public and producers do all the decision making. "Judges deliberation" for the bottom 3 folks is just a false front.

I'm remembering people like Debbie Allen in Vegas. There used to be a whole line of them. And not the same 3 people at every audition stop.

[Electruck]

Yes, that was Kayla, who I was very happy to see. Joshua was in there, too, yes? Thrilled to see him, too.

In addition to the poor camerawork, geez, the lighting! Ridiculous.

[rollerblade]

Pre Live rounds, the judges probably have more power to weed people out. But for Top 20... it's all producers. Not gonna comb through the terms & conditions, but I don't believe Jason or Paula had 2/3 combined voting power on who they want to cast for the Top 20. I bet their input are taken into consideration, but the producers will stack their deck with whoever they think will give them the biggest ratings.

 

Top 10? Mostly voters. Guest judges have zero say. Do you really want guest judge Erin Andrews to help decide who makes the Top 10? No TY.

[pamplemousse]

I actually liked Brian Friedman's jazz routine, it was one of my favorites of the night. I was so excited to see him back on the show (does anyone remember the piece he choreographed for Jessica & Jaymz in season 2 to Let Go? I thought that was such a classic contemporary/lyrical piece). I didn't find the dance too sexy or raunchy, it looked straight out of a music video or a pop concert with kind of a throwback '90s flair (a la En Vogue or Madonna). I take back everything I said last week about Hailee, she's probably my favorite female on the stage team, she owned that piece and she's a much better performer and dancer than Kourtni Lind. Marissa and Alexia looked like her back up dancers (not to put too fine of a point on it, but I disliked Alexia in everything, particulary the group routine where the camera kept zooming in on her stupid-looking I'm a sexy kitten meow facial expression). It made me feel violated when Nigel said during his critique that she looked like Madonna because the whole time I was watching the dance I kept thinking she was so Madonna circa The Girlie Show world tour and I do not like sharing the same thoughts as Nigel.

 

Cool to see Jasmine, Kayla, and whoever the third female dancer was en pointe in the Jason Derulo performance. I think the All-Stars were Marko, Kathryn, Joshua Allen, Fikshun, Kayla, Jasmine, Robert Roldan, Comfort, and I think I'm missing a couple more.

 

Jim has much better technique than Darion and cleaner lines, but he dances too soft for my taste. No male ballet dancer on the show has yet to get anywhere near the level of Danny Tidwell in my book.

 

Asaf doesn't really annoy me, although sometimes his dorky earnestness makes me want to cringe. Liike when he wanted to thank his team mates on the show, I understand why he wanted to do that, he probably wanted to do it publicly, but as we've seen before on this show and Asaf doesn't seem to know this, dancers who like to talk -- especially talk back -- and take time away from Nigel blathering on and on, will regret it eventually. Because Creepy Uncle Nigel wants dancers to show their ~personality~ but he doesn't want them to actually speak or show that they have an independent thought or opinion in their heads, he'd prefer they just be good little quiet dancing monkeys and leave the speech-making to him. I actually find Asaf amusing in a 'lol, this dork, smh' kind of way. I think people take his dorkiness and need to express himself too seriously and in a negative light because he is so good-looking that he must be arrogant and full of it. I don't think he's arrogant, I think he's weird, talkative, likes to joke around, kind of lazy but works hard when he needs to (I actually thought he did ok in the group routine, I thought he was going to be far worse), and can get a little defensive because he seems to have some issues about being seen as just an entertaining dancing monkey with no technical ability. I think he's an excellent b-boy and he has some cool ideas about how to incorporate his religion and ethnicity into his dancing.

Edited July 15, 2015 by pamplemousse

[shortpplfedup]

I'm tired of this show casting 'b boys' who can't dance. If you've got some tricks up your sleeve, you get pushed forward, but you can't toprock, can't downrock, can't follow the music...can't DANCE. Not interested in the culture, not involved in it, but think spinning on your head is cool so that makes you a b boy. Nah. Miss me.

[fallaway]

Has this ever happened before where a person/s get to leave the stage if they cant do the dance?

Well there was the time that Cedric just sat in a corner while Shauna danced for about 30 seconds, in season 3.

[Zuleikha]

There have been times where people have left the stage before in group dances.

I always think of that caveperson hip hop group routine when Ryan DiLello was absent for something like 3/4 of the routine and entered just to toss Ashleigh at someone else (forget who) and basically disappear. That was the most blatant sit someone out I can remember. I feel like the 10+ dancer group routines usually have people on-and-off the stage, which makes it easy to choreograph around people's weaknesses. 

 

If you've got some tricks up your sleeve, you get pushed forward, but you can't toprock, can't downrock, can't follow the music...can't DANCE.

I think it's different with the international dancers. Of course, they're going to be dancing a variant that won't be the same as American b-boying. I'm not completely sold on Burim, who seems more trick/trick/head spin based on what I've seen, but I think Asaf dances.

 

does anyone remember the piece he choreographed for Jessica & Jaymz in season 2 to Let Go?

YES! That is one of my favorite contemporary dances. 

[Cuatro1234]

Cat's dress got lifted from an origami competition, I'm sure.  You gotta love that she has some hits, some misses, and is always fun to watch.

 

I really liked both the Team Stage and Team Street group dances--I thought the Team Stage group actually worked together better--and this show was so much more fun than just partner dance after partner dance.

 

I was "meh" on Yorelis and Jim before this show, but find myself liking them both a lot now.  I didn't like the ballet dance so much though.  Jim's and Darion's movement styles are just so different for them to be side-by-side.  And I'm in no way homophobic, but I thought some of those moves and lifts were better suited to a male/female partnership.  Both boys are so strong and muscular, it just didn't look good to me to see one of them in that more feminine role.  I'm sure others disagree.

 

Thank you, Michelle Obama, for loving this show.  It makes this over-40 mom and non-dancer professional woman feel less skeevy about being so obsessed with it :)

 

Very mean petty comment coming:   why is Gaby's forehead so large?  Is it just the way they're doing her hair?  I couldn't quit analyzing that, and it took away from her otherwise beautiful dancing.....

 

Are Moises and Edson mirror-image twins?

 

Jaja dances like she could balance a glass of water on her head throughout and not spill a drop.  And I love it.  Her movement is so controlled. I love watching her.

 

OK to whomever said Kate was fodder---after tonight, I completely agree.  Alexia and Ariana too.  Probably Derek also, which is too bad.  The manipulations have already begun....

 

It was so interesting to me that in that one Team Street quartet, there were 4 different non-US countries represented:  Czech Republic, Mexico, Switzerland and Israel.  I'm easily amused, you see.

Edited July 15, 2015 by Cuatro1234

[Rick Kitchen]

Cat tweeted that her dress was Thierry Mugler

[Cuatro1234]

 

Cat tweeted that her dress was Thierry Mugler

 

Maybe he should stick to perfume?

[Zuleikha]

I finally finished watching all the dances and I think I do like this format, although I still wish it was 3/3/3 with ballroom represented. But I felt like I was seeing hip hop showcased for the first time, with visible substyles that were all respected. I wish ballroom had gotten that, too. It made Team Stage feel much less fresh, though, because the stage styles have had plenty of representation at this point.

 

I liked Brian Friedman's jazz as a choreography, but it required a confident, mature sexiness. How old were those women dancing? They looked like the typical 18/19 year old contemporary contestants. Hailee did a great job nailing the right attitude and facial expressions, but was it really a surprise that the other two faltered? 

 

I am finding Lily and JJ strangely difficult to tell apart in motion. I don't think they look anything at all alike in photos, so I don't know why this is. I like both of them, though.

 

Virgil really is everything. So is Gaby. Jim let me down in the ballet duo. He kept having these dissonant moments of lightness with his arms and hand that didn't seem to fit the martial vibe of the duet piece. His solo seemed very martial and harsh to me, so I was really surprised by it. I actually liked the costumes, though.

[pamplemousse]

I finally finished watching all the dances and I think I do like this format, although I still wish it was 3/3/3 with ballroom represented. But I felt like I was seeing hip hop showcased for the first time, with visible substyles that were all respected. I wish ballroom had gotten that, too. It made Team Stage feel much less fresh, though, because the stage styles have had plenty of representation at this point.

 

[snip]

 

I am finding Lily and JJ strangely difficult to tell apart in motion. I don't think they look anything at all alike in photos, so I don't know why this is. I like both of them, though.

 

Virgil really is everything. So is Gaby. Jim let me down in the ballet duo. He kept having these dissonant moments of lightness with his arms and hand that didn't seem to fit the martial vibe of the duet piece. His solo seemed very martial and harsh to me, so I was really surprised by it. I actually liked the costumes, though.

Agree with a lot of this. I really missed the presence of ballroom. Without a ballroom routine, team stage got kind of boring and their routines started seeming samey-samey after a while. But hey, that's what happens when you eliminate all the ballroom dancers except one and he doesn't want to play your manipulative games.

 

I also had trouble sometimes telling Lily and JJ apart when they dance, but I think Lily is better.

 

Yes! I think that's what I meant when I said Jim dances too soft. The problem wasn't with his lower body, it was his port de bras that was too soft and airy.

 

I think my least favorite dance of the night was the top 20 group number, it seemed quite messy to me and Gaby stood out to me and not in a good way. I think she was much better in the trio although the fog was distracting and unnecessary.

 

Michelle Obama is lovely and she just seems fun.

 

I really like Burim and I have since he auditioned with his brother. However, when I compare him and Asaf, I think Burim is more trick-focused and one-dimensional. I still enjoy watching him b-boy, but his stuff is all stuff I've seen before from b-boys and I think Asaf is a bit different. I mean, Asaf is not reinventing the wheel, by any means, but I found his solos a little more creative (and I don't mean the hanging move, which I thought was a little gimmicky albeit effective judging by the reactions of the judges and other dancers during Vegas week). And Asaf seems a bit lighter yet more stable in his movements when he b-boys, that's the impression I got watching the quartet and comparing the two b-boys (although the iffy camera work and lighting sure didn't make it easy to compare them). I actually quite liked that quartet routine aside from the camera work and lighting.

 

I kind of wonder if Asaf is going to get pretty far and I'm going to find myself in a retread of season 2 with Ivan, where I'm going to end up being a fan of and defending a hip hop dancer that most other people dislike intensely (Ivan was totally despised in his original season on the boards, and yes, I have been watching this show for way too long). Particularly if people perceive Asaf as a threat to Jim's continued presence on the show (like how many people worried that Travis would be eliminated before Ivan, when it seemed pretty apparent to me that the only 'threat' to Travis staying in the competion was Benji). Hopefully, that shouldn't end up being the case since they're going to split up the eliminations between street and stage and vote off one from each every week.

Edited July 15, 2015 by pamplemousse

[luvthepros]

Has this ever happened before where a person/s get to leave the stage if they cant do the dance?

Mia Michaels had Cedrick sit on the stage to take a time out from choreography. His partner did all the work in that dance. It was so obvious that Mia had to resort to that.

Edited July 15, 2015 by luvthepros

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I kind of wonder if Asaf is going to get pretty far and I'm going to find myself in a retread of season 2 with Ivan, where I'm going to end up being a fan of and defending a hip hop dancer that most other people dislike intensely (Ivan was totally despised in his original season on the boards, and yes, I have been watching this show for way too long). Particularly if people perceive Asaf as a threat to Jim's continued presence on the show (like how many people worried that Travis would be eliminated before Ivan, when it seemed pretty apparent to me that the only 'threat' to Travis staying in the competion was Benji).

I didn't actively dislike Ivan. I just disliked that he got the "OMG, you're an untrained hip hop dancer so it's amazing any time that you don't fall flat on your face in other dance styles!" treatment from the judges. It also annoyed me that they spent so much time praising him that their usual comment (yes, comment singular) for Alison each week was, "Alison, you were great as usual. But let's talk about Ivan!" I think Travis was overrated even back in S2 and I loved Benji so I not so secretly laughed and laughed when Benji won (although the irony was not lost on me that the main prize was a contract to do contemporary dance in the Celine Dion show).

 

I don't dislike Asaf. I just think that he is going to need to pick up choreography a lot better and faster than he did this week. If he couldn't handle the last section of the street group choreography, how is he going to handle a salsa or Broadway routine where it's even more outside of his comfort zone and he can't run off stage or be hidden in the back row? It's going to be really glaring if he's in a pair and unable to learn the steps, let alone the style itself.

[luvthepros]

Are there to be no guest judges this season? I don't like that the same people who decided on the auditions and Vegas also decide who makes top 10.

 

Actually, I like the consistency of the judging panel. Unless guest judges see all the auditions and live performances, they don't have a well rounded view of the capabilities of each contestant. There should be a basis for comparison and for a growth arc. I don't necessarily like Jason on the panel (would much prefer Adam Shankman) but at least Jason did improve with his critiques on the first live show.

[innocuouspuff]

I don't dislike Asaf, I'm just worried about whether he's going to be able to hang. I'm always rooting for people to do well but as it stands I feel a bit weird about the producers throwing him into a situation everyone seemed to know he wasn't quite ready for, strictly to "entertain" us. We'll see and if he nails next week's choreography I'll cheer.

[Tara Ariano]

In case you missed it, here's the Previously.TV post on the episode!

 

The Shame Game / The Top 20 kicks off with strong performances and Nigel lecturing women half his age on the type of sexiness he expects from them.

[Mason]

Having no guest judges isn't the same as having no bad guest judges. But my point really wasn't that I was missing them during the live shows. I miss the involvement of other dance professionals at the early stages. Now the orchestration is too obvious. Which may be why Asaf is with us, since no one seems able to put a muzzle on him and, if he gets the votes, he can stand in for spontaneity.

 

I understand why producers and showrunners do what they do. I even understand why Erin Andrews was a judge--a way for her to get a bit of exposure before DWTS. What I miss is their recognition that any good play (in our case, live performance) requires the audience to maintain a suspension of disbelief, and it is their job to help us do so.

 

   

[crowceilidh]

I think next year should be Team Breakin' vs. Team Ballroom.  Those alliterate.

[Hana Chan]

Count me as another one rooting for Team Street. As a whole, they just seem like a much more dynamic and memorable group than most of the stage dancers. I'm hoping that Asaf can get his head wrapped around the idea of choreography because he's got great musicality in his b-boying and I think he's got a lot of potential. Unlike the stage group, there doesn't seem to be much in the way of cannon fodder with the street dancers. It's going to be a lot easier for them to stand out from the crowd than Contemporary Girl #3.

 

I was relatively unimpressed by most of the stage performances, primarily because it wasn't anything I haven't seen before a few million times. Am tired of the melodramatic contemporary routines (and so glad that Travis's derivative choreography finally got called out). The only routine that stood out at all for me was the one with the two ballet boys, and sadly as much as I enjoyed it I would have loved to have seen it performed by Alex and Chehon. As for the sexy jazz routine - I wasn't all that impressed either by the choreography (which seemed awfully heavy) and the dancing itself. I agree with the judges that the performance were one-dimensional and was a classic example of trying too hard to be sexy (which made it the least sexy thing possible). A little nuance goes a long way.

Need to add that I'm just loving Paula as a judge. There were times on American Idol where she had these great moments of coherency (when she wasn't absolutely melting over Adam Lambert) and gave some good advice. She's definitely giving well thought out critiques here and it's something of a relief not to have Mary screaming about being on the Hot Tamale Train all the time.

[smlait]

Of the three girls in the Trenchcoat routine, I enjoyed Marisa the most.  I felt like she got the spirit of the dance the best (despite Hailee being plunked front and center almost the whole time - likely because she was tallest and probably had the "best lines").

[Anothermi]

Count me as another one rooting for Team Street. As a whole, they just seem like a much more dynamic and memorable group than most of the stage dancers. I'm hoping that Asaf can get his head wrapped around the idea of choreography because he's got great musicality in his b-boying and I think he's got a lot of potential. Unlike the stage group, there doesn't seem to be much in the way of cannon fodder with the street dancers. It's going to be a lot easier for them to stand out from the crowd than Contemporary Girl #3.

 

I'm willing to give everyone a bit more time to show who they can be, but I agree that at this point I know more Street dancers by name than Stage dancers. If this continues after a couple more episodes, the part I bolded above will become very painfull because it's been made clear (to me at least) that every week one dancer from each TEAM (Street & Stage) will be sent home. That will mean a whole lot of grief when "meh" contemporary dancers remain while a great/memorable street dancer is shown the door.

 

All I can hope is that this format will allow a few more female street dancers to make it into the Top 10. In the seasons where anyone can go (specifically S7) the women were the early departures. I suppose it won't be much different than the male/female bootee system. There was a lot of discussion about wishing two females or two males could have been evicted over who was actually sent home of the bottom three. It doesn't seem possible to please everyone and at least this kind of system gives us "drama" and something to talk about.

[akr]

Neither of them is Russian. Asaf is Israeli (and really doesn't look or talk like a Russian-Israeli), and Burim is Swiss (but based on his and his brother's names I'm guessing their parents are from one of the Balkan countries).

 

 

Burim identifies as Albanian, according to this: http://www.kosovodiaspora.org/dancing-with-worlds-pop-stars/ (born in Skopje, Macedonia, family moved to Switzerland when he was 6, so identifies as both). Excerpt::

 

Today, Jusufi can be found accompanying worldwide popstar Rihanna on her tour, as well as performing with “Cirque du Soleil” in Las Vegas.

“Since july 2012 and till now i’m living in Las Vegas in The Beatles show LOVE by Cirque du Soleil, which Cirque du soleil is one of the biggest entertainment and show business companies in the world”

 

When asked about how he sees himself promoting Kosovo through his work, he says:

“Everywhere I go I get asked where I’m from and even though I grew up in Switzerland I always say I’m Shqiptar/Albanian. In the training room of The Beatles LOVE Theatre there are flags representing the different countries that the artists come from. Naturally, I chose the Albanian flag. I always try to represent and Promote Albanians/shqiptarët (Kosovo/Albania/Macedonia) everywhere i go.” 

 

Asaf's background, beyond Israeli, I didn't see much about (last name is probably Ashkenazi, other than that who knows) but what did pop right up is his Wilhelmina modeling profile. Pics include Calvin Klein and Hugo Boss underwear, and some B-boy poses in jeans. http://www.wilhelmina.com/los-angeles/models/mainboard/men/833295/asaf-goren

Edited July 15, 2015 by akr

[Pallida]

Of the three girls in the Trenchcoat routine, I enjoyed Marisa the most.  I felt like she got the spirit of the dance the best (despite Hailee being plunked front and center almost the whole time - likely because she was tallest and probably had the "best lines").

 

I completely agree!  I thought Hailee's mugging was distracting and didn't fit the vibe of the piece at all.

[Haleth]

Ok, I just finished watching. That is outrageous that Asaf and Burim left the stage because they couldn't handle the choreography. The audience needs to see what they can or cannot do. Letting them hide is a cop out. I especially hate that Asaf was allowed to be on the show if he is unable to perform at this level. Sure, he is pretty, but there must have been more capable alternates. Hope they both end up in the bottom 3 but I guess the producers want to keep Asaf around because of his unpredictable personality.

The street girls were all good. I also like Gaby and Hailey and the ballet boys. I really enjoyed the stage group dance but the all stars were even better. I still want to put cutie pie Fikshun in my pocket and bring him home. And my girl crush on Jasmine Harper continues.

[phoenix780]

What the effing eff was up with the camerawork?! Dammit, that totally ruined the Jaja-Lily-Burim-Asaf performance for me; one breaker at a time! A tiny bit of Jaja! Now closeup on Lily, but not the lower half of her body! And that really pissed me off, because those blessed few seconds of the two girls we got, I loooved.

 

Yeah, during the routine I wished they'd replaced the camera people not the stage.  We wuz robbed!

 

I'm going to enjoy the Street team as long as possible.  Hopefully seeing them outside their genres won't be too terrible, either because they completely suck or because Nigel is extremely patronizing ("You managed to not fall over and you're not even trained!" will get old real quick).  I don't think their choreography was any fresher- I'm about as over animating as I am flailing dramatically about love/family/disease- but I think those contestants are.  Of course, I skipped auditions so I don't know all the sob stories and whatnot.  

 

As for Nigel's comment about said dramatic flailing- I'll applaud him if it's not just setup so he can later compliment the exact same choreo by contrasting it with this one.  Which I guess is my way of saying I'm cynical about it, though it was nice to hear.

 

Is it straight viewer votes this season?  Or viewers but the judges can save people?

[gik910]

 

I really can't fault the three girls who did the overtly sexual dance. I blame the choreographer, period. They were only dancing the routine that was given to them, so blaming them for being too sexy was wrong. They should have been lecturing Friedman, not the girls.

 

I finally watch the episode tonight (after reading all about it here obviously) and was expecting something much worse than what I saw.  Aside from the fact that I agree with the above statement (and this applies to a lot of critiques over the seasons to a lot of different dances) I didn't actually think the dance itself was that overtly sexual ( the stilettos & strappy get-ups, yes. The dance itself, not so much.) There were several movies that were very impressive (especially in those heels!) Hailey was the standout for me in that piece.  I really did think she nailed the attitude of the dance. Marissa (is she the brunette?) was a bit too "happy-smiley" for me.

 

I HATE, HATE, HATE the little in-between chats with the mentors after each dance/judging and I love Twitch.  

 

I really enjoyed the Heaven dance.  It was fun.  I do not need all of my dances to be emotional hurdles.  I really dig Virgil, I love Yorelis, and Ariana did her thing. 

 

I love that we do have a decent amount of older dancers this year- it really does give some seasoning to the whole thing. 

 

So far- Jim, Virgil, Jaja, Yorelis are my standouts.  Hailey might be on that list too.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I really can't fault the three girls who did the overtly sexual dance. I blame the choreographer, period. They were only dancing the routine that was given to them, so blaming them for being too sexy was wrong. They should have been lecturing Friedman, not the girls.

In addition, if they had been in different costumes I think that the dance wouldn't have seemed quite as sexual. I mean, bras, underwear, and garter belts? You could wear that while singing "I'm a Little Teapot" and it would come off as sexual. I'm not denying that Brian was intentionally creating a sexy dance but when you add the choreography with those costumes, it amps up the sexuality. Imagine if they had been wearing dresses or pants (or, you know, anything besides what amounted to dance lingerie). Then the dance would have seemed more like confident women than The Sexy Dance.

Edited July 16, 2015 by ElectricBoogaloo

[chaddyou812]

In addition, if they had been in different costumes I think that the dance wouldn't have seemed quite as sexual. I mean, bras, underwear, and garter belts? You could wear that while singing "I'm a Little Teapot" and it would come off as sexual. I'm not denying that Brian was intentionally creating a sexy dance but when you add the choreography with those costumes, it amps up the sexuality. Imagine if they had been wearing dresses or pants (or, you know, anything besides what amounted to dance lingerie). Then the dance would have seemed more like confident women than The Sexy Dance.

 

I completely agree with you. The choreography together with the costuming, imo, made it impossible for the girls to not come across as overtly sexual. There was absolutely nothing subtle about it. To me, sex appeal comes from the dancer's attitude and movement, not how much skin they have on display anyways. That's why older dancers tend to be more appealing than 18 and 19 year olds (saying this as a 19 year old). I find a healthy medium between clothed and unclothed to be perfect in most 'sexy' dances, because it allows the dancer to go for it without the danger of it going too far. Courtney Galiano's outfit in "The Garden" was perfect, and she was incredibly hot in that routine.

[ToxicUnicorn]

I'm bummed that the FOX Now channel decided to cut out the judges' comments in their clips the one time it sounded like the judges had something to say.

 

Body Language also made me think of S1 Blake.  For me, he absolutely owns that music.

 

 

I had a weird disconnect while watching the clips.  I thought (aside from the Brian Friedman piece) that the choreography was far above average for a Top 20 show,yet the dancing was horrifyingly unpolished.  What is the opposite of dancing in unison?  I'm really asking, because I need to know that term.

 

I freaking love Christopher Scott.  And I thought Stacey Tookey's routine was refreshingly good.

 

I did not miss Tyce at all, although I will say that if he has to come back, let him choreograph group numbers, not duets.  His group numbers are ok.

 

Of the contestants, Gaby stood out like a shining light for me.  I also liked Kate.  On the street side, the girls were good - the boys weren't as impressive.  I did see how the "street" contestants were able to do their thing, which was completely more ill, buck, or whatever than what usually happens on this show, but I am wary of the format and maybe not as excited about seeing them dance this season as many.  In the past, I enjoyed the street boys because (1) it was really fun to seem them give their all to the cross-genre challenge and (2) that made it even more fun to see them shine when they got a chance to do their own thing and (3) the ones I liked had big-time charisma or amazing, new to me, skills.  By now, I find the spinning on the floor, jumping into a freeze thing still impressive, physically, but as familiar (and sort of boring) as the HMS (here's my scrotum move... TM some hilarious poster on TWoP) that I get the feeling Jim will do every freaking week.

 

While I think the format change is giving the show some badly needed new energy, and I'm a fan of the new judging panel compared to the old scream and rotate ones, what this show really made me do was miss the really early seasons.  I don't think I've lost my mind over this show since Mad World in Season 7.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BePGx_KjvmM

Is it straight viewer votes this season?

 

The marriage equality thing must still be on my mind, because the first time I read that, I got it completely wrong!  (I had a moment where I honestly sat thinking, why in the hell would they do that?  Then, it clicked.  I'm back with you.)

Edited July 16, 2015 by ToxicUnicorn

[EyesGlazed]

Wow, some of the camera work was laughable . . . In my opinion, the choreographers should be deciding the camera blocking, or it should at least stay consistent. 

Another disservice- as we've said year after year- is the camera work.  I know it's not "fancy" or whatever, but this show just needs to have a camera at the front of the stage and leave it there- unmoving!  You have more than one dancer moving over the entire stage.  I hate when the cameras tell me where I should be looking.  I want to see the WHOLE routine!  Sometimes, if I like the routine, I'd like to rewatch and maybe focus on another aspect of the dance myself.  It's harder to do when the camera is all over the place, showing the judges, etc.

 

So much word to all of the above.  I cannot enjoy the group routines when the camera is constantly swooping and switching angles and going closeup then far away.  I actually tried to count how long the camera held each view and it was about two seconds each time.  Ridiculous.  Does this show think we're all 6-year-olds who will cease to pay attention unless the camera is frantically moving around??  Does this show think we can't focus on the, you know, dancing?

 

Paula gave more insightful critiques tonight than she did her entire time on Americal Idol. I don't know if the producers are allowing her to show she knows what she is talking about, or she's on new meds or the plants are aligned just right... Keep it up Paula!

Maybe her "plants" are aligned and she's smoking them before the show.  ; )  I agree she's doing good work on the critique.  Jason is  improving on that front too.

 

I don't know which I hated more, the Sex Dance or the critique afterwards.  Where oh where in that routine was there any space for "subtle sexuality"?  Those poor girls.  That said, I think the dance could have been salvaged with different costuming.  If they'd put the girls in some feminized version of men's tuxedos, for instance.

 

Standouts for me are Gaby, Yorelis, Virgil, JJ, the ballet boys (but they are no Alex Wong), the Madonna girl, and Asaf merely because he is so entertaining, often unwittingly.  

[Shades of Red]

I don't know which I hated more, the Sex Dance or the critique afterwards.  Where oh where in that routine was there any space for "subtle sexuality"?  Those poor girls.  That said, I think the dance could have been salvaged with different costuming.  If they'd put the girls in some feminized version of men's tuxedos, for instance.

 

Putting them into tuxedos would have been great.  It's funny that whenever I read or hear about how "sexy" some of the routines are I laugh because they have nothing on some of the routines that we watched on the Canadian version.  I will agree with the judges' comments about attitude and sometimes "just having it" (paraphrasing).  I've met some people who just exude sensuality and sexuality without trying.  It can come naturally to some people but sadly on this show that's rare.

 

The young woman with the short blonde hair in this routine looked like the Gail character on Rookie Blue to me vs looking like Madonna.

 

While I thought the ballet piece was incredible, I also held my breath the entire time as the floor appeared to be very slippery.  I wasn't impressed that the choreographer thought it was a good idea to have the guys slide in different parts of the routine.  Looked very dangerous to me but I'm not a dancer so maybe it only looked that way.

 

On a very shallow note, thanks for the link on Asaf, especially now that I know how tall he is.  I would think for a modeling profile the height would have to be accurate.  This makes me wonder how tall Cat is in her high heels?!  No wonder some of the dancers look so teeny next to her when Asaf wasn't even as tall as she is with his height.