S12.E08: Top 20 Perform + Elimination

[Tara Ariano]

The Top 20 dancers perform. Also: the season's first elimination.

[hula-la]

I'm a little confused. Nigel keeps going on about how it's been his dream to see dancers of different styles come together and dance. Hasn't that basically been the entire premise of this show, not just this season?

Edited July 21, 2015 by hula-la

[Watt]

Amazing opening number I loved it. And Paula's hair is pretty. I started watching really late so I could fast forward lol is that terrible?

Don't like first Salsa. I hardly saw any actual Salsa. Yorelis is pretty.

Liked I think his name is Derek. Song was weird I guess but whatever. This show. I'm okay with Paula and what's his names comments.

I liked the next group. Guy who's name starts with a V, Virgil I think.

Bollywood was okay. I like Abs.

God for all Asaf is pretty I can't even. Poor Spencer. And everyone else in his routine.Kate bores me. I liked Neptune the most.

I want jaja to win. They made Nigel cry. Lol

I like jj. Liked the group. Like Moises or whatever his name was.

Anyway I'm good with who got kicked for now. Excited for tomorrow. I hope Mark and Chelsie are there.

Edited July 21, 2015 by Watt

[allypenguin]

Thank you SYTYCD for Burim's abs.

 

I missed the first 3 routines but I am seriously impressed with so many members of Team Street and how versatile they are. Megz and Neptune especially. I was so happy when he got the Twitter vote. Favourite routine was definitely the Jaja/Jim duet. I wanted to like Asaf but his attitude at the bae's (Spencer) rehearsal just turned me off. It kind of seems like Twitch and Chris Scott were annoyed/frustrated with him too.

[s-k-s]

That salsa was a hot mess, but I quite liked the rest.  I do wonder how the mixed group sizes will affect things - there's a lot less moments to shine when the dance is a threesome.

 

And actual judging, constructive criticism without crossing over into Mean Mia territory - what a concept!

 

I'd kick off about half of Team Stage before I'd even start touching Team Street (Asaf excepted) ... I think having something less than 75% contemporary/jazz has really been a breath of fresh air this year.

 

EDIT:  Also, Travis bugs more and more each week.  

Edited July 21, 2015 by s-k-s

[pally]

I wish Asaf would make up his mind.  First he complains when they make him do stuff he is unfamiliar with then he complains when they have him do b-boy stuff.

Jaja is luminously beautiful....she just glows.  She and Jim had great chemistry in that performance.  They made that whole dance look effortless.  

 

Did they have no actual comtempory?  That has to be a first in SYTYCD history.

Edited July 21, 2015 by pally

[Mason]

That salsa would have been the kiss of death for any male without ballroom training. Having to lead 2 women through fast-paced intricate moves that none was familiar with, while being responsible for ensuring neither of them were injured? This should have pairs. I suspect a setup... 

Edited July 21, 2015 by Mason

[Koffee Kup]

I strongly dislike the way they are eliminating dancers.  If "we" vote, then the dancer with the lowest votes should go home, period.

Edited July 21, 2015 by Koffee Kup

[PhD-Purgatory15]

Well....the judges sure tried to put lipstick on certain barnyard animal with that salsa trio. That was painfully awkward and bad. Really no surprise that it led to Darion getting the axe. He was the weak link in a really weak dance.

The duos lucked out, logistically in terms of learning choreo and visually because of the more straightforward camera work. And in Jaja and Jim's case because they paired up two of the strongest dancers in Jaja's preferred style. That was a nice showcase for her and Jim kept up admirably.

Really liked Virgil, Alexia and Megz. Probably the strongest trio dance far. They were all on the same wavelength, and it had a nice vibe.

Bollywood and the final jazz trio was both pretty meh...

I would've kept Lilly over Ariana, but they were both fifty shades of fodder and it really isn't going to make a difference in the grand scheme of the show.

[mrsnolatron]

I know I saw a flub in Ariana and Derek's "Cry Me A River" dance.  I'm pretty sure she was supposed to hold his hands as he jumped across the stage but instead she slipped so he ended up dragging her across.  And nobody said anything!  And they are the two who got saved.  Something's fishy in fishtown. 

 

Also, I think Burim is very easy on the eyes, and he looks like the world's best student standing next to Asaf, but I can't help thinking he was cast because he kind of looks like Robert Pattinson. Just me?

 

Sorry to see Lily go. She was a non-entity to me until tonight. Darion looked like he was half asleep the whole episode.

[rollerblade]

I'm so over this format. These 3-person dances just don't work unless it's hip hop, bollywood, or anything with mostly side-by-side synchronization stuff. TBH, the synchro unison is the only thing I like about the show anymore. It especially does NOT work for ballroom when the emphasis is on partnering. Ugh.

 

Those dancers who drew the short stick of trio dance, and then shine through nonetheless, deserves to go through in my book. (They actually drew it out of a hat, right, right?)

[TrudyC]

I know it's not the most original opinion of the evening, but I loved JaJa and Jim's routine. In addition to the dancing, I was really impressed with how they connected with each other, and with their acting. Jaja is no stranger to using her face in her dancing, so that wasn't really a surprise, but I thought Jim did a great job conveying many emotions.

 

Loved the opening number. The Scott and Chbeeb see-saw routine was cool. The salsa was my least favorite, but I really like Hailee. The stage group routine reminded me of one of Travis's group routines from last year. 

 

I was sad to see Lily go. I liked watching her dance, and I was looking forward to seeing more from her.

 

My 11 year old daughter's take on tonight's show, for anyone who cares to hear from this demographic:

 

She says that Moises was safe because Maddie from Dance Moms tweeted a picture of the two of them after it was announced that he was in the bottom, and requested votes. I have no idea of that has anything to do with the end results, but I'm glad he and Derek got to stay. 

 

She loves Kate, and was very impressed by Burim's abs.

 

She told me that Travis is starting to annoy her.

Edited July 21, 2015 by TrudyC

[phoenix780]

I had to watch the salsa after reading the comments here- can't do the rest of the episode without access to fast forward- and...wow.  I feel like they could have at least had his chest exposed or something.  I mean, put a dude in dark clothes while two scantily-clad girls shake their hips...he's going to fade, I think, especially if he's focused on not killing one of them.  At least give him a chance to get fans for his abs, y'know?

 

Why can't they set these kids up to succeed?  That was almost Doriana Disco level in terms of courting fatigue and injury.

 

ETA- so I lied and watched the trio with Megz, who is a frickin' force of nature...do the camera people not know what's going to happen?  They have trouble tracking a trio, it seems. 

 

Also Nigel- I feel like you're arguing against an audience that doesn't exist.  We didn't need you to prove to us that when Stage and Street come together you get magic.  I've been talking about this show forever, the only real criticisms I've read of "street" dancers are that you patronize them (you still do by acting when you act like it's a miracle they manage to move to the music), and that you hide cross-training to create "untrained dancer" narratives (see: Joshua from...Season 4 I think it was). 

 

So...bite me.  Your comment was not relevant to the question of why you did stage v. street, which I think most of us understand was a gimmick (like Bieber and the crews last year) you had no intention of making meaningful but probably needed to get executives on board with one more season.  Here's hoping we can now let it go and just watch dancers.

Edited July 21, 2015 by phoenix780

[dedave]

LOL, I'm still watching the show, but really, who cares at this point. 10 years, and they killed the show. AI being the first major reality show got to scripted and now SYTYCD is even phonier. Where's Simon when you need him? I haven't even bothered to learn any contestants this year, and only watched parts of the show. I usually grow angry at the stuff the force down our throats. I always hope for that "break out" performance. 

 

So tonight they went way to far, whoever did up Cat's makeup needs to be thrown in jail. 

 

I like the Curly haired tap dancer the best, so far.

 

So now they are doing some stupid number and I have the sound off, does not look like dance in the least bit. 

[lyric]

Yeah, I've totally lost the plot to this season...during auditions they explicitly said street would be dancing in their own style, and now it's just business as usual - street vs. stage and we have one street-ish dance + the group number.  I don't understand why this was advertised the way it was - the only difference is they picked half & half, but then make them do the same format as every other season. Could they just not find enough legit street choreographers?  It's all fun and games until I have to watch Jaja Viennese Waltz in a trio.

 

Plus, the dancers are highlighted even less as they dance in groups of 3 and 4, so we can make time for Seacrest's new project and other bullshit.  Gah, I looked forward to this season, but it's really kind of a mess.  The production value is at an all time low.

 

That said, JIm and Jaja were lovely to watch in the one 'street' performance - Jupiter was fun in the jazz piece as well.

Edited July 21, 2015 by lyric

[shortpplfedup]

The new format seems to have given some of the choreographers a shot in the arm, and it's reenergised the show to me. Aside from the trash salsa number and that horrible 'hip hop' by Chris Scott (he's not allowed to choreograph hip hop duets or choose his own duet music anymore. Wtf was that? Took JaJa and just neutered her) everything was good to great. Especially enjoyed the Leeper jazz pieces and the Dee Caspary (and I'm not a fan of his). Spencer's routine was pleasant enough but I am not a Kate fan and Asaf can go anytime as far as I'm concerned. The Bollywood also landed pretty 'meh' for me, but I could appreciate the physicality on display.

The team numbers were just so-so. I feel like the seesaws destroyed the momentum of the street number, and the stage number showed how stagnant Travis has become: even when he's trying to be outside the box it looks derivative and done. He's suffering from choreographer's block.

That opening number really redeemed Pharcyde and Phoenix for me after that travesty they put on last week.

I'm just glad they kept Ariana. She's a beautiful dancer. And Megz is quickly becoming my favourite of the season.

[Athena5217]

The salsa routine was one of the worst I have ever seen on this show, and I have been watching since Season 2. However, I don't blame the dancers or the choreographers-- I blame the show. Three people doing the salsa just Does Not Work. The salsa is a partner dance. This routine looked like a failed orgy.

Edited July 21, 2015 by Athena5217

[poppy-]

Darion the incompetent salsa dancer was one of the ballet boys, right? Travis needs to stop declaring things epic.  Last week he said that ballet boys routine would be HUGE and one of the guys gets voted out. This week he said his group number would blow everyone away and... well, the audience cheered when they threw that little blonde girl up really high. But that's cheerleading as much as dance, right?

 

Still like the judges. Though, Jason telling Darion that he should be more careful with those girls' safety in the salsa was misplaced.  The level of difficulty was absurd based on the capabilities of those dancers.

 

I thought Megs had her moments during that contemp routine but she looking a little lumbering and graceless at other times.... not really fair that the judges are hard on some dancers and not others. But I will say, I was super relieved to see that she wasn't voted out, while prettier, more feminine but more generic girls went bye-bye. Go American voters!

 

Yaya is the one with the subtitles? What charisma on stage.  Her, Yolandis, the leggy short haired blonde are the standouts.  None of the boys comes close. 

 

I've been watching since day 1 and I don't think we've had 5 really good hip hop girls total  up til now.  Comfort and Donyelle and..... um........I'm sure there was a couple more? This seaons Team Street GIRLS for the win. 

Edited July 21, 2015 by poppy-

[allypenguin]

My 11 year old daughter's take on tonight's show, for anyone who cares to hear from this demographic:

 

She says that Moises was safe because Maddie from Dance Moms tweeted a picture of the two of them after it was announced that he was in the bottom, and requested votes. I have no idea of that has anything to do with the end results, but I'm glad he and Derek got to stay. 

 

 

Oh wow she did (yes I did go check lol). Though she posted it on instagram. She has 3.5m followers so maybe it did help. I think she took classes with him in LA. For anybody else who watches Dance Moms :P

Edited July 21, 2015 by allypenguin

[Rick Kitchen]

I liked the opening number, except it ... just ended.

 

"We mixed the dancers up into groups and then the groups picked their dance styles."  So, they put people together into trios without having determined which style they were going to dance?

 

Yeah, we know Uncle Nige is an OBE, he uses it on his Twitter handle.

 

The spinning camera in the salsa routine was making me nauseous.  And, for a ballerina, Darion sure couldn't partner.

 

There's a Derek? But he and Ariana were great. I laughed that Nigel liked the reaches this week after criticizing them last week.

 

Virgil, Megz, Alexia - what was that?  Jazz?  Contemporary?  Virgil didn't do much.

 

The boys sure didn't do much for the first half of the Bollywood.

 

Asaf is getting on my last nerve.  Loved the guys' costumes in the Spencer number.  Kate was great as well as being gorgeous.

 

The subtitling of Jaja was funny.  Love her red shoes. Jim danced the hell out of that number. Christopher Scott didn't look all that impressed, though. I don't understand what the hell Nigel was nattering on about.  They've been doing this from the very beginning of the show. Jaja has such a pretty face.

 

The second Ray Leeper routine was good, but not great.  Moises is certainly boyish.

 

The seesaw routine was boring. The Stage routine was much better, though I would have liked to have seen more dancer interactions.

 

I hate Twitter voting, since it locks the West Coast out of the voting.

[Lindsey]

I don't like all the forced trios and quartets, but my guess is that it has less to do with the "Stage vs. Street" set up than it does with making room for those ridiculous infomercials for deodorant and whatever that Seacrest thing is. I hate that they're using up good dancing time on extended ads, but it's also probably the only reason Fox agreed to bring the show back this year.

 

The thing that's bothering me the most this season is Asaf. I don't remember anyone on this show having been so obviously cast to generate drama before. SYTYCD was never really about that in the past and was a much better show for it.

[Blueeyedgirl]

So there is Twitter voting, which means that the entire western part of the country is irrelevant?  That annoys me (living in California as I do).

 

Not that I would take to twitter and tweet anything about SYTYCD.  But I am annoyed that if I was someone who cared in that way, my vote would be irrelevant. 

[akr]

Just a quibble - guys aren't ballerinas. Ballerino is apparently a word, but ballet dancer is what you'll typically hear. Just as guys aren't waitresses or actresses or masseusses or any other word that specifically denotes a female practitioner of a particular art. 

Edited July 21, 2015 by akr

[Cuatro1234]

Wow, two (performance) shows in, and I'm already sick of the two-girls-fighting-over-a-guy dance.  Danced in HH last week and in various versions (salsa, jazz, contemporary?) this week.  Boo, show.  Why can't we have 2 girls or 2 guys dance together??  Best thing about S7......

 

edited bc "can" and "can't" are two different words that mean two different things.....

Edited July 21, 2015 by Cuatro1234

[chocolatine]

There's no nice way of saying it - Jonathan and Oksana are terrible salsa choreographers. I hated the salsa they did last season, and I hated this one even more because it was danced by THREE PEOPLE. Come on now!

 

I really liked Jim and Jaja's dance - it kind of reminded me of Mark and Chelsie's Bleeding Love dance in S4. Everything else was middle of the road for me.

 

I know the show loves Travis, but even they have to know that he's not every viewer's cup of tea. Having him choreograph in every episode in addition to being Team Stage captain is overkill.

[Pallida]

I feel like I can't have an actual opinion on the three- and four-person dances because the filming keeps making me nauseous.  I believe it was the Marissa, Moises, JJ routine where they moved around the whole stage, and not always together, so the camera work was actually pretty straightforward, and that instantly made me like it.

 

Hailee makes me think of Miley Cyrus.  I can't unsee it, and I do hate that it biases my viewing of her.

[Drpepperey]

In no particular order, I really loved Jaja, Jim, Megz, and Virgil, Alexia, Neptune and Moises tonight. I love Gaby and I have grown to like Haylie and Kate although I am disappointed that their routines did not allow them to shine as much as they could and should. Three and four person routines are just too hard to watch because of everything that is going on. I am glad Moises and Neptune were saved, although I was hoping for Lily over Ariana although neither were my favorite to win so I suppose it does not matter in the long run. The Salsa routine was just… a mess. I loved Jaja and Jim’s routine so much, especially Jaja. I can’t get enough of her. She is beautiful and an amazing dancer. I enjoyed the routine with Megz, Alexia, and Virgil. Despite how much I did not like Alexia last week, I am glad she made it through.  I enjoyed all 3 group dances again, although the stage group dance was better in my opinion. It is hard to work with see-saws though so I do not blame the dancers.

About Asaf: I really do like his personality and think he is a nice guy but his inability to pick up choreography and his attitude are extremely off-putting. Nigel said it very well when he told him that he misinterprets opportunities for challenges. He really needs to go, because I feel like he is holding others back in his routines. I understand what he meant when he did not want to JUST do breaking in the group routine. Yes, he has trouble with choreography but I think he is trying, gradually, to be on the same level as the other dancers. Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s going to happen anytime soon.

Burim is really a joy to watch and he is super sweet, although the Bollywood routine did not really impress me.

I know that the format is “Stage Vs. Street” but why must Travis and nearly every stage dancer insist that they out perform street dancers at all times? It is a great thing to be competitive and driven but it bothers me when they show a clip of every stage dancer saying that they are going to beat team street, and no street dancers were shown saying anything about beating team stage, especially for the group routines (correct me if I am wrong). And Travis is the one behind it all.. telling the stage dancers they need to outshine the street dancers right in front of them is rude. I think everyone needs to focus less on beating the other team and just focus on working together to show us how well-rounded and versatile they all are. That being said, I don’t see the competitiveness when they are dancing, but the show sure loves to give us clips of them talking about it.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

It's hard enough for me to recognize who is who during the big group number (especially early in the season when there are still twenty dancers), but then they decide to put full face makeup on everyone? I mean, I like Dia de los Muertos/sugar skull makeup but damn, it was hard for me to figure out who anyone was during that opening number.

 

I liked Hailee last week but she was awful in that salsa. She learned the steps but everything about the way she did them looked stompy and heavy and not at all like salsa. Credit for salvaging that lift gone awry though. Yorelis looked the best in that number, but that's not saying much. I thought Darion was okay but he was given the task of running frantically from one girl to the other. I agree that it seemed like he was thinking too hard but I don't blame him since he had a lot to do.

 

When Nigel agreed with Paula about how nice it was to see a jazz routine again, I just rolled my eyes. YOU are one of the executive producers, Nigel, so just start adding jazz as a category more than twice a season. Problem solved! When Ariana said that it's possible for street dancers to also have good technique in other styles, I thought shhhhh, don't let Nigel hear you say that! It will ruin his entire narrative about how amaaaaaaaazing it is whenever a street dancer manages to do anything but street dance! Ariana and Derek were not synchronized and it was really noticeable. I am not sure who was ahead/behind but it was distracting. i didn't like their faux mime costumes either.

 

Megz did really well in the contemporary. Although Alexia has better technique, Megz didn't stand out as being a street dancer in a contemporary number. Virgil did a great job too but I think Megz had the bigger challenge since she was doing a lot of synchronized dancing with Alexia.

 

Burim was definitely the weak link in the Bollywood routine. He was noticeably off in the choreography several times (and it probably would have been more noticeable if the cameras had been left on a front view for the entire dance. Even when he wasn't totally off, his movements were not as crisp and sharp as a Bollywood routine should be. I thought Lily was better than Gaby so I was surprised that they sent Lily home and kept Ariana.

 

Kate looked so much like Debra Messing tonight with her red hair pulled back and her open mouthed smile. I thought she and Neptune did well in their Broadway routine, but I was surprised that the judges had so much praise for Asaf who I thought was a lot weaker than the other two. Between Asaf and Burim, I thought that Burim had much more difficult choreography to learn so I would have given him the A for effort this week rather than Asaf. Neptune was smooth and confident so I had no issues with him.

 

Nigel's overwrought speech about Jim and Jaja's hip hop number was ridiculous. Two different style dancers coming together! That's never happened before on this show! Not even when Alex Wong danced a hip hop number with tWitch! Or even back in S1 when they changed partners every week so that there were never two dancers from the same genre dancing together! I have seen some really terrible examples of ballet dancers doing hip hop, so I am always a little nervous when a ballet dancer is assigned hip hop on this show but I thought Jim did really well. Of course I expected Jaja to do well, but I was pleasantly surprised that Jim did not look like a ballet dancer awkwardly attempting hip hop.

 

Ha, I loved that Marissa had to have her hair up in a bun (just as we mentioned as a possibility for the sexy hair dancers a few weeks ago). To be honest, I wasn't crazy about this dance to begin with (how many cheating significant other/two girls fighting over one boy dances do we need? It's only the second week and how many times have we already seen this premise). No one was terrible but no one really stood out for me either. JJ, Moises, and Marissa were all okay. I laughed when JJ said that dancing like Team Stage means pointing your toes. Unless you're doing contemporary! Then you have to flex your feet while you ride an invisible bicycle. I'm glad that Paula gave a different viewpoint about the girls smiling/smirking.

 

I was excited about the seesaw dance but I was a little disappointed that they didn't use the seesaws more. I know when you use a high risk prop like that, you need to have some non-prop time though. Nice to see Phillip Chbeeb again! I liked that although he said that the seesaws are a metaphor for finding balance in life, they didn't stress that the dance was fraught with subtext and deep meaning.

 

Travis annoys me so much when he describes his own dances. It's INTENSE! It's EXPLOSIVE! You never know where their bodies are going to go next! It's the most THIS and the most THAT and blah blah blah! And if you are going to tell me that this particular dance is going to make America see stage dancers like they've never seen stage dancers before then maybe don't give me essentially the same dance you've been giving this show for several seasons. I didn't see a single thing during that dance that was new or innovative or surprising.

 

So we aren't getting the farewell packages for the eliminated dancers this season? That sucks. Poor Lily looked like the runner up in the Miss America pageant, trying to smile as she held back tears, as Cat pimped Ryan Seacrest's new show.

 

 

 

I wish Asaf would make up his mind.  First he complains when they make him do stuff he is unfamiliar with then he complains when they have him do b-boy stuff.

ITA - he seems like he is going to complain no matter what. And poor Chris Scott had to deal with Asaf's whining two weeks in a row. I'm glad that tWitch had a talk with Asaf during the trio rehearsal to tell him to stop being so disrespectful towards the choreographer. I felt like the judges tried to put a more positive spin on things during their critique of his trio, but at this point I feel like Asaf is a big enough boy that we shouldn't need to do a group therapy session with him on tv. If his attitude stinks, why treat him with kid gloves? You'd think that when he was given some bboy choreography during the group number, he would see it as a positive thing since it's something he already knows how to do and it highlights what he is good at AND he got some spotlight time. But no, still complaining.

 

why must Travis and nearly every stage dancer insist that they out perform street dancers at all times? It is a great thing to be competitive and driven but it bothers me when they show a clip of every stage dancer saying that they are going to beat team street, and no street dancers were shown saying anything about beating team stage, especially for the group routines (correct me if I am wrong).

To be fair, I think this is more the producers than Travis egging no the stage dancers. Often during interviews and talking heads on other shows, the producers will specifically ask certain questions to evoke the response they want from the contestants.In this case, it's obvious that they were walking around during group rehearsal asking every person on the stage team, "Do you think you guys are going to beat Team Street this week?"

Edited July 21, 2015 by ElectricBoogaloo

[OakGoblinFly]

I am not liking this format at all - I don't mind "street vs. stage" as much as I mind the uneven groupings.  It's hard to judge the contestants fairly when some work with a single partner and some work in groups of four.  The new format makes me sad, especially when watching Jim and JaJa - I would have loved to see those two as a pair for a full season.

 

If the season's narrative continues with the "you're a hip hop dance" and "this is so far outside your comfort zone" with a dash of "you did better than I expected" and "I'm so proud of you" plus some Twitch "motivational" talks I think I will end up checking out.  

 

Newsflash judges; "street" dancers can be just as trained and learn choreography as  well "stage" dancers.  Other than Alexia, Jim, and Gabby - did the judges even acknowledge that a "stage" dancer did well?  It seems like most of the critiques were spent on how awesome the "street" dancers were.  

 

Sheesh, Nigel.  I hope you didn't hurt yourself with all that self patting.

 

I did enjoy Jim and JaJa - they had wonderful chemistry and I liked seeing a softer side of JaJa and a less rigid Jim.  They were the standouts of what was a rather "meh" evening.

 

Gabby was the saving grace of the Bollywood routine.

 

Hey Nigel, some people enjoy seeing the cool, calm, confidence displayed by Kate .... not every dancer (or person) is bubbly, bouncy, or hyper-active.  Kate seems to be a very cerebral dancer - I like that very much. 

 

I don't remember most of the other routines other than thinking they were pretty bad - so not a very promising start to the season.

 

I noticed that Burim and Asaf were off-stage for a large portion of the street group routine. 

 

Asaf and his stank attitude need to be off my screen.  STAT!

[Electruck]

I'm bummed about Lily. She stood out for me in last week's ep. Bummed about Darian, too, but not as surprised. I'm glad Neptune was saved, because I thought he was great this week.

They need to stop the rotating camera, or at least limit it to at most one rotation. I had to look away during the salsa for the spinning camera work.

Jaja and Jim's routine reminded me of Bleeding Love, too (or Bleeding Love 2?).

I've never been a Travis fan, and I had already begun to have enough of him last week. I agree with other posters that his competitiveness is off-putting.

Well, there is always the mute button.

It's good to see the dancers seem to enjoy each other so much and be so helpful towards each other. Not like this is the only season ever where they got along, but so far it seems a little more special that way. Maybe because they were kept apart so much early on compared to other seasons?

[Primetimer]

Wait, are you saying stage dancers will be dancing street routines and vice versa? Has such a thing ever happened before?

Read the story

[Andie1]

Travis is kind of a jerk, but that's why he came in second in season 2.  He was too competitive and talked kind of douchey and that's why he lost, even though he was a superior dancer to Benji.  So I'm not surprised at the comments about Travis. Great dancers aren't necessarily great people to hang out with. Having said that, he is a strong choreographer even though he borrowed heavily from his awesome WAVE routine from last season for the group routine, at least he ripped off himself.  In contrast Twitch is pretty darned likeable, with limited skills in other genres outside of hip hop, he came in second in his season for the exact opposite reason to Travis.

  

 

I loved the No Woman No Cry routine. Christopher Scott took some Nappy Tab notes for sure,  the "lyrical hip hop" worked here though really well. Beautiful music, fantastic dancing, just the right balance of emotion and heart.  Jim and Jaja deserve to be finalists and that's probably why they were the fortunate ones getting the duet, ...all the great things about SYTYCD tied up in a bow.

 

The Salsa was a hella mess. I do blame the dancers partly since they couldn't convey the sexiness of the dance at all, everyone was in their head,  and I blame the choreographers who didn't know how to give the trio some grace notes to let the audience in..no side by side "shines" no cheekiness? Full of tricks only and when a trick goes wrong everyone feels it. Salsa trios do exist, and they are incredible when done right. 

 

I did love the Dee Caspary routine,  I thought there were some terrific moments and the choreography was perfect for a trio. The rest of the night left me cold. 

Edited July 21, 2015 by Andie1

[Wootini]

Agree that it was kind of stupid to put all the dancers in full face paint for the opening group number when we're still getting to know them. I could only recognize a few of them.

 

I really like Jaja, and I loved when she complained about being subtitled. It was kind of adorable. But I need to see her do something other than her own animating hip hop style to see how versatile she is. Because when she's doing her own stuff, she keeps contorting her face into a new expression every time she moves, and it's kind of distracting. Hopefully she won't do that when dancing jazz or contemporary… ;)

 

I'm really not sure where they're going with Asaf. I never liked him from auditions because of his attitude, and I was annoyed when they actually put him on the show. Clearly his disrespectful attitude isn't turning off the voters who are likely distracted by his pretty face and abs. But the show keeps making a point of showing him in rehearsals struggling to pick up the choreography and being disrespectful to the choreographers, and I'm not quite sure why. They always show the dancers struggling to create tension for the actual performance. (Will they be able to pull off that lift? Of course they will. They rehearsed it a lot more after the cameras left the rehearsal studio…) But they seem to be going out of their way to show Asaf in a bad light. Are they hoping to sway viewers away from his abs? Or are they setting up some kind of redemption storyline if in the next couple of weeks he starts acting right? (God, I hope not…)

 

And I also agree with the eye rolling over Nigel acting like a ballet dancer and a hip hop dancer coming together is something new for this show. Has Nigel wiped any memory of the 11 previous seasons from his mind? Sigh. And if they're going to mix Stage and Street together in groups to perform "randomly selected" styles, it's basically the same format as every other season. Just instead of eliminating one guy and one girl each week, we lose one Street and one Stage. So this whole Stage vs Street thing is just a failed attempt to manufacture drama. Good try, though.

 

I guess I shouldn't buffer the show in my DVR as much in the coming weeks so I can be watching live when they get to the twitter voting just in case there's someone I want to try and help save. 

 

Oh, and Paula's manicure was ugly and distracting. Why would you put a black border around your white fingernails? Ugh! :D

[Racj82]

 

Also, I think Burim is very easy on the eyes, and he looks like the world's best student standing next to Asaf, but I can't help thinking he was cast because he kind of looks like Robert Pattinson. Just me?

In 2015? I don't think anyone cares about casting a Pattinson look alike in 2015. Or anyone from Twilight. That's cast him because he's generally good looking.

[fuzzed]

Dark lipstick does Hailee no favors. At one point last night, the camera caught her either sans makeup or in a more muted shade, and she looked like a completely different — and much, much lovelier — person. She's cute as a button here:

 

Also, are choreographers' egos so fragile that they get in a snit if the judges don't find a way to praise them?

[ohmydog]

If Megz is going to dance anything but street, she needs to learn to stand up straight.

[Xazeal]

Big no to the new format. This show has a long history of trying to fix that which isn't broke, but this is ridiculous. Uneven groups? Really?

 

I really hope they're not going to cater to Jaja's specific brand of animation for most of the season. Part of the beauty of SYTYCD for me is seeing a dancer like Janette, LoFro or Paul ace routines that are way out of their comfort zones. It's the reason I couldn't get behind Melanie's win, even though she was a beautiful dancer. I'm rooting for Jaja because she's incredible at what she does, but I'm going to need to see more before I declare her a worthy finalist.

[Andie1]

I felt for a long time that this show it's all about likability, not necessarily dance versatility.  That's why people like Fik-shun, Twitch, Joshua, Melanie, Benji, Russell, even Ricky win the show. None of these dancers were any hell out side of their own genre. By contrast, some of the most versatile don't win and don't make it even to top 4..  If a dancer comes to the show with an incredible ability in their own style, they have a shot.  The major criteria is they have to be camera ready, and Ricky was ready for Broadway for instance. 

[cali1981]

Too much ground to cover so I'll defer to all of the previous observations.  Whoever was directing the show from the control room really dropped the ball during the seesaw routine.  Granted, with two sets of seesaws and a B-boy in front of each one, it was very difficult staging to shoot but it looked like, with so much going on, the director couldn't decide which camera to go to at times so there just some abrupt cuts.   It got a bit distracting.  It might have been wiser to stay with the wide shot more or to have tracked the blocking in rehearsal and had the camera cues planned and ready to go.  It would be surprising if that wasn't the case but it sure didn't look like it at times.

[LadyMustang65]

Just to say up front - I did not agree with the two who went home.  I would have kept Lily and Darion.

 

The salsa was a mess, and I blame that on the choreographers.  It's tricky enough for trained salsa dancers to do a salsa trio; that felt like they just threw Darion under the bus. 

 

I am probably alone here, but I still like Asaf.  It seemed to me like last night we were supposed to see him developing a new attitude.  I feel as though he probably lacks confidence, despite his bravado, and he was afraid of failing at learning new styles.  By the end of the show I felt like he was starting to look forward to new challenges.  I thought he did a nice job (definite room for improvement but much better than I was expecting) in his dance and is starting to get comfortable with 'softer' moves than what he's used to.  If he keeps on complaining going forward, he'll start to get on my nerves, but right now there's something that makes me feel he's starting to embrace this strange new world, and I'm interested in seeing how he does.

 

Like everyone else, I loved Jaja and Jim.  They are my two front-runners right now.  Hailee bugs - don't know why.  I liked most of the street dancers and thought they did relatively well, but I would have preferred to have seen Ariana go home.  She's probably my least favorite of the street girls.  Yourelis continues to impress.  On the stage side, I still like Gaby, and I thought Kate did well in her dance.  Most of the rest can go for me at this point.  I can't tell them apart and don't care enough to want to make the effort to learn. 

 

Nigel continues to be full of it, but I am liking Paula most and Jason is growing on me.  Travis needs to take some lessons from Twitch on how to be a coach.  So far the choreographers have mostly left me unimpressed.  There hasn't been a real standout dance for me yet.  But it's early days yet, and it must be hard to choreograph for trios, quartets, etc.

[Shades of Red]

First the good - I really enjoyed Jim and Jaja's routine.  Quite like most of the judges' comments.  At last some real constructive stuff the dancers can reflect on.

 

The rest of the show, well, wow is the only thing I can say and that's in a bad way.  The salsa was just cruel to all the dancers.  You take people who aren't ballroom, put them into a dance that is usually a two person dance and then throw in all kinds of dangerous tricks.  I can't be bothered to learn names at this point, so will say the poor fella who had to partner both ladies.  Of course he didn't relax at any point.  He had to make sure the ladies stayed safe and didn't get hurt.  There was no breathing space in that dance.  I know there are no "quiet moments" in a salsa, but there is space to get your center back with a basic salsa step and having things less frantic.  I nodded my head as Jason talked about holding his breath during the routine as I did the same thing.

 

I'm really not a fan of these "group" numbers - pair off the dancers and leave it at that.  Either focus on the dancers and let them do their thing or give them all group numbers.  It's easier to do the camera work if there are only two dancers on stage vs three/four in dances that people are supposed to judge dancers to vote for them.  It would be different if they were dancing for longer than a couple of minutes, but they aren't.

 

Travis needs to stop with choreography.  He's either a team leader or a choreographer.  There is enough talent in the dance world that people don't need to be doing double duty and that includes choreographers that make up more than one dance per episode.

 

As for Asaf, well, I don't understand the edit he's getting and the soft sell of the judges.  In years past the judges have eviscerated contestants who didn't have nearly the issues picking up choreography or spoken to the the choreographers as he has.  Any sign of a bad attitude in years past has been reason to call out a dancer.  Now he's being given special treatment and not really being called out on his short comings.  I don't think the edits are showing him in a good light, but in past years the edit was carried over in stronger criticisms from the judges after the dancer had finished a routine.

[Shimmergloom]

I feel like the showrunners/producers got together and said,

 

Exec #1: "how can we improve this dancing show?"

Exec #2: "how about 40% less dancing?"

Exec #1: "great idea!"

 

And so this season was born.

 

I like most of these dancers.  I don't like all the trios and quad dance numbers instead of the couples from before.  I think you can get to know the contestants more when there's just 2 dancing and not 3 or 4 at a time.  If they were going to do triple and quads then they should have let everyone dance twice.

[akr]

I haven't watched last night's show yet - but I'm actually preferring having groups dancing to pairs dancing, which to me got really boring. I had basically started to tune out of past seasons after auditions because I was sick of ballroom and preferred what the dancers did in their auditions (which is show off what they do well) to what they did in most of the choreographed couples dances. So, the reboot got my attention because it got rid of things I had gotten tired of - but obviously it's bothering people who enjoyed exactly those aspects of the show. I enjoyed the episode last week, for the most part, and based on the comments here I'm looking forward to seeing Jaja & Jim, at least, this week. I actually intend to watch this episode! Last couple of years at this time I was already done with the show for the year, or at least until they winnowed out some of the chaff.

[alannaofdoom]

Jaja and Jim dancing a Chris Scott number is like, the ringer-est of ringer teams being handed a direct pass to the top but you know what? I love Jaja, I love Jim, I am 100% in, if they want to sell me a beach house in Arizona I will sign up for that as well.

[St. Claire]

When Nigel agreed with Paula about how nice it was to see a jazz routine again, I just rolled my eyes. YOU are one of the executive producers, Nigel, so just start adding jazz as a category more than twice a season.

 

I think what Paula said was that it was good to see "real jazz," which I took as shade about "we're calling this jazz, but it's indistinguishable from contemporary." I've only been watching this show for two seasons (in addition to watching DWtS) and I can honestly say I'm a bit contemporary'd out. 

 

Based on auditions and week 1, Jaja and Jim were two of my favorites, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. I remember some of the ballet majors having to be heavy footed and slightly angular and staccato for a routine we did in jazz class in college, and was fearful that Jim would have some of the same over-graceful issues. I've never been so happy to be wrong.

[rollerblade]

I felt for a long time that this show it's all about likability, not necessarily dance versatility.  That's why people like Fik-shun, Twitch, Joshua, Melanie, Benji, Russell, even Ricky win the show. None of these dancers were any hell out side of their own genre.

 

It's basically a popularity contest. After all, the winner is "America's Favorite Dancer".

 

Benji and Russell did really well outside their genre, and both had their own 'it' factor that gave them the win over the more 'refined' runner-ups. Twitch did not win his season. Fik-shun and Melanie were the chosen ones, and nothing short of injury would stop them from winning it all. C'mon, Melanie was paired with Marko, and Fik-shun with Amy.... golden couples, brought to you by executive producers. I miss the days when they switch partners every single week.

[messyone15]

It really felt like Spencer dumbed-down the choreography so that Asaf could handle it. That number was sooo boring.

[smokeyred]

Asaf has to go! There are plenty of people that would go on this show and do any choreography that was asked of them.

This Stage Vs. Street stuff is just a way to try and get people interested in watching. There is nothing different about the show. When you go on line and vote they don't even tell you who's on what team it's just a name and a picture.

Why doesn't Twitch do any choreography? Travis choreographed the "Team Stage" group number this week....but Twitch didn't do anything. I love this show don't get me wrong but I get tired of them trying to change things. I want Mary Murphy back...I want Sonja back...I want Mia Michaels back. I want guest judges that are actual choreographers, Adam Shankman, Tyse, that guy that used to say BUCK all the time I can't think of his name.

[realdancemom]

I've never liked any of Jonathan and Oksana's salsa routines.  They have too many tricks/lifts for people that have never done ballroom or salsa.  It's made worse with a trio.  No wonder Darion couldn't relax.  He was too busy being a forklift or having to jump over Hailee without breaking her neck.  The camera work made me dizzy.  They just need to stay in one place.  Yorelis did the best out of the three but overall, that routine was a mess.

 

I think Jim did well in the hip-hop routine.  I've also seen a lot of ballet dancers that dance too airy and high for jazz and hip-hop.  Chehon did not do well in hip-hop.  I think Jim could have relaxed a little more with his posture and shoulders.  But his contractions were really good.  I agree with others that I don't know what Nigel was blabbing about.  Of course, we've previously had a ballet and hip-hop dancer dance a hip-hop routine together.  Did he already forget Alex and Twitch?  That was one of my favorite routines and made me want to root for Alex to win.  I'm still disappointed he was injured.

 

I don't mind trios or switching partners/groups.  I think four is getting too large though because then I can't compare as well. 

 

I really thought Lily was a strong street dancer.  I don't know if they chose Ariana because she has more cross-training.  She's good but she doesn't stand out to me when she performs.  So I would have kept Lily.  I wish Asaf was at the bottom and he went home.  He's just not ready for the show.  It's not fair to anybody that has him as a partner or in a group.  I think the Broadway routine was dumbed down for him and he still complained.

 

Megz is interesting.  She did o.k. with the contemporary even though I can tell she didn't have a lot of classical training.  What I noticed is that she can keep up with the guys during the group street dances.  Last week, she did the floor moves with the guys.  This week, she was a lifter since there are more women vs. men in the street team. 

 

.

Edited July 21, 2015 by realdancemom

[Caelicola]

Ok, seriously, at this point: there's no ballroom dancer on this season and there was no ballroom round in Vegas, so let's just eliminate partner dances altogether. If you want to keep them in, for crying out loud, don't do them with more than two dancers, or at least have some experienced choreographers to put them together, because that salsa trio was a messy mess.

God, it was sooo obvious they were gonna get rid of Darion; he wasn't featured at all during Vegas week, he got the crappy "I need more light in you eyes" critique from Nigel last week and we got Travis expressing doubt and disappointment before we even saw him dance this week. I can't blame him for looking checked out already, that awful salsa was the last nail in the coffin and I think he sensed it.

Everything else I really liked, though! My favorite was probably the Dee Caspary number, interesting choreography and very very well danced. Both Virgil and Megz must be cross-trained, because their quality of movement was quite natural and didn't look like someone who has no experience with contemporary.

As of right now, I'm still firmly on team street, swapping out the breakers for Jim and Gaby. I still find it kinda funny and weird that up until now all these interesting, versatile, original female hip hop dancers were apparently in hiding.

Unnecessary and a bit annoying: seeing Travis "react" (very naturally! such a good actor...) to his emmy nom and the Ryan Seacrest bit.