S15.E08 Top Ten Men 2018.07.30

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

The top 10 men each partner with an all-star for a choreographed duet outside of their own style.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Promo:

[Quickbeam]

Personal thing but I wish they would stop calling them boys. They are men. I can’t argue with the top 5 picks. 

[kechara]

I only watched the clips, so I didn’t get to see the other guys, but I was surprised to see the one guy, Slavic in the top 5.  No real reason.

[Terrafamilia]

There is a Simpson's episode where Lisa is reading a magazine called Non-Threatening Boys. This is what I thought of while watching Justin. :-)

[PhD-Purgatory15]

Right up to the Cole reveal, I had talked myself into the idea that they were taking neither of ballroom guys and two of the hip hop guys. I'm seriously disappointed that didn't happen. I would've much rather traded Cole for Kyle (or even Jay Jay for that matter).

It was almost instantly that the edits were telling us that both Justin and Peyton were toast.

More than anything, it was just nice to see Chelsie, Jamie and Lauren again. Those three are definitely not in the All Star rota like Comfort, and Allison are...

[allypenguin]

It goes without saying that I hate the format. Dammit Fox give us back the top 20.

I am so happy for Evan, since I've been a fan of his for awhile! I'm stoked for him to get hip hop, he's phenomenal in the style.

[showme]

24 minutes ago, allypenguin said:

It goes without saying that I hate the format. Dammit Fox give us back the top 20.

I am so happy for Evan, since I've been a fan of his for awhile! I'm stoked for him to get hip hop, he's phenomenal in the style.

Me too! This is ridiculous, how can you cut down half of your top 10 in one crappy episode? They should all be live and let America decide. I got a feeling that many boys let go today would have stayed if it was up to America.

[allypenguin]

7 minutes ago, showme said:

Me too! This is ridiculous, how can you cut down half of your top 10 in one crappy episode? They should all be live and let America decide. I got a feeling that many boys let go today would have stayed if it was up to America.

Same with the women last week! I am not over losing Emily, ugh. I know it's been strongly hinted that Fox pulled the rug out from the producers in giving them a certain amount of weeks, but if that were the case, I'd honestly rather them do 1 montage week of auditions/Vegas, or even scrap it tbh, and have a proper top 20. I miss seeing great partnerships and watching the dancers grow. In the past, dancers like Justin who weren't completely comfortable could have come into their own.

[showme]

9 minutes ago, allypenguin said:

I'd honestly rather them do 1 montage week of auditions/Vegas, or even scrap it tbh, and have a proper top 20. I miss seeing great partnerships and watching the dancers grow. In the past, dancers like Justin who weren't completely comfortable could have come into their own.

Agreed. I don't really need see the so called "Academy" weeks, it is quite boring actually. This format they are doing now is very stupid.

[Haleth]

Darius was fun to watch.  He's my favorite of the guys.  I enjoyed Cole's number too.  Slavic didn't impress me.

[meira.hand]

9 hours ago, allypenguin said:

know it's been strongly hinted that Fox pulled the rug out from the producers in giving them a certain amount of weeks, but if that were the case, I'd honestly rather them do 1 montage week of auditions/Vegas, or even scrap it tbh, and have a proper top 20. I miss seeing great partnerships and watching the dancers grow. In the past, dancers like Justin who weren't completely comfortable could have come into their own.

I agree but I suspect its not just the number of broadcast weeks but also the number of full production work for the live shows (cost, stage availability, full choreography, real time audience participation, etc..).

[Toaster Strudel]

After seeing Darius' hip hop, I want him to win the whole thing. His facial expressions channeled Fik-Shun. Ever changing, and drawing the audience in every time. It helps that he has top notch technique and classical dancer physique.

[slaterain]

I was really annoyed that Kyle was let go and Slavic stayed - that was the wrong decision IMO. 

I didn't think the tapper did that well but wasn't surprised that he got through - Nigel loves having at least one tapper. I would have preferred having the hip hop guy stay that they told to come back next year. 

I loved Darius and Comfort's hip hop routine (his was the last one correct? still learning names!) - I had to rewatch it - it was so much fun! 

[realdancemom]

Darius was one of my favorites going into this episode and after last night, he's my favorite to win.  He has gorgeous Classical technique and it was nice to see a fun side of him.  It was so different than what he usually does.

It was tougher to choose the guys vs. the women.  The only two that I knew were going for sure were Justin and Peyton.  They didn't really show either one that much before this episode.  Justin will be better next year or the years to come just by looks alone.  Right now, he doesn't even look 18.  He looks like a kid.  He'll look better when he's older and beefs up a little.  Then it's a bonus that his dancing will improve too especially if his parents keep helping him in ballroom.  He needs more hip-hop lessons too.

Peyton is too self absorbed.  It's probably editing but he was too full of himself during the interviews.  Then, he didn't connect with Chelsie at all.  Speaking of Chelsie, loved that this episode had her and LoFro.  Even Jaimie doesn't All-Star as often.

Disappointed about Kyle not going through.  He was so disappointed.  I can tell that the hip-hop dancers did not have a lot of training.  However, Kyle and Dustin move their bodies in ways that a lot of contemporary/jazz dancers can't do.  Then you have choreographers that use their strengths and it makes for more interesting contemporary/jazz pieces.  We wouldn't have had the Hummingbird routine if Hok wasn't in it.

[vdw84]

Darius and Comfort, now that was a good partnership, they were so fun to watch. I love how comfort allows whoever she dances with to shine and not try to outshine them. I mean Darius danced that like he has been doing hiphop his whole life.

 

Im disappointed about Kyle too but not surprise. He just cant let go of that hiphop movement and I saw that in his dance. He is hiphop through and through but  however its nothing that couldnt be worked on but someone has to go.

Edited July 31, 2018 by vdw84

[slaterain]

31 minutes ago, vdw84 said:

Im disappointed about Kyle too but not surprise. He just cant let go of that hiphop movement and I saw that in his dance. He is hiphop through and through but  however its nothing that couldnt be worked on but someone has to go.

Yet all the hip hoppers did that - and the choreographers encouraged it. They are always saying that they like to see the blending and making the dance their own. And then the judges (aka Nigel's) favoritism shows by who they ding for it and who they applaud. 

[PhD-Purgatory15]

I agree with slaterain 100%. All three of the hip hop guys avoided ballroom and got to do contemporary or jazz pieces where Tyce and the other choroegraphers (Brian F. maybe) really leaned into their animation style, staccato movements. I mean, they clearly weren't giving Justin a hip hop piece with Comfort where he could draw from his lyrical, ballet dance vocabulary that's for sure.

I went back and watched most of the performances over again and I do see why they probably went with Slavik. He seems to have a bit more fluidity he can bring to the other styles but usually SYTYCD in the hip hop realm tends to reward genius over versatility (e.g. Monster, Full Deck, Cyrus, etc)...and to me Kyle Bennett Jr. (especially in some of the tutting sections he's busted out) has more of that "genius" than Slavik or Dustin which is why I'm still a little surprised that Slavik got the call as the lone hip hop person in the Top 10.

Edited July 31, 2018 by PhD-Purgatory15

[Lunula]

16 hours ago, allypenguin said:

It goes without saying that I hate the format. Dammit Fox give us back the top 20.

I am so happy for Evan, since I've been a fan of his for awhile! I'm stoked for him to get hip hop, he's phenomenal in the style.

Totally agree. We could've had two more women and two more men just by cutting out the last two dumb episodes. I enjoy seeing the auditions and Academy week, but I'd rather cut out a couple audition episodes to have more competitors in the end. 

It seriously broke my heart tonight seeing Dustin get so excited when Nigel was talking to him, thinking he made it, only to see his entire expression change when he realized it was a no. 

[realdancemom]

5 minutes ago, Lunula said:

Totally agree. We could've had two more women and two more men just by cutting out the last two dumb episodes. I enjoy seeing the auditions and Academy week, but I'd rather cut out a couple audition episodes to have more competitors in the end. 

It seriously broke my heart tonight seeing Dustin get so excited when Nigel was talking to him, thinking he made it, only to see his entire expression change when he realized it was a no. 

I also hate this season because it looks like they toyed with the dancers' emotions.  Didn't like the mentor format last season but at least, the dancers knew that only ten were going to the live shows.  This year, the dancers were so happy to make top 20 only to be told minutes later that only ten were going through.  It's sad to see Dustin, Kyle, etc. so disappointed. 

[Tikichick]

My take on it was that Slavik likely earned points for his attitude.  He flat out said he knew he was capable of more, had no excuses and simply was going to work harder.

There's no doubt in my mind that the choreographers give feedback that is a huge component of what is presented to us as the judges' decision.  When they showed Travis' comment to the contemporary dancer from the judges table during academy week I knew he wasn't going to make it to the top ten.  Travis' opinion about a contemporary dancer's ability in particular would be strongly considered.   Producers aren't interested in bringing on dancers when the choreographers' feedback is that they would prefer not to work with them.    

[kechara]

The tap dancer guy seemed really familiar. He reminded me of someone. Took me a while but finally it dawned on me....a young Liberace. Now I can’t unsee it

[Kira53]

4 hours ago, vdw84 said:

Darius and Comfort, now that was a good partnership, they were so fun to watch. I love how comfort allows whoever she dances with to shine and not try to outshine them. I mean Darius danced that like he has been doing hiphop his whole life.

 

Im disappointed about Kyle too but not surprise. He just cant let go of that hiphop movement and I saw that in his dance. He is hiphop through and through but  however its nothing that couldnt be worked on but someone has to go.

Darius may have been dancing hip-hop all his life.......  It looks that way to me.  I believe the editing monkeys made us think he didn't have a fun personality or hip-hop skills.

The choreographer used Kyle's hip-hop to enhance the dance IMHO.  I thoroughly enjoyed Kyle's performance and I can't remember any part of Slavic's dance.  Almost all of the choreographers used the dancer's primary style of dance.  In the past, they would have choreographed more of a "pure" dance and not incorporated other styles.  I was sure they would keep Slavic for his look.  I don't see anything special in his hip-hop yet.  They will probably set up a narrative that Darrius is better than Slavic in hip-hop, what a shock. (Not) . I really would've preferred to see what Kyle couldn't do and how he could develop.

[Tikichick]

13 hours ago, Kira53 said:

Darius may have been dancing hip-hop all his life.......  It looks that way to me.  I believe the editing monkeys made us think he didn't have a fun personality or hip-hop skills.

The choreographer used Kyle's hip-hop to enhance the dance IMHO.  I thoroughly enjoyed Kyle's performance and I can't remember any part of Slavic's dance.  Almost all of the choreographers used the dancer's primary style of dance.  In the past, they would have choreographed more of a "pure" dance and not incorporated other styles.  I was sure they would keep Slavic for his look.  I don't see anything special in his hip-hop yet.  They will probably set up a narrative that Darrius is better than Slavic in hip-hop, what a shock. (Not) . I really would've preferred to see what Kyle couldn't do and how he could develop.

The editing monkeys showed us a fantastic audition from Darius -- and subsequently tantalized us with glimpses only during Academy.

I think for the most part dancers training today get a healthy dose of hip hop training and exposure as its influence has crept into many styles over the past decade-plus.  Dancers training very formally in very specific genres only would be the likely exceptions -- ballroom only dancers might experience a bit of ballet, jazz w/ no hip hop; ballet academy or company dancers might not have any hip hop in training, etc.

The entire genre of jazz has become largely dominated by jazz funk, which is heavily influenced by hip hop.  It's really noticeable when Ray Leeper comes in and choreographs an "old school" style jazz number and it seems Broadway and/or quaint.

[Carrots4]

It’s great seeing Chelsie again. During the cha cha with Jay Jay she prowled across that stage! 

 

Did All-Stars comment on both their partners? I remember one contestant being described as having an amazing heart by Lauren (?) but I don’t remember her saying anything about her other partner, which would be lousy for that partner when he watches the show later. Especially since he was cut.

[Kira53]

1 hour ago, Carrots4 said:

It’s great seeing Chelsie again. During the cha cha with Jay Jay she prowled across that stage! 

 

Did All-Stars comment on both their partners? I remember one contestant being described as having an amazing heart by Lauren (?) but I don’t remember her saying anything about her other partner, which would be lousy for that partner when he watches the show later. Especially since he was cut.

Editing monkeys show you what they want.  I expect every All-Star was asked about their partner but we hear what they want us to hear.  I was looking to hear something about each one but it didn't happen. 

[mrsnolatron]

Was anybody else yelling at Vanessa to shut up during Darius and Comfort's routine?

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Cole's contemporary with Jaimie was exactly the kind of contemporary I don't like with the dancers constantly pushing and kicking each other with various body parts, but I thought that he did a pretty good job with contemporary. If I had just watched this dance without any additional information, I wouldn't have guessed that he wasn't a contemporary dancer.

Jay Jay's cha cha with Chelsie was fine, but I always feel like non-ballroom guys are at a disadvantage because dances like that are usually choreographed to show off the girl, not the boy. When you add in how little time he had to learn this routine (definitely less than the week they would normally have to learn a routine for the live show), he did a decent job. He was also fortunate that the choreographer included so many non-ballroom moves to show off his technique.

Slavik's jazz with Allison was not very good. I was surprised that the judges praised him so much.

Justin's hip hop with Comfort was a lot better than I thought it would be. It was definitely better than I expected from a contemporary dancer. I agree that he was at more of a disadvantage in his assigned style than the hip hop guys whose choreographers incorporated their styles into their routines.

Peyton's cha cha with Chelsie was not convincing for me.

Kyle's contemporary with Lauren was not bad considering that he's an animator but it wasn't great. It was really clear that he was not a contemporary dancer.

Evan's contemporary with Allison was a bit lacking in the first half but he got better in the second half. To be fair, the first half of the dance asked a lot more of Allison than Evan.

Dustin's jazz with Jaimie was decent but I found myself getting annoyed with the camera work. Why were they zooming in on him from the waist up while he was dancing? It's SO annoying!

Allen's jazz with Lauren didn't impress me. I was surprised that a ballroom dancer had such hunched over posture.

Darius' hip hop with Comfort was great. Sometimes contemporary dancers have a hard time with hip hop because even when they hit, they can't get down into the groove, but he did such a good job. He did the choreography so well, he showed the fun playful side of his personality, he had a great connection with Comfort, and he had a great performance quality.

I am mostly fine with the top five guys, but based on this round of dances I would have kept Justin instead of Slavik. I know they needed to keep at least one hip hop dancer for the top ten though so I wasn't surprised (especially since it was obvious from the judges' comments that Justin was toast).

Edited August 3, 2018 by ElectricBoogaloo

[Cuatro1234]

Does anyone know the real-life time interval between when the dancers were told that they made the top 20 and when they were cut to top 10?  I was wondering if they had the top 20, then went home while they were all vetted for the show (criminal checks and all that), then came back to compete for top 10. 

[marriedaniac]

Best thing about the live shows is no intentional shots of the judges spliced in during the dancing. You know, what we came to see.

Kinda wanted both Slavic and Kyle to go through. Cole is pretty, but he could have been swapped out for Kyle and I wouldn't have minded too much.

[Jynnan tonnix]

I'd have traded Kyle for Slavic. I also wish Dustin had made it, but not sure who I would have  traded him for. Maybe Cole, but I do feel hat Cole deserves to be there, too. I think it's a good group  of guys overall.

[RomanKat]

On 8/3/2018 at 10:53 PM, Cuatro1234 said:

Does anyone know the real-life time interval between when the dancers were told that they made the top 20 and when they were cut to top 10?  I was wondering if they had the top 20, then went home while they were all vetted for the show (criminal checks and all that), then came back to compete for top 10. 

Based on Kristyn Burtt's social media, the Top 10 were chosen at the Academy just 2 days after Top 20 were named.  The Top 20 each had about 8 hours rehearsal over 2 days with the All-Stars before their final performance and selection.  The Top 10 then had their official photo shoot and media interviews the next day, i.e. 3 days after Top 20 were named.  (Kristyn's interviews here.)

[mojoween]

1000% I would swap Evan and Slavic for Dustin and Kyle.

Slavic’s piece was hip hop called jazz.  It bugged me.

I have no idea if Peyton (Payton?) was on stage or not because I could not take my eyes off of Chelsie.

She was good in the dance with Jay Jay, but magnificent in her second appearance.

And I don’t remember if the All-Star guys doubled up with the girl contestants?  But good on the girl All-Stars for learning multiple routines in such a short period of time.  I know it happens in the live shows all of the time but still.  They all looked good.

[Kira53]

6 hours ago, RomanKat said:

Based on Kristyn Burtt's social media, the Top 10 were chosen at the Academy just 2 days after Top 20 were named.  The Top 20 each had about 8 hours rehearsal over 2 days with the All-Stars before their final performance and selection.  The Top 10 then had their official photo shoot and media interviews the next day, i.e. 3 days after Top 20 were named.  (Kristyn's interviews here.)

Since some all-stars had two partners the all-stars had a lot of rehearsal time.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Slavik:

Darius:

Evan:

Jay Jay:

Cole: