S15.E11: Top Eight Perform

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

After the Top 8 compete for the nation's vote, 2 dancers must head home.

Original airdate: 8/20/18

[rlc]

Complete and total BS. Magda over Genessy? Beyond ridiculous.

Edited August 21, 2018 by rlc

[Shades of Red]

I finally agree with Nigel about something.  The props are getting ridiculous and more and more dangerous.  That feeling of "wow, we agree" only lasted until the next act.  They go from rope to kitchen utensils and are praised for that instead of being called out on it.  I too want more dancing and less "mucking about" as someone else on another show is fond of saying.

I like Emma and Sasha, but wasn't fond of the cha cha they choreographed.  Just another example of dances that are unrecognizable at times.  

[jewel21]

I was never a fan of Magda so I'm happy Genessey went through. I'm a big fan of her and Slavik so I was pleased. I also really enjoyed their jazz routine tonight. If only cleaning was that fun, heh. 

While I've never really liked Cole, it is sad he was eliminated on a night where he really shined. His Broadway routine was one of my favourites of the evening. 

[LexieLily]

While I am happy that we got the stay-with-the-same-partnerships like the early years for at least two weeks, considering the live portion of the show is so short I'm disappointed they are bringing in the All-Stars and that we don't get to have the leftover-dancers-from-the-partnerships-be-partnered-together angle (Hannahlei and Darius).

Most surprising breakout partnership in the history of the show? Mary, no, no, no. I agree with her generalized point how Slavik and Gennessy aren't flying under the radar anymore but in terms of surprising partnerships that worked? Benji/Donyelle, Kathryn/Legacy and Chelsie/Mark say hi. 

Who do we think is out next week? I'm thinking Jay Jay and Jensen.

Edited August 21, 2018 by LexieLily

[Brookside]

Thought it was hilarious that all Jennifer Hudgens could say about Jay Jay and Jenson was that it was sexy, when in their talking head they talked about how they'd listened to criticism and worked on scaling back on it - and Mary confirmed that they'd succeeded!

[After7Only]

Can’t say I enjoyed very many of the routines.  Loved Travis Walls Broadway and loved Luther’s routine for the 4 guys.  Everything else was just Meh.   Was distracted by the rope and the pots and pans.   Oh and loooved Darius’s strange fruit solo.  Glad they brought the solos back.   

[PhD-Purgatory15]

I absolutely hate agreeing with Nigel on just about anything (other than tap related things), but I immediately thought after Darius & Magda's jazz piece....that Darius barely did any dancing. Was he effective at manipulating Magda via ropes? Sure. But he didn't actually dance all that much to do it.

I would've axed Darius, because now with Darius and Jay Jay and Slavik as the only guys left....it's even more redundant to have Darius and Jay Jay as two of the final three.

Magda was dead dancer walking. Whether the other dancer was Genessy (because of her partnership with Slavik), whether it was Jensen (who they want to win the whole show), or whether it was Hannahlei (possibly the most versatile dancer left)...she was coming up 2nd best in every scenario. I really wished, she could've went out on a couple better routines though. Phoenix/Farcyde (spelling?) gave her the absolutely wrong kind of hip hop to "fake it till you make it", she would've been much better in the Jensen cooking roll, or a NappyTabs piece in the vein of Bleeding Love which simultaneously hid Chelsie's flaws and showed her off beautifully.

Luther Brown continues to kill it this season, that's three or four bangers that he's come up with so far.

I'll say Darius and Genessy/Hannahlei go next week...

[Brookside]

Interesting to hear Nigel criticizing a choreographer.  He really wasn't criticizing Darius, though the other judges were all suggesting he was.  I felt Nigel's point was Darius wasn't allowed to show what he could do because of the choreography.

I wish someone had criticized the choreographer of Magda's hiphop.  Yes, it was terrible, but the choreographer should have accommodated her better.

(I also thought Jensen was almost as bad, to my uneducated eye.  But I suppose by then the judges had decided she was going forward, so there was no point criticizing.)

Edited August 21, 2018 by Brookside
To add Jensen comment

[TVbitch]

Cole was great tonight, in all of his numbers, but he was a marked man.

Darius, the bell now tolls for thee. He was not given routines that allowed him to shine tonight. Shocker. Nigel needs to get him out of the way so his fav can win, and he was setting the stage for this shocking elimination to be blamed on the choreography. I'm glad Mary and Twitch had enough respect for Darius not to go along with it. I'm sure Darius will be given a great spotlight routine next week, when it's too late to matter.

[Brookside]

Good job Mary referring to Aretha Franklin as Urethra .

[vdw84]

I like Darius and he just had bad choreography tonight. He has actually been amazing from the beginning. He is such a mature dancer too. His solo was the only one that had depth and maturity to it, maybe except magda and cole.

Im over the shipping of slavik and genessy and I believe they are too. I think one or both are in a relationship with someone because they seem uninterested esp. in their bts interviews when asked. Overall I believe they just want to focus on their dancing and not this showmance or shipping the producers and judges are throwing on them.

Vanessa needs to go, then just maybe sytycd can survive a couple more seasons because im sure thats all it can take.

I wasnt really a Jensen fan until tonight. She killed everything she did. I have to say she is the best from the top 10 females who has done hiphop. Genessy was good but she didnt hit hard enough for me. Jensen was actually hitting hard and way more in her pocket than any of the other girls this season.

Cole is so damn sexy but Im glad darius stayed, I love his dancing more.

1 hour ago, Brookside said:

Interesting to hear Nigel criticizing a choreographer. 

He has actually criticized choreographers before. I actually remember him criticizing a one or two on The kids season. Its just certain ones like mandy and travis, he will never say a word to, u cant bet on that.j

[Brookside]

18 minutes ago, vdw84 said:

 

He has actually criticized choreographers before. I actually remember him criticizing a one or two on The kids season. Its just certain ones like mandy and travis, he will never say a word to, u cant bet on that.j

Thanks.  I'm too much of a crotchety, cynical old fart to watch kids' competitive shows because I generally find them obnoxious and grating and way over-coached for the camera.  (The only exception was a season of Project Runway when I read on PTW that the kids were not only nice to each other, but talented!)

(My dislike for children on TV extends to commercials!}

[ElectricBoogaloo]

There were a lot of routines this week so I'm breaking them up into categories. First up, group routines:

Top eight (Chris Scott)

Top four men: Cole, Darius, Jay Jay, and Slavik (Luther Brown)

Top four women: Genessy, Hannahlei, Jensen, and Magda (Talia Favia)

[MVFrostsMyPie]

I loved that Broadway routine and Cole/Hannahlei were the perfect duo to do it. I even liked the cha-cha, which is not something I usually say.

Jensen & JayJay's hip hop was terrible, I was just not buying it. Stop trying to shove Jensen down my throat, show. Utah continues to produce blonde chicks who dance. Whoop de doo. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Next up, partner routines:

Magda & Darius - contemporary (Jaci Royal)

Magda & Darius - hip hop (Pharcyde & Phoenix)

Jensen & Jay Jay - smooth jazz (Sean Cheesman)

Jensen & Jay Jay - hip hop (Randi & Hef)

Genessy & Slavik - jazz (Ray Leeper)

Genessy & Slavik - contemporary (Mandy Moore)

Hannahlei & Cole - Broadway (Travis Wall)

Hannahlei & Cole - cha cha (Sasha Farber)

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Finally, solos:

Genessy

 

Darius

Jensen

Jay Jay

Magda

 

Slavik

 

Hannahlei

Cole

[ElectricBoogaloo]

One of the things I love about the opening number each week is that we get no back story, no rehearsal footage, nothing to influence us beforehand, so we just get to see a dance without any introduction or information (I am so sick of convoluted stories or the same old "a couple is breaking up" story). I also love trying to guess who choreographed the piece while I'm watching. Although I feel like this was more of a performance piece than a dance piece, I still enjoyed it, partly because I'm so tired of the opening number being a flailing angsty contemporary piece. This was one of the few times that I liked the prop being used because it gave the male dancers something intricate to do (it reminded me of cat's cradle games from when I was a kid) and the choreography had to work around them staying on the platform. The dancing from the female dancers was not as interesting but this is definitely one of the more memorable opening numbers they've had in recent years.

I know we can't have the dancers in Dick Tracy costumes every week, but A+ for the costumes, sets, and lighting for the guys' dance. I hate when they have dim lighting, a dark background color, and dark costumes because I want to see what the dancers are doing. Having those bright yellow costumes with each dancer under a spotlight was great. My technical complaint was about the camera work (as always). There are four dancers on the stage so please stop zooming in on one or two of them, especially from the waist or knee up. It's a dance show so yes, I want to see their feet!

The camera work also bothered me during the girls' dance. Please use tech rehearsal for what it's intended for, which is figuring out where to put the cameras during each routine and how much to zoom in or out. There is really no excuse for cutting off the girl on the end in wide shots.

Magda & Darius - I liked their contemporary piece. My issue with props is that (1) they need to be integrated into the dance well (2) they need to have a purpose (3) the choreography shouldn't revolve around the dancers setting up the use of props. For me, the rope was an integral part of the dance and it was used really well. I loved the way the rope was used to create, control, and direct their movement. Unfortunately, I did not like their hip hop routine, most of which was due to stuff that was out of their control. I thought the choreography didn't fit the music very well and the steps were lackluster. The partner tricks seemed thrown in for the sake of having them and they took too long to set up. I also hated the costumes. Magda being in metallic drew the attention to her while Darius in dark colors in front of a dark background with dim lighting faded nto the background. The first 30 seconds were almost a throwaway, which you shouldn't have in a 90 second routine.

Jensen & Jay Jay - their hip hop routine took about 30 seconds to get started too. I did not need the first 1/3 of the routine wasted on watching them pretend to cook. The choreographers should be using every possible second to show off their choreography skills and the dancers' dancing skills. Why are so many of them wasting so much time faffing about? Len Goodman would be very huffy about this. I don't think every hip hop routine requires stankface, but I was not a fan of Jensen's cheerleader facials during this dance. I was also surprised that her booty shaking wasn't that great. I always expect the ballroom dancers to know how to make their hip movements look sexy. Their smooth jazz was a let down after last week's Fever. I thought Jay Jay did a better job but I may have been distracted by all of Jensen's hair flinging.

Genessy & Slavik - I thought their jazz routine had some fun choreography but Slavik was lucky that their was definitely a hip hop vibe to it which allowed him to shine. Genessy was the weaker one in this performance. They really pulled out all the stops production wise for their contemporary though - the wind machine, the spinny camera, the wall of lights. I thought their performance was fine but not anything amazing.

Hannahlei & Cole - their Broadway routine was so cute so I'm glad the producers let Travis out of his contemporary box for the week. I thought Hannahlei's dancing was better than Cole's, but his acting really made up for it. That was another good use of a prop. Their cha cha, on the other hand, was a great showcase for Cole. His dancing and his lines were fantastic. I know it's been obvious to everyone that the costume budget has been cut this year, so feel free to let Cole keep dancing shirtless, show. Although Hannahlei's cha cha skills were clearly not at the same level as Cole's, she really attacked all of the lifts and partner tricks which shows a lot of trust in her partner. 

The ironic thing is that of all the solos, the only ones that stood out to me were Cole's and Magda's. I would have gladly kept the two of them instead of Jensen, or Genessy. I 'm not sure which guy I would swap out for Cole. Slavik seems the least versatile one left but he didn't stick out like a sore thumb in either of his routines this week.

[displayname]

The ballroom folk were fired? Whoda thunk.

[Coco88]

Slavik just doesn’t appeal to me at all.  He’ll probably win since the show seems the  be in love with him.  I seriously thought the camera was going to go up his butt with all the focusing on him.  And I think they kept Genessy to continue to support Slavik .  Put him with a better dancer and I bet he doesn’t look so great.

[rlc]

When I watch Genessy dance, I see the best dancer at the studio, but one who would be outclassed when she tried to make it in the real world.

Magda never stood a chance, sadly, but she was an absolute joy to watch. 

I know the want us to love Jenson, and I’m sure she’s a lovely girl, but she’s very bland, and she has heavy feet.

I loved Hannahlei from the beginning, and she’s by far the best/most versatile of the female dancers left, but Magda truly brought joy every time she was on stage, and I will miss her.

Slavic does absolutely nothing for me- on or off stage- but they’ll be keeping him till the final two. 

I’m sad that Darius will likely be out next week.

[kechara]

I am just too old to be the demographic for the show any more, especially judging from the comments on You Tube which are all about shipping.  Reminds me of season 2 , although I think the dancing was better, generally. 

[Keekski]

15 minutes ago, kechara said:

I am just too old to be the demographic for the show any more, 

I am totally feeling this way as well. I didn't even watch last night and may delete from the DVR without watching. 

[LoveDance]

Can someone explain why after Nigel crucifies the choreographer in Magda and Darius' contemporary piece for "props" we get a gawd awful "kitchen" cheerleader routine with  reliance on props galore?   I hope Darius'  solo saves him, because clearly the judges won't.  Speaking of solos, there's no question Magda is a superior latin dancer to Jensen.  To me Hannahlei has become the number one girl, but I'm not as into her as I was Koine last season.  Genessey, why is she there?  Slavik's teacher?   

I'm also not surprised that the show couldn't bring themselves to put two white guys in the bottom and two black guys being saved. Based on last week Slavic and Cole should have been there.  If nothing else, the Luther Brown piece demonstrated what real swag is, not pretend arm flailing or b-boying  to make it next to the brothers.   

[WhineandCheez]

I think Magda's downfall was that she looked older, and her face is "severe" because of her prominent nose.  All stupid reasons to throw someone off, but this is what we have here, a popularity contest.  I would have thought Cole would be everyone's dream, looks and versatility-wise, so don't know why he was axed.

[LadyMustang65]

Well, I guessed last week that I would be disappointed this week in who left, and I was/am.  I am actually severely pissed that Cole is gone, especially given that he was absolutely brilliant last night.  The two best routines - for our money anyway - were his and Hannalei's.  We loved loved loved the Broadway piece.  If this is what Travis can do with Broadway, he should always do Broadway.  It was fantastic, and Cole was amazing.  We also really liked the untraditional cha cha.  Cole was our favorite guy.  <sigh>  We liked Magda but will not miss her as much as we would miss Hannalei.  She has been and still is our pick to win it all.  We like Slavik as well.  He's been growing on us.  Neither Darius nor Jay Jay really register.  They're good but nothing stands out or grabs us.  Realistically they're probably both better dancers than Slavik, but we just aren't clicking with them. 

Hate Jensen, sorry to say.  We just don't understand what the judges are seeing.  She is not as crisp or sharp as the other girls, and she dances "heavy."  Not sure how to really explain it except most of the girls look light on their feet while Jensen doesn't.  In the girls' group number there were several times she was behind the others in getting into position, and we saw what looked to us like a couple of bobbles, yet the judges said she was a stand out.  We honestly do not get what it is with her.  We started off Top 10 with 3 ballroom dancers, and the least of them is the only one left.  Cole and Magda were both better than Jensen in ballroom.  Ugh.  :(  

I'm guessing Gennessy will be gone next week, which will be a shame.  We like her way better than Jensen.  Not sure who will go for the men but probably Slavik.  I suppose in the end as long as Jensen doesn't win, it'll be okay.  But we'd just much rather watch any of the other girls dance than Jensen.  And on a shallow note, as WhineandCheez noted above, Cole was a dream looks and versatility-wise.  We would rather watch him dance as well.

[kechara]

I will watch. Not live. I haven’t actually turned my tv on since they cancelled Hannibal, but i will catch up on You Tube and here.  I have liked some things this year, loved a few, but my heart isn’t in it. I wonder if the show has maybe run its course...possibly a few years ago 

[Mystery Author]

Quote

Who do we think is out next week? I'm thinking Jay Jay and Jensen.

Somehow, Jensen has a fan club that votes! And the show is pushing her "bigly." Thanks for throwing Darius under the bus, Nigel. He'll be gone next week, rather than Jay Jay. Unfortunately, Gennessey will join him. If tweenies are watching, Slavik is in no danger. But then, I thought they'd go bonkers for Cole, so who knows?!

Travis should do more Broadway. I loved that routine and I haven't loved his angsty contemps in a long time.

OTOH, Luther hasn't hit a bad note yet. LOVE his choreography.

[BeeBop88]

I have a feeling that we will soon see Jensen on DWTS with her sister Lindsay. DWTS has the brother dancers (Maks and Val) so now they want sister dancers. It probably won't be this year because of the SYTYCD tour, but would not be surprised to see her in 2019 DWTS. I don't hate or dislike Jensen. I don't think she is the worst dancer in the world (that would be me!), but like others have said, she doesn't seem to be light on her feet and lacks some grace.  I do believe somewhat that she is in the position she is in because of Lindsay, and it seems Nigel likes to play up the sister angle quite a bit.  Like he mentioned last night about her sister (Lindsay) being in the audience when she wasn't. It was their mom and another sister (whom I am sure will be on SYTYCD in the future.) Nigel even said the Arnold sisters should have their own reality show. Where did that come from?

[Brookside]

26 minutes ago, BeeBop88 said:

I have a feeling that we will soon see Jensen on DWTS with her sister Lindsay. DWTS has the brother dancers (Maks and Val) so now they want sister dancers. It probably won't be this year because of the SYTYCD tour, but would not be surprised to see her in 2019 DWTS. I don't hate or dislike Jensen. I don't think she is the worst dancer in the world (that would be me!), but like others have said, she doesn't seem to be light on her feet and lacks some grace.  I do believe somewhat that she is in the position she is in because of Lindsay, and it seems Nigel likes to play up the sister angle quite a bit.  Like he mentioned last night about her sister (Lindsay) being in the audience when she wasn't. It was their mom and another sister (whom I am sure will be on SYTYCD in the future.) Nigel even said the Arnold sisters should have their own reality show. Where did that come from?

"Watch this spot for an announcement that SYTYCD is being cancelled, but Nigel Lythgoe will be producing a new reality show starring the amazing Arnold sisters."  ;-)

[realdancemom]

Watching all the solos, I don't even know how Genessy made it to the academy.  She's a very mediocre dancer in her specialty.  There are tons of contemporary dancers that audition so it's not like there isn't any competition.  I remember that she was terrible during the contemporary round at the academy too.  She's lucky that her partner is Slavic.  The show is selling their chemistry.

[crossover]

I thought the B4 would've been Darius/Magda (Bollywood) and Cole/Hannahlei (Stepping).  So I was surprised that Hannahlei was not there.  She is a great dancer but I think a lot of people are seeing Koine.  She doesn't have the stage presence of Koine.  Usually, I ended up watching Cole in their dances.  But, I THINK this shows that she has an active fanbase.  I felt that Slavik was driving the popularity in his partnership but I thought Gennessy was the better performer of the two last week.  So I thought she would've gotten enough support to stay out of the bottom.  Not sure if there's more weight on Hannahlei having a great fanbase or Gennessy having a limited one?
Not surprised they saved Darius over Cole.  I thought Darius had the best solo.  When the time was up for his solo, I wondered why his was so much shorter than the rest.  Of course, it wasn't.  It's just hard for a ballroom dancer to compete in solos.  I wish they would allow the ballroom contestants the option to perform with a partner for this portion.  I don't see it as being unfair. 

Older ballroom girls have a hard time getting support on this show?  When Magda ended up B4 last week after good performances, I knew she would after the bollywood.  I wonder if they would've saved her had she performed a great hip hop?  Or, you can look at it that they wanted her gone otherwise they would've given her a lyrical hip hop?  I don't buy it that they went with Magda/Cole just because there was such a big vote difference.  But, I do buy that they wanted to keep Gennessy so that she could continue to help Slavik.  

Not a Jensen-hater like a lot of people on this board.  She's not my favorite but I think she is versatility.  Jay Jay is not a favorite either but he's versatile as well.  I thought he was the best out of all the dancers in hip hop and he's great in jazz.  I like Jensen/JayJay routines.  I just prefer Darius who will probably be gone next week along with Gennessy.  They won't need Gennessy because Slavik would've made the F4.  Darius just does not have the fanbase of Jay Jay or Slavik. 

Cole/Hannahlei had my favorite couple routines this week.  Cha cha was my favorite couple routine but the bwy was good too.  Darius/Magda's hip hop was my least favorite couple dance.  I preferred the boys' group routine over the girls' or the combined group routines.  Darius did my favorite solo.

[vdw84]

Darius stood out to me in the me the most in the mens hiphop number. He was so good in that number and jay jay second. I have to say I wasnt too impressed with slavik in that number, I actually felt cole outshined him a bit. 

Luther Brown is my fav hiphop choreographer and I know many do not like him because they feel like he doesnt add alot or tricks and whatnot but that is why I love him. He is all about the swag and groove, its just about dancing without all the overpacked tricks and props. I mean sometimes I just want see a person just dance without all that other added stuff.

[AllAboutMBTV]

Could the producers not get the rights to Ice-T's "Dick Tracy" (from the Warren Beatty movie of the same name) for the men's group number? That's all I could think while watching that number -- "Wrong music!" Also, it was the only piece I watched twice, other than Slavik and Gennessy's dancing butlers. (Slavik reminds me of a criticism I got when I was a sorta dancer. The choreographer said I wasn't the best technical dancer in the group, but I sold it the best with my face and the better technical dancers should take notes. Slavik does the same thing.)

I don't know how Cat walks in those shoes. I do know now to FF through Vanessa's babblings. Can we please have Debbie Allen back? I'll even settle for Jesse Tyler Ferguson, for pity's sake.

[Sharpie66]

Slavik is the one who draws my eye—I lose Gennessey in their dances completely. I love Darus’ solos, but he doesn’t stand out in his partner dances. JayJay and Jensen make a good partnership, but I am another who just gives Jensen a meh, even though she is very versatile. At this point, I would love to see Slavik, Hannalei, and Darius as the final 3, but it’ll probably be Jensen instead of Hannalei. 

Edited August 21, 2018 by Sharpie66

[LoveDance]

Given the comments from the judges and the comments here, it seems that Slavik is commercial ready regardless if he can dance or not.  And if he sells a gap commercial then he's made it.   As far as comments about  Darius not standing out,he is the one my eye is always drawn to He just sizzled in the jazz and the cha cha and the Wall contemp.  Different strokes. 

Edited August 21, 2018 by LoveDance

[Mason]

5 hours ago, kechara said:

I haven’t actually turned my tv on since they cancelled Hannibal. 

Ah, Mads... A wonderful dancer in his own right.

[BeeBop88]

5 hours ago, realdancemom said:

Watching all the solos, I don't even know how Genessy made it to the academy.  She's a very mediocre dancer in her specialty.  There are tons of contemporary dancers that audition so it's not like there isn't any competition.  I remember that she was terrible during the contemporary round at the academy too.  She's lucky that her partner is Slavic.  The show is selling their chemistry.

ITA with you. Her partner, Slavic ,was the stronger than Genessy. I am predicting she will be the female dancer to leave next week.  And I hate showmances!

[BeeBop88]

5 hours ago, crossover said:

I thought the B4 would've been Darius/Magda (Bollywood) and Cole/Hannahlei (Stepping).  So I was surprised that Hannahlei was not there.  She is a great dancer but I think a lot of people are seeing Koine.  She doesn't have the stage presence of Koine.  Usually, I ended up watching Cole in their dances.  But, I THINK this shows that she has an active fanbase.  I felt that Slavik was driving the popularity in his partnership but I thought Gennessy was the better performer of the two last week.  So I thought she would've gotten enough support to stay out of the bottom.  Not sure if there's more weight on Hannahlei having a great fanbase or Gennessy having a limited one?
Not surprised they saved Darius over Cole.  I thought Darius had the best solo.  When the time was up for his solo, I wondered why his was so much shorter than the rest.  Of course, it wasn't.  It's just hard for a ballroom dancer to compete in solos.  I wish they would allow the ballroom contestants the option to perform with a partner for this portion.  I don't see it as being unfair. 

Older ballroom girls have a hard time getting support on this show?  When Magda ended up B4 last week after good performances, I knew she would after the bollywood.  I wonder if they would've saved her had she performed a great hip hop?  Or, you can look at it that they wanted her gone otherwise they would've given her a lyrical hip hop?  I don't buy it that they went with Magda/Cole just because there was such a big vote difference.  But, I do buy that they wanted to keep Gennessy so that she could continue to help Slavik.  

Not a Jensen-hater like a lot of people on this board.  She's not my favorite but I think she is versatility.  Jay Jay is not a favorite either but he's versatile as well.  I thought he was the best out of all the dancers in hip hop and he's great in jazz.  I like Jensen/JayJay routines.  I just prefer Darius who will probably be gone next week along with Gennessy.  They won't need Gennessy because Slavik would've made the F4.  Darius just does not have the fanbase of Jay Jay or Slavik. 

Cole/Hannahlei had my favorite couple routines this week.  Cha cha was my favorite couple routine but the bwy was good too.  Darius/Magda's hip hop was my least favorite couple dance.  I preferred the boys' group routine over the girls' or the combined group routines.  Darius did my favorite solo.

To me Magda didn't show the versatility that is needed for this show to be the winner in the end. IIRC, Nigel has said that ballroom dancers have a hard time dancing contemporary. I think this is roadblock thinking for Nigel, and I doubt that he would ever be happy if a ballroom dancer won the whole shebang.

So far Hannahlei is my favorite female dancer and I doubt that will change, unless Jensen and Gennessy do something that just blows everyone out of the water. Wait....who am I kidding? Hannahlei will remain my favorite female dancer. LOL!

For the guys, it is still Darius for me.  Don't really know why he was in the bottom 4. Maybe TPTB put him there in the hopes Darius gets more votes to keep him alive, and he really wasn't in the bottom 4, but votes for him were lacking compared to previous weeks.

Bottom line...have a gut feeling the winner is gonna be Hannahlei.

[kechara]

Remember when we had people who went to the tapings and reported what really happened?

Edited August 22, 2018 by kechara

[TVbitch]

Nigel said Darius was "just not connecting to the audience." I'm like, seriously? He is totally personable, has gobs of swag, and is an amazing dancer. I can see when they said that about Magda, but Darius? Hopefully Mary and Twitch will fight for him behind the scenes. 

[Terrafamilia]

Uhm, Vanessa, I don't think you are using the word "literally" in the correct fashion.

Genessy and Slavik's Ray Leeper Jazz number was my favorite of the night. And Slavik kept drawing my eye in the guys' number. If he can sing he'd make a great addition to a boy band. Now that he's learned to point his toes occasionally he can get to work on his slumped shoulders. Maybe they'll give him the 'Vietnamese' waltz next week. :-)

Edited August 23, 2018 by Terrafamilia
spelling is good

[crossover]

2 hours ago, BeeBop88 said:

To me Magda didn't show the versatility that is needed for this show to be the winner in the end.

Magda was my female favorite until the hip hop.  She should've gone after that hip hop performance.  I don't think you can go far in the sytycd competition w/o decent performances in hip hop and contemporary.  As long as you put in the effort for ballroom and don't totally bomb, TPTB gives a pass.  But TPTB usually manipulates the routines for these styles if their favorite has a hard time with the style.  With last season's F4, they covered as much as they could for Taylor in hip hop and Kiki in contemporary.  They gave Lex a pass in ballroom. Then, backed them up with effusive praise.  Koine was just versatile.  But like you say, the winner should be versatile or look versatile.  I think we've only had one winner who wasn't versatile--S8 Melanie.  Even with all the manipulations, you could tell she wasn't versatile.  Jensen, Hannahlei, Jay Jay and Darius are all versatile.

I really don't care for any of the remaining girls.  Darius is my favorite. If he goes next week, it's Jay Jay.                     

[luvthepros]

22 hours ago, Brookside said:

Interesting to hear Nigel criticizing a choreographer.  He really wasn't criticizing Darius, though the other judges were all suggesting he was.  I felt Nigel's point was Darius wasn't allowed to show what he could do because of the choreography.

 

 

Exactly. In fact, Nigel addressed all the choreographers and told them at this point in the competition, they (the choreographers) are responsible to make each dancer look their best.

[Zuleikha]

I loved the undertow piece as a performance piece, but I agree with Nigel that it wasn't a great competition piece to show off Darius. I thought Magda looked great, though.

Sadly, she was just bad in her hip hop. I suspect that choreography would have looked totally different performed by two skilled hip hop dancers.

Speaking of, Jensen shocked me in hers. She seemed at home and at ease. She doesn't read as heavy to me, but I do think she's more grounded. Which is appropriate for most of what she's doing. 

[ladymon]

On 8/21/2018 at 2:00 AM, Brookside said:

Good job Mary referring to Aretha Franklin as Urethra .

I heard that too!!  Didn't know whether to laugh or cry

[slaterain]

This episode more than any other reinforced my feelings on missing the old setup. We are already to the top 6 and we have only been seeing these dancers really perform for 3 weeks. The top 20 allowed us to enjoy our favs for longer and really weed out the weaker ones after the powers that be push for their favs but still allow strong dancers through. They are less willing to give the spot to an amazing dancer and solely focus on personality/storyline which does the show a huge disservice. I feel like Slavik and Gennesy get weaker and weaker each week.

Also - there is a better build to the evolution of dancers with more performance shows as it used to be - they only had to focus on one duet and one group routine for the first 4-5 weeks and get used to the show before having to do 3 and now 4 routines plus a solo in one 2 hour period as they had to do this week. I think this is one of the major reasons that we don't feel the routines are as powerful or the dancers are as strong anymore. They were thrown in way too deep to start. I actually wonder if twitch and others would have come out of the show so strong and revered if they had had the shorter setup.

And there is no recovery time from being in the bottom one week to the next - they don't really have a chance to improve their rankings when there is a 50/50 shot of being in the bottom already!

The group number cracked me up at the end when no surprise Slavik was the one still in the ropes because he couldn't handle the floor portion.  The choreo didn't build the flow well enough to make sense why he is the only one still caged. I'm over the push for Slavik, Gennesy and Jensen. I loved having some new choreographers in the mix and helped me get more excited. They have a learning curve as well - but again these first routines would have worked better for a top 20 to top 10 period then now. 

[MVFrostsMyPie]

1 hour ago, slaterain said:

The group number cracked me up at the end when no surprise Slavik was the one still in the ropes because he couldn't handle the floor portion.  The choreo didn't build the flow well enough to make sense why he is the only one still caged. 

To be honest, I thought at first Slavik being the only one left in the ropes was a malfunction and that he couldn’t get them off him to join the others because that’s how disjointed the choreo felt to me at the end there. I thought maybe he was improvising at first haha.

[TVbitch]

The numbers of times they cut to shots of only Slavik or highlighted Slavik in that opening group routine was totally egregious. Of course that sways voters. They did it again but to a much lesser extent in the boys routine. I'm surprised they didn't dim the others' spotlights by 15% or something. 

[Mason]

2 hours ago, slaterain said:

The top 20 allowed us to enjoy our favs for longer and really weed out the weaker ones after the powers that be push for their favs but still allow strong dancers through.

I'm not disagreeing. But this way, TPTB have handpicked tour dancers right from the start. There's no pain involved in losing anyone, since they'll all be together again. Plus WofD has shown that judges can be as biased and self-serving as they like, so perhaps Nigel et al think why pretend anymore?

Perhaps people aren't really voting anymore?