S16.E10: Top 10 Perform

[Drogo]

The finalists perform for the first time on the SYTYCD stage.

[PhD-Purgatory15]

No no no. Ezra did not make Madison's mistake "into something beautiful". She blew it, and almost fell on top of his head judges. We have eyes and can see these things.

Edited August 13, 2019 by PhD-Purgatory15

[rlc]

The boys group number was like a homoerotic chippendales male review performed in Branson, Missouri. 

[Prairie Fire]

24 minutes ago, PhD-Purgatory15 said:

No no no. Ezra did not make Madison's mistake "into something beautiful". She blew it, and almost fell on top of his head judges. We have eyes and can see these things.

I saw that and was like, "Whaaa....?"

And no, I don't want sushi.

[Mr. R0b0t]

Wow, so that happened.

Normally there are one or two songs that blow me away and I have to seek out, but some of this music we have had tonight was borderline unlistenable.

Faux Ice on dancers to Ice Me Out repeated ad naseum?  Hypercolor Sushi?  A firefighter male revue to a song about purp?  I mean there was some strange things goin on!

Edited August 13, 2019 by Mr. R0b0t

[HerkyJerky]

Does anybody remember that reality show "Born to Dance" that LaurieAnn Gibson was on about 8 years ago?  She was a choreographer on that show and boy, was she a hardass!  So when I heard that she was going to be on SYTYCD, I thought, "FINALLY, we're going to get some critical commentary on this show!"  But instead of being the second coming of Mia Michaels, LaurieAnn is the second coming of Vanessa Hudgens.  WTF?!?!

[Mystery Author]

Quote

LaurieAnn is the second coming of Vanessa Hudgens.  WTF?!?!

WTF indeed.

And what's with the stage lighting, or should I say non-lighting? Did SYTYCD forget to pay its electric bill?

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Opening number (Mandy Moore)

Bailey & Mariah - jazz (Mandy Moore)

Stephanie & Gino - hip hop (Luther Brown)

Anna & Benjamin - cha cha (Emma & Sasha)

Madison & Ezra - contemporary (Talia Favia)

Sophie & Eddie - (Brian Friedman)

Top 5 girls - contemporary (Travis Wall)

Top 5 guys - hip hop (Luther Brown)

Edited August 13, 2019 by ElectricBoogaloo

[windtrix]

Huh...so Madison is the only one who got to dance in her specialty? Wow, they are really pimping her. I hate that kind of stuff and will be glad when she is gone.

Oh great, the group numbers are in her style, too.

Edited August 13, 2019 by windtrix
More pimping going on.

[displayname]

The opening was what we can expect from the opening show, and This is Me.

Madison was awful in her Contemporary. There is nothing special whatsoever about her movement quality.

Anna and Benjamin's Cha Cha was very generic, and they performed it very sloppily. We've seen worse, though, I think.

Sophie and Eddie was horrible on his part. It looked like something out of comedy show.

I thought Stephanie did a better job with the beat in her hip hop than Gino.

Bailey needs to win. His performance in that jazz blew Mariah away.

That Travis Wall Contemporary is exactly what I've come to expect from a Travis Wall Contemporary.

The Fireman hip-hop I'd rather have seen without Eddie and Benjamin, and maybe even Ezra. Or maybe it just shouldn't have happened.

Bad opening show.

Edited August 13, 2019 by displayname

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Cat looked like a sparkly goddess in that dress.

I was not a fan of the cheesy graphics during the opening number. Other than that, it was a good opening routine for the first show.

Bailey and Mariah's jazz was exactly what I expect from a Mandy Moore jazz - fun, light, and cute. I was surprised by how well Bailey did. I know that speaks more about how low my expectations are for the b-boy/hip hop contestants who the judges usually select for the top 10/20, but his dancing was clean and effortless. And side by side axels! Ha, and it only took us ten episodes for us to get a BOOM KAT from Boom Kat!

The biggest issue I had with Stephanie and Gino's hip hop was that their styles were so different that when they were doing side by side choreography, it looked different even when they were doing the same moves. My other complaints were Stephanie related. She was going overboard making faces, which is not surprising since she's a ballroom dancer. As a performer, I was taught to NEVER mouth the words unless you were specifically told to lip syn as part of the performance. When I was younger, that kind of sucked because sometimes you just want to sing along. But as an audience member, I understand why I was taught that. It looks stupid if you're kind of mouthing the words but not totally committing to it by making it really obvious if you're supposed to be doing it or if you're only doing it sporadically.

Anna and Benjamin's cha cha was a mixed bag for me. Anna is lucky that Benjamin already knows how to partner. It was really obvious that she is not a ballet/jazz trained dancer, particularly during the lifts, because of her lines and her feet. She doesn't point her toes, her knees are bent when her legs are supposed to be straight, and her arms are sloppy. She had the right attitude for this dance though, which really helped though. Benjamin did a really good job though. He was sharp, his posture was great, and he danced with such confidence. On a shallow note, I loved her shiny silver fringe dress. I'm not a prude, but sometimes when I watch DWTS I get tired of all the barely there costumes so I always enjoy when I see a ballroom costume that's a little more covered up. Usually I'm not a fan of pairing portmanteau names, but Banana cracked me up.

Madison and Ezra's contemporary was fine. I liked the choreography (so yay for more Talia), but I thought the performance was just okay. Madison got demerits from me for saying eck-specially. Her boyfriend got cut and we are STILL seeing him. Ezra gets bonus points for trying to fix things when Madison's foot missed his back.

Sophie and Eddie's sushi jazz was a waste of Brian Friedman. His choreography is very stylized so the dancers have to fully commit to it and unfortunately, neither Sophie nor Eddie did. They looked like they were marking it so they didn't do it justice. Sophie did a better job but she still didn't nail it. Ugh, Sophie's sister is named Brinkley? [/judging]

The girls' routine was a whole lot of nothing by Travis. I kept waiting for the dancing to actually begin. It was mostly a bunch of posing, walking around, and roll offs. There was only about ten seconds of dancing in the middle.

The best thing about the guys' firefighter hip hop was Benjamin's double tour.

[calipiano81]

I am still on the Ezra train. I like the confidence in his movements and commitment to the performance across the styles.

Love Shack was a cute number, but Bailey's personality outshone Mariah's, IMO.

I think Gino and Stephanie's costumes got in the way a little bit and made it harder for me to judge how well they did.

I prefer Emma and Sasha's work on DWTS. On this show, I feel like they try too hard sometimes with the tricks and flashy moves. If Benjamin has trained in ballroom, it didn't look like it to me with this cha cha (or his salsa with Koine last week)...technique was a little clunky.

I didn't think Eddie was as bad as the judges made him out to be, although I must admit I was paying more attention to Sophie.

Edited August 13, 2019 by calipiano81

[displayname]

2 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Bailey and Mariah's jazz was exactly what I expect from a Mandy Moore jazz - fun, light, and cute. I was surprised by how well Bailey did. I know that speaks more about how low my expectations are for the b-boy/hip hop contestants who the judges usually select for the top 10/20, but his dancing was clean and effortless. And side by side axels! Ha, and it only took us ten episodes for us to get a BOOM KAT from Boom Kat!

Yes, he is my favorite contestant at this point, and also the best dancer for me.

[Haleth]

<slaps forehead>  Wow.  I totally forgot to dvr the show.  Thanks for posting the routines, EB.

Edited August 13, 2019 by Haleth

[Mason]

The only ballroom I've seen (and I am heartily sick of it) is cha cha. I don't remember it being this obvious in previous seasons.

Love Shack reminded me of Boogie Shoes. If Bailey & Mariah had several weeks as partners under their belts, it would have worked better than it did. (Not saying I didn't enjoy it.) Hope it's chosen for the finale.

[cinsbythesea]

This show felt rushed to me.  They are cramming a lot into one hour.    My favorite Benjamin did not disappoint!  As for the judges continuing to gush over Madison's every move...😵

[Koalagirl]

Nigel’s homophobia was blatantly evident when he told Eddie he felt uncomfortable watching him.   

[displayname]

22 minutes ago, Koalagirl said:

Nigel’s homophobia was blatantly evident when he told Eddie he felt uncomfortable watching him.   

I thought he just meant he was dancing badly -- which he was.

[crowceilidh]

Haven't watched yet, but that's bad news about them favouring Madison with her dance choice.  Madison is already like a Melanie reboot to me.  The clunky dancing and the unfinished/unstretched movement  Melanie was insanely favoured in the dance choices of her season, as I recall.  I mean, they do that more and more with their favoured dancers, but Melanie was the first person where I remember being completely pissed off by it.

[Drogo]

How did Daenerys Targaryen make it into the Top 5 Girls' contemporary number?  

[StrictTime]

The costumes in Eddie and Sophie’s routine where purposefully distracting, imo. Just a mess all around. And no lifts in that routine, either. It made that pairing so boring.

Not impressed with any of the dancers this season. At this point, Benjamin and Ezra seem the most trained and talented. I guess we’ll see as the season progresses.

[slaterain]

the good:

• as always - love Cat and how much she cares about everyone
• Enjoyed them going back to no all-stars - or at least I thought I would! - wonder if/when that changes
• Bailey - love his passion for dance and am excited to see how much he tackles and excels moving forward!

most of the routines were just meh... 

the bad (so much bad) ☹️: 

• the opening number cheesy graphics - so happy when that stopped
• Stephanie and Gino - the costumes (makeup especially) and the lighting made it almost impossible to see their faces or the choreo which made me laugh after all the talks of makeup and lighting being emmy-nominated!
• Madison getting contemporary (no favoritism there) and botching it (it was definitely not impressive how she recovered - good that she did but not impressive)
• Madison/Ezra's routine - the very start was cool and then they had them on a treadmill (running in place) and it didn't fit the music at all which threw me out of the piece.
• Eddie/Sophie was painful to watch - it had the chance to be a really fun routine and Sophie had some good moments but Eddie dragged it down 
• top 5 girls - part costumes blending into the background and not much dynamic except for entangled arms made this hard to enjoy. Also I am not looking forward to Madison being front and center all the time 
• top 5 guys - my first thought was did I turn on Magic Mike?!? such an odd choice. and I was surprised that they didn't let Bailey shine a bit more when I felt like all the other guys got a very front and center solo part while Bailey's was tucked into the beginning when they were all close together. 
• So maybe I did miss the all stars...
• I really miss the introduction ep they would have after academy where they were all in groups of their same styles doing what they do best. probably works better with the 20
• seemed so light on dancing by starting with the top 10 without allstars and only having an hour. 
• I ff-ed more through the judging then I ever have. 
• Stunt casting - even more evident this year that it was all about getting the background stories instead of the amazing dancers.

I will probably continue to watch but it was so meh. Not one routine did I have any interest in rewatching. 

Edited August 13, 2019 by slaterain

[displayname]

I actually thought we had some nice choreography. Bailey/Mariah's Mandy Moore jazz, Gino/Stephanie's Luther Brown hip-hop, and Ezra/Madison's Talia Flavia Contemporary were all nice. Out of those, I'd only watch Bailey's side of the jazz though.

[TVbitch]

No standout routines or dancers for me, so I will focus on a couple positives:

Vanessa is GONE!!!

The judges actually did give a wee bit of criticism and disagreed a couple times.

Um, um, okay that's all I got.  

[crossover]

The thing that came to my mind is "Are the guys truly that much better than the girls?"  I thought all the guys outperformed their partners, except Eddie. 

-Eddie/Sophie had the performance I least enjoyed.  I really don't think Brian's routine really defines Eddie as a poor dancer because you should be a good jazz dancer to make Brian routines pop.  Unfortunately, Eddie doesn't have those skills and he really kind of brought Sophie's performance down as well.  Luck of the draw (manipulations?).  He probably would've been fine in the Mandy jazz.

- I didn't enjoy Anna's effort either.  But, she's hip hop and she wasn't awful.  So I can see people giving her a pass.  People are more likely to give a pass in a ballroom routine if it look like the dancer tried, especially in the beginning.  Benjamin was good though considering he was also out of his element.  It takes a while for the man to learn to keep the "bootay" in check.

- The remaining are interchangeable.  It looked like they tried to recreate DTrix/Sabra with Bailey/Mariah.  Bailey came to play but he was so amped up in some parts that he made her look sluggish.  I was most surprised by Ezra's performance.  He saved their routine.  Right now, he's the one I want to see do really well.  Usually, a contemporary is my favorite routine out of the first week performances.  I enjoyed Ezra/Madison but maybe that little flub took more out of the performance for me than I realize.  It looks like Gino is the favorite and Stephanie is a good partner for him.  This will probably be their worse routine and it wasn't bad.  It just looked like they interpreted the pocket differently.  It put me in the mind of the hip hop routine that Travis/Martha did.  They both performed well; they did the same steps; they just didn't have the same feel.  I felt the same about Gino/Stephanie.

Really didn't get attached to anyone right away like I did with Darius/Magda last season or Logan/Allison in season 14.  That's good in a way because I really won't care as much about the show's manipulations.

[Jsage]

Quote

The only ballroom I've seen (and I am heartily sick of it) is cha cha. I don't remember it being this obvious in previous seasons.

Do they do non-latin ballroom anymore? I can't remember the last time I've seen a waltz routine.

[windtrix]

Remember the first few seasons when this was such a great show? What happened? The last several seasons are barely watchable as soon as it gets to the live shows. I think the kids’ season was when it started to go sour for me.

[MartyQui]

I think the boots that Eddie had on were a handicap...I think he was tripping over them sometimes.  Overall...meh.  But I love Benjamin.

[MVFrostsMyPie]

This show is easy to get through quickly when you don't like anyone except Bailey! He shined in the jazz.

The ice routine and the sushi routine (WTF) were my least favorites, and also can the jidges stop blowing smoke up Madison's ass, thanks.

Let me guess, they're already priming Sophie's sister to be on some future season, a la Lindsay/Jensen. Yay, more generic blonde dancers from Smalltown, USA!

I kind of didn't mind that the lighting was so dark during the girls' contemporary, I was able to enjoy Sara Bareilles without really being able to see all the clunky choreography.

[Samwise979]

Posting before reading the other comments but I will go back!

The men overall were way better than the women.

Madison got to dance her own style?!! And she was really good but Ezra held his own with her - wow I agreed with the judges on that one!

However, I did not agree with Dom and Nig about Stephanie and Gino's routine. I thought Gino was so much better over Stephanie. 

Anna was so bad the judges had to basically tell America, remember it's only her second time in heels! Remember it's only her second time dancing with a partner! Speaking of partners, I thought Benjamin was SO good in this.  

Eddie was terrible. He made Sophie look amazing. 

Bailey and Mariah were really good. Not too much to say about them except I liked them. 

Besides Madison (who got to dance her own style!) I think Mariah is the only woman who is worth any votes. Where as with the guys I think all of them besides Eddie are worth the votes.  (Not that I vote, I live in Canada). 

[Cuatro1234]

I like Bailey but I thought he was trying too hard.  We also commented in our household that it reminded us of Boogie Shoes!  A crowd-pleasing song will bring in the votes.  Still not missing the lack of saga-length dance backstories!

i thought Ezra looked better than Madison in their routine.  Better lines.  Her feet also bother me at times (like in the girls’ routine tonight). 

Sophie, with her blonde hair and pink tutu, gave off a very Barbie vibe that wasn’t right for that routine   Looked  lot better after they ripped off the tutu to reveal the plastic skirt.  This routine would have been so good with Mark Kanemura in it instead of Eddie.

Anna didn’t look good in that cha cha, but she acted it well, appeared confident, and sold it.  

Stephanie’s facials really bugged me, but her movement was great. 

I’ll take Laurieann over Vanessa any day and twice on Sundays.   What was the “off” logo on her dress?

They really needed 2 routines, in different styles, tonight like they used to have.  Seems so unfair to judge them on just one routine.

[NeedTVRehab]

22 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Madison got demerits from me for saying eck-specially.  

I thought I heard her say that, but I gave her the benefit of the doubt and decided I heard wrong, but unfortunately it seems to be true!  I also give demerits!

[khyber]

15 hours ago, windtrix said:

Remember the first few seasons when this was such a great show? What happened? The last several seasons are barely watchable as soon as it gets to the live shows. I think the kids’ season was when it started to go sour for me.

This show is a wreck. Mr. Khyber said to me, "Remember when this was a good show?"  I didn't enjoy this episode at all. Part of the problem is that they chose many of the wrong dancers for the top 10.  I no longer even listen to the judge's comments as they are either tongue baths or set ups for who ever is going to win. Alopecia girl is such a heavy, lumbering dancer and Eddie.......?????  I don't know if I will make it to the end of this season, even just watching the dancing and nothing else.

[Haleth]

Ok, that was not good.  Bailey + Mariah were kind of cute, but it went downhill fast from there. Eddie, Anna, Madison - why are they there again?

[Rahul]

So this episode went down entirely as predicted. Eddie failed his routine spectacularly, and the sack of potatoes (otherwise known as Madison) flubbed her routine as I knew she would. And yet the judges still managed to praise her? I cannot with the scripted obsequiousness this year. I was hoping Eddie and Madison would be paired together because at least that would make for a great laugh!

Anna was likewise terrible in her ballroom number, not that she's that good of a hiphop dancer either and Sophie seemed to struggle as well. 

I'm still fuming about this year's selection. Clearly the producers take us for fools who cannot discern good from bad dancing and expect us to agree with the judges absurd comments.

Full disclosure--I rewound Madison's clumsy leg faux pas several times and rewatched Eddie as he placed his hands on the floor and kicked his legs up like a donkey in an attempt to cartwheel two or three times in the routine. I think he may be the most talentless finalist this show has ever had.

[AllAboutMBTV]

Blandest Top 10 ever? I think so. Chosen One Gino and Bailey are the only ones I can ever remember. (Bailey barely comes up to Cat's shoulder. I know her legs start at her neck and she's wearing heels, but he might fit in her purse. No shame! His Love Shack was probably the best performance of the evening.)

Agreed with everyone above that the costumes (what was that Sushi mess?!), lighting and makeup were largely awful (Gino looked like he has smallpox.) The music was also dreadful. I realize there are rights and payment issues to use the music, but c'mon. Not every number has to be set to a song everyone knows like Love Shack, but in previous seasons I would come away with a handful of songs I'd never heard before that I liked. This was largely just thudding. Looking forward to the more niche categories like Broadway, Disco, Bollywood and non-Latin Ballroom as the music is often better.

On a positive note, there was no sign of an All Star (yet...). Will the contestants stay with their current partners (unless one of them is eliminated)? I always liked that format.

[realdancemom]

On 8/13/2019 at 3:42 AM, displayname said:

Yes, he is my favorite contestant at this point, and also the best dancer for me.

Bailey is also my favorite contestant followed by Benjamin.  I actually prefer the guys except for Eddie over the females.

On 8/13/2019 at 1:27 AM, calipiano81 said:

I am still on the Ezra train. I like the confidence in his movements and commitment to the performance across the styles.

Love Shack was a cute number, but Bailey's personality outshone Mariah's, IMO.

I think Gino and Stephanie's costumes got in the way a little bit and made it harder for me to judge how well they did.

I didn't think Eddie was as bad as the judges made him out to be, although I must admit I was paying more attention to Sophie.

I agree with a lot of your comments.  I'll add some of my own.

Opening number - Hated the cheesy graphics in the opening number.  It was distracting.  One of the reasons why I first liked SYTYCD over WOD is because it seemed more organic and raw.  Now, they're trying to copy them in ways that I don't like.  Sometimes, the lighting in WOD is so bad that I wonder if somebody could get seizures from it.  I did like the dance afterwards though.

Love Shack was a fun routine just like Boogie Shoes.  Even though, I think Mariah had better technique in a lot of places, I though Bailey outshone her performance wise.  Previously, when I watched him do contemporary, I assumed he had some studio training.  I'm convinced of that even more after he did an axel.  Great chemistry between the two of them.

I think Gino and Stephanie were good if you look at them individually.  They would probably match better if they had more time to do this routine instead of a week.  I prefer Gino's hip-hop movement since I think he hit a lot more of the intricate beats especially in the upper body.  Stephanie relied on her booty and facial expressions more.  I thought her facials were a little over the top.  Hated the lighting, makeup, and costumes.

Benjamin was great.  Anna had sloppy legs and arms.  Still upset that she made it over Sumi.  However, I will say that she tried to get the sass down and they did have great chemistry together.  If Sumi was paired with Benjamin, I don't think the chemistry would be there since she's more subdued.

I like Ezra and Madison's routine just fine.  The best moment for me was actually the end.  That's where they had a great emotional connection.  The beginning was nice too.

I agree with you that Eddie wasn't as bad as the judges made him out to be.  If they are going to give Anna points for not dancing in heels or with a partner before, then they need to give Eddie more credit since he's not a jazz dancer.  He tried to get the character so I think it was rude for Nigel to say that he felt uncomfortable.  Sophie was better but then she should be better since jazz is more in her wheelhouse. 

Based on what they showed in the academy and this week, I do think Eddie and Anna are the right ones to go home.  

On 8/13/2019 at 3:18 PM, Jsage said:

Do they do non-latin ballroom anymore? I can't remember the last time I've seen a waltz routine.

They don't do standard ballroom anymore.  It started the season where they had street vs. studio.  Denys said he didn't want to be in the show anymore since they took out a lot of ballroom.  It's debatable on whether he didn't want to continue because his wife was cut.  Nigel did make a comment that not as many people vote for the standard ballroom so that's why they took it out.  You will only see Latin, salsa, and AT now.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

12 hours ago, Rahul said:

Full disclosure--I rewound Madison's clumsy leg faux pas several times and rewatched Eddie as he placed his hands on the floor and kicked his legs up like a donkey in an attempt to cartwheel two or three times in the routine. I think he may be the most talentless finalist this show has ever had.

Ha, I’m just glad you found a way to get some enjoyment out of this episode!

[displayname]

10 hours ago, realdancemom said:

Love Shack was a fun routine just like Boogie Shoes.  Even though, I think Mariah had better technique in a lot of places, I though Bailey outshone her performance wise.  Previously, when I watched him do contemporary, I assumed he had some studio training.  I'm convinced of that even more after he did an axel.  Great chemistry between the two of them.

I think Mariah does have better technique there, but I was still surprised at how clean Bailey was. He'll obviously not be as amazing in that regard as someone who claims to be a contemporary/jazz dancer first, but he was great all of his own.

10 hours ago, realdancemom said:

I actually prefer the guys except for Eddie over the females.

I like the men more than the women this season too, apart from Eddie. I think I liked all the guys except Eddie on some level after the last show.

10 hours ago, realdancemom said:

I think Gino and Stephanie were good if you look at them individually.  They would probably match better if they had more time to do this routine instead of a week.  I prefer Gino's hip-hop movement since I think he hit a lot more of the intricate beats especially in the upper body.  Stephanie relied on her booty and facial expressions more.  I thought her facials were a little over the top.  Hated the lighting, makeup, and costumes. 

I rewatched this just to see what everyone's saying here about Stephanie's facial expressions. I do agree they're overblown, but I felt it worked with the music, while Gino's movement at points was just kind of silly to me (maybe because it doesn't perfectly suit him though), although I do agree now he's doing a more intricate job than her.

Edited August 15, 2019 by displayname

[Keekski]

You (general) think Gino is TCO? I totally think it's Madison. Barf. I was pretty meh on the entire show this week. 

[WonderWuman73]

I lost my passion for the show. It’s sad really. This was my favorite reality show for years and now I don’t even recognize it. Poor judging, obvious favoritism, the girls I wanted in the top 10 are all gone, the shuffling of judges-we don’t need 4 of them!, mediocre dancers, the new camera tricks are unnecessary, shortened shows with no top 20; leaving no time to developing a connection/relationship with their partners and the audience. 

I will continue watching but they’ve jumped the shark a long time ago and should call it quits if we’re going to keep getting this shitshow that FOX refuses to care about. 

[crowceilidh]

Bailey was the only person with the requisite energy and interpretation to impress.

I tend to like the boys except Eddie.

I loathe how strongly featured Madison was in the group numbers.  It's always interesting to watch how they sort out the featured shots.  The guys' number was odd in that I couldn't always sort out who I was looking at because of the hats.

Edited August 16, 2019 by crowceilidh

[realdancemom]

6 hours ago, displayname said:

I think Mariah does have better technique there, but I was still surprised at how clean Bailey was. He'll obviously not be as amazing in that regard as someone who claims to be a contemporary/jazz dancer first, but he was great all of his own.

I like the men more than the women this season too, apart from Eddie. I think I liked all the guys except Eddie on some level after the last show.

I rewatched this just to see what everyone's saying here about Stephanie's facial expressions. I do agree they're overblown, but I felt it worked with the music, while Gino's movement at points was just kind of silly to me (maybe because it doesn't perfectly suit him though), although I do agree now he's doing a more intricate job than her.

Yes, Bailey was clean.  I also like how both Mandy and Jaci can add B Boy moves to jazz or contemporary for him.  It makes the routine more interesting.  He has the It factor and my eyes were drawn to him the whole time.  Plus he always puts so much energy and heart to the routines.  That's why he's my favorite.   

I think Stephanie's facials would have worked if Gino was also making facial expressions.  I think for both of them, they just needed more than a week to do this routine so that they could match more.  That's why I said individually, they were fine.  Neither one did it wrong.  That's why LaurieAnn and I preferred Gino but Dominic and Nigel preferred Stephanie.  On paper, they would be the power couple since both of them are cross-trained so I expect them to do well in this competition.

Previously, I also compared Sumi to Anna because both of them were the final hip-hop girls.  However, there are tons of contemporary/jazz dancers in the top 10.  There was no reason to not have two ballroom women and no hip-hop female.  I know LAG was pushing for hip-hop.  But imagine how good Nazz would have looked doing the ballroom routine with Benjamin?  Since she came in as ballroom, you know she would have the technique down better than Benjamin.  I think she and Benjamin could have sizzling chemistry too which I said could have been Sumi's weakness.  We also know that Nazz is good with hip-hop too.  

[luvthepros]

1 hour ago, crowceilidh said:

I loathe how strongly featured Madison was in the group numbers. 

I had to laugh when I saw the girls carry Madison in their group number. She has to be the heaviest of all the girls this season. Doesn't make sense to me. That looked very cumbersome.

[displayname]

On 8/15/2019 at 11:24 PM, realdancemom said:

I think Stephanie's facials would have worked if Gino was also making facial expressions.  I think for both of them, they just needed more than a week to do this routine so that they could match more.  That's why I said individually, they were fine.  Neither one did it wrong.  That's why LaurieAnn and I preferred Gino but Dominic and Nigel preferred Stephanie.

Ah, yes, agreed. And I also get the comments of "they come from different styles" etc. It was alright, but I'd like to see someone like Comfort and Fikshun reprise it together for the finale.

On 8/15/2019 at 11:24 PM, realdancemom said:

Previously, I also compared Sumi to Anna because both of them were the final hip-hop girls.  However, there are tons of contemporary/jazz dancers in the top 10.  There was no reason to not have two ballroom women and no hip-hop female.  I know LAG was pushing for hip-hop.  But imagine how good Nazz would have looked doing the ballroom routine with Benjamin?  Since she came in as ballroom, you know she would have the technique down better than Benjamin.  I think she and Benjamin could have sizzling chemistry too which I said could have been Sumi's weakness.  We also know that Nazz is good with hip-hop too.   

Yes, I'd have removed Sophie, Anna, and Madison, in favour of Nazz and Sumi. But I can't remember even one other woman I was impressed by during the Academy week.

Edited August 16, 2019 by displayname

[realdancemom]

33 minutes ago, displayname said:

Ah, yes, agreed. And I also get the comments of "they come from different styles" etc. It was alright, but I'd like to see someone Comfort and Fikshun reprise it together for the finale.

Yes, I'd have removed Sophie, Anna, and Madison, in favour of Nazz and Sumi. But I can't remember even one other women I was impressed by during the Academy week.

Comfort and Fikshun would be great.  However, since hip-hop is not Gino or Stephanie's genre, I think they did well.

TPTB didn't want us to see better dancers.  I'm positive that Sophie, Madison, and Mariah were not the best contemporary women.  They always get tons of contemporary dancers auditioning.  Look how they really didn't show Aleksandr.  We wouldn't know that he's a better tapper than Eddie and he's also a better all around dancer if people didn't post clips of him.  Out of the academy, I actually liked Sofia.  I would choose Nazz or Sumi over her but wouldn't have minded if she replaced somebody else.

[alexa]

I enjoyed the episode with the exception of Madison, getting to dance her style and woe is me story.  I am so over her, and I really can’t stand her dancing.  I hope she leaves soon.  

[bourbon]

I don't care about any of these people. There is usually someone or a couple every season that I really love and root for, but they are all so generic and boring and uninspiring. 

I really found the whole pre-live show tongue bath for Madison about how inspiring she is pretty insulting. Why? Why is the fact that she is bald inspiring? It would be one thing if she had an ailment or affliction that made it more difficult for her to dance. But being bald doesn't affect her ability to dance. So why is it inspiring, then? Because being bald is SO horrible and SUCH a tragedy that she is inspiring for even setting foot outside her house and showing her face on the reg? That's really insulting. Yet, Madison fell for it, and her talking head piece was all about how she's overcome SO MUCH. 

I don't mean to dismiss alopecia. I know it's difficult, especially for kids. But...why exactly does having it make her dancing inspiring? 

And on a shallow note...Stephanie has no neck. Her head rises straight out of her chest. It's distracting.

Edited August 16, 2019 by bourbon

[mojoween]

Yep “expecially” gets you cancelled in this house too.  Sorry Madison.

I love Benjamin’s energy and also his dad is way hot.  I’m rooting for Benjamin and Ezra and the rest eh.

Ezra’s recovery of Madison’s flub actually did not match the piece because it looked like he was flinging her off of him, when they were supposed to be a matched set or whatever.

Bailey looked so very small in the guy’s group number.

[chocolatine]

On 8/13/2019 at 10:08 AM, Sarah Heart said:

Bailey, who is small in stature,  but you don't notice it when he dances.

Unpopular opinion here, but I thought it was painfully obvious how small Bailey is when he danced. His arms especially are tiny, so all of his lifts looked ... truncated, for lack of a better word. Half the time it looked like Mariah was lifting herself with her own momentum. I do think Bailey is adorable though.

Who thought that adding more tinsel to Anna's outfit would distract from her bad dancing? It made her look even more clunky.

Talia Favia's choreography is what I imagine an SNL parody of contemporary dance would look like if they ever did one. Ezra made the most of it, but of course all the praise went to Madison, who can't even dance in her own style.