S16.E11: Top 10 Perform, Round 2

[Drogo]

After the Top 10 compete for the nation's votes, two dancers must head home.

Airs 8/19/19.

[susannot]

When does discussion of tonight's episode start?

[susannot]

Madison is growing on me. She looked good in that hat. She saved Ezra with that routine.  However, "Leave your Hat On" is much sexier with the Tom Jones version.  See The Full Monty.

Love Benjamin.

Bailey and Mariah--OK.  Mariah is gorgeous and a great dancer.  Bailey appears to be 12.  Sorry.

[Quickbeam]

Glad to see Eddie go. Wish it had been Madison leaving with him. 

[jewel21]

No, no, no, no, no! Stephanie should have stayed! She wasn't my favourite dancer, at first, but I really grew to enjoy her these last two shows and I thought she was really good and a more well-rounded dancer. 

I continue to adore Bailey! So much energy and power in such a small body. He's captivating to watch. 

I really liked Gino tonight and that routine was one of my favourites of the night. 

[PhD-Purgatory15]

As much as the show is pushing Madison and Gino, I kinda feel like Bailey and Mariah might be absolutely running away with the vote totals.

Madison absolutely should've been in the bottom along with Sophie (if we are purely basing it off of last week's performance) and she should've been the one to go. Eddy should've been and ended up being the one to go on the guys side so no issues there. I would've maybe put Gino in the Bottom 2 just because his hip hop wasn't much more believable than Eddy's was last week.

As for the dances tonight. Bailey/Mariah crushed another one, Ben/Anna were solid in the other duo's hip hop piece. They each had a couple of noticeable flaws but if I was giving them a grade on a 1 to 10 scale they would've received somewhere between 7.8 and 8.3.

Didn't really watch Ezra/Madison, Gino/Stephanie was pretty freaking awesome...mostly because of Stephanie (so at least she went out on the highest of highest notes). But Gino's personality and character did come through and was more believable than his hip hop attempt from last week. And actually, Eddy went out on a high note as well and Sophie (despite the lighting issues that made it hard to see either of their faces) I thought was much more confident and in control than her effort last week.

My guess is that Anna will be right back in the Bottom 2 next Monday along with hopefully Madison (but probably Sophie) and Ezra will be right back in the bottom w/ maybe Benjamin or Gino...

[Tigregirl]

I would have kept Stephanie over Anna.  Still wish Sumi would have made it over Anna.  I think Mariah is by far the strongest girl but Sophie also impressed me tonight.  The 4 guys left are all strong so it will be hard to see any of them go.  I miss the days of the top 20 and the strong partnerships that were formed - Katee and Joshua are still one of my favorite pairs (but really hate how Joshua messed up his life after the show).  5 men and 5 women make for a very short season.  

[rlc]

Ugh. Grrrrr. We’re going to be stuck with Madison’s lead feet and lazy extensions for a while while the judges attempt to gaslight us into believing she’s a great dancer. 

Stephanie should not be gone yet.

Bailey and Mariah are a joy to watch. Gino did not disappoint tonight. 

At least Eddie is gone.

[Prairie Fire]

Bailey and Mariah are really good, but did she fall off the bike at the end?

[hula-la]

For some reason, when Ezra danced tonight, I got shades of the late, great Patrick Swayze. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Top ten - contemporary (Travis Wall)

Madison & Ezra (Ray Leeper)

Anna & Benjamin - hip hop (Randi & Hef)

Stephanie & Gino - jive (Emma & Sasha)

Sophie & Eddie - contemporary (Travis Wall)

Mariah & Bailey - hip hop (Luther Brown)

Edited August 20, 2019 by ElectricBoogaloo

[calipiano81]

2 hours ago, Sarah Heart said:

Ezra and Madison, my favourite  routine of the night, very sensual. He's a beautiful  dancer.How was he  ever in danger??? No, that was all sorts of wrong 

And Ezra's only 18! To me, he looks older and dances with much maturity.

I hate that the ballroom dancers are always early outs.

Edited August 20, 2019 by calipiano81

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I think that in many ways, Travis is a dancer's choreographer because he creates moves and connections that feel good to do. But as an audience member, I often don't enjoy watching his routines because they don't wow me. I watched all of this week's routines on youtube (meaning without any of the intro packages or judges yammering) so I had no context for what this dance was about, but I could tell that it was choreographed by Travis for the above reasons.

Madison & Ezra - this song will always remind me of 9 1/2 Weeks and Mickey Rourke being creepy so I was predisposed not to like it. The choreography gave Madison much more opportunity to shine but she didn't impress me. She fluctuated between fine and good. Therein lies my issue with her. She isn't a horrible dancer, but she isn't great either. She's competent which is boring on a show like this.

Anna & Benjamin - no surprise that Anna did well since this is her style. Benjamin was fun to watch in this routine. I wish the choreography hadn't wasted so much time on the necklaces. That's more time we could have used watching them dance!

Stephanie & Gino - this was a fun routine. I don't think that Stephanie deserved to go home, but I'm glad that she was able to go out on a high note.

Sophie & Eddie - man, Eddie is lucky that Travis gave him so much partnering stuff to do so that we wouldn't see how weak he was at contemporary. If you just hold your hand over Sophie and only watch Eddie, I'd say about 95% of what he did was partnering. Aside from that, he did a dive roll, a kip up, and some walking. The only flaw I noticed in Sophie's performance was when she piked her hips during that spinning lift.

Mariah & Bailey - they killed that hip hop routine. Definitely the best dance of the night!

[displayname]

I haven't watched the show, just the routines. No idea about the stories behind these.

Ezra/Madison: Madison just looked so bad here, to me. She looked like she was trying to be "powerful", but it looked... bad. She also doesn't strike me as someone who's particularly musical. IDK what else to say. I haven't liked Ezra much till now, and that continues. The routine was so generic.

Anna/Benjamin: I liked Anna here. In comparison, Benjamin looked cringey at points, but he was still nice at several points all on his own. They could have removed the necklace props, they were entirely superfluous.

Gino/Stephanie: Not sure at all why they put them in a gas-station set-up and costumes. They did nothing at all with that theme. The dance itself was nice enough, so it was annoying.

Eddie/Sophie: I had to watch the dance thrice over to remember what happened at all. And I still had to type this paragraph straight afterwards so I didn't forget there was a mattress. And a cell phone. Not even once did I understand what the lyrics were or why the woman was singing it like that. One thing I do remember was that Eddie raises her up by the neck using his ankle to "goodbye" and I didn't understand why. It was so boring. I guess they did some nice moves with little to no artistic meaning behind them -- which is par for course for 95% of Wall routines.

Mariah/Bailey: She really killed it. Bailey was great of course, but I think his face isn't suited to that kind of emoting. He also looked a little *too* powerful at points, and in general could learn how to hue his movement better. But this was the best dance of the night again from them.

Group routine: Snooze.

Of the people there, I'd have let Anna and Eddie go, but I'd rather have seen Madison be eliminated along with Eddie.

I'd let Madison and Sophie both go, but not only are they judges' faves (they've done nothing BUT contemporary and jazz until now, counting group routines), they remove a guy and a girl. I think it will be Ezra and Anna.

M/B Hip Hop
A/B Hip Hop
S/G Jive
The rest can be joint last

Edited August 20, 2019 by displayname

[crossover]

Really not invested in this cast like I've been in the others.  I thought the routines were better this week than last week.  The jive was my favorite routine.  I guess Travis contemporary for Eddie/Sophie was my least favorite because you could see that Travis was trying to hide Eddie.  

People are saying that Bailey/Mariah are the chosen ones.  I don't agree but I do think the show wants them around.  They appear to be audience favorites.  "Wee Ones" usually are audience favorites, if they don't screw up too badly.  They got another upbeat routine.  I think as long as they can keep Bailey in upbeat routines, they'll be fine.  His personality/facials look ok in those types of routine.  And, he's amped up.  Too bad they didn't save the jive for him.  But, he should be fine as far as voting goes no matter what ballroom that he gets.  And, Travis will probably create a partner-heavy (lifts, etc) contemporary for him.

I don't even think Madison is the preferred winner either.  The show just wants her around for a while because of her "story".  They kept Sophie and her in their wheelhouse for the first couple of weeks.  I think the plan is to see which one of the two will gain the strongest fanbase before turning it over to fan-voting.  As far as Ezra goes, he's doomed.  I really think he's performed really well for the first couple of weeks, especially since he was outside his specialty.  But he and his sister had to have been splitting votes.  With the shortened format, he probably doesn't have time to recoup.  Maybe there's enough voters between Stephanie and him to keep him afloat?  But, the show knew this would happen.  They probably just wanted them for the tour.  

I don't feel all this chemistry between Benjamin/Anna that they keep telling me is there.  Benjamin is really talented.  Don't know why they are pushing Anna on us?  I didn't think she was "all that" in her genre--hip hop routine.  And she didn't pick up ballroom on last week that well either.  OTOH, Stephanie was better in her genre this week--ballroom than Anna was in hers.  And she did well in her hip hop last week.  So, I wonder why they voted to keep Anna instead of Stephanie?  Maybe to separate the siblings for voting purposes?  They had to let Eddie go.  To me, most of the girls look like they could do hip hop like Anna but none of the girls can do ballroom like Stephanie.

Gino is the one I think is the preferred winner.  They even gave him some mild criticism last week.  He got the ballroom girl so that he could shine in ballroom unlike Benjamin who had to rein in Anna.  He gets Sophie next week.  So does this mean that Sophie will be in her wheelhouse again (contemporary/jazz/bway)?  Gino is due one of those.  He should really shine next week.

I think everyone knew that Eddie would and should've left.  He just didn't pull the right style that he could excel in.  Obviously, he was added to the cast as a sacrificial lamb.  And, to do a tap routine, if they go on tour.  I don't think the show is as invested in Sophie as they are in Madison.  But, I also don't think it matters to them which is in the final four.

I think Gino and Benjamin are the guy-choices for final four.  Just like Lex and Logan were the choices during their season.  But just like they kept talking Kiki up until he made the final four, I think they may talk Bailey into the final four.  They don't want Anna because they can see that she doesn't have the skill.  They need competent girls to let the guys shine during the final four; not babysit the girls.  They like to have a small girl in the final four (salsa/disco).  But, I don't think they really care about the remaining girls.  Mariah is the smallest but Sophie is small enough to throw around.

But, I think the show wants a male winner and Gino is their preferred winner.

[WhineandCheez]

Quote

The opening number, gave me goosebumps. 

UGH.  to me it looked like a high school showcase, when they took off their shirts and their Ts said "ENOUGH." Silly.

[crowceilidh]

Watching the dances and nothing else.

The end of the opening number killed it for me.  Way too cliche and Travis looked like he knew it and hadn't wanted it and didn't like it (I'm probably giving him too much credit here).  

The only other number I watched through to the end was Bailey and Mariah.  I love Luther's choreo.  I think Bailey did well with it, but Mariah killed it.  I wish she hadn't fallen off the bike at the end.

Every other number was sorta passably competent to my eyes.  Not exciting or entertaining.  Glad Eddie's gone.  The only girl I'm interested in at this point is Mariah.  Bailey has good energy and power, but he is just so distractingly childish looking in his face...

[Darian]

11 hours ago, Sarah Heart said:

The opening number, gave me goosebumps.

Me, too. Except wetter. These past few weeks, with my friends in person and on social media, it's all been back to school. School supplies, clothes shopping, stories of their kids' nightmares over active shooter drills, their own worry. And with all that's in the news. I lost it. Watched it, called my husband in to show it to him and as I tried to tell him what I was going to show him, I just started crying. For a while. It just purely broke me. 

[cali1981]

I have to call BS on Stephanie's elimination.  Saving Anna struck me as a casting decision to keep a B-girl in the competition. After the Jive that she did with Gino, there's no way that Stephanie should have been sent packing.

I've been disappointed with Laurie Ann as a judge. She's a world class choreographer, known to be tough and no nonsense but there hasn't been much substance to her critiques so far.

Edited August 20, 2019 by cali1981

[Keekski]

Madison is never going to leave, is she? God, I hate the format of this show now. It SUCKS. 

[luvthepros]

17 hours ago, Prairie Fire said:

Bailey and Mariah are really good, but did she fall off the bike at the end?

Yes. Baily grabbed her by the foot so we wouldn't fall to the floor.

[mojoween]

Someone was moaning “yes” and “yeah” over and over during Benjamin/Anna and it was super annoying.  I think it was Lauriann.

Bailey is just too small.  I mean, Benjamin picked him up and carried him around in the group number.

[MVFrostsMyPie]

Madison dances like gravity is working against her. She couldn't dance lightly if her life depended on it. 

[MsTree]

20 hours ago, crossover said:

Madison...  The show just wants her around for a while because of her "story".

You just hit on my pet peeve with these competitive reality shows. Just because he/she has a "story", they're kept on the show longer than their expiration date for ratings...regardless of whether someone else is more talented.

I fear there's going to be a time where unless one has some sort of affliction/disability, they will be passed over just so producers can have a 'pity story'. 😞

[Haleth]

Even though it seems too obvious that the producers want Madison to win, I think the audience favorite is Bailey.  When it comes down to just the two of them how is Nigel going to crown her when Bailey is the one who garners more votes?

[WhineandCheez]

Quote

Madison dances like gravity is working against her. She couldn't dance lightly if her life depended on it. 

I wonder if it is because her build is "solid" not waif-like.  (Like Melanie, the former winner who has now lost so much weight I was surprised to see her.) Her feet also seem to land of the floor with a thunk. 

[displayname]

4 minutes ago, WhineandCheez said:

I wonder if it is because her build is "solid" not waif-like. 

I don't know... a "floaty" feeling probably has more to do with how you use your muscles, instead of just how you're built. You do need to vary your technique somewhat to create specific looks and musicality on the stage. I don't find Madison to be a good technician, nor does she have great musicality.

For instance, Melanie looked great in her style of contemporary, but she could never properly translate her technique into jazz and looked "heavy" in it. Maybe someone knowledgeable can speak about it more?

Edited August 21, 2019 by displayname

[khyber]

Well, I'm done. After watching every season, except the children, I have lost all interest. These weren't the best dancers, they are not challenging them to do much outside their comfort zones and the Nigel pimping has gone around the bend. I've canceled my recordings for the rest of the season.

[Rahul]

I'm not at all invested in this show anymore, but my living room erupted with thunderous applause when the judges decided to send Eddie home. He was always canon fodder and I've been annoyed that we have been forced to endure his cringeworthy dancing for as long as we have. I noticed he did not do much dancing at all in his contemporary routine. There weren't any proper lifts per say--just assists where Sophie did most of the heavy lifting, so to speak. Even his tumbles were aided by that prop mattress. I see you, SYTYCD choreographers! Don't think you can sneak this over my head.

Now if only Madison had faced the same outcome. Sophie and Anna are not strong enough contestants to be in the top ten either.

On a positive note, Mariah absolutely smashed her Luther Brown hip-hop routine. I thought Bailey was good, but could not match Mariah's movement and his expressions didn't have the right attitude for the piece.

[MoreCoffeePlease]

We all loved the Travis Wahl "Enough" opening routine. Early on I was thinking, "What is this about, gun violence?" We thought it was powerful and moving, and it could have been even more powerful if some of the dancers were on the floor at the end (as if dead), and/or some of them had blood on their shirts. I think Travis should allow dancing companies across this country to perform that piece as another way of getting that message out there. 

[realdancemom]

On 8/19/2019 at 9:14 PM, Tigregirl said:

I would have kept Stephanie over Anna.  Still wish Sumi would have made it over Anna.  I think Mariah is by far the strongest girl but Sophie also impressed me tonight.  The 4 guys left are all strong so it will be hard to see any of them go.  I miss the days of the top 20 and the strong partnerships that were formed - Katee and Joshua are still one of my favorite pairs (but really hate how Joshua messed up his life after the show).  5 men and 5 women make for a very short season.  

I think Stephanie should have made it over Anna too.  Both of them did well tonight since they were in their wheelhouse.  But they did the other's genre last week.  Stephanie did a much better job with the hip-hop than Anna did with the cha cha.  I don't think Anna is versatile at all.  And yes, I'm still bitter that she made it over Sumi.

I like all four guys left too and Mariah is the only female that I like left.  Stephanie was my second favorite female but she's gone.

There isn't enough time to like the partnerships or contestants since there's only ten.  I think Bailey and Mariah have a great partnership.  They had the best routine tonight.  I was surprised by Mariah.  She killed it but I wasn't expecting it.  While Madison always dances strong and a little heavy, Mariah always struck me as being delicate.  This translates well for contemporary but I wanted her to be more dynamic with the jazz last week.  She showed a different side with that hip-hop.

On 8/20/2019 at 12:43 AM, calipiano81 said:

And Ezra's only 18! To me, he looks older and dances with much maturity.

I hate that the ballroom dancers are always early outs.

He does dance with more maturity than a lot of other 18 year olds.  What I liked about Madison's and Ezra's rehearsal is that they didn't start giggling when Ray told them that they had to be sexy.  I hate that!! They took practice seriously and they did a good enough job acting sexy during the show.  I agree with Domenic that I liked that part when Ezra was sitting in the chair and his head was back.  I sound like a dirty old lady but like Dom, I'm just expressing that he did that part well. 

6 hours ago, Haleth said:

Even though it seems too obvious that the producers want Madison to win, I think the audience favorite is Bailey.  When it comes down to just the two of them how is Nigel going to crown her when Bailey is the one who garners more votes?

I think a lot of voters like Bailey too.  On Monday, Bailey and Mariah gave me shades of Amy/Fik-shun.  They're the adorable little couple.

Like others, I like Travis' opening number except the ending.  I didn't like his routine with Eddie/Sophie.  I think he did choreograph it to make Eddie look good.

[luvthepros]

5 hours ago, WhineandCheez said:

I wonder if it is because her build is "solid" not waif-like.  (Like Melanie, the former winner who has now lost so much weight I was surprised to see her.) Her feet also seem to land of the floor with a thunk. 

Unlike Gino who seems to not even touch the floor when he lands.

[Jsage]

Quote

The opening number, gave me goosebumps.

I wish it did for me. Travis used to be my favorite choreographer and his routines moved me to tears several times. At this point, I've seen so many of his routines where one dancer "saves" the other dancer, a group dance where the group pushes someone away and then pulls them back, people being lifted by the group, a timely message, etc., that they all just bleed together now. I still appreciate the quality of movement in his routines, but I don't have an emotional response anymore. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

11 hours ago, WhineandCheez said:

I wonder if it is because her build is "solid" not waif-like.  (Like Melanie, the former winner who has now lost so much weight I was surprised to see her.) Her feet also seem to land of the floor with a thunk. 

Size/weight/build don't strictly translate to how heavy or light someone appears while dancing. There are 85 pound girls who land like elephants because they just don't have the ballon and there are bigger girls who land light as a feather. A lot of it is really just the strength, power, and control of your feet and legs. The more powerful your legs are, the more you can push off the floor which means the higher you can go which means the more time you have in the air to complete whatever you're doing which means the more time you have to come down and land at your leisure. The more you roll completely through your feet and plié when you land, the softer it looks and the less noise you make.

[MVFrostsMyPie]

11 hours ago, MoreCoffeePlease said:

it could have been even more powerful if some of the dancers were on the floor at the end (as if dead), and/or some of them had blood on their shirts.

I think that would have been overkill (no pun intended) and way too literal. 

[Whimsy]

On 8/20/2019 at 8:26 AM, WhineandCheez said:

UGH.  to me it looked like a high school showcase, when they took off their shirts and their Ts said "ENOUGH." Silly.

17 hours ago, Jsage said:

I wish it did for me. Travis used to be my favorite choreographer and his routines moved me to tears several times. At this point, I've seen so many of his routines where one dancer "saves" the other dancer, a group dance where the group pushes someone away and then pulls them back, people being lifted by the group, a timely message, etc., that they all just bleed together now. I still appreciate the quality of movement in his routines, but I don't have an emotional response anymore. 

I'm right here with you.  I realized what the intent was right away and I knew it was SUPPOSED to move me, but it just didn't.  I honestly don't understand why he keeps getting so many Emmy's.  He is way too literal with the lyrics in both movement and props.  He also, to me, seems to have very limited ideas in that he always uses the same movements over and over.  Travis was my favorite contestant that came out of this show for a really long time, but I am so over him.  I just know he's not going anywhere due to his Emmy's. 

On 8/20/2019 at 10:13 AM, crowceilidh said:

The end of the opening number killed it for me.  Way too cliche and Travis looked like he knew it and hadn't wanted it and didn't like it (I'm probably giving him too much

I think you're giving him way too much credit.  Like I said above, he has no subtlety.  I think he 100% planned those shirts. 

[Ilovepie]

On 8/21/2019 at 11:07 AM, realdancemom said:

I like all four guys left too and Mariah is the only female that I like left.  Stephanie was my second favorite female but she's gone.

This is exactly how I feel as well. I wish they had sent Anna packing instead of Stephanie - I think she’s more versatile, and I think she did better dancing in her own style than Anna did in hers, plus I liked her partnership with Gino. Oh well, I think it will be interesting to see Gino and Sophie dancing together.......

Bailey and Mariah FTW........

[Kira53]

On 8/20/2019 at 6:31 AM, crossover said:

Really not invested in this cast like I've been in the others.  I thought the routines were better this week than last week.  The jive was my favorite routine.  I guess Travis contemporary for Eddie/Sophie was my least favorite because you could see that Travis was trying to hide Eddie.  

People are saying that Bailey/Mariah are the chosen ones.  I don't agree but I do think the show wants them around.  They appear to be audience favorites.  "Wee Ones" usually are audience favorites, if they don't screw up too badly.  They got another upbeat routine.  I think as long as they can keep Bailey in upbeat routines, they'll be fine.  His personality/facials look ok in those types of routine.  And, he's amped up.  Too bad they didn't save the jive for him.  But, he should be fine as far as voting goes no matter what ballroom that he gets.  And, Travis will probably create a partner-heavy (lifts, etc) contemporary for him.

I don't even think Madison is the preferred winner either.  The show just wants her around for a while because of her "story".  They kept Sophie and her in their wheelhouse for the first couple of weeks.  I think the plan is to see which one of the two will gain the strongest fanbase before turning it over to fan-voting.  As far as Ezra goes, he's doomed.  I really think he's performed really well for the first couple of weeks, especially since he was outside his specialty.  But he and his sister had to have been splitting votes.  With the shortened format, he probably doesn't have time to recoup.  Maybe there's enough voters between Stephanie and him to keep him afloat?  But, the show knew this would happen.  They probably just wanted them for the tour.  

I don't feel all this chemistry between Benjamin/Anna that they keep telling me is there.  Benjamin is really talented.  Don't know why they are pushing Anna on us?  I didn't think she was "all that" in her genre--hip hop routine.  And she didn't pick up ballroom on last week that well either.  OTOH, Stephanie was better in her genre this week--ballroom than Anna was in hers.  And she did well in her hip hop last week.  So, I wonder why they voted to keep Anna instead of Stephanie?  Maybe to separate the siblings for voting purposes?  They had to let Eddie go.  To me, most of the girls look like they could do hip hop like Anna but none of the girls can do ballroom like Stephanie.

Gino is the one I think is the preferred winner.  They even gave him some mild criticism last week.  He got the ballroom girl so that he could shine in ballroom unlike Benjamin who had to rein in Anna.  He gets Sophie next week.  So does this mean that Sophie will be in her wheelhouse again (contemporary/jazz/bway)?  Gino is due one of those.  He should really shine next week.

I think everyone knew that Eddie would and should've left.  He just didn't pull the right style that he could excel in.  Obviously, he was added to the cast as a sacrificial lamb.  And, to do a tap routine, if they go on tour.  I don't think the show is as invested in Sophie as they are in Madison.  But, I also don't think it matters to them which is in the final four.

I think Gino and Benjamin are the guy-choices for final four.  Just like Lex and Logan were the choices during their season.  But just like they kept talking Kiki up until he made the final four, I think they may talk Bailey into the final four.  They don't want Anna because they can see that she doesn't have the skill.  They need competent girls to let the guys shine during the final four; not babysit the girls.  They like to have a small girl in the final four (salsa/disco).  But, I don't think they really care about the remaining girls.  Mariah is the smallest but Sophie is small enough to throw around.

But, I think the show wants a male winner and Gino is their preferred winner.

I started watching as the picked the top 10.  Liked Bailey and Benjamin right away as "stars".

[Tikichick]

Loyal viewer who's missed 1-1/2 episodes of all seasons.  Finally finished watching recording of this episode 9-8.  Past seasons would have found me frequently juggling plans in order to watch live, or stay up until all hours in order to catch up on what happened before the next day.  I'm demoralized at the starvation diet budget Fox has allowed this show that can be, and has been, an absolute gem of artistry.