So You Think You Can Dance? - Season 9!

[Jimena]

I'm so incredibly meh on Travis' choreography.

[rjblue]

Sonya has not let me down. That was a great introduction to the guys.

[rjblue]

Ah. It's nice to see Mia back. I missed the beginning of that number, but the ending was nice. Amelia is always easy to spot in the group numbers which puts more pressure on her to perform well.

[Rob]

I am not sure, but I think I like all the girls in one way or another. Love both ballroom, eliana. Amelia is better in the expression department than in the legs but she has something.
Of the men, loved George.

[Rob]

They get to rehearse 2 weeks if the first show is 7/11.

[Jimena]

I just rewatched some of the numbers. Overall, I kind of liked everyone. It's going to suck watching them go.

I hope Matthew Kazmierczak doesn't become the new Neil. He did very well tonight but I can already kind of see it happening.

Anyway, here's my ranking:

1. Cole, Cyrus and Brandon. For me, Brandon was the standout. He absolutely killed the first 4 eight counts after the solos. I went "Hello Brandon!" I really hope they give him a chance.
2. Top 10 boys jazz. Boy oh boy oh boy. George just jumps out at me and Chehon did very, very well in this which made me happy. Wonderful routine.
3. Ballet. I was underwhelmed when I first saw it, but the second time I thought it was great. Yes, there were some timing issues and Eliana kind of had the spotlight most of the time. But man, she deserved it. She was absolutely beautiful and so expressive.
4. A tie between the ballroom and the top 20 piece. I think Nick Bloxsom-Carter is going to have his work cut out for him. He looks a little bit too much like a little boy to generate much heat. But the girls were great. I thought Witney had underperformed but watching it again she really didn't. The great thing about her dancing is that there's an economy of movement there. The movements are just right- not exaggerated. Lindsay has unfortunate knees. They damage her leg line. But she was a fantastic performer. As far as Mia's piece go (BTW, I don't like her new hair!), I wish I had screen caps so I could figure out who was who. I really enjoyed it.
5. Sonya's two girl jazz. I love that song. But I didn't think the dance was that strong. And the choreography had too many developes, IMO. It's going to be hard to differentiate these two dancers, though. We'll see who of the brunettes will survive.
6. Stacey Tookey's, Travis' and Tyce's contemporary pieces. I think I'm tired of the flowy/dreamy contemporary pieces. I was surprised I didn't like Tyce's more because I think his contemporary work is pretty good. Of the three, maybe I liked Stacy's better. Dareian did well in it and so did Amelia. In Travis' piece, Eliana was front and center and she kept my focus.

Pairings should be very interesting.

And on a totally superficial note, why was Melanie wearing a hat? She didn't look good.

ETA: Are there going to be all-stars this year?

[Matryeshka]

To me, the Ballroom Blondies are dead equal, but still not blahndies. Even though they were dressed alike, their hair is similar, and their unison was damn good, I knew who was who at every moment.

I just hope this isn't a disadvantage to both of them and the vote is split. I almost wish one of them hadn't made it for that reason.

The Jazz Brunettes are the most similar to me. I wish Krump Girl was there instead of Fart Girl.

I'd have rather seen another hip hop guy than the blonde ballet guy. Sorry, I just don't think he's that good or charismatic. I like hip hop guys on this show--they tend to be showman, they do really well in other styles, and their solos are usually great.

[Holley Calmes]

Haven't seen the show yet, but Audrey Case (neck fart girl) is the first cousin of two really, really talented ballerinas in my company. Must run in the family.

[barbk]

I'm so incredibly meh on Travis' choreography.

Loved the guy as a dancer, but terribly underwhelming on the choreography front. Not a fan of Tyce's contemporary choreography either.

No Broadway dancers this year. No salsa, swing; no hip hop girls, and still too many contemporary dancers. Sigh.

[genevieve]

Wow, I can't believe it, but other than Alexa, I am really grooving on the top 20! I think they did very strategic editing - we saw very few people cut, and most of the eventual top 20 either got extended air time during the auditions/Vegas week or were noticeable enough in the background (i.e. Rhianna-hair girl) that I feel like I wanted them in the top 20 without knowing that much about them. As always, there are a couple of forgettable girls who made it and some guys who were fab who didn't, but that's life.

First modern quartet was ok but bland

I like all the ballroom dancers, but that menage a trois trio was embarrassing. Just an awful attempt to make three people dance a duet. I prefer Lindsey over Whitney, by far.

The trio that ended up being a duet - Hmm...belly dance girl made a face when Cat said doctors told her not to dance tonight. Hope that isn't some foreshadowing about her participation. Liked the dance ok, but one of the women was incredibly off her feet the whole routine - understandable if the piece was reworked that day but it was the only performance with obvious mistakes and it was always the same person. But YAY to an all femal piece that included tons of athletic lifting - like many, many real dance pieces do - and to Nigel & Co being totally freaked out by it.

Ballet trio was nice, would have liked the guys to get a bit more virtuosity in there.

I know there was another modern group piece in there and I've forgotten it entirely

THE RANDOM GUYS!!!! I FLOVED the baseball piece - really highlighted each of their strengths but was still a cohesive piece. I'm a fan of all three of them.

Travis's girl group piece = zzzzzzzzzzz
he's a good choreographer, and the piece looked nice, but I feel like I've seen it a billion times before. Plus, any piece with all women wearing nighties is an instant snooze.

OMG!!! Sonya's guy piece was FABBBBB! Loved the costumes, loved the choreo. There's not a single guy on the show this year I don't like. Please don't make the eliminations gender equal!!

YAY Mia's back I can't even tell you if the piece was great or what because watching it made me want to get back into class like tomorrow, it was that joyful.

I still HATE the two-winner thing, and every time Nigel tried to make an excuse about how awesome it is I hated it more and more. LAME.

[Skate Talker]

If you don't want to be spoiled through email, unsubscribe from the thread.

Personally, I don't mind knowing ahead of time. The only reason I pointed out the original problem was for the sake of others who may have wanted the choice to discuss the show and the dancers without the spoilers prior to the air date. Typically we try to do it all in a single thread rather than having one spoiler thread and one discussion only thread. I was just hoping to be helpful.

[kwanfan1818]

Personally, I don't mind knowing ahead of time. The only reason I pointed out the original problem was for the sake of others who may have wanted the choice to discuss the show and the dancers without the spoilers prior to the air date. Typically we try to do it all in a single thread rather than having one spoiler thread and one discussion only thread. I was just hoping to be helpful.

I love to be spoiled: getting the email with the full text of Jimena's post made my day when I read it.

I didn't mean you personally -- I mean "you" plural. I should have said, "If anyone doesn't want to be spoiled..." People can be as careful as they want about staying away from the thread and/or avoid reading what's under the spoiler tags, but if they're auto-subscribed after posting, and they read their email, they'll be spoiled, because the spoiler tags don't work in email.

I wish they hadn't cut the last guy they did and instead left out one of the unmemorable modern boys in the forgettable Stacy Tookey routine.

Whitney's the shorter one with curlier hair, no? I wish I could graft Whitney's neat feet on Lindsey, who has great performance quality.

[pixie cut]

WHY did you remind me? That's just MEAN.

He was cut on either the last round or second to last round of choreographed genre dances.

Did you even see him during Vegas week? I thought I caught a quick (as in nanosecond) glimpse of him, but he sure didn't get airtime. Very disappointed.

[genevieve]

I wish they hadn't cut the last guy they did and instead left out one of the unmemorable modern boys in the forgettable Stacy Tookey routine.

I know - there was zero suspense on who was going to go through at the end, but come on - a hip hop dancer who managed all the other styles well? Isn't what they are always imploring the hip hop auditioners to work on? He should have been a lock for the season. I am happy with the three "untrained" guys, but eys, there's a wealth of contemporary guys and even though I like them all I'd rather sacrifice one of them for a true hip hop dancers.

Whitney's the shorter one with curlier hair, no? I wish I could graft Whitney's neat feet on Lindsey, who has great performance quality.

Yes, and YES!

[Aceon6]

Whitney's the shorter one with curlier hair, no?

I think of Witney as the one with the "accessories" and wonder if they're real.

[professordeb]

OK, I'm confused and can't remember reading this anywhere.
If there is no "results" show, how do they give someone(s) the boot? I'm guessing that America still gets to vote since Nigel was quite clear on saying that they were going to have not one but TWO winners -- America's favourite guy and America's favourite girl. I'm sure someone posted how this was going down somewhere around here but I can't recall reading it. Would anyone be so kind as to "remind" me please?

[pollyanna]

OK, I'm confused and can't remember reading this anywhere.
If there is no "results" show, how do they give someone(s) the boot? I'm guessing that America still gets to vote since Nigel was quite clear on saying that they were going to have not one but TWO winners -- America's favourite guy and America's favourite girl. I'm sure someone posted how this was going down somewhere around here but I can't recall reading it. Would anyone be so kind as to "remind" me please?

It's described here:

http://tvline.com/2012/05/18/so-you-...9-two-winners/

[pixie cut]

OK, I'm confused and can't remember reading this anywhere.
If there is no "results" show, how do they give someone(s) the boot? I'm guessing that America still gets to vote since Nigel was quite clear on saying that they were going to have not one but TWO winners -- America's favourite guy and America's favourite girl. I'm sure someone posted how this was going down somewhere around here but I can't recall reading it. Would anyone be so kind as to "remind" me please?

They haven't announced yet how they're doing it. I believe they're saving that gem for next week.

[Rob]

I know - there was zero suspense on who was going to go through at the end, but come on - a hip hop dancer who managed all the other styles well? Isn't what they are always imploring the hip hop auditioners to work on? He should have been a lock for the season.

ITA, I don't understand why they cut him.

From http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethe...-ferguson.html

As Zap2it previously reported, couples at risk after a prior week's performance will be asked to perform solo routines the next week then the judges will decide who is eliminated.

[pixie cut]

I think the producers liked Cyrus' back story. The fact that I barely remember seeing the other hip hop dancer before last night told me he was toast. Too bad, a hip hop dancer who deftly tackled all the other styles should be a keeper.