SYTYCD Top 8

Last night’s show was another two-hour, two-routine per couple extravaganza of escalating talent and dancing showmanship. Overall it was a fun night, but at the same time a mixed bag of reactions. A few disappointments, but also much more well rounded effort put forth by some. I lost my original notes I’d made, so apologies for getting this post out late.

We’ll start with Comfort and Mark. One solid, amazing routine, one not so much and I don’t think we’re surprised at this point. Comfort has really lucked out in getting hip hop again this week. And Mark blew me away with his amazingly cool efforts this time. He stood out tonight and made me rethink him as an interesting, stand-out dancer. Their routine was choreographed by Tabitha and Napoleon, and I’m starting to think I could love anything they do. This was a very well danced routine and I loved it.

Comfort and Mark did not, however, do so hot with their foxtrot, choreographed by Jean Marc. It lacked a connection between the two and Comfort was back to looking very stiff and uncomfortable being outside her hip hop happy place. Mark did better, but paired with Comfort’s lacking skills, this routine didn’t do him any favors.

Courtney and Will were smoking hawt doing a samba by Jean Marc. I mean HOT hot. This was such a fun routine to watch. Courtney, as usual, I feel is an amazing dancer. She’s taken pretty much every routine and really brought something to them each time. Will’s hips were completely committed to this routine *g* and I found it amusing that he still manages to look shirtless despite having clothing on. It’s mesh, but even that seemed invisible. This was one of my favorite routines of the night. This video was found at Ricky.org.

Their next routine was a slow hip hop by Tabitha and Napoleon. The story behind it was Will is a ghost and Courtney is trying to say goodbye to him a final time. It was very good, interesting to watch, but I didn’t connect with it as much as the judges did. Maybe some of the movements, especially by Courtney, were a bit too stiff when I was expecting soft and “groovy” as one of the judges says at one point. Still, it was a good routine, if not my favorite.

Next we have Katee and Twitch and their first routine was a contemporary by Mia Michaels – and whoa! That kiss! Still,  I don’t know what was wrong with me last night, but I was not impressed, maybe for the first time, with a Michaels routine. I think Katee and Twitch danced it well, but it was simply OK for me. Wasn’t moved by it at all except for slight annoyance at the way Twitch constantly shoves Katee around via a hand on her head. I know it was all part of their characters, but…yeah.

Their final routine of the night was a Broadway by Tyce Diorio and again, I simply could not get interested. I agreed with the judge that says perhaps Katee wasn’t dancing “big” enough for the role she was given, or whatever it was they said. The whole routine, the dancing did not work for me.

Chelsie and Joshua were a fun pair tonight, but their second routine, a disco by Dorianna Sanchez, was just too good not to feature. This was a heck of a lot of fun. Chelsie really does make it look so easy when she dances. Joshua was a brick powerhouse! He did every lift so well and the one where they start from the floor was amazing! This probably came in second for favorite dance with me last night.

Chelsie and Joshua got together for a little Argentine tango by Dmitry Chaplin and once again the pint-sized ballroom dancer struts her stuff quite well. Joshua was giving forth a solid effort. He was great too, maybe not as much as Chelsie, but the man puts in 100% every single time. I love his enthusiasm and he can adapt to different dance styles like a duck to water.

I won’t be talking about all the solos this time as there’s no vids available yet for readers to see for themselves, but I will say that Katee’s disappointed me while Courtney’s was great. What I like about Courtney is she doesn’t have to resort to the feminine cupping and stroking of her curves. Katee pulled a Kherington and swept her hand over her head and down her side and hip and it drove me crazy. I felt Katee’s solo lacked the effort we’re expecting to see from them at this point. All the others were pretty good and I’ll expand later if videos get added some time today.

As for who’s in the bottom, I’ll guess at this point Comfort and Katee for the girls and Marc and Joshua for the guys. And that’s not because of any bias on my part, it’s simply coming down to the wire. It could literally be anyone at this point and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if it was any of the others in the bottom.

So what did you think of last night’s performances? What connected with you? What didn’t?