Trav's Thoughts

I made some progress visiting blogs last night, but I'm still pretty far behind. Bear with me while I catch up.

Those of you who are here to see another list of authors, just scroll on down past the dancing review. I think Thursday is big enough for both.



Judges tonight are Mary Murphy, the evil Nigel Lithgow, and the Emmy nominated Mia Michaels.

These are the 10 dancers that will be on the summer tour – Jaimie Goodwin, Dominic Sandoval, Sara VonGillern, Pasha Kovalev, Lauren Gottlieb, Neil Haskell, Sabra Johnson, Kameron Bink, Lacey Schwimmer, Danny Tidwell.

The judges no longer have the ability to save anyone. Tonight each dancer will dance the same peace-themed solo choreographed by Emmy nominated Wade Robson. The voting will now be for each individual dancer, and the guy and gal with the least amount of votes will be out.

As for pairs, the dancers are picking styles and partners out of hats now, splitting up the partnerships they have had through five weeks of competition.

To review, each dancer has the same Wade Robson solo and a partner dance. Then America votes for their favorites.

Lauren (contemporary jazz) and Pasha (ballroom) dance hip hop choreographed by Shane Sparks. That was really cool choreography. I expected Pasha to have trouble with it, but he really did well. I didn’t expect him to be that versatile. Lauren is terrific at this. They had fantastic chemistry and energy.

Jaimie dances her peace solo. I love the way she moves and controls her body. She is technically very good and her lines are so extended and polished.

Dominic dances his peace solo. This kid is so talented and he improves every week. He had great emotion and drama in that interpretation. He’s not the best dancer but he connects with voters, and this is about America’s favorite dancer.

Sabra (contemporary) and Kameron (contemporary hip hop) dance contemporary choreographed by Tyce Diorio. Kameron has become a tremendous partner and I really appreciate that about his dancing, but he’s really not stepping up as an individual. Sabra is able to shine as both a partner and an individual within the dance. She made that so joyous.

Sara dances her peace solo. This seemed like a manic interpretation. It was an angry dance.

Pasha dances his peace solo. Pasha is one of our favorites. He struggled with the expression of emotion. He’s been shining as a partner but on his own, not so much.

Lacey (swing and Latin) and Danny (classical ballet) dance Samba choreographed by Dimitry Chaplin, a finalist from last season. Sorry, can’t tell you a thing about Danny. Lacey was HAWT! This is her specialty – she’s a Latin champion. And she was fantastic. Wow that was impressive. Her technique is brilliant and her performance was dead on perfect. I’m no longer concerned for Danny in this competition. In fact, neither winning nor losing on this show is going to impact his career – he’s going to dance professionally for a long time.

Lauren dances her peace solo. Her movement was sharp, precise, and clean. Since that bad solo a few weeks ago, she has really improved in her preparation and commitment.

Neil dances his peace solo. He just seems to be able to hang in the air. His movement is controlled, but he’s still able to bring passion to it.

Sabra dances her peace solo. Her love for what she’s doing comes across in her movement. In this piece she danced with hope.

Kameron dances his peace solo. I looked for the deficiencies the judges pointed out, and I can see where his movement isn’t extended. He doesn’t finish what he’s doing before he moves on to the next step. But I thought he danced this with emotion.

Jaimie (contemporary) and Dominic (break dancer) dance Viennese Waltz choreographed by Toni Redpath. Her extension combined with his charm should make for a very good pair. Unfortunately this wasn’t a proper Viennese Waltz. It’s not really their fault because of the choices by the choreographer. The judges hated it. This was definitely tough for them. They didn’t have the technique and it was over-performed.

Lacey dances her peace solo. She’s versatile and strong and fantastic at everything she tries.

Danny dances his peace solo. He fills the stage. He is talented and technically brilliant.

Sara (break dancer) and Neil (contemporary) dance Disco choreographed by Doriana Sanchez. Disco isn’t my favorite style and I wish they would ditch it. I didn’t like the choreography and I didn’t like either one of their performances. The judges liked it.

Here are my rankings. I’m including my impressions from the whole season, as well as tonight’s performances.

1. Danny
2. Lacey
3. Sabra
4. Lauren
5. Neil
6. Jamie
7. Pasha
8. Dominic
9. Sara
10. Kameron

Some of my favorites have moved down the list. On the results show tonight we’ll see where the fans are falling. They won’t rank the dancers, but we’ll see who is connecting on their own with voters, and who may have benefited from a strong partner who was connecting enough for the pair in previous weeks.



Here's my quick hit Thursday 13 list of authors. For previous lists, click here.

1. Katherine Kurtz with Deborah Turner Harris - The Adept, The Lodge of the Lynx, the Templar Treasure, Dagger Magic
2. Katherine Kurtz with Scott MacMillan - Knights of the Blood
3. Stephen R. Lawhead - Taliesin
4. John LeCarre - The Russia House
5. Gaston Leroux - The Phantom of the Opera
6. C.S. Lewis - Chronicles of Narnia
7. Edward Linn - The Adversaries
8. Elizabeth A. Lynn - Watchtower, The Darkness of Arun
9. H.P. Lovecraft - At the Mountains of Madness
10. Robert Ludlum - The Apocalypse Watch, The Aquitaine Progression, The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum, The Chancellor Manuscript, The Gemini Contender, The Holcroft Covenant, The Icarus Agenda, The Matarese Circle, The Matlock Paper, The Osterman Weekend, The Parsifal Mosaic, The Road to Gandolfo
11. R.A. MacAvoy - The Book of Kells
12. Betty MacDonald - The Egg and I
13. T.J. MacGregor - Storm Surge

Thanks for hanging in there with me!