Trav's Thoughts

And cue music! Welcome to...



Before we get to some encores, my pal Thom has some questions. This is his first season to watch the show, and he asks...

Do they stay with the same pairing until the top 10? They do. But that can depend on eliminations. A guy and a gal will be eliminated each week based on viewer votes and then judges' selection, but they may not necessarily be partners. If pairs get split up by the results, then the two remaining partners will pair up.

And when they get to the top 10 do they dance individually? At Top 10, they'll still dance in pairs but the partnerships will be random each week. After results night, the remaining dancers will choose a partner and dance style at random. However, each individual dancer will have his or her own phone number and we will vote for our favorite dancer rather than our favorite pair. One guy and one gal will still be eliminated each week, but it will solely be the dancers with the lowest number of votes. Judges will no longer have a say in who stays and who goes. Results will proceed that way until Final 4, and then it'll be one winner.



Does someone have a muzzle I can borrow for a judge named Mary? Believe me, I do understand that Ms Murphy can be annoying. But it comes from passion about dance and about these dancers. Try not to let Mary's exuberance distract you too much. The dancers love it and it's like a merit badge first to make her scream, and then to be given a ticket on the Hot Tamale Train.



Is that the American Idol set? According to what I can find, SYTYCD is taped at CBS Studios but not on the same stage as American Idol. Also, SYTYCD doesn't "graduate" to a bigger stage or different theatre during it's run. Everything from the first Top 20 show to the season finale when we learn who we've chosen as America's Favorite dancer is taped on the same stage.

Thanks for the questions Thom!

Let's have some encores, shall we? Our Top 20 gave us some wonderful dances Wednesday night. Here are links to the ones I enjoyed the most.

The Jazz dance from Randi and Evan, choreographed by Tyce Diorio, was a bit of a surprise for me. Evan is my early favorite, but I didn't expect his strength as a partner. And I just didn't know much about Randi. Click here.

I called Caitlin's movement sublime after watching her audition. Jason is another dancer I just don't know much about. Together they were outstanding in a Bollywood dance choreographed by Nakul dev Mahajan. Click here.

Wade Robson made a dance that could very easily have been something silly and just too weird. But in the hands of Ashley and Kupono, it was magic. Click here.

Dance of the night honors go to Melissa and Ade in a Mandy Moore piece. They made the movement look so effortless, and the dance was simply stunning. Click here.

OK...results!

Results shows being with the group number. We get Hip Hop choreographed by Shane Sparks. Excellent!

This show gets right to results. Kayla and Maks are safe. Randi and Evan are safe. Phillip and Jeanine are safe. Caitlin and Jason are safe. Melissa and Ade are safe. Ashley and Kupono are safe. Janette and Brandon are safe.

Paris and Tony, Asuka and Vitolio, Karla and Jonathan are in the bottom 3 couples and will dance solos for the judges to stay in the competition.

Guest dancers, Miriam and Leonardo, offer a professional Tango. Cat said their names too fast and I didn't catch the last names. Sorry about that. The dance was wonderful.

Here we go with solos:

Paris - ok
Tony - ok
Asuka - good
Vitolio - good
Karla - lovely
Jonathan - limited

Now the judges go and discuss to decide who stays and who doesn't.

Musical guest is rapper Sean Kingston...meh. Just not my kind of music.

The judges have made their decisions. Here we go.

First the girls. Nigel announces that the decision is unanimous here. He tells Karla that she was very good, and advises her to be careful about not just dancing steps. She is safe. Nigel says they tried to take everything into account and not just recent dances. He admits that they try to cast to represent as many genres of dance as possible. In the end, the judges select Asuka's personality, charm, and ballroom skill over Paris, who is another contemporary dancer in a field of very strong female contemporary dancers.

And now the guys. Nigel says again this is unanimous. He tells the guys that none of them danced well enough to stay in the competition very long. He says that Vitolio needs to bring the personality and he will stay in the competition. Nigel says that both Tony and Jonathan didn't measure up in their own styles the other night. The decision is for Jonathan to stay, so Tony is out.

It's tough to be the first cut. Paris is a victim of not being as talented as so many other gals who dance in her style. It doesn't mean she isn't good, just that she's not as good as some of the others who are great. And Tony may have gotten by on charm, with a bit of smoke and mirror thrown in. He did not dance well in a hip hop routine, and his solo was average.

Best of luck to both Paris and Tony.

Tune in next week.


What has happened Kobe's "finish"? He's missed more shots and made more mistakes late in the last two games than I've ever seen, and I've been watching him a long time. So Derek Fisher took the shot to tie the game at 87-87, with 4.6 seconds to play. Orlando couldn't score at the buzzer and game 4 goes to overtime.

Gotta give the Magic credit. They have swarmed Kobe late and made him work hard for everything. That's got to be wearing him down. And they had him boxed in a tight double team late in the OT. He spun, got his elbows up high, and nailed Jameer Nelson in the jaw.

No whistle.

It was a clear foul, but the refs either didn't see it or decided to let it go. Kobe passed to D-Fish for the wide open 3 and Fish nailed it to put the Lakers up 3 with about 30 seconds to play.

Then the Lakers played defense and the Magic missed a 3 point shot. The rebound was tipped out. Pau Gasol tracked it down for the dunk and a 5 point lead with 21.6 to play. The Magic missed another shot, the Lakers controlled the rebound, and LA wins 99-91 to take a commanding 3 games to 1 lead.

Lest there be a suggestion of officiating favoritism at the no call on Kobe's elbow, I'll just point out that Orlando shot 37 free throws to the Lakers 20. LA only missed 5 of those shots while the Magic missed 15. And, Orlando turned the ball over 19 times. The Lakers? Only 8 turnovers in the game.

That's no excuse...Kobe clearly fouled and it wasn't called. Sometimes it happens. Everything else was pretty much even in terms of stats. But the Lakers kept focused on the goal and showed that they are a physically and mentally tough team. And Orlando showed that they couldn't get it done 2 nights in a row.

And despite Kobe's late struggles against double teams, he scored 32 points with 8 assists and 7 rebounds to keep the Lakers in the game while they struggled with foul trouble. Trevor Ariza added 16 points, including some critical buckets to key a 30 point 3rd quarter to get the Lakers back in the game after they trailed by 12.

So now the Lakers have a chance to close it out on Sunday in game 5 from Orlando.

Go Lakers!