Encores and results

Posted: Friday, July 24, 2009 by Travis Cody in
16

And cue music! Welcome to



You will not see the dance from Melissa and Ade in my encores. Why? Because I did not think it was special. I thought it was lovely, but not special. You may search it out on youtube and decide for yourself. In my opinion, the judges wanted it to be special and reacted more to the subject of the dance instead of the dancers. That's not right or wrong. It's just what happened on Wednesday. I disagreed with them.

And that's enough said about that.

So what did I like on Wednesday? Well I'll tell you!

I liked Janette's solo because she brought more to it than just her Salsa style. And I liked Kayla's solo because it shows that she is rounding into a complete dancer. I could only find a clip with all four solos from the gals, so click here.

I liked Evan's solo because even though he dropped his hat, he showed that he does know how to entertain and perform with his whole body, including his facial expressions. Again, I could only find all four solos together on one clip, so you can decide for yourselves how they compare to each other. Click here.

And dance of the night? It's Kayla with Jason in the Broadway piece. I had to watch it several times and in the end I forced myself to watch Jason. Kayla kept pulling my focus, she's so dang good in the piece. Click here.

Now, welcome to the 100th episode of So You Think You Can Dance!



The Top 8 group number is an interpretation of One from A Chorus Line, choreographed by Mia Michaels. Most outstanding!

Cat update...LEGSES!

There's a great video retrospective of the last 99 episodes, beginning with rehearsal footage and moving through so many routines and dancers I remember. I've watched since the beginning. One of our dancers this season will join Nick Lazarini, Benji Schwimmer, Sabra Johnson, and Joshua Allen as America's Favorite Dancer.

Results for the gals first. Melissa is safe. Jeanine is safe. That puts Kayla and Janette in the bottom two. I disagree with this result.

Jamie Goodwin and Hok Konishi from season 3 reprise Hummingbird and Flower. Wade Robson won an Emmy for this.

Results for the guys now. Ade is safe. EVAN is safe!!! That puts Jason and Brandon in the bottom two. I don't necessarily agree with this result either.

But, it's America's favorite dancer and sometimes I'm going to disagree with who that is.

Heidi Groskreutz and Travis Wall from season 2 reprise The Bench. Mia Michaels won an Emmy for this.

Solos - can't change the result.

Kayla - She doesn't belong in the bottom. Something about her just isn't connecting with voters.
Jason - I think he performed that a bit better than on Wednesday.
Janette - She doesn't belong here either. I'm thinking the vote is really close.
Brandon - Dynamic, but still leaving me a bit cold.

Now it's Ramalama, choreographed by Wade Robson for the season 2 Top 10. Wade performs with the group this time around. We have got to have more choreographers dance on this show!

Katie Holmes stars in a cabaret piece choreographed by Tyce Diorio to Get Happy, filmed on a different set rather than danced live on the SYTYCD stage. It's like a mini movie. Ms Holmes donated her performance fee to The Dizzy Feet Foundation. As my pal Anndi described it..."she shimmies, walks, lip syncs, does a fan kick, gets carried, shimmies, lip syncs, shimmies, walks, kicks". I actually liked it...but what really caught my attention was spotting Mark Kanemura and Joshua Allen, and then trying to recognize the rest of the guys from their seasons on the show.

And now it's time for eliminations.

For the gals, Kayla is safe and Janette is out. I completely disagree with this result.



For the guys, Brandon is safe and Jason is out. I agree with this result.



Let me say this. If Melissa is your favorite dancer and you voted for her because you've been voting for her, then good for you. That's the way the show works. But I'm going to be honest and tell you that this result for the gals disappoints me.

Of course, at the end of this show, there are going to be several outstanding dancers who aren't America's Favorite.

Next week we get to Final Four on our way to the finale. Best of luck to Ade, Brandon, Evan, Jeanine, Kayla, and Melissa.

I haven't made blog rounds much this week. I'll catch up with y'all soon!

16 comments:

  1. Anonymous says:
    24 July, 2009 00:42

    I'm totally bummed. America missed the boat on this one. But my girl is a spitfire and she'll be okay. It was just wrong I tell ya wrong

  1. DrillerAA says:
    24 July, 2009 05:00

    I could not believe that Janette was eliminated. At the risk of being totally inappropriate, I am of the opinion that Melissa was the beneficiary of the "Cancer Dance" sympathy vote. I don't believe she had the fan base to stay around until that performance.

  1. Marsha says:
    24 July, 2009 05:11

    Gobsmacked, just plain and simple. I have a feeling that Melissa and Ade got the votes for that dang dance. Which ended up putting our favorites in the bottom.

    I so disagree with these eliminations.

    All the 'leaking' about Katie being on the show just to peak interest....bigwhoopfreakindeal. That was a big let down too.

    For a 'special' episode, I was quite disappointed. I would have loved to see more of the past dancers and the dances that are nominated for this year.

  1. BeckEye says:
    24 July, 2009 07:47

    ARE YOU KIDDING???

    That's ridonk. Janette is awesome. I'm glad I didn't watch this week. Now I want to punch Melissa in the face even more than I did before.

  1. Anndi says:
    24 July, 2009 08:39

    Heh! Katie... I liked the number but it kind of fell short of the hype. For a dance show, there should have been more actual dance in the number (Tyce really does have issues cramming enough dancing into a choreography sometimes). It was a cabaret number, not that there's anything wrong with that, but I wouldn't label her a dancer based on that performance.

    I'm going to focus on the positive because this show annoyed the crap out of me this week (*cough* Nigel Crankypants *cough*)...

    Yay Evan!!!

    That is all. :)

  1. Julia Phillips Smith says:
    24 July, 2009 09:09

    Just watched all of your clips, and I agree that Kayla is a very strong dancer. Her technique is very, very solid. Her charisma is a bit muted, however, which means a lot when trying to connect with an audience. Her dancing was my favorite of what I've seen, however.

    Jason...he had an odd combination of being too tight (not fluid or flexible enough) and too sloppy (he did a jump in his solo that was just spaghettios.)

  1. Durward Discussion says:
    24 July, 2009 09:45

    Can't wait for your review of Katie Holmes (Mrs. Cruz to some). From the clip I saw, trying way to hard. Garland was much sexier with hardly a hip twitch, but then she had talent.

  1. Durward Discussion says:
    24 July, 2009 09:48

    Oops missed your Katie comments. Stick by my opinion. She did a good deed, but it didn't have anything to do with actual expertise.

  1. Anndi says:
    24 July, 2009 10:53
    This comment has been removed by the author.
  1. Anndi says:
    24 July, 2009 10:56

    I tried... I really tried my very best to be restrained and I’ve been shoving back some nasty bile since yesterday but I have something to say and damnit, I'm going to. Sadly, it's not positive. I wish it was because I've loved this show since the very beginning.

    I had been anticipating what I was certain would be supreme awesomeness for the 100th episode. But, and there is a but, a gigantic mammoth of a but: it fell short.

    This show is about dance and dancers, and while I think the Dizzyfeet foundation is wonderful, this was the 100th episode, Nigel. Katie Holmes? Really?! Was it necessary to take time away from past dancers and dances to promote the foundation on the RETROSPECTIVE show?

    Did we really celebrate the dancers? You know... the ones who have competed in this show for FIVE SEASONS!? The ones that have captured our fancy, made us cheer for their successes and cry as they struggled and fought to give us the best of themselves and in some dances, bared their very souls? Not really. Not NEARLY enough.
    This was also a celebration of the fact that over these past 5 seasons those dancers and their choreographers have, through their passion, artistry, blood, sweat and tears, elevated dance to a place that has people tuning in and investing of themselves… some viewers even discovering a passion for dance they might not have known was there otherwise.

    No. We had a few beautiful numbers, not nearly enough... a short quick clip (less than 3 and a half minutes)... and in that retrospective we were given 10 seconds of "Sex" instead of the actual competitors or at the very least the winners... ARGH!!!! Can you hear me, Nigel!? No, an honourary PhD doesn't make you the bleeding second coming and saviour of the world. And this show was NOT about you.

    And for Pete's sake fire the moron responsible for camera direction. And stop sticking Evan on the end or side of every dang group number... especially a Broadway number!!!

    OK... something nice to say... Wade Robson knocks me on my bee-hind when he dances.

    Sorry... Whew, that felt good.

  1. Cherie says:
    24 July, 2009 12:26

    I'm just gutted about Janette. :( Nature of the beast, but still. But I don't think that she's gonna have any trouble getting work. :)

  1. Travis Cody says:
    24 July, 2009 16:59

    Thom: I know. But I liked what she said about really understanding now that she's meant to dance. She had such a positive attitude that hid her disappointment.

    Driller: I agree with you and I don't think the feeling is inappropriate at all. We are not required to like the dance or the result just because it was about cancer.

    Marsha: It was kind of a let down. I did enjoy the performance but it didn't live up to the hype. And I agree with you about the show being a bit disappointing. I wanted a lot more dance.

    Beck: I'm not going to hold it against Melissa. All she did was dance what she was given. And she did it well, just not as well as the judges gushed, IMO.

    Ann: It was a variety show number rather than a number specific to a dance show. Huzzah for EVAN!

    Julia: Have I told you lately how much I appreciate your perspective? Well I do.

    Jamie: Judy was a Force...capital F intended. I think Ms Holmes has some vocal talent, although certainly not on Judy's level.

    Ann: Good for you! The 100th episode should have been dancing from minute 1 to minute 120. Yes, it should have been 2 hours long. We could have done without one repeat of Bones to make room for a real dancing extravaganza.

    Cherie: I still think that they should have made it no elimination this week and dropped 2&2 next week to get to Final Four.

  1. Linda says:
    24 July, 2009 19:53

    To be honest, I'm just relieved that Evan is safe but I do have to say that Janette would not have been my choice of the girls to go. I'm going to have to agree with Driller on this one - Melissa should have gotten the cane and been pulled off stage this week.

  1. TopChamp says:
    26 July, 2009 07:29

    I quite liked it too. Hadn't heard any hype so hadn't the expectations you (as in all over the pond) had perhaps.

  1. TopChamp says:
    26 July, 2009 07:31

    Is Melissa ill?

    I liked the one who lost - bad result. Oh well.

  1. TopChamp says:
    26 July, 2009 07:35

    just watched it - I liked the cancer dance.

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