Trav's Thoughts

Welcome to

Cat Deeley update...it's LEGSSES. Now that's more like it. Her hair is wild and flowing. Her make-up enhances her natural features. Her dress is WOW. And the shoes...THUMP-inducing.

Welcome as always to our permanent panel of judges...Adam Shankman, Mary Murphy, and Nigel Lythgoe.

Let's see if anybody wakes up the itch in my fingers to dial up and vote.

Ashleigh DiLello, a 26 year old ballroom dancer, is paired with Jakob Karr, a 19 year old contemporary dancer for Hip Hop choreographed by Tabitha and Napoleon D'Umo. Ashleigh's acting was outstanding. She held character through the entire piece. Both of them embraced the style. These are the hip hop pieces that I really enjoy...character and story are equally as important as movement. This was a strong performance from both dancers. Tab & Nap gave them steps, and then Ashleigh and Jakob took it to another level. This is really a powerful partnership. I'm impressed with them as a pair, and also individually.

Karen Hauer, a 27 year old American rhythm dancer, is paired with Kevin Hunte, a 23 year old hip hop dancer, for Broadway choreographed by Spencer Liff. Kevin danced very carefully. Karen seemed to embrace the joy from the music and movement more readily. But together they didn't really interpret the music as well as I would have liked. The choreography was straight out of a theatre. But what the pair of them were really missing was the lightness and the detail. This particular piece required exaggerated expressions. Congratulations and welcome to Spencer. If he had better technical dancers, this piece could have been a show stopper. Still, I do give both dancers credit. Kevin didn't dance badly...he did the steps and didn't make any major mistakes. Karen danced well. They just didn't interpret the story and character as well as they should have.


Noelle Marsh, an 18 year old contemporary dancer, is paired with Russell Ferguson, a 20 year old krumper, for Foxtrot choreographed by Eddie Simon. The first time they got this dance, Noelle was injured. So they get to dance it together for the first time even though they picked it once already. I lke the choreography. I liked some of the lines they made out of hold. I could tell that they enjoy each other, and that helps them interpret the music. I thought Russell's frame was outstanding and that he led Noelle through the steps quite well. And Noelle surprises me. She was smooth and classy, and her footwork was excellent. This was quite an imporessive dance for both of them. They were out of their own style, but you really couldn't tell because they danced with confidence and conveyed how much fun it was to do. Well done.


Channing Cooke, an 18 year old contemporary dancer, is paired with Victor Smalley, a 20 year old contemporary dancer, for Jazz choreographed by Tyce Dioreo. I could tell in the rehearsal footage that what Tyce wanted was staccato movement...very clipped and crisp. I didn't see that kind of movement in the performance. Both dancers seemed to soften what should have been sharp. They danced the movement they were given, but I wanted more of that crispness. If your character is a bird, then move like a bird does. I think these two have a lot of potential, but I don't feel like they are embracing the challenges every week. I wanted to like this piece, but I guess maybe it wasn't quirky enough. This seemed like the kind of choreography where the pair of them could really let go and just be dancers.


Kathryn McCormick, an 18 year old contemporary dancer, is paired with Legacy Perez, a 28 year old B-Boy, for Paso Doble choreographed by Tony Meredith. His control, posture, frame, footwork...all of it was impressive. This was difficult choreography and they handled it beautifully. Wow. That was really good. It had power, drama, passion, and intensity. The dancing seemed effortless. Last week I thought Legacy overshadowed Kathryn, but this week they were equals. They enhanced each other. There doesn't seem to be anything he can't do, and she is well suited to dramatic pieces like this one. Well done.


Ellenore Scott, a 19 year old contemporary dancer, is paired with Ryan DiLello, a 28 year old ballroom dancer, for Contemporary choreographed by Travis Wall. There's your moment for season 6, at least so far. That was absolutely stunning. As poorly as they fared with krump last week, this was an amazing marriage of dancers with choreography. All of the movement flowed so well that you couldn't tell where one step ended and another began. They portratyed character and story beautifully. The acting and dancing was seamless. They made some extraorinary lines, individually and together. Outstanding.

Mollee Gray, an 18 year old jazz dancer, is paired with Nathan Trasoras, an 18 year old contemporary dancer, for Pop Jazz choreographed by Lauriann Gibson. It was a gamble to put two very young dancers together. They have plenty of enthusiasm, and there is talent there. But for me they don't dance with any kind of maturity. And unfortunately this week I didn't care for the choreography or the music. I'm not realy a fan of Ms Gibson. So this dance was just a total bust for me. I think there's a ton of potential in both of them. I think in this instance, I prefer Nigel's approach to both of these kids. He reminds them that they need to mature quickly, whereas Mary continues to refer to them as a dream team. It's more to the dancers' benefit to be honest about where they are at this stage.

There were some intriguing performances this week. Some dancers were able to take advantage of the styles they had. We saw vast amounts of talent. We saw potential that was exceeded, and potential that wasn't quite reached.

I could have voted for Ellenore and Ryan this week. I thought they had the dance of the night.

Tune in tonight for results.