So You Think You Can Dance

Last week on So You Think You Can Dance, Chelsea Traille and Chris Jarosz were eliminated, meaning there is now finally some swappage of partners.  This week, Thayne and Comfort had to learn how to dance together.  Hopefully, this will be a better partnership for both of these two.

The fop seven girls and the top seven guys take the stage once again for another night of performances.  As always, I will be here with live thoughts throughout the two hours of So You Think You Can Dance tonight.

Cat Deeley is in a rather odd looking mod dress tonight.  She sort of looks like a cartoon penguin, but I still love her.  Tonight, each of the seven couples must dance two routines.  It's a packed show!  Cat introduces our....joodges!  Tonight's guest judges, joining Nigel and Mary, are Tabitha and Napoleon D'Umo.

Jessica King and William Wingfield dance the jive first.  I'm relly impressed with how much Jessica has grown.  She's sharp and confident with the jazz and both of them bring a lot of sass to the number.  Woah, they do a really cool lift in which Jessica basically does a front roll above Will's head and comes through his legs.  The D'Umos are pretty positive, but Mary Murphy nitpicks that there were a lot of missed technical things.  Nigel also comes down on hard on Jessica again, calling her lazy, even.

Brand new couple Comfort Fedoke and Thayne Jasperson take on Broadway next.  They dance to "Cool" from West Side Story, which I love.  Wow, Comfort is really sexy in that sparkly red dress.  You know?  I'm actually buying their performance.  I think being in the bottom three so many times is putting some fire under their butts to pull out a fabulous performance.  The D'Umos agree with me and remark positively on the chemistry they have with each other.  Mary is also pleased with the performance, even though she says they could have been bigger.  Nigel gets booed because he didn't think it was good enough for this stage in the competition.  Wow, what crawled up his butt?

Kourtni Lind and Matt Dorame have a hip hop routine next to Mario's "How Do I Breathe."  There are parts of the routine that are okay, but overall, I'm not completely impressed.  They look like they are dancing alone on stage instead of with a partner.  I think they might have to get their solos ready for tomorrow's So You Think You Can Dance.  For sure, this isn't a Napoleon and Tabitha routine.  The D'Umos are usually so upbeat and positive with their comments, but they are underwhelmed by Kourtni and Matt.  Mary also can't get it up for their performance.  Nigel deems it "hip hop on sleeping pills."

Chelsie Hightower and Mark Kanemura have a jazz routine tonight, to "Kiss Kiss" by Holly Vance.  I know that Katee has been a favorite this season, but Chelsie also deserves props.  This girl is good.  Mark is awesome too.  This routine is really super-sexy, and they hit all their moves perfectly.  The D'Umos love the performance.  Mary fakes us out by starting out negatively, but then she shrieks that she loves it.  Nigel says that it just worked.

Kherington Payne and Twitch Boss dance one of my favorite styles of ballroom, the paso doble, tonight.  Man, these two really have a commanding presence on stage, and the furling and unfurling capes don't hurt.  They have such a great connection, their back and forth is really interesting to watch.  I think Kherington could use some work on her upper body posture, but their lifts are great.  The D'Umos criticize Twitch for not getting into fast enough, but they were really entertained.  Mary agrees.

Katee Shean and Joshua Allen tackle a Mia Michaels contemporary routine next.  I know Mia Michaels' choreography catches a lot of flak, especially from the other writers here at BuddyTV, but I love it.  What I don't love is the pompadour atop Katee's head.  But the dance is amazing.  It's really fast, yet lyrical. There's a cool part when Katee runs across the stage with Josh half-carrying her, which is a great visual effect.  Then, Katee jumps horizontally through Josh's arms and he catches her in mid-air.  I kind of loved it.  The judges rave and rave about their control and strength and presence.

Courtney Galiano and Gev Manoukian, another of my favorite couples, have hip hop next.  It's far moroe hard-hitting than the lyrical hip hop that Kourtni and Matt danced earlier.  These two are so versatile. You wouldn't think that Courtney would be so good at hip hop, would you?  She's actually doing better than Gev, who really is a hip hop dancer.  Mary and the D'Umos think that Courtney was better than Gev as well.  Nigel tries to say that Courtney isn't ghetto enough, but gets booed.

The second hour begins, and all seven couples return to the stage for another performance.

For their second performance, Jessica and Will dance a lyrical jazz routine to one of the most amazing songs ever written, "Alone" by Heart.  I jest, but it really is the best song to sing karaoke to.  Anyway, back to the dance.  Will takes off his shirt and the two dance with it as a prop.  Wow, Will's bare chest is very yummy, but this dance was also totally fabulous.  The D'Umos heap praise after praise upon Will, and complain that Jessica is holding Will back.  Come on, judges!  I didn't think she was that bad!  Mary shrieks that they were on fire and puts them on the hot tamale train.

Comfort and Thayne perform a smooth waltz.  These two do turns really well, very smoothly, but I can't help but detect stiffness in Thayne.  Comfort is also too upright at times, but their lifts and turns were really good. Mary says, "Wow!"  Nigel comments on how he likes Comfort much better without her facial piercings.  What a conservative old fuddy-duddy!

Kourtni and Matt come back to the stage for a mambo.  I don't know if it's because Kourtni is so tall, but the lifts don't look like they have enough energy, but after that opening lift section, they start to relax and have fun.  This routine shows off Kourtni's amazing developpés, but there were many times when they looked like they were thinking too hard about it and they were losing energy.  Mary thinks that Kourtni was hot, but that they didn't have enough chemistry.  During his critique, Nigel gets testy with the audience for booing.

Chelsie and Mark return to dance a foxtrot to Paul Anka's rendition of the Bon Jovi song, "It's My Life," which is just weird.  But Chelsie and Mark are awesome.  Mark is very suave and debonair with his little outfit, and Chelsie is beautiful and doesn't miss a beat, even with a feather from her dress stuck in her mouth.  The judges except for Nigel praise them, but Nigel predictably gets a little bit nitpicky, which leads to Mary yelling in his ear.

Kherington and Twitch must do a Mia Michaels routine.  The routine will be on a bed, and it's about how Kherington breaks Twitch's heart.  Woah.  Twitch is shirtless in this one.  Other than the wardrobe choice, I loved this routine too.  They brought a lot of emotions and really sold themselves as being vulnerable.  I thought Kherington in particular was very strong in this routine.

Katee and Josh come back to dance a West Coast swing, choreographed by So You Think You Can Dance's own Benji Schwimmer, assisted by his sister Lacey Schwimmer.  I am so amazed with the ease with which both Katee and Josh move across the floor.  It's so natural, there's nothing to think about.  They do this cool series of assisted flips, taking turns flipping over at the end (although Josh's was a little rough).

Courtney and Gev have the last performance of the night.  They do a Broadway routine in which they pretend to be tourists in New York, aptly dancing to "New York, New York" from On the Town.  For the most part, I thought it was well-executed, save for a few bobbles in the middle.  But they do an amazing job.  I love them!



-Debbie Chang, BuddyTV Staff Writer
(Image courtesy of FOX)