SYTYCD - the hardest elimination
So yesterday on So You Think We Can Dance we had the Top 12, and now we have the Top 10. Ouch. The judges had to figure out which two dancers to cut from what will be a national, city-by-city tour, but they could only choose from the three couples who didn't get enough votes to make them safe. Then, individually, each dancer had an opportunity to convince the judges to keep them on via a solo routine.
Some did better than others. More after the jump.
Some did better than others. More after the jump.
Yep. So it was Victor (yeeah, we sorta expected that) and Karen. We were shocked about that one. Our pick for who we thought would go home sailed through into the Top 10, though we're not really sorry, this is such a close competition at this point. They're all SO talented. When we saw who the bottom three couples were (Mollee and Nathan, Ryan and Ellenore, Victor and Karen) we were afraid Mollee would be going home. All season the judges have been comiplaining about how juvenile her performances seem, and her hip-hop routine yesterday was particularly juvenile (in our opinion). And then she came out and did all this tumbling and gymnastics - again, it made her seem young, we thought.
But we suppose it made a better impression than Karen's uninspiring hip-shaking. We almost think she was overconfident. So far this season the judges have only raved about her, saying how sexy and talented she is. But the ballroom dancers have such a hard time with their solos. Dancing without a partner is just outside their comfort zone.
Ryan struggled a bit too, but he had more than one or two moves to show off. Surprisingly, Nigel said Ryan was the one he wanted to send home. He's got such amazing stage presence, though, the other two judges outvoted Nigel and kept Ryan. We're so glad! The romantics among us desperately wanted the married couple of Ryan and Ashleigh to go on tour together. Awww.
The romantics among us also loved every minute of Paloma Herrera being on stage. But we're suckers for ballerinas.
The other guest performance was "international superstar" Shakira. It was fun to see such great synchronization from such a large group of dancers. She really brought the whole entourage onto stage. Unfortunately, the old ladies among us were rather shocked at most of the choreography. My goodness, there are children watching this show. We suppose being an international superstar lets you get away with all kinds of things.
So now we're down to the Top 10 at last. And it seems like the judges prefered to keep around those dancers who are most flexible moving from genre to genre. Victor can do amazing contemporary dancing. His solos are always stunning, and when he pulls a contemporary or jazz number he's a joy to watch. But moving further away from his core genre showed he's just not as versatile as Ryan and Nathan. Mollee may have trouble looking like a grown-up, but she's got a lot of tricks in her book. When she performed, she reminded the judges that she can do backflips. That seems to have bought her a place on the tour. (Which, we suppose is fair if Legacy can buy his way onto the tour by spinning on his head.)
So here you have it: Season 6 Top 10. We heart them all!
And we'll leave you the way Nigel began the show - with deepest Thanksgiving well-wishes. In fact, we'll just transcribe his heartfelt speech:"I'd like to wish everybody out there a very happy Thanksgiving. It's obviously a holiday that we don't celebrate as Brits, but I love it because it brings families together. And so many families I know watch this show. So very happy holidays.
And if you can't be with your family because you're overseas serving your country or just working, we wish you a safe and speedy return to your families and your loved ones.
And if you don't have a family to share it with, please don't be lonely out there. There's an awful lot of love in the world. Go out and enjoy yourselves."