"SYTYCD" Season 8: Elimination 5

July 21, 2011

After thrilling performances from the Top 10 on Wednesday night, the “So You Think You Can Dance” results show was a bit of a letdown. Here’s a recap of the good, the bad and (unfortunately) the ugly.


The Good


1) The sparkling, classic, group Broadway number to “Act One: On Broadway” by Josh Bergasse: The routine was full of snapping kicks and sharp arms, saucy hip circles, bright gold costumes, Fosse style hands grasping shimmering bowler hats, and fantastic leaps and tricks from the guys. With the dancers’ big smiles and the feel-good choreography, this number brought back fond memories for anyone who has ever taken a musical theater class.

2) Cat Deeley and Neil Patrick Harris: After Neil called Cat a “sexy little minx”, Cat did a little jump of joy and responded with, “I never thought Doogie Howser would say that to me! I had such a crush on him when I was a teenager.” They’re too cute.

3) The solos: The bottom four dancers (Ricky, Mitchell, Clarice, and Jordan) all performed well, making the judges’ decision that much more difficult. The vast difference between all of the solos also showed that the Top 10 dancers are growing in their ability to choreograph for themselves.


The Bad


1) “Les Bourgeois” performed by American Ballet Theatre soloist Daniil Simkin. Aside from some fantastic jumping for a few seconds, this lackluster performance seemed random and forced. We watched him pretend he was smoking a cigarette for 30 seconds, hunched over like an old man, before he suddenly transformed into an extremely limber ballet dancer. Sadly, this solo did not show off Simkin’s amazing talent.

2) The Gatorade Sports Institute testing: Not as exciting as it sounds. The experiment consisted of three tests—one where they sat in a “bod pod” to measure their body fat and two to test their reflexes. The short video mostly featured one of the specialists describing the tasks, with very tiny clips of the dancers actually performing them sprinkled in. And the “exciting” results revealed that these dancers are, in fact, athletes. Anyone who had even seen 20 minutes of the show would know that.

 


The Ugly

1) Blush featuring Snoop Dogg: This girl band, created after a large talent search last year, should probably stick to modeling. Their off-key vocals coupled with their teenybopper dance moves did not bode well for these Spice Girls wannabes. Plus, the backup boy dancers were awkwardly trying to perform hip-hop moves with teddy bears, and Snoop Dogg was on stage for about 20 seconds total. It was a mess.


2) Saying “goodbye” to Clarice and Mitchell: Sending Mitchell home was not the biggest surprise of the night after the judges criticized him for over-performing his Broadway routine. But we are going to miss his huge, contagious smile and the tiny costumes he always chose for his solos. This was probably one of Clarice’s best weeks on the show, but, as Nigel said, someone had to go home. At least they will both be on the show’s next national tour!