So You Think You Can Dance: Season 4 (1 Viewer)

[Brett_M]

Katee and Joshua -- Best of the night for me. Chemistry and artistry.

Twitchington -- A very close second. Kherington is s star. Twitch makes me smile. A great partnership just letting it rip.

Chelsea and Thayne -- Excellent work from these two.

Susie and Marquis -- No passion, no chemistry. They both had great lines, though.

William and Jessica -- Can't remember these two.

Chelsie and Mark -- A don't really like choreography like this but it was interesting. Chelsie is a hotty.

Matt and Kourtni -- Kourtni doesn't seem to be getting much love lately but I think she's got star quality. She can really move. Matt is a lanky doofus.

Chris and Comfort -- Fake chemistry. No spark.

Rayven and Jamie -- Dull.

Courtney G and Gev -- Disco sucks. Courtney is a hotty, though.

Dancing for their lives tonight:

Susie and Marquis

Rayven and Jamie

 

[Hanson]

It's a bottom three couples to give the producers more leeway as to who to eliminate. FYI:

1) The couples stay together until the top ten (5 couples). Votes are cast for the couples at this stage, and the bottom six dance a solo and then the judges choose which guy and which girl is eliminated. The leftover guy and girl become new partners if a couple is not eliminated outright.

2) Once they reach the top ten, they mix and match partners. Votes are collected for each dancer, not couple.

3) Although it appears that the show is live on Wed, it is actually taped on Monday night. Tues & Wed are to rehearse the group dance, Thurs is elimination, and Fri, Sat, Sun are to learn the new routine. It's a very limited time to get a routine polished, but they may have given them more rehearsal time for the first show. BTW, the group dances are unlike the group sings in Idol -- they are full out production numbers, not some sort of Brady Bunch Family Variety Hour crapola. Please don't skip! You can, however, skip the musical guests.

They did that in season 1, but since season, 2, the couples stay together until the top ten. They still maintained the illusion that the dances and partners were randomly picked in season 2 (which was actually manipulated by the producers), but by last year, they dropped the whole "pick out a of a hat" thing. The producers make the pairings and pick the dances.

I had picked Joshua (breaker w/ballet training) and Chelsie (latin ballroom) as my faves, and nothing that happened last night has changed that opinion. They happened to be in my top two performances.

 

[Josh Dial]

This is incorrect.

The initial pairing of the couples is indeed picked by the producers, with heavy influence by Nygel and Mary (and perhaps some of the other flagship choreographers, such as Wade and Mia). The main goal here is to choose pairings which are interesting and dymanic, and to avoid unfair pairings that may occur through randomness, such as two breakers getting paired together, and then doing the quickstep. The producers/judges/choreographers then also assign the dance for the first week.

After the first week, the pairings remain until either the top 10, or one of the partners is eliminated (at which point they are paired with the other lone partner). Dances are still chosen at random - any claim to the opposite is just wong. If you attend a live show, they literally draw from a hat, and then hold it up for the camera and all to see. There is no chance for someone (the producers et al) to manipulate this, since the next couple comes right up. Even season 3 had "the hat." I do, however, remember the season stuff, with all the producer meddling.

 

[Hanson]

There are any number of ways to manipulate what gets picked from a hat, and if indeed it was random, there would be the possibility that Benji would choreograph a West Coast Swing for his sister last year or that Lauren would end up with Tice. I don't think the producers wanted these pairings. And if it was random, you'd see more pairs pulling hip hop routines in successive weeks (something that happened in season 1), but that didn't happen. Everyone got a shot at contemp, hip hop, and ballroom. A bit too random to be random.

IIRC, they stopped featuring the hat last year on air. I'm pretty certain that the dance styles come down from the producers simply because it makes a better show, and there's no reason to have a hat if you can maximize the drama of who's dancing what.

 

[Patrick Sun]

At the end of the first elimination episode, it was weird to see Jamie about to break down and cry on stage, while Ravyn was all happy and waving to the crowd, putting on a brave face (then again, she did have some time to collect herself). Between Matt and Jamie, it was a toss-up.

 

[Hanson]

dupe

 

[Hanson]

Mybe he was crying about how the producers put him in a position to fail:

Unpimped contestant with unpimped partner
Shitty routine (esp. compared to the other routine by the same exact choreographers)
Worst possible genre
First couple to dance

Plus, I think he thought he was going to win. I don't know if Rayven had those expectations. Rayven is also older.

Unlike Idol results, I only skipped the Pussycat Dolls. Seriously -- who's buying this shit? I don't get it.

Nigel and Cat missed a couple of "who does Fugly Uma look like?" candidates:

 

[Chris Lockwood]

> Mybe he was crying about how the producers put him in a position to fail:

I loved when Nigel said maybe the pants being pulled down offended some voters- if so, isn't that the choreographers' fault?

Those solo bits seemed too short to be used to decide which people to send home.

Now I know there's no point in watching the full results shows.

Too bad it wasn't Mary they had gagged at the start of the show (although I would have left it on for the full hour).

 

[Hanson]

I don't think it was the depantsing that was over the top -- the problem was the tighty whities. My wife wasn't offended per se, but it really turned her off. Too much package for prime time -- boxers with hearts on them would have made it funny and not a WTF moment.

Those old school poppers were hugely entertaining. I'd love to see more dance acts during results shows and less Pussycat Dolls bullshit.

 

[Steve_Tk]

Yeh, the Pussycat Dolls was terrible. And they didn't even look attractive, I was at least hoping for that. That one "popper" was pretty crazy to watch because he was so tall and thin, his legs were bending around like twizzlers.

 

[Chris_Morris]

I figured he was crying because he thought his Schwimmer connection was going to carry to near the finals.

It was strange that they didn't mention it any on the show.

 

[Hanson]

According to the disclaimers at the end of the show, all dances are assigned randomly. So you are correct. The way the dances were distributed so evenly last year led me to believe that the producers engineered the assignments, but I guess it was just dumb luck.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Nigel had me LOL at how weak Chris's krump was during his and Comfort's routine. That crotch grab by Nigel had me rolling.

Ranking from tonight's favorite numbers to least favorite numbers:

Joshua & Katee - Very fun, energetic routine, they are very compatible dancers.

Twitchington - Graceful and goosebump-inducing number. Keep smiling Kherington, F Mia Michaels and her mis-interpretation of the dance.

Mark & Chelsie - Nailed the flavor of their tango, and danced well together.

Gev & Courtney - Very solid emotional number. Courtney is really cute.

William & Jessica - Not my cup of tea, and William doesn't really excite me with his movies, and Jessica just trying to keep up with William.

Thayne & Chelsea - Badly executed concept, and looked very awkward and stilted.

Matt & Kourtni - Ill-suited big dancers, solid in short spurts, but boring in stretches.

Chris & Comfort - Don't care for Krumping, and this number didn't win me over toward either dancers.

Marquis & Susie - A real messy salsa, with Marquis trying to over-selling it, and Susie was not sharp at all, just really sloppy at times.

 

[Hanson]

Chelsea T. and Thayne - I would blame Mandy Moore for her choregraphy, but... there didn't seem to be any. Just a series of movements with no cohesion, no flow (they seemed to pause every few seconds), and a boring lack of purpose. It was so formless it seemed almost improvised. Before Chelsea took the fan or whatnot out of her bustier, it looked like she had green armpit hair. Mandy Moore looks like Lisa Lampinelli.

Chelsie H. and Mark - The technical precision was awesome to watch, but being the trick whore I am, I was disappointed by the absence of lifts and other razzle dazzle (like the move into the split they showed during rehearsal they never executed). I noticed there was a slight bobble in the middle of the routine, like she was going to do something and then stopped. The speed of both of their spins is a marvel - it's just a blur of motion. None of the other contestants can match even a fraction of Chelsie's leg and hip action. Why did the director cut away to a close shot from the waist during their leg fighting? That's inexcusably retarded.

Jessica and Will - Will wasn't really that great, but Jessica was out of Sesame Street. By God, the second worst whitebread hip hop of the night. I've seen ballerinas and ballroom dancers pull off more convincing hip hop. And it wasn't even hard hitting. Inexcusable.

Kourtni and Matt - Matt was better than Kourtni - actually, Matt was pretty good, Kournti, on the other hand, was lackluster, lacking good extension and looking pretty squat and lumpy. Wait - the words "pretty" and "Kourtni" don't deserve to be in the same sentence. That dress wasn't flattering, and standing next to the Tommy Tune-esque Matt made her look like a linebacker. Her spins were sooo slow. The hair was another disaster.

Courtney and Gev - Gev bobbled almost all of the lifts (so much for Courtney's claim that he's strong). I never noticed how short both are - Courtney is practically a midget. I didn't get much out of the routine - it just seemed like a lot of running around and lifting, and it lacked smoothness. For all the horndog comments, Gev was passionless.

Katee and Joshua - Are they becoming the front runners? Another impressive routine, maybe not as memorable as last week's hip hop, but there was plenty of impressive synchrony (including precision cane twirling) and they both had the right amount of energy and lightness. In retrospect, the choreography was random and noisy, but they rose above it.

Susie and Marquis - Street salsa? More like gutter salsa. Her spins were so slow, I though she was doing a smooth waltz. No fire, no energy, and every time I hear a judge talk about how "hot" she is, I throw up in my mouth a little. WTF are they looking at? She NASTY. I thought Marquis had better lines and wasn't as sloppy as Susie, but he was really light in his loafers when he was supposed to be manly. It looked like a bird shit on Susie's head. That's what you get for performing salsa in the gutter.

Kherington and Twitch - Take away the sob story, and this was pretty mediocre. Again, no connection between the dancers (it's like they're dancing in their own little worlds and not really together), and Twitch moved like a lummox out there and stumbled around during the big lift. The judges must really want him to win, because I didn't understand a single iota of their praise. Mia was just trying to point out that Kherington's perma-smile gives a fakey impression, but basically got yelled down Nigel. But she had a point. Kher was a'ight, but her crying will get her votes. The second lackluster performance that got praised to the heavens - what I know about dance could fill a thimble, but this is the biggest disconnect between what I see and the judges see two weeks running.

Comfort and Chris - Krump sucks. There. I said it. At its best it just looks like flailing. At its worst, it looks like Chris. I really can't add anything to Nigel's comments ("my grandma's more gansta" and "mama I want to pee pee" had us rolling). Chris was whiter than Jessica out there.

Katee & Joshua and Chelsie & Mark were tops again, Twitch and Kherington were third by default.

 

[Brett_M]

Joshua & Katee - Two weeks in a row -- great job. They are fun to watch and dance well together. Joshua is a front-runner.

Twitchington - Another great routine from these two. Kherington is so beautiful it hurts. They are a great pair.

Mark & Chelsie - Nice tango. Some sexy moves. Chelsie rocks the leg and hip action -- what a hottie. Mark impressed me this week. Again, they are a great pair.

Gev & Courtney - Better than last week by a mile.

William & Jessica - Will is better than Jessica and their routine was all over the place. They bore me but Jessica is cute.

Thayne & Chelsea - Weak routine and terrible outfits.

Matt & Kourtni - I enjoyed them this week and thought Matt in particular stepped it up a notch. Kourtni isn't getting any love around here -- I really like her. She tries to dance small, though. She needs to embrace her size (for lack of a better word) and dance big.

Chris & Comfort - Krumping blows and they have no chemistry. They're in trouble.

Marquis & Susie - The worst routine of the night. Susie showed her weakness tonight. Marquis pretends. Bottom three and Susie is gone.

Thayne or Chris will go along with her.

 

[Hanson]

Other people Kourtni looks like:

 

[Patrick Sun]

For me, from best to last:

Chelsie and Mark - well performed through and through

Katee and Joshua - hot hot hot, smoldering heat

Courtney and Gev - passionate and believable

Twitchington - in sync and fun

Kourtni and Matt - spastic but watchable

Jessica and Will - too many mistakes

Comfort and Chris - underperformed and uncomfortable

Chelsea and Thayne - made it look difficult, lifeless

 

[James Lee]

Totally agree with your summary. It was overall, a pretty strong episode. Chelsie and Mark's hip hop routine was amazing. Hip hop is not really my favorite thing, but they made it powerful and emotional and very memorable. Great stuff.

Katee was smoking HOT, but holy cow, Joshua's hip action probably made all the women go weak in the knees. I don't know much about the guy, but he's got to have had some other dance training in his past other than hip hop. The guy has a ton of talent.

Courtney's dress was a knockout. She too was smoking hot. Again, with Gev, another hip hop/breaker who is really surprising with his ability to dance other genres well.

Anyhow, those three duos were my favorites.

 

[Hanson]

The best of the night was... a tie. On on hand, there's Joshua and Katee doing a samba that was so entertaining that my wife and I giggled with delight throughout with a Kherington-like perma-smile. Joshua's hip action was both unexpected and phenomenal. Even if they were both ballroom dancers, the routine would have totally delivered. The highest compliment I can give it is that I was glued to the routine even though there weren't any tricks, and I'm a trick whore. Joshua is easily the most charismatic dancer of the season.

On the other hand, Mark & Chelsie are proving to be the most formidible couple in the competition. Mark is actually a hip hop dancer who does contemporary, while Chelsie is a ballrrom dancer who has studied contemporary. Mark's weakness should be ballroom, but he killed the tango last week. Chelsie's should be hip hop, but she did a more than credible job. Sure, her chest pops weren't up to snuff, but she freakin' sold that routine. Both of these dancers can communicate emotions when they dance, and that can overcome any technical limitation. I totally bought the frustration and anger when Chelsie kicked the briefcase, and the little routine where Mark was pretending to manipulate Chelsie while she popped around was a highlight. Again, another routine without much in the way of tricks but still engrossing and entertaining.

Then there's a biiiiig separation...
Then more...
Then more...

And then there was Gev and Courtney. Their rumba started with a drop that was stuttery and unsteady. The whole routine seemed like that -- there was no flow from one part to the next, and while I particularly liked the one lift where he twirled her around, it seemed a bit labored. I think the most memorable part of the routine was her dress. I think Courtney is looks like more people that Kourtni does. So far:

Sandra Bullock
Valerie Bertinelli
Jeanne Tripplehorn
Michelle Monaghan
Rachel Bilson

And for some reason, I came up with Lisa Welchel last night. Something very Blair-like about her pageant smile.

Kourtni and Matt were okay, but the choreography was really repetitive. Grab him by the tie. Grab him by the tie. Grab him by the tie. The same awkward looking lift -- twice. Let's go here. Let's go there. Let's go back. And which comic book characters dress like depression era hobos? So much of that routine was lost on me.

Khitch is next by default because they didn't do anything wrong (although they didn't do anything particularly right). I prefer Khitch to Twitchington, because a) it's shorter, and b) there are connotations of superficiality and corniness that perfectly describe them. Their dance was ostensibly about a jail break, but did you buy that for even a milisecond? Like many Idol contestants, they confuse "having fun" with emotion, and the inability to communicate any feeling to the audience while not even showing off any nifty tricks results in "meh". This is the third week in a row that there was no connection or chemistry between them. Kher is too emotionally immature to doing anything other than pageant smile while Twitch is very limited as a dancer (it seems like his lumbar vertebrae are fused, and his limited hip action and inability to get them around quickly led to some sloppy footwork last week). If they ever draw a Latin Ballroom dance, they will crash and burn. Hard. And then Nigel will say they're great dancers anyway. And the fantards will believe him.

Poor Jessica. Not only does Will drop her, but the judges take her to task for missing the steps after she got back up. Hey, I'd be a bit lost if someone dropped me onto my ribs. Where is this "AMAZING FANTASTIC WILL" the judges keep complimenting? All I see is a partner dropper with little charisma.

I kind of feel sorry for Thayne and Chelsea for getting arguably the hardest dance in the show. But then again, if they can't pull this off respectably, they don't deserve to win. And they don't. Her footwork was especially messy, although her ruffled fringe kept camoflauging her steps. Does anyone doubt that Katee and Joshua could have pulled this off without breaking a sweat?

Chris and Comfort -- Y'all gotta GO. Comfort just can't handle the competition, and Chris is just too soft, both in his movements and his doughy physique. This was not a terrible routine by any stretch, and a competent couple could have pulled this off. But these are probably the two weakest dancers left, and they should be sent packing tonight.

This was the worst Mary week ever. I will have to start fast fowarding past her critques. At this point, her banshee screams have me longing for the incoherence that is Paula Abdul just for the lessened volume.

Cat is only 5' 9"? Did she screw up the metric to US conversion? I swear she's closer to 6'.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I was hoping Comfort was going to get the boot over Chelsea as well. Thayne's got his work cut out for him with Comfort as his new partner.