So You Think You Can Dance 7/23- The Top 8 Perform

Cat looks cute and natural in a long-sleeved dress. It’s a little cat-burglary but I’ll take it. And yes, that was minor pun intended. The standout intro dancers are Twitch, Mark, and Joshua. I honestly don’t think a girl stands a chance this year, unless Katee is a lot more popular than I think. I just noticed that Cat’s back is bedazzled with big clear stones. That’d be points off, Cat. The special judge tonight is Toni Basil, as in “Oh Mickey, You’re So Fine, You’re So Fine You Blow My Mind, Hey Mickey” Toni Basil.

Courtney and Will- They’ve got a Jean-Marc and France Samba first. Will seems worried, but I highly doubt that he will have any problems. They seemed to have doubts pre-dance about Will’s hips, but I can tell you that they are just as ridiculously good as the rest of him. I’ve seen him be incredibler, but he’s still really good. And Courtney is be able to keep up with him, so respect to her. The only thing I might fault them for is that there seems to be a little lack of connection. Nigel thinks tonight is gonna be a great night. He says that it was great if you don’t count the technique. He thinks their chemistry was good though. Mary thinks she’s being punk’d, because contemporary dancers are dancing salsa really well. That’s kind of the point of the show, Mary. She also cites Will’s lack of technique and loved their chemistry. Courtney’s hips get a scream. Toni had so much fun she forgot she was judging. I’m not gonna lie, she seems kind of like a crazy woman. That may just be me, though. Toni liked it.

Comfort- Comfort started dancing on the streetz. She doesn’t say it with a z, but I think it’s what she intended. Her solo is actually really fun, and, again, I guess she’s going out on a high note. It’s definitely one of her better solos.

Katee and Twitch- They knew each other before the show, so they’re really excited to be dancing together. They’ve got a Mia Michaels contemporary, so I’m already excited. It’s about a crazy girlfriend, which sounds like a good Mia theme. It takes them quite a while to get into the dancing, especially with that extended and real-looking kiss, but once the dancing starts, it’s really awesome. It’s one of Mia’s fun pieces, and the movement is really entertaining to watch. They’ve got great chemistry, and the whole thing is just fun to watch. There’s one great moment in the middle involving Katee swinging on a door. The dance is pretty much banoodles. Cat is all cute with Twitch. Nigel thinks the performance was fantastic. Nigel makes an awkward joke about imprisoning women. He thinks it was absolutely fantastic and they danced it brilliantly and calls it one of the most entertaining routines the show has ever had. Mary is shrill but loved it too. She liked the abusiveness, and calls it brilliant. Toni thinks they were lucky, especially Twitch, and jumps sentences in the middle of one. I’m starting to think maybe she’s just drunk?

Will- Will started dancing because of Dirty Dancing. No seriously. Then Debbie Allen found him and made him amazingly ridiculous. Will is dressed like James Brown for his solo. No, seriously. But that only makes it more amazing. I mean, he should have started the dancing earlier, but its fun, funky, and, most importantly, full of personality. Will is a serious contender now, folks.

Comfort and Mark- Ok, seriously? Mark SERIOUSLY had to get Comfort? No offense to Comfort fans, but he needed a strong partner this week. And he didn’t get one. They’ve got a hip-hop first, but it’s a Napoleon and Tabitha hip-hop, so it’s questionable whether it will be any good. But, yay, because it’s arguably Napoleon and Tabitha’s hardest piece yet, and also one of their very best. Comfort is the star of the piece, rocking it out hardcore, but Mark definitely manages to hold his own too, but that may also be because he’s back in his character comfort zone. But he rocks it too. Nigel thinks it’s remarkable how much better Comfort is in choreographed pieces, because she was great here. But he thinks its remarkabler how good Mark was. Mary thinks they did a great job, especially with their synchronization. She thinks Comfort was hitting it and was surprised by how Mark nailed it. Toni loved it and lectures on ears and streetz (again, not sure about the z). She kind of reminds me of Renny from Big Brother. She sums it up with love though.

Katee- Katee started dancing because she walked on tiptoes a lot. I don’t know, I’m not particularly impressed by this solo. It seemed like her just kind of flailing herself around the stage. Maybe I just didn’t get it though.

Chelsie and Joshua- Their first dance tonight is an Argentine Tango choreographed by Dmitry the Shirtless Wonder from season 2. The more I see from Chelsie in these video packages, the more I like her. She’s really good in this. I’m not sure about the dance, there’s something that’s not fully there for me, but Chelsie really rocks it. Joshua seems more like a prop for most of the dance. When he has to do stuff, he’s good, but most of the time it seems like he’s more there for Chelsie to swing on. Nigel thinks they had the most technical work to do and that Chelsie’s legs are fantastic. He thinks the choreography was good and that it accentuated their strengths. Mary thinks it translated it just the right way and puts them on the Hot Tamale train. Toni thinks Argentine Tango is the most street (no Z this time) ballroom. She thinks it was spontaneous and torrid and then repeats the word spontaneous and torrid. She says the whole dance came together.

Mark- Mark started dancing in musical theater, and his awesome style comes from his being different. He’s not as cool and awesome as he has been, but he’s still cool and awesome. There’s a bunch of those great little arm movements, and two or so really cool leaps.

Courtney and Will 2- They’ve got Napoleon and Tabitha’s other hip-hop routine, and it’s a slow one. Based on the Napoleon and Tabitha law of averages, this should suck. But who knows, because these two dancers could pull it out. But the Napoleon and Tabitha law of averages strikes again, as it’s, well, average. Will and Courtney try their hardest, and there’s a bunch of really cool moments. But the emotion isn’t quite there, and overall, I don’t think it’s gonna be very memorable. Nigel thinks that it was great and emotional. He thought there was a great emotional connection. Mary thinks that these two are tremendous dancers but they didn’t meet her expectations. They blew her expectations away. Oh, Mary! Maybe I missed something on this one. Toni Basil was apparently one of the first poppers. Of pills? I find it hard to believe that “Oh Mickey” Toni Basil was a hip-hoper/popper and one of the founders of the style to boot. She’s pleased that hip-hop is finally getting recognition, since apparently she’s been in cryostasis since 1983. Well, that would explain her abnormally taut skin.

Chelsie- Chelsie started dancing because she was shy and wanted friends. She’s gotten over that shyness now. Chelsie highlights her sexiness and her legs, and does a lot of twirls. It’s one of the better ballroom solos I’ve seen. It’s Chelsie’s birthday, and she’s turning 19, which makes me upset because she’s younger than me.

Katee and Twitch 2-They’ve got a Tyce broadway, which should counter their awesome first routine. Since I’ve been impressed by Tyce I think a total of twice between all 4 seasons, I don’t have high hopes. It’s about Katee wanting Twitch and Twitch not wanting Katee. It starts out decently enough, but then it goes into a really fast section, and the dancers seems to lost all their performance in order to keep up with the steps. The fact that they managed to get all the steps is impressive, and overall, it’s probably one of Tyce’s stronger routines. But it’s not one of the night’s best. Nigel loved the routine and thinks its great that it could actually be on Broadway. But there have been much more Broadway Broadway numbers, so I’m confused. He especially lavishes praise on Twitch and he has never not enjoyed Katee. Mary declines a fake out and screams that it was terrific. Mary can’t remember a better night for the show. Toni thinks Twitch brings more realism than Broadway dancers and thinks Katee had a small personality problem and wanted her to be rougher. But she thinks they did wonderfully.

Joshua- Josh started dancing because a teacher really liked him. His solo is more restrained than usual, but there’s a large number of cool moves, so I’m not gonna complain.

Courtney- She started dancing because she got put into dance classes a young age. Yeah, no story here. She looks beautiful and her movement is interesting. There seems to almost be a story to it. I’d say it was one of the stronger female solos of the season.

Twitch- He didn’t start dancing seriously until his senior year of high school. His solo is, as expected, really cool. Twitch’s musicality is so strong, that he’s always entertaining to watch, because he’s always gonna do something interesting with the music.

Comfort and Mark 2- They’ve got a Jean Marc and France foxtrot. It’s gonna be a jazzy foxtrot, and Jean Marc promises it won’t be easy. Comfort is worried. Ruh Roh. It is a little jazzy and it’s kinda entertaining to watch, but Mark seems stiff and uncomfortable for a decent chunk of the dance. Comfort is actually somewhat impressive, but I may just not be catching the technical problems. They connect pretty well though. Nigel thinks it wasn’t good and didn’t feel the chemistry and calls it amateurish. Mary didn’t like it either and she didn’t feel any love towards the technique. It’s not good. Toni is aggravated by bad turning technique and thinks Mark was better. Everyone brings the hip-hop back up to induce warm and fuzzy memories.

Chelsie and Joshua 2- They’ve got a Doriana Sanchez disco routine. I don’t have high hopes, because Disco’s never great on the show. At least, never that I remember. There’s a bunch of big lifts in it. They both look the part great, to a creepy extent. The lifts all look great, but there’s something that’s not AS impressive when they’re on their feet. It’s maybe a little sluggish. That may also be because my tv signal is really jumpy. But this is definitely one of the best disco routines on the show. Certainly one of the most believable. Nigel thinks Josh’s strength opened a lot of doors for them but thinks Chelsie has a lot of courage to do the lifts. He says they both carried it off really well. Mary thinks it was really good and was impressed by the lifts. Toni thinks they had the spirit of disco (bad music and cocaine?) and thinks Chelsie had the lines (I guess that’d be the cocaine part).

My Rankings For the Routines:
1) Twitch and Katee’s Contemporary
2) Comfort and Mark’s Hip-Hop
3) Courtney and Will’s Samba
4) Chelsie and Joshua’s Disco
5) Chelsie and Joshua’s Argetnine Tango
6) Twitch and Katee’s Broadway
7) Courtney and Will’s Hip-Hop
8) Comfort and Mark’s Foxtrot

My Rankings For The Dancers Overall:
1) Chelsie
2) Twitch
3) Courtney
4) Katee
5) Comfort
6) Mark
7) Will
8) Joshua

In Trouble: Mark, Will or Twitch, Comfort, and Courtney. No one was really bad tonight, but I’m just hoping Mark survives. But I’m very worried.

Oh, and Joshua wasn’t bad. He was just the eighth best in a very good group of 8.