So You Think You Can Dance 7/30- The Last Performances Before The Finals

Cat is shimmery, shiny, seemingly got a haircut, and seems like she would fit in perfectly at Studio 54. Josh, Mark, Katee, and Twitch are the impressive intros. I’m now just seeing the giant loofahs on the back of Cat’s shoes. She can never quite get that full 100% great outfit, can she? The guest jidge tonight is Adam Shankman, director of mostly crappy movies.

Courtney and Mark- They’ve got a Viennese Waltz from new choreographer, Jason Gilkison. I like these two together. This may just be because of my love of these dancers, but I love this dance. I think it’s beautiful, sweet, and it feels real. I can’t really comment on the technique, but they look amazing. It’s beautifully restrained and sweet and lovely. I’d say it’s definitely one of the best waltzes I’ve ever seen on the show. Adam has no idea how America’s gonna vote and thinks that this was a good one. Mark gets special love for his rise and fall. Mary Murphy, equally shiny but much more orange than Cat, also doles love upon them, calling it beautiful. Nigel thinks it was beautifully romantic, does some Idol David Cook synergy (I guess someone isn’t selling as well as his producers were hoping), and thinks they started the show really well.

Chelsie- Her legs are ridiculous. In a very good way. It’s sexy, sultry, and while it starts a little slow, she picks it up and rocks it by the end. She consistently delivers in her solos, moreso than any other Ballroomer I can think of on the show.

Twitch- Twitch jokingly has grills on his teeth for tonight. I gotta say, except for maybe the last ten seconds of the solo, I was expecting a lot more from Twitch. It’s really basic in the beginning and a little anemic. Cat, as a joke, wears Twitch’s glasses and grills. She is amazing, just amazing. I am in love with her. Would ANY other host do that? Can you imagine Seacrest doing that?

Katee and Joshua- They’ve got a Tyce (GROAN) contemporary. I never have high hopes for Tyce, but his best routine was contemporary, so who knows. It’s a little trick-heavy, but it’s still pretty awesome. There’s clearly a huge amount of trust between these two, as evidenced by the ridiculous lifts that are in there. It’s really, really good. Contemporary is clearly Tyce’s style. Adam says that it was Tyce’s best piece of the season and calls Katee and Joshua two of the most exciting dancers to ever grace the stage. There’s a lotta love coming from Adam. Mary thinks it was filled with a lot of really good adjectives and thinks it was the most beautiful piece she’s seen on the show and thinks they’re both gonna be in the finale. She also screeches. Nigel highlights another amazing choreographer in the audience and reminds us of how amazing both dancers are, especially Josh for the fact that he has no formal training. Not to detract from how amazing Joshua is, but hasn’t he stated on camera that he has had classes? So doesn’t that mean formal training? Don’t make me call shenanigans, Nigel.

Sidenote: Miley Cyrus makes me angry. I don’t hate her like I hate Katherine Heigl (10/10), but I’d say she’s a solid 7 on the hatred scale.

Chelsie and Twitch- They’ve got a Tony Meredith and Melanie mambo. Chelsie seems nervous. But, obviously, since it’s a very leggy and hippy dance, Chelsie nails every part of it. Twitch, on the other hand, not so much. He seems to be lacking energy, his technique is pretty bad, he misses a hold, and it seems like he may have accidentally tripped her at the beginning. Not good. Adam thinks Chelsie was on fire and that Twitch sold it well but could have sold it better. Mary thought the routine was great and basically apologizes for how bad Twitch was. I mean, he did as best as he could, but Mary seems to say that it was all right that he was bad. She also agrees that Chelsie was banoodles. Nigel thinks Chelsie was great, as expected and also basically tells Twitch that it was all right that he was bad.

Digression: Ok, now, you readers can just chalk this up to my love of Mark, but whatever. The judging on Chelsie and Twitch’s mambo was ridiculous. Twitch was kind of disastrous in it, at least in my opinion. And the judges didn’t call him on it. They basically told him that it was all right that he sucked. I mean, obviously he has no training in this style. But that hasn’t stopped you in the past from being harsh on other dancers in similar situations. If that was Mark, he would have gotten torn to shreds. But the judges want a hip-hop boy to win, so they look past Twitch’s clear weakness. That’s preposterous.

Katee- I’ve had some problems with Katee’s solos recently, but this is great. She’s high-energy, young, and full of energy. It’s nice to see a non-dreary contemporary solo (like Courtney’s from last week).

Joshua- His solo, as always, is really cool. He doesn’t wait to get into the tricks, and they come fast and furious. I’ve seen better from him, and I do dock a point or two for repeating his movement from his intro bit, but it’s good.

Courtney and Mark 2- They’ve got a Sonja Tayeh contemporary about French Burlesque and I’m already excited. Sonja rocks, these dancers rock, and Mark is a perfect fit for her. Whatever, accuse me of being just a Mark lover, but this kind of rocks my socks off too. It’s a little low on energy in spots, but they both work amazingly together, and the style comes across perfectly. Mark’s uniqueness and character strengths make him absolutely 200% right for this dance. I seriously love Sonja. She may even be challenging Mia as my favorite choreographer. And that’s after only three dances. Adam is glad they have nothing to do with voting and loved it hardcore. Adam loves Sonja too and thinks they were unbelievable together. Mary calls it raw, weird, amazing, and she loved it. Nigel thinks it personified Sonja and thinks it suited Mark perfectly. He calls it one of the highlights of tonight.

Katee and Joshua 2- They’ve got a Jason Gilkison Paso Doble. Josh brings it. Katee, it’s more questionable. Basically, I’m not sure, because I didn’t focus on Katee for a second of the dance (save the final, final moment). Joshua has the strength and power that is absolutely necessary for this dance. Katee is, really, just a prop in this one to me. Adam thinks Joshua is preternaturally brilliant. Adam can’t wait for Katee to see it on TV because he loved it. Mary thinks that when Katee and Joshua are together, true magic happens. They get two shrieks, one of which is aimed directly at Nigel. This is the first time I actually feel bad for Nigel. He thinks the routine was absolutely fabulous and does the fake-out bad news thing before telling Joshua that he can win this thing.

Courtney- It gets better as it goes on, and becomes really good in the last ten seconds, but the slower music didn’t do her justice. Courtney’s better with faster, sexier solos. This one fell a wee bit flat.

Mark- Ok, I’ll say it. Mark has had better solos. But I still love him, and this solo. He’s got a bunch of fun moves, and his musicality is really good. And he’s still had a better overall night than either of the other two boys

Chelsie and Twitch 2- They’ve got a Napoleon and Tabitha hip-hop about dueling orchestra conductors that has some great unintentional phallic jokes in it. Well, color me shocked that I focused way way more on Chelsie than I did on Twitch. I mean, they’re both good, but Chelsie is way better than I expected. She keeps up with and maybe even outdoes him a little. Twitch is good, but I’m guessing this is not the night he wanted. Adam thinks that it was hot and thinks Chelsie is impossibly versatile and good. Mary thinks Twitch was, as usual, outstanding (Ahem, I can think of a bunch of crappy Twitch routines) and thinks that Chelsie was ridiculous by even just keeping up with Twitch. Nigel thinks that anyone can be in the top 4 and that everyone is a great dancer.

My Routine Rankings For The Night:
1) Courtney and Mark’s Jazz
2) Courtney and Mark’s Viennese Waltz
3) Joshua and Katee’s Contemporary
(Note: 2 and 3 are a near tie)
4) Chelsie and Twitch’s Hip-Hop
5) Joshua and Katee’s Paso Doble
6) Chelsie and Twitch’s Mambo (Mainly Because of Twitch)

My Dancer Rankings For The Night:
1) Mark
2) Chelsie
3) Courtney
4) Joshua
5) Katee
6) Twitch

The Final Four Should Be: Mark and Joshua should be the final two boys. I think Chelsie definitely deserves to be there as well. Between Courtney and Katee, it gets a little tougher. Katee has been consistently amazing, but Courtney has been growing by leaps and bounds. Plus, who doesn’t love an underdog story? Ultimately, though, Katee probably deserves it a little bit more. But Courtney is still banoodles.

The Final Four Will Be: Joshua, Katee, Chelsie, and Twitch