So You Think You Can Dance 7/9- Everyone Steps It Up To Make The Tour

Cat looks all summery and hippie-ish. Although she may or may not look kind of like a patchwork quilt. The impressive intros are courtesy of Will, Chelsie, Joshua, Mark, Gev, Twitch, and Thayne, which seems like a bigger group than ever before. It seems people are stepping up their game before the last pre-tour cut. Cat has us welcome the judges, Nigel, Mary, and Mia, which means no kickass Mia Michaels contemporary, which makes me sad.

Chelsie and Mark- They’ve got an Alex DaSilva salsa, apparently featuring many tricks. They look mildly scared in the pre-dance package. It seems pretty darn fantastic though. Their footwork is great, with Mark upstaging Chelsie. They both seem totally into it, and all the tricks are well executed. Nigel thought the routine was great, but that Mark was a little tight in the upper body. But he lauds the footwork and calls Chelsie fantastic before making a pervy comment or two. Mary says it worked for her, but she wanted more rhythm from Mark, but he owned the tricks. She also says Chelsie nailed it and calls her beautiful dynamite. Chelsie brings out the murderous tendencies in Mia, but in a good beauty way. Mia loves both of them and calls Mark a star, but says he was kind of weak in this.

Comfort and Thayne- They’ve got a Tabitha and Napoleon hip-hop. Comfort is in home territory, so she’s confident. I wouldn’t be, considering Tabitha and Napoleon are very hit and miss. They also tell Thayne to stop smiling so gosh darn much. They, thankfully, get one of the good N&T routines. With the exception of that dumb punch line, the movements are all relatively cool and relatively hip-hoppish. Overall, I enjoyed it. Nigel wasn’t feeling the vibe, but he thought the movements were there. He predicts the bottom three for them. Mary also didn’t feel the chemistry, calling it just “good”. Mia calls it a little bit more than “good”, but says that the chemistry was, indeed, lacking. She liked the beginning, but tells Comfort than her star is falling and Thayne is fading.

Jessica and Will- They’ve got a Tyce contemporary routine. I’m interested to see if Tyce is any better in another style than Broadway or Jazz. Their pre-video has an angelic chorus and everyone spouts platitude-like statements. I’d actually call this one of the best Tyce routines I’ve ever seen. The movement is interesting and the lack of distractions add up to a fairly impressive routine. Jessica is better than I’ve ever seen her, but there was still something a little lacking. She seems to be catching up to Will, but she’s not quite there. Nigel loved loved the routine, and thinks that they felt the routine and danced it beautifully. Mary is a little bit in heat over Will and says it was one of the best pieces she’s ever seen on the show and thinks Jessica stepped up to the plate and matched the equally good Will. Mia also loved loved it and says they explored newness. Mia Michaels jargon is hilarious. She calls it the perfect moving human body art, and uses words like fluid and alive and showers love on them.

Courtney and Gev- They’ve got a Cha Cha, choreographed by Anya and Pasha from last season. I loved them both, so I’m excited. Apparently, Gev is great at ballroom, which shows in the fact that they rock this routine. He’s got the bravado down, and the hips on both of them are great. Nigel gives it an extra Cha for how hot the routine is, and tells Courtney she’s as sexy as Anya was. Nigel says Gev was great, but maybe not technically. He lauds them for their chemistry and calls it fun. Mary says it was magic, also giving it many extra Chas. She also says Gev wasn’t great technically, but says it didn’t really matter because he was so connected and otherwise great. She was delighted with Courtney and puts them on the hot tamale train. Oh, how I hate that idiotic train. Mia thinks it was fabulosity at its best. She tells them they’re clearly not the best dancers on the show, but their performance quality is amazing. She’s starting to see potential in Courtney.

Kherington and Twitch- They’ve got a Lil’ C krump routine. Kherington promises she can get buck if she needs to, but she don’t seem confident. Kherington handles herself reasonably well, but the star here is Twitch. He owns his parts. Overall, though, I’m not sure if this routine’s gonna be entirely memorable. Nigel gets constipated but tells Kherington she did a damn good job. Nigel says there was honesty in her movement, but thinks she fell absolutely apart at the end (which she did). Mary calls this the first krump number to believe in. She wanted to sit back and say “whoa” to Twitch. She also applauds Kherington for stepping it up. Mia calls it dirty and stank and buck. She loved it and says it was right on and says Twitch served gangster on a platter. She also thought Kherington did really well and is willing to ignore the end.

Katee and Joshua- They’ve got a Jean-Marc Genereaux Viennese Waltz. He says this is gonna be less emotional than the last one, but still emotional. Katee is worried by the mucho lifts, but blames Joshua for any problems. It’s beautiful, if a little bit overdone for a waltz. That’s not their fault though, as they hit every lift well and looked graceful. Joshua was a little bouncy for Nigel, but otherwise, they looked lovely. Nigel loved Katee too. Mary thought all the lifts were well executed, but she thought the dancing part was kind of lacking and bouncy. As a whole, she calls it okay. Mia called it a little bit clumsy on Joshua’ s part, but she thinks that Katee is meant to dance and thinks her journey is just beginning and says that her spirit soars through her body.

Chelsie and Mark 2, Electric Boogaloo- For their second dance of the night, they’ve got a Tyce Broadway number. I doubt Tyce will have two great routines in one night, so I’m a little worried. They’re a really enduring couple, these two. The number is a little cheesy, but they are very entertaining. Mark chews the scenery but does it in a great way. They both rock it. Nigel calls it hot and says Chelsie has legs for miles. He says it was terrific and well danced. Mary calls it sultry, sexy, and bluesy. She compliments their partnering, particularly on a death fall. Mia says it worked and calls it a success, but says it showed Mark’s lack of technique, but he can overcome it because he’s awesome in other ways. She says Chelsie is hot, but she wanted more movement.

Comfort and Thayne 2, Electric Boogaloo- They’ve got a Mandy Moore contemporary routine, which Mandy says will pull out all the stops. Comfort’s arm is apparently acting up again. I’d say this is one of Mandy’s best routines, and Comfort does, seemingly, step it up. There’s one amazing lift, twirl that’s really impressive. Nigel thinks they didn’t connect and didn’t dance it as well as they should have. He says he wanted to see a different couple dancing it. Mary says it wasn’t completely believable, which I guess I agree with. She thinks the movement from Comfort was so-so and thinks the lift technique was so-so. Mia thinks the choreography was great, but says Comfort has basically reached her end. The words “you can only fake it so much” are thrown around. She thinks Thayne is brilliant though, and says he’s grounded and she wants to work with him, on the show or off.

Jessica and Will 2, Electric Boogaloo- They’ve got SYTYCD kryptonite, a Tony Meredith quick step. Cat appears to be apologizing for them before they get on stage, so color me worried. Both dancers seem worried too. They’re much better than the quickstep usually allows. Will, in particular, stands out as amazingly gymnastical. Nigel loved the non-quickstep parts of the routine, but didn’t like the quickstep parts. It makes more sense than I’m getting across. Mary thinks the wardrobe hindered them and thinks their footwork was lacking. Mia is a bit sad because Jessica lost all the progress she made in the first number. She says it wasn’t working at all and thinks Will is tired of carrying her, going so far as to say he needs a new partner. Ouch, Mia.

Courtney and Gev 2, Electric Boogaloo- They’ve got a Mandy Moore jazz routine about lost jungle explorers. I’m a big, big fan of this routine. They both dance it really well, Gev in particular. They play off each other really well and the movement is all excellent. Nigel says it was fun, but it felt like cotton candy, no substance. Mary thought it was rough and raw and thinks they owned it. She loved Gev’s strength and Courtney’s dynamism. She calls it pure entertainment. Mia thinks they had a great night tonight. She calls them one of her top couples.

Kherington and Twitch 2, Electric Boogaloo- They’ve got a smooth tango from Jean-Marc Genereaux. Twitch describes it as “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”, tango style. It’s really good in the first half, when the lights are down. Once the lights come up, however, it’s another story. It seems a lot more like dancing choreography than just dancing. They both look almost startled. Nigel thinks Twitch was fake, Kherington was passionless, and thinks it overall wasn’t very good. Mary loved the beginning and the very ending, but thinks the in between was weak and hoppy. She thinks Kherington was better, but is glad they had the other number. Mia thinks there was no substance and thinks they were non-committed. The last word spoken is mediocre.

Katee and Joshua 2, Electric Boogaloo- They’ve got a brand new style for the show, Bollywood from new choreographers Nakul and Marla (I think those were their names). Katee and Joshua look quite scared. I don’t really know how to critique this, but it looked relatively fun. They’ve got the cool hand moments down, but some floor spins that they had to do seemed pretty week. Nigel pats himself on the back for introducing Bollywood and then immediately compares it to tons of other styles. He thinks they gave it personality. Mary staggers her words then calls them stars and lauds their athleticism. She says she was drawn to Katee but they were both great, placing them back on the hot tamale train and gives them a scream. Mia says Katee looks amazing all bedazzled in Indian clothes and jewels. Mia thought the routine was great and thinks it’s great that world dance is being featured. She thinks they did a great job.

My Ranking Of The Routines:
1) Jessica and Will’s Contemporary
2) Courtney and Gev’s Jazz
3) Chelsie and Mark’s Salsa
4) Courtney and Gev’s Cha Cha
5) Chelsie and Mark’s Broadway
6) Comfort and Thayne’s Contemporary
7) Katee and Joshua’s Viennese Waltz
8) Katee and Joshua’s Bollywood
9) Comfort and Thayne’s Hip-Hop
10) Jessica and Will’s Quickstep
11) Kherington and Twitch’s Krump
12) Kherington and Twitch’s Smooth Tango

My Ranking of the Couples:
1) Courtney and Gev
2) Chelsie and Mark
3) Jessica and Will
4) Katee and Joshua
5) Comfort and Thayne
6) Kherington and Twitch

Should Be Worried: There’s no doubt that Comfort and Thayne will be heading to the bottom three. Jessica and Will will probably be there as well. Kherington and Twitch should be there, but it may be Courtney and Gev wrongfully in their place again. I’m guessing this is the end of the road for Comfort and Thayne.