SYTYCD Top 16

Tonight's 3rd judge is Adam Shankman. The good: he has lots of useful comments. The bad: he has lots of comments!

AWESOME show tonight!!

Kherington & Twitch: Hip Hop, Napoleon & Tabitha ("Dont Touch Me Now" by Busta Rhymes) In tonight's video clips we're going to hear something new about each partner (from the other one). K. says Twitch laughs like a bear, and he says she has a shopping problem! The story behind this routine is a prison break. Napolitha also says that the music is fast and parts require the dancers to be "staccato and smooth at the same time." Alrighty then. Twitch is awesome, as expected. Kherington is her usual smiley self and does ok. The choreo has a lot of humorous tricks that go with the story & lyrics, like running to the edge of the stage and wobbling like they might fall off, and Twitch using circles on the bottom of K's shoes (yes, she's finally wearing some!) like binoculars as she does a handstand behind him. Judges loved it.

Courtney & Gev: Rumba, Tony Meredith and Melanie ("Wishing on a Star," Rose Royce) Due to his long, curly hair, Courtney says Gev looked like a little girl when he was a child. Gev tells us Courtney is studying to be a special ed teacher (aww). In this routine both participants are embarrassed to learn that part of the choreography is for Gev to grab Courtney's butt and lift her up with it. This is a good routine - very smooth and sexy (good chemistry, which we saw last week). They both look great as well - she's borrowing one of Edyta's dresses (there's no right side), and he's wearing a dress shirt and vest. Nigel said that Gev reminds him of Dominic (yes, we know, seeing as how you've given them the same first 3 dance styles Dom & Sabra had last year!) and he liked the routine. Mary complimented some of their technique; and Adam had a lot of constructive things to say, which prompted Nigel to tell him to hurry up, since they didn't have "blankets and soup" for the audience!

Comfort & Chris: (African) Jazz, Tyce Diorio (Marilyn Manson's "Beautiful People") Chris mooches food off people, and Comfort has done beauty pageants. The routine is to be "raw" and earthy, and we see them practicing with brown sheets that are to represent mud. Except the sheets are just used briefly in the routine toward the end. Their costumes are shredded black fabric, and I'll admit it's hard for me to judge the routine objectively because I really, really, don't like the music. It was ok I guess. Nigel and Mary were disappointed, the execution wasn't hard or "animalistic" enough. Adam said they were inconsistent in their performance as far as portraying the characters.

Jessica & Will: Disco, Doriana Sanchez ("Heaven Must Have Sent You," Bonnie Pointer) Jessica's nickname is Ariel (which Will finds humorous) and Will is an "absolute gentleman." Doriana says in practice that Jessica "hasn't been given a chance yet to shine," but then after working with her a bit says that Jessica isn't getting it very well and isn't working hard enough. Their outfits are all white, and Will looks very sharp in his white suit (most of the guys look really good tonight! ...except for Chris in his shreds and Twitch in his orange prison suit). He also dances the best disco routine I've seen in years and is just all-around fun to watch. Jessica doesn't really keep up but most of their tricks together are good. Except for the last one, where I think he had too much momentum going from his tumbling run and almost fell forward holding her in the last pose. He had to put a hand down in front of her & a moment later she thought to put hers down too so it looked like they were supposed to be that way, but it was a bit too late to not look like a mistake. The judges were mixed, observing several mistakes but also crediting them for difficult choreography executed well. Adam also said he wished Jessica knew how good of a dancer she is.

Kourtni & Matt: Contemporary, Sonya Tayeh ("Wrestlers," Hot Chip) Kourtni has a tattoo on her neck (a quote about dance), and Matt has a ninja mask that he likes to wear (in his dry humor he describes it as an "accessory," just like scarves that K. will wear). He also mentions that he slipped and fell a bit in last week's routine, and though the judges didn't say anything, his mother (who's tougher than Nigel) did! This week's routine is about 2 comic characters chasing and flirting with each other, with lots of poses or freezes (like frames of a comic strip). If it looks anything like the new choreographer does, it will be very strange and quirky. And it is! They do a lot using his tie as a prop, pulling on it in various ways. Really cool routine - and the audience loves it!! Nigel liked it as well and said it allowed both of them (finally) to show off their technique, though he still said Matt is a bit stiff. Mary praised their extensions and synchronized leaps; and she told Matt the "broom" is gone, which was nice of her! Adam praised their control and said it was fantastic (though he thought Matt's ninja mask from the intro clip was weird).

Chelsea & Thayne: Quickstep, Heather Smith ("You Can't Hurry Love," Phil Collins) Thayne enjoys fashion (advising Chelsea on outfits, making his own shirts), and Chelsea is a flower thief (gardens, restaurants, whatever!). Heather used a hula hoop to help teach them the proper frame for the dance. I thought Chelsea's dress was too long and actually interfered w/her dancing a bit, but overall the routine was pretty good and fun. Nigel said their personalities didn't show (had plastered smiles, probably because they were focusing on the fast technique), but it was better than he'd expected. He still recommended that they prepare their solos. Mary said it was difficult choreo and they did "Ok, which is pretty good" in context. She also said they pale in comparison to previous season's quicksteps, and that Chelsea let her partner down and was off the hot tamale train. Adam said they didn't look comfortable (and that no matter how you feel at the time, you should look like you're loving whatever you're performing).

Chelsie & Mark: Hip Hop, Napoleon & Tabitha ("Bleeding Love," Leona Lewis) Mark has crooked pinkies and Chelsie is a tomboy off stage. This routine is described as "hip hop with emotion" and the story is of a workaholic man leaving his beloved. They say that every word of the song has meaning and there is a lot of detail in the choreography to represent that. Ok, on to the performance... LOVE!!!!!!!!! I love the song anyway, and knew that Mark would rock hip hop (there are lots of YouTube vids of his hip hop choreo), but wow. The whole thing was awesome, and I now have a favorite routine of the season. I especially enjoyed when she kicked his briefcase away, when he made the gestures of moving her around toward the end, and just her angst in general - they both did fantastic jobs w/the acting. The crowd and judges agreed. Adam called it "lyrical hip-hop" and said they're "the couple to beat"!

Katee & Joshua: Samba, Tony Meredith ("Baila, Baila," Angela Via) Joshua is a softie and Katee "screams like a boy" (low, not high-pitched; Tony calls it "grunting" in practice). They're told the samba is a very rhythmic, hot & sexy dance. Despite Katee's comment in rehearsal about not thinking of herself as pretty or sexy at all (at least off the dance floor), she "brought it" in a big way during the performance!! Oh, and she found the other half of Chelsea's dress. ;-) The dance was great - they had good chemistry and seemed to execute their choreo very well. Nigel said that Joshua has a "natural samba rhythm" but then started talking about his tight pants and made his father stand up in the audience to see if the booty was inherited (it is, but TMI!). He called it one of 4 "outstanding" routines tonight. Mary loaded them onto the train. Adam gave them a S.O. and said "That was competing!" He also told Katee that she's "smokin'" and doesn't ever want her to think of herself as not pretty or sexy in the future.


Great show!!!! My bottom 3 predictions: Comfort & Chris and Chelsea & Thayne for sure. I'll say Kourtni & Matt (while hoping my votes help prevent it) though the 3rd spot could go several ways. I'll pick Chris (please?) and Kourtni to leave (unless Will & Jessica hit the bottom, in which case she will be the one to go).

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Results:

Group number: I missed what the music was, but Mia choreographed it and it's a bit Alice in Wonderland-ish, featuring Mark the most (and Comfort). My least favorite of the season so far.

Guest performers:
Jordin Sparks ("One Step at a Time")
"Quest," a breakdancing group with 8 members including Dominic, Hok, and Ryan

Bottom 3:
Comfort & Chris (his solo was better than in the past)
Chelsea & Thayne
Kourtni (better solo than in the past) & Matt (solo to Jason Mraz & very good)

Nigel apologized to Matt for some past treatment and said tonight's solo was "brilliant," and announced that Matt was safe. There was no '1st safe' girl. Chelsea and Chris were eliminated and no reasons were given for either one. So, Thayne and Comfort will be paired next week.