Episode 6, June 14
So You Think You Can Dance 2, June 14: Two Steps Forward, Two Steps Back by Sting7 -- 06/16/2006 The top 20 are now dancing for your votes in So You Think You Can Dance! For most of the top 20, this is the first time we’ve seen them. What kind of impression do they make? How does Sting7’s pick to win, Travis Wall (left), fare? Will ballroom once again have Musa Cooper (right) dancing for his life? Details are here! Cat welcomes us in front of a live studio audience. Now, America, we have our say! The top 20 dancers give us about five seconds of what they are about. My money is STILL on my boy Travis! The judges tell us about their favorite moments in the audition process. Nigel chooses the Asian girl who promised “this kind of move and this kind of move.” He made her cry, and he was pleased. Remember, not human. Mary chooses the fella who sold the steaks from the back of his truck! Good choice; I kinda wanted him to move on! Dan Karaty (back from the dead) chooses Christopher Bryan, who Dan was sure had “springs in his shoes.” Christopher definitely moved like it; every tumble was met with ooohs of admiration from Dan. Now, a visit from reigning champ Nick Lazzarini! Dare I say he looks more confident and polished than he did last year. His hangtime in the air hasn’t lessened any either. He’s still astonishing! Cat tells us of another difference from last year. The pairings are by random draw, but it appears that the partnering will last for more than a week. And America will vote for their favorite dancing pair. The three pairs with the least votes will face elimination. The judges will choose among those six dancers and eliminate one male and one female. Got it? Okay. Benji is paired with Donyelle. Donyelle is glad to be with Benji; she figures that she’ll be laughing the whole time. Benji is “not used to touching girls yet,” and Shane wonders how that will affect a dancer whose style is as sexy as Donyelle’s. Dancing to the gentle ballad “Too Much Booty (In the Pants)” by Soundmaster T, Benji and Donyelle are as funky as anybody could as for. We saw before that swing master Benji is verrrrrry comfortable with hip-hop, and it shows. In fact, I think he makes Donyelle disappear a little, but I doubt either of them is in any danger. Nigel compliments the choreography, saying he expected Donyelle to be great and she was, but Benji (who lost his girlfriend when he went on a mission for two years), Nigel says, will probably get her back if she saw him dancing tonight. Mary says all the booty shaking was shaking in the right direction for her. And Benji gets a WOOO! Dan says they went after it in the beginning and kept it up throughout. He was pleased. Ivan has chosen ol’ Perfect Score Allison, and he’s thrilled! Alex da Silva reappears and tells them they are doing nightclub salsa. Alex thinks Ivan is all hip-hop and isn’t even wearing the right shoes. Allison is worried about Ivan’s strength to hold her in the tricks. But it looks Ivan is fine with the intimacy needed. In the performance, Ivan manages quite well, but Allison is definitely the star. She fogs my television screen. I think I love her. All the tricks are mastered. The last move when Allison has to position herself between Ivan’s stretched legs is a wee bit clumsy, but nicely done, I’d say. But what do the judges say? Nigel says Ivan looked nervous, and his tongue comes out when he’s nervous. Allison’s hips were enchanting. And he didn’t like Ivan’s kango. Mary says Ivan is the most likeable guy in the competition, but she didn’t like anything about Ivan’s salsa. Allison was fantastic, and maybe Ivan held her back. Dan says Ivan was just a prop, and Allison worked him. In a club, that would be good, but this is a competition. Allison, he says, was phenomenal. Time for Jason to meet his partner. “Any wishes?” asks Cat. Jason says Erin, Heidi, or Jessica. He gets Aleksandra, but he does not look too disappointed. Their choreographer (name lost in Cat’s accent) is big on talking about centers of bodies. He thinks Jason will be fine, but Aleksandra will have to work hard. It looks like a lyrical routine. But it’s contemporary. Silly me. Let’s see how it goes. Trouble. Jason and Aleksandra are clearly accomplished dancers, but there seems to be no connection at all. I blame the choreography. Too much solo flailing, basically, and not enough moving in unison. I am the untrained eye, as is most of America, and I think we all will agree here. Not a great experience for us. Judges? Nigel says Jason left him breathless; he didn’t expect him to be that good. He wasn’t expecting Aleksandra to be as good and he thought she would let him down. Mary thought Aleksandra was fabulous, but Jason was like a “floodlight from Heaven.” Unbelievable! Dan says he is not surprised Jason was great, but he didn’t know Aleksandra had “that in her.” Jamyz (pronounced James) draws Jessica, and they are thrilled! They are going to do Doriana Sanchez’s disco routine. Jamyz has no issue, but Jessica’s ballet training is holding her back, Jamyz says. She needs to do some booty work. Jessica has no idea what that is. Let’s hope she figures it out. Grooving to the Trammps’ disco classic “Disco Inferno,” Jamyz seems to enjoy his mildly greasy role in the dance, while Jessica looks like she’d rather be filing her taxes. She can dance, but she never actually lets go, and that stiff ballet technique keeps appearing at all the wrong times. Booty work? Incomplete. Trouble. Nigel says he loved the music, the dancing, every second of it, and Jamyz showed what Ivan didn’t. Mary thinks they are a fabulous partnership. She would have liked to see Jessica be a bit funkier. Dan thought it was fun and would have liked to seen Jessica “stick it out” a bit more, but loved Jamyz’s attitude. Stanislav (or Stas, as he seems to like to be called) has drawn pretty Erin. They are given a paso doble routine by Ron Montez. Stas is used to the dance, as he is a ballroom expert. Erin is not used to dancing with a partner, let alone the paso! She struggles mightily but says Stas is a great partner. Stas thinks he can learn a lot from her and she from him. But they have to get past this dance. “I don’t know what I was doing,” Erin sighs. Let’s see if she figures it out! Attempting to conquer to the power of “Malaguena,” it is very easy to see that Stanislav knows his way around a paso doble! In fact, he carries Erin, who does a remarkable job with a dance style she’s never done. I think there are some holes where Erin just can’t do the advanced tricks that leave a lot of posturing, but overall, it’s entertaining. Nigel loved the routine and says Stanislav was majestic and powerful, but he thought Erin looked like she was sliding a lot and didn’t have much passion. Mary says “olé,” and the technique and movement was great from Stas. She says Erin did a stand-up job for having no experience. Dan is harsher. He tells Erin she would be dead meat if Stas weren’t her partner. She agrees. But she was smart to let him lead her around the stage. Dmitry, ballroom dancer extraordinaire, is paired with Joy, who greets him with great… joy! They have a Shane Sparks hip-hop routine to learn. Joy thinks Dmitry is catching on well. Shane thinks Joy is lying. “I don’t care what she says, Joy is wishing she had another partner.” But it seems like Shane is wishing it more than Joy. “I know what this group is capable of, and they could go a lot further… if one of them leaves.” I wonder who? Dmitry knows he’s out of his element, but he’s going to try his best. Will it be good enough. From the way Shane was talking, I expected Dmitry to be an utter train wreck on legs. He’s not! He’s a bit funk deficient, but he does an absolutely credible job. Joy is a bit of a surprise. She can shake her butt like nobody’s business. Now I’m betting the judges will consume Dmitry like a biscuit with gravy, but he does not deserve it. Nigel says it fell short of Donyelle and Benji. They didn’t get the feel. Mary says those two were smoking! She says Dmitry was the biggest shock of the whole day. Dan says they did they the steps, but there was no feeling in it. What did I tell ya? Ryan is next, and with hearts in his eyes, he wants to be paired with Natalie, Natalie, Natalie. He gets Heidi. He manages a polite hug, but he is clearly disappointed. Heidi notices. They draw the Viennese Waltz. She says she decided to do her own thing and not let him hold her back. Then she decided she needs to coach him. Ryan didn’t like it at first, but he came around. How will this work? They are waltzing to Enya’s “Caribbean Blue” and they manage to look like they are dancing on clouds! For the rough start they had in the beginning, they look gorgeous! Nigel says Ryan’s hormones were misplaced. He wasn’t sure of the style, but they were very good. Mary loved their lines and extensions, but from the waist down, it was a disaster. Dan said they lacked a bit of finesse, but thinks they rose the occasion. Ben has Ashlee as his partner, and they are overjoyed to be paired. But that doesn’t last too long as the problems become visible. Doriana Sanchez has an ‘80s disco program for them. Problem: Ashlee has never been lifted. Problem: Ben has never lifted. Problem: Ben may be 120 lbs. soaking wet, holding a brick. Ashlee may outweigh him. Doriana thinks they can pull it off. Let’s see! Dancing to “Flashdance (What a Feeling),” I’m first struck that Ashlee looks a bit like Jennifer Beals! Benji manages every hold, every lift, and comes through like a champ. Yet somehow, I do not get a connection from them. I in no way ever get the feeling they are in love. Like you never thought Boy George was singing about a girl. Know what I mean? Nigel thinks many movements were juvenile, and thinks they better start working on their solos. Cat asks what they think about hearing that. Ben says he likes his solo! Ashlee says she was out of her thing, and she tried. Mary says she felt nothing from this performance. Dan says it was flat-out bad, and he thinks it was Ashlee’s fault. Travis learns that his partner is Martha, and they are quite pleased with the pairing. Martha thanks the universe for her pairing. She thinks they can do anything. Together, they will learn a Broadway routine from the nameless guy - oh! That’s Tyce Diorio (the controversial America’s choice winner from Fame! Why controversial? He just happened to be buddies with judge Debbie Allen, and the show just happened to pick him from videotapes sent from home viewers)! Looks like he made the most of things. Travis thinks they’ll do better than most couples. Is he right? They are dancing to “Steam Heat,” and somehow, the wowee top hat thing seems like it wastes them. Clearly, both Travis and Martha are better dancers than the choreography lets them show. Damn Tyce. Nigel kicks it off that they have just served notice that they are the couple to beat. Mary says they are two dancing machines. Martha showed her personality, and Travis showed that he’s a great dancer. Dan says it takes exceptional dancing to pull that off, and America may not get it because there were no tricks. He thinks they set the bar for themselves very high. That leaves Musa and the apple of Ryan’s eye, Natalie. They have a Ron Montez mambo to conquer, and Musa is struggling titanically. Natalie says, “We got this!” Do they? Musa is reduced to a split and presenting Natalie. A lot of masking going on. Musa is standing still waaaay too much. Natalie is just oozing sexy, but Musa is looking like a mannequin. Put on the biohazard suits, this will be bloody. Nigel says every guy is looking at Natalie’s hips and not Musa’s feet, though he did have some great moments. Mary thinks they were hot, but Musa was standing still a lot. Natalie was great. Dan thought the dancing left something to be desired, but they have more chemistry than anyone else so far. It was a fun opening night! But we have some couples that are clearly in trouble. I’m predicting the bottom three will be: Jason and Aleksandra Ben and Ashlee Dmitry and Joy Of them, I think the pairing of Ben and Ashlee are doomed. Am I right? Let’s see Thursday!Source: http://www.realitynewsonline.com/cgi-bin/ae.pl?mode=1&article=article6198.art&page=1
So You Think You Can Dance 2, June 14: Two Steps Forward, Two Steps Back by Sting7 -- 06/16/2006 The top 20 are now dancing for your votes in So You Think You Can Dance! For most of the top 20, this is the first time we’ve seen them. What kind of impression do they make? How does Sting7’s pick to win, Travis Wall (left), fare? Will ballroom once again have Musa Cooper (right) dancing for his life? Details are here! Cat welcomes us in front of a live studio audience. Now, America, we have our say! The top 20 dancers give us about five seconds of what they are about. My money is STILL on my boy Travis! The judges tell us about their favorite moments in the audition process. Nigel chooses the Asian girl who promised “this kind of move and this kind of move.” He made her cry, and he was pleased. Remember, not human. Mary chooses the fella who sold the steaks from the back of his truck! Good choice; I kinda wanted him to move on! Dan Karaty (back from the dead) chooses Christopher Bryan, who Dan was sure had “springs in his shoes.” Christopher definitely moved like it; every tumble was met with ooohs of admiration from Dan. Now, a visit from reigning champ Nick Lazzarini! Dare I say he looks more confident and polished than he did last year. His hangtime in the air hasn’t lessened any either. He’s still astonishing! Cat tells us of another difference from last year. The pairings are by random draw, but it appears that the partnering will last for more than a week. And America will vote for their favorite dancing pair. The three pairs with the least votes will face elimination. The judges will choose among those six dancers and eliminate one male and one female. Got it? Okay. Benji is paired with Donyelle. Donyelle is glad to be with Benji; she figures that she’ll be laughing the whole time. Benji is “not used to touching girls yet,” and Shane wonders how that will affect a dancer whose style is as sexy as Donyelle’s. Dancing to the gentle ballad “Too Much Booty (In the Pants)” by Soundmaster T, Benji and Donyelle are as funky as anybody could as for. We saw before that swing master Benji is verrrrrry comfortable with hip-hop, and it shows. In fact, I think he makes Donyelle disappear a little, but I doubt either of them is in any danger. Nigel compliments the choreography, saying he expected Donyelle to be great and she was, but Benji (who lost his girlfriend when he went on a mission for two years), Nigel says, will probably get her back if she saw him dancing tonight. Mary says all the booty shaking was shaking in the right direction for her. And Benji gets a WOOO! Dan says they went after it in the beginning and kept it up throughout. He was pleased. Ivan has chosen ol’ Perfect Score Allison, and he’s thrilled! Alex da Silva reappears and tells them they are doing nightclub salsa. Alex thinks Ivan is all hip-hop and isn’t even wearing the right shoes. Allison is worried about Ivan’s strength to hold her in the tricks. But it looks Ivan is fine with the intimacy needed. In the performance, Ivan manages quite well, but Allison is definitely the star. She fogs my television screen. I think I love her. All the tricks are mastered. The last move when Allison has to position herself between Ivan’s stretched legs is a wee bit clumsy, but nicely done, I’d say. But what do the judges say? Nigel says Ivan looked nervous, and his tongue comes out when he’s nervous. Allison’s hips were enchanting. And he didn’t like Ivan’s kango. Mary says Ivan is the most likeable guy in the competition, but she didn’t like anything about Ivan’s salsa. Allison was fantastic, and maybe Ivan held her back. Dan says Ivan was just a prop, and Allison worked him. In a club, that would be good, but this is a competition. Allison, he says, was phenomenal. Time for Jason to meet his partner. “Any wishes?” asks Cat. Jason says Erin, Heidi, or Jessica. He gets Aleksandra, but he does not look too disappointed. Their choreographer (name lost in Cat’s accent) is big on talking about centers of bodies. He thinks Jason will be fine, but Aleksandra will have to work hard. It looks like a lyrical routine. But it’s contemporary. Silly me. Let’s see how it goes. Trouble. Jason and Aleksandra are clearly accomplished dancers, but there seems to be no connection at all. I blame the choreography. Too much solo flailing, basically, and not enough moving in unison. I am the untrained eye, as is most of America, and I think we all will agree here. Not a great experience for us. Judges? Nigel says Jason left him breathless; he didn’t expect him to be that good. He wasn’t expecting Aleksandra to be as good and he thought she would let him down. Mary thought Aleksandra was fabulous, but Jason was like a “floodlight from Heaven.” Unbelievable! Dan says he is not surprised Jason was great, but he didn’t know Aleksandra had “that in her.” Jamyz (pronounced James) draws Jessica, and they are thrilled! They are going to do Doriana Sanchez’s disco routine. Jamyz has no issue, but Jessica’s ballet training is holding her back, Jamyz says. She needs to do some booty work. Jessica has no idea what that is. Let’s hope she figures it out. Grooving to the Trammps’ disco classic “Disco Inferno,” Jamyz seems to enjoy his mildly greasy role in the dance, while Jessica looks like she’d rather be filing her taxes. She can dance, but she never actually lets go, and that stiff ballet technique keeps appearing at all the wrong times. Booty work? Incomplete. Trouble. Nigel says he loved the music, the dancing, every second of it, and Jamyz showed what Ivan didn’t. Mary thinks they are a fabulous partnership. She would have liked to see Jessica be a bit funkier. Dan thought it was fun and would have liked to seen Jessica “stick it out” a bit more, but loved Jamyz’s attitude. Stanislav (or Stas, as he seems to like to be called) has drawn pretty Erin. They are given a paso doble routine by Ron Montez. Stas is used to the dance, as he is a ballroom expert. Erin is not used to dancing with a partner, let alone the paso! She struggles mightily but says Stas is a great partner. Stas thinks he can learn a lot from her and she from him. But they have to get past this dance. “I don’t know what I was doing,” Erin sighs. Let’s see if she figures it out! Attempting to conquer to the power of “Malaguena,” it is very easy to see that Stanislav knows his way around a paso doble! In fact, he carries Erin, who does a remarkable job with a dance style she’s never done. I think there are some holes where Erin just can’t do the advanced tricks that leave a lot of posturing, but overall, it’s entertaining. Nigel loved the routine and says Stanislav was majestic and powerful, but he thought Erin looked like she was sliding a lot and didn’t have much passion. Mary says “olé,” and the technique and movement was great from Stas. She says Erin did a stand-up job for having no experience. Dan is harsher. He tells Erin she would be dead meat if Stas weren’t her partner. She agrees. But she was smart to let him lead her around the stage. Dmitry, ballroom dancer extraordinaire, is paired with Joy, who greets him with great… joy! They have a Shane Sparks hip-hop routine to learn. Joy thinks Dmitry is catching on well. Shane thinks Joy is lying. “I don’t care what she says, Joy is wishing she had another partner.” But it seems like Shane is wishing it more than Joy. “I know what this group is capable of, and they could go a lot further… if one of them leaves.” I wonder who? Dmitry knows he’s out of his element, but he’s going to try his best. Will it be good enough. From the way Shane was talking, I expected Dmitry to be an utter train wreck on legs. He’s not! He’s a bit funk deficient, but he does an absolutely credible job. Joy is a bit of a surprise. She can shake her butt like nobody’s business. Now I’m betting the judges will consume Dmitry like a biscuit with gravy, but he does not deserve it. Nigel says it fell short of Donyelle and Benji. They didn’t get the feel. Mary says those two were smoking! She says Dmitry was the biggest shock of the whole day. Dan says they did they the steps, but there was no feeling in it. What did I tell ya? Ryan is next, and with hearts in his eyes, he wants to be paired with Natalie, Natalie, Natalie. He gets Heidi. He manages a polite hug, but he is clearly disappointed. Heidi notices. They draw the Viennese Waltz. She says she decided to do her own thing and not let him hold her back. Then she decided she needs to coach him. Ryan didn’t like it at first, but he came around. How will this work? They are waltzing to Enya’s “Caribbean Blue” and they manage to look like they are dancing on clouds! For the rough start they had in the beginning, they look gorgeous! Nigel says Ryan’s hormones were misplaced. He wasn’t sure of the style, but they were very good. Mary loved their lines and extensions, but from the waist down, it was a disaster. Dan said they lacked a bit of finesse, but thinks they rose the occasion. Ben has Ashlee as his partner, and they are overjoyed to be paired. But that doesn’t last too long as the problems become visible. Doriana Sanchez has an ‘80s disco program for them. Problem: Ashlee has never been lifted. Problem: Ben has never lifted. Problem: Ben may be 120 lbs. soaking wet, holding a brick. Ashlee may outweigh him. Doriana thinks they can pull it off. Let’s see! Dancing to “Flashdance (What a Feeling),” I’m first struck that Ashlee looks a bit like Jennifer Beals! Benji manages every hold, every lift, and comes through like a champ. Yet somehow, I do not get a connection from them. I in no way ever get the feeling they are in love. Like you never thought Boy George was singing about a girl. Know what I mean? Nigel thinks many movements were juvenile, and thinks they better start working on their solos. Cat asks what they think about hearing that. Ben says he likes his solo! Ashlee says she was out of her thing, and she tried. Mary says she felt nothing from this performance. Dan says it was flat-out bad, and he thinks it was Ashlee’s fault. Travis learns that his partner is Martha, and they are quite pleased with the pairing. Martha thanks the universe for her pairing. She thinks they can do anything. Together, they will learn a Broadway routine from the nameless guy - oh! That’s Tyce Diorio (the controversial America’s choice winner from Fame! Why controversial? He just happened to be buddies with judge Debbie Allen, and the show just happened to pick him from videotapes sent from home viewers)! Looks like he made the most of things. Travis thinks they’ll do better than most couples. Is he right? They are dancing to “Steam Heat,” and somehow, the wowee top hat thing seems like it wastes them. Clearly, both Travis and Martha are better dancers than the choreography lets them show. Damn Tyce. Nigel kicks it off that they have just served notice that they are the couple to beat. Mary says they are two dancing machines. Martha showed her personality, and Travis showed that he’s a great dancer. Dan says it takes exceptional dancing to pull that off, and America may not get it because there were no tricks. He thinks they set the bar for themselves very high. That leaves Musa and the apple of Ryan’s eye, Natalie. They have a Ron Montez mambo to conquer, and Musa is struggling titanically. Natalie says, “We got this!” Do they? Musa is reduced to a split and presenting Natalie. A lot of masking going on. Musa is standing still waaaay too much. Natalie is just oozing sexy, but Musa is looking like a mannequin. Put on the biohazard suits, this will be bloody. Nigel says every guy is looking at Natalie’s hips and not Musa’s feet, though he did have some great moments. Mary thinks they were hot, but Musa was standing still a lot. Natalie was great. Dan thought the dancing left something to be desired, but they have more chemistry than anyone else so far. It was a fun opening night! But we have some couples that are clearly in trouble. I’m predicting the bottom three will be: Jason and Aleksandra Ben and Ashlee Dmitry and Joy Of them, I think the pairing of Ben and Ashlee are doomed. Am I right? Let’s see Thursday!