So You Think You Can Dance: 7/17, Top 10, Elimination Recap

Girls’ Number

The second group number, choreographed by Mia Michaels, features the girls in beige corsets and white eyeshadow smeared out to their cheekbones. The number itself is an overwrought religious piece involving the girls writhing around on the floor. We know it’s serious because they’re not wearing any eyeliner.

Bottom 2 Girls Announced:

Comfort and Kherington.

Guys’ Number

Nigel Lithgow is the “mystery choreographer” of the excellent and entertaining 5 Guys Named Moe number, which blatantly stars Will.

Bottom 2 Guys Announced:

Mark and Gev.

After the jump: results.

Effeminate boys that mince around the stage

Check out AfterElton’s revealing interview with Nigel. Michael Jensen, the interviewer, didn’t hold back:

AfterElton.com: What’s your response to the criticism that neither American Idol nor So You Think You Can Dance has ever included any out gay contestants?
Nigel Lythgoe: You mean homosexual guys who have come out? We’ve never thought about it, to be honest. I don’t actually go around and say, “Excuse me are you gay or are you straight?” It isn’t a question that we ask.

AE But it would come up.
NL: No it wouldn’t. I’m never worried if anybody’s gay. What I don’t like on the dance show, to be frank, is effeminate boys that mince around the stage. I don’t care if they’re gay or straight. That’s got nothing to do with it for me.

AE: Why don’t you like the effeminate [dancers]?
NL: Because they need to be very strong. . . You need to look stronger than the girl you’re dancing with. . .So if you mince about the stage, you’re not doing what the choreographer is asking you to do.

Michael Jensen’s take: “[D]espite Nigel’s belief that a contestant’s sexuality doesn’t come up on his shows, us gay folks know that of course it comes up all the time. It’s just that with straight people, they don’t realize they are doing it. It’s called heterosexual privilege and any time we point it out, we’re being ‘difficult’ and ‘politically correct.’”

Jensen is right, of course, but SYTYCD strenuously avoids telling us about the personal lives of its contestants. What’s more irritating, to me, is Nigel’s anti-effeminate stance, which smacks of deeply entrenched homophobia.

My heart is beating really heavy, too

In the Daily Utah Chronicle’sexcellent story on Gev, we learn Gev’s dad is “a three-time champion ice skater in Armenia and a two-time champion in Kazakhstan.” We also learn that Gev’s aunt stresses out during the show: ” ‘My heart is beating really heavy, especially when I see him do some trick,’ she said.”

The best part, though: the accompanying photo of our pint-sized hero:

He looks like he just woke up.

Jessica is OUT!

Jessica was obviously slated to go home tomorrow night, but she’s dropped out due to an injury. According to FoxesOnIdol, Comfort will come back to fill in the tenth spot. What a missed opportunity–they should bring Thayne back and choreograph some two-men pas de deux. If it’s good enough for Mark Morris, it’s good enough for SYTYCD.

So You Think You Can Dance: 7/10, Top 12, Elimination Recap

Bottom Three Couples Announced

Comfort & Thayne are out on stage first, along with Katee & Joshua. HMM, I wonder which couple is in the Bottom Three? No on is remotely shocked to learn that it’s C&T. Mia, who sounds stuffed up, says America has been sending these two a message for weeks, and they haven’t gotten it.

Jessica & Will and Chelsie & Mark are a more intriguing combination, but I think we all feel pretty sure that Jessica & Will will be dancing for their lives, and yes, as it turns out, they are. Mary, who’s on the brink of tears, says her heart is aching to see them up there in the Bottom Three.

Courtney & Gev are paired with Kherington & Twitch. Look at little Courtney & Gev, they’re so bloody adorable! So adorable, in fact, that they’re safe. Nigel thinks Kherington & Twitch will be safe this week, but wants this to be a lesson to them.

Alvin Ailey Dancers Perform!

“Revelations” is a brilliant piece, and it doesn’t hurt that these dudes are comprised exclusively of twisted steel and sex appeal.

After the jump, solos and departures.

So You Think You Can Dance: 7/9, Top 12, Recap

Chelsie & Mark

First style: Salsa

Why is Chelsie spotting the floor? She looks fantastic and effortless except when she’s turning, at which point her lips tense up and her eyes go down to her toes. When she shakes her ass, the turquoise feather on the tail of her costume quivers; it’s very hot-peacock. I love watching this girl. She’s so confident and entertaining.

Nigel calls Alex da Silva “a Brazilian Bono.” He liked the footwork and Mark’s acting, and he’s licking his chops over Chelsie in a particularly gross way. Mary criticizes the way Mark’s torso doesn’t move independently of his bottom half, but she loves the way he partnered Chelsie. Like Ginger Rogers, Mary says, Chelsie is “beautiful dynamite.” Mia says she wants to stab Chelsie, she’s so gorgeous. There’s something awkward about Mark in this dance, she says, but she can’t put her finger on it. She sensed a little insecurity.

Second style: Broadway

They’re dancing to “I’m a Woman,” and Chelsie’s in an unbeatable blue dress. I don’t think I’ve really looked at Mark once during the course of the competition. It’s impossible not to keep your eyes pinned to Chelsie.

Nigel says he’s just returned from Vegas, where it was 110 degrees, but it wasn’t anywhere near as hot as that routine. He praises Chelsie’s long legs. Mary says it was sultry, sexy, and bluesy. “Wow, Chelsie, what attitude,” she says. She loved the death fall and the trust in Mark it demonstrated. Mia says they told the story well, but for her the piece revealed Mark’s lack of training and technique. His performance quality carries them past that, but she wants him to work on his legs. She didn’t see “enough movement” from Chelsie, a rather vague remark. She’s lukewarm and struggling to explain why, I think.

Comfort & Thayne

First style: Hip-hop

Rehearsal footage reveals Thayne completely unable to stop smiling, and the problem carries over to performance. Comfort, who’s wearing a fuzzy white half-vest and high sneakers, is making Thayne look like crap.

Nigel, whose hair is flat this week, says Comfort didn’t relate to Thayne at all, except right at the beginning and right at the end. He saw her performing the steps without adding to them. Mary says she didn’t see any chemistry. There were great nuances, she says, but it was “just good.” Mia says “it was a little bit more than ‘good,’” sounding like the words are being dragged out of her. She loved the choreography on the stairs, but when it got to the floor it fell off. Mia says she’s a big fan of Comfort and has been pushing hard for her, but now she has to back off because Comfort is just riding. Thayne felt thin to her, she says–not enough meat and potatoes.

After the jump: BOLLYWOOD!

So You Think You Can Dance: 7/3, Top 14, Elimination Recap

Kourtni and Matt are technically more accomplished than many of the dancers still in the running, but during their most recent performances, a pall hung over them. Matt looked cheerful but disconnected, like a wayward balloon; Kourtni looked unhappy. If this were another kind of reality show, we’d get to see exactly how tortured and unhappy their rehearsals have been, or learn about the problems dogging Kourtni’s family. Since it’s SYTYCD, however, we just get to see their perfectly respectable solos.

Kourtni Lind (eliminated):

Matt Dorame (eliminated)

After the jump, the other four in the bottom three: Courtney, the ridiculously entertaining Gev, Thayne, and Comfort.

So You Think You Can Dance: 7/2, Top 14, Recap

Jessica & Will

First style: Jive

Jessica and Will struggled in rehearsal, but they look OK in performance. Correction: Will looks fantastic; Jessica moves like a sack of potatoes. She’s losing her spot and she seems scared under her smile. Napoleon says Jessica’s performance picked up after they nailed the trick. Mary saw “missed connections right and left.” She praises Will’s technique, but says Jessica wasn’t quite there. Nigel says Jessica’s weight was too far back. Their retractions were sharp, he says. He calls Jessica “a little lazy.” I’m sure she’s not, but her performance had the appearance of laziness.

Second style: Lyric jazz

Will has his shirt off, and I think I’ve diagnosed America’s objection to him: he’s too perfect. The choreography is sexy; they’re playing a couple in their PJs, rolling around and taking a shirt on and off. Tabitha and Mary share a hysterical moment over Will’s body. Napoleon says Jessica’s holding Will down. The movement was there, but the emotion wasn’t. He saw a few dead moments when she dropped her character. Mary is ecstatic. She’s putting both of them on the hot tamale train, and she apologizes to Jessica for misjudging her. Nigel asks the audience to put their hands up if they want to dance with Will, and everyone screams with longing. He tells Jessica to stop worrying and realize she’s a wonderful dancer. He praises her lines and says everything was perfectly in place on those death-defying throws.

After the jump, Will with his shirt off.

“Lame Tim Gunn-substitute mentor”? HOW DARE YOU.

Heather Havrilesky loves SYTYCD, despite “its tacky opening credits and its awful set and its screaming tween fans.” She applauds the “smart, honest” judges, the “emotional, inspired dancing,” and the “innovative, talented choreographers.”

If SYTYCD is the ribbon on Havrilesky’s toe shoes, Step It Up and Dance is the bloody blister on her foot:

So You Think You Can Dance Recap: 6/26, Top 16

The opening number is a Gothic clowns/sinister circus/black-and-white-costumed melodrama choreographed by Mia Michaels. It’s warm and sunny out, Fox, and we’re coming up on the birth of our nation; could we get something a little cheerier, by any chance?

The top of Cat’s dress looks like the bottom corner of a fussy bedspread.

Bottom 3 Couples Announced

Chelsea & Thayne are, indeed, in the Bottom 3. The producers are smart to get this out of the way, since we all knew it was coming. Katee & Joshua are up next. They’re safe, of course. They’d better be, after Joshua’s incredible performance last night. Chelsie & Mark are safe, too.

Kherington & Twitch are, I think, the best-looking couple on the show. They’re safe. Courtney & Gev are up next. Will America shock the judges and put them in the Bottom 6, as I suspect they will? Nope. They’re safe. Comfort & Chris are in the Bottom 3. It’s unfair–I think the judges and the viewers responded to the choreography, not to the way the dancers performed it. Let me call it now: Comfort’s going home tonight. Nigel’s had it in for her for weeks.

Kourtni & Matt are up, and suddenly I’m nervous. What if people didn’t grasp the choreography? Jessica & Will are on stage, and oh my goodness, it’s Kourtni & Matt in the Bottom 3. Nigel tells Kourtni she was in the top 5 throughout the audition process, but she’s falling behind now because she doesn’t have a twinkle in her eye the way some of the other girls do. He tells Matt he’s not acting enough, and does a German accent and a French accent to demonstrate. And he gets in a dig at Michael Caine, saying that only Caine can get away with doing the same shtick in every role.

Quest Performs

Mad science is the theme, and the boys and girl are wearing khakis and white button-downs. Dominic, bless his pretty heart, blows Cat a kiss after the routine ends.

Bottom 6 Dance for Their Lives

Chelsea’s dancing to “A Song for You.” Perfectly respectable, although she seems to be phoning it in a bit. Here’s Thayne dancing to “Always,” by Bon Jovi. The judges won’t be able to complain about lack of emotion. “When the chips are down, bring out a bit of the Jovi,” Cat says. Amen, Cat. Comfort’s dancing to “Just Fine,” by Mary. It doesn’t matter that she’s killing it; she’s done for. I don’t care what song Chris is dancing to, because I’m sick of him.

Kourtni’s dancing to Ani Franco. When she leaps, we can see her red underpants. Strong performance, and it felt like a unified whole. “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz is Matt’s song. He looks good, and his technique is so much stronger than Chris’s.

After the jump, RESULTS!