Sasha and Melanie blew me away. It was raw, it was brutal, and it was beautiful. I love them both.

Marko crying ... eh, he waits until he's done. And he told his mother he loved her on national TV! seriously, how sweet was that? (his mom was crying, too - maybe it's hereditary BUT it's better than Ryan and the perpetual smile)

Okay, my reactions of SYTYCD. I had a helluva Wednesday so I am just getting to the show now. I agree with previous comments. You all seriously are on point:

Rob Marshall is way too orange, Gaga is really contrived, but I agreed with every single one of her negative statements, but didn't always agree with her positive statements. Homegirl paid attention and did her job. I loved how much she obviously dislikes NappyTabs. Funny shit. Unlike kat, I didn't like either of their routines last night. The second was better, but I didn't care for it. I thought the first routine was fucked up. Tyce - WTF did he do to Ade? Ade is one of my favorites and he had him mostly standing around? There ought to be a LAW against treating Ade that way.

Neil is not one of my favorites, but he looked good last night!

Where was Mark? That is not right.

Oh, and the part where Sasha was petting Gaga's shoe cracked my shit up.

Oh, yes, that was hilarious!

I am crossing my fingers for some Mark tonight! That is the treat we want, SYTYCD producers.

-t, oh that didn't cross my mind. Maybe we will get Mark tonight.

On first watch, I actually didn't love the Sasha/Melanie dance. I found the music distracting, somehow. I think I'll try again with the sound off.

flea,

I kind of think it was over-praised, but I don't know.

I'm interested to see what you think without the music, flea. I've been kind of down on Sonya this season, her stuff has seemed a little stuck in a rut, but I really appreciated that this one was not all about the pretty shapes you can make your body into, tra la. Also I just loved watching it beyond my ability to analyse why.

OTOH, I didn't care for Marko and Alison's number at all, and that was Sonya, too. It just didn't hold my attention.

I am not a person to be listened to is my point, I think.

OTOH, I didn't care for Marko and Alison's number at all, and that was Sonya, too. It just didn't hold my attention.

I thought their number was a rehash of last year's Alex and Alison's piece.

le nubian, I totally got what Lady Gaga was saying about the Marko/Ricky hip hop choreo feeling contrived but I enjoyed it mostly because Marko was a beast in that routine and he ripped it. Old school locking, the glides, popping, the b-boy tricks, there was even some hyphy in there (that's all the super fast footwork at the end) and he crushed it all. He elevated the piece for me and that's what I enjoyed more than the piece itself. Come to think of it, that's true of the piece he did with Alison, too. I wholeheartedly agree that it was mainly warmed over elements of past dances, including the very first lift which I swear I saw in Alex and Alison's dance from last year. I think last night might be the best I've ever seen Marko dance on the show, maybe because his mom was in the audience? (Oh, and I'm not complaining about the tears. I love that he gets that close to the bone when he dances! I just think it's funny that every week, he's a jibbering mess after his dances. He must be exhausted!)

I didn't see NappyTab's piece for Jess and I am so glad of that because in the recap I saw that not only was it NappyTab in what looked like their lyrical hip hop mode (which I hate) but also there was the return of Mischa Chan and now I'm thinking that my tv was just trying to protect itself by going out when that shit was on because had I had to deal with all that all up in my face, I might've thrown a shoe through the screen and not because I was giving mad props for a job well done.

Overall, I felt the choreography this week was not up to the high standard of Top 10 week, but the quality of the dancers stayed at an extremely high level that pushed some of the pieces from OK to I really like that even though on their own merits they might be not that special.