Am I the only one disappointed that we lost Amber in the last cull?

My mom and dad stopped over right as the show was starting -- who are the guest judges?

The Ballet Boyz

Thanks, Vortex. It's weirdly offensive to me that they're not making a note of the dancers' names, especially when all the other guest judges know the dancers and the show so well.

Cat's dress is a little ... wild. And I'm not sure how I feel about the weird Heidi braid thing.

Why am I not at all surprised that Cole and Mark are friends?

Please save Amelia and George!

Oops, should I white-font?

Thanks, Vortex. It's weirdly offensive to me that they're not making a note of the dancers' names, especially when all the other guest judges know the dancers and the show so well.

I can't imagine that they aren't given a list of the dancers' names. I'm with you on that. If they were so excited to give the critique that they forgot, that's one thing, but it feels careless.

I feel like they got better at referring to the notes as the show went on, so maybe someone told them to shape up.

I didn't realize we were losing two again last night. That was tough. That said, I wasn't too sorry to lose the girls we did; both of them had consistently underperformed. It was a hell of a choice with the boys, though. I am VERY glad they saved George, who is awesome and has a hard row to hoe, IMO, with the voters (black male street dancers = voter gold (see also: Cyrus); black male contemporary dancers of a quiet and modest disposition=much harder.) But Matthew had plenty more to show, I thought. I wish we could have lost Cyrus.

Rewatching the Mia dances with new dancers was a little weird. George really shone for me. I also really like Audrey, though I never liked the Mia's Daddy dance. And I just really like Eliana (not least because she sort of reminds me of our own Kate P.!)

So, any fantasy All Star pairings? George and Melanie would be cool...

Oh, I missed this little show so much. I tried to fill the void with Step Up Revolution which is awesome and that little high talker dances her butt off and doesn't completely embarrass herself as an actress and it has Peter Gallagher and his eyebrows (though they don't dance) and Twitch who does kinda embarrass himself as an actor but he's such a cutiepie and he, too, dances his butt off and it will make you insanely mad at what passes for hip hop on this show but I digress . . . I missed this show. Clearly, not enough to catch it on the night it actually aired, but still. Unvarnished thoughts incoming as I did manage to take notes tonight. I found myself really unable to comment intelligently on the dancing because the whole tribute just really didn't click for me, but here's what I was thinking at the time. (I reserve the right to completely change my mind later on) What were y'all thinking? Rather be watching Peanut's show (which I still haven't seen but it's waiting for me on my DVR, too!)

Notes

Cat in glittery rags and Heidi braids? Oh, no, Cat. No. Not even you can pull that look off.

George and Audrey are adorable in the intro dances. Boo to the kids who did not put together a little routine (I’m looking at you Janelle and Bad Feet)

Mia tribute. I don’t know how I feel about this. On the one hand, this is what companies do . . . dance established pieces. On the other hand, I doubt they’ve chosen the ones that I would’ve chosen. Also, too, I’ll probably just wind up wanting to see the original dancers anyway.

Michael Nunn. What!!! I am kind of in awe. Billy Trevitt, I don’t know.

Group Dance/Mia Michaels – Hanging On. Too tricksy with all the rope work and Cyrus sidelining (hanging off the side railing, Mia? Really?) I didn't find it one of her stronger group dances. S2 Group dance with Benji, Travis, Heidi, Natalie, Donyelle. Find it. Love it. It's amazing.

Cyrus and Eliana/Mercy – AKA the Door Dance. Of course. This is really the only Mia piece he is capable of dancing and he won’t do near as well with it as Twitch did because Twitch was dead sexy and twice the dancer that Cyrus is (and that even though he was criminally underused in this dance) Eliana can likely turn it out in the Katee role, but this still won’t show her to her full advantage. How frustrating. This is a partnership I cannot wait to see ended. It wasn’t half as good as the first time and the first time it wasn’t good. Eliana overacted something awful and to say that Cyrus paled in comparison to Twitch would be a huge understatement. Bleagh.

Tiffany and George/Hometown Glory – Wow. These two have got a lot to live up to because this routine was just tremendous. Katee and Joshua really brought it and this piece packs an emotional wallop. I love George, but he is a totally different dancer than Joshua. Joshua had a raw quality to his work (that had nothing to do with the totally fabricated “He had no training ever” storyline Nigel was trying to sell) that George just does not have. George is all smooth and polish and light as a feather. And Tiffany is a lovely dancer but she’s not Katee. Katee was so grounded and just . . . gah. Hmmm. Once again, I think these two will come up lacking. George loves Ramalama. Me, too, peaches! Oh, Tiffany. Ellen? Really? You disappoint. Damn. They killed it. Murder. Totally different feel than Josh and Katee but my word. George is a miracle. He’s just . . . I can’t. So quick, so precise. And Tiffany. Man, I didn’t know she had that much power. But this routine belonged to George. Agreed with Nigel that those first eight counts or so after the walks forward were just out of this world. Killed it. Shut up, kids. Y’all turned it out.

Amelia and Will/Koop’s Island Blues – Butt dance. Well, I’d never have picked this one. Evan and Randy. This was a cute routine, but . . . really? Mia doesn’t have any better dances? Really? As I recall, this wasn’t that technically demanding and these two have great (continued...)