Malece and Alan/Salsa/Pa’ Los Rumberos/Tito Puente and his Orchestra - I’m so concerned. I do not think Malece has the heat to bring it like it should be broughten. Alan will be amazing. Seems like luck (Read: Nigel) continues to look out for this one. And who is Jonathan? More fresh meat. He’s young. He looks like he could be on SYTYCD himself. It’s been a long time since they had a good salsa choreographer. So, the routine was a total trick factory and it’s annoying that this is what most salsa routines come down to on this show. I get why choreographers do it. Salsa technique is actually really, really hard (one of the few ballroom dances that I’ve actually tried to learn so I know how hard it is!) and you can’t pick it up and dance a true pro style routine in the two or three days that these kids have. But still, there were so many tricks in this piece. And although Mary tried to pretend otherwise, lots of the transitions into and out of those lifts were clunky as hell. And most of that had to do with Malece. I could feel her hesitating just a tick going into some of those big tricks and that threw a lot of the piece off for me. The dancing just felt like set up for the lifts, a couple of which were truly spectacular. The flip with the kick out? Amazeballs! Alan was great here. On the sections that they were actually dancing as opposed to lifting and throwing, I thought he was extremely rhythmical, good hip action, the right feet and he really had to work to partner Malece through that. Her hip action was terrible most of the time and she was often behind the beat meaning he really had to lead. It sometimes looked like he was pulling her along. Oh, also, they have no chemistry and I definitely don’t see them making babies. Other than that, I thought it was great? Umm, let’s see . . . something nice. . . something nice? I spotted Alex Wong in the audience and I let out a little scream. That’s all I got.

Curtis/Malece/Alan/Jenna/Nico/Hayley/Mackenzie/Broadway/Come Together/Joe Cocker – Thank heavens they are letting Spencer Liff handle the Broadway this week and not Tasty. Also, it seems almost everybody got the memo about prop week. What the hell? Step away from the props, SYTYCD choreographers. Y’all are just chasing Emmys now and it’s embarrassing for you. Loved seeing Spencer dance. Very cool. Loved the whole Greasers vibe of the dance. I actually thought the props worked well. Hayley totally pulled focus in a good way in this dance. She’s a little star. It was interesting that Malece got pulled out of the little turn sequence with pool cues. Was she missing it? Not sure. I agree with Mary that Nico’s work continued to be a little juvenile in the piece. He pulled focus in a bad way. Alan was solid but not spectacular which makes sense since his forte is ballroom and Spencer was putting in work up there. Jenna grabbed me early in the routine when she was up center stage right as well. I really liked the piece. I would like Broadway on this show to be like that all the time. *cough*No More Tyce Broadway*cough*

Aaron/Jasmine/Fik Shun/Amy/Tucker/Paul/Alexis/Contemporary/Tears of an Angel/Ryandan – Bonnie Story. More fresh meat. I am actually loving all the new choreography a really, really lot, even when I don’t like it, you know? And speaking of that, I didn’t expect to like this piece. It seemed like it would be very much in the vein of the Dead Daddy Dance. Wow. So this was seriously the heavy hitter group. I thought they all did wonderfully well and the piece was a lot stronger than I had imagined it would be. I love that fresh meat Bonnie didn’t sideline any of the dancers. She expected everybody to step up and put in work – leaps, turns, strong grounded movement, lots of stretch. They all were asked to dance it all. Aaron, Amy, Jasmine, Paul, Tucker were all good and I expected them to be. Fik Shun was better than I expected him to be. His legs were bent in some of the leaps when they shouldn’t have been and his toe point wasn’t as complete all the way through the arch and toes as some of the others, but he really hung in there and was not a distraction at all. I thought he was remarkable for (I assume) not having that much modern dance training. And even Alexis didn’t pull focus in a negative way. Well, done, kids.

I liked the mini-group dances. I hope they continue that.

Going Home

Alexis and Curtis. That was obvious once the B3 boys and girls were announced. I think the right folks are going home. Awww, kids. Tappers and this show, man. They just don’t mix.

So Nico and Hayley, now? I think Hayley might bring out something good in him.

Who should be B3 next week? Tucker and Jenna both. Malece. Nico. I don’t know about the other two. Everybody else was pretty darn good. Maybe Alan is the third boy? He doesn’t seem to have much of a fan base and I thought that salsa was perhaps the worst routine of the night. For the girls, I’d probably go with Mackenzie again just because I don’t think she sparkles, but seems like America is not as much in love with Other Jasmine as I am, so it might be her again. I can’t call it. Aside from Malece who I straight up just don’t like and Nico who just dances too young, I’d say it’s a very evenly matched group now.

Tappers and this show, man. They just don’t mix.

The other thing is that their solos don't endear them to the audience. If they've been in the bottom more than once, you feel like you've seen it before. Although Alexis' outfit was TRAGIC and pulled focus for me. Not just jeggings, but RIPPED JEGGINGS. Ugh!

The fugliness of those pants was burning my retinas.

Y'all, new salsa choreographer was apparently actually a contestant on SYTYCD in S5! Jonathan Platero. 1) I have no memory of this kid. 2) I was totally right when I said that he looked young enough to be a contestant on SYTYCD and I love being right! 3) I love that the show continues to let former contestants come back as choreographers. SYTYCD family forever.

Y'all, new salsa choreographer was apparently actually a contestant on SYTYCD in S5! Jonathan Platero.

He looked familiar when they showed him, but I have no memory of him during his season. And I just rewatched most of it.

Kat, I think you will be pleased to hear that when I was writing up Season 6 I realized there were actually Broadway numbers I liked. So I went and looked them up, and to a dance they were the ones not by Tasty. And then I went back and realized he had done almost all Broadway to that point and maybe that's why I had nothing to say about it.

megan, this does not surprise me at all. When it comes to Broadway, Tasty ruins everything!

I don't think I even realized that next week, we will get our Top 10/Tour dancers. This is going to be a big B3! If anyone other than Malece or Mackenzie goes home for the girls, I will be miffed. For the boys, I would love it if it were Nico, but he's young and pretty in a very pre-pubescent friendly way so he might escape. That makes me scared for Alan.

My Top 10 would be:

Girls Amy Other Jasmine Hayley Jenna Mackenzie

Boys Aaron Paul Alan Fik Shun Tucker

And that is in order of preference. The boys were a surprise to me. Paul leapfrogged a ton of folks! Sadly, I think America will mess up and put the wrong folks in the B3 again next week, allowing Nigel and Co to swap out Alan for Nico and Malece for Other Jasmine or Mackenzie. I will be sad, but then I will remember that getting to top 10 means getting to All Stars and I will magically become very happy again!

bah! Malece is going to stick around longer than she deserves ... for some reason the judges like her (cough*Nigel*cough).

And watching the tango (loved it!) I realized that it's playing off slow and sensuous moves with fast sharp moves.

SYTYCD: Oh, wow, I really enjoyed the ballroom-ness of the opening group number.

I'm fine with Cat's lipstick. Yeah, it's dark, but it's a good color

Mmm, tango. Lovely.

Somehow, I don't think Hayley would have danced that as well with Curtis.

He doesn’t seem to have much of a fan base and I thought that salsa was perhaps the worst routine of the night.

Oh, that would make me sad, because he was the only thing good about that salsa. But I guess it does work that way often enough.

I am a bad person for not caring for the bullying dance, I suppose. Very much enjoyed the Broadway mini-group though. More group numbers! Even if they are not always to my taste, I like them conceptually.