I can't form opinions on this show without Kat!

Seriously.

Kat, we need you! Otherwise I don't know how to feel! (I'm finally watching the first hour, and half an hour in...yeah, so far not impressed--my biggest reaction was "oh, Stacey Tookey's hair looks nice").

OK, I will say I'm fairly impressed by this jazz routine, but it is probably more about the choreo than the dancing specifically. Though DAMN, kipping up onto six inch heels? Damn. I don't love the long blonde hair, but the other two are OK.

(OMG, Nigel just told them to leave something to the imagination?!? I'm shocked he doesn't want them more naked)

The brunette looks so much like someone on a CW show or something. Not sure who but...

(Also, on a separate note, Jaja is my favorite...and I suspect that supergay Megz is not long for this show)

SYTYCD Top 20 Thoughts

Opening credits this season are gorgeous. I loved, loved, loved them. Just seeing dancers stretch and warm up is so awesome. Ballet boys on the stairs for the win!

Opening Group Number/Chris Scott and Jessica Lee Keller/LXD Style Hip-Tempo - Even though they are pushing the black haired girl from Japan super hard, I can’t hate. She’s captivating and a really good little dancer. She was holding down that girls’ center from the jump. That said, JaJa is a beast. She was sharper and crisper than any of the other girls on that opening hip hop section and really drew the eye. Contempo girls are all super interchangeable for me at this point. I do enjoy the little tapper. She’s very versatile and she held down that center back. I also really like the blonde pixie. She is a muscular, meaty dancer and her plié in second was all of all of all. My least favorite is actually Travis’ pet, Kate. She seems very light, I mean, she’s well trained, but I wasn’t seeing much attack from her. Blonde long hair was attack times 11. She could stand to reel it in a little bit. I loved that Megz was in there holding it down with the b-boy moves just at the start of the male hip hop boys section. I heart Virgil so much. He is a cutie pie and I think he will be quite versatile thanks to his Broadway training. I was sad to see that they brought back the Israeli breaker. I did not enjoy his Vegas week outburst and he really struggled the whole week to pick up choreo. I’m not always a Nigel fan, but he was right about that one. I sense much Cedric-ing in his future. The contempo boys entry was super messy. Only mini-Alex Wong and the latino kid with the sideways Gumby cut really stood out for me. But that whole section into the whole group joining in was kind of a mess. You can already tell that the two “teams” are not used to dancing together. There was a real lack of cohesion once they all got on the stage. That makes me sad. Overall, the first group routine was just alright. It fell far short of some of the past great top 20 routines.

Cat’s dress was insane. The top looked like it was made out of Brawny paper towels. But the head was fabulous.

Megz-Neptune-JJ/Dave Scott/Hip Hop/The Illest – Far East Movement feat. Riff Raff – I really like Dave Scott, but I think he is a much better choreographer when he works with a larger group than he does when he works with a pair or trio. He struggles to find a way to fill the whole space when he’s only got a few dancers and he does a lot of intricate movement that looks better with a larger group because with a small group if the synchronization is even a little bit off, then it starts to look really messy. When the routine started, right after the solo intros, their spacing was all off. Neptune and Megz were way too close together and it bugged. Megz and Neptune were also giving movement that was way bigger than JJ, so it didn’t look synched. Once they went into the inverted triangle formation, the synch and spacing got much tighter and I thought they were crushing it. I thought both girls were selling harder than Neptune, but overall, nothing in this dance stood out for me or made me say, Whoa! They all could’ve hit harder and brought more performance to it, although Megz came closest in that respect. Nothing memorable about this trio.

Dear Nigel, the opening routine was not one of the best ever. Stahp. Also, Neptune is the god of peace? Ummmm, yeah. Also, also, don’t make me agree with Jason DeRulo, show. He was right. The performance was a let down and not sharp enough. Ugh. I feel dirty now.

I thought when Cat sent the trio off to see tWitch, she told him to give them some "tits" and I was like, "Whaaa? This is a family show!" and then I realized she said tips but in general, I don't enjoy the in the wings chats with tWitch and Travis anyway, so there's that.

Yay, Kat commentary is my favorite!!

Do you still blog any of this? My old roommate really wants somewhere to read SYTYCD stuff, but I have nowhere to steer her.

Moises/Gaby/Derek/Stacey Tookie/Contemporary/Luminous – Max Richter - This was a very Stacey Tookie routine which can usually be very, very good or very “meh.” This one was very good, I thought, not great. Derek is kind of a generic contempo boy. Moises has a little light about him. Gaby is amazing and not in an amazing for a tapper way but just in an amazing dancer way. Is now the time to talk about how cracktastic the lighting and camera work is already this season? Yes, I think now is the time! So much fog that I couldn’t see anyone’s feet or legs. That is not a good look for a dance show. And cameramen sprinting through the shot? When did that ever used to happen? Never. When Moises went to the ground during the opening eight counts, he went completely out of frame and we lost him. Was he doing something magnificent and gorgeous down there? Was he just picking his teeth? We’ll never know. Camerapeople, leave that crack alone. Once the fog lifted and the camera crew stopped running through the frame, this was a lovely dance. Moises was on another level technically from both Gaby and Derek, which I expected for her but not for Derek. Watch when all three go into their plies in second how much deeper his is than the other two, how much more over his toes his knees are. And then when he and Gaby are both doing side by side work while Derek does his leap, check how far down he goes into his splits in second, almost all the way to the ground, where she stays way up. It gives a grounded feeling to his dancing that the others didn’t quite match. But I will say their trio work was gorgeous and so synchronized. Really well done. And Gaby has a great center. Her turns were clean and tight. Just gorgeous control. All in all, a more than serviceable contempo piece. I liked it way better than Travis’ piece, but we’ll get to that later.

OK, BFree in the hat and scarf looking like an ultra pimp daddy deluxe in the audience next to Stacey was everything. I love him so much. He’s my spirit dancer. I hope he sticks around all season. Jason DeRulo went back to being useless here, so that made me feel a whole lot better.

Lilly-Jaja-Asaf-Burim/Hip Hop/Chris Scott/Easy (Switch Screens) – Son Lux feat. Lorde – I love these two hip hop girls. They are fire. I’m just gonna say right now that I didn’t really care about either of the boys in this group. It was all about the ladies for me. From the jump, I thought Lily and JaJa were murdering the choreo. The guys looked lazy and slow next to them. I don’t think it’s an accident that the girls were downstage and the boys were upstage once they broke out of that initial straight line formation. Also, during the transitions, the girls had much more difficult choreo while moving than the guys did. This would remain true throughout and it bugged. And once again, the lighting and the camera work here was really problematic. All four kids were dancing in and out of shadows such that at times, you really couldn’t see what they were doing. And shooting it so much from the side rather than head on was giving off some really weird angles. During all the close up scenes of b-boying, I just really was wanting to see Lilly and JaJa doing the hip hop choreo because they were crushing it and the b-boy moves felt like nothing I hadn’t seen before. I expect more from both of those gentleman if they plan to stay around for the long haul. JaJa and Lily have very different styles. JaJa hits harder and gives more face, but Lily has a better groove and was more in the pocket on some of the movement. I enjoy both of them a lot! Not one of my most favorite Chris Scott routines, but it held my attention.

Judgery: I love Cat Deeley doing her best Chris Pratt. Beast-y is not a thing. Go home, Jason DeRulo. You’re not drunk. You’re just annoying. And OK, Asaf thanking his group for staying up late with him to get the steps right was adorable. I’m somewhat mollified that he’s made it onto the show now.

Alexia/Hailee/Marissa/Brian Friedman/Jazz/New Dorp.New York – SBTRKT feat. Ezra Koenig - Hailee is already on my nerves just with the spelling of the name BUT girl can dance. Also, this dance was labeled as jazz but it was awfully pop, like Beyonce tour dancers pop. And once you add in the stilettos, it actually stops being jazz and becomes more like burlesque. All that said, I adored this dance and I want to learn it and do it every day. Fierce! I was a snapping, “Werk” shouting mess on my couch when this dance was done. I have danced in heels that high before with choreo that is a millionth of a millionth of a millionth as difficult as what those ladies were given and it is an ass kicker. The fact that nobody fell or broke an ankle is a goddamn miracle. But beyond that, they were turning it out. Just that opening chair work was tough. And I really was blown away by the opening maybe 3-4 eight counts when they were still wearing the coats. Those sharp, little movements are so hard to execute with that much precision and timing. When you are in stilettos like that, your whole center of gravity is thrown off, so something as small as a quick shoulder shrug to a head roll can topple you completely over but those girls were over their toes in a really great way. It’s almost like dancing en pointe. And once the overcoats came off, it went down. Marissa was a beast here, which is why I assume she got center when Hailee had started out in center. Her stance was wider and more secure. In the kip up, when she came out of it, she didn’t stop. There was a body roll and a head whip that came right after that. I was like, “Slay, mama.” Poor Alexia was super wobbly and Hailee just kind of came up, but Marissa was giving it to the people. But overall, I thought all 3 girls killed it dead. I doubt they dance like that normally and they worked.

That was super difficult choreography. I didn’t think it was overly sexual, or at least, I felt like the ladies had the sex level dialed to appropriate, so the judges were full of baloney on that one. Jason thought there weren’t a lot of steps in that routine. He’s an idiot. Just those hair tosses are steps and if he had to do them in heels, he’d bust his ass 10 out of 10 times, so he can just bite me.

Jim-Darion/Benoit/Ballet/Blood and Stone - Audiomachine - Umm, all the yes. These two make me so happy. I cannot even put into words…I don’t have the words. These two are so gorgeous and that routine was a killer. They definitely lost steam towards the end (both of them) but that’s understandable. The routine did not stop from the moment they stepped on stage until the last lift into a double turn (on Darion’s part) it was go-go-go. I think that Jim has the better technique of the two, meaning that it’s more classical; the lines are a little bit cleaner. He stretches more through his point. But Darion has more power; his leaps are higher and he’s faster into and out of his turns. Both of them are lovely and amazing. I don’t want to talk about the judging because Nigel’s comments had me so hot. Just like, no. Me and Misty Copeland would like to tell you to take those retrograde thoughts about Darion’s body type and it’s rightness for ballet and stick them right up your ass. Also, Paula, those costumes are par for the course in many ballet and/or modern companies. There was nothing wrong with them, as I’m sure she knows. I just, that whole judgery, I can’t. These boys were spectacular. The routine was gorgeous. That’s all.

KAT!!

My favorite of the itchy (ETA: wtf, iPad? This was probably "night") was, notgonnalie, that "sexy" high heel thing. Miss pixie cut is on fire, and even the brunette had a kind of earthy / sexy charisma.

I hate to say it: I think this stage vs street thing might be...fun? Honestly, the hip hop choreo has always been more entertaining than pretty much anything. Less tortured ballroom, contemporary, and the rest is for the good. I've been enjoying this season a lot more. It is mind blowing how much they are overflowing with lady hip hop goodness while there's been exactly one female hip hop all star in the previous nine seasons. And a gay lady! Will wonders never cease!

Yorelis-Virgil-Ariana/Pharside and Phoenix/Hip Hop/Locked out of Heaven- Bruno Mars - Are these two supposed to be the new NappyTab, because I really didn’t want to continue with the old ones, so I’mma pass. I mean, this wasn’t a bad routine, but it also wasn’t a great routine. I mean, you have three real, honest to goodness, hip hop dancers who can go hard and you give them a story, hip hop light piece to Bruno Mars? Why come? Just felt kind of like a wasted opportunity. There was a lot of basic movement here, for all the talk of intricate movement. If I can get up off my couch and do it (which I did at one point!) then it’s too easy, even though it was fun. Also, the arm circle was not on point. It wasn’t even cute. All that said, I thought all three of this crew brought personality and fun to the dance. Virgil is a great performer. He pulled the eye even with two sexy, cute girls on stage. Yorelis as the devil had the flashier part and she brought the cute sass to it. Ariana kept up, but There were a couple of times where I felt like she kind of got lost.

Judgery: Paula was dropping that science on these kids. “In those breathing moments, you’ve got to make something happen.” Preach, Paula! She was on point with her critique. It was kind of a nothing routine and in order to take it from kinda cute to great, these kids needed to bring more to the performance than was brought.

Edson-Kate/Travis Wall/Contemporary/Shaped Like a Gun - Tailor – I think this is where my over-obsessive interest in all things SYTYCD gets the better of me. I was not feeling this routine from the jump because there was a big flashing warning sign in my head spelling out “Favoritism”. In real life, Kate has known and worked with Travis for a number of years and has danced many, many times with his company, Shaping Sound. I just found it highly inappropriate that he would choreograph her week one dance. She knows him as a choreographer. She knows his style. She knows his movement vocabulary. There are shortcuts that they would be able to take together that no one dancing for a choreographer for the first time would be able to take. And I’m sure he set a piece on her that he thought would play to her particular strengths as a dancer because he knows her and he knows what those strengths are. It just did not sit right with me. So from the beginning, I was pre-disposed to be critical of this dance. Now that that’s all out of the way, I didn’t care for the dance. I agreed with the judges that it felt like a very SYTYCD dance. All angsty and reach out here, and push him away/now pull him closer, but there was no real meat on those bones. I’m also not sold on Kate as a dancer. She is just light for me in a way I can’t quite put my finger on. Technically, she’s very sound, but there’s not heft to her. She’s all technique and no feeling. I didn’t feel like she brought any real emotion to the dance. And during the performance, I felt like she and Edson were dancing two totally different pieces. She was so smiley in the beginning and he was giving me super intense face. And then she was giving devilish grin, I like being evil, but it came off as a fake and it again didn’t match the emotion that he was giving which was kind of smiley-I-love-you but then I’m sad and I hate you. And then she got super angsty even though she’d just been all happy, I step on your head and he just kept the same pitch and intensity in his face that he’d had throughout. And by the end she was all sad don’t leave me and I was just…confused. The dancing was fine though, so there was that. They had one difficult lift very early on where Edson got a little wobbly when he set her down, but other than that, they were lovely. Nice lines, nice extensions. They both have good centers and great feet. But I had to agree with Nigel (and I hate that) that there was something missing emotionally.