Oh wait, I forgot it's not necessarily going to be two boys and two girls.

Also, I can't imagine Megz actually has to work on core strength. What she does with her body, sure, but that six-pack looks pretty strong!

I can see Nigel's comment about flexibility, though. Some of her extensions needed work.

Absolutely, and the stuff about her shoulders, too -- I just don't think it's about core strength.

Mostly I just feel bad for her being assigned that dance. It's a bad one for most people, but with her it became all about the training.

Yes.

On a non dance note:sad that great British bake off is currently on in the UK (jars keeps posting photos of things she's baking to go with watch parties!) but it's not on pbs. Boo.

Patience, baked-goods-loving grasshopper. It will be.

Ooh, I still need to watch last season of that.

Group Dance/Contemporary/Lillies of the Valley/Pina/Tasty - So I was excited at first for the Addams Family theme and then as the dance progressed, it deflated for me. The costuming didn’t really seem to serve the story of the dance in any way other than to read as generically creepy. Just seemed randome. That said, I enjoyed the dance. Loved that the choreographer really used the hip hop boys not just as props but as dancers. Virgil just draws the eye like a superstar. He really stood out for me, as did JaJa and my lovely little tap goddess, Gaby, who can literally do anything. It was an OK opener, but I won’t remember it next week and there weren’t many “wow” moments in the choreo. Like Cat’s secretary wear, it underwhelmed. Ahhh, it was a Tasty piece. No wonder I was so uninspired.

Paula’s wig is getting wiggier each week. Girl. You might’ve gone through some lean years post American Idol, but you’ve got a steady paycheck now. Invest in a good lace front.

Virgil and Jasmine/African Jazz/Sean Cheesman/Kintamani – Transglobal Underground - Virgil is just such a little ball of sunshine. I smile every time I see him. As Miss Debbie Allen would say, I want to see him handle his big woman in this piece. I think he has the skills. So, I loved the piece, every voodoo infused minute. Sean really put a ton more West African movement into this piece than he normally would into his African Jazz pieces (which is still not a thing! But I digress). Jasmine was amazing and her energy never flagged. I feel like by the time Virgil got to the middle section with a lot of the arm circles and contractions and foot work, he was kinda gassed and his movement got small compared to the range of motion that Jasmine was giving, but overall, he kept up very well. I agreed with Jason that I didn’t really read sinister from him even when he was supposed to be controlling Jasmine. I read witch doctor, but witch doctor with a heart…or maybe a crush. I didn’t get menacing. Anyway, fairly good routine, but again nothing to make me give snaps or scream out “Yes, children. Werk!” at the screen, which I’m sure my neighbors were happy about but since I love to scream “Yes, children. Werk!” well, then, it kinda fell flat.

Virgil Solo/Ballet/The Four Seasons (Summer) – Vivaldi – Yesssss! Werk! See? There it is. That’s that good good.

Derek and Jaime/Contemporary/Tyce D’Orio/Never Dreamed You’d Leave in Summer- Stevie Wonder - Nice music choice, Tasty. Score one point for you. Ugh. So this routine was soooo So You Think You Can Dance. A lot of run, run, run, reach to the heavens, make an angsty face and then whoa, here comes a trick – split leap, Russian leap, tour en l’aire, and now stand real close and lean on each other like you’re gonna fall down, caress her face and noooow, more running. I just did not enjoy. It was a parody of what contemporary is, or at least what it is on this show. That said, it was danced very well. Derek is a great partner and that first cross body lift was impressive. And he did the running and reaching as required. He never communicates strong emotion to me when he dances. I haven’t believed him previously in his roles and I didn’t believe here that he and Jaime were lovers at the end of an affair, but from a technical standpoint, he was more than competent. My favorite move of his was actually a very small, quiet one, where he did a shoulder roll into a leg straddle on the ground. It was lovely. And I enjoyed the drama of the last lift where Jaime leapt into his arms and caught her foot in a gorgeous, stretched out position. But I mean, even with all that, I didn’t care. The judges seem to be pushing this kid really hard but he’s a big ole blah for me. Dammit, I’m agreeing with Jason DeRulo and Nigel again! They were right. I didn’t feel anything from him.

JaJa Solo/Hip Hop/Hype City – Tighteyez – She just hits so hard, y’all. She finds beats within beats that I didn’t even know existed. Damn. Also, purple pigtail baby JaJa is the cutest thing maybe ever.

Hailee and Fikshun/Hip Hop/Luther Brown/ - Let It Go-Chonique Sneed – Murder. Murder in the dance floor. That routine was on beast mode and they both killed it. Hailee is such an amazing dancer. I haven’t seen her take a bad step this whole season. The one thing that I would say is that I’d like to see her get down even more, get low. There were moments watching it back where Fikshun was really deep in a groove and even though Hailey was deep in her plié, her body was pulled up, she was still pulled up through her core and so she didn’t ride the pocket quite like he did. A lot of trained dancers have this problem and Hailee navigates it better than 99.9% of them, but it just showed up in a couple of odd places as I was watching them both. But overall, she killed that. I agree with Paula that she could work in videos or in the next Step Up 3000: Step Even Higher and not look out of place at all. I cannot even fathom why Hailee is in danger. America stays on that stuff.