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.

Gaby/Tap/Oye Como Va-Santana – I love that she chooses to tap for her solos even though she clearly could do another style because she’s so cross trained. That said, this was not one of my faves of hers. It seemed oddly static and so on the nose with the beat that it just sat kind of awkwardly for me. But I love her, though. Love her.

Megz and Paul/Paso Doble/Jean Marc Generaux/Blade of Blood-Tom Player – Oh, wow. It was bad, y’all. So, so bad. Right from the beginning, I didn’t appreciate that she didn’t dance in heels. I didn’t like it when Kherington did it and I don’t like it now. Then, it had very little Paso content, very little in hold. And the content that was there was not done correctly. So much of the skippy feet. The hold was terrible. Hand and arm placement wrong, head placement wrong. Paula was right on point that she wasn’t pulled up through the core and she wasn’t stretched through the feet and arms. It’s not so much about strength, it’s about placement and line and where the tension goes during the dance. She just, it just, yeah. It didn’t sit right on her. It was really awkward to watch.

Derek/Contemporary/Two Men In Love-The Irrepressibles – So So You Think You Can Dance. That’s all.

Neptune and Kayla/Jazz/Ray Leeper/Infinity-The XX – This was very smart choreography by Ray Leeper. The syncopated nature of the movement, the use of isolations and body rolls, the way he kept most of the movement low to the ground and with a deep center of gravity. He really tailored the piece to play to Neptune’s strengths. And for the most part, I think Neptune did a nice job with it. I agreed with the judges that the portions where he had to be more pulled up with more stretched lines and pointed toes, like some of the turning leaps, you could see that he lacked the proper technique, but it didn’t bother me. It didn’t pull me out of the piece. And the lifts didn’t really feel labored to me except on a couple of the exits which were kind of clunky, but there weren’t any that made me feel uncomfortable or worry about Kayla’s safety (as was the case a couple of weeks ago when Asaf and Kate were partnering). On the whole, I thought Neptune did a creditable job here and I think he would’ve gotten a lot more praise for this dance had it been like week two rather than now in the top 8. I was left bothered by the judges comments. It’s not that street dancers are not trained. I’m sure Neptune has studied and practiced and worked hard for years with master dancers to become great at his style of dance, which is krumping. It’s just that he’s not classically trained. He hasn’t trained in ballet or jazz or modern or other studio dance forms. But the judges always lecture the street dancers about getting “trained” as if what they’ve done to this point to become great weren’t somehow training. You know, Jim, who was held up as a model for Neptune here, was stiff and awkward in his hip hop piece a couple of weeks ago, but I didn’t hear any of the judges lecturing him about getting “trained” in hip hop, or about needing to go see if he could apprentice with Qwest Crew so that he could learn proper hip hop technique. So, yeah. The judges can bite me. Boo.