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SYTYCD Season 7 – Finale Results

inna — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 14:41:32 +0000

The results are in, and tonight we’ll find out who’ll be crowned this season’s winner. We’ll also revisit some of the season’s best performances, as well as seeing some special guest performances. There are lots of judges on the panel tonight as well. Among the usual Nigel Lythgoe, Mia Michaels and Adam Shankman, we’re also joined by Tyce Diorio, Kenny Ortega, Stacey Tookey and Mary Murphy.

The final group routine of the season is really, REALLY fun to watch. The entire top 11 and all of the all-stars get in on the action, and there’s a lot of action. We wish more of the group routines could be like this one.

After a recap of last night, it’s time to start seeing some of the judges’ favorite routines of the season. Below are some of the choices:

Kenny Ortega- “Shoeless Joe” by Kent and Neil
Nigel Lythgoe- “Mad World” by Billy and Ade

Next, a performance by Qwest, the dance crew that features past contestants Ryan and Hok. This is pretty much what we’ve come to expect from them.

More favorites from the judges:

Mia Michaels- “Fallin’” by Adechike and Comfort
Cat Deeley- “My First Kiss” by Kent and Anya
Tyce Diorio- “Scars” by Robert and Dominic

More footage from National Dance Day, including killer whales and NASA equipment. Then, Nigel Lythgoe takes the stage to tap dance- but it turns out it’s all a setup so we can see 7-year-old Luke tap dance instead. But he’s really, really good! This is adorable. He’s followed by the Mazarri Brothers, who also tap dance.

More judges’ favorites:

Nigel Lythgoe- “Oblivion” by Lauren and Pasha
Adam Shankman- “Fix You” by Robert and Allison

Season 6 champion Russell performs with Lil C. It’s as boring as he ever was on the show, and we still can’t understand how he managed to win.

Yet more picks from the judges. Mary Murphy wants to see “Battle For The Beat” by Jose and Dominic again.

Neil performs with the winner of the UK version of So You Think You Can Dance, Charlie Bruce. She dances beautifully. We wish we’d had the chance to see more of her.

Time to find out which of our top three has come in third place. We think we see it coming, and unfortunately, we’re right. The third place finisher is Robert.

Back to the judges’ picks:

Adam Shankman- “My Chick Bad” by Lauren and Twitch
Cat Deeley- “Hallelujah” by Alex and Allison
Stacey Tookey- “Ganesh” by Billy and Robert
Mia Michaels- “How It Ends” by Kent and Neil

Black Gold performs the song that was used in elimination packages this season- it’s called “Shine.” To be honest, we’ve never really paid much attention to the song, and it’s not so exciting live.

Finally, it’s time for that “dance legend” we keep hearing about. Big letdown, it’s Ellen DeGeneres. This is funny, we suppose, but since we were expecting something legit, we’re really disappointed. She and Twitch recreate the amazing hip hop that Alex did the week before he was injured, but it’s just not the same. Oh well.

So, here it is- time to find out whether Kent or Lauren has won the title. And it’s… Lauren! Congrats to her, and to the rest of this season’s finalists. Until next year!

SYTYCD Season 7 – Finale

inna — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 15:51:27 +0000

This is the final performance night of the season, and our last chance to vote for our favorites. After a recap of the rest of the season, it’s time for things to get underway.

First up are Kent and Lauren with a Bollywood routine. The routine is about a couple who’s about to get married, but the guy is having second thoughts. There’s a great amount of energy, but after the first few seconds it becomes a bit disappointing. Lauren is the all-star, and really, she outshines Kent. It’s not bad, we just would have liked to see him highlighted a bit more. Our rating: 8/10

Lauren and Twitch’s hip hop is about people running for office. We’re not amused at all by the theme, and the choreography is really not much better. There’s nothing that really stands out. They dance well, and do a good job with what they’re given, but this is less than what we expect of a finale. Our rating: 5/10

We’re really excited for Robert and Mark’s jazz, because we’ve been hoping they’d dance together all season. This is entertaining, but again, we’re not sure it’s really on the level that the finale should be. Robert outdances Mark, and it’s not the first time he’s showed up an all-star. Our rating: 8/10

Kent’s final solo of the season is good- we just wish the camera guys had been doing their job properly, because for the last several seconds of the solo, we can just barely see him. Our rating: 8/10

Robert and Lauren dance a contemporary piece using a pillow. At first we’re not completely sold on the theme, but the more of it we see, the more beautiful it becomes. This is one of our favorites of the night. Our rating: 9/10

Kent and Lauren’s jazz piece has a really cute theme- and we suspect it’s one that hits close to home for both of them. But the geekiness of it all really isn’t enough to hide that the dancing is very basic. But, again, that’s really not the fault of the contestants. For what it is, this is a lot of fun to watch. Our rating: 8/10

Robert’s solos are always really interesting to watch. He always does something different. Tonight is no exception. Our rating: 8/10

Kent and Allison’s contemporary piece turns emotional during the judges’ comments, but before that, it’s just really pretty and relaxing to watch. We also like that we’re seeing a side of Kent we haven’t seen much of before- much less cheesy and melodramatic. This is really good. Our rating: 9/10

Lauren’s solo is just more of the same thing she always does, but since she always puts her everything into it and she does it so well, that’s really pretty okay with us. This is very well done. Our rating: 8/10

Robert and Kathryn’s Broadway is our favorite of the night. It makes us feel as if we’re actually watching a Broadway show. Both dancers are very much in character, and the dancing itself is spectacular. This is what the finale should always look like! Our rating: 10/10

Lauren and Pasha have great chemistry, and their cha cha tonight is fantastic. The only gripe we have is that we really didn’t need to be subjected to all the weird lighting- they don’t need it. They’re good enough dancers and entertainers without all the glitz and special effects. Besides that, though, this is great. Our rating: 9/10

The last dance of the competition belongs to Kent and Robert. It’s a style new to the show, which seems a bit strange since this is the finale. It’s malevas, which is apparently the style that male dancers would use to practice their tango before working with their female partners. It all comes across like an old mob movie. It’s more or less entertaining, but considering how long we’ve been wanting to see these two dance together, it’s a tiny bit disappointing. Our rating: 8/10

Tomorrow night, we’ll see some favorite moments from the season revisited, and the new winner is crowned!

SYTYCD Season 7: Top 4

admin — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 20:18:56 +0000

At the end of tonight’s show, we’ll know which three contestants are in this season’s finale. And for the first time this season, the elimination is based entirely on audience votes- the judges no longer have any say in what happens, and they cannot save anyone from elimination. We’ll also see guest performances by Janelle Monae, Desmond Richardson and Flo Rida.

The group performance choreographed by Dee Caspary is definitely not one of our favorites of the season. There’s so much going on all at once that we can’t really pay attention to any of it well enough to know what’s going on, or even to remember it by a few minutes into the show.

Next, we see some footage from National Dance Day and Nigel tells us a bit about next week’s finale. He’ll be tap dancing again. We’ll also see Twitch and Alex’s hip hop piece recreated, with a “dance legend” taking the place of Alex.

We’ve seen Janelle Monae perform on several other shows recently and she’s always sucked, so we don’t expect much from this one. Good thing- we don’t like to be disappointed. We kind of feel like we’re watching an episode of The Ed Sullivan Show gone horribly awry.

Lauren performs her solo. It’s good, but it’s the same thing she does every week. It just doesn’t stand out much.

This past week, the dancers visited the Gatorade Performance Labs. This season’s winner will become the first dancer to be featured in a Gatorade ad campaign.

Kent’s solo is really energetic and very exciting to watch. This is how a solo should be danced at this stage of the competition.

Cat brings the top 4 dancers to the stage to start revealing who’s in next week’s finale. The first person to make it is Lauren. No surprises there.

Adechike’s solo is not the best we’ve seen from him, but it’s different and interesting to watch. It’s a good performance.

Robert’s solo leaves us slack-jawed again. It’s almost painful to watch, but in such a good way. He’s absolutely fascinating, and this is one of the best solos we’ve seen from him all season.

More results- Kent is in the finale. Shock! Awe! Or, um, not.

Desmond Richardson performs in some pants that seem to be missing a leg. The whole thing strikes us as pretentious and ultimately boring. We’ve had enough ballet this season.

After some footage from the premiere of Step Up 3D, Flo Rida performs. Pretty much the only thing about this that’s even remotely interesting is that we get to see the all stars dance. Otherwise, we’re ready to find out the results already and just move on.

Finally… time to find out whether Robert or Adechike has earned the third spot in the finale! And it’s… ROBERT!!!!!! Adechike is eliminated.

SYTYCD Season 7: Top 4

inna — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 02:13:51 +0000

This is the last week before the finale, so it’s getting pretty serious for the remaining four contestants. It’s out of the judges’ hands, and next week we’ll find out who America’s favorite dancer is. For this crucial week, we’re joined by guest judge Tyce Diorio.

Things start off with a group performance choreographed by Tyce. It’s a Broadway piece set to music from Guys & Dolls, and we feel it suits the subject matter very well. It would be a great addition to the original show. Nobody really stands out, but that’s only because everyone dances so well. Our rating: 8/10

We seem to be in the minority where Lauren and Pasha’s tango is concerned. Everyone seems to love it, but we just don’t see it. There doesn’t seem to be much connection, and it seems there’s a huge amont of space between them most of the time. We’re bored. Our rating: 5/10

Adechike and Lauren’s African jazz piece has a couple of cool lifts, but besides that, they’re pretty much just flailing and it’s really unimpressive. We’re not feeling it at all. Our rating: 3/10

We’re really nervous when we learn that Robert and Anya will be dancing the Viennese waltz, but Robert handles this much better than we expected him to. In fact, it’s beautiful. The judges praise his performance, and rightfully so. This is great. Our rating: 9/10

Kent and Courtney’s disco, on the other hand, is pretty disappointing. There’s one cool spin toward the end, but besides that, it’s kind of a mess and there’s really not a lot of energy anywhere to be found. This is easily our least favorite Kent performance of the season. Our rating: 4/10

Lauren and Ade’s jazz piece is pretty good, regardless of the repetitive and obnoxious music. There’s more life to it than there was to Lauren’s first performance tonight, and it’s definitely a lot more fun to watch. They’re also a really good couple. Our rating: 8/10

Adechike and Kathryn’s piece seems kind of manic, and most of the time they’re doing two totally different things. As a result, this really just looks like a hot mess. We don’t like it at all, and we can’t understand why Adechike hasn’t landed in the bottom three before now. Our rating: 3/10

There are no words to describe the hip hop piece performed by Robert and Dominic. It’s just so theatrical and so fascinating to watch that we’re left speechless. Absolutely amazing, and we really hope it’s enough to keep Robert around for next week’s finale. Our rating: 10/10

Finally, Kent and Neil perform a contemporary piece choreographed by Travis Wall. It’s about backstabbing friends, and we’re absolutely positive that there’s not a single person watching the show who isn’t touched by it. It’s something that everyone can relate to, and it’s so well danced it’s almost painful. Our rating: 10/10

Tomorrow night, we find out which three dancers will participate in next week’s finale!

SYTYCD Season 7: Top 6 Part 2

inna — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 02:29:38 +0000

Things are going to go down a bit differently this week. Since no one was eliminated last week, two dancers will be cut this week. But the good news is, no one is injured this week, for the first time in nearly a month! Also, we’re joined tonight by guest judge Toni Redpath.

Kent is up first in the all-star round. He’s partnered with Anya for a cha cha. He’s done this before, but this one is a big improvement. We’re really impressed with his presence- he seems so much more mature than he usually does! This goes really well, and we’re excited for Kent. Our rating: 9/10

Robert is once again joined by Kathryn for a contemporary piece about a soldier going off to war. The emotion here is beautiful, and we never want this to end. There’s really nothing else to say, besides that we love the twist at the end. This is pretty much perfection. Our rating: 10/10

For his solo, Jose just spins on his head some more. As always, we don’t care. Our rating: 3/10

Adechike and Courtney’s jazz performance seems a bit manic and all over the place, but we think that’s at least partly because of the music. It’s not terrible, but it’s really not a big standout either. This is not one of our favorites, but at least we’ve seen worse. Our rating: 6/10

For the most part, Lauren’s solo is the same kind of stuff she always does- until she does a somersault while pointing her toes. That’s crazy! Our rating: 7/10

Jose and Comfort’s hip hop piece is a hot mess. The music is all wrong, the style doesn’t look much like hip hop, and there’s pretty much zero chemistry and not much more difficulty. This is a complete bore to watch… possibly the worst thing we’ve seen on the show this season. Our rating: 2/10

Billy’s solo, as always, is really quirky and a lot of fun to watch. His originality never fails to impress us. Our rating: 9/10

Kent’s solo is also really impressive. We love that he puts his everything into each performance and really shows us how badly he wants to be a part of this competition. Our rating: 10/10

Lauren and Allison are the first girls to dance a Broadway routine together this season. It’s not bad, but Allison tends to outdance Lauren, and there’s nothing here that’s incredibly memorable. It’s a solid performance, though. Our rating: 7/10

It’s crazy what Robert can do in his solos. Tonight is no exception. We wish he could just keep dancing for the rest of the show. We wouldn’t be bored. Our rating: 9/10

We cannot tear ourselves away from Billy and Ade’s contemporary piece. They both play their roles incredibly well, and the vastly different styles mesh together so well. This is absolutely beautiful- in fact, it quickly becomes our favorite routine of the season thus far. Our rating: 10/10

Adechike’s solo is, once again, very strong. It’s sad that nearly everything else he does is so dull and lifeless, because his solos are always fantastic. Our rating: 8/10

Jose and Kent’s Broadway piece is fun to watch, but that’s almost entirely thanks to Kent. Jose is just kind of… there. Kent, on the other hand, is made for this style and we hope to see him do more work like this. Our rating: 8/10

Lauren and Adechike’s foxtrot pulls together better than we expected it to. It’s not a huge standout, but it’s a solid performance with no major off-putting points. Our rating: 7/10

Finally, Billy and Robert close the show with an all-guys’ Bollywood routine. This is so infectiously fun and energetic that we can’t help but love it. Sure, it’s a little corny and maybe even a bit girly, but it’s adorable, so we can forgive it completely. Our rating: 9/10

At some point during the show, Lauren has injured herself. As the show closes tonight, she is being seen by the medics. Hopefully she doesn’t continue the three-week streak! Guess we’ll find out during tomorrow’s results show.

Win A Trip To The SYTYCD Finale !

inna — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 23:13:59 +0000

Aol TV is having a sweepstakes on Facebook and the winner gets to go to the SYTYCD finale!
Prize Details
Enter the AOL TV: Win a VIP Trip to SYTYCD Finale Sweepstakes to win a VIP prize package for you and a friend to travel to LA to attend the Season 7 Finale of “So You Think You Can Dance” on August 11-13, 2010!

Prize includes:
• Roundtrip airfare for 2 from nearest airport to winner’s residence to LAX (8/11-8/13)
• Car transfer from LAX to hotel in LA
• Hotel 2 nights
• Car transfer to and from finale taping of SYTYCD and hotel
• 2 tickets for SYTYCD Finale on 8/12
• $200 Amex Gift Card for meals
• Car transfer to LAX from hotel for flight back to residence

The sweepstakes ends on August 4. And all the other details/rules can be found here:

http://www.facebook.com/aoltv?v=app_28134323652

SYTYCD Season 7: Top 6 Results

inna — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 02:29:53 +0000

Tonight’s group performance of “All That Jazz” is really badly destroyed by the terrible rendition of the song. We’re so busy thinking about how awful it is that we kind of forget to actually watch the dancing.

Before things get underway, Nigel announces that Denise Jefferson, the director of the Ailey school, has passed away. She taught there for ten years and was appointed director in 1984. There’s a quick tribute to her to start off the show.

Right down to business. Again, Billy is automatically in the bottom three tonight because he was injured and unable to perform last night. The remaining five dancers will now find out who’s joining him- and it’s not Lauren or Kent. They’re both safe.

The American Ballet Theatre performs. Why are the guest performers always ballet dancers this season? We get that it requires a lot of training and stamina- however, it gets really boring seeing pretty much the same thing week after week.

So, Adechike, Robert and Jose still await their fates, and only one of them is safe. And that one is… Adechike? Why? Who’s voting for him? Ack. So that means the bottom three is Billy, Robert and Jose.

DJ Smart performs. He’s wearing handcuffs and tiny shorts, and there seems to be very little point. Moving right along.

After some more audience videos for National Dance Day, Lauren and Neil hit the stage for an encore performance of “Night Of The Dancing Flame,” choreographed by Wade Robson. This is one of our all-time favorite routines from the show and we’re ridiculously excited to see it again! It’s just as good this time, too.

Some announcements about the tour. The four all-stars who have been chosen to participate are Allison, Dominic, Courtney and Ade. This season’s top two plus four other contestants from this season will also join them, as well as Russell and Kathryn from last season. So, in other words, some of the all-stars will get to tour twice, while most of last season and part of this season’s groups won’t be able to tour at all. This makes up our minds- we will not be buying a ticket to the tour.

Robert and Jose perform their solos. Robert’s is beautiful as always, and Jose does one he’s done before. Same exact thing. Ack. We’re annoyed.

Enrique Iglesias and Pitbull perform a song so full of autotune that their voices are completely unrecognizable. What a joke. No, Enrique, we don’t like.

Finally, the results are in. Nigel says they have not made up their minds, but they HAVE come to a conclusion. In light of Billy’s choosing not to dance last night because of his injury, they have decided that it would be unfair to eliminate someone and keep him in the competition after having a week to rest. So instead of sending someone home tonight, no one is eliminated and two people will be sent home next week.

SYTYCD Season 7: Top 6

inna — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 21:32:04 +0000

For the third week in a row, a dancer is injured and unable to perform tonight. This week, it’s Billy. His doctors have told him it’s okay to dance if he feels he can, but he’s decided to sit out and let himself heal. This means he will automatically be in the bottom three for this week’s results.

Tonight, besides seeing performances, we’ll also be hearing from the dancers’ families. This should be fun, and maybe it’ll distract us from Cat’s unusually hideous outfit. Oh, and there’s also a special guest judge- Kenny Ortega.

Lauren is up first tonight with a hip hop routine. She’ll be joined by Twitch. She manages to nail all the choreography, but it comes across as really awkward and forced. We’re not convinced, but it could be worse. Our rating: 6/10

Jose and Allison are next with a Sonya Tayeh contemporary piece. It seems Sonya has taken pity on Jose, because there’s really not much dancing here. It’s interesting to watch, and it’s creative, but the level of difficulty is very low. It’s quirky and cute, but it’s just too simple. Our rating: 6/10

Between the music and the licking of the leg, we almost mistake Robert and Lauren’s jazz piece for “adult programming.” It’s danced well and everything, but it’s not the major standout Robert’s work has been over the past few weeks. It’s not disappointing, it’s just not something we’re likely to remember later. Our rating: 7/10

Adechike’s solo is by far the best we’ve seen him do in the competition. This is stunningly beautiful- why does he not dance like this all the time? Amazing! Our rating: 10/10

Kent and Kathryn’s jazz piece starts off well, with lots of personality and entertainment value, but the choreography seems a bit all over the place. Again, it isn’t terrible, but we’re not exactly blown away. Our rating: 7/10

Robert’s solo is next, and we’re pretty sure we stop breathing throughout the entire thing. He is absolutely fascinating to watch, and we wish this could go on forever. Our rating: 10/10

Lauren puts her everything into her solo, but the choreography is kind of the same thing we always see from her. It’s exceptionally well danced, but we know exactly what to expect the entire time. She does a good job, though. Our rating: 8/10

Adechike and Comfort manage the near impossible: a hip hop that actually interests us. The story is one that most people can relate to, and the emotion and audience connection are definitely there this week. We’re not sure what’s happened to Adechike this week, but we like it! Our rating: 9/10

Jose might as well just do the same solo every week, because we never see any difference. More breakdancing. Yawn. Our rating: 5/10

Kent’s solo, on the other hand, is always something different. There’s a lot of heart and emotion to this one, and we love that. Our rating: 9/10

Robert and Lauren are next with a solid samba. Once again, it’s not the big standout we’ve come to expect from Robert, but considering neither of these two are ballroom dancers, it’s very impressive. Our rating: 8/10

Adechike and Jose take on a paso doble. In theory it could be good, but neither of these two possess quite enough stage presence to pull this off. And really, there’s not a whole lot of actual dance invovled- just a lot of posing and cape waving. It doesn’t really work, and wouldn’t work at all without the overly dramatic music and lighting. Our rating: 4/10

Billy was supposed to be dancing with Kent for this round, but since he’s injured, Twitch takes his place for some stepping. It’s basically a train wreck. We know nothing about the style so we don’t know if it’s done correctly or not, but it just does not look good. It’s a hot mess, in fact. Our rating: 3/10

Tomorrow night, we find out which two dancers will be joining Billy in the bottom three, and one more person goes home.

SYTYCD Season 7: Top 7 Results

inna — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 02:21:47 +0000

Thankfully, the group performance tonight is a vast improvement upon last week. It’s a Broadway piece choreographed by Tyce Diorio, and we really like the “classic” feel to it. Everyone handles this very well. Hopefully we can stick with the performances that are fun to watch from now on, because last week was a hot mess.

An update on National Dance Day, which takes place July 31st. Tabitha and Napoleon have choreographed an official routine for the day, and people are now sending their videos to the show. The best ones will be chosen and aired each week. There will also be a flash mob performing the dance in Los Angeles.

Kent and Lauren are the first two dancers to learn their results. Not surprisingly, they’re both safe.

Two kids from Mary Murphy’s ballroom academy perform. They’re 10 and 11 years old, and taking that into consideration, they’re amazing! It’s really fun to see something like this on the show. What a great opportunity for such young dancers! Maybe we’ll see them on the show as contestants someday.

Next to the stage to learn their results are Billy and Adechike. We see it coming- Billy is undeservedly in the bottom three AGAIN, and Adechike is safe for reasons unbeknownst to us. Who’s voting for him? And why are they not voting for Billy? Oh well.

That means the last person joining Billy and Ashley in the bottom three will be either Jose or Robert. We know what it should be after last night… and thankfully, the rest of America agreed. Jose is in the bottom three, and Robert is safe.

Another Alvin Ailey performance. Again? Isn’t this the second or third one this season? We realize the difficulty of this style of dance, but it’s so boring. Where’s that fast forward button?

All-stars Twitch and Comfort take the stage for an encore performance of a hip hop piece they performed together when they were contestants. We had forgotten about this, but it comes back to us as it unfolds, and we’re happy to see it again. We really like that the show does this now- it’s nice to see how far the contestants have come, and to revisit some old favorite performances.

Next, Billy and Jose dance their solos. We really like that you never know what Billy is going to do next. His solos are always impressive. Jose’s, not so much. It’s just more of the same breakdancing he always does, and we know he can do that. The problem is, he can’t seem to do much of anything else.

New singer Christina Perri is here to perform her song “Jar Of Hearts.” This song was featured on the show a couple weeks ago, and since then it’s blown up on both the Billboard and iTunes charts. It’s a pretty song, but she’s not so good live. We do like that all-stars Neil and Allison dance while she sings, though.

Time for some results. Jose is safe because he’s Mr. Personality, and the judges make it pretty obvious in their comments to him. Then they proceed to rip Billy apart as usual… but it’s all a moot point, because two doctors have told Ashley that she needs 3-5 weeks of rest, so the judges decide to remove her from the competition now so she’ll have time to recover before the tour.

So, that’s two weeks in a row that dancers have been cut from the competition due to injury. Hopefully bad things don’t come in threes this time.

SYTYCD Season 7: Top 7

inna — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 02:36:05 +0000

Apparently this season is jinxed. Last week Alex was forced to leave the competition due to an injury, and this week another contestant has gotten hurt. This time it’s Ashley. She’s unable to perform tonight, so like Alex last week, she’s automatically in the bottom three. If she survives the elimination and still can’t perform next week, she’ll be out of the competition.

And speaking of Alex, we get a little video update from him. He’s had his surgery and is recovering well. That’s good news- hopefully we’ll be seeing him again soon.

Time to get down to business. Lauren and Mark start us off with a new style- Tahitian. It’s, uh, a little weird. We have no idea how this is supposed to look, so we don’t know if the technique is right or not, but it’s interesting. A little repetitive, and not something we’d want to see every week, but it’s something different for the show, and it’s not bad. Our rating: 7/10

We cringe when we hear that Adechike will be dancing salsa with Anya. No way will this work! And we’re right. It’s really awkward and not at all entertaining to watch. How is he still here? This happens every week. Our rating: 4/10

For Jose and Courtney’s Broadway piece, choreographer Joey Dowling talks about how important it is that Jose portrays sadness. Then he proceeds to portray… nothing. And the concept doesn’t really work either- she’s supposed to be oblivious to him, but it really just comes across like two people improvising, completely independently of each other, while fighting for the same space on the stage. This is completely underwhelming. Our rating: 5/10

Next, Robert and Allison dance a contemporary piece choreographed by Travis Wall in honor of his mother, who is ill and just had major surgery. This is absolutely beautiful. Both dancers capture the emotion wonderfully, and the ending is possibly the most effective, most touching one we’ve ever seen on the show. Fantastic. Our rating: 10/10

Billy and Anya’s jive is maybe a little awkward, but overall it’s fun to watch. It’s lighthearted, and the partnership is good, and those both lend positivity to the overall performance. It’s not the most memorable thing we’ve seen all night, but it’s good. Our rating: 7/10

Kent and Neil’s baseball-themed Broadway piece is incredibly entertaining. It’s a perfect style for Kent, and the two dancers play off each other very well. The timing is perfect pretty much throughtout, and this is a ton of fun to watch. Our rating: 10/10

At first, we’re a little afraid the shoes are going to be too gimmicky and that Lauren and Billy will be cheesy with this jazz performance, but it’s actually really cute and lighthearted, and we enjoy it immensely. They make a great team and it’s nice to see Billy loosen up a bit. Our rating: 9/10

We’re not at all excited about Jose and Dominic’s b-boy routine, since we generally hate this style of dance. But this is actually pretty good. It’s different from the typical breaker crap we see all the time, and there’s just enough humor to keep it interesting. Not our favorite, but it’s good. Our rating: 8/10

Kent and Adechike are paired up next for a contemporary number. It’s nice to see Adechike in his own style, because he’s really good at it. Too bad he doesn’t bring half this power and energy to everything else, because he’d be a force to be reckoned with. Our only problem with this piece is that it’s not terribly masculine, and that’s kind of important when two guys dance together. Overall, though, it’s really well done. Our rating: 8/10

Robert ends the night with a disco piece. He was supposed to be dancing with Ashley, but since she’s injured, Kathryn is filling in. This isn’t as fun to watch as the disco that Neil did during his season, but it’s very well done and the partnership is great. Our rating: 9/10

Tomorrow night, Ashley is automatically in the bottom three because she was unable to perform this week. We’ll find out during tomorrow’s show who’ll be joining her, and which dancer will be going home.