So You Think You Can Dance: Now It's All Up To Us
Commentary by Emma Brand
July 26, 2007
Welcome to the top 10 week. I was all aflutter at work Wednesday. Who will be dancing with whom? What styles will they get? I hope that my favorites are matched up together. You know, all of the things that could mean that I no longer have a job to go to one day. That's all to say that if past seasons are any precedent, the competition truly begins this week. A lot will be different: the partners, the intensity level, the fact that the judges get no say in who goes home anymore. But a lot will stay the same: Cat Deely's pitiful wardrobe (this week she looked like she came from a formal toga party), my constant fear that Mary is going to scream and somehow damage my television. I was excited for the show. Yes, more than usual.
While Mia Michaels is one of my favorite choreographers on this show, I still love to see her at the judges' table. On this week's episode, Mia whose mullet has returned, looked like she had raided the costume closet from A Few Good Men. I loved it.
I'm sure Lauren was extremely excited to draw Pasha's name from the hat for her new partner. Any complimentary string for him always starts with the fact that Pasha has amazing partnering skills. That joy must have faded quickly when Lauren realized that they would be partnering for hip hop. Pasha is a ballroom guy. Shane Sparks absolutely knocked this one out of the park though. It was one of my favorites this season. It allowed for Pasha to really show his versatility, which is key. It's what killed Hok (sniff!), and could keep Pasha around for a while. Hok could never adapt to different styles, and Pasha killed this one.
Sabra drew Kameron. It was one of the interesting storylines tonight because for Kameron, the critique has been the last couple of weeks that his long-time partner Lacey was overshadowing him. Unfortunately, the judges didn't believe Kameron in his character and Sabra, again, overshadowed him. Bad break for Kameron because I don't think he's a bad dancer. I think he's great. Given that he was paired with Lacey for the first part of this competition who was a girl the judges were convinced would be a star, not only because of her amazing ability but also because of her family ties to this particular show, could end up handicapping Kameron now that it's individual voting. He's been fine, but when did Kameron actually make you love him? Hard to answer that.
The Lacey-Danny pairing was an interesting one I think. It melded arguably the most popular dancer thus far (Lacey), and the most technically praised dancer to this point in Danny. Danny has gotten a bad rap for not connecting emotionally to his dancing and the audience (I have done the rapping myself), while Lacey has been able to overshadow her former partner with her technical skill. Dmitry from last season choreographed their samba (which I thought was a great draw for them), and I thought he did an excellent job. Even the song was perfect. I liked that it was kind of a paint by numbers version of a samba with an announcer and everything. And I think these two are good for each other. Lacey's big critique last week was she didn't connect emotionally with the song and she is entertaining but too professional. Next to Danny, she looks emotional though. Danny's big thing was that he was too arrogant, but next to Lacey's supreme confidence, that doesn't shine through as much. It suits both of them and I thoroughly enjoyed their performances. And after watching last season, I could see all kind of Dmitry in Danny's performance. It was pretty nice to see the influence. I consider myself a complete novice at seeing any of this. Clearly, my commentary is based less on the gut reaction I get and I enjoy seeing this from a complete amateur perspective. It's nice for me to be able to pick up on the influence of the choreographer just by having watched him dance regularly a year ago.
Dominic and Jamie were paired together. I find myself liking the girls in this competition much more than the guys this year, as a whole, and Jamie is one of my favorites. She and Dominic drew the Viennese Waltz and my stomach started churning a little bit for them (Okay, not really but I did say out loud "This isn't good.") It was well established by not only Dominic's former partner, Sabra's comments but footage that Dominic drops his partner on lifts and the money for this type of dance is going to be in the lifts. Maybe that crazy Fox Production Assistant is just trying to get a theme going, but I'm thinking it's more likely that Dominic drops people. This was a dance I was concerned about. I did think it fit Jamie's natural grace, though.
The choreographer did the best thing.....
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