SYTYCD Reflections

So, overall I was a little disappointed in the choreographers last night (and the reactions of the judges). I did not LOVE most of the numbers like the judges did. There were a couple that were good, but I did not think Mary needed to scream for each of them like they were the best numbers ever. I truly despise that she is a judge on this show. She never contributes anything to the conversation and just cries and screams (boo hiss on Mary Murphy). I usually just fast forward through when she talks now.

So, I've decided to rank the performances last night and give you my "After the First Show" winner prediction. We'll see if I'm right in 10 weeks. 

Rankings for Last Night's Combinations:

#10 Asuka and Vitolio: broadway. Ok, so Chicago is one of my favorites (I went and saw the traveling show in Columbia last week in fact [fabulous for a touring show by the way]) and they just butchered it. TERRIBLE! I'm sorry, I didn't even think the technique was there. She was completely turned in on all of her kicks and he was all over the place. They look like they hate each other. It's a fun song, it's not hard to look energetic to a Chicago song. Get it together people!

#9 Paris and Tony- hip hop: he is terrible and he's supposed to be a hip hop dancer. I thought she did quite well though. I will give them some slack on the critique though because I thought the music was really slow, which hurt their energy. They just needed to crank up the intensity. And, the judges keep saying how he's going to get votes because of his looks. I really don't think he's cute at all, unless you like that Jersey boy, I ride around with lights under my car kind of guy. I don't. Hopefully, he'll go and Paris will get a better partner. I think she's got potential. 

#8 Jeanine and Phillip- hip hop- she still needs some work and they didn't have much energy in my opinion...but maybe they'll get better. Phillip's got some talent, but I don't think he'll do well at all in the other genres.

#7 Caitlin and Jason- bollywood: I'm sorry, I didn't like it. I loved the bollywood dance last year, but this did not have that same energy and they were not together! It was bugging me. And I LOVE Jason, so this hurts me to say. Caitlin needs some work for me though. I bet she'd make a great rhythmic gymnast, but something is just off for her and the dancing for me. Can't put my finger on it yet, though. But, I think they'll be in it for a while anyways though.

#6 Ashley and Kupono-jazz: okay, so the whole crash test dummies thing was a little weird, but I can't help but love Wade and I think Ashley is going to be really good. Even though they didn't do much dancing, her technique looked really good when they did. However, I thought Kupono was terrible. Sickled feet galore! Take that white paint off and it's going to be a problem. If he has to dance for his life tonight, he's in trouble. 

#5 Brandon and Janette- Fox Trot: By far the best Fox Trot I've seen on the show (although I still don't really get why it's on the show...or disco for that matter). But, whatever. She was gorgeous and had spunk, which has to be tough during a fox-trot. I did think Brandon was going to drop her at one point (right before that really cool lift at the end where she looked like she was flying...he almost didn't get her up there), but it still looked good. He's decent, but I'm so tired of them showing the clips where the judges doubt him. I think they actually like him and are just trying to make America mad so they'll pick up the phone and vote for him. Stop already. He kind of has a Will from Season 4 vibe, but no where near as good. 

#4 Jonathan and Karla- cha cha: She's got something. They haven't shown her much, but I thoroughly enjoyed her. I think she might be one of the best dancers on the show, but I think she got a bad partner and that's going to hurt her. And her outfit was rockin'!

#3 Randi and Evan-jazz: I thought the choreography was really good! However, they are short as heck! It just wasn't completely believable to me and the whole time I just kept thinking how I wanted Kayla and Jason to have been dancing together to this choreography...it would have been magic! But it was ok. The choreography was actually really good and I don't usually enjoy Tyce. I think that saved them both for me this week.

#2 Kayla and Max- samba: He's going to annoy me, but they rocked that samba! She was my favorite going into the season, but she's a contemporary dancer and I doubted that she'd have that much fire in the ballroom stuff. But, she killed it! And that pink was great on her. I'm a little worried that she's partnered with Max because if they get contemporary or something, I think it will hurt them. But, last night was great.

#1 Ade and Melissa- contemporary: Mandy Moore's pas de deux was great! I wasn't loving the song, but the choreography was wonderful...great lifts and transitions. I'm not sure it topped Will and Katee's from last year, but it was by far the best of the night for me. Just beautiful technique. That lift in second where he lifts her and then she comes up over his head and flips down was great. Loved it! You can watch it again below if you're like me and like to see them over and over...skip to 1:55 to just see the dance.

So, I'm looking forward to tonight's results show. I think the bottom three will be Ashley and Kupono because people won't understand the dance, Asuka and Vitolio because they were pretty terrible and audiences never really love the broadway numbers anyways, and Karla and Jonathan (for some reason I don't think people will remember them either...they were early in the night which makes it harder).

So, who's my favorite at this point you ask? It's tough because some of them surprised me. I think Karla, Melissa, Kayla, and Ashley are all really talented. As for the boys, I think Jason, Ade, and Brandon will be my boys to watch, although I think Jason is my favorite boy. 

As far as my "After the First Show Winner" prediction goes, this is tough. I think I'm going to have to stick with my original prediction of Kayla.