Multiple Personality

This redux show opens with six dancers doing their opening bits, and two of them were unusual: Billy, because he had this KNEE BRACE on to let us know that he had KNEE problems last week (maybe I’m being too cynical), and Jose, because I’m getting kinda embarrassed for him at this point, cuz he really can’t hold his own with the others up on that stage. Cat came out, clearly having slaughtered the biggest snake in the universe and skinned it to wear as tonight’s toga. And tonight’s guest judge is Toni Redpath…whom I think is the one that was really mean to the dancers during Vegas week. I don’t need judge histrionics…keep a lid on it, Redpath.

The night starts off with Kent and Anya doing something by Jean-Marc Genereaux. They want to call it a Cha Cha, but…was there any freakin’ CHA CHA in the thing, I ask you? And who puts body rolls in a Cha Cha? I thought it was virtually content-free, though it had a nice lift. Anya’s costume bugged me; it got in the way of seeing her line. And she was just doing that “sharp-pose-Anya” thing instead of really adding something to the evening. But then, Jean-Marc really didn’t add much to the evening either. That was predominantly suckage. And it didn’t show Kent off so well, either.

Robert and Kathryn (sighhhhh) doing a Stacey Awk-Awk-Eek-Eek-Tookie Contemporary dance. Am I looking forward to this, or what? Holy crap, everything that last number lacked, THIS number had in spades! I found myself moaning intermittently through it, because they were doing still another thing so lovely. And what’s so special about these two is that not only were they doing the beautiful steps exquisitely, it wasn’t preventing them from filling out a very powerful emotional through-line. I can’t say enough good things about this piece, on every level. Some of the snapshots that Stacey imbued this dance with were gorgeous and surprising, and the flow was fabulous, and Robert and Kathryn couldn’t have been better. This is why I watch this show.

Jose had a solo, and he did his standard Electric Bugaloo thing. Meh.

Adechike and Courtney do Tyce Jazz. Well…I can’t say I enjoyed that so very much. I found the piece itself scattered and un-flowy, albeit with a lot of flashy gymnastics on Adechike’s part. It didn’t add up to very much, even though Tyce had those two working their butts off. But the thing that was completely distracting me was the costumes, particularly his; if this was supposed to be a classy joint in New York, why was he shirtless? Honestly, it felt kind of racist to me. I know that may sound off the wall, but it was very distracting and somewhat unsettling.

Lauren’s solo was one of the best I’ve seen all season. And perhaps the best girl solo I’ve ever seen on this show. Amazing lines and strength, and just beautiful. Wow.

Jose and Comfort and doing Hip Hop choreographed by some Beatnik people. I thought that was a very stylish dance, even if it didn’t have an ending. And Comfort is such an interesting dancer. Jose, however, just isn’t in the game any longer. I didn’t even really watch him in this, Comfort was so much stronger than him, both dance-wise and emotionally. Even her costume was more interesting than his, though I guess he can’t be faulted for that. But it’s just getting uncomfortable. However, I would like to see more from the Beatnik people, please.

Well, Billy sure danced that solo full-out, didn’t he? I’m not as blown away by it as by Lauren’s, but he has nothing to be ashamed of.

Kent’s solo…sometimes I think it’s easier for that kid to dance than walk. That back-flip thing he did (to the floor) was awesome. And such precision, and feeling…and ease.

Lauren and Allison are doing Tyce Broadway…and, from the taped lead-in, I guess it’s to the Wonder Woman theme. No…it’s to “Who’s Got the Pain,” one of my fave “Damn Yankees” songs (though I prefer the original-original to the revival cast version). It was kind of a hot mess on Tyce’s part…he was doing some Fosse tribute, but mostly just having them run all over the place. And I think that Allison outdanced Lauren a bit. All in all, I’m not a richer person for seeing this dance.

Robert’s solo was mostly steps I’ve seen him do before. And I wish he wouldn’t hyperextend his back so much. But he has good feel for the music. And he’s adorable. And he should stay around.

Billy and Ade are doing Tookey-temporary. I wasn’t an immediate buy-in to this number; I have some resistance when social issues are addressed in two minutes. But I was kind of devastated by the end of it. First of all, Billy’s dancing was blow-me-away. And it was easy to overlook just how focused and superb it was (and hard!) because it was so entirely in the character of the homeless man. And the dance itself was so damn interesting, and understated. My hat’s off to these folks. And I think this earned Billy some points he needed.

Adechike’s solo was…athletic.

Now they all dance with each other. First up is Jose and Kent doing Broadway by Spencer Liff (who is still very cute). That wasn’t my favorite dance (though I do love me that music…ah, Cole…). Kent was dancing with his face again (”Diana, your dancing with your tongue again”…what show is that from?). And Jose wasn’t dancing enough again. This number didn’t do either of them much of a favor…except I did love the way Kent THREW himself off into the wings at the end in this huge swan dive. Two more to go on the longest night of dancing ever (it feels like).

Lauren and Adechike are doing a Jean-Marc Foxtrot. But if it’s anything like the wacked-out Cha Cha earlier, it will probably include body rolls. And actual foxes. I guess I’d call that a deconstructed Foxtrot (but at least it wasn’t dissected and demolished, like the Cha Cha). I actually thought it was an elegant dance, and rather impressive. And Lauren outdanced Adechike. She’s quite swell.

Oh no…Billy and Rawrrrbert are doing Bollywood with Nakul Kidman. This will either be great or annoying. Well, I guess it wasn’t really either extreme. There were good moments (those a la seconde turns? holy crap), and there was a lot of just-okay (many of the gestures lacked crispness). I don’t think the dance itself built to anything, and I think a lot of it didn’t make the two guys look too appealing (but Robert did dance significantly sexier than Billy). Just a’ight.

I’m not gonna do any predicting about who will be out tomorrow, or who should win. Because we learned last week that the competition aspect of this is bogus. So I’ll just say that it would make me happiest to continue seeing four dancers in particular: Robert, Kent, Lauren, and Billy (yes, Billy…he redeemed himself with the Homeless number). If I get to see those four “compete” next week, I’ll be content.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 28th, 2010 at 11:25 pm and is filed under So You Think You Can Dance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.