So You Think You Can Dance What Twitch Danced

By: Jen Gulbrandsen

This is the first season of So You Think You Can Dance I’ve watched in years.  We have some t fun characters, and their larger than life personalities are needed since  the show’s new format leaves little time for getting acquainted with the dancers. The first few episodes felt disjointed due to the new format.  Gone is the results show, and now contestants are kicked off at the end of each show from the previous week’s voting cycle.  Confusing enough?

Tonight, however, I care not who will be leaving in the end.  Rather I am left to wonder what the hell Cat Deeley is wearing. 

The choreography for each number tonight is solely Mia Michaels’ pieces from previous seasons, which will almost certainly be a trainwreck(is this the beginning of the end?).Regurgitating a former Mia routine is completely misguided because each couple is inevitably compared to past performers for whom the routines were originally created.  They have little chance of success tonight, and most falter.  Cyrus and Eliana are awkward..  Even worse are Ryan Gosling and Audrey with the most boring Mia Michaels routine ever.  Unfortunately it’s also the one Mia says is about her deceased father, so I feel like a bad person for disliking it. Both times I saw it performed, I held my breath in fear that the dancers would slip on the ridiculous flowers. I also had absolutely no emotional response..

Chehon, aka the SuperHuman, and BB1 (Ballroom Blondie) perform the infamous bench routine and it’s decent.  I would like keep Chehon in my house and make him dance for me  on demand?  He is a god.  BB1 is cute and sweet, but the Ballet Boys, this week’s guest judges, recognize and award the masterfulness of Chehon.  The strongest performers of the night are Cole the Martial Artist (who is obviously trained in ballet) and BB2 who perform a routine about addiction.  I legitimately feel something, mostly due to Cole’s inanimate and eery facial expressions and movement.  It was perfectly and subtly frightening. 

Six dancers  are in danger of leaving and they’re all performing for us.  Amelia does some hand reaching, Janelle shakes her bum, and Lindsay SLAYS the samba.  George mesmerizes me, Dareian proves that he’s the male trickster, constantly adding tricks to his routines to make up for his lack of technical skill,  and Ryan Gosling’s routine is the resounding evidence that proves the boys are SO MUCH BETTER than the girls this season.  I still don’t know what Cat is wearing.

Lindsay is saved, which I’m totally down with.  My cousin Jill was looked over for Amelia, which I think was such a mistake (in my completely biased opinion).  I for one am not going to miss Amelia’s quirkiness, which I find to be a crutch.  Seeing these boys cry sort of kills me, but George is definitely the superior dancer of the three, and it’s time for Cyrus to leave. 

Jen emphasized in English at Brigham Young University. She currently freelances as a ghost writer and works as a personal stylist to feed her addiction to all things pretty. Her TV preferences range from The Vampire Diaries to Arrested Development and she lives in a fantasy world where Stars Hollow still exists. See more at jengulbrandsen.blogspot.com.