And Kent is just so ... KENT. I adore him.

Word.

OMG, Kent's adorable. I want Mark to take his virginity.

Vortex just made me spill my water I'm laughing so hard!

And word.

All the best performed numbers seemed to coincide with the weather warnings that kept on showing up on the bottom third of my tv and ran for.e.ver. Stupid CBS affiliate.

Adechike’s just a charisma chasm

OMG, yes. Gorgeous technique, sucky performance. He should be in the B3 this week.

I think the thing with Fosse was actually that he wasn’t an extravagantly talented dancer so he created this whole style of movement that played off of hunched shoulders and sunken hips and the smallest of movements, a snap, a flick of the foot, a quarter turn having meaning.

I remember watching the PBS recording of Fosse with the intermission interviews with Ann Renking and Ben Vereen, where they were talking about a rehearsal of Sweet Charity in which Fosse had them working on one little hand flick for hours, and when some of the dancers were rolling their eyes at his perfectionism, he threated to fire them immediately. That concentration on the little movements is what Alex needed, but he doesn't have time in the show's format.

Robert's tango was good, but the lightness combined with intensity and the speed were both missing for me. I much preferred Brandon and Janette's tango, because he had both of those qualities as well as the technique.

Melinda--good (although her dance was one blocked by weather radar). Cristina--good (hers was also blocked). Jose--so much fun to watch, but as the judges said, it was so wrong as a Bollywood number. He was totally a hip-hopper/bboy attempting Bollywood, and it was cute. Ashley--forgettable for me again. Billy--just not a believable krumper, although he seemed to hit most of the steps. Liked the fact they have a new hiphop choreographer, liked that she got a decent performance out of Lauren who was really shaken up afterward--good for her.

Jose/Kathryn/Bollywood/Nakul/Won’t even pretend with the song – I guess they are hoping for some of that Kathryn/Legacy lightning to strike twice. Well, we’ll see. Oh, he’s really giving it the old college try. And no, it’s not perfect. He kind of lost steam about halfway through the routine and there were a few too many b-boy moves, freezes and such, thrown in for good measure. But that was fun. He looked like he had fun. Some of the turns were excellent. Overall, good performance quality. So-so dance quality. Like a lot of the kids tonight.

Lauren/Dom/Lyrical Hip Hop/Tessandgra Chavez/If I Were a Boy – Oh perfect, my two least favorite dancers of the season together. Thanks, Nigel. But hey, new hip hop choreographer blood. And OK. Toothy Blonde Cheerleader was kind of tearing it up. I still dislike the whole concept of lyrical hip hop, but this choreo was better than NappyTab in this style. And TBC was good. Much more connected than last week. And she’s just a good dancer. Good like “whoa!” And Dom is a great, great b-boy, and he’s gotten so much better since dancing with Qwest. He’s ridiculous. Yeah, she was good. Better this week. I still don’t care for her.

Kent/Courtney/Jazz/Tasty – I thinkKent will do well with this in terms of movement quality, but sexual tension? Yikes. And a cunniliftus? Has Tasty been spending time with Doriana? Yuck. Amy Amy Amy is the song. Kent in bondage gear is blowing my mind. It was gorgeously danced. This boy moves like a dream. But the sexy face? With the open mouth? Yeah, It was kind of laughable. But my stars, that barrel turn, almost kind of like a rotating stag leap? Thing of beauty. And the toe point on this kid is insane. Insane. He’s a gorgeous thing. And he’s so sweet he could cause sugar shock. On a side note, I loved the Travis bitchface when Nigel busted on the jazz/not jazz thing again. Did y’all peep it. He seriously wanted to cut Nigel. Ha! Once again, like with Adechike and Ashley, technique on point. Performance, not so much. And not because he lacks personality, just that he’s not believable as a sexual beast. It actually might’ve worked better if he had danced it with Mark.

So this was a weird night. Nobody put it all together. Either the kids had the performance quality but lacked in embodying the style/technique of the dance they were given (Cristina/Alex/Robert/Jose), or they had the technique but something in the performance/feel of the dance was missing (Adechike/Ashley/Kent). The bottom two couples for me were clearly Melinda/Ade and Billy/Comfort. I wouldn’t want to see Billy hit B3 because I love him, but I do think he was objectively the worst on that stage tonight. The clear best of the night, the ones who came closes to giving both solid technique and good performance were TBC and Dom (and I think I lost my lunch just having to type that). I’ve no idea who B3 will be, but I think and hope Adechike will hit B3 this week and maybe even go home because he’s just like dance wallpaper. I think Melinda may go B3 again, even though the judges tried to prop her up. She wasn’t great. The third spot is hard. I think it could be Ashley, though she was technically gorgeous in the dance and that may save her. Could be Cristina again. She went first and she was OK, but not outstanding. People may forget about her. I think Billy and Alex have enough of a fan base to keep them out of B3, even though you could make a case for both of them to be there (Billy more so than Alex). Yeah, I don’t know. This was a very mixed bag kind of a night. No one hit it out of the park, so anyone could be in danger.

I love Mia and Adam both, but I also miss the rotating judges. Sigh. I want Lil C back!

OK, they made that look all random but CLEARLY it wasn't, or some of the boys would've picked boys, etc--I hate when they make it look more random than it is, y'know?

Cristina/Pasha/Paso Doble--OK, those first couple flip/grab things were a little rough. That said...the rest of this was damn well better than any other paso doble I remember seeing on this show. Though I would expect it to be! Fun!

Adechike/Allison/Contemporary--so, just connect and no story? Uh oh? Hmm. Watching it--I feel like he's good...but Allison is amazing. Which....is not good. I mean, he was fine, and it was good, and I suspect there will be worse. But. (Ooh, Mia giving actual criticism for a sec there!) And he IS very pretty when he smiles!

Alex/Lauren/Broadway--oh god, Fosse again, Tyce? God Alex's pirouettes are smooth. Meh. I'm hating on the style. (I think Mia wanted him to be Mark?)

Ashley/Mark/jazz--(oh, I love this song) I liked the spinning into him grabbing her bit. Overall, it was nice. There were a couple spots where I couldn't tell if she was smiling appropriately or not, or what. Hrm. (OK, with Nigel--no idea what makes jazz vs contemp other than contemp involves more flat feet in places rather than pointing toes?)

Billy/Comfort/krump--oh, oh dear. Scared. So, were they just trying to guarantee one of the boys ends up in teh bottom three this week? Was that the plan? Between this and the Bollywood, they figured surely someone would look like ass?

Robert/Anya/tango--well, he looks damn good in that outfit. It's a start. As for the dancing? I've seen better, from other non-ballroom guys doing the tango on this show.

Melinda/Ade/contemp--WTF IS SHE WEARING?!? (For that matter, why can't they get him a shirt that fits?) Well, we know who the costume crackhos hate. There's a lot of aimless reaching in this dance. I...don't know what to say. (OMG! MIA I LOVE YOU MARRY ME. "I'm wearing a bedspread!" "It was gorg-zwhah!")

(Is it just because I"m watching without TiVo, or are there approximately A BAZILLION commercial breaks?)

Jose/Katherine/Bollywood--there's jewelry flying! Nigel is babbling. WTF, Nigel?

Lauren/Dom/hiphop--ooh, a new choreographer! Ooh, and she has to not be smiley!?! I hate DOm, so now I really want to see other people dance this. Too much hair-flipping. HOW DOES THERE MANAGE TO BE SO MUCH HAIR-FLIPPING?!?!?!

Kent/Courtney---ah, I missed the intro on this one, dang. Mmm. Dunno about the dancing, but a great job with the facial expressions and connection! Boy can work it. Adorable. OMG, he just made me laugh out loud in my hotel room--"First thing when you say Kent, people picture me in this!" Hmm, I disagree with the judges, I thought he did OK. Maybe more with the power in the dancing, but face-wise, it worked for me, at least when the camera-crack-whores gave me closeups? Good god, this boy will not be bottom 3 material for a long long time.

OK, they made that look all random but CLEARLY it wasn't, or some of the boys would've picked boys

They color-coded the envelopes--pink for girls, blue for boys.

They color-coded the envelopes--pink for girls, blue for boys.

Oh! Awesome. See, the things I miss by having to watch without TiVo? Hate.

Woo Hoo John Parrot!!

So my freaking phone ate my first post. And it's clear this is going to be longass one. So.

Trying again.

SYTYCD: OMG this show is trying to kill me! Someone is trying to trainwreck this. I agree that they're actively trying to out the boys because otherwise why would they have krump AND bollywood AND Argentine tango all on the same night? Those are killers. There was a lot of squeaking by, which is not what I want to watch this show for. Oh, and I was gonna say, I think they should be able to draw the wrong gender. I realize that is not this show, but there are some marvelous same sex pieces out there and I would not be averse to seeing them. I realize it would have to be two completely different choreographed bits ready to go, but still. Anyway.

Where do I vote for Mark? What is the number I call to get Mark? And maybe to see if he wants to come over for green tea lattes and maybe some malasadas. Because that boy is still a freaking revelation. I hated his partner (and I hated her feet! Oh, her feet were awful!) and I hated his choreo and he still blazed like fire. And he needs to stay shirtless, yeah, he has it like that.

What? Oh, right, contestants.

I voted for Alex again tonight, as I suspect I will every week, because for me Alex is love. I adore his passion for dance and his hunger to learn. I hope that stays with him every day of his career, because he will be a fabulous dancer if he keeps learning, always. That said, I love Fosse but I hate Tasty's version of Fosse and of course that's all he thinks Broadway is. I agree with the critique upthread that his movements were too big. But I suspect he'd heard criticism for people being too contained and didn't want to err on that side of it. But Fosse is contained, all that barely held energy, like you're about to burst, but you never do.

Still, Nigel shouldn't have commented on hunched shoulders in a Fosse piece. Of course they were. It's on purpose! I wish Nigel could differentiate. I feel like he has this little checklist of stuff he knows to look for, and that checklist never has context. Anyway, I found Lauren forgettable in this (I had to look up her name) and she slid down his leg wrong. She put her hand in the wrong place so she had to give it more distance than she should have. I was worried that they were going to say he didn't connect enough with his partner. I thought he did a great job and emoted well, he just didn't have much in the way of a partnership or in the choreo. She didn't often make eye contact with him, and they weren't given much space in the context of the dance to do so. Broadway can be side by side and still really connected. He did his best, but this wasn't.

By contrast, Mark is constantly there. Not just in his own expression, which is exquisite, but also in how much he gives to his partner, how much she can respond to. He is a generous dancer. I know musicians who are like this (most aren't) who are generous in their music, so that they're a joy to play with and they make you better to play with them and therefore then they are better. They raise the game because they are willing to offer what they have. Because they're paying attention to what you're doing as well as what they are and you can communicate then. Mark is this kind of a dancer. He's so open all the time you can just enter into his space. Also did I mention those abs? And those eyes? This show should just be So You Think You Can Dance With Mark.

Sorry, got a little distracted there. I also voted for Jose because he is cute like a button and because he really tried. I think ultimately it was a failure, but not as bad as they judges said. I thought he would do better with the little finger choreo stuff because bboys sometimes do that stuff, but I guess that's not really his style. I would love to see Jabbawockees do Bollywood. Jose's version was not nearly as much of a failure as it could have been--remember Phillip and the Russian dance?

What else didn't work was definitely the krump. (continued...)

( continues...) Poor smilely cutiepants Billy. It was just not there. He gave it, but it still had the sort of ridiculous couldn't get any whiter fakery going on that I hate. Krump is authentic, and to get to that place you have to start with where you actually are. Technically, Billy is too light on his feet. He needs to hit the ground. He needs to hit things, not pretend to hit things. And yeah, that flex/contract muscle thing is a movement that's not taught to classically trained dancers. But it can be explained, so they should be able to figure it out. I think they feel like it's wrong, but like not employing turnout when you move from ballet to modern, it's just something you need to learn.

Anya is just a maneater. She's just a powerhouse and no one this season is going to be able to stand up to her. Robert did well, but not well enough. And seriously the cheese is going to kill me. It's cheese like the freaking fug princess. You can't get to the heart of the dance if that's what you're putting on. There's a difference between performance and performance, I guess.

Seriously? That's the outfit you dream up when you're told "mother earth"? A jacked up hippie dress would have been better. And it could have been flipping beautiful, but no, we get tropicana fruit lady. I swear I thought that's the dance we were getting when I saw her. Love Ade, but hate her still. Her feet! I thought I hated whozit's feet, but no, I hate Melinda's feet. I realize it's a tap problem, but it's really bad. I liked the concept but I didn't like the execution in choreography or in the dancers.

Oh, and while I'm going on about choreographers, Travis can bitchface all he wants, but Nigel is right. That wasn't a jazz piece. Which is part of why I hate contemporary as a style, because it's too inclusive and broad and vague and that's why you get this kind of crap. If it were modern and jazz, you'd see a clear delineation. And damn if I don't wish we could see some modern. Some actual avant garde, some ugliness and shape and intensity. That's lacking in the hair-flinging variety of contemporary that we get, the stupid leap and fall that every last dancer in cargo shorts seems to think is his destiny.

SPEAKING OF HAIR FLINGERS! Lauren did not do badly. I am very glad to see her (and Dom, for that matter) all jacked up at the end of that piece. That is how dance should be. It should shake you up. That is what it should do to you, and I'm glad it did to her. So happy to see a new hiphop choreographer, who I think did a great job, and already knows what will work for this show. But again, I don't think Lauren quite got there. Imagine if this piece had been danced by Mark & Chelsie or Katee & Joshua. Again, I think she tried, and she did way better than I was expecting from her. She won't be in danger this week. Not quite enough for me, but growth for her, so more power to her.

Ok, Kent. Poor sweet virginal Kent, all, she lets you touch her! Virgins shouldn't be dancers on this show. I have to say I feel vaguely ashamed at watching his defloration on national television. Almost like the Mollee vibe, really. He's so young and so cute that it's hard to ask him for what he needs to give on this show. And again, no he didn't quite get there.

Cristina, good, not good enough. Adéchické, good, not good enough. I'd say they're in the bottom three, plus maybe Melinda. Or possibly Billy. Sorry, Billy. I wish C could get to choreograph for someone who can really own it, because his style is so amazing and he's a good choreographer, but his dancers so often fail.

Yeah, and miss him as a judge. And where is Ms. Debbie Allen? Miss her. New format still not working for me overall other than getting more Mark on my screen.

This show should just be So You Think You Can Dance With Mark.

So much this.

I realize that is not this show, but there are some marvelous same sex pieces out there and I would not be averse to seeing them. I realize it would have to be two completely different choreographed bits ready to go, but still.

Liese, I was thinking the exact same thing several times last night. I especially want to see 2 men dancing together (since there seems so many of them on the expert side). The show does it when they get to the final 4, so I don't see what the big deal is.

Mark is absolutely riveting and awesome. I too thought "man, he is a great partner." And it really shows how much better a dancer he has become since we first saw him. He always had skill and talent, but now he's buffed up and become MORE.

I feel like Jose and Billy were just terrible last night. Yes, they danced with enthusiasm and I know they are good dancers in their own disciplines, but I thought they were really bad.