I am loving the Choir too. Gareth is nicely fulfilling my need for a tall pale skinny freckled passionate Brit since the Tenth Doctor left. Now that they are going to China, I think the muttering will die down. I loved the deadpan tone of the narrator, describing the 11th years circling like wolves. I do hope Enoch gets to go to China. He's such a darling.

I do hope Enoch gets to go to China. He's such a darling.

Isn't he just adorable? Love that family, and him in particular.

Thought it was great that Gareth managed to get in some of the older boys to boost up his tenor and bass sections. The blond kid who sang Jingle Bells for his tryout really surprised me with the quality of his voice--he was really good!

sumi, I think it might be On Demand; IIRC, I saw a placeholder category header for it under the BBC America page a few weeks ago.

Jose was so exposed last night. Poor booboo. He really does seem like a sweet kid, but doing that b-boy routine with Dom put his whole game on blast. Dom's flares were capital "F" Flares, no? With power and extension and speed. Jose's flares were like little boy flares. I thought the Broadway routine was not Joey's best work. Courtney was criminally underused. But with Jose, well, I kind of think Joey was doing the best that she could because he's so limited as a dancer. Sadly, that routine was probably his strongest out of his style since he's been on the show. And it's awful to watch the judges treat him like he's in Special Olympics rather than SYTYCD. When he sucks, come hard with the critiques. By not doing so, they actually signal that they don't believe he can do better, and if that's the case, why put him on the show.

Also exposed? Robert. All out on front street. Travis' Fix You piece was lovely. It wasn't all the judges made it out to be, but ever since Mia's Dead Daddy Dance, it's become illegal to offer up anything but unadulterated praise for routines about disease or illness on this show. Anyway, there were lovely moments, most especially that ending with Allison standing on top of Robert's feet doing the assisted walk, and the piece was technically demanding, but Allison was blowing Robert off the stage. And the disco was so wibbly wobbly, I was concerned for Kathryn's safety during some of those lifts. I was hoping to get through an entire season without Doriana. I'm unsurprised that Ashley got hurt learning the routine because Doriana's choreo is always just a trick factory. This one was no different. And for once this season, Mia didn't protect her pet and was right to point out that Robert's dancing lacked weight. It's that competition kid lightness creeping back in, the lack of being grounded and dancing down into the floor which would be giving him a stronger center, especially in the lifts. The dancing came to a dead stop every time he lowered Kathryn out of one of those lifts.

Who else was exposed? The Hunchback. Kent danced circles around Neil in that Broadway piece, which was another trick factory and just why Tasty? Why? Does he own stock in Bob Fosse? Anyway, Tasty managed to bring back all of the Hunchback's worst qualities - lack of musicality, lack of transitions, over reliance on tumbling, falling out of turns. He was kind of a train wreck. Consequently, Kent looked like a rock star. I did enjoy the turns in second into the suicied flip. That is not easy. I thought he did well in the Dee Casprey piece, but I didn't care for the choreography. Too much business with the chairs and the choreo was so busy that the dancers really didn't have the opportunity to stretch and breathe through their movements.

Totally exposed? AdeChike. That salsa was bad direct from Ugly Bad Headquarters. Anya worked like a demon to salvage that dance, but the connections, all the holds, the hip action, ugh. It was all bad. And the lifts, good lord the lifts. So labored. I think he dropped her on her butt one time although she managed to save it. True, the salsa was exceptionally difficult, but I found it complicated just for the sake of being complicated. It wasn't beautiful and it didn't flow and it didn't showcase the dancers to their best advantage. It just seemed like the choreographers wanted to throw as many tricks into the routine as they could. I never thought I'd miss the subtlety of Alex da Silva.

Billy was so good in that Boogie Shoes piece that I will forgive him for that jive. He's just not built for ballroom dancing. I will not forgive Louis for using Paradise by the Dashboard Light which is way too slow for a jive.

TBC had another great night. And she brought me Mark naked from the waist up and covered in tribal tattoos for which she has earned my respect. I am now a TBC fan and would like to see her win. Naked Mark. I'm easy.

The blond kid who sang Jingle Bells for his tryout really surprised me with the quality of his voice

Wasn't he? My DH and I looked at each other in a total WTF moment.

And it's awful to watch the judges treat him like he's in Special Olympics rather than SYTYCD.

word. It is really condescending.

I am interested that the two best performing, most consistent dancers (IMO) are Kent and Lauren - both aged 18. Both of 'em bore me a bit, though, and I actually have more invested personally in Adechike and Billy, despite their habitual weaknesses.

I thought the jive was actually kind of good. Billy's lightness and quickness worked for me. (Anya's corset did not.)

I was mystified by the dance with the chairs. Did they explain anything about it? Why did Adechicke have to be touching a chair at practically all times?

The prize for OMG what were the costume people thinking goes to Adechike's sheer white shirt with neon yellow trimmings. So distracting! That routine was so full of hard tricks (not all of which went right) they barely got a chance to do any dancing.

The best performance of the night was Allison's. She was so lovely!

I just watched and...yeah, didn't get the chairs thing at all. Thought the baseball routine should've been good and...somehow wasn't. I wanted it to be done with boys who looked like they might've actually played baseball sometime ever? Or something? Or maybe a choreographer who knew what baseball looked like?

The Tahitian dance...OMG MARK! "So You Think You Can Dance With Mark" gets my vote for next year. Heck yeah.

I was annoyed by the jive music, but it was sure better than that salsa. Yeesh--poor Anya was carrying herself in those moves.

And I really liked Boogie Shoes. It was adorable.

Travis' dance, and the Chicago number, I wanted to see other people than were dancing them, dance them. And with the Chicago number, I wondered if it had been choreo'd for two regulars, as opposed to an All Star, if there'd have been more interaction.

Ha ha ha! Stupidest Big Brother twist ever.

Catching up on SYTYCD: finally, dance movement I feel qualified to critique! I am fucking amazed that TBC was able to rock those fast umis like that, in a variety of positions and for a length of time. That shit is hard and exhausting and requires ab muscles most people don't know exist. The feathers accentuated the movement nicely, but she really didn't need it.

I'm going to have to watch again for half-naked Mark, I was watching her hips the whole time. I know, I'm nuts.

On a similar note, Anya's backbend was awe inspiring and she got no help with it.