'So You Think You Can Dance': Susie and Marquis go home

Following the traditional formula of "So You Think You Can Dance" elimination shows, no one would have predicted that Jessica King and Will Wingfield, and Kourtni Lind and Matt Dorame would all be safe. Typically, when two couples are standing onstage, one is going to have to dance for their lives. However, it still wasn't a major shock to see Chelsea Traille and Thayne Jasperson, Susie Garcia and Marquis Cunningham, and Chris Jarosz and Comfort Fedoke dancing for their lives, as all had received lukewarm comments on Wednesday night's show. 

It still feels like the contestants by and large haven't gotten the grasp of dancing for their lives. At least to the home viewer, the solos don't feel as full of heart and soul as they should. Marquis appeared to have the most going on, as he flew about the stage and showed off his long, flexible legs, but the judges apparently felt that, in his case, it wasn't so much about lacking heart as "tricks," and thus he was sent home. And that's a shame, but then again, it would have been sad to say good-bye to Thayne or Chris as well.  Perhaps it's for the best, though, that the contemporary field got thinned a bit. 

Neither Comfort nor Susie nor Chelsea really seemed to prove why they deserved to be in the competition based on their solos, either. However, based on the show up until this point, at least the judges are already familiar with Chelsea's spark, and while they accused Comfort of not reaching her true potential yet, she's proved herself with her hard work and versatility. Unfortunately, that left Susie, who seemed to have fallen away from the pack a bit in the last few weeks. Her spirit seemed broken when the choreographers and judges questioned her ability as a salsa dancer, and she seemed to take the criticism to heart, thus embodying the critique that perhaps she was mostly sizzle and not so much technique or even soul. 

It's interesting that the judges have eliminated whole couples thus far. The show always livens up a bit when new couples are forced to form, but there's plenty of time for that to happen as the season progresses.

-- Claire Zulkey

Comments

[Candy Chitty]

My roommate and I were shocked that Marquis got booted because of "the tricks." That's all dancing is, is tricks. Marquis was by a mile, the best of the three men. What were they thinking???!!! There's some obvious bias goin on here.

[Helen Chrissis]

I was stunned that the judges eliminated Marquis from the Show. Marquis was BY FAR THE BEST of the three dancers. I'd love to know what 'the tricks' were that Nigel Lythgoe was referring to in Marquis' solo. What is Nigel on?!? Marquis absolutely owned the stage - he was simply SUPERB - such stunning fluidity of movement and brilliant technique - it was an unforgettable performance - sheer joy to watch! Marquis' performance far outshone both Thayne' and Chris' solos. What a pity Debbie Allen was unable to be a judge on this Show. I believe that had Ms Allen and Dan Karaty been judging on the night they would not have eliminated Marquis. Shame on all the judges, Nigel Lythgoe, Mary Murphy and Mia Michaels, on the night.They have robbed Marquis of his rightful place to continue on the show and denied the viewers of the chance to see this superb artist perform! As Candy Chitty states in her comment (June 23) "There's some obvious bias going on here." I couldn't agree more Candy! Marquis, I wish you all the very best in life! You're a superb artist and I've no doubt you're going to have a brilliant career in dance!
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA