‘So You Think You Can Dance’: Double trouble

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While the viewers at home were treated to a few noteworthy performances (specifically those by Mia Michaels), something seemed a little off about tonight’s episode of ‘So You Think You Can Dance.’ Perhaps it was Cat Deeley‘s quirkier-than-usual dress. Maybe it was the feedback of guest judge Napoleon, who was rivaling Randy Jackson in terms of inanity of commentary (like how it’s the moments that make a story, or something). A tiny bit of tension seemed to hang between judges Mary Murphy and Nigel Lythgoe and definitely between the audience and Nigel (who, correctly, told the crowd to shut up when he’s giving constructive criticism.)

Of course, what was actually different about the episode was that each of the couples performed two dances, which definitely moved the show along at a quicker pace. But because the dancers also had to work on two wildly different routines, the dances perhaps weren’t quite as honed as they normally would be, and with so many more dances, some of them seemed to run together. As Nigel commented after Comfort and Thayne’s Broadway routine, ‘I should be amazed.’ What was amazing were moments like Katee’s Shean slow-motion running during her and Joshua Allen‘s Michaels’ contemporary routine and the piece on the mattress that Michaels choreographed for Twitch Boss and Kherington Payne. But it felt like the other dances, even the strongest ones, lacked a certain dazzle -- Joshua and Katee didn’t seem especially light on their feet during Benji Schwimmer’s West Coast swing, Kortni Lind and Matt Dorame‘s mambo lacked chemistry, and Jessica King was outright accused of dragging her partner Will Wingfield down (ouch).

Of course the competition needs to get harder as the show moves on to truly determine who should be eliminated, so the two-dance format will prove to be effective. But as the contestants get narrowed down, it hopefully will also increase the percentage of truly memorable dances per episode.

-- Claire Zulkey