'So You Think You Can Dance': Tapping out

As much as tonight's cut might have hurt Nigel Lythgoe personally, I think it made sense and frankly I'm not surprised that tonight's eliminated dancers went home. I had a feeling that a certain group would be a quick casualty of the show, and I was right. That group of course is: 

the tappers.  Actually, I was surprised that Bianca Revels and Phillip Attmore were eliminated before Peter Sabasino, asI thought the first two were favored by the judges, but at the very least in Phillip's case, it was apparent before his dance was even finished that he and possibly his partner Channing Cooke would be in the bottom three. Their struggles were embarrassingly evident during their Tony Meredith and Melanie LaPatin samba: the way Phillip lifted Channing made it look like she must have weighed 50 pounds more than she did and neither one got the knack of putting their hips into their dance.  It was very sad though to hear Phillip reveal that his father recently passed away, but it was heartwarming to hear that so many of his fellow contestants joined him at the funeral. 

While I didn't think that Bianca was going to last long in the competition (due to her limitations as a tapper), I wonder if it was the choreography that did her in tonight. The judges didn't seem to love Tyce Diorio's "The Color Purple" dance about being moved by the spirit in church, but the feedback wasn't exactly specific. Adam Shankman wanted to see the dancers "lose it" and was too "aware that you're dancing" and Mary Murphy mostly just said that she "wanted more." I didn't think this was a good enough explanation about what they felt the dancers, as opposed to the choreography, was lacking.

I thus didn't agree with the judges about everything tonight. I didn't think Mollee Gray and Nathan Trasoras' Bollywood dance was as precise as it could have been and I still don't think Mollee's maturing as fast as the judges say. And I also didn't understand what Adam found so "controversial" about Pauline Mata and Peter Sabasino's "Starry Night"-inspired dance by Wade Robson (which I enjoyed, especially from Pauline): perhaps that it was something more of a straightforward dance that we usually see, without a lot of tricks and a story? I'm not sure.  

I did agree with the judges' enthusiasm, though, about Kathryn McCormick and Jonathan "Legacy" Perez, both of whom have surprised me so far this season. They did a great job with Stacey Tookey's contemporary dance and I feel like Tookey could possibly fill, at least partially, the hole left by Mia Michaels. And I also share the judges' appreciation for Ellenore Scott and Ryan Di Llelo. Like I said, they make a sexy couple but Ellenore got extra points with everyone for dancing like a pro through her dress being caught on her heel during a tango. 

Another thing I agree about with the judges? Karen Hauer is a hot tamale. Meow! We'll see if she gets to a point where her sex appeal doesn't assist her in a performance, but so far that hasn't been a problem.

--Claire Zulkey

Photo: Karen Hauer (L) and Kevin Hunte (R) perform a hip-hop routine choreographed by Tabitha and Napoleon D'Umo. Credit: Michael Becker / Fox

Related posts:

'So You Think You Can Dance': Easy come, easy go?
'So You Think You Can Dance': Meet your Top 20! (Especially since two of them will be gone tomorrow)
Find all "So You Think You Can Dance" coverage here.

Comments

[Kristal]

Tonight had some really great routines! Loved the Wade piece, Nappy Tabs's auto were my favorite. Sad to see the tappers go, but they definitely were the bottom dancers this week. I thought Noelle was going home for sure, until I saw her solo. She had the best solo of the night! For more of my thoughts, check out my blog here: http://toointerestingfortwitter.blogspot.com/2009/11/so-you-think-you-can-dance-top-18.html

[Punky]

i just do not understand why bianca was in the bottom over channing. if RUSSEL L was 'not superb enough' to be safe last week, how oh HOW is it possible that channing WAS superb enough to be safe!? she really did quite a bad job. much worse than bianca, i thought. yes, bianca was not long for this competition but i enjoy watching her try and grow a lot more than i do channing ...

i think the judges are getting a LIL too full of themselves and need to keep in mind that they're not judging the olympics. this is for the fans.

[Ashley]

I'm really upset that Bianca was let go. Despite popular opinion, I didn't think her performance was off. But I guess I shouldn't be too surprised that both Phillip and Bianca were let go since Nigel basically doomed all the tappers on the spotlight episode last week. What really annoys me is that the judges picked twice in a row, and while I understand that this is necessary because of the World Series, I thought this was the search for America's Favorite Dancer, not the judges' search. But hey, I could be wrong.

[Janet E]

I believe the controversy is based on the choice of music which I thought was perfect! The fact that the song is entitled "Little Green Bag" might raise eyebrows but it's 2009 so I don't think it was a big deal. The dance itself was AWESOME!

[KB]

I wasn't surprised at all by last night's eliminations. Both Phillip and Bianca kept their bodies too much in the rigid stance of tappers instead of allowing the new moves to flow. I get that tapping is all about making the feet do crazy things while holding the upper body still, but when Bianca danced for her life, it looked like her shoulders were going to take root near her ears and that's all I could "see", not the fantastic movement of her tapping. There are a few other dancers that may not be long for the show, but these two weren't a surprise at all.