‘So You Think You Can Dance’: OMG, Bieber and an elimination!
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I didn’t wake up this morning expecting to be forced to watch a Justin Bieber video, but that happened tonight on ‘So You Think You Can Dance.’ More surprisingly, I didn’t hate it. The cute dancing of Bieber, Usher and the backup dancers in the ‘Somebody to Love’ video that debuted during the episode almost distracted me from the inexplicable Asian theme, and the fact that the show was broadcasting a video as opposed to actual live performance. That little Canadian and the even littler girl in the video won me over.
Other things happened tonight other than the debut of a new Bieber video. The show opened with a group jazz number to Kelis’ ‘Acapella,’ choreographed by new-to-the-show Tessandra Chavez. I have to admit I had mixed feelings about the performance. There were some cool moves, like when two of the guys swung one of the girls like a jump rope, but the piece sometimes seemed a little cheesy, most probably because of the Show Choir style gold-sequined outfits. Adechike’s sweater alone made me think twice about the dance.
Cat Deeley, in the first dress of the season I’d like to steal (although maybe sans sparkly pin) announced who was safe and who was in the bottom three: Not surprisingly, Alexie and Melinda were down there, as Nigel predicted. However, when it came between Adechike and Cristina, I was surprised that the ballroom dancer was also down there as well.
Before the elimination we saw a performance from Twyla Tharp’s ‘Come Fly Away,’ which was mostly memorable for the strong, lithe, sexy and mature Karine Plantadit. Note to Madonna: That’s how you do back muscles without being scary.
The bottom three danced for their lives and of the three, I only felt moved enough by Cristina’s performance to really want to see her stay: She seemed to work the hardest during her solo.
Before the results Usher performed ‘OMG’: If you saw it already on ‘Idol’ you didn’t need to watch it again, although I enjoyed watching his male backup dancers who were cooler than the kind of stereotypical female backup dancers. Then, as I noted, we were Bieber-jacked.
Finally, we learned the results: By a unanimous vote, the judges sent Alexie packing (this whole segment of the show was interrupted by various promos and commercials, as the show was last night. Fox, please wake up the people at the WFLD affiliate). It’s a shame that after so much time trying out for the show she was the first to go, but at least she got to dance with Twitch?
-- Claire Zulkey
Photo: Robert Roldan, left, performs an African jazz routine with All-Star partner Courtney Galiano on Wednesday night. Credit: Mathieu Young / Fox