‘So You Think You Can Dance’: From 20 to 16, just like that
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There was a lot to discuss in Thursday’s ‘SYTYCD’ results show, and not all of it was great. I’m not thrilled with the actual eliminations, but we’ll get to that in a moment.
I was irrationally irked by the show’s Gatorade infomercial. I understand they’re a show sponsor and all, and product placement happens at weird times in reality shows (Hello “The Biggest Loser”), but on a day we learned that potato chips are killing us, it was risible when an unnamed ‘lady’ (I am tempted to say ‘dietitian’ but this woman was never identified as such) came by the dancers’ house. She chided the dancers for their eating habits and then told them about three great new drinks they’ll need for before, during and after their routines. I don’t want to make this a column about nutrition, but, long story short, that is BS. Basically, by throwing out the dancers’ ice cream and shoving these drinks in their faces, the ‘lady’ said ‘Stop eating this junk! Start drinking this junk!’
After that nonsense, we saw a performance from the Rage Crew, a high-energy group of dancers ages 8 to 18 who are always fun to watch. In previous years, little tiny boys stole the Crew’s show, but this year it was the little tiny girls, who were dressed in bra tops, red lipstick and pleather pants. I know that it’s nothing new for little kids to dress and dance like adults in the dance circuit, but every now and then it’s still jarring. Still, that one little girl could move.
We also saw a performance from the band LMFAO, whose unambiguously titled track ‘Party Rock Anthem’ I had actually listened to earlier that day. The song was infinitely enhanced by the Quest crew dancers, but I have a sneaking suspicion that LMFAO is just another version of the Black Eyed Peas. FACT: They are a group of guys of varying ethnicities and one white lady. FACT: They are pro-partying. FACT: They include a dancer with a box on his/her head. FACT: Their performances involve spraying something fun all over the audience. Eh? Eh? I rest my case.
We learned in eliminations that the bottom three would be made up of Wadi and Missy (which was no surprise after their weak cha-cha-cha and Wadi’s downer reaction to it), Nick and Iveta (I had a feeling America would fail to embrace Iveta) and Ryan and Ricky (which was a surprise to me, but I didn’t love them the last two weeks so I wasn’t upset.)
My gut reactions to the solos were as such: I like Wadi’s stage presence; I think Missy works hard but she isn’t integral to the competition; both Nick and Iveta deserve to stay at least one more week (at least to see Iveta’s outfits) but probably won’t last very long; Ricky’s not one of my favorites but he killed it with his solo (come on, pirouetting with his ankle to his head?!) and Ryan just doesn’t do it for me, especially when compared to some of the other contemporary dancers. I was mainly rooting for Iveta more than anyone else because I thought she needed rooting for.
Nigel infuriatingly had great things to say to all the girls except Ryan, who he said could have brought more to her solo, but then he saved her. Of the guys, he saved Ricky, although based on Ricky’s solo I agree with that choice. I was a little disappointed that all the couples will stay the same for another week.
And there you have it. Were you satisfied with Thursday’s elimination? Can you explain to me why the judges love Ryan so much? Maybe I’m just not seeing it. It has happened before where I just didn’t get a dancer, and then one night I figure it out.
-- Claire Zulkey