The first week of competition for the Top 20 on So You Think You Can Dance got off to a rip-roaring start this week. I can’t recall a season where, right out of the gate, every dance and every performer got high marks. There were a few minor criticisms (mostly about personality as opposed to technique), but nothing to determine in any way that there were two people that deserved to go home this week.
I’ve got my favorite dancers already: Melanie and Ryan for the girls and Marko and Jess for the boys (Jess has the potential to be this season’s Jakob). That’s not to say that I can find anything at all wrong with any of the others because they are all amazing! The highlights of this week’s performance show were Clarice and Jess’ Broadway number, Jordan and Tadd’s African Jazz opener and Melanie and Marko’s Travis Wall choreographed Contemporary number of two statues come-to-life who only want to be together. It was simply breathtaking, stunning, beautiful … and by the end of it I was in tears.
As I commented when the season began, I know nothing about dance except what I’ve seen on this show (and to a lesser degree Dancing With the Stars), but when two people can perform like that and convey the emotion of the characters they’re portraying simply through their movements, that is a magical thing. I can’t begin to explain how or why something like that can bring me to tears … that’s just the power of the choreography (and I don’t think Nigel was blowing smoke when he said it could garner an Emmy nomination) coupled with two very talented dancers. It would have been a complete shock had Melanie and Marko been in the bottom three.
Then came the results show full of unexpected twists. The couples responsible for three of my favorite four dances of the night were in danger! Jordan & Tadd and Clarice & Jess were in danger along with Miranda & Robert and the injured Mitchell, who didn’t get to dance on Wedensday’s show. I don’t know which couple’s status was more shocking. As much as Melanie & Marko had to power to make me weep, Miranda and Robert’s Jive just made me smile from ear to ear. Like I said, it was a tough first week to even guess who was going home.
Then something even more unexpected happened not only as the judges asked Robert and Mitchell to dance for their lives a second time, but when all was said and done … no one was sent home! Never in the show’s eight seasons has this happened. The decision has certainly stirred up some controversy around the webisphere, but I believe they made a good call — of course it will suck next week when we lose four dancers, but at least everyone will get a chance to dance again. If some of the same people end up in the bottom three, it will make the judges’ decision all the easier because clearly they are not connecting with the voters. And in all fairness, this also gives Mitchell a shot at dancing for votes based on his performance. He was automatically placed in danger due to his injury so viewers weren’t even given a chance to (sympathy) vote for him. The decision would have been solely up to the judges and they may have kept him over another dancer out of sympathy … and if they had eliminated him, viewers would have turned into an angry, torch-carrying mob over the unfairness of the decision, because how can they decide to cut him based on a 30 second dance? I think Nigel, Mary and guest judge Megan Mullally made the best decision by not sending anyone home. It certainly made for some great live television as host, judges, dancers and crew came thisclose to losing their collective cool, but somehow they held it all together.
This is just the first week of competition and it’s sure to get even more fierce as each of these great dancers not only have to perform like they’ve never performed before, but they have to appeal to the voters to keep them in the competition. Likability is a huge factor when it comes to votes, and one bad word from the judges about someone’s lack of personality and they can pretty much pack their bags. One thing’s for sure, I will be tuning in each week to be entertained and moved by these amazingly talented dancers.
“I’m gonna be on medication for the rest of my life.” — Cat Deeley as things began to fall apart when the judges could not come to a decision on who to send home.
Clacked by Chuck Duncan 
on Jun 18, 2011 @ 02:10 EST5EDT
I think they made the right call but I still think next week there should be only one couple leaving and just make up for it at some other time.
*POST AUTHOR*
I agree, they shouldn’t lock themselves into absolutely eliminating four dancers next week. I know they have a specific number of weeks to fill but if the quality of dance is on the same level next week as it was this week, how are they going to choose? It’s impossible to eliminate someone based on their dancing alone if there is nothing to complain about with their technique. If someone doesn’t connect with the viewers, then they’re just going to have to base the choice on votes … and once they do that, it becomes American Idol and the judges have no say in things. That’s why I like SYTYCD, because the judges are just given the suggestion of who to send home but they make the final decision based on merit and not who smiles and winks at the camera most often.
I think they should just elimate as many as they want. In the past there have been weeks where I felt a lot of people should go home, the judges should just wait until that happens and get rid of 4 people. The worst thing that would happen is when the finale comes around there will be 6 dancers instead of 4. it’s not that big of a deal.
. . . . .
Chuck:
I’m with you on it being difficult to find anything wrong with the contestants. The quality of their dance is pretty first rate. When it comes down to someone smiling more or injecting a little more personality into a performance and that being about the only thing the judges have to quibble about, you know things are off to a rockin’ start.
Melanie and Marko’s performance was probably the highlight of the performance night for me. I sat in stunned silence watching their dance. The thing that struck me was the power in Melanie’s legs; she’s got uncanny control and the powdery makeup they were wearing only accentuated that fact.
Regarding the “dance for you life” performances, if sending someone home was based on that segment alone, I would have booted Jordan Casanova. Her routine just needed a stripper pole and it would have been complete. There were just too many suggestive and seductive moves in it to be convincing. It was the biggest flaw in the program Thursday evening.
Now … I’m going to call bullshit with Nigel’s announcement not to send anyone packing. In a different frame of mind, I think I might have been thrilled with this decision for the mere fact we get more dancing out of the four who will eventually be taking the stage once more, but I’m not. In my humble opinion, I think it was yet another grandstanding play The Powers That Be pulled in an effort to pad the fall they committed with last year’s “Top 10 only” monkey business. Yes, yes … it’s all well and good for the show on the drama end of things, but it just smacks of peacockish struttery to me.
Still, nifty start to the season.
*POST AUTHOR*
You know, Jordan’s original audition was rather stripper-ish and I was frankly surprised that she even made it past that part of the process, so it’s no surprise that her solo dance was similar. I agree that she could have been let go but then what boy would have gone with her?
I don’t, however, believe Nigel was grandstanding or creating drama. Well, when he had to line them up and go through each one’s strengths he could have just done away with that and addressed them as a group since he knew after the second dances that no one was leaving. I don’t think it was planned at all because there was such an air of frenzy that I felt watching all of that happen live (even though I watched it on the DVR Friday night), from the director seeming to not know what camera to cut to, to seeing the stage hand rush in and grab the chair before the second dances to Cat almost having a nervous breakdown on live TV. She even tweeted after the show, “What the hell just happened???” Nothing about it seemed planned to me. It’s just going to get more difficult from this point on if the dancers can sustain this level of excellence and push themselves even farther. It will really come down to what happens when dancers are taken out of their element. It seemed a little too coincidental that many of them got their own style this week from Iveta’s Quick Step to Jess’ Broadway number. Jess, I think can do anything but once you give Iveta Krump or Hip Hop, she’s gone. And don’t forget, once they get to Top Ten, the dancers will be paired with All-Stars, which I’m not too keen on but I would love to see Jess and Jakob do a number together, leaping about the stage!
Nice post Chuck! I too loved Melanie and Marko’s dance. I think the dancers who end up getting Travis Wall as a choreographer are super lucky; they’re almost guaranteed votes.
I definitely thought Jordan should go home. I’m surprised she made it to the Top 20 after her stripper routine in the auditions. I can only assume that she was really good in Las Vegas. I don’t think we saw much of her then.
I think it would have been difficult to send a guy home since Mitchell was injured. I think that’s why they decided to wait until next week.
You made a good point that a lot of the dancers got their own style. I’m looking forward to seeing them mix it up more. Maybe then it’ll be easier to choose the bottom two. It’s definitely going to be a great season!
*POST AUTHOR*
Thanks, Jean! It will be interesting to see if Jordan can pull off a number with such emotion and sensitivity as Melanie did this week. There will come a point when she can’t just turn on the sexy and have it work.
I did see a quick video with Mary Murphy and she said they would have sent Mitchell home this week, but his solo dance was so powerful that it just threw them for a loop and they’ll have to see this week if his elbow is strong enough for him to continue. But, even on Dancing With the Stars, you usually get two weeks to see everyone dance before anyone is eliminated, and I think keeping everyone this week gives us the chance to better decide who should go and who should stay. Maybe they’ll build an extra week into the show next season, so they can let the top 20 dance twice before elimination — once in their own style (or something similar) and once completely out of their element.
Great idea! I think I only recognize 7 or 8 dancers from the auditions and Las Vegas (usually I know at least 15 dancers), so it would be nice to have 2 weeks before an elimination.