So U Think U Can Krump

…is actually the title of a song. That is what I learned on last night’s SYTYCD eppy. I’m going to try and wow even myself, today, by managing to get a recap done before the following evening’s results show. If the pros can do it, surely I can, right?

(And, before you ask, I’m not going to bother with recapping last week’s show, because my DVR failed me when I needed it the most and I have yet to see anything other than the Wikipedia entry of last week’s results).

At the beginning of last night’s episode, Cat did her big show of explaining to us just how live this season’s shows really are (including some awkwardly staged backstage primping moments), and then there was a montage of the contestants each drawing a name out of the hat of all stars (go ahead and take the time to imagine them all in one, giant hat – I did) and now I’m led to believe that Kathryn is somehow a Bollywood dancer by training. Ohhhh, the liberties you take, SYTYCD…

Let's get down to the performances:


Cristina and… Pasha
(Paso Doble)
Aside from the awful joke about “Pasha Doble”, this didn’t turn out as well as I’d hoped. It might be that I just don’t know how to differentiate various latin ballroom styles and assume that someone whose specialty is one will automatically be great in another, but Cristina’s scowl was just a little too forced to me. Also, I always thought the Paso Doble was about a matador and his cape, and NO ONE was wearing red! The hell..??

Adéchiké and… Allison
(Contemporary)
When the unnecessary beginning montage showed us that Ade v.2.0 picked Allison’s name out of the hat and they were to dance a contemporary number, I was sure this was going to be one of those tearjerkers that makes Nigel talk about his “cold heart” and Mia say some bullshit adjectives that hold little to no value because she doles them out like they’re candy. Oddly enough, the jidges weren’t awestruck. I guess I’m a firm believer in great technique carrying a dance, because I didn’t care about the “emotions” and “connection” between the two of them as much as they did. I'd say it was one of the better danced routines of the night, actually. And Adéchiké is unGODly light on his feet, which I appreciate in a male dancer.

Alex and… Lauren
(Broadway)
I know that Lauren used to be an assistant for Tyce before she was old enough to be a contestant on the show, but I have to say that I never really considered her to be much by way of Broadway (Vocal Adrenz doesn't REALLY count). After last night, I stand corrected. Even though Alex is one of the strongest dancers in a season that is STACKED with strong male dancers, it surprised me how often my eyes went to Lauren. I don’t think the jidges were too strongly swayed one way or the other about the routine (aside from some bit about Alex looking hunched), but I just think this number was a perfect mixture of great, yet simple, choreography and amazing technique.

Ashley and… Mark
(Jazz)
Let’s get the obvious out of the way: Mark looks SSOOOO damn—oh, wait, no… what I meant was... Ashley and Mark look like they’re related. I’m not sure why, and it’s obviously out of anyone’s control so it’s more or less a moot point, but THAT really kept me from getting into a piece about emotions and feelings and wanting to BE with someone the way that Travis (eeeeeeee! Travis! Woooo!) had intended. 'Cause, y'know, ew? Also, I guess I never really hold on too tightly to what style of dance they’re committing, when I watch the show, so I was a little annoyed by the jidges’ great opposition of this piece being called a jazz. I guess I agree that it definitely wasn’t Fosse reincarnate (again, look to Alex and Lauren’s routine for that), but it was good. Also, until last night, I was pretty sure jazz, contemporary, and lyrical were more or less interchangeable for this show, so the “new style” of dance in which they want to see Ashley “tackle and flourish” argument is pretty damn futile.

Billy and… Comfort
(Krump …ahhhh!!)
Ohhhhhhhh, this is such a beautiful concept: a technically beautiful contemporary male dancer (with the skin and voice of a milkmaid) put in a dance where he’s supposed to be raw and show aggression. To hip hop. This was both as much impressive and a train wreck as I thought it would be. There were parts where I SWORE BB Kurt Hummel was frolicking through a meadow, but others where I was actually pretty surprised by how hard he was hitting the steps/beats. That, combined with the discovery that there’s actually a song titled [see post title], made this possibly one of the best performances (note how I didn’t say “dances”) of the night. Honorable mentions to Cat's awesome dig at Nigel about his age (and how "the kids like [the music]") Take a look…




Robert and… Anya
(Argentine Tango)
Now, the audience and Anya and even Jean-Marc Généreux (choreographer) thought that this was an EXCELLENT performance and Robert was seriously channeling some “Roberto”. The jidges, however, thought that he was either trying too hard or being eaten by Anya or some shit. Anya’s amazing, and this dance was probably made FOR her, but I was really impressed with what someone with a contemporary background could accomplish on Week 2.

Melinda and… Ade
(Contemporary)
Now, I love me a good treehugging story, but I think I wasn’t terribly impressed with the choreography on this one. The story was a little bit of build-up in the rehearsal piece, but then just kind of… meh. And, I have to agree with Mia about the costume being distracting, but honestly, if Melinda wasn’t dressed like Poison Ivy, I don’t think I’d have ever known what the dance was about. Everyone was really impressed with Melinda’s technique in a style so different from her own, but I guess the fact that she talks a good game has me already expecting her to ACE everything. I suppose I just expect too much from my girl crushes.

Jose and… Kathryn
(Bollywood …the fuck?!)
So, if I understand correctly, the purpose of having the vets back on the show to dance with the contestants is to use THEIR styles of dance as the chosen style for the week, yes? Then WHY THE HELL are they dancing Bollywood?! While we're on the topic, I definitely had this issue with Courtney’s style magically becoming African, last week too. Now, I’m more critical of Bollywood than other styles of dance for a variety of reasons, ranging from cultural self-loathing to an actual background in a much more difficult, far less fluffy form of Indian dance, but I’m willing to bet that I wasn’t the only one who found this too cringe-worthy to watch. No, really, I FFW’ed straight through the latter half of this, so I honestly couldn’t tell you what happened.

Lauren and… Dominic
(Lyrical Hip-hop)
I know that when Dominic being D-Trix, he’s all hip hop-y and old school and blah blah, but he doesn’t have someone to partner then. I think he should always stick to Lyrical Hip-hop, because he masters emotion in dance SO well. And, right, the contestant! Lauren is definitely climbing my favorites’ list a lot faster than I thought she would. Last week, I thought she was a lot better than the jidges did, and that more or less stands true, this week as well. She seems like one of those girls who definitely took hip-hop at some point or another, so I’m not surprised she did well, but her level of commitment to the dance was what really surprised me. Shanks seemed to pick up on it, and just lauded her with lots of last ditch jidge-y praise, but, in all honesty, I think she deserved it. Look below…



Kent and… Courtney
(Jazz)
Now, normally I hate when people assume the dynamic between a new partnership before it hits, but there’s really no denying the fact that ANY female would chew Kent up and spit him out before he knew what hit him. And, despite the 943839048 gay/Cherub/eunuch jokes that are just bubbling at the surface of the entire rehearsal footage, I have to say, I was yet again endeared by his commitment to a different style. Also, it’s nice to see that, technically, he really IS quite good.



I did it! Now, I can’t promise this will always happen, but for the first recap of the season, you got the whole shebang before the Results Show. If I had to put my money on the bottom three? I’d say: Jose, Cristina, and Ashley.

Tune in tonight and see if I’m right!