SYTYCD Weds 8/1

Danny & Sara - Argentine Tango
I thought they partnered pretty well. I really wanted to see a lot more give and take between the two of them though and more work in a close embrace. Did they spend so much time apart because there was fear of them not pulling off the frame? His endless pirouettes make me dizzy just watching, but somehow he manages to maintain his center and stride right out of them as if he was never even turning. While the acrobatics were impressive, they didn't work for me in the context of the piece. More tango and less showing off please! (But once again, that's a gripe for the choreographer.) Not as hot as I'd have anticipated.

Danny & Sara - Hip Hop
Can we PLEASE fire the camera men now? I am so sick of them allowing people to dance right out of the frame. It really looks like amature night.
The dancers took a lot of teasing about their costumes. Yeah, in today's light they look pretty ridiculous. But back in the day when Salt & Peppa were hot, those outfits would have fit right in. As for the dancing, I was disappointed. I didn't know what to expect from Danny, but I felt Sara should have been better since she was dancing something close to her own style. Maybe she was compensating to attempt to match Danny? Whatever the case, it didn't work. They weren't matched and there was no magic at all here. It was kind of like hip hop for little kids.....it needed more of an edge to it.

Lauren & Dominic - Krump
I wasn't all that impressed with this one either. I never felt drawn in and the energy wasn't as strong as I would expect from Krumping. Lauren was supposed to run across Dom's back but instead she fell off. She did a reasonable job of covering up her mistake.

Lauren & Dominic - Rumba
Overall, I liked this. I was very disappointed that Dom just did not have the Latin hips down at all. He has a fabulous build for this kind of dance, if only he'd work those hips! They were very sexy together and I thought their lines were very well matched. I did catch Lauren doing an awkward little catch-up step to correct herself after coming out of a spin towards the end.

Lacey & Neil - Latin Jazz
I was really excited about this one before they did it. I ended up with mixed feelings though. I had to re-watch it this morning. Last night, at first glance, I liked the lift. This morning, when I watched it again, I was annoyed because I felt they actually wimped out with it. It seemed to me that Lacey was probably not intended to be holding on like that. She looked unbalanced and scared up there, like they couldn't find their center. And I just wanted to smack her and tell her to stop looking at her camera and look at that hot man with no shirt on! I finally got into the last part of it, after the lift. I think there was more of a sense of abandon to the dance from that point on which made it fun to watch. Maybe Neil can give Dom some lessons on that hip action.

Lacey & Neil - Mia's Contemporary
I felt like the two of them were very much in the moment in this piece and gave a full performance. For once Lacey's expressions weren't overdone and she stayed in the picture. The look on his face at the top when he first saw her was amazing. I loved the moment where he caught her with his hand over her face and she completely released into his arms. I've seen some criticism that this was more acted than danced. True, it wasn't technically complex. But dance isn't just about technique.....it's also about about conveying emotion. I felt that they did that wonderfully.
But once again, let me bitch and moan about the technical elements of this show. What the heck was the idea of showing us that lift from above? The camera angle cancelled out the choreography.....we were cheated out of any sense of elevation and lost the soaring motion. I get the idea of wanting to show the bright light of Heaven, but can we please have a little color in the design? Too much white light creates a washed-out, over-exposed look, especially when paired with those beautiful white costumes.

Sabra & Pasha - Broadway
I thought they were very fun to watch. They were well syncronized, seemed connected and had great energy. The roll and the lift were smoothly executed.

Sabra & Pasha - Quickstep (other-wise known as the "kiss of death" dance)
Favorite costumes of the night. Very appropriate for the dance and looked great on the dancers. In the past, the Quickstep has often been a kiss of death for whoever pulled it out of the hat. I thought that Sabra and Pasha did a nice job with it though. She was very lucky to draw this dance when she had him as a partner. They upheld their energy throughout the piece and they used the full stage. (Something that both of them are normally very good about doing anyway.) I felt that on some of the longer runs across the floor she was working hard to keep up with him. The split leap was nice and she had a smooth landing, moving right into the next step. I think it was a good idea to follow up Mia's heart-string tugging piece with something fast and fun like this.

I predict that Dominic will get his walking papers tonight. For the girls, it will either be Lauren or Sara.