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This episode started off with them introducing the contestants. Katee looked like she had an alien growing out of her head. They introduced the judges and Mary Murphy looked like a chipmunk, as usual. The guest judge this week is famed choreographer and singer Toni Basil. You know her from that Hey Mickey song.
First up to choose his partner is Will and he picks Courtney. Courtney then chooses hip-hop and samba as their two dances. They dance the samba first. In practice, Will struggles with loosening his hips up enough for the samba and they talk about his family jewels? They dance to [I]I Fell In Love With The DJ[/I] by Che’nell. Courtney looks hot but Will looks just a little bit strange doing the samba. Will’s timing is off a couple of times but overall they did a great job. Nigel says “I feel tonight is going to be a great night.” He tells them that when they weren’t thinking about technique it was fantastic and the chemistry between them was great. He also mentions that all the guys on the show look like they are straight out of the movie 300. Mary says “where’s Ashton because I think I’m being [I]Punked[/I] right now.” She is surprised that two contemporary dancers looked like samba dancers and she screams something so high pitched to Courtney that I have no idea what was said. Toni Basil says that she had so much fun that she forgot to take notes; “I really enjoyed it.”
Comfort is up next with her solo. She started street dancing to hang out with the guys and be down with the fellas. Her dad tricked her into going to a performing arts school by telling her there would be hip-hop classes. We learn that she does have a little bit of formal training in ballet, but I would never guess it by watching her dance. Her solo was better than any she has done before, but still not so great.
Next up is Twitch to choose his partner. He pulls Katee’s name out and then she chooses contemporary and Broadway. They are going to dance the contemporary routine first. Their choreographer is Mia Michaels and the song is [I]Mercy[/I] by Duffy. The story is that Katee is the psycho ex-girlfriend putting twitch through a bunch of shit and Twitch isn’t bothered in the least by it. They start the routine off by making out with each other! I definitely wasn’t expecting that. Katee's head still hasn't given birth to the alien bulging out of it. The whole routine is basically filled with Katee running after twitch and hitting and kicking him and having a door slammed in her face. The performance is great but I didn’t see as much dancing as I would’ve hoped for. Nigel says the performance was just fantastic and I’m beginning to think that’s the only adjective that he knows. He says he’s had a woman banging on his door before but he wouldn’t let her out. That’s a little creepy if you ask me. Nigel goes on to say it was one of the most entertaining routines that have been on the show. Mary does an off the wall knock-knock joke with Nigel that goes like this:
Mary: Knock-knock.
Nigel: Who’s there?
Mary: Two.
Nigel: Two who?
Mary: (screaming) Two of the best dancers we’ve had on this show!
No one laughs at her joke except her. As a future speech pathologist, it makes me cringe to think of what she’s doing to her vocal chords! Anyway, back to the show. Mary says “Katee, you just abused him didn’t you?” Toni Basil tells the two that they are incredibly lucky to have worked with Mia Michaels. She says that Twitch really lucked out because it was funk music and that she was having so much fun that she didn’t take any notes on this one either.
Will is up next with his solo. He first started dancing after watching [I]Dirty Dancing[/I]. Debbie Allen discovered him and brought him to her academy on full scholarship where his skills and knowledge bloomed. He danced to [I]Get Up Offa That Thing[/I] by James Brown. He comes out with a wig on to look like James Brown. His entire solo is just him running around the stage impersonating James Brown. It’s funny, but there’s hardly any dancing.
Mark is up next to choose his partner and he chooses Comfort. Comfort then picks hip-hop, lucky for her, and the foxtrot. Hip-hop is up first and they do a routine choreographed by Tabitha and Napoleon. The song is [I]Forever[/I] by Chris Brown. The story behind the dance is that they are two kids stuck in detention. During practice Comfort says Mark has a good stank-face. The song is [I]Party People[/I] by Fergie feat. Nelly. They do an awesome lift and Comfort does great, of course. Mark is slightly amusing as a hip-hop dancer, but they did a great job. Nigel says he is surprised that Comfort dances so much better when she is given choreography than when she does he solo. That’s exactly what I’ve been saying all along. Nigel is even more surprised by how well Mark did. Mary says they did a great job with that piece. Toni loves this routine and tells us that she takes class from Tabitha and Napoleon sometimes and knows that they are hard choreographers. Toni says mark and Comfort were rooted in the music and the beat and that they were joyful. Joyful isn’t exactly the adjective I would’ve used to describe them.
Katee is up next with her solo. She tells us that she has been dancing since she was 4 years old. She dances to [I]Taking Chances[/I] by Celine Dion. She does the same dance moves every time, but she does them well.
Joshua is up next to pick his partner. He chooses Chelsea and Chelsea chooses the Argentine tango and disco. They do the Argentine tango first. They dance to A Los Amigos from Forever Tango (original cast). The story behind this dance is that they are in the 1920s and they meet at a club and flirt with each other. Chelsea’s footwork is amazing with a lot of little flippy things with her legs. Joshua is a very strong and masculine dancer when he needs to be. Nigel says he think they picked the most technical routine of all the dances on the show. He tells Chelsea that her legs are great and clarifies with Joshua that he doesn’t just mean the shape of them, he means how she used them. He tells Joshua that he has the biggest butt in the competition. And finally he says that the chemistry worked and he really enjoyed the routine. Mary says to Joshua, “from the beginning, you set the mood for all of it” and that sometimes people come off kind of silly when they do this dance but it was believable. She tells Chelsea that this dance was hotter than the last time she did the Argentine tango. Then Mary screams and says they are on the hot tamale train! Toni says the Argentine tango is the most street of the ballroom dances and that it has to feel like it is not choreographed; it has to feel spontaneous and torrid and she says they accomplished that.
Mark is up next with his solo. He started dancing in musical theatre after seeing [I]Phantom of the Opera. [/I]He dances to [I]Creator[/I] by Santogold. It was quirky, as was expected, but there wasn’t a whole lot of dancing. I still love him.
Will and Courtney are up next dancing a lyrical hip-hop. They dance to [I]Like You’ll Never See Me Again [/I]by Alicia Keys. Tabitha and Napoleon choreographed this dance. The story is that Will has passed and Courtney is looking back on her memories, wishing she had him back and that she could turn back time. They gave me the chills and this dance made me really sad, but that might be because I’m an emotional basket-case. They really made you feel the dance and feel like you were living it. Nigel says this is the first season that he has been affected emotionally by hip-hop and it was beautiful. Mary says these are two dancers that she has very high expectations for and they didn’t meet her expectations. Oh wait, just kidding; she screams “you blew my expectations!” Did anyone not see that coming? Mary then says “you’d have to cart me away to the funny farm if I didn’t think that was great.” Can we take you anyway, Mary? Toni explains that when she first started, street wasn’t an art form, but now it is. She fails to mention a single thing about the dancers up on the stage.
Chelsea is up next with her solo. She started dancing at her elementary school because she was shy and hoped to make some friends. She dances to [I]Damaged[/I] by Danity Kane. Chelsea is my favorite dancer right now. She is such a sexy dancer. It’s also her birthday and she is now 19.
Up next is Katee and Twitch doing a Broadway routine to [I]Sweet Georgia Brown[/I] from Bubbling Brown Sugar (original cast). Once again the theme is that Katee wants Twitch, but he wants nothing to do with Katee. It’s a very cute routine and they danced it very well. At the end Twitch throws Katee up in the air and it looks like he almost misses catching her.Nigel says he loved the routine and you could see both of these dancers on Broadway doing this dance. He tells Twitch that he is the least trained dancer here, but he rises to every challenge and to Katee he says there isn’t one routine that she has done that he hasn’t enjoyed watching. Mary screams “I can’t fake you guys out; that was terrific!” Does she ever think she actually fools anyone? Toni says that when Twitch dances, he brings more of a reality to the dances than Broadway dancers do; Twitch comes from the street and dances from the inside out. She says Katee has a little bit of a personality problem because the vocal that she was portraying had such a deep, rough quality that Katee just can’t portray. I must say that I agree, but Katee still did an amazing job.
Next is Joshua with his solo. He looked like a girl when he was little. He dances a hip-hop routine to [I]Shawty Get Loose[/I] by Lil’ Mama feat. Chris Brown and T- Pain. It starts off slow, but it soon picks up and he is amazing as usual.
Courtney is next with her solo. She dances to [I]Where I Stood[/I] by Missy Higgins. She does a beautiful job.
Twitch goes next with his solo. He hasn’t been in any music videos here in the U.S. but he spent 9 months in Korea choreographing videos for some Korean artists. He dances to [I]Go To Work[/I] by Kay L. He also does an amazing job. I’m really pulling for him to be in the finale.
Mark and Comfort dance the foxtrot next. They dance to [I]Lady Luck[/I] by The Brian Setzer Orchestra. Mark does fairly well but Comfort just looks awkward like she has every other time she has danced a ballroom dance. Overall it’s completely boring. Nigel says lady luck walked into the room when they got the hip-hop routine, but walked out when they got foxtrot. He says it looks like there was no chemistry and it was slightly amateurish. Mary says “sorry but it’s not going to be any better here either; I have to agree with Nigel.” Toni says that the power and technique behind the dance is really difficult, but adds “I gotta tell you, your hip-hop routine was fabulous!”
Finally it’s time for Chelsea and Joshua. They do a disco routine to Everlasting Love by Gloria Estefan. Doriana Sanchez gives them a lift that she has been trying to have on the show for 4 years, but no one was ever strong enough. They did it great too! Nigel says the superman lift they did was fantastic and it was great that Joshua had the strength to do it, but also great that Chelsea had the courage to do it. I agree, it looked scary! Nigel says the routine was a great finale to a wonderful show. Mary says it was great and those lifts were really tough. She also can’t believe how many lifts were actually in the routine. Mary mentions that Chelsea exits the lifts really well. Toni says “you pulled together the spirit of disco and what it was like in those clubs. Joshua’s lines aren’t as long, but Chelsea’s lines make up for it; “between the two of you, you pulled it off.”
This episode was good, but not great. The only dance that stuck out to me was Courtney and Will’s lyrical hip-hop. Comfort is set to go home tonight and sadly, so is Mark. I will miss him…