So You Think You Can Dance: Top 12 Perform

(S04E14) Tonight's "jidges" included the return to the panel of Mia Michaels. In a reversal of Kristin's thinking last week, I'm actually disappointed to see Michaels joining Nigel and Mary on the dais this week for two reasons. First, I think she does some amazingly bizarre things with the dancers and I find myself always incredibly curious and mesmerized by her choreography, even if there are those times where I don't get it. But even more importantly, I hate hate HATE her as a judge. She's completely subjective and criticizes the most nonsensical things.

And then tonight she completely surprised me by being generally pretty solid before derailing again to the point I wanted to throttle. But still she can't help but get all ethereal and bizarre leaving confusion in their wake. How do you learn and grow from a comment like "I wanted more movement"? And how do you respond to what was said to Will (which I'll get to later)? Overall, the night wasn't as strong as prior episodes, but there were still some gems among all that rough.

THE PERFORMANCES

Mark & Chelsie
--(Salsa w/ Alex Da Silva - "Fuego," Joe Bataan) I will give wardrobe credit for managing to make an incredibly beautiful girl look like a homeless peacock. Other than the fact that you could see a lot of her toned physique there was nothing about that dress that looked good. Luckily, Chelsea and Mark overcame this by putting together a pretty solid salsa. Chelsea definitely was more into the groove of the piece than Mark, who did dance stiff as the judges mentioned.
--(Broadway w/ Tyce DiOrio - "I'm a Woman," Smokey Joe's Cafe (Original Cast)) For their second number, Mark & Chelsie were able to get into characters. This worked out amazingly for them in their most recent hip-hop number as both are brilliant at acting a part while dancing. And they did it again. The battle of the sexes erupted all over that stage. I'm not sure if that lift toward the end was messed up or choreographed that way, but overall I think these two were G-R-A-T-E.

Thayne & Comfort
--(Hip-Hop w/ Tabitha & Napoleon - "Can We Chill," Ne-Yo) This is Comfort's first chance to show what she can do with someone else's hip-hop choreography. And damn if that girl didn't just show me everything I wanted to see from her. She's grown so much from the beginning of the competition, and it was a true joy to watch her on this number. As for Thayne, I thought he did an admirable job of keeping up with the steps at least, if it was a little out of character for him and it was as if they were dancing separately rather than together.
--(Contemporary w/ Mandy Moore - "A Different Corner," George Michael) There were some really beautiful moments in that piece, and Comfort even shared in some of them. I thought she really threw herself into the character and the choreography, but next to Thayne her inexperience showed in stiffness of movement from time to time. Thayne, however was masterful. This may have been the best I've seen him in several weeks. And yet, they again were two people dancing near one another but not necessarily together.

Will & Jessica
--(Contemporary w/ Tyce DiOrio - "Silence," Unfaithful (soundtrack)) Hey, look at that. After last week's drool-fest over Will's body they've managed to put him in even less clothing this time around. It's like they're treating the guys like ... gasp! ... girls in the wardrobe department. Less is best. Jessica's opening landing had more of a stumble to it than I needed, and while there were a few other awkward jumbles throughout, it was overall a masterpiece of the contemporary style. The fluidity of the motions across the stage mesmerized me through that almost absent music.
--(Quick Step w/ Tony Meredith & Melanie LaPatin - "Bandstand Boogie," Barry Manilow) Well, Will is supposed to be the Renaissance Man of SYTYCD this year, so this was the perfect test of his greatness as the quick step is easily the hardest style on the show. I'm not the expert that Mary is, but I felt a lot of the footwork looked more like jogging than quick step. And a lot of the choreography skipped the quick step altogether for other tricks, which were all executed very well. A good dance, but a good quick step? Not so much.

Gev & Courtney
--(Cha-Cha w/ Pasha Kovalev & Anya Garnis - "Don't Stop the Music (The Wideboys Club Mix)," Rihanna) You never know what you're going to get when former contestants come back to choreograph. Some are great dancers but not so great at choreography. Luckily Pasha and Anya put together a really hot and fun cha-cha. From the beginning Gev's carriage was dead-on. The pair of them were astounding with their footwork when they were separated, and really sold the emotion (hot hot hot) of the performance.
--(Broadway w/ Mandy Moore - "Standing There," The Creatures) A clever routine utilizing a map as a prop that was a lot of fun. There was some great steps in there and the unison from the pair of them was spot on. I think there was one point where Gev stopped and had to wait for Courtney to catch up to him. I think she was supposed to reach out and stop him, but she wasn't in place yet. Overall, though this was another solid outing from the duo.

Twitch & Kherington
--(Cr ump w/ Lil'C - "2 Buck 4 TV," Tha J-Squad) This is probably the hardest-crumping routine we've ever had on the show. After what Twitch has shown in different styles so far, I fully expected him to be all over this sub-genre of what he already does so well, but I have to say that I was impressed by how hard Kherington was hitting as well. And I'm not sure what her pants were made out of, but they looked absolutely amazing plastered onto her frame like that.
--(Smooth Tango w/ Jean-Marc Genereaux - "Assassin's Tango," Mr & Mrs Smith (soundtrack)) First Kherington had to find her inner gangster and now she had to follow it up with a fight tango. And once again, we had a chair brought on stage to up the stakes. I would have liked a little more strut from Twitch, especially early in the routine. The couple's roles were reversed with Kherington taking the stronger position. Overall, though, I have to say the routine was a disappointment for me as I didn't get the "fight" out of it that was promised.

Joshua & Katee
--(Viennese Waltz w/ Jean-Marc Genereaux - "Iris," Goo Goo Dolls) The concept of this performance where Joshua was a ghost dancer that Katee could feel but not see was an ambitious addition to this style, but something that fits beautifully with the flowing motions. What happened was one of the most emotional performances of the night, wrought with heartbreak and passion. There were technical issues throughout on the ground and Katee carried the number by being flawless herself. Luckily for Joshua your eyes couldn't help but be drawn to her!
--(Bollywood w/ Nakul Dev Mahajan - "Dhoom Taana," Om Shanti Om (soundtrack)) A new dance style and choreographer for the show. I was actually pretty thrilled to see this Indian (the country not the indigenous peoples of the Americas dontchaknow) style coming to a popular American show. There are so many cultures we just don't know very much about, and what a great opportunity to see an expression of dance from one of the most populous nations in the world. I was also pleased to see Katee & Joshua get it, as opposed to a more limited coupling like Comfort & Thayne. I will say that seeing Indian moves on an African and Asian looking couple was a real melting pot experience. I thought they both did the number a great deal of credit. Without knowing a great deal about the style, I thought Katee seemed really comfortable in it and owned it more than Joshua, though he did a great job with it as well.

BEST OF THE NIGHT
This was a tough night for the dancers. There weren't any standout performances at all for me. I thought individuals in each couple had great performances (Twitch's crumping and Katee's waltz as examples). That said, the best couple of the night was Gev & Courtney as they did very well on both of their routines. But, the best routine of the night for me was Joshua & Katee's amazing Bollywood routine. They truly brought another world to the stage in a very authentic way.

WORST OF THE NIGHT
While Comfort & Thayne took a stab at this with their incredibly awkward contemporary routine, it's a surprise to me to give the stinker of the night to Jessica & Will's awful quick step routine. It seemed almost as if the choreographers knew their quick step was a nightmare.

OUTFIT OF THE NIGHT
For the sheer transformation and beauty she brought to her Bollywood routine, I'm going to have to give the outfit of the night to Katee's Bollywood costume. She was just stunning in that Indian-inspired garb. And just for fun, I'll give Chelsie a shout-out for the most god-awful ugliest dress of the night that she opened the show in.

LINE OF THE NIGHT
The line of the night is Mia Michael's open-mouth-show-what-a-bitch-I-can-be. "You look tired of carrying her ... You've been carrying her this whole time ... You need a new partner." The out-of-line and offensive and shitty words of Mia Michaels to Will after his and Jessica's quick step routine. Bottom line is that they both sucked on this one and Mia needs to learn to be objective even about people she's smitten with.

THE TOP TEN
From here we get our Top 10, and it is those ten dancers who hit the road for the tour. So it's a tough night to have to pick which of these twelve dancers should be denied that opportunity. As disappointing as it is to say, I'd choose to eliminate Comfort and Thayne. That said, I suspect the judges might be quicker to cut Jessica and Mark in the elimination show.