So You Think You Can Dance 5, June 24: Bringing Up the Rear

Cat is wearing a cute orange and gold dress. She recently told Entertainment Weekly that she’s styling herself this season, so any hits are to her credit and any misses are to her fault. She reminds us that Max and Ashley were eliminated last week (“I hate Thursdays!”) so we’re down to 16 dancers. Toni “Oh, Micki, You’re So Fine” Basil and her ridiculous hat are the guest judges tonight. Toni is going to receive some hip-hop award. She talks about street dancing for, like, an hour. Guess the show’s over now.

Cat and Mary chat about how responsive the live audience is. Mary reminds us that anything can happen from week to week. Except for her using her inside voice, of course. Nigel doesn’t know who will be in the top ten because the dancers are still evolving and proving themselves. These dancers are some of the best to ever appear on the show, but they’re still learning new styles.

Karla & Jonathan – hip-hop – Dave Scott

The video theme of the week is, “What would you do if you weren’t dancing?” Karla would be a journalist, as she likes writing and studied journalism at NYU. Cool. Jonathan would be an acrobat, which Karla can see.

Karla’s happy with how things went last week and how the judges responded. It was especially nice to know that people voted for her and Jonathan. This week they’ll be dancing hip-hop with Dave Scott, who needs to stop by more often. The dance has a Bonnie and Clyde sort of feel. Jonathan wonders how Dave is going to bring out his inner gangster. Karla says he’s a pretty boy, not a gangster. The toughest move is when Jonathan has to grab Karla’s hat and slide it down her back.

Since everyone has said “smooth criminal” a few times, you’d think that would be the song, but instead it’s “By My Side” by Jadakiss. Karla’s great to watch in this – remember, she dances with a hip-hop crew – but Jonathan has a hard time breaking out of that pretty-boy mold. It’s kind of like Caitlin & Jason’s hip-hop last week, with two different hip-hop styles coming together. Karla hits harder, which I think fits the routine better. I like these two, but we don’t get to see a lot of personality in their dancing. I think that might be their downfall in the end. They’re just not as memorable as the other pairs.

Nigel confirms with Dave that this was supposed to be smooth hip-hop. He thinks all the excitement was ironed out of the routine. He expects fear and danger in hip-hop, and there wasn’t any here. Nigel asks if Jonathan felt comfortable, and since he did, Nigel can’t forgive him. He had no contact with Karla and didn’t get little things right. It wasn’t good enough. It was a Sunday-School picnic instead of gangster. Nigel then announces that he’ll bet anyone that Jonathan & Karla will be in the bottom three, even though they’re good dancers. Cat thinks Nigel is cranky.

Mary doesn’t think Dave will believe the dancers got in touch with their inner gangsters. The chemistry wasn’t powerful, whereas last week it was perfect. The routine wasn’t in the right groove. Mary hopes that Jonathan & Karla get another chance. Toni talks about street dancing again. Okay, why did she come back? She says they didn’t have the funk or the connection, and they didn’t hit hard enough.

Asuka & Vitolio – jazz – Mandy Moore

If Asuka weren’t dancing, she would be making jewelry and selling it to ballroom dancers. A bewigged Vitolio would be the singer of a rock band. Asuka says she’s heard him sing but she doesn’t say whether she supports him or not.

Both dancers are happy with how things went last week. This week they’re with Mandy Moore, doing “thrash rocker jazz.” Asuka’s completely out of her element. Vitolio thinks she’s just overwhelmed because so much is being thrown at her in just a couple of hours. Asuka says she thinks she’s slow and Mandy agrees. Ouch. Later, Asuka cries and Vitolio assures her that they’ll work together and everything will be fine. She likes that they’ve gotten close enough that if he sees her crying, he’ll try to comfort her. He’s really sweet.

The dance is to Pat Benatar’s “Heartbreaker.” It’s pretty much as Mandy described it. It’s two rockers doing a jazz routine. It looks to me like Asuka got everything down. There’s a section where she and Vitolio aren’t in sync, but the rest is pretty good. They play the characters really well, especially Vitolio. I’d like to see Asuka do some contemporary. She’s showing a lot of flexibility and some beautiful lines that we haven’t gotten to see enough of.

Cat can’t believe these are the same “cutie pies” we just saw in their video clip. She calls Vitolio a softie. He says Asuka is a sweetheart so he has to be there for her. Nigel uses this as an example of how different Vitolio the person is from Vitolio the performer – he was sweet with Asuka and then threw her around in the routine. He saw the rehearsals and thought it was simplistic and made to bring out the best in the dancers. However, they did the work and did it well.

Nigel tries to hypnotize Mary into agreeing with him. She says the performance was good but not as terrific as last week’s waltz. She cites the out-of-sync portion. She expected more from the two of them. Mary does like that Vitolio & Asuka are growing as a partnership after their breakthrough last week. She thinks that’s going to really help them in the future. Last week was amazing and this week was just under amazing.

Cat calls the couple Lenny Kravitz and Siouxsie Sioux. Toni thinks Asuka & Vitolio could be a powerful couple. We’ve now seen him comforting her and carrying her in a macho way (after the routine). Toni warns not to let technique get in the way of emotions. They need to let their technique take them to the next level.

Melissa & Ade – rumba – Tony Meredith

Melissa would teach pilates if she weren’t a dancer. She’d want to help people (especially dancers) feel better about their bodies and prevent injuries. Ade thinks this fits her personally. He’d be a sound engineer, possibly on TV. The sound guys let him take a turn holding a boom mike.

Melissa enjoyed finding her alter ego in last week’s performance. Ade was floored by Lil’ C’s praise. They’re dancing a rumba with Tony Meredith, who tells us this is a love dance and requires a lot of sensuality. The technique is specific and needs to be combined with the emotion. Ade & Melissa catch on a little slowly but Tony’s very patient with them. At least they’re all enjoying themselves. Melissa thinks they’re overwhelmed but will get everything together.