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SYTYCD Season 7 Top 10

frau sally benz

Spoilers below!

Seriously, y’all, is there even a competition going on this year, because I’m too busy watching the all-stars!! What is UP with that?! I actually had to rewatch some of the dances to pay attention to the contestants. Anyways, jump on over to read about this week’s competition night.


Before I get started, let me say that I’m bummed Alexie went home last week. I’m in the camp that Melinda should’ve left, but whatevs I guess. On to the performances!

Cristina & Pasha – A paso doble by Jean-Marc and France. It had a rocky start, but I liked this performance. She was really passionate and I actually paid attention to her. Not the best paso doble they’ve ever had, but good.

AdéChiké & Allison – They had a contemporary piece by Mandy Moore. I have to say, I love when they leave the story behind and just dance. Allison was incredible – watching her just made me smile. His emotion seemed forced, but hopefully he’ll get better if he sticks around.

Alex & Lauren – A Tyce Broadway routine that was wholly underwhelming. I don’t particularly like Lauren, but it was hard to watch Alex be all stiff and uncomfortable with Lauren dancing as she was.

Ashley & Mark – Travis’ jazz routine that was actually contemporary. First of all, can’t ignore how pissed Travis was that Nigel kept saying it was more contemporary than jazz, especially when they cut to Tyce after his jazz number later in the show. HILARIOUS! But anyway, Ashley was good, Mark is just so great, and the dance itself was wonderful.

Billy & Comfort – They had krump by Lil C. Oh boy… I have to say, I’m impressed that he got into it as much as he did, but it was definitely not great. As my friend said “that boy will never be buck in his life.” And really, that’s all there it to say…

Robert & Anya – An Argentine tango by Jean-Marc & France. What on earth is Nigel smoking, I did NOT like this performance!!! Sure, maybe he has the look for this, but his legs were awkward and I just thought he was trying too hard.

Melinda & Ade – Contemporary by Stacey Tookey… I’m sorry, but I was bored. Ade was incredible, of course, but Melinda was just okay. Usually I like Stacey’s choreography, but I found it boring.

Jose & Kathryn – They had Bollywood by Nakul. While Jose has the personality and energy, he just doesn’t have the skills. This was simply not good, sorry Jose. I wish Billy Bell had gotten this one instead.

Lauren & Dominic – Lyrical hip hop by Tessandra Chavez. HOORAY for a new hip hop choreographer! BOO for the awful song selection! Seriously, “If I Were a Boy” for a (fabulous) dance about domestic violence?? Weird! The song was distracting, but Lauren stepped it up and was really good, though Dominic was fantastic.

Kent & Courtney – A jazz routine by Tyce. I liked this piece more than the judges, I think. Certainly, it wasn’t 100% there with the performance, but I found Kent much more believable this week than last. I think he’ll keep growing.

I really hope Melinda or Jose goes home this week. I don’t think either one of them is good enough to be there, sorry yo.

What do you all think?

6 thoughts on SYTYCD Season 7 Top 10

  1. I totally 100% agree with you! I will be fine if Melinda goes home, I’m not that big on her, but I really want Jose’s cocky butt off the show for good lol I agree that neither has what it takes. And I said the EXACT same thing about Lauren and Dominic’s dance. How the heck do you dance to “If I Were A Boy?”

  2. Honestly, Adechike should have been bottom three last week. The tween girl voting bloc frightens me; we may end up with an all-boy show.

    Most of the dances underwhelmed me this week. I was sorry that Alex didn’t find a way to do the Fosse slink; I thought he could do anything. But we learned last season from Melissa that ballet dancers struggle with loosening up.

    I thought the best dances this week were Lauren’s “lyrical” hip hop and Melinda’s Gaia.

    I thought they were too hard on Billy. At least Adam had real input (hit-rebound-pause) instead of just talking about how Billy’s too cute for krump. Cuz that ain’t helpful. Billy was simply too fluid.

  3. Excellent point, Deborah! YES, Billy was just too fluid and hopefully Adam’s critique will help. (Thanks for highlighting that distinction!)

    That shot of Travis next to Tyce was PRICELESS. If a face could talk, it would have had to be bleeped.

    For the first time, I think, I found Cat Deeley’s comments “inappropriate” to Dominic. He was still SO in character after the dance–Lauren and Dom both were, it seemed like–and her cheeky joke something to the effect of “Do you want to go deeper, Dominic?”, given their history of his crush on her, was, well, weird for me.

    I after initially being in love with the new format, I’m wishing there was more new talent to appreciate and less old talent to be distracted by–as you note frau sally benz. I’d like a “top twenty” for the new dancers: so the other ten of the top twenty could now be getting the experience and exposure. It seems the producers are trying to compete more with the format of “Dancing With the [All] Stars”, but the honeymoon is over for me. Not that I don’t love the all-stars.

    I don’t see Jose as cocky at all, but maybe I’m missing something. He seems sweet and innocent to me.

    I think there’s something about the choreography that tends to emphasize the boys in ways that make each of them more distinct, and so was glad to see some numbers that seemed less about romanticised heterosexist stuff and more about having the woman and man do quite similar steps in sync: like the Fosse and Bollywood pieces (but agree Alex didn’t get into that Fosse groove at all).

    Tessandra’s piece, and the performance of it, was amazingly powerful to me. I’m glad Nigel supported her bringing that theme to the show. And I’m missing Mary Murphy, personally. She was way more high energy and also offered informed critique, and Mia is just too low key, for me.

  4. I am in the Melinda camp as well, yet she’s STILL here! Am I missing something? I mean yeah, for a tapper, her lines may be great, but in comparison to the other dancers??

    Thank you for articulating what I felt about the Robert performance! “He ate her up”? No, not even close. I do like his dancing skills though, but find his personality obnoxious.

    Deborah, I like what you said about Billy. I felt the same way. Scrawny, baby-faced, white boy doing krump. I don’t think anyone is going to think he’s selling that, which is interesting in and of itself, but Adam gave him something he can work with. In fact, I find Adam to be the best judge – his critiques are articulate and spot-on. He manages to sum up what Nigel and Mia say in a way the dancer can actually do something with it.

    I liked Lauren and Dominic the most. Could they both have pushed themselves more? Yes, but I feel Lauren took the critique from last week and used it!

    Kent and Courtney. First all, I should just say I am Team Kent. He’s adorable and a fantastic dancer, not as strong as some of the others, but he always has so much fun. I definitely felt he got out of the cute Kent thing during parts of the dance.

    Julian, I also don’t see Jose as cocky, but I do feel he didn’t really improve from last week to this week, but then maybe it was the dance. Anyway, I’d like to see him grow a little more before he gets booted.

    Thanks for the review. I always look forward to it!

  5. UGH! what was up with Cassandra the new choreographer saying, “when women get themselves in abusive situations”?!?!?!? Did anyone else think that was wrong?

    Additionally, I also don’t see cockiness from Jose. I’m wondering about the racial dynamics of this – are we reading into some cultural things that make us perceive him as “cocky” when really he’s just showing up as himself?

  6. Chris, Jose was the one who said he was better than Legacy. Also, the judges have given him a big head he doesn’t deserve. The first is fact. The second is my perception based on their continued and unwarranted praise. It’s like last year when they kept giving Russell kudos for doing well “for a hip-hopper.” (HE WAS TRAINED IN OTHER STYLES. HE WAS TRAINED IN OTHER STYLES. STOP PRETENDING HE WASN’T.)

    And yeah, I noticed the first thing. Made me make a face like this o__O

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