Reality Roll Call

by Lakiya Emerson

So You Think You Can Dance hits the competition phase of its fourth season, and Fox is chomping at the bit to clinch the title of America’s Favorite Summer Reality Show. But with slim pickings on network channels and a two hour run, they don’t have much competition. Cat Deeley opens the show in her usual short, shiny and weird dress—this time it’s silver—and Nigel tells her she looks amazing, and she responds “I’ve only been in make-up for one and half hours.” Thank you Cat for being humble; you get a slow clap.

As Cat introduces the judges, she asks them their thoughts on a front runner. They all agree that there is none. They go into a montage of the dancer’s auditions with the usual cheesy music that is supposed to invoke emotions before finally starting with the performances. If you don’t know how the show works, the dancers perform first as couples, and then the couples with the fewest votes must dance for their lives. The judges decide who stays.

Rayven, the ballet dancer, and Jason, a contemporary dancer, are the first couple. Rayven’s montage shows her teaching what appears to be a flamenco class and Jamie’s montage reveals that his girlfriend was cut. But he feels better now that he’s bought a “really, really cool” hoodie to get into character for their hip hop routine I don’t know in whose world a “boar’s-head” hoodie is cool, but, if he likes it, I love it.

The couple dances to American Boy by Estelle, which is the funnest song of the summer. The performance was pretty dry. The most exciting part of it was when she pulled his pants down to reveal his satin baby blue underwear (Insert your own joke about package size), but the choreography really seemed more Broadway then hip hop. Nigel says he loves how hip hop style is changing and softening up. (Can I shout a great big boo, to watered-down commercialized hip hop?). Mary loves it, and calls Rayven a beautiful dancer. And then Dan Karaty brings some perspective. He said the dance wasn’t quite there. He said, they weren’t able to reach a level where it was light and funny and still hit it. Cat Deeley responds, “well everyone here seems to love it.” She’s right; the crowd loves it, but if they remember it will be another matter.

Susie, the Latin dancer and Miami public school teacher, talks about her kids watching her on TV. The way she dances, though, I’m not sure they’ll be allowed to. She was born in Cuba and raised in Miami. She says she has sass, fire and passion. Her partner Marquis said that he had stopped dancing because of family issues, but finally overcame them to follow his passion. These two danced a waltz as Belle and Prince Charming. The two perform really well, with clean, long lines, though they struggle with a lift at the end. I was pretty sure he was going to drop her, except he didn’t.

Nigel pointed out that the lift was difficult, but that because they continued dancing, no one may have noticed—I did. Mary said that they pulled it off. Dan said he felt like he was watching an almost perfect ending to a love story. As the judges were speaking, though, all I could stare at was Marquis’ stellar Windsor knot. It looked as though it was as big as his head.

Kourtni and her partner Matt take the stage. She is an overachiever who graduated high school at 16 and then moved to LA at 17 to start her dance career. In a first, Matt talks about how his dad signed him up for dance classes when he was young. They’re both tall. She’s 5’9 and he’s 6’3. They dance to Tainted Love . For a moment they were upstaged by the music before remembering to show some personality. They do a lift but it looks like Matt can’t manage. In fact, Nigel says it was like someone put a broom up his bottom. Nigel and Cat go back and forth about who Kourtni resembles. Cat says she looks like Cameron Diaz, and Nigel says she looks like Princess Diana. So clearly, if this dancing thing doesn’t work out, she can be a celebrity impersonator. Mary thought they did a good job. Dan said they were great dancers, with a great choreography but, a so-so performance.

Chelsea T, says that she’s appreciates the opportunity to dance in the competition. Thayne tells the world that he quit dancing for a brief period because he couldn’t handle being teased by the boys. The two contemporary dancers do a Cha Cha to Celia Cruz’s version of Oye Como Va. The two have loads of chemistry and Nigel asks Thayne how he can contain Chelsea T, who is a firecracker in her own right. Nigel says their hips were fantastic and that Chelsea T is sexy. Mary said they partnered with each other very well. Dan said that Chelsea T owned the stage and that Thayne was secondary, which meant he did his job.

Next is Chelsea H a ballroom dancer, and Mark, a contemporary dancer who’s a little left of center, get to perform a Mia Michaels choreography, so of course it was incredibly interesting and difficult. However, Mia was a bit disappointed in Michael during the practices. She says she thought Mark would be better than he is and that, for a contemporary dancer, he doesn’t seem to get it. They dance to Beautiful by MeShell Ndgeocello and Mark was able to pull it together, considering the fact that she incorporated some of his own signature moves into the choreography. Nigel says it’s a mark of a great choreographer who can take what someone else does and makes it her own. Mary calls Chelsea H. a tiny angel. Dan says that Mia asks dancers to go places and Chelsea H. and Mark went there.

Twitch, the freestyle hip hopper who lost a spot on last year’s top 20 to Hok, says the difference between him this year and last year was that he really, really wanted it—I guess so, since his other option was going to the Navy, which he didn’t want to pursue. Kherington was his partner. She missed her high school graduation to do the show. Twitch, who said he had a great sense of humor declared that the two of them would be called Twitchington. The two did a Broadway routine that put all their chemistry and charisma to the forefront.

Nigel said Kherington was stunning and that Twitch looked like a Broadway dancer. Mary said everyone should look at the ceiling the sprinklers might go off. She declared her pride for Twitch and her happiness at seeing him on stage; apparently he made her heart sing. Dan said it was fun to watch Kherington and that though Twitch was not a traditional Broadway dancer he would bring some much needed variety to the stage.

Comfort, the real hip hop dancer, is paired with the contemporary dancer Chris, who Nigel said had the personality of a tree. Chris. Comfort has enough personality for the both of them. She ends their montage by saying “Me and Chris is gonna kill it.” Their performance goes over well with Nigel gleefully mocking Comfort’s speech and congratulating Chris on showing his personality. Apparently Comfort dislocated her shoulder during practice leading to a whole lot of banter involving click, click. Mary says Comfort has what it takes and then compliments Comfort’s legs, which are highlighted in a Tina Turneresque outfit with lots of beads. Chris proceeds to molest her by creepily rubbing them. Dan tells the two that they need to work on their chemistry.

Katee, a contemporary dancer, almost didn’t make it to the top 20 because of her mouth. If you recall, she and her friend Natalie went to the try-outs together. Katee, who was the stronger dancer, however, was almost cut when she told the judges that she wouldn’t return the next year if she didn’t make it this year, because preparing to compete was too hard. You could practically see Nigel’s vein’s ready to burst, and he actually sent her and Natalie off-stage so the judges could revote. The vote was split, and according to their rules made the original one stand, allowing Katee to perform a hip hop dance with Joshua.

They perform a hip hop choreography to the song No Air, which left Nigel breathlessly saying that they were brilliant dancers and that the choreography was his favorite of the night. Mary said she didn’t expect it to be so good and she called the performance tremendous. Dan said they killed it.

Jessica and Will are both contemporary dancers. Jessica, questioned her own ability during the tryouts, and I suppose she would since she misspelled “Vegas”. Will is a protégé of Debbie Allen, and it definitely shows, however, for as long as he’s competing, she will not be able to judge. They perform a tango to the cheesiest music the producer could find. Despite the distracting synthesized violins, their performance is lovely with lots of clean lines and great faces, though Jessica stumbles several times, she keeps dancing

Nigel says they look professional even though the choreography was tough. He called Will majestic and points out Jessica’s wobbles, but says they look wonderful. Mary said they danced passionately, and commends Will on his masculinity. Dan said they were hot like fire.

Courtney and Gev, the hip hoppers are last. They dance a disco, which according to the choreographer should be fun, but difficult. They dance to Earth Wind and Fire’s Boogie Wonderland. It’s very Saturday Night Live, in an exciting,”I want to know how to do that kind of way”, but Nigel is unimpressed. He said it looked more like Disco Duck. Mary said they looked a little cheesy but they were good. Dan said it wasn’t the best he’d ever seen, but that it was good.

Can I point out that throughout the show, Cat has been a bit snarky with Dan? Does she dislike him? Does she just disagree with him? Is there something more? We’ll see how it develops through the season. In the meantime I’m off to vote. You can come back tomorrow to find out the results of tonight’s two-hour results show.