Hour number two featured Lex Ishimoto’s solo.
The flow of this guy’s movement just can’t be taught. He transitions from one step to another so seamlessly and organically, but nothing about what Lex does seems natural for other dancers.
After a rocky contemporary performance with partner Kaylee Mills in the first SYTCYD season 14 live show, Cyrus Spencer was gifted with a hip hop number from Phoenix and Pharside.
Notes taken: Alieums! This is nuts. NUTS.
That about sums it up.
Judges’ comments. Nigel thought Kaylee was “too restricted and contained” in her previous week’s performance, but she wasn’t this time around. His advice? “Stay unique. I don’t know what happened to Impavido last week, but you’re back this week.
Same.
Vanessa was totally here for Kaylee’s high level of performance quality, and Mary said any doubts she might have had about this dancer were gone now.
If Cyrus and Kaylee were weak in week one, Robert Roldan and Taylor Sieve were the exact opposite. So, going into their second performance, a Broadway number from Al Blackstone, this couple had a reputation to uphold.
And they did.
Al Blackstone didn’t have to tell the SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE audience that he’d choreographed a piece inspired by film noir: These two dancers embodied that classic sense of style far too well for their duet to have been anything but.
Judges’ comments. Vanessa Hudgens said Taylor Sieve was very good at making her cry, and she thanked Al Blackstone for bringing the classics to SYTYCD. She said the piece took her back to when she used to watch old theatre and experience a “magical quality of life where it seems like anything can happen.”
Mary Murphy simply didn’t want the performance to end, and she commented on how powerful some of the moments of “monumental stillness” were.
(See also: Stillness is just important in dance as movement — as long as it’s done with intent.)
Nigel Lythgoe, while not given a chance to be Tap Fanboy Nigel this evening, still managed to let his inner lover of all things dance out. He talked about his own choreography for ON THE TOWN and pointed out all of the “brilliant” detail work — like stillness, contractions, and soft hands — that Taylor and Robert brought to life on stage.
And forget about just being a fan of dance in general. Nigel is, without a doubt, a fan of Taylor Sieve and Robert Roldan: “You were excellent last week. You’re excellent again this week. You’re the couple to beat. I can see that.”
Sydney Tormey’s solo managed to be beautiful and engaging, even in a style that usually dictates the need for a partner.
That, dear readers, is no small feat. Especially when it follows an act like Taylor and Robert’s.
Koine Iwasaki and Marko Germar were next up. Unlike last week’s contemporary duet, their African jazz performance was “definitely not a love story. Definitely not.”
Sorry, Nigel. No shipping tonight.
What an amazing, animalistic piece. It was another case of not needing a SYTYCD choreographer to tell the audience what he was trying to accomplish. Anyone watching Marko and Koine had to see the insects that inspired Sean Cheesman’s work wriggling and jiggling all over the SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE stage. Wow.
Judges’ comments. Nigel was the first to critique the performance, and he spent a few seconds pointing out some of the intricate moves before getting to the heart of the matter. This piece featured the blending of many types of people, from the dance style to the choreographer and from the dancers to the musician.
As Nigel said, “it just shows you how music and dance can unite the world.”
What an important message at a time like this.
Vanessa also enjoyed the piece, even if she didn’t have any big statement to make about it. And Mary said it was one of her favorites of the whole night.
Mark Villaver’s solo in one word: Nuance.
In a few extra words, let’s just take a moment to appreciate the transitions and musicality that connected all of his tricks. Got it? Good.
Robert Green and Jasmine Harper performed a contemporary duet, courtesy of Stacey Tookey.
Robert is not at all trained in this style, but it was far less obvious than expected. In fact, his lack of technique kind of worked at creating a rawness, in some places, that might not have been possible — or at least would have been more difficult — for a dancer who was more at home in the style.
Dance, like any art, is open to interpretation. Personally, I felt something from Robert the second he started to move onto the SYTYCD stage. The judges, on the other hand, didn’t all agree.
And that’s ok.
Judges’ comments. Nasty Nigel came out to play, saying he “didn’t quite feel” Robert’s emotions here. (Spoiler alert: I just wanted an excuse to use the Nasty Nigel name. It really is totally fine to feel something different or, in this case, nothing at all.)
Vanessa disagreed, saying, “well, my heart hurts. So, that means you did something to me.” But when Vanessa mentioned Robert’s strength when holding Jasmine upside down, Nigel had to pop in to say something about Mary being held upside down.
New head canon: Nigel and Mary were the inspiration behind STRANGER THINGS. Just go with it.
At any rate, Mary played kind of a middle-of-the-road opinion here. She thought Robert did make a connection, but he was still going to have to “fight hard and grow.”
Hold that thought.
Kiki was the final soloist of the night…
Notes: “IDK. Someone ask Mary.”
..and the last duet was Fik-Shun and Dassy’s Bollywood.
Dassy showed great character work here, thus backing up her “I always wanted to do sexy” line from the pre-performance package.
But. Um.
Guys, there was a fall. Or a drop. However you want to call it, it was a big mistake.
Judges’ comments. Vanessa Hudgens loves Bollywood, and the style makes Mary Murphy happy.
Ok, Mary, we need to talk about the whole, “it was like a walk in the park for you” line. Did you mean it was a walk in the park where Fik-Shun tried to maneuver Dassy around a root, and she tripped over it anyway???
Or did you mean something that didn’t make sense.
Also, what happened to Nasty Nigel? He said this performance was “a great way to end the night,” and I’m like…Guys. Yes, the pair recovered extremely well after that mistake. But it was a still a very noticeable mistake.
Nobody wants the last performance of the night to have that.
Besides, the actual ending for the night was the elimination. Does anybody ever enjoy ending on that?!
After week one, the bottom three dancers were Logan Hernandez, Sydney Tormey, and Robert Green.
After much debate, the judges could all agree on one thing: keeping Logan safe. They were not, however, unanimous when deciding which dancer to send home. But, through some debate or another, Robert Green became SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE season 14’s first elimination.
Insert that gif of a speechless Richard Castle here.
Did America get the bottom three right? Did the judges send the right dancer home?
Sound off in the comments, and stay tuned for the next episode of SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE on FOX, airing Monday, August 21 at 8/7c to see if your remaining favorites will make the top 8.