SYTYCD Top Four Season Finale: A Training Day for the "Untrained" Dancers

In our Monday night spoiler (Spoiled SYTYCD Spoilers) we commented on Twitch, Joshua and Mary going to the hospital this weekend for dehydration (the first two) and an ankle sprain (the later). News of these injuries was the big deal all over the internet during the weekend. Well, it was a surprise that there was no mention at all of this in tonight's episode. Why? Didn’t the fans deserve to know what happened? Which left us wondering: Was it all a big publicity stunt? Why didn't they want to mention it in the show? Anyhow, with Nigel-the-producer’s brain working extra hours you never know (the use of the word “medics” in all the press releases kind of gave him away as the “anonymous” source, don’t you think?).

Ok. Let’s move on. This is the last week.
My rant is long, because the night is packed. I’ll give you the bottom line (except for the winner) right now:
- Mandy tells Courtney she needs more training, especially in ballet—said in a “take two ballet classes and call me in the morning” tone. Nigel says she also needs to correct herself more in various ways. Courtney cries as she realizes that the judges do not want her to win.
- Joshua is great because he has no training. So says Nigel over and over and over and over again.
- Katee: Mary has nothing to say after her beautiful Fox Trot, after gushing over with praises for Twitch. I guess it was not in the script (read my take, below).
- Twitch: I have nothing to add to the judges praises. My grandmother taught me well.

The night starts with Cat wearing a gold (Herve Leger?) dress and black gladiator heels. It becomes her, especially because the horizontal lines of the dress contrast with the strong vertical drop of her long hair. Although she looked pretty, the dress brought to mind 3CPO (Star Wars) but my daughter said that she looked like she was ready for the Dick Clark’s Rocking New Year’s Eve (Friends’ Episode). I’m actually happy to have another entry into the Hall of Fame of Cat’s Inspired Outfits (see our sidebar). Mary is in a dress that can only be described as a fish-scales-spider-web (doesn’t reminded me of anything; it’s just remarkably weird).

The dances started with Twitch and Courtney’s Hip Hop by Napoleon and Tabitha. It was not a lyrical Hip Hop but a hard-hitting one. Courtney and Twitch were both good. Twitch looked certainly in its element as both a hip hop dancer and as a guy who’s violently fighting with his crazy girlfriend (remember Mia’s “Pas de Door” routine?). But we have to give it up to Courtney who, as the jealous girlfriend who’s "beating down” Twitch, was convincing and strong, kicking and hitting and punching and dancing. By the way, you cannot help but wonder what’s up in these choreographers’ lives that these is what comes to mind in their dances? First Mia’s door routine (Katee and Twitch) now NappyTab’s. All this kicking and punching is a good vehicle for showcasing the freedom of body language, but is not a good message for the young crowd watching this show, I must say. With that caveat, however, I liked the number. I think the choreography worked, and especially thanks to Courtney’s acting and dancing skills (although somehow the word dancing doesn’t seem to really reflect what happened here…). Twitch’s “acting” never felt convincing to me, and his “dancing” was not up to par; even the lift was not right and looked forced (I missed Mark here… he would have made that lift work…). Between Courtney and Twitch, I would say that Courtney won this one (for me, not necessarily for the audience though).

Good for Wade, who seems to be a well adjusted family man and gave us a more positive message with his choreography for Josh and Katee. A lyrical to John Mayer’s “Slow Dancing in a Burning Room.” It was an emotive piece about how love is “hard work.” To me, this one was the best choreography of the night and almost the only one at the level of what you’ll expect for SYTYCD’s final competition night (although I liked NappyTabs’ too). The problem, however, was that the dancing was not to the level of the choreography. The dancers were not together when they obviously had to be, and their lines were not as beautiful as they could have been. There were a lot of wobbly turns and weak landings. Maybe with more rehearsals this number will look awesome for the tour… I liked the effect of using one camera and one single light, although there were a couple of moments in which the continuous one camera shot looked awkward. During the floor work (Katee on top), when the couple was filmed from the front, and not from the side, it made the movements look mundane, losing the magic and losing a potentially beautiful formation of the two bodies. But that could have been fixed with choreography, if Wade would have taken into account that the camera wasn’t moving to the side. It was a good experiment, however. Between Joshua and Katee, this one is a tie for me. Katee looked technically stronger than Joshua, but I expected more from her. Joshua was struggling –by the way, I do not believe the cr(beep)p about Joshua’s complete “untraining” (and I’m sick and tired of hearing Nigel saying it!)—but he certainly needs more training.

Next was Courtney and Katee’s Broadway by Tyce. WTH was this? Is it just me, or did they had it against the girls tonight (especially, against Courtney!). I couldn’t believe my eyes with this number. What a waste of two good contemporary dancers to use Courtney and Katee for this routine. It was definitely a waste of their skills and immediately brought to my mind that other Tyce routine, “Rock the Boat,” with Will and Katee that seemed totally unfit for those two gifted dancers. This was not exactly a stretch either! Messy dresses, messy props, poor routine. Not exactly a vote grabber! I cannot help but think that the show producers did not want a girl to win this season. I tell you, Courtney and Katee did not get in the Hot Tamale Train with this number. No way! They got in the Ice Cold Tacky Trolley! This was the total sabotage: the stupid costumes, the silly choreography, and then the props (the white lace parasols). As Mary pointed out, props are very difficult to use in numbers with more than one dancer because they are hard to coordinate. When people watch a number with multiple dancers using props and they look together it may seem easy but that kind of coordination is quite difficult to attain. By the way, Mary was the only judge making sense tonight. She was the most fair and constructive. Mandy made vacuous comments such as: “This number reminds me of old Hollywood.” Duh!! It should, since it is based on the 1940s old Hollywood movie “Meet me in St. Lois,” Mandy! What planet are you from? Nigel also had it against Courtney so openly that it was upsetting! I have not being particularly a fan of Courtney, but tonight I got upset at witnessing how ruthless and unfair Nigel and Mandy were with her. First Mandy, told Courtney that she needed more training. Next, Nigel gives her corrections (at this stage of the game?!?!?) and tells her that if you watch it again you’ll see how Katee was so much better than her? When he said that, I though WHATT? I didn’t see that. Actually, of the two dancers, Courtney was more believable to me than Katee. Courtney was there, she looked alive, and my eyes were drawn to her through the whole routine. For what the number was, Courtney made it work more than Katee (to me).

Well, I can tell you now that I watched it again and, Nigel, you’re wrong! Courtney danced it all the way, finished all her movements, and danced larger than Katee if you consider the height difference. They were asking a lot from these girls with this number and offering them very little to shine. Besides the judges’ comments that favored Katee, I actually think that Courtney won this one. Ohhh, and one final thing: Yes to parasols but no to shoes? What was that? Are these kids only going to be able to dance in a Broadway remake of the Flintstones?

And then to top the night off, it came: Josh and Twitch’s Russian Character Dance (or, “Russian Street Dance” according to Nigel… which made me wonder: has Nigel ever watched a Nutcracker Ballet?). OMG! I was very disappointed by this number after all the build up that it had through the grapevine. Excellence was not a standard that they were seeking with this routine. Oh, no! The music and basic choreography used is from the most performed ballet in the world, The Nutcracker, and I personally felt affronted by the travesty of this dance. Nigel talked about it as if it was out of this world; as if for the very first time in the history of the US this dance had been performed on an American stage or on television! Brought to you all the way from Russia by nobody else but: Mr. Nigel Lithgoe! Are you kidding me? What planet are YOU from, Nigel? In my lifetime, I must have seen about 50 Nutcrackers if not more from very classical to campy, to hip-hop/urban; from professional companies to school recitals, the Russian version, the Balanchine version, the Cuban version, and Twitch/Joshua’s Russian Dance was not among the best, oh no! Really, this was painful to watch, with poor execution, poor coordination and poor, yes, poor choreography! At best a small-school-recital number.

The worst part of all these is that I know from reading Fox’s internet boards that most people are raving about it! How sad! It is sad that one of these two guys is going to win the SYTYCD competition based on this Russian “Street” Dance, just because 90% of the voters have never seen a Nutcracker ballet. Sad, sad, sad!!!!!! Furthermore, and this just hit me: I already bought tickets for the live Tour and I’m going to have to suffer through this Russian dance again!
It was pathetic that this number got a standing O. Joshua had great elevations, but, come on! I kind of like Joshua. I like his personality and determination. But tonight it was quite obvious that, as the winner of season 4, he (or Twitch) will have to be called America’s FAVORITE Dancer, oh yes, because BEST dancer he is NOT. Not even among these four! Oh, by the way, Mandy made not sense again when she said that Joshua must have paid Twitch to get him to do the floor work (unless she did it on purpose trying to build Twitch up). Good for Joshua to coming back with: I can jump higher! Yes you can, Joshua. And the truth is that Twitch did not do the proper Russian floor (and, no, it wasn’t the choreography). And if the choreographer did not want it to be compared to the real thing, he shouldn’t have used the traditional costumes and the traditional music from The Nutcracker Suite. Ok?

Oh, one more thing Nigel: Danny and Neil’s Two Princes routine was so much better than this one!!!! Oh, Yes!!!!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUjdOJdnJps

Twitch & Katee’s Foxtrot by Tony & Melanie to “Feeling Good” by Michael Bublé was alright. Nothing spectacular, but alright. Twitch was in a tuxedo and Katee was in a light blue dress with lots of fringes. The judges loved it for the most part. Mary told Katee that she could walk into the US Ballroom Championships in September because she is so good. I think that comment was an exaggeration, but I agree with Mary that Katee was the best of the couple. And if we are fair, she’s possibly the best of the four remaining dancers. I’m pro-Courtney tonight, however, because of what they’ve been doing to her. The final duel between Twitch and Katee was not won by Bond, James Bond, oh no. Regardless of how much Mandy, Mary and Nigel push Twitch to us the naïve viewers, I must say that Katee looked the best of the two. It was like watching that other show, DWTS, with Katee as the professional and Twitch as the amateur. Yes, I agree, that lift was good, but the overall effect of the dance was given by her, not him. Her grace, beauty and lines made the dance when they were together and when they were not, she dominated. Twitch, about that audition as 007—you will not get my call back.

The last partner dance was Josh & Courtney's jive by Jason. This was another “Sabotage Courtney Mission” team work by choreography and costuming. I understand that gladiator sandals are in, but gladiator outfits? NOT. What did they had her wearing? Who could have looked good on that? Not even Cat! And her boots! Wow, how can anybody point on those? You cannot even stretch your legs! This was a train wreck. I can even see all the cold tamales spread through the tracks! No winner here, really.

The final number was Mia’s Scottish. It started great with the long silk sheet and then WTH? I had heard a lot about this number as being weird and interesting and emotional and Ok... Mia Michaels is usually brilliant… but that was a weird choreography for the final four. And I don’t think it suited them as a foursome at all… It certainly didn’t favor Courtney and Joshua, because of their stature and body types in contrast to Katee and Twitch. The choreography had a couple of beautiful frames as well as some energy driven moments, but for most of it they looked like if they were running around like tired basketball players... missing the shots... and the costumes were awful! They were mocking ballet movements and it was a weird combination of ballet with contemporary that, to me, ended up not being this or that. And then, there was the issue of the uneven lift and Courtney. I watched it again and again and the vertical versus horizontal lift didn't look like a dancers’ mistake. It seemed obviously choreographed. Actually, wasn't it supposed to symbolize a Cross? Of course, Mia and the dancers are the only ones who know the truth, but it didn’t look like Courtney and Joshua were even trying to match Katee and Twitch’s position. It looks to me like that they were meant to be forming a Celtic Cross. Courtney was perfectly horizontal while Katee was perfectly vertical. And it looked like Courtney’s body was supposed to be horizontal in contrast to Katee’s verticality… But, what do I know?

About the solos, I have to start by saying that I loved Cat’s little moments with the contestants. I loved the relaxed interviews on the couch, showing the person behind the dances.
Courtney was beautiful. I liked it a lot. It was one of her best solos; however, it is unavoidable to compare her solo with Katee’s solo and Katee was better. Between the girls, Katee wins.
Twitch’s solo demonstrated that he’s very good at popping and that he has great musicality and sense of humor. Now, it was Joshua who stole the show with his solo! He was really AWESOME!! Started off on the stage, then ran off the stage and jumped onto the judge's platform, all the time popping and hopping and booty shaking and doing lots of trick, ending up on a floor split. He really deserved that standing ovation! And he demonstrated capacity for improvisation when, loosing a shoe at the end of the split (looked obviously unplanned), he used it (a smelly dancer’s shoe to boot!) as a phone to ask the audience for their calls—Smart move!

Overall, although Katee is the “best” dancer of the four, Joshua has to be the “favorite” dancer for most.
My Top 4 Predictions are:
1) The word untrained will come out of Nigel’s mouth on Thursday, probably more than once!
2) Mary is going to scream…
3) Cat will be wearing something wonderfully weird,,,
4) Joshua is going to win!