Things were certainly exhausting on the last night (already?) of competitions on this edition of So You think You can Dance? The Final Four were choreographed quite intensively and we finally got the opportunity to see some different combinations than the regular boy/girl thing. The dances were okay and there were some highlights but I didn't get that huge WOW factor as I often do when seeing work by some of the choreographers. It was nice to see each dancer perform with each of the other dancers individually, do their solo and a great group number by Mia Michaels. (more on that later)It was cute to see each dancer get their own personal one on one interview with Kat Deeley (and the chance to see a bit more of what makes each dancer tick) and a final solo. The 2 hour show zipped by pretty quickly and by the end I was feeling tired (it's hard work keeping up with all these dances and I was only watching them) and I could only imagine the sheer level of exhaustion in our competitors.
Bravo to all of them -- they all worked their asses off to get to the finale.
Courtney has been a very pleasant surprise this season and after seeing more of her bio I had an even better appreciation for her. I love the whole Jersey girl thing and realizing that she is not really a trained dancer was a bit of a shock. She gets comments about how cute the number that her and Katie did (a Broadway number that was choreographed by Tyce) and I am getting the impression that they felt it was just a sugary number with no content like I did. (sorry Tyce) She has really performed well over the series and the Judges comments seem to lean towards telling her to keep it up and get more training.
I am reading into their comments that she won't win ( there is only 1 winner and they way the finale is designed means that this year we have 3 losers -- it still feels rushed to me) but I applaud her beauty and commitment to dance.
Twitch has been getting rave reviews from the Judges (and well deserved) and he has really shows what humor and personality can bring to the competition. This is another finalist that has no training, and has been performing way outside of his comfort zone for almost all of the competition. He and Joshua rocked it hard in their Russian Tropak number and he was great in the Foxtrot with Katee. The Judges keep telling him how great of performer he is, and I am reading that as another No. Twitch is a great performer but not the winning dancer. I am really getting the impression that the Judges are setting the stage for the Finale and getting the dancers prepared.
I do have to say that our host, Kate Deeley is looking a lot better this season (she must have replaced her stylist), but Kat sure likes the boy sweat -- she has been all over some of the guys this year (practically bathing in it) and if she was a bit older I would make some bad cougar comment. She certainly loves Twitch.. let's hope we don't have another Paula Abdul situation here boys and girls.Katee has been superb all season -- and after all the comment by the Judges last night (they were all fawning over her left and right), I am pretty sure that she will be taking home the trophy. I don't think any other dancer has preformed as well all season, and I completely agreed with Mary Murphy that Katee has been in all the best moments of this season.
Just last night, she was incredible once again in dancing a lyrical number choreographed by the great Wade Robson. It was one of the stand out numbers of the night, and paired her once again with Joshua. As Mary says, "Magic happens" when those two are put together and who am I to argue with her? Katee has such a magical presence and flows seamlessly from movement to movement. You can't ask for more than that. It is still hard to believe that she almost got chopped in Vegas, and that would have been a shame for all of us.
The writing seems to be on the wall that Katee will win, but the probable other winner is none other than her "most often" partner, Joshua.
Joshua has been phenomenal the entire competition, and I can not get over the fact that they guy has no training at all, yet has managed to pull off some amazing ballroom and more contemporary styles. If anyone else is a natural dancer in the competition other than Katee, it has to be him.
I also think that he has been one of the hardest working dancers this round. His combination of dances last night was probably the most exhausting (but I do agree with Nigel that they need to suck it up and do it -- they are dancers and this is their job and it is the finals) but he pushed himself as hard and as far as he can go. He has been the biggest surprise for me all season and I hope he goes at least to the final two (depending on how they do the elimination this evening).
I loved how it all culminated with the Final Four dancing their hearts out in Mia's Contemporary dance number. She pushed all the dancers to that point where physically the dance takes over and it was all raw emotion. I loved hearing Courtney scream from time to time during the number and thought that all of them put their heart and soul in to the dance. Here's hoping to see Katee and Joshua in the Final 2. I don't think that anyone will be disappointed with any one of these dancers winning this year, they have all been incredible.
