SYTYCD Season 10 Top 4 Recap + Review

So, we finally arrive at the last performance episode of the season. This season has gone by incredibly quickly, and hopefully the show feels it's done enough to gain another renewal when FOX doles them out for next summer.

Anyways, sorry about the extreme lateness with this post... Not only did I have to re-watch the dances like 48390 times to really pick out the two strongest to win, but life has been insane and now has really been the only chance I've gotten in a long time to sit down and complete last Tuesday's post. And so, because I am Canadian and cannot vote for this show nor can I listen to Pandora, I am hating my inability to vote while listening to Songza.

1. Amy and Aaron - Ray Leeper
JAZZ

What a strange, strange number. I'm sorry, but I really did not enjoy this dance. Amy was very obviously stronger than Aaron in this piece, although he was there for her every step of the way. For me, it was a really bizarre mix of technical aspects and more animalistic-moves. The song was absolutely disgusting; "Primitive", by Richard Vission vs Luciana. SIgh. Maybe it's just by this point of the competition that I feel like all the routines should be stellar, or that other routines last Tuesday shot way beyond this one.

2. Jasmine and Fik-Shun - Travis Wall
CONTEMPORARY

Such a gorgeous piece. Travis took the simple and familiar notions and aspects of water, and translated them to dance. Jasmine was particularly shining in this piece. The use of the wind machine and the choice of her dress were gorgeous. At this point, Fik-Shun is kind of out of his league in technical aspects, but he held his own without looking too amateur-like next to Jasmine. Another stunning Travis piece, and this partnership was refreshing.

3. Aaron and All-Star Melinda Sullivan - Anthony Morigerato
TAP

As soon as they announced Melinda's participation as an All-Star, it was so obvious she was there to do a routine with Aaron. Hopefully the show books Anthony Morigerato more for more tap routines in the future, because this was one of the most captivating Tap routines I've ever seen. The very, very beginning I found a little un-synchronized, but they soon both fell in step with each other. The emotion was so present it was shocking, but Melinda and Aaron are both stellar performers so I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised. So fun.

4. Jasmine and All-Star Comfort Fedoké - NappyTabs
HIP HOP

One of my favourite pieces NappyTabs have done recently. Jasmine actually out-popped Comfort in some places for me, and it just showed how far Jasmine has grown both emotionally and in dance. Her confidence in this piece was through the roof, and the banana-seat bikes and hipster-like costumes were so so fun. And, of course, what would be a strong, all-female Hip Hop piece without the music being Beyoncé?


5. Amy and Fik-Shun - Leonardo Barrionuevo and Miriam Larici
TANGO

The choreography to this was so unique- Leonardo and Miriam explained that this piece was kind of a paso doblé-tango fusion, and the pace to this choreography was amazing. Sometimes fast and fierce, sometimes slow and passionate. Amy, again, outshone her partner, and the judges touched on Fik-Shun's fall behind a bit technically in this piece, but otherwise, it was gorgeous.


Jasmine - SOLO
Every contestant got the chance to tell their life story a bit in a video package before their solos. And Jasmine made the entire continent fall in love with her simultaneously with her video package. She talked about how her relationship with Cyrus fell apart while he was on the show last season, and how her confidence at that time was unbearably low. This makes sense if you think about it; someone unconfident is usually incredibly needy in a relationship, and Cyrus obviously would have wanted to focus on the competition at that time. Needless to say, the relationship crumbled. They showed us her audition in her package, and you could completely tell how much she has grown up on her time on the show. She seemed vulnerable and fragile at the time of her audition, and yet now she has an incredible strength, as well as fragments remaining of that vulnerability which makes audiences fall in love with her. The best part to Jasmine's entire story was how genuine you could tell she was.

Anyways, her actual dancing was as beautiful as always. I always have fun determining the contestants' strategizing in choosing their solos. Jasmine stuck to her original formula for this solo, and it probably worked.

6. Jasmine and Aaron - Dmitry Chaplin
SAMBA

Yikesssdasdsadskda. What a hot mess. The transitions were choppy and awkward, the set piece was basically pieces of wood slapped up together with somebody's old Christmas lights, and Aaron just could not catch himself a break. I'm not sure if this routine hurt Jasmine as much as it did Aaron, but in any case, it definitely is a bit of an ouch when these routines decided who will win in like 4 days or something.


Fik-Shun - SOLO
Now Fik-Shun's turn to get us to fall in love with him. And it completely worked. He talked about his complete lack of training experience or expectations for Vegas Week, but his love of dance and his passion for performance shone through. Fik-Shun is basically an adorable class-act. He partially credited Amy for how far he got within the competition, and how he liked how her technical skills and his performance skills coupled together to carry them all the way through the competition. And finally, he said this line that made me actually cry, "I know I'm not America's best dancer. But I would like to think that I could be America's favourite dancer." 

SOB

Anyways, his solo was as good and entertaining as ever. He knew exactly what he was doing when he chose Gangnam Style as the song for this solo. And he dances the hell out of that song way better than Psy ever could dream of. This one is still my favourite solo of his, though;

Amy - SOLO
Amy probably had the hardest time choosing something to win over audiences; she went with her fall in Christopher Scott's waitress Hip Hop routine, and how she landed in the bottom the following week. Look, I love Amy to death, but that was the only time she'd ever even hit the bottom, and she made an enormous deal out of it. I get it that it's terrifying to have something go as wrong as falling on your face in a live performance, but she got right back up and kept dancing like a pro.

Amy's strategy; tap into the young pre-teen/teenage girl vote with a song choice that was a popular routine among them last season. Anyone remember Unchained Melody, with Audrey and Matt, the Titanic-themed Travis Wall dance? She's smart.

Fik-Shun and All-Star tWitch Boss - Luther Brown
HIP HOP

Fun, perfectly synchronized. It was like watching tWitch dancing with his little brother. Not much else to say, apart from I actually think Fik-Shun is a better popper/locker than tWitch.







Aaron - SOLO
For Aaron's chance to win America's hearts, he went with his I-was-the-21st-choice story. You do have to give him props for making it all the way to the end being the 21st choice. I still would have liked to seen Emilio Dosal as well, but Aaron blew everyone's expectations out of the water this season.

Fun tap routine to a song by one of my favourite artists; Jason Mraz.

Amy and All-Star Robert Roldan - Stacey Tookey
CONTEMPORARY

Love Stacey Tookey. Love Amy. Love Robert. Loved the storyline of Robert being stuck in the "friendzone", then Amy realizing she loved him too late. Loved the song ("Say Something", The Great Big World). Loved it, loved it, loved it. Stacey is a very close second for me behind Travis as the best contemp choreographers they have on the show. The part where Amy almost ran off the stage and Robert caught her just in time - stunning.

Aaron and Fik-Shun - Tyce Diorio
BROADWAY

As annoying as Tyce is, this is one of my favourite pieces of his. The conveyor belt as a set piece was an amazing addition, and Fik-Shun and Aaron are actually surprisingly compatible partners. Not much else to say.







Amy and Jasmine - Mark Kanemura
JAZZ

Okay. Mark's piece with Jenna was beyond incredible, and pushed the envelope just enough for it to be futuristic in a fun way. This one was just strange. Their disk-skirts just seemed cumbersome and difficult to dance in, the identical black bob wigs look uncomfortable and didn't seem to be put on right, the music was too weird to properly follow them. I kind of wish this one wasn't the last routine of the night.



Pant. Alright. Still with me? Finally, I've reached the end of Tuesday's jam-packed show. As for results, I personally hope Jasmine will win for the girls, because I think she has grown more, whereas Amy has been as strong as she was when we first saw her. As for the guys, for me it's a complete toss-up and it will be interesting to see how close the votes were.

Here's an e-mail I got about Paul about a week ago;

Firstly, thank you so much for your blog! You put so much effort into it and I love seeing another's perspective on things. Almost every single thing you say is what I feel as well which makes me smile (:
Anyway, I wanted to know how sad you are that Paul is gone. Like you explained in your post, I started to really really like Hayley a few weeks ago and I would have picked her over Jasmine.
As for Paul I am absolutely astounded that he didn't win, let alone make it to the finale! He is by far the best male dancer that was left and even compared to Tucker and others who were better technically because of their training in contemporary, he completely nailed every single routine he had. I can't remember a single routine in which he stumbled in any way. In fact, his hip-hop with Comfort was one of my favorites of the season. Fik-Shun and Aaron have both lost their spark they had at the beginning of the season while Paul has been consistently perfect emotionally and technically in every single routine. He puts more emotion into everything he does than anyone else. He has always been a standout in every group routine and has adapted himself to every style they've thrown at him. There is no way that Fik-Shun or Aaron are better dancers than him. In fact, Aaron, in my opinion, is one of the most overrated dancers they've ever had. Not to say that I dislike him, the thing is that he isn't as good all-round as Paul. As for Fik-Shun, as funny and committed he is, I would pick Paul over his silly grin any day. Jasmine is only legs, really, and doesn't connect too well for me and Amy is really great in everything she does but I sometimes find her routines forgetful. I really want to know how the voting dropped Paul the week that it counted.
Sorry that I'm rambling but I just needed to vent to someone who I think might be on the same page as me! How McKenzie and Paul didn't make it to the finale I am still banging my head on the table about. The best situation for me now would be Amy winning, what about you? 
Please let me know your take on my opinions with Paul and who the person out of the top 20 that you had or still want is to win! 

Thanks for your e-mail! <3 Well, I am still emotionally unstable after Paul's elimination. He has been one of the most underrated dancers in the show's history, and the only person on the judges's side of things who really praised his talent for what it is was Kenny Ortega. Makenzie, of course, as depressed as I am about her leaving, will have an incredible career regardless, although I would have picked her to win over the other two girls anyday. My preferred winners are at the end of my post above- but I really don't care too much at this point, since they're all pretty equally strong to me.

Till Tuesday, my lovelies. E-mail me with comments/questions/suggestions if you like; sytycdfansblog@gmail.com.

All pictures from www.fox.com/dance/