First of all, I worship Alex da Silva. How can you wear sunglasses inside without looking like a complete fake? How can you sit with sunglasses on, in a dance studio, fanned by two women, and look like you don’t care and you do this sort of thing regularly? Be Alex Freakin’ da Silva. Yeah, I worship Alex da Silva. Mostly, though, I worship him because he designs consistently vibrant and sensual pieces for his dancers, which allow them to flourish as expressive bodies. And I thought that would be more than enough to save both of his dancers this week. Alas.
Was Alex da Silva the guy who came out with Lauren Sanchez (miss her!) in the first season’s finale and totally thrilled humanity? That was my absolute favorite moment in reality television. Ever.
On to other stuff…
The opening routine was fabulous and said a lot about both Danny and Sara. Danny was subtle and over-the-top spectacular at the same time, that is, beautiful and macho. Sara, as the Hairspray-guy said, showed herself to be the most transformed dancer, capable of being physical and graceful at the same time. I couldn’t believe it, really, when Sara went home instead of Lauren. I know I’m kind of playing favorites here, but at the same time, well, Sara was just so versatile, good, and soulful.
Soulful. I’ll come back to that in a minute.
For the third week in a row, I’ll complain about choreography. And this week, I join the judges. The weak choreography is obviously there to help dancers’ deficiencies (see Dominic and Lauren this week), but sometimes it is just weak because it is poorly put together. That’s what did Sara in and, I feared, would take Danny with her. Shane Sparks did accomplish the impossible, I’ll give him that: I was wishing Dan Karaty had gotten this week’s hip-hop routine. Shane’s choreography was uninspired, strange, and for the last minute or so, incredibly busy without being interesting. For real. There was a lot of rolling around and arm sweeping, but why? Terrible, terrible routine.
Shane owes us. Or, really, he owes Sara. This was Sara’s moment to shine and be special. She is shiny and special, actually. No one could have been special in that slow, busy, heavy routine. Ugh.
What Shane took from Sara – and what Alex gave to Danny and Sara – was the chance to be soulful. This is one of the things that separates Sara from a lot of other hip-hop dancers from this and the last two seasons: the ability to carry her soulfulness from the home-style dance into other styles. That’s hard to do, whether you’re a hip-hop, lyrical, ballroom, or any other dancer. Again, that’s why I like the mash-up method of So You Think You Can Dance? so much. That’s the challenge, but such a challenge counts on choreography. I still wonder if Danny can do hip-hop. Both of his routines have been design catastrophes. I wonder if Sara would still be around if a good routine would have cleared space for her most intimate dancer-self to come out on the stage. Her hip-hop last night should have been the girlpower moment of the season. Salt-n-Pepa, after all (that mix was so terrible…), so the music itself asked for the girlpower moment. Shane, you owe us and you really, really owe Sara.
And soulfulness was really missing in the night’s – maybe the season’s – most praised routine: Neil and Lacey’s interpretation of Mia Michaels’ memorial to her late father. As well as their first dance, which was supposed to be Lacey’s home-style – Latin. First, though, it has to be said: the show seems to want these two to win. Giving Lacey her home-style, then moving to a routine no one could really criticize, is a real advantage. Imagine if they’d been given Shane Sparks instead, right?
Both routines were open. That is, both routines had minimal, if purposive, choreography, and so let the dancers find their own expression in movement. Soulfulness, in other words. (I like Maria Torres’ stuff on the show for this very 
reason.) In the Latin routine, the judges were right: no sensuality, no intensity, no earthiness to the steps, and no voluptuosity in the hips. In other words, absolutely no soul. I imagined all of Latin America and the Caribbean shuddering at this disembodied, by-the-numbers, playing to the crowd with shallow smiles rendering of regional dance forms. The judges one word for this big bunch of lack? No “chemistry.” That was being polite. What they meant was “can you really be a-sexual and do Latin dance? No.”
Is Latin really Lacey’s starring form? I’m not being personal or partisan. I’m really astonished at how weak her performance was last night, even though the choreography was solid and interesting.
Getting such a personal piece from Mia was such an advantage. There was talk, honest talk, of course, that the routine was full of so much pressure. Rightly so. A personal piece builds a lot of depth into your responsibility as a dancer, something that is always there, but never quite so pointed on So You Think…? as at this particular moment. Judges and audience responded as if it were a total success. No one seemed to care that Lacey was clunky and earthbound in a piece that was supposed to be light as air and barely connected to the ground. Neil’s athleticism was appropriate to that airy feel, but his struggle with gracefulness made the performance seem like some amateur acting with a cluster of great jumps. I was actually a little embarrassed for them. Not in a way that condemns – I think they really cared about doing the piece justice, or at least Neil did – but in that way you are embarrassed for someone who is confronted with emotions too big for their maturity.
Neil wore this on his face and suffered it authentically. I felt like he did his very best, wanted to do better, and felt challenged. I like that. No shame in being overwhelmed with these particular emotions; I’m certainly not criticizing Neil for being young and a little lost. It is death, after all. Who can really “get” that emotion, that sense of loss, when it is someone else’s loss? But I felt like Lacey was a bit of a fake. I know that’s a lot to say and even seems a little mean, yet I’m unsure how to reconcile the professed seriousness (“I feel blessed to have danced this…”) with the immediate hamming for the camera (putting the flower in her mouth and making a silly face). So strange. Even disrespectful. In the dance, that flower in her hand was the last gift from her father as he dies, the gift of something soft and beautiful. Don’t put it in your mouth and be silly. If the dance really means something, treat the symbols as if they really mean something…
I’ll pass on Sabra this week, only saying: wow. She’s unreal. That’s a whole post unto itself.
Lastly, I would be remiss and even dishonest if I didn’t praise the absolute audacity and machismo of Pasha’s solo routine – shirtless, brother! – with a cape and paso doble music. That was freakin’ unique and unexpected and totally perfect. I imagined Alex – sunglasses on and maybe in the back seat of his pink ‘57 Chevy and drink in hand and two women fanning him and all that shit – giving Pasha a little nod. “Yeah, hijo, that’s how it’s done.”
Soulful. With a cape. I’m really at a loss for words. Just awesome and pure performance.
The Mia Michaels piece was both beautiful and terrible–beautiful that she’d open up like that on a Fox reality program, and terrible in that the dancers looked terrible, they really did. I totally agree with you that the execution just wasn’t there. I thought it was really telling the way Mary teared up at the Mia Michaels piece, but started truly coming apart when Sabra danced–it was Sabra’s dancing, in the quickstep no less, not the clunkified execution of Mia’s moving choreography, that demonstrated the emotional power of dance. And yeah–total ringer for those two. I was glad to see Neil at least in the bottom two.
Mia’s routine made me fantasize about it being danced by Sabra and Danny. It’s getting to the point in the show where I just want to see those two dance. And if someone needs to be “partnered,” toss Pasha in there.
I was really, really bummed to see Sara go home. Dominic? It was his time. Neil needs to bring those shoulders down from his ears. I love that I can see that–the show has and continues to teach me. Love it.
Oh John. Please tell me you were kidding about Lauren Sanchez. Shiver.
Otherwise, as per usual, I agree with you totally. I flat out refused to write about the dancing of Mia’s piece as I was so off the charts furious about the way it was lit and shot. I couldn’t SEE it well enough to critique it. But I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to feeling let down by Lacey and Neil’s performances. Fortunately for me, I tivo through the mugging atop phone numbers so I missed Lacey’s schtick. But really, this girl’s been a player from day one. Her painfully rehearsed “Shut the front door!” when told she was in the top 20 told us all we needed to know. I dig the her. She’s fun to watch. But she’s not soulful. AT ALL. She’s a mugger through and through. But because she’s not caked in a thick layer of cheese wiz like her bro, it’s somehow bearable. (And for the record, I believe swing is her area of expertise, not Latin).
I share your love of Alex De Silva. That choreography was stunning.
And yes, Kate. All I want is to see Danny and Sabra dance every routine ever. Mia’s piece for Kameron and Lacey?? Danny and Sabra… The Bench Dance? Danny and Sabra… Why w/ Allison and Ivan? Danny and Sabra. The final pas de deux from the Nutcracker? Danny and Sabra…
This review was really good and on point and interesting and well written!! Also I learned something from it and saw a couple of things with a different perspective. I love when that happens!.
i have to say even without the technique i loved the mia michaels routine. sometimes i think dance gets lost in its snotty attempt to be perfection. and to see them just dance, and not worry about any of that, but be able to just provide an emotion was perfect. the push it routine was awful. the person i watched it with asked if those were the moves that Salt n Peppa did in the original video, saying that some of the moves looked the same. as much grief as should be give to shane for his routine, his group dance looked amazing on the elimination show. after seeing him in person, i am a danny fan, and sabra of course rocks the house without question. neil’s overused arabesque is more amazing in person than it is on television. god what i would give to be able to do that with such straight legs. it was effortless.
Why can’t SYTYCD get good hip hop choreographers? It’s like the dominant form of cultural expression in the United States. There can’t possibly be a shortage of people with imagination, talent, and expertise. So why Dan Karaty? Why Shane Sparks? I would think any hip hop routine on the show would be the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. What is the problem?
And I’m looking back at my first comment and seeing that, like the judges, I took very seriously the ‘emotional risk’ of Mia baring all on the show. Was anything there authentic, or was I just snowed under by the overwhelming sentimentality of the evening?
I would have been great if Shane had done a routine more like the umbrella routine that Alison and Ivan did in S2 for Sara and Danny.
Emily – For whatever it’s worth, I didn’t doubt Mia’s authenticity for one second and I wasn’t moved by the piece.
Leanne – Yeah, except Shane did that already. For Dom and Sabra. With a hat instead of an umbrealla.
Emily, I accept that Mia’s routine was authentic and not a put-on…she doesn’t seem like a put-on type of person. She’s on television, so we are guessing, but she seems earnest even to a fault.
JRT, I don’t disagree, generally speaking, but I think Lacey’s weak performance actually got in the way. The feel, the sort of dance in which they were asked to be lost, was light and airy, but her steps and jumps were heavy. She’s a heavy dancer. Works in a lot of forms, but not in that particular routine (and contemporary in general).
In the end, I feel like Mia’s emotional risk did ALL the work for that particular performance. That’s my take.
Beckyloo, I didn’t care much one way or another for Lauren Sanchez during the season – except for the occasional crack about her, ahem, enhanced appearance – but that finale, where she came out and did such a hot routine with Alex da Silva (right?), well, that caught me by total surprise and was awesome.
I can’t figure out the bad hip-hop choreography. I think Wade Robson was brought in to help out, but now we have Cirque du Wade going on, as he tries to branch out. Great for Wade…branch your bad self out, man! Bad for us: we need his good hip-hop stuff.
Lacey does list “International Latin” as one of her two specialties on the So You Think…? website. Not sure what the “International” qualifier means, but, hey, whatever…
I share you love for SYTYCD, but I’m afraid I’m going to have to disagree with you about Alex Da Silva. I think he does a real disservice to salsa by transmitting an inaccurate image of it. All he does in his choreography is lots of sensational tricks and dips, etc. You hardly ever see a basic step in there. The mambo he choreographed for SYTYCD was not even a mambo. Mambo breaks on the 2, while this piece had them breaking on 1. I’m just sorry that the only opportunity a lot of SYTYCD viewers will have to learn about latin dance is through his wildly inauthentic choreography. Call it what you will, but this is not real salsa.
THANK YOU for calling on the lousy Mia Michaels routine. Everybody else seems to think it’s the most beautiful dance ever. I watched it and switched half-way. Its execution was horrible, it was just so overdone and sappy.
From the basic premise of the dance, it was obvious that Lacey and Neil couldn’t pull it off – most of the contemporary routines that involve love and loss revolve around a simple boy/girl situation, not the complex situation of a father’s death. As much as both of them excel in other routines, they lack the subtlety of emotion required to handle the dance – they’re best at hamming it up; just look at Neil’s (excellent) performance as the “freaky spiky-haired man” in the Wade Robson routine.
Also, loving this blog!
Thanks for loving the blog! Much appreciated, those nice words…
I agree, of course, that Neil and Lacey lack the emotional complexity as dancers (and probably as people; they are young) to cope with what the routine might ask of them. The hamming it up thing is a bit much for me in general, but Lacey’s inability to control it at the end of “interview time” was too much. At least Neil looked – and probably was – concerned about having done the number justice.
I really couldn’t tell about the choreography. It seemed like as much acting as dancing, something I have a difficult time assessing…
Where did Mia Michaels get the black and white spiral umbrellas for the opening of So You Think You Can Dance on Thursday, June 26?