So You Think You Can Dance Episode Recap and My Take – Season 5, 2 of 12 Voted Off

Opening Number

Awesome opening number. But my phone rang and I missed who choreographed it. I am thinking Tabitha & Napoleon, but I could be wrong. I have to say that I think Evan performs up to his potential in the group numbers and I am not sure why that is not happening all the time in his pair performances.

Apparently they wanted to do a Michael Jackson tribute but were not given the approval to use the music, so sad and unfortunate.

Bottom 3 Revealed

So, the first group was Caitlyn & Jason and Janette & Brandon. Obviously I was wrong on one of my couples because I had both of these couples on the safe side. The first couple in the bottom 3 is Caitlyn & Jason, and I am thinking that this is because they had ballroom the first time through and then got some bad comments from the judges the second time through. These two have also ended in the bottom 3 numerous times so they just must not have a big fan base.

The second group was Randi & Evan and Jeanine & Phillip. So obviously one of these two comes off my list and was replaced by Caitlyn & Jason. I think Randi & Evan got saved by their fan base, I hope Evan starts to shine like he can. Phillip & Jeanine hit the bottom because of the Russian Folk Dance and past weeks I think.

The final group was Melissa & Ade and Kayla & Kupono. The final couple in the bottom 3 is Melissa & Ade and I think it was because we are getting down to the wire and there was just not enough fire in their performances last night.

We then got a sneak peek of some highlights for the Season 6 auditions. There were some amazing people, and a glimpse at some of the scariness that seems to have to accompany that greatness…no light without darkness I guess.

NOTE: Nigel commented that they actually find out who is in the bottom 3 on the morning of results day and have already essentially decided who is being eliminated by show time, and then the solos may change their minds. I have always suspected this (and maybe it was mentioned before and I missed it), and though it sounds sneaky at first I think it is good because it is not such a rushed decision.

No guest dance performance tonight, I guess the sneak peeks of the following season are pre-empting that now. If they did that because they cannot find guest acts I understand it, but if it just came down to eliminating something to make space for the sneak peeks I think they should eliminate the musical performance not the guest dance performance…it is, after all, a dance show!

The Solos

Caitlyn – Not very good in my opinion. Not enough dance content. Some good gymnastic bits, and what she did she did well, she just didn’t do enough big stuff, everything was a bit too simple in my opinion.

Jason – Too frenetic! He was all over the place, it felt very desperate and like he was trying to cram a lot in but nothing he crammed in was really spectacular.

Jeanine – Her solo was not as beautiful as last time, but still really good. Though performing after Caitlyn you notice that she is a little less flexible and therefore her leg work does not come across as dramatically. But still really good.

Phillip – Okay, he is always great in his style, but nothing made me say WOW! I hate to say it, because I like him, but tonight may be it for him.

Melissa – Seeing someone en pointe is always dramatic. She had good content and was also controlled in her movement, I think she did well. Her music distracted me though!

Ade – I think he did well, a little frenetic but there was a spark in his performance that seems to have been missing lately in his performances with Melissa.

Guest Musical Performance

Tonight’s performer was Kelly Rowland and a DJ guy (missed his name, sorry!). She was good. The dancers performing with her annoyed me, I always get bothered by the dancers that are with the musical performers because they never seem up to par with the competitors on the show and it stands out. I wish they would do like Dancing with the Stars and have one of the choreographers do a group routine to accompany the musical performers.

The Results

Nigel said they based things on who they thought was best to move forward with and not because they thought someone was bad because the two dancers being eliminated tonight are both amazing dancers.

The girls –The person eliminated was Caitlyn, and after the solos tonight and her past performances that does not surprise me. She is a great dancer, I think it just took her a bit longer to start to shine than the others and then was pushing too hard to catch up.

The guys – Phillip was eliminated and that was no surprise, he just didn’t grow and start to really branch out in to other genres enough and in some cases at all.

Nigel announced that he has spoken with the producers and Caitlyn & Phillip would both definitely be on the tour despite not being a part of the Top 10.

So, the Top 10 are: Ade, Brandon, Evan, Janette, Jason, Jeanine, Kayla, Kupono, Melissa and Randi.