I’ll Be the Judge of That! – So You Think You Can Dance 6, October 27

It seems like only yesterday, we were hearing Evan’s name chanted in the Kodak Theatre and Jeanine was pronounced America’s Favorite Dancer, but the Season 6 top 20 is upon us! I haven’t watched one minute of audition footage from this season (even the get-to-know-you thing from yesterday) since I don’t want to get swept up in back stories and I can’t stand watching bad auditions. Having said that, I’m excited at seeing our top 20 for the very first time. If you’re new to my articles, I lovingly, yet firmly, put my two cents in on each of our dancers, judges, choreographers, and hostess. No one is safe from me!

Now that introductions are properly made, the fancy new intro is played, and my hot chocolate has been poured – Let’s get it – wait. Is the sound going to be all funny every time the tappers go at it? That’s going to bug me after a while. – Let’s get it on!

Channing & Phillip – Jive

Hi, Channing and Phillip! This performance was fine but nothing impressive. They executed the steps well, but there was nothing about it that made me care. It also bugged me that their facial expressions seemed fake. The chemistry was lost on me and apparently the judges, too. This doesn’t happen too often, but I actually completely agree with Mary about how energy faded in and out and steps varied from sharp to lazy. That lift looked like a ton of work, though, and that killed it for me, too. Hopefully this isn’t going to be an indication as to how the season will go.

Ashleigh & Jakob – Broadway

Hi, Ashleigh and Jakob! Okay, after the “This… is ASHLEIGH!” and she did her little eight-count, I immediately cringed and hoped that she’d do well in her routine later since her intro did nothing for her. I wasn’t buying her performance during this routine either. She was really stiff and all her movements seemed forced, like she was trying too hard to be sexy and it just looked trampy. Good Lord with this Jakob guy! His dancing was friggin’ beautiful and his lines go on for days. I wasn’t completely sold on his ability to get into the character he was required to play, but his dancing was very well done. It’s way too early in my book to be talking about who’s getting into the finals, though. Calm down, judges!

About 30 seconds into this routine, something weird happened and my TV went straight to commercial. By the time we came back, we were introducing the fourth couple. I’ll have to wait until next week to see Ariana and Peter. It actually cut out a few times during the episode so anything I don’t comment on, please assume that I didn’t see it. Feel free to e-mail me about the ones that I missed!

Russell (with Melanie) – Foxtrot

Okay. NO PRESSURE OR ANYTHING! You don’t do this dance, and you have to dance with a professional! Having said that, that was good! It wasn’t perfect by any means. The posture fell every now and then, some of the steps were stiffer than they should have been, and he carries a lot of tension in his shoulders, but he played the character well, he kept up with his partner, and his lines were really good. When the judges were doing the “I can’t believe you’re a krumper!” I wasn’t that shocked. He looked like he was dancing completely out of his comfort zone, but he looked like he was doing a good job and dancing out of that zone.

Bianca & Victor – contemporary

Okay, that was awesome! They both danced really strong, and they did a good job exuding chemistry despite the fact that his character was supposed to ignore her. I was drawn to Victor more than I was to Bianca, not that she did badly, but I saw the things that Adam was nitpicking like her shoulders and toes. Victor looks like he wouldn’t have very good lines or height on his leaps since he’s so big, but his jumps were fantastic and he has really great extension. So far, this was my favorite routine of the evening.

Karen & Kevin – Cha-cha

Karen was fantastic as I expected her to be since this is what she does (and her body is slammin’), but every once in a while, I found myself staring at the train wreck that was Kevin during this routine. I think he thought he was smoldering in his face but he looked like he was taking a calculus test. The judges already talked about how much of a struggle his legs and feet were, but his arms were absolutely terrible. He has really long arms, and without any strength behind them, they looked like limp noodles. The judges clearly saw some amazement that I didn’t. We did, however, agree on the fact that Karen was wonderful and completely owned that stage. Bravo to HER, not so much for him. Oh, and is it just me or did Kevin seem really full of himself during his intro?

Ellenore & Ryan – contemporary jazz

I enjoyed this! (But it was a fall cry from “the best So You Think You Can Dance has ever seen, Captain Arrogant.) They both danced with a lot of strength and it worked really well with a Sonya routine. Ellenore seems like she’s into weird choreography, but I was pleasantly surprised by Ryan. I expected him to be a lot more uptight than he was. Ellenore’s locking – or popping, I can’t tell – was getting annoying after the fifth or so time she did it in the routine because it was part of her “This… is ELLENORE” intro and in her video intro. I have a feeling we’ll be seeing a lot more of that. I would put this as my second favorite dance of the night.

Kathryn & Legacy – Contemporary

I had high expectations for Legacy going into this since this is his style (I get it’s a different type of hip-hop than what he’s used to, but those movements are part of break dancing as well). He was awesome, but who saw Kathryn coming?! She was wonderful, and her body is ALSO insane! They both showed excellent musicality and their energy stayed up the entire time. While both of them looked really good, Kathryn blew me away with how well she could keep up. These two have the potential for great things to come.

Ariana – Her energy is good during her solo, but she needs to control it so she doesn’t look so manic while she dances. Her arms are a dead giveaway, especially during leaps. She looks like she’s doing swimmer arms.

Russell – Wow! This is the first time I’ve seen him do his own style, and he was really good. I get that his style is a very aggressive one, but I wish he didn’t look like he was going to break someone’s arm if they looked at him funny. I know that krumping isn’t for the faint at heart, but he just looked really angry. I probably just need to get over myself.

Pauline – This was my first time seeing Pauline tonight, and I couldn’t tell what her style was form her solo. She had some jazz and ballroom stuff in there, and she was equally acceptable at both of them. I think hers was better than Ariana’s.