So You Think You Can Dance Canada - Top 6

Last week’s elimination took out Vincent and Arrasay, leaving Lisa, Nico, Miles, Allie, Izaak and Natalli. Leah, resplendent in a midnight blue cocktail dress, intros the Top 6 judges; Tre and Jean Marc as usual, with Mary Murphy and Sean Cheesman. Couples, paired at random, will do two genres and a thirty second solo.

Natalli and Nico start. She is the best possible replacement for Arrasay. Of the 3 women left, only Natalli has the same level of natural, overt sexuality as Arrasay and Nico demonstrated when they were paired as the contestants were whittled down from 20 to 10. They draw Disco as their first genre and Melissa Williams as their Disco choreographer. Melissa tells the camera they are going to be the doing the real thing, “A peak inside Studio 54, 1978,” not a “parody.”

The lights come up and my jaw goes down. Natalli is dressed in a skintight, gold lamé, bell-bottom jumpsuit. The sides are cut out from the bottom of her breasts to inches below her hip bone. The cut-out leaves only a three inch swath of material covering her abdomen from the top of the pubis to the sternum. The total effect is to frame and accent angles and curves that get overlooked when the mid-riff is bare. She is the most naked woman I’ve ever seen and I can’t take my eyes off her.

Nico is in a black dress shirt that has had the sleeves removed, black slacks and black shirt cuffs. His is the only male presence in the competition that has ever been able to match the heat of Arrasay, and he matches Natalli’s as well.

The routine is done to the Amii Stewart version of Knock on Wood (no match for the Sam and Dave original). They nail it, with the final lift of Natalli to a full splits behind Nico’s head is particularly well hammered. The judges love it.

Miles does a solo to Vernon Burch’s Get Up. The routine doesn’t really go anywhere: but at least he doesn’t spend his time polishing the floor. He remains upright for most of the piece, which features a lot of popping and a bit of strolling. I definitely didn’t get the Bay City Roller – Mime look. We’re they going for A Clockwork Orange?

Allie and Izaak do a Luther Brown choreod Hip-hop routine to the Diddy/Aguillaro’s Tell Me. They are out fitted in watch caps and khakis – zippered overalls for her, pants with suspenders over a white undershirt for him. Oh yeah – Izaak is also wearing a contraption that looks like a suicide vest minus the dynamite. Halfway through the bit Allie unzips the top of her overalls to reveal a sparkly red bra. Gratuitous, pleasant, and no match for Natalli’s cut-away. The judges find the routine “good but not great.” One week left in the competition and they’re still telling Izaak he has to “step it up,” “try harder,” “give a lot more.”

Miles and Izaak pale compared to the performance Nico put on with Natalli.

Natalli does her solo. She is in a man’s suit with the shirt untucked and unbuttoned save for the button between her breasts. She looks like a female version of American Gigolo’s Julian. She does a contemporary routine to N*E*R*D’s She Wants. Of the three women, Natalli has the worst technique and the best presence. Her sensuality is amazing. Human Viagra.

Lisa and Miles do a Contemporary routine choreod by Blake McGrath to Ryan Dan’s The Face. The story is of a woman whose partner has passed away and she is longing for his presence. The piece uses a full length mirror on a rolling platform to great effect. Miles comes out from behind the mirror when Lisa turns from her reflection. He dances behind her, the two never quite touching. When she finally turns to the presence she has been dancing with, Miles turns the opposite way and they are trapped with the mirror between them once again. Nice job, Blake.

Oh yeah – Miles is another Hair Club for Men success story. You know that large, unexplained bald strip on the front left quadrant of his scalp? The bald strip we all have thought was a scar lo these many weeks? Well, it’s gone. No explanation, not even a shower scene.

Izaak solos to Alibis by Marianas Trench. He gets great air on his opening ballet leap, as per usual. The whole bit is one of the best solos we’ve seen –a beginning, middle and end, all in thirty seconds.

Nico and Nat are back with a Quickstep routine to the Mitch Woods and his Rocket 88s version of Swinging at the Savoy. She is in an angle-length, blue satin evening dress with a broad, sparkly empire line, spike heels and her hair up. He is in a three piece suit minus the jacket. The tie is a Windsor knot, done fat, right and tight. Nico has left the facial hardware in the garage and his Mohawk has grown out. For the first time I think, yeah, I could see this guy in a movie that’s not about a meth-head.

Lisa does a solo to Radio Citizen’s The Hop, a musical piece with a slinky beat that she exploits well. She does a kind of tough chick stroll I like. Poppy, but more to it than just that.

Allie and Izaak do their second number, a Melissa Williams choreod Jazz routine to Forever by Chris Brown. Thank you, Allie, for the blue short-shorts. At one point in the rehearsal scenes ever smiling Allie starts crying from the pressure of the competition, but her smile barely dips. Not sure that’s a good thing.

In the dance Allie wears a white gown and pink sneakers. Izaak wears an open black shirt, black slacks and shoes and black and white basketball shoes. It’s a Cinderella bit, with Allie running off at the end, leaving a pink sneaker behind. Izaak was sloppy with the climactic lift. Tre tells them, “You pulled up out there, you pulled up.” Evidently this is a good thing, as when the pilot does it and doesn’t crash. It is not a bad thing as in you-didn’t-give-it-your-all.

Nico solos to Radiohead’s Reckoner. Open shirt, barefeet, ho-hum. Didn’t grab me.

Lisa and Miles Cha-Cha. He’s in a girly black sleeveless tee and faded jeans, she’s in a shimmery red bra, flouncy black mini-skirt and silver strap-on spike heels. The two do a great job that is wasted. Choreographers Tony Melanie and Melaney Lapatin decided to set their Cha-Cha to Lady Gaga’s Just Dance. Trying to Cha-cha to something other than Latin is like watching a great but badly dubbed porno. You want to get excited, but you keep being distracted by the out-of-synch moans and sighs.

The episode ends with Allie’s solo, a full-on ballet piece from Tchiakovsky’s Sleeping Beauty. She wears a turquoise green ballerina costume, complete with tu-tu and tiara. I have been wondering when she’d get around to this. She knows what she’s doing and does it well.

So that’s it. Top 4 should be Nico, Natalli, Allie and Miles, but we’ll see.