So You Think You Can Dance Canada - Top 8

First, I wasn’t able to get the results show recap done last week due to other stuff. That’s the way it goes sometimes.

The Top 8 are coupled as follows: Miles and Allie; Izaak and Arrasay; Vincent and Natalli; Nico and Lisa. They look pretty casual in the intro. There will be two performances by each couple. Apparently I wasn’t the only observer who thought last weeks pseudo Dance for your Life segments were out of place – but when are we going to see for-real solo routines?

Leah is in her Eighties purple prom dress (she doesn’t look that old, ya know?). Judges are Tre and Jean Marc as per usual with SYTYCD US judges Mia Michaels and Dan Karaty filling in.

Miles and Allie start with a Samba Adam and Eve routine choreod by Eric Katy. All three are from Calgary, by the way.

They dance to Aquanile by Hector Lavoe. We know that this dance occurs after Adam and Eve got the eviction notice because they have covered their nakedness. Allie is costumed in a bikini made out of green material designed to look like leaves. Miles wears a pair of brown polyester bell bottoms. Oh, I miss Disco 2000. The dance begins with Allie in front of Miles. When she steps to the side there is an audible gasp from the audience at the sight of shirtless Miles’ abs. They are so huge it looks freakish – like he’s wearing a flesh coloured, sleeveless Batman suit.

Miles continues to impress with his abilities as a complete dancer, not just a B-boy. Allie looks great and dances the same. Only weak spot is the tentative way they came out of the first lift and spin. There’s one point where Allie does a backward limbo-like bend. Just as she passes the point of no return and falls, Miles, who is looking the other way the whole time, slips out a foot and catches her head. Nice.

Mia tells them, “You need to always dress like this.” Dan says, “I saw things there I’ve never seen before.” Yeah; like, Allie needs to wax.

Izaak and Arrasay do the Lindy Hop to My Chemical Romance’s Welcome to the Black Parade, choreod by Benji Schwimmer. Leah intros it as, “From the war zone: a punk rock Lindy Hop.” It is hard, athletic and speed-metal fast. The judges complain the punk-rock war zone motif was a confusing non-starter. Mia and Dan tell Izaak he was overshadowed by Arrasay. What a shock.

Natalli and Vincent do a Lil “C” Krump routine to Lost Boiz Anthem, by Tha J-Squad. They come out in cat-burglar outfits, with the hoods on their black hoodies tied tight so their faces look like kabuki masks. Vincent carries two bags of money. We know because of the dollar sign on the bags. The routine is alright, but not great – certainly not as good as the Krump bit Lil “C” choreod for Miles and Lara a few weeks back. At one point Natalli clearly misses a move Vincent was expecting.

Mia tells the pair, “Don’t be too hard on your selves.” When a judge tells you that, it’s not a good sign.

Nico and Lisa are next, a Blake McGrath choreod Jazz Funk (translation – whatever you want) routine to the Pussycat Dolls’ When I Grow Up. Lisa is in another one of her Galaxy Quest porno outfits; a black, slit to the pubic bone leotard with a black crinoline rooster tail. Nico is done up like Jimmy Olsen, complete with the fedora and camera. He starts snapping pictures. She comes out of her director’s chair to writhe on the ground while Jimmy straddles her and clicks away. Jimmy gets too turned on, ditches the camera, pulls her to her feet and they dance passionately.

The two US judges are so shocked by the lasciviousness of the choreography that neither of them mentions the awkward pause in the lift that got Lisa out of her chair the second time. Both Mia and Dan tell us the routine would not have been allowed on SYTYCD shows in some other countries. The crowd cheers for Canadian sensuality. I have a vision of adult video store clerks flooding onto Yonge Street from their second-floor hidey holes, raising their fingers in the air and chanting, “We’re #1,” while Heritage Canada bureaucrats dance in the background, chanting, “We’re not boring! We’re not boring!”

Allie and Miles are back for their second routine, an Afro Jazz number choreod by someone I don’t recognize, Vicky Lambert. The music is Shosholoza, by the Soweto Gospel Choir, who were used in a piece a few weeks back (Vincent and Lisa, maybe?). The set up is a man and women waiting for a train. They are on opposite sides of the track. They make eye contact and ease into relieving the boredom of their wait with a quick dance.

The two are outfitted like Depression-era poor white southerners; an odd choice. The routine is received well by the judges. Tre goes off on one of her making-it-up-as-I-go critiques. That’s what I call them, which is more polite than, “talking out of her ass again.” She says, “To do African there is a grounding, emotional and with the body, that has to occur before anything comes out.” Right. And it rolls off the palate leaving a persimmony aftertaste.

Arrasay and Izaak tango; Alex DeSilva choreos. The couple are costumed as a Thirties gangster (black suit, white tie and spats) and a showgirl (Arrasay does Las Vagas in white). As with Allie, we learn a waxing might be in order. Mia and Dan again dump on Izaak for not giving more to his partner. This is sooooo tired.

Vincent and Lisa do a contemporary piece for their second routine, choreod by the choreographer with the best name: Stacey Tookey.

The story is a broken girl and a guilty man who has to let her down, but wants to do it gently. They dance to MIKA’s Happy Ending. She has on a nightshirt and black panties, Vincent wears his favorite jeans and tank top. Both are barefoot. The choreo is terrific and the dancers are totally into the mood. Moving. Dan calls it the best routine of the night, Jean Marc gives it a standing ovation.

Nico and Lisa end the show with a Luther Brown choreod Hip-Hop number to T.I.’s Whatever You Like. They come out in white shirts, hats and shoes, black pants and suit coats, carrying briefcases with dollar signs on them. They are the second couple to use cases as props tonight (Miles and Allie had suitcases in their Afro-Jazz routine) and the second couple to have $ on the props (the $ on the bags Vincent brought on stage at the start of his and Natalli's Krump bit). As for the routine; it is the least hip-hoppy hip hop routine I’ve ever seen. Could as easily been called Contemporary. It’s okay but nothing to put on this year’s Christmas cards.

That’s about it. Mia tells them, “You guys are pimping hard tonight.” Nothing like using a word for making female children into whores as a metaphor for doing good work. Way to be hip, Mia.

So You Think You Can Dance Canada - Top 10

Host Leah Miller introduces the Top 10:
-Natalli sparkles in a dress of Christmas Tree tinsel – great recycling, girl.
-Nico’s freshly polished face studs catch the spots and twinkle like misplaced teeth.
-Allie pirouettes in a turquoise version of Tony Curtis’ smart and snappy slave toga in Spartacus.
-B-boy Miles drops and spins, polishing the floor with his head.
-Arrasay performs a jumping jack for Jack Russell terriers.
-Izaak in an I heart PG tee, sparking an international incident when the City of New York threatens to bankrupt the hometown Prince George Chamber of Commerce for copyright infringement.
-Lisa in knee high, high heeled black boots, a mile of thigh, shiny black shorts, a half mile of mid-riff, a purple sports bra, evidently no breasts and a shiny grey jacket.
-Danny, looking like Ward Cleaver in pressed slacks and a gray V-neck over a white shirt and black tie.
-Kaitlyn, looking very Appalachian in bare feet, shorts and the kind of frilly undershirt you see on saloon girls when they are awoken unexpectedly in the middle of the night.
-And finally, yachtman first class Vincent, looking very Naval in white pants and a long sleeve striped sweater.

Leah fills us in on the rules for this portion of the competition.
1. Dancers participate in a random draw for a new partner and dance genre each week. Apparently they do this onstage and in full make-up, as we see them drawing from a hat held by the host, on stage, under the lights.
2. Voting is for individual dancers, not couples.
3. No bottom three. The man and the woman with the least votes go home. The judges no longer make the final decision.

But that doesn’t mean no judges. The original crew – Luther, Blake, Tre and Jean Marc, will continue to give us the benefit of their educated opinions.

First up, Izaak and Natalli do a Hip Hop routine, choreographed by Show Tyme. He is worried his dancers don’t have the mean for what he wants to do – something just this side of Krump. He tells the camera that Natalli, “will almost have to go from sexy to ugly.” Izaak sounds scared of Natalli, telling us he is “socially challenged” and she will probably wind up telling him what to do, being the strong women that she is.

They start as prize fighters in red and blue silk robes with matching white trim. The robes come off and they do the routine dressed in NBA-length boxing shorts and bulky, long sleeve sweatshirts. Hip Hop is all about the movement and stillness of joints and limbs. These outfits obscure the waist, shoulders, elbows, wrists and arms. Terrible costuming choice. The dancers are working it, but the sweats rob their best moves of the Wow Factor.

Vincent gives the first solo performance. He does a contemporary routine in bare feet, white slacks, red dress shirt and black tie. The music, Pour Gabrielle by Jorane, is spare jazz with an upright bass doing most of the work. I’m shocked when the routine ends with the fog horn fart that ends the dance for your lives portion, back when they were part of the process. I was looking forward to real solos – is a minute too much to ask? There’s no judges comments on the solos, either. It’s like they’re throwaways. I don’t get it.

Arrasay solos to Celine Dion’s Eyes on Me. She is breathtaking in a low cut, flowing white gown. The dance is Spanish in flavor, an impression accented with a yellow flower in her hair. Breathtaking.

Kaitlyn and Danny mambo to Tito Puente’s Salsa y Saber, choreographed by Melanie Lapatin and Tony Meredith. Kaitlyn has taken a page out of Natalli’s wardrobe philosophy. She shows as much as is legal in a red swag bikini. Danny is his usual uncharismatic but totally reliable self. It must be like dancing with your brother. Nevertheless, he is the most consistent and skilled partner in the competition.

Lisa solos to Secret by Missy Henderson. Surprise – she does a contemporary routine. It is technically impressive, but I have lost my feel for her. There seems to be a coolness now that wasn’t there earlier in the series. It’s almost as if she has lost some of the cockiness that I found so charming early on. I have a feeling she didn't expect the competition to be as stiff as it is turning out to be.

Miles solos to Juice (Know the Edge) by Eric B and Rakim. Surprise – he does a break dance solo.

Big, strong Nico gets paired with the dancer Luther calls Mouse, Little Allie. They do a waltz to Michael Buble’s version of That’s Life – a song I’ve always thought of as My Way without the self pity. Allie is resplendent in a flowing, spaghetti strap, floor length red silk gown. Nico is tieless in a suit and dress shirt. The waltz incorporates theatre elements, with a number of spectacular, nearly flawless lifts and spins. Oh, they made it look easy.

Danny, in a thirties gangster outfit that would do Cagney proud – all black save for the white tie and hat – solos. He gets off to a great start, quick stepping his way across the stage in an ankle-busting flash. But then he stops, throws off the hat and switches to a contemporary routine. He finishes looking very much like a ballroom dancer on his own; a little lost, a little lonely, but what a nice strong frame.

Kaitlyn solos to Adele’s Best for Last. As she often does in her bare feet, print swim suit tops and black short-shorts, Kaitlyn looks like she just came in from sunning on the deck of the hotel pool with the Cat in the Hat.

Arrasay and Vincent disco to Hot N Cold in a routine choreod by Melissa Williams. Chameleon Arrasay has a dominatrix thing going with mid-thigh high, stiletto heeled boots in a shiny metallic grey with a tight black latex one piece bathing suit with side panels cut out to frame her hips. Vincent looks great in monochrome grey slacks, sleeveless grey dress shirt and black vest. The routine is not one of Melissa’s best, but, damn, they look good doing it.

Allie does her solo wearing a red and black plaid vest over a pink tutu with one cherry red ballet slipper and one silver one. She dances a classical routine to Moloko’s Fun for Me. She looks like a ballerina in the Nutcracker Suite who moonlights as a waitress at Oleg’s Smorgasbord on I-94 at the Illinois-Indiana border.

Nico does a contemporary routine, wearing the first open shirt of the night. He wears a black mask with one starry eye, making him look like a member of the Kiss Army. Good, hard contemporary routine done to the ripple of good, hard contemporary abs.

Lisa and Miles do a contemporary routine choreod by Sean Chessman to Natasha Bedingfields, slow, sensuous Soulmate. For a B-boy, Miles does amazingly well. With that said, it is obvious Chessman understood Miles’ possible limits and designed a routine that used him as the lamp post to Lisa’s Gene Kelly. Tre says that, for the first time, she didn’t see Miles transform himself. Chessman calls from the audience: “He transformed! He was a B-boy and he transformed.”

Natalli solos a samba to Quimbara by Colie Crwz. She’s wearing another selection from her multi-layered pastel fringe go-go girl collection, this one orange. You go-go, girl.

Izaak solos to Alicia Key’s No One. Beautiful. He does a leap with an extra kick at the top that pushes him into a new level of getting air. He lands it perfect and spins across the stage. He shows a confidence and command of ballet that has yet to be exploited in a couples segment.

And that’s it. Sorry I’m late with this. Things came up. I’ll get the Results show done in a few hours.