Last week on So You Think You Can Dance, the top five women were announced, so this week it was the men’s turn. Let’s see who made it through to the next round.
Up first is ballroom dancer Cole Mills, who blew popular choreographer and former SYTYCD contestant Travis Wall away last week. This week, Travis choreographs Cole’s contemporary routine. Wow, you can’t get any better than a Wall routine, but how’d Cole handle it? Cole does a great job, but I didn’t feel chemistry between him and his dancer. Nigel told him his connections were brilliant. Vanessa calls him genuine and authentic. Mary said she has never seen someone improve so fast. We will see at the end of the show if it was good enough to get him to the live shows.
Jay Jay Dixonby does the cha cha with Chelsie. I like Jay Jay. He has a great personality when he dances, even though he’s not the cleanest dancer on the stage. Vanessa asks him if there’s anything he can’t do. Mary says every time he takes the stage she is drawn to him. Nigel says he’s breaking his lines.
Slavik Pustovoytov, 19, danced jazz with Allison even though he’s a hip-hop dancer. The choreography was interesting and Vanessa calls it sexy dancing. Mary calls it “believable”. Nigel said it was a great job.
Justin Pham, contemporary dancer, danced hip-hop with Comfort. Mary wasn’t sure about the acting part of his dance. Nigel said it felt lightweight but he gave them what they wanted. I think he did okay, but he doesn’t have intensity, which would’ve given it a bigger depth of performance.
Peyton Albrecht, a contemporary dancer, goes next and does the cha cha with Chelsie. I don’t love this dance at all and I think Peyton missed some of his marks, but I’m not a dancer or choreographer. Mary said the chemistry wasn’t there and it wasn’t the best dance for her today. I guess I saw it right. Nigel said it didn’t sit comfortably with him.
Animator Karl Bennet Jr. performed contemporary and Peyton should watch this dance to see how to connect with your partner. Hell, can Travis Wall do anything wrong? Nope. Okay, but I digress. Karl did a fabulous job. All three judges absolutely loved him.
Evan DeBenedetto, a tapper, also performed contemporary. This kid is a tap dancer? Not a contemporary dancer? Wow. Nigel said it was a good job. Vanessa gave him rave reviews and Mary said she felt like she went through something watching him.
Animator Dustin Payne went with a jazz routine. I like this guy because jazz is so different from animation and he makes it work. The judges liked him.
Allen Genkin (who not-in-a-good-way had a memorable audition when he took his shirt off during his solo) did a jazz routine too. Mary said he did a pretty good job and Nigel said he needs to relax his neck. Vanessa said he did well and he could relax just a little.
The final dancer is Darius Hickman and he’s dancing hip-hop. He’s having a lot of fun with this and I like it. (Can Vanessa stop yelling ‘hey’ during their routine?) Nigel said it was great and Mary said he knocked it out of the park.
So who made it to the final five guys of SYTYCD? The final five of the guys are:
Evan
Jay Jay
Cole
Darius
Slavik
I’m a little surprised that Dustin didn’t make it, but I’m pleased with the others. Out of these five, I can’t tell you who I think would win yet because it’s hard to judge if they haven’t danced live. I think Cole’s the favorite right now, but we’ll see what happens.
