Vegas Week! Already! Love it. Recapping the first night of Vegas Week is essentially pointless; we started with nearly 170 dancers and all but 36 of them got axed last night. There's just no way to keep up. I suspect that's doubly true for the dancers themselves, who perform solos and then are put through a gauntlet of super-tough choreographed numbers by the judges. They had to do hip-hop with Tabatha and Napoleon, ballroom with that bizarre couple, jazz with Sonia, contemporary with Mia, and then a big group Broadway number with Tyce. I can't go over it all, so I'll pick out the stuff that really stuck out to me.
-We barely saw Alex Wong prior to last night, but his solo at the beginning of the show was incredible. He's a ballet performer (have we ever had a male ballet dancer on this show?) who also incorporated what looked like gymnastics or martial arts. I believe I saw him standing at the end, so I think he's still in the running.
-Tony Bellissimo was a recurring character last night. The break dancer won over the judges with his solo, but it did nothing for me. Set to Rockwell's "Somebody's Watching Me," he basically stood around and opened suitcases, newspapers, and his coat lining to reveal pictures of Nigel. But he didn't actually DANCE. He seemed to do better in the various choreography rounds, but hit a wall with Mia's routine. After being asked to repeat the number again, and after being CLEARLY off the mark of the dancers, he was still kept on. I didn't get it, but I suspect the leniency had a lot to do with the fact that a) we seemingly have no strong hip-hop dancers this year and b) Tony's pretty cute and will bring in the teen vote. We'll see.
-Gabi Rojas had a rough night. The judges kept referring to this amazing solo that she danced (we never saw it), but she was a disaster in almost every choreographed round. At one point she was forced to dance for her life, and her contemporary number was simply gorgeous. But then again she faltered in the subsequent numbers and eventually got cut. I'm not sure how I feel about that.
-The Kinney sisters, Megan and Caitlin, seemed to swap positions a little. Megan started out strong while Caitlin struggled. Then Megan ended up getting cut after contemporary (I think), and Caitlin - who I prefer anyway - was forced to dance for her life. She was clearly shaken by her sister getting chopped and struggled through a too-reserved solo, but one that still showed off her remarkable physicality (her flexibility is off the charts - makes sense as she's a former gymnast). Ultimately she got through on Mary's vote alone, and I believe she was still standing at the end, so I'm pulling for her.
-Throughout the night the judges kept hammering and hammering Brandon Bryant for not living up to their expectations. I thought he looked fine throughout. In some routines he wasn't the best, but he was far from the worst, and other dancers who were nowhere near as strong as he was kept getting passes. (Phillip Chbeeb and Nabuya noticeably struggled through ballroom, but both got praised.) Nigel essentially saved Brandon's ass and I think he was there at the end. I suspect they're trying to set him up as an underdog, which is patently ridiculous.
-Tapper Bianca Lawson made it all the way to the final choreographed sequence, Broadway, and I thought she looked great in the "West Side Story" dance. But then she got cut. She handled it so poorly though that I can't say I'm disappointed.
-Broadway brothers Evan and Ryan had me nervous the entire night; I just felt like the editing was setting us up for one or both of them getting cut. But they breezed through, looking great on stage and adorable off. Mia even forced Ryan to do a flea step all around the stage after he got through contemporary. Precious. Alas, the preview for tonight suggested that it will come down to the two of them for the final spot in the Top 10 guys, and that's going to absolutely crush me. Love. Them.
-The group numbers - where the dancers were given a CD and tasked with creating their own choreography overnight - were disastrous, which of course means I loved them. It was hard to pick a favorite, since so many were terrible, but I'm partial to the one where some girl pranced out on stage with an umbrella at the end of the number and then flashed her cooter. AMAZING! I just didn't understand the judges' decisions at that point in the competition. In the first group, the girl who was CLEARLY the worst one in the bunch - she was off by herself, seemingly dancing to an entirely different song - was the only one who got through without a hitch. Even tapper Silky from that group had to dance for his life. He did a fairly lackluster job and then got cut. But there were lots of baffling choices in that segment.
-Finally, the big shocker of the night: during Sonia's jazz number she stopped everybody and made them watch Brandon and Natalie do her choreography. They were incredible: they danced it hard, fast, and with conviction. Then Natalie took the stage to perform for the judges and she just...fizzled. It wasn't terrible, but it sure wasn't as good as it was in practice. Her extension wasn't there, she seemed tired, and off. The judges came out with guns blazing and she got CUT. WTF? She went from being a shining example of the steps in practice to roadkill in the SAME NUMBER. Many of the dancers were totally shocked, none more than Natalie herself. I just find it ridiculous that other dancers who clearly did worse were given an opportunity to dance for their lives (Gabi? Tony?) and yet Natalie was just summarily dismissed. That's kind of bullshit.
Tonight: we pick the Top 20, 10 guys, 10 girls. Looking at the Top 16 women I recognized basically four of them - Caitlin, Janette, Asoka, and that vaguely Russian-looking girl who has incredible legs. I'm similarly unfamiliar with many of the guys. But this show does this every year; the Top 20 is usually at least half full of people we've never seen before. I don't get that, but whatever. Let's get the competition started!