SYTYCD - Top 12 - Commentary

Once again tonight, we will get two dances from each of the couples who remain in the competition. So, they might not have to rush through the prepackage clips quite as fast as last week, but I have a feeling that they might be almost as short. By tomorrow night, we'll know who the Top 10 will be, and voters will take over the responsibility of voting off a male and female dancer each week. Also, they will randomly get a different partner each week, in addition to randomly getting their dance assignments.

Mia Michaels is back on the judging panel with Mary and Nigel this week. I think its a bit soon to have Mia on again, but oh well. Hopefully she won't fully piss me off tonight.

Chelsie and Mark - Salsa (Alex Da Silva) - They look HOT together tonight. Mark looks a little stiff in the shoulders, but he's got the footwork down and really knows how to play the part. That was a fabulous exit from the lift at the end. Lots of fun and energy going on in the routine. I'm not sure what Mia is talking about with Mark's "insecurity."

Comfort and Thayne - Hip Hop (Tabitha and Napoleon) - They're trying to keep Thayne from smiling too much for this number. Not sure if they'll manage it, but kudos to Napoleon for attempting. Comfort's definitely hitting harder than Thayne, but I expected that. He's actually doing better than I expected him to. I think I kinda like him in this routine...but I wasn't too fond of the routine as a whole. While Comfort did the harder hitting, she wasn't as enjoyable to me in the routine as he is. She kind of ignored him throughout, while Thayne played the part. He is the more intriguing dancer of the two, for me at this point.

Jessica and Will - Contemporary (Tyce Diorio) - Interesting...the Garden of Eden, huh Tyce? They're practically naked up there, and writhing around all over each other. The pair of them are hitting some gorgeous lines. I have to say, I love what Tyce has done with this, the music is perfect, the poses are perfect, the connection between the two is perfect (which I was missing last week). I'm seriously impressed with all of them on it, not only Tyce, but both of these dancers. This is the first time that Jessica has managed to move me. Oh yeah...and almost nekkid Will is never a bad thing. I am IN LOVE with this entire piece. LOVE!!!

Courtney and Gev - Cha Cha (Pasha and Anya) - I want it a little dirtier from Gev. He seems like he is trying too hard for perfection, and in the process he is losing some of the rawness of the dance. And I could use a little more hip action from both of them. The footwork was really good on her part, really iffy on his part. Really not bad, but not as good as I was hoping for from them. And the choreography was great - nice work Pasha and Anya! Lots of fun overall.

Kherington and Twitch - Krump (Lil C) - Holy crap, Twitch is KILLING this. And Kherington is proving that she can hang with him. I'm seriously impressed with the pair of them after that. Granted, I love them anyway...but they made me enjoy Krump, which surprised me. The end lost some of the synchronicity and energy, but overall it was insane.

Katee and Joshua - Viennese Waltz (Jean-Marc Genereaux) - Katee looks absolutely stunning tonight. She is hitting all of her lines beautifully. Something doesn't feel quite right about Joshua's frame to me. His shoulders aren't in the right position or something. And his feet are not smooth at all, but really he is almost stomping them into the floor. He did well with it, but I don't feel like he did as well as Katee did. She was the star of this routine, where most weeks he has been the star.

Chelsie and Mark - Broadway (Tyce Diorio) - I usually can't look away from Mark, but in this number, I'm having a difficult time seeing anything but Chelsie. She fully embraced this part and is owning it. He did well when I did manage to pay attention to him, but she was fabulous. This was a really sexy, fun routine. The fall forward? Wow...impressive.

Comfort and Thayne - Contemporary (Mandy Moore) - So they got a routine in each of their styles this week. Really interesting lifts again, like in Mandy's last contemporary routine. I'm really falling hard for her contemporary choreography. She creates such interesting movements and finds unique ways to tell her stories. Thayne is gorgeous in this one, with the lines he's hitting. Comfort, while not as good as Thayne, did much better than I ever would have expected for her on a contemporary routine. Pretty harsh from Nigel though. I get that there wasn't enough of a connection, and that Comfort wasn't fully engaged in the routine, but to say he wished a different couple was dancing it...ouch. (But I have to say...after Mia's two routines last week, and Tyce and Mandy's routines tonight, I am giving in. I am now a fan of contemporary dance. Dammit.)

Jessica and Will - Quickstep (Tony and Melanie) - Jessica seems to be slipping and sliding a bit, instead of taking real steps. The twist felt really out of place in this number, but I guess Tony and Melanie were trying to make it more exciting to get people to vote. But honestly, to me, the most memorable part of the entire routine was Will crawling across the floor to her at the end. The dancing was a bit bouncy and not really smooth. Will is truly a gentleman with his response after Mia's comment. I like him a lot. I want to love him...but right now, I just really like him a lot. And as great as Jessica was earlier, she was right back where she's been the last several weeks for me on this one. I really think that if they are in the bottom three tomorrow, she is likely to leave, even over Comfort. Comfort is at least the only girl in her style in the competition, so she is a bit more unique. Jessica has all the skills, but none of the confidence. Granted, I'm sure that hearing the judges tell her these things over and over and over again isn't helping her confidence level any. But still.

Courtney and Gev - Jazz (Mandy Moore) - Mandy seems to have a thing for props this season. Let's see how this works. LOVE this choreography! And they are performing it sooooooooo well. Mandy did a great job of not only putting together a routine that really works with the music, but also using some of Gev's moves and making them work within the character of the dance. I have no idea if it was difficult choreography or not, but it was insanely well performed, and it was interesting, and I wanted more, more, more of it.

Kherington and Twitch - Smooth Tango (Jean-Marc Genereaux) - Mr. and Mrs. Smith, huh? This makes two dances tonight that have forced Kherington to take on a more intense persona, and yet again, I feel like she is doing a really good job with it. Twitch's carriage seems to be a bit off. The dance didn't feel like a proper tango to me, but I loved that there were characters to play and a story to tell. I don't think it was anywhere near as bad as the judges seem to feel it was. It likely isn't really as memorable as I would have liked, but it wasn't bad.

Katee and Joshua - Bollywood (Nakul Dev Mahajan) - This is really energetic and interesting. They both kept their energy up throughout, and stayed in character. I don't really know how to go about critiquing something like that, because it is something so very different from anything I've ever seen before. It's really cool to see something so completely different on this show, and to expose the American public to a completely different style of dance that most have likely never even heard of. Their symmetry of movement was right on point throughout, which seems to be really imperative in this style of dance.

So...top 3 of the night? Courtney and Gev, Chelsie and Mark, and Katee and Joshua.

That would leave as the bottom three: Comfort and Thayne, Jessica and Will, and Kherington and Twitch.

My guess as to who will leave? Thayne from the guys, and either Comfort or Jessica. I hope Jessica.