By: Mary Cavaliere

All I can say is it's going to be a great season.  There was not one bad performance tonight and I even struggled to determine who my top three were!  Tonight's guest judge was Dan Karaty who seemed to be a little harder on the dancers than the other judges.  C'mon Dan, it's the very first round! 

At the beginning of the show they announced that each week the teams of two (one boy and one girl) choose their dance type from a hat.  But one thing they didn't explain was how do they determine the teams to start with?  I thought all these kids did great but here's my viewpoint, for what it's worth, on the performances this evening.  I've also listed the Top 20 again for reference.

Top 10 Girls:  COMFORT, KOURTNI, COURTNEY, SUSIE, CHELSIE, CHELSEA, RAYVEN, KHERINGTON, NATALIE, and KATEE.

Top 10 Guys:  JOSHUA, TWITCH, MATT, MARQUIS, MARTIN, JAMIE, THAYNE, CHRIS, WILLIAM, and GEV.

Rayven & Jamie performed a hip-hop number.  They had me reeled in until Rayven pulled down Jamie's pants.  I didn't get it.  Was it supposed to be cute?  Funny?  What was the choreographer thinking?  Nigel said it wouldn't be memorable by the end of the night and he was right.  Although they did a great job, by couple number ten their performance was long-forgotten in my head.

Susie & Marquis performed a slow waltz and it was absolutely beautiful.  Nigel said there were a few parts that were off but he wasn't sure the audience noticed.  I had written down in my notes "lift looked awkward" before Nigel had his say, so yes, even us non-dancers noticed.  But it was still a great performance nonetheless.

Kourtni & Matt performed a contemporary piece.  I absolutely loved it.  I think this girl has star power and we're going to see her around for a good part of the competition.  I was offended at the feedback that Nigel gave to Matt.  Why would he be so cruel and say Matt danced like he had a stick up his you know what?  What was the point of that?  He's supposed to give these kids constructive feedback, not humiliate them.  I'm sure there was a more eloquent way to get his point across.  Dan Karaty didn't like what Matt did either but at least Mary gave him some hope for next week.  

Chelsea & Thayne performed a cha-cha.  This girl also has huge star quality.  She just radiated on stage and I absolutely loved the entire routine.  It seemed all three judges agreed with me.

Chelsie & Mark performed a contemporary piece.  I thought it was brilliant.  I do think the dancers have an advantage when Mia Michaels is the choreographer because her work is so unbelievably original and this piece was as well.  Mia was concerned during the rehearsals that Mark was not going to pull this off, but I think he made her proud by the time they got to performance night. 

Twitch & Kherington performed a Broadway piece.  This is one of my favorite styles of dance but honestly I didn't care much for the choreography.  But that has nothing to do with the performance of the dancers.  These two rocked it nonetheless.  I was really happy for Twitch since this is his second attempt to win So You Think You Can Dance.   Kherington, like Chelsea and Kourtni has that same dynamite star quality.  This competition is going to be rough!

Comfort & Chris did the jive.  I thought Comfort's legs didn't look natural and the piece looked a bit awkward but Nigel said it even better when he pinpointed the problem (Comfort needed to use her knees more).   I didn't know how to say it, but even as a non-dancer I saw there was a bit of a problem.  I also did not like the choreography with the selected music.  It just didn't seem to flow.

Katee & Joshua performed a hip-hop number.  Now THIS was a hip-hop number that was memorable!  Hip-hop is my least favorite style of dance but I was totally mesmerized by these two.  Their synergy was incredible and the emotion in this piece was also very apparent. On a scale of 10 these two get a 20!

Jessica & Will performed the tango.  Not bad for a girl who can't spell Vegas and Debbie Allen's protégé!   I thought they were completely captivating and brilliant!

Courtney & Gev performed a disco number.  I thought Nigel was way off base on this one.  Both my daughter and I loved the performance.  Courtney also has that star quality. I feel sorry for all these girls having to compete against one another.  I thought the routine was exciting and fun and both dancers rocked it!

It was really hard for me to choose the top three couples since so many of them were so great and I'm not at the place of having favorites yet.  But if I have to say who they are I will go with Chelsie & Mark, Chelsea & Thayne, and Katee & Joshua.  OK, I can't just name three.  I have to add Jessica & Will as well!!!!

The couples at risk in my opinion are Rayven & Jamie and Comfort & Chris.

You can read more of Mary's television blogs at www.myspace.com/italiangirl57

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