by Danae Young

 

This week on the premiere of So You Think You Can Dance, each dancer is paired up with an all-star dancer and a choreographer to create a routine that will wow not only the judges but America as well.

 

Each dancer this week had to answer the question, “What doesn’t America know about you that they should?”

 

Dancers: Billy Bell and Lauren Gottlieb
Style: Broadway
Choreographer: Tyce DiOrio
Song: “Footloose” by Kenny Loggins
Billy’s Answer: He is really into Do-It-Yourself projects.
The dance was full of energy and he is such an amazing dancer! If they didn’t tell you who the all-star was, I wouldn’t have been able to tell. I absolutely love this song and he made me love it more!

 

Dancers: Cristina Santana and Mark Kanemura
Style: Jazz
Choreographer: Sonya Tayeh
Song: “Starstruck” by Santigold
Cristina’s Answer: She auditioned for a singing competition, like American Idol, but in Mexico.  

Her inner snake really shined through in her dance. It was kind of a freaky performance but in a good way. It wasn’t a great performance but it definitely wasn’t bad.

 

Dancers: Jose Ruiz and Comfort Fedoke
Style: Hip Hop
Choreographer: Tabitha and Napoleon Dumo
Song: “Beautiful Monster” by Ne-Yo
Jose’s Answer: He practices yoga every day.
The dance was about two predators ready to attack. It was very aggressive in an artistic and dance sort of way. There was a lot of intensity and drama.

 

Dancers: Adéchiké Torbert and Kathryn McCormick
Style: Jazz
Choreographer: Travis Wall
Song: “Addicted to Love” by Florence + The Machine
Adéchiké’s Answer: He went to the fame school, Laguardia Arts.
This was a very sexual performance. Think “romance in the office” type of theme. It was great. However, the judges didn’t seem to agree with me.

 

Dancers: Melinda Sullivan and Pasha Kovalev
Style: Jive
Choreographer: Melanie Lapatin and Tony Meredith
Song: “L.O.V.E.” by VV Brown
Melinda’s Answer: She is also an actress and enjoys writing music. She wants to become a complete entertainer.
There were no props necessary for this routine. It was very energetic and quick-moving.

 

Dancers: Alex Wong and Allison Holker
Style: Contemporary
Choreographer: Sonya Tayeh
Song: “Hallelujah” by Jeff Buckley
Alex’s Answer: He loves to sing and play the piano.
The dance was dramatic and yet mellow all at once. It was an interesting routine but very moving. Alex got emotional listening to the judges praise his routine.

 

Dancers: Alexie Agdeppa and Twitch
Style: Hip Hop
Choreographer: Napoleon and Tabitha Dumo
Song: “Butterfly” by Jason Mraz
Alexie’s Answer: She was on Star Search in 1991 and Adam Shankman was the judge.
Let me just first say that Jason Mraz is my all-time favorite musician. It was a little surprising to see they chose this song for the Hip Hop routine but it worked out okay. I think Nigel put it perfectly by saying Alexie is very cute, and sometimes too cute. Showing cuteness in a Hip Hop routine isn’t always a good thing.

 

Dancers: Lauren Froderman and Ade Obayomi
Style: Pop Jazz
Choreographer: Mandy Moore
Song: “Oh Yeah” by Yello
Lauren’s Answer: She is very passionate about working with kindergarteners.
They used a red couch as the main prop of the performance, which sounds weird but it worked out great. There wasn’t a huge connection between the two of them, but who am I kidding? They both dance better than I ever will!

 

Dancers: Kent Boyd and Anya Garnis
Style: Cha Cha
Choreographer: Melanie Lapatin and Tony Meredith
Song: “Lady Marmalade” by Diva Invasion
Kent’s Answer: He was Homecoming King in high school.
I was watching the dance and found myself looking at Anya most of the time, which might be due to the fact that the song chosen is kind of girly. Kent still did a great job don’t get me wrong.

 

Dancers: Ashley Galvan and Neil Haskell
Style: Contemporary
Choreographer: Tyce DiOrio
Song: “For All We Know” by Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway
Ashley’s Answer: She does crazy voices like the “Galvatron.”
The performance was incredibly soft and graceful. I enjoyed it a lot because there was emotion and feeling throughout the routine.

 

Dancers: Robert Roldan and Courtney Galiano
Style: African Jazz
Choreographer: Sean Cheesman
Song: “Norweg” by Cirque De Soleil’s Saltimbango Soundtrack
Robert’s Answer: He really wanted to be a professional baseball player.
The jungle-themed dance was full of fire and passion. It kind of reminded me of Tarzan and Jane in a weird way, that is, if they had their own dance routine.

 

 

Get the results of tonight’s episode of So You Think You Can Dance Thursday night at 9/8c on Fox.

 

(Image courtesy of Fox)

 

 

Follow Danae at twitter.com/danaeyoung

 

For more So You Think You Can Dance links, go to SirLinksALot.net