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Here are my thoughts on the on July 2, 2008 performances of the seven couples making up the season 4 top 14. This week they have two routines each and Comfort and Thayne are dancing together for the first time. (Click images for larger view)
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Jessica/Will
1. Jive (Choo Choo Ch’Boogie – Five Guys Named Moe): Good jive. Terrific jump over/under through the legs (see picture below). [Watch on YouTube]
2. Lyrical Jazz (Alone – Heart): Finally! A memorable and enjoyable dance from these two. What a terrific opening jump (click picture on left). I now think I might ‘get’ what people see in Will. My third favourite performance of the night. [Watch on YouTube]
Comfort/Thayne – first time as a couple
1. Broadway (Cool – Bernstein and Sondheim): Liked him. As always, didn’t like her. How can anyone not love the music from West Side Story? [Watch on YouTube]
2. Smooth Waltz (Hov Arek Sarer Jan – New Age Armenia): Not bad. Especially for Comfort. I didn’t expect her to pull a waltz off as well as she did. Nonetheless, she’s my weekly first choice female to be voted off. [Watch on YouTube]
[July 3 Update: Comfort and Thayne were in the bottom 3 couples this week. Unfortunately Comfort survived to stay on the show for another week.]
Kourtni L/Matt
1. Hip Hop (How do I Breathe – Mario): Should be called hip-hop light – I didn’t like it much. They were not in sync for half of it. There’s no person that has disappointed me more on this show than Kourtni. I had such high hopes for her at the beginning. Kourtni is my second female choice to be voted off this week. [Watch on YouTube]
2. Mombo (Ban-Con-Tim – Super All-Star): Just OK. Matt out-shined her. She wasn’t looking at him enough. [Watch on YouTube]
[July 3 Update: Kourtni and Matt were in the bottom 3 couples this week. Kourtni and Matt were both voted off. Of the three bottom guys I thought he was the least deserving to be voted off.]
Chelsie H./Mark
1. Jazz (Kiss Kiss – Holly Valance): Entertaining and together throughout. Fun, playful and sexy. First dance of the night I rewound to watch a second time. [Watch on YouTube]
2. Fox Trot (It’s My Life – Paul Anka): When they were actually dancing the fox trot (as opposed to when they were doing tricks) they flowed nicely. This routine left me a bit cold. I didn’t like how the blue dress hid so much of her you couldn’t see her dancing. Mark was trying to connect with Chelsie but the reverse – not so much. Mark is still one of my favourite male dancers. [Watch on YouTube]
Kherington/Twitch
1. Pasa Doble (Malaguena – Brian Setzer ’68 Comeback Special): Costumes – wonderful! The routine didn’t seem that difficult. But, I really liked it. Terrific performance/acting. Second best routine of the night. I want to purchase a set of his abs. [Watch on YouTube]
2. Contemporary (Dreaming with a Broken Heart – John Mayer): Mia Michaels is a strange one. But she does it again! Technically this dance looked easy. The performance was very good for a routine with top notch, though strange, choreography. The song and story touched a bit too close to home 🙁 Best routine of the night. [Watch on YouTube]
Katee/Joshua
1. Contemporary (Hometown Glory – Adele) I’m not sure what to think of that one. I didn’t really like this Mia Michael’s routine. It was different. A few spots were very interesting. Odd mixture of hip-hop and contemporary. This is my favourite couple but this was my least favourite of their dances so far. And her haircut – yuk! [Watch on YouTube]
2. West Coast Swing (Shake It – Brother Yusef): Yikes! This is not Katee and Joshua’s week. Bringing in Benjie highlighted how far away these two are from his West Coast Swing excellence. The song was a poor choice too. Hardly inspiring. But after the judges praise I watched it again and this was one of the rare instances where I enjoyed it a bit more on the second viewing. [Watch on YouTube]
Courtney/Gev
1. Hip Hop (Lights, Camera, Action! – Mr. Cheeks): Good, not great. Both were nicely together. Courtney was far better than Gev. This was as easy a hip-hop routine as they get on this show. [Watch on YouTube]
2. Broadway (New York, New York – Bernstein, Comden and Green): I really liked the costumes and this 40’s/50’s Oscar Levant-style dance routine. Reminded me of scenes from An American in Paris. But the routine was just average. Gev is my male choice to be voted off this week. [Watch on YouTube]
[July 3 Update: Courtney and Gev were in the bottom 3 couples this week. I loved Gev’s solo dance. Wow! If only he danced this well in other styles. After his solo I was happy he has not voted off.]