Top 4 Perform

Tonight, no one gets eliminated!  So much joy!  So much dancing!  So much...Paula?

We also have two power couples in the top 4.  Normally there's a certain amount of couples that get fans and make it through together, but I think this is the first time that the two boys and two girls in the top were paired at the start.





Group Routine?

OK, am I crazy?  There are pictures online of a group routine, but I don't actually remember it happening.  Did they cut it?  Facebook seems to indicate that certain areas didn't get it.  Bummer.

Cat Deeley Outfit Review

I love her outfit this week!  The dress is kind of a gypsy-meets-flapper feel, and I'm a fan of her curly, va-va-voom hair.  The purple bow/puff things on her shoes are distracting and not so great, but love the rest of the look.

Guest Judges

Whyyy is Paula Abdul back?  To be fair, she's a better judge this time around, but I really don't get what Nigel thinks is so special about her for the audience.  I'm sure he and she go way back on American Idol, but are the rest of us supposed to care?

And then we have Gabby Douglas.  What?!  OK, everyone in the world loves Gabby Douglas, but what is she doing on this show?  Have they seriously just given up on requiring any kind of dance qualifications to judge on this show?  I can't hate her though, because she's great, but she basically doesn't do anything except provide opportunities for Olympics-related puns.

Aaron and Amy - Jazz

Choreography: Ray Leeper
Song: Primitive by Richard Vission vs. Luciana

So they put Amy in a practically nake body suit and they give Aaron this horrible mountain man vest.  And they choose this for the dance where they call out how wonderful the costume designers are?  I mean, in general I think they are good, but I actually thought the costumes detracted from this dance.  They looked really disjointed from each other, and Aaron got a little lost in his caveman thing.

Vote for Travis or Travis?
Then we are interrupted to vote on which Travis Wall routine will be featured in the finale.  Our two options are Wicked Game, which was probably the single fan favorite dance of the entire season and all the choreographers, or Silver Screen, which was just not a very good dance at all.  hmmm...so mysterious which one will get chosen...

They should at least put up a fight, like that brothers one with Robert and Tucker or that one with the red straps.  They literally picked his best and his worst number and made us vote. It was like 90% for Wicked Game.  So stupid.

Jasmine and Fik-Shun - Contemporary

Choreography: Travis Wall
Song: Spiegel Im Spiegel by Angela Yoffe and Vadim Gluzman

Cat Deeley says it gave her goosebumps, but it wasn't that noteworthy for me.  It was really beautiful, but it felt like a really effective lullaby.  Made me want to go to sleep, but in a good way, just not an amazing way.

Aaron and All-Star Melinda - Tap

Choreography: Anthony Morigerato
Song: When I Was Your Man by Bruno Mars

I am so excited to finally have a tap routine on the show!  I'm so pumped!  And then...a little let down.  It was nice, but I really like the more upbeat tap routines better.  This one just didn't really stick with me or strike me in any way.  Wish they could have had a better one for the end.

Also, I'm pretty good with remember contestants, but I had the hardest time remembering Melinda.  Turns out she did two dances, and one of them was this awful mother earth one, which is only familiar in that I remember thinking it was really bad.

Jasmine and All-Star Comfort - Hip Hop

Choreography: NappyTabs
Song: Run the World (Girls) by Beyonce

OK, I LOVE this routine.  Seriously.  First off, it's one of my favorite songs.  Second, I am so happy that when they got to pick Jasmine picked hip hop, because I think she's really amazing at it.  And not only that, she seriously held her own against Comfort.  There were a few moments where you could tell that Comfort was better, but for the most part, they were neck and neck.  Third reason I loved it was bikes, obviously.

Amy and Fik-Shun - Tango (with a little Paso thrown in)

Choreography: Miriam and Leonardo
Song: Hazard/Zero Signal by PP Music

OK, I feel disappointed in this routine.  Mainly because I think the choreography was really interesting and beautiful - it was one of the better routines I think they've ever choreographed - but Amy and Fik-Shun just really weren't doing it well.  It feels like you could tell the moments where there should be this intense passion, but they just missed it.  I feel like the dancers had a lot of routines to learn this week, and they just pushed through the ones they knew they wouldn't do well at.  Normally I wouldn't care, but it was the lost potential here that got to me.

Jasmine Solo

This whole time, I've thought Amy would win.  But I think Jasmine's star is rising at the right point, so now I'm not so sure.  We get this really great story about her building confidence throughout the season, culminating in choosing to dance with Comfort tonight, and then we learn that Cat Deeley pushed the judges to choose her!  Cat's crying, I'm crying, everyone's crying.

Jasmine and Aaron - Samba

Choreography: Dmitry
Song: Can't Touch It by Ricki Lee

I felt like the routine was fun.  Judges didn't like it, and I could see why.  Aaron was awkward, the skirt got stuck, etc.  But whatever.  Doesn't make me love them any less.

Fik-Shun Solo

Fik-Shun does a hilarious solo to Gangnam Style.  Love it!  He's so funny and creative.  Continues to be a little weak in the numbers and a standout in the solos.

Amy Solo

I would say this solo wasn't quite as memorable as some of her others have been, but she's clearly a standout with the technique.  Love her too.  Love all of them, really.

Fik-Shun and All-Star Twitch

Choreography: Luther Brown
Song: Hello Good Morning Daddy by Dirty Money

I thought that was fun.  I really liked the sliding bit at the end, and the other parts where their personalities shined through.  I wish they had done a little less serious, hard-hitting dancing and a little more goofiness with what they had.

Aaron Solo

Awesome.  Duh.

Amy and All-Star Robert

Choreography: Stacey Tookey
Song: Say Something by A Great Big World

Wow, was this every beautiful.  Everyone is feeling wonderful about everyone.  I'm running out of steam to write about things.  It was awesome.

Fik-Shun and Aaron - Broadway

Choreography: Tyce Diorio
Song: The Jitters by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy

I bet Jo all kinds of things that the judges would reference Gene Kelly.  And they didn't!  All we got was Michael Kidd.  It was a fun dance, super entertaining, because they both have the personalities to carry it through.  Tyce continues to not bring anything new with his Broadway choreography, but we get a cute little shout-out from Paula that she knew Tyce back when he was hoofing it, so that's cute.

Amy and Jasmine - Jazz

Choreography: Mark Kanemura
Song: The Diva Dance by Eric Serra

I'm so glad they brought Mark back to choreograph already!  I have a feeling we'll be seeing more of him next year too.  He doesn't disappoint with the crazy - they are Siamese twins from the jungles of Saturn.  I'm digging the synchronization and just powerhouses that these two girls are.  Jo also appreciates the Fifth Element theme going on here, which I didn't pick up on.  I don't love the space- tutus because they feel like they get in the way, but still a pretty great number.

All right, folks, there's my mad dash to catch up on my blog posts!

Who do I think will win?  I've been saying Amy and Aaron for weeks now.  I'm still feeling good about Aaron, but now with the girls I'm not so sure.  Amy has been tops all the way through, while Jasmine has been rising.  At some point, the rising star will cross over and beat out the consistent performer, but I don't know if that happened in time.  I'm torn!  We will have to tune in next week to see!