So You Think You Can Dance: Top 18 Elimination

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Last night, we saw nine couples perform for America's vote. As Cat Deeley mentioned, millions called in to vote for their favorites. Tonight, one male and one female will be eliminated from the competition. Tonight's show started with a performance by the entire group choreographed by Dan Karaty. Following that we went back to last night to see just what our dancers did for America's vote. We also had a bit of a behind the scenes look at what happened backstage before the performances.

After a commercial break, we learned with of the nine couple ended up in the bottom three. In groups of three couples, Cat called up the couples. The first couples were Jessica and Jaymz, Ben and Ashlee and Dimitry and Joy. Last week, Jessica and Jaymz were in the bottom three. This week, they were safe as were Ben and Ashlee. However, Dimitry and Joy make our bottom three. The next three couples to come up are Martha and Travis, Benji and Donnelle, and Musa and Natalie. All three of these couples were safe. This means two of the last three couples are in the bottom three. These three couples are Aleksandra and Jason, Heidi and Ryan and Allison and Ivan. The first to land in the bottom three are Aleksandra and Jason. They are soon joined by Heidi and Ryan.

The six perform and I think they all performed well, but a few mentioned they didn't think they had done their best. I particularly liked Heidi's performance, and I'd be shocked if she was eliminated based on that performance. I think I expected more out of Dimitry. His performance bored me a little. Jason seemed to freestyle it too much, and that might be what ends up hurting him. Following their dances, the judges went backstage and Rihanna took the stage to perform her new hit SOS. The judges are given through another commercial break to make their decisions on just who is going home tonight.

First up to find out are the girls. First up is Heidi, and Nigel lets her know just how much her performance tonight saved her. Joy is next called up by Nigel. He tells her she needs to improve her dancing. Aleksandra is called up and Nigel tells her that they were disappointed with her performance for the night. Even with this lackluster performance, she is kept for another week and Joy is the one sent home. Before we find out which of the men will join Joy this week, we have another commercial break.

First called up by Nigel is Dimitry. Nigel tells him that Mia called him a Greek God, and he shouldn't be in the bottom three next week. Ryan is next up, and Nigel says he isn't touching the audience with his performance. Jason is called up last, and last week he had received compliments from Mary Murphy. However, he is the one to go home this week. His solo didn't really grab me, but I thought he was one of the better dancers. The men made it tough because I think if Dimitry hadn't made it into the bottom three someone else would be going home tonight on the men side. I think having Joy as a partner did hurt him, even if he was quite diplomatic when Cat asked him about being in the bottom three. Next week, Aleksandra and Dimitry will be paired up as the top eight couples perform.

No songs were given on this weeks show, but this is what I gathered from my own knowledge:

Group performance: Get Up Offa That Thing - James Brown
Joy
Dimitry
Heidi I Like It Like That:
Ryan: Aint no way Chris Brown
Aleksandra
Jason
Guest performance: Rihanna SOS