So You Thought You Could Dance, V

This week's SYD was both better and less remarkable than past weeks'. The dancers are better -- we're getting down to the wire, here -- which is the source of both the consistently good routines and the relative lack of drama over bad routines. In fact, the judges only shouted down one routine all night, mostly using their comment times to talk about how entertained they were.

The guest judge was Toni Basil, of "Hey Mickey, you're so fine" fame (and no other fame), but she looked like Twiggy from "America's Next Top Model," only in 80s spandex. She talked throughout the night about "street": "street dances," "street" attitude, "street" authenticity.

The effect of hearing a tiny white woman talk about street cred and the gradual acceptance of "street" dances in artsy-dance culture was similar to the effect it would have on you all if I suddenly busted out with "Golddigger" in the middle of a conversation. ("Git down, girl, go 'head, git down.") I can only assume she has some street cred from her "Mickey" days; but I think we all know that whatever credibility she gained from that is now stale, or has been squeezed out of her by the repeated application of spandex to her tiny frame.

Will and Courtney danced a samba and a lyrical hip-hop number. Of the samba, Mary Murphy said "What I want to know right now is 'where's Ashton?' Because I think I'm being punked right now!" (They were so good, they were like samba dancers.) I actually thought Courtney did a good job here, though I've never been in her fan club, and Will always holds his own nicely.

The lyrical hip-hop, which I was again prepared to love, I only like-liked. (A little infatuation, but nothing long-lasting there.) Tabitha and Napoleon choreographed it, and like Mia's routine about herself and her father (who died) from two years ago, it was about the memory of a lost loved one, and being able to see them one last time. There were parts that were excellent, I thought, but probably unintentionally so: Courtney and Will danced as partners in a bendy-flopping-over-each-other way for a few turns that portrayed a desperation I thought was accurate to the experience of losing someone you love, and Will twirled down to the floor near the end of the song in a way that made me think "Now he's going back down to Hell." I don't think Tabitha and Napoleon meant for the routine to be freakish or scary, but for me the freakish/scary bits were the best parts.

Twitch and Katee were partnered for a contemporary dance choreographed by Mia and a Broadway routine by Tyce. The contemporary was, in my opinion, the best of the night. The story behind the routine was that Katee was a codependent lover who wanted Twitch to pay attention to her, wanted to be attached to him, but he wasn't having it. They played around a free-standing door, Katee usually on the "outside" with Twitch not letting her "in." It was funny and pathetic (as in, filled with pathos) at the same time: Twitch would swing open the door, and Katee was hanging on the outside of it, or Katee would use the door frame as leverage to try to kick Twitch in the face, or bang on the door to get in. Both dancers did a great job, enough so that I forgot I was watching Twitch (he seemed to have the technical experience of Will), and I liked Katee all the more by the end. She may actually be my favorite for winner this year.

Nigel joked after this routine that he'd been in that situation with many women before -- he rolled his eyes -- but that "I never opened the door, no matter how much they begged to get out." (What a kidder, that Nigel.)

Mary questioned whether Nigel had ever had women that crazy over him, missing the self-effacing implication that he had been locking them in, and Nigel said "Well, I didn't want to say you by name, Mary." Audience laugh at Mary's expense.

Mary tried to get him back: "Okay, Nigel, play along with me."

"That's what you said last time," Nigel quipped.

In other words, "that's what she said." Haha.

The Broadway routine was startlingly similar in theme to the unrequited love/obsession of Mia's, with Katee as "Sweet Georgia Brown" trying to get her man, and Twitch still having none of it. It was better than most Broadway routines, and again they both performed well. The judges by this point took a friendly interest in critiquing Twitch and Katee, as though they were comrades offering advice to fellow dancers, rather than experts correcting amateurs. Toni pointed out that Twitch brought a "reality" to the dance that Broadway dancers (being "not street") often did not.

Mark and Comfort danced hip-hop and foxtrot. The hip-hop routine was excellent, with the two pretending to be kids in detention when the teacher's left the room. It struck me, as it did last week, that I'd like to see Comfort dancing hip-hop in a non-competitive context, I enjoyed this routine so much. Alas, Mark fared less well, though the judges rewarded him for his out-of-his-genre efforts.

The foxtrot was, more or less, a disaster. If I hadn't already expected Mark and Comfort to go home this week, I would have after that dance. It wasn't the worst dancing ever seen on an SYD stage, but in this season, at this level of competition, it wasn't good enough. The hip-hop routine may save them, but I doubt it.

Joshua and Chelsie danced the Argentine tango, choreographed by past season's Dmitri and set to weird, wordless music, and disco. Chelsie did things with her legs in both routines that should be impossible for humans. (I wonder if she can hear those dog whistles, too.)

Mary and Nigel loved the tango, and Toni couldn't resist her requisite reference to "street" culture: "I think Argentine tango is the most 'street' of the ballroom dances," she said. (Okay, Toni.)

The disco routine's choreographer, Doriana, said both that she wanted people to feel that this was a dance they could do and would want to do themselves, at home, and that she'd packed as many lifts as possible into it. (Okay, Doriana.)

The solos last night left something to be desired, usually choreography. Comfort's solo, again, was one I wanted to see more of, and so was Twitch's (though he mainly worked the crowd rather than dancing a real, choreographed routine).

Will's solo, however, was the only one that really demanded more time (though he didn't get it). He had dressed up as James Brown and was dancing to the song "Get Up Off That Thing." When he went over to the judges' stand to have his phone number advertised so America could vote for him, the judges gave him a standing ovation, and -- in what was possibly the most difficult move of the night, considering the shortness of her dress -- Cat Dealy knelt down and bowed several times in Will's direction.

When they all go on tour, I expect that Will's James Brown routine will be part of the Top Ten act, whether he wins it all or no.