Full disclosure: I was so tired when I watched this episode and when I wrote the post, and I wasn't really in the mood to do either. I acknowledge that this probably affected my opinions of the dances as well as the quality of this post.
No dilly-dallying today.
The contestants each danced with another contestant, with an All Star, and by themselves.
Mostly the solos were fine to great. Chehon and Cyrus are both simply unbelievable in their styles, and Cole and Eliana were both very strong. For me Tiffany's was fine, but nothing extraordinary. Witney's solo was boring. There was way too much skirt popping and sexy posing and not enough dancing.
The All Star dances were a little all over the place this week. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I did not love Sonja's work tonight. I didn't particularly like the opening number, and even though the judges liked it, I didn't like Cole & AS Melanie Moore's dance all that much either. C'est la vie.
I'm also disappointed to say that Eliana & AS Twitch's hip hop was awkward and kind of terrible. First of all, that remix of "Please Mr. Postman" was awful and distracting, but in reality I don't think my darling Eliana was made for hippin' and hoppin' (just like me!). It simply didn't work.
The middle ground of fair to good was held by Tiffany & AS Benji's highly energetic and fun jive that I can't really remember, and Witney & AS Marco's jazz piece that I noted was "pretty good," but I don't remember it either.
Cyrus and AS Comfort did an amazing dubstep dance. The choreography was complicated and intricate, but this pair danced with power and precision.
The top dance in the All Star section 100% belongs to Chehon & AS Kathryn. I'm oddly so proud of Chehon for finally being able to show emotion and passion in his dance. Thank you, Chehon.
Just as Eliana is not meant for hip hop, Chehon was not meant for ballroom. The chacha he did with Witney was boring and technically subpar. I was happy that he was able to recover from the lift mistake and move on, because that's a sign of a confident and professional dancer.
Speaking of recovery, Cyrus also had an amazing recovery when he couldn't quite get his jacket off in time during is broadway number with Tiffany. He just kept dancing and supporting Tiffany, then shucked that sucker when he could. The number itself was very good.
But Cole & Eliana danced my favorite number of the night! First Mia Michaels choreographs a piece about anger inspired by rams ramming into each other, but then she pairs it with "Adagio for Strings." That juxtaposition of hard and soft alone was fantastic, but to have Eliana and Cole dance it with such emotion and strength and skill was a rare treat, indeed.
Drumroll for the final four: Chehon, Cyrus, Eliana, and Tiffany.
That means Witney and Cole are out. As you may know, I'm 100% fine with Witney and her dead eyes leaving, but I think it's a crying shame that Cole was sent packing. I wanted him in the top so badly! I mean, I get it, Cole's clearly a better technical dancer than Cyrus, but Cole doesn't have the same personal magnetism as Cyrus. And as Simon reminds us weekly, the prize is America's favorite dancer, not America's best dancer.
A hundred percent agree with this except I liked the Cole/Eliana number but wasn't over the moon about it. Kenny said the same thing you did about the Postman music. I've hated having Cyrus make it this far this whole season, especially when he was holding Eliana back. I'm crossing my fingers for an Eliana/Chehon ballet number next week.
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