Only six dancers left this week, the show is down to one hour again, Mark’s wearing a backwards hat, Joshua is making me dislike him with his insistence on demonstrating that he is “4-real”, and Cat Deeley is apparently a filth fetishist. Good to know, hard to prove.

Judges

Hooray! The guest judge is Adam Shankman! Even with the unfortunate Paula Abdul pimping, I like this guy alot.
Speaking of pimping, there were far altogether too many audience call-outs from the judges tonight.

• Nigel:”And we have my second grade music teacher in the audience tonight–take a bow. Aggie!”
• Adam:”We have a special person in the house. Give it up for my personal assistant, Benardo!”
• Mary:”I’d like you all to meet my special friend, Blue Jar of Barbisol! There he is! Stand up, Blue Jar of Barbisol!”

Nigel once more insisted on claiming Josh had no classical training… what’s up with that?

Things that should just stop

• PLEASE stop with the 4-real thing! If, however, it turns out that Josh has a palsy, I’ll apologize publicly.
• Judges crowing about how fish-out-of-water these dancers are. Oftentimes this simply seems disingenuous.

Couples dances

Courtney and Mark
    Viennese Waltz by Jason Gilkison danced to The Time of My Life, David Cook
Another incestuous song choice by Nigel and company, but at least its a Mr Cook’s is a contemporary music number.
And while Mark is certainly graceful, he seemed to end up squatting a lot to compensate for the height disparaty–or because he can’t contain the Quirk. And its a good thing that choreographer Jason made it clear there was nothing sexual about this waltz because despite Mark’s acting ability I didn’t buy him as a straight lead in tonight’s waltz.
Afterwards, Adam dug the performance, leading me to believe that perhaps the squats I saw were legitimate waltz-related rise-and-falls.
Nigel saw romance in the dance and then plugged Idol in the same breath. Classy!

    Jazz by Sonya danced to The Garden, Mirah
The awesome music choice worked with the Mark-appropriate choreography to make for a really cool and bizarre dance number. Mark’s acting was in 400-watt halogen mode as he really sold it, and though this was a persona far from anything she’s adopted on SYTYCD to date, Courtney was completely believable and riveting in a twisted-tramp sortof way. Adam loved it like I loved it, and Nigel also noted how very, very Mark this dance was.

Katee and Joshua
    Contemporary by Tyce Diorio danced to All By Myself, Celine Dion
Tyce said this was Romeo and Juliet meets West Side Story. The horrible old music selection didn’t help cement the flimsy story to the choreography; neither seemed very tragic-romance. But the ASTONISHING catches and lifts blew me away. There was a moment where it appeared Joshua was going to use Katee to poll-vault over the judges’ table, and both I and my wife felt the dance warranted an immediate re-wind and repeat viewing. We were right.

    Pasa Doble by Jason Gilkison danced to Filet, Le Reve (Original Soundtrack)
So Josh finally gets his shirt off. Hmm… He looked like a Chocolate the Barbarian, a role for which the dramatically marshal music truly worked. Joshua’s legs have more grace and control than any man his size have any right to possess, and while there was a lot fewer drops than I’ve seen in most SYTYCD Paso Doble, it was certainly captivating. Mary’s caterwauling reverie following the dance was a bit of a downer, however.

Twitch and Chelsie
    Mambo by Tony and Melanie danced to Ahora Me Toca A MI, Victor Manuelle
The music was catchy and authentic, and Chelsie certainly did a darn good job of drawing attention away from Twitch. Which was good, because she helped showcase how well he could partner while glossing over his evident technical weakness. Adam noticed how great Twitch’s plastic and expressive face work was. I’ve commented week after week about his acting; I am constantly drawn to his face, regardless of the beauty (or disastrousness) of the dance he performs.

    Hip-Hop by Napolean and Tabitha danced to Control, The Vitamin String Quartet
A good, old-fashioned magic wand fight! The gimmick, that whoever holds the wand used it to control the other, worked great and the character work was top-notch. The punxedo look for Chelsie was quite cute, I must say.

Solo dances

Chelsie
    When I Grow Up, Pussy Cat Dolls
Hip-swivelly dance that somehow made me think of 60′s burlesque. Wonder why? Best female solo of the night by default–at least it wasn’t a generic contempo-girl routine.

Twitch
    Midal Touch by Midnight Star
Complete with grill and glasses, Twitch entertained as much as he danced. Cat’s incredible fear-factor feat of swapping second hand spit by donning Twitch’s grill was the real jaw-dropper, however. What a bold lady! Adding that to her frequent hugging of sweaty, stinky dancers and occasional foot fondling I begin to wonder if she has a filth-fetish? She’s probably just really earthy, which endears me to her greatly, but you have to wonder.

Katee
    Can’t Stop by Maroon 5
Not bad, but Katee’s real strength is in her 100% commitment and trust in her partners, something that doesn’t help her much in a solo. Another generic girly contempo dance solo, ultimately. *yawn!*

Joshua
    Like That, Memphis Bleek
A decent breakdance number, but his tricks were a little too telegraphed and not smooth enough, especially compared to naturals like Twitch or the departed Gev. The “4-real” thing came back, and I really think that is most unfortunate.

Courtney
    Rock Your Soul, Elisa
The music sounded very Disney-princess and the performance was, again, a generic contempo girly dance. Even the shorts seem the same as Katee’s.

Mark
    Bum Like You, Robyn
A strange, androgynous performance from the quirky fellow. Like Josh, it seems like he recycles his choreographic elements a lot in his solo work. By comparison, this really shows how inventive Twitch is, with his unique and consistently entertaining dance.

Random thoughts

The used-grill thing proved Cat is the single bravest presenter on contest TV today. Would Ryan Seacrest put that grill in his mouth? Hell no!

Also, her shoes were like the pink pom-poms of a cross-dressing Mercury, and her shiny set of drapes/dress was cute in a Barbarella sort of way.