Benji and Donyelle ruled the stage tonight. Oh my, can those two dance. They performed the Cha Cha if you didn't get to see the show and Benji was beyond marvelous and Donyelle was out of her element but came up magnificently to the challenge. The audience and the judges went wild with the ending. If you missed this watch for the video online because you just have to see this performance.

Travis and Martha worked out Krump. I didn't like the dance but they were fantastic.

Musa and Natalie were great. Sexy, man this couple sizzles. The judges all commented about the chemistry between them and no doubting they are man and woman when they dance. Musa was totally out of his element but he pulled it out and they were wonderful. I love Natalie. She has such passion in her dancing.

Ben and Ashley were too cute. I loved their performance and Nigel said they were 10 times better than last week.

Worst tonight:

The whole night except for Benji and Donyelle was off in my judgement meaning Kat and the judges. I really am not warming up to Kat and Nigel had to bring Mia and Shaye back to his original idea of what to judge on. So that was distracting.

Dimitri and Joy

Ryan and Heidi

The joy of the night was seeing Hawk and the montage of his performances then the Step Six (only four) performed an eye opening, heartstopping performance for the audience. Fantastic.

Who will be voted off next. I can hardly wait for judgement day LOL.

Danni, Happy Birthday. Hope it was a fun one for you.

Thankies. It was uneventful since I started work on Wednesday, but I plan on celebrating this weekend.

The bottom three couples:

Joy and Dimitri

Heidi and Brian

Aleksandra and Jason

I think I picked those, too.

Leaving tonight:

Girls: Joy

Boys: Jason

That left Aleksandra and Dimitri without partners so they will be paired now....which is an excellent pairing in my eyes. They look fantastic together and dance more similar. Aleksandra suffered a severe loss of confidence so hopefully Dimitri will help pull her up because she is an excellent, lovely dancer.

http://realitytv.about.com/b/a/257781.htm

Wednesday:

Can the chemistry between So You Think You Can Dance's Musa and Natalie possibly get any hotter? We'll see when they perform on Wednesday night. (Musa and Natalie's photo courtesy of Fox.)

On NBC, the America's Got Talent competition continues. No rapping granny this week. (NBC -- 9 pm ET/PT)

Thursday:

Bike riders competing in a fine-furniture obstacle course? Only on ABC's Master of Champions. (ABC -- 8 pm ET/PT)

Two dancers will be eliminated from So You Think You Can Dance. (Fox -- 9 pm ET/PT)

From the WashingtonPost.com June 27, 2006

The second tier of TV talent shows now that "American Idol" is resting _ NBC's "America's Got Talent" and Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance" _ finished in Nielsen's top-10 last week.

Woohoo

I'm gonna say it right now. Natalie and Musa are fuckin', and there's nothing that makes me think otherwise.

corrections in red

Tonight's show was sizzling. I just wish I had taped it to enjoy forever. Looks like I'd learn that.

How how could Heidi and Ryan get? I was amazed and thrilled.

And, then came Ivan and Alison and blew my socks off...........look like kids, dance like hot lovers....wow.

Then we have the excellent feathery light and lovely dance by Jessica and Jamez, perfect.

Benji and Donnyelle come out in the middle for me this time with this hip-hop.

My bottom three are and this was a very difficult one to chose:

Travis and Martha/Musa and Natalee (I learn toward Travis and Martha, though)

Dimitri and Alexsandra

Ben and Ashlee

Now to see what America thinks.

DFJ

Ashlee carried Ben. Ashlee was far superior than he was, and I paid more attention to her.

While Ivan improved from that awful salsa number, Alison carried him. She made the whole tango for me.

I loved Heidi and Ryan's Rumba.

Jessica and Jaymz...zzzzzzzzz...

Dmitri was clearly happy to have Aleksandra, but that confidence got to her again.

Ballroom will be the death of Musa, but I give him props for trying. I still think that he and Natalie are [!@#$%^&*]. They just have that "I'm about two seconds away from ripping your clothes off regardless of whether or not it's in front of people" attitude, and I love it.

Benji and Donyelle are amazing together. They click. I hate Brian's choreography, but the pairing was the best one.

Travis and Martha's was one big dud tonight. It was such a crappy way to end. They don't really have that much chemistry.

I think the bottom three will be Dmitri and Aleksandra, Jessica and Jaymz, and Travis and Martha.

I made an error in couples in my prior post and will now correct that. I like Jessica and Jamez. They seem to be a sort of middle road couple without a lot of do's and a lot of do not's. Sometimes those actually win.

From http://www.fox.com/dance

Recap of last night:

Ashlee and Ben

Caught up

Usher

The dream couple picks their ultimate dance: hip-hop taught by Todd Sams. Ashlee is definitely selling it and Ben seems to be keeping up all the way. They finish it up with some cool hand-matching moves and Ashlee ripping off Ben’s sweatshirt. As expected, the judges dig Ashlee but think Ben was a little stiff and contemporary.

Heidi and Ryan

Rumba Del Solar

Angelo Rodriguez

Bottom 3 couple Heidi and Ryan get Cuban rumba taught by playboy Alex Da Silva. Ryan and Heidi are worried that they aren't going to be able to really impress the judges enough. At the very least, these two have the best costumes so far. They look like they just came from the sugar cane fields. The dancing is really amazing if just for the sheer unique style of the routine. The judges love it and the fans do too, screaming along with every comment.

Ivan and Allison

Libertango

Bond

Ivan and Allison get Argentine tango, which means, ughh, not the best for a pair that had trouble with simple Latin. In the choreography session, they seem to have a good handle on things, but that often spells disaster in the actual performance. Amazing from the start seeing as they look nothing like the Ivan and Allison we saw last week. I think they are going to do well with the judges, let's just say Nigel is blushing. The judges love them all around. They should be safe tonight.

Dmitry and Aleksandra

If I were a painting

Kenny Rogers

The new couple is up, Dmitry and Aleksandra. This couple is at a definite disadvantage simply because they haven't had much face time together. Doing the waltz together should change that. They look good, but in that fake school play kind of way and Kenny Rogers voice sure doesn't help. It really didn't look like dancing so much as a slowed-down silent argument, but I'm sure the judges saw something totally different. They loved Dmitry and give Aleksandra some rough critiques.

Donyelle and Benji

Put the Needle On It

Danii Minogue

Donyelle and Benji are doing pop jazz, a seemingly simple combination, but with Brian Friedman’s choreography so nothing is simple. They start off right with Benji ripping off a layer of Donyelle's clothes. The audience loved it but I think the judges are going to be picky. Of course I'm wrong, the judges are loving it and go so far as to say the pair has "real chemistry".

Musa and Natalie

Zoot Suit Riot

Cherry Poppin' Daddies

Natalie and Musa get the quick step, which might give the power couple a run for their money. The choreographer is Heather Smith, a demure British woman; she breaks out an ancient torture device for Musa known as a ballroom training bar. Evidently this helps ballroom "posture." One second, need to cross ballroom off my list of possible dance classes to meet chicks. The judges don't think it was the best dance, but they're impressed at the couple’s level of dedication to such a difficult dance.

Jessica and Jaymz

Let's Go

Frou Frou

Jessica and Jaymz will be doing a contemporary dance taught by Brian Friedman who says this dance has to communicate an emotional connection. The pair comes out wearing what are normally referred to as 'pajamas," though I'm sure contemporary dance has manufactured some type of emo buzz word to describe them. Their dancing is pretty good, very flowing and dream-like, if you like that kind of thing. The judges surprisingly love it.

Martha and Travis

Just Fine

Chris Brown

Martha and Travis draw hip-hop, which is good for Martha but makes Travis a little nervous. Martha is rocking some killer James Brown-era hot pants with Travis in some Timberland boots. The costume generation gap shows up in their dancing, not all that stellar. The judges are all pretty critical, no real big compliments. I can see this putting them in the bottom 3.

A little night cap on our show, some speculation about a possible bottom three. Nigel says Aleksandra and Dmitry; Mary says Musa and Natalie, Cicely and Olisa back up Nigel saying Aleksandra and Dmitry need to watch out. See you tomorrow with the results

I have mixed feelings about tonight and can't exactly put my finger on it. First, I feel that Nigel trashed Aleksandra publicly last night and that could have caused less votes for her. He apologized, but it was too late to make up for the lost votes. Also, his public dressing down of Ben and Jamez set wrong with me. He is angry that he is giving them an excellent, once in a lifetime chance and they are blowng it off. I see that, but he was pretty hot....so I'm seeing where he is coming from but think it is not for the public to hear............except, any person thinking they can get on the show and slough it through, knows better if they heard him tonight....so that's my mixed emotions I think.

Botton three:

Ben and Ashlee

Dimitri and Alelsandra

Jamez and Jessica

Girls:

When all is said and done, the judges voted unanamously to keep Ashlee with her perkiness and bright eyes and Jessica telling her to let her personality show everywhere, not just on stage.

Aleksandra was sent home due to her overall performances on the competition.

Boys:

The judges were not unanimous on which man to go home. Everyone did love Dimitri who is a master of the art. Nigel asked Ben and Jamez about how much preparation time they put into their solos and when they admitted practically no thought or practice, he told them his not so happy thoughts. When he was done, Ben was sent home and Jamez got to stay due to his overall performances.

That left Ashlee and Dimitri to pair up. Ashlee was crying and Dimitri was trying to console her, but he seemed happy. They do sort of suit each other and I am looking forward to see how she steps it up for his style of dancing.

My comment..............let's let Dimitri receive the low vote every week so we get to see his excellent solo performances...........woohoo....too hot. He is so spectacular.

It was not entertaining to see the auditions when I was all geared up to see the hot new stars and to me it pulled down the real show.

All of the couples were challenged tonight with totally alien dance styles to their familiar one.

My favorites tonight (gee how hard this is)

Donyelle and Benji (brought the house down again)

Heidi and Ryan

Natalie and Ivan (Mary said Natalie is her choice to win)

My bottom three choices:

Jessica and Jamez (probably will go)

Dimitri and Ashlee (oh goodie, we'll get to see him in solo again )

Martha and Travis

DFJ

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6350041.html

Fox Dances Over NBC

By Rebecca Stropoli -- Broadcasting & Cable, 7/6/2006 2:30:00 PM

In the battle of the dancers and the talented Americans, the dancers won out Wednesday night. Between 9 and 10, when NBC’s America’s Got Talent ran a first-run episode against the second first-run hour of Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance, Talent scored a 4.0 rating/12 share in the key 18-49 demo, while Dance edged ahead with a 4.2/12 for the hour. They tied in the last half-hour, though, each earning a 4.4/12. Fox was first overall for the night with a 3.6/11, and NBC was second with a 2.9/9.

Recaps of July 5th performers. Watch for the results tonight.

http://www.fox.com/dance/recaps/213_performance.htm

Heidi and Ryan

Give it all you got

Afrorican

Heidi and Ryan are learning Hip-hop from Shane Sparks, who claims to be creating a special hip-hop routine for non hip-hop dancers. They come out hitting it pretty hard with some serious determination. I think they're going to get good reviews for hitting it so hard. The judges all loved it, except for Dan Karaty who said it looked too perfect -- like a cheerleading competition dance. Welcome back, Dan.

Martha and Travis

Tanga

Machito and his Afro-Cubans

Ron Montez will be teaching the salsa to the total non-ballroom-trained couple. As Travis puts it, "salsa is something I usually put on my chips," marking the first salsa pun in this episode, and hopefully the last. They are definitely giving all they have making it as sexy as possible with Martha looking like Tina Turner from 1973. The judges give pretty good reviews with a few critiques about foot placement.

Ashlee and Dmitry

Dance Dance

Fall Out Boy

This is the new couple doing contemporary with choreographer Brian Friedman. Even if it was possible to get past the atrocious music choice for this routine, I don't think you'd find anything of value, but that's just me. Nigel leads off the judges with a unique comment that boils down to a positive, same with Mary. My boy (props) Dan steps up to the plate and says it wasn’t all that great, that's right, Holla!

Natalie and Musa

Hot Stuff

Donna Summer

This is going to be cool… Natalie and Musa doing disco. I'm not going out on a limb when I say this is going to be the best routine of the night. I can sense it, they just seem prime for disco. They are having a little trouble in the choreography session learning the big lifting tricks. Even with Musa's strength, Natalie is a little scared. Despite Natalie's tiny, tiny dress, I think they dropped the ball a bit on this routine. They came out looking strong but didn't really pull out the tricks I thought they would. The judges all loved it though, saying it was just about the sexiest routine yet.

Donyelle and Benji

Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman

Bryan Adams

The power couple draws the Viennese waltz, or as Donyelle says, the "Vietnamese" waltz. In addition to Donyelle's lack of dance terminology knowledge, Benji is lacking the necessary masculinity to really sell the Viennese waltz. This wasn't quite as powerful as their performance last week but still pretty stunning according to the crowd response. The judges all like it, even Dan! There really hasn't been a bad performance yet.

Ivan and Allison

Don't Happen No More

Pat Benetar

Contemporary and hip-hop dancers Ivan and Allison will be doing the West Coast Swing with Ron Montez and his wife Carla. As much as this is a departure from their areas of expertise, I think they'll pull it off well. They come out looking the picture of confidence, especially Allison, who is wearing the most outlandish pants I've ever seen. They look like salvaged lamp shade tassels rejected by MC Hammer. The judges act like they can't help but love the routine, even though it wasn't so spectacular. Dan Karaty said it best, it didn't look like a routine, just good fun.

Jessica and Jaymz

I can make you dance

Zapp

Ballet and Jazz dancers are reporting to Shane Sparks for a Hip-hop routine. Shane gets them into some camo and starts drilling. They come out wearing some really bizarre costumes -- clown meets late-80's MC in my opinion. Their dancing was just as awkward. The judges all agree, they didn't really sell it.

I was floored with America's choices except for Jamez and Jessica. Heidi and Ryan as well as Natalie and Ivan....whoa.

At any rate all six did excellent solos and as expected, Jamez and Jessica were let go tonight. I loved Jamez easy going, happy way. Jessica was heartbroken.

Nigel was very gentle to all of the six and it was nice to hear his words to each one; complimenting Jessica on her pointwork, the first for their show; Heidi with so much personality that it carried her away at times (that was funny); Ryan needed more versatility; and Ivan also, with the personality and needing to broaden his range.

It will be awful to see each one leave now.

Jean

Tonight at 8/7C .