Only sixteen left… who will be crowned Australian Ido- oh wait. It’s another week of So You Think You Can Dance. I think Natalie is finally getting into the swing of things. Her wardrobe and hair assistants are being nice to her. Another open shirt for Jason, complete with golden bling on his chest. And by my count that is two open shirts so far on this show. It’s only been three weeks people!

It was a fantastic surprise to have special guest judge Mary Murphy from American’s So You Think You Can Dance, who’s well known of course for her screaming and putting dancers “on the hot tamale train”. I loved having Mary on board because she adds not just a huge bout of enthusiasm but actually critiques properly. Mary also interacts and banters with the other judges, like sarcastically offering Jason some sympathy. Can she come every week?

Jack and Demi were up first with their Indie Jazz routine. I think it might have been the cameras, but I wasn’t feeling what everyone else seemed to. The camera angles didn’t change and maybe the music just wasn’t hitting it for me although dancing to the Artic Monkeys was an interesting change to the normal pop and dance music.

Contemporary disco was picked out by Vanessa and Henry. Henry’s tardiness to the first rehearsal painted him into an irresponsible corner but he has such a wonderful way of moving and his body is certainly made for it. Above all else, I found this routine really weird, just as Mary said, I didn’t quite know what to latch onto.

Yeouch from Jason: “Big fat mess.”

Sermsah and Camilla pulled out contemporary with a martial arts themed routine. This was the third fascinating routine of the night, not a well known song with very different movements and a storyline that was so interpretative. The synchronised moves along with the drama that these two portrayed, enriched their dance and made it very spiritual for me. 

I wonder if Rhys and Gemma’s style was rigged due to the fact that Rhys would have to be very masculine and dominate the stage (not something this self-labelled drag actor is used to). The routine felt quicker and thinner than Rhys’s fake moustache. Don’t get me wrong, Rhys pulled off a heavy, strong dance as he should in a Paso Doble but it felt like it was over in a flash. I wanted more!

It was hilarious to see Stephanie’s face when she pulled out Krump. My teeth were clammed shut the whole time during the routine as I was cringing. It didn’t feel very hard or synchronised but rather very odd. Krumping must be so challenging and when Stephanie and Marko got down to it, the actual krumping parts looked fairly clean. However the dance as a whole didn’t click with me. Yeouch from Jason: “Big fat mess.”

It was soul swing for Anthony and Laura this week. Firstly, whata outfit. Secondly, this dance was just weird (how many times have I said that in this review?) Some pretty awesome flips and nice moves in this routine but, and this might have been the music again, it just wasn’t quite there.

JD and Rhiannon did the tango, completely out of their genres. Rhiannon looked mature and grown up in this dance while JD seemed a little stiff. I think the encircling camera worked well for them but it was obvious that the last part just fell away, which they both were visibly upset with. I felt that Jason’s harsh tone and unforgiving comments weren’t helpful, maybe backstage he could’ve said it personally to them but not publicly on national TV. Mary and Bonnie still constructively critiqued them while showing a lot more sympathy than Jason did.

Kate has a bit of a reputation of losing her partners so we’ll see how she goes this week with Graeme doing Bollywood. Kate worked the romantic connection so well with Graeme that Mary gave them the “hot tamale train”! I felt that Graeme didn’t really have a lot to do though.

Overall, tonight was just a totally peculiar yet lovely experience in regards to the routines. The choreographers got unusually slammed by Jason but having Mary Murphy made the show so much more exciting than usual. She also revealed the extra prizes in store for the winner: a trip to Hollywood to be choreographed in a dance by Mia Michaels then to be sent to New York to perform it in front of dancing scouts. Could they need much more incentive than that?

Tags: So You Think You Can Dance