Thoughts on the Top 4 and the eliminations

Well, those eliminations were predictable.  The elimination of Melanie was and still is utter nonsense.

What I saw from that results show was a lot of sloppy isolation work and needless flailing from Jayme Rae and Tara Jean, respectively.  Melanie is a lot more like an employable contemporary dancer in the current dance world; she sticks to her guns and maintains her movement style (and within it keeps a certain amount of versatility), executes her lines cleanly, and controls her upper body movement down to the fingers.  Nonetheless, it was the classiest exit so far, and she remains my favourite in this competition for her dancing and her sheer honesty on that stage; she never pretended to be anything but who she was.

Jayme Rae is a lovely girl and this is no comment on anything but her dancing, but she dances ‘chunkily’.  Her movement is sloppy and blocky, and her isolations are practically not isolations.  Tara Jean, whenever she tries to create ‘art’, basically cries on stage and flails her arms around like they’re broken wings (see my recap of her audition).  The exception to that was her Top 4 performance solo, which was a solid departure and clearly executed to win over Canada.  There is no denying the power of her recent performances, however.  Luck of the choreographer draw though?  Engineered backstage to be a Jeanine-esque rising star type of win?  Either way, she’s very innocently and sweetly gunning for that top prize and more than likely to get it.

I cannot disagree with the elimination of Emanuel.  He stayed longer than he should have.  The way I saw it, Kim kept him afloat for most of his time in the show.  He was not ready to be here; after only one year of choreography training, he was often a half or full step behind, and I didn’t see that all the arrogance had been truly removed.  Dan Karaty was right on the money in pointing out that he overcompensated at times by overdoing fake emotion, and it showed.

Everett is a hard worker and a great tapper.  I am happy that he has made it into the Top 4, though I thought his performance in the Jazz Rock lacked some energy.

Vincent is a star to me.  I do find it funny at times because like many ballroom dancers, he just cannot let go of his ballroom legs at times, and it appeared a few times in his contemporary with Tara Jean; a few of his turns were more latin ballroom turns than contemporary turns.  But he comes across as a genuinely kind and warm individual, and has been undervalued as THE best male partner on this show.  Whenever he has been able to, he has helped his partner to shine.

My preference for our Final 4 in the Finale:

1. Vincent

2. Everett

3. Tara Jean

4. Jayme Rae

As if I actually need to write who I think will actually win it, however.  We should mail Tara Jean the crown now.

I am looking forward to seeing which dances they’ll reprise in the Finale episode.  Melanie mentioned today in one of her interviews that she is already being called back to rehearse for the finale.  My top picks?  In no particular order:

Tara Jean & Everett – House

Jayme Rae & Daniel – Afro Jazz

Jayme Rae & Daniel – Dance Hall

Melanie & Cody – Contemporary

Melanie & Vincent – Paso Doble

Amy & Vincent – Contemporary

Tara Jean & Vincent – Contemporary

Melanie & Emanuel – Contemporary (pas de deux)

Kim & Everett – Theatre

Top 4 Girls – Sean Cheesman Jazz

Jayme Rae & Everett – Jazz Funk

Jayme Rae & Everett – Mambo

Top 3 Girls – Mia Michaels Contemporary

Top 18 – Bollywood

Kim & Emanuel – Contemporary

Tara Jean & Vincent – Rumba