SYTYCD, Week 7

Okay wait, what did Cat just say - only 2 weeks left till the finale?! Rude. Oh but wait, hold the bus - it's coming right back in the fall! hehe That just makes me happy all the way to my toes.

Moving ahead, yay for fun new parternerships & YAY for guest judge Ellen! I'm so jazzed to listen to her funny-face all night.

Oh heavens, "Dr. Nigel Lythgoe"... I hope they're not gonna be doing that every week.

SWEET, group number by Travis! He continues to be adorablicious. And let's see what I think of the dance: Very fun! No one stood out, no one held the piece back - it wasn't entirely synced or perfect, but quite a party.

Janette/Evan #1: Yeah I'm gonna be hearing about this Janette outfit for the next week.... ;) Not the best pairing with these two, I think; they don't quite mesh right. Pretty good effort, especially on Janette's part. Wasn't phenomenal, though, and it really could have been.

Kayla's solo: Not enough substance, but a very pretty bit. I think she'll be in trouble this week.

Jeanine/Brandon #1: Well no, the waltz is not an easy dance. Not even for these two very high-caliber dancers. :( It wasn't terrible at all, it was fine - but again not phenomenal. Waltz needs to flow constant like a river, not staggered like a drippy faucet.

Jason's solo: Just fine. I'm never crazy about Jason's solos, but they're fine.

Melissa/Ade #1: And whaddya know, another "just okay" number! I think Melissa could've used a couple tutoring sessions w/Janette, and a couple sessions of spray-tanning. :) I guess all the steps were there, but they didn't add up to a super-sexy cha-cha.

Janette's solo: I want that dress; mainly the skirt part. That is fun.

Kayla/Jason #1: I think that's the first number of the night to come much closer to reaching its full potential. Very classy, very jazzy, very good choreography put to very good use by these two. Great lines from Kayla & great feeling from Jason.

Ade's solo: Weird music, I kept waiting for it to really take off. And it never really did, which was distracting from his dancing.

Janette/Evan #2: Janette, A+. Evan - I wish I could give him the same, but maybe like a B+? He did do a lot really well, but never fully grabbed the rhythm and the essence of what is "Rumba."

Melissa's solo: Fun little rock-ballet bit, could've used to be a touch faster.

Jeanine/Brandon #2: I wasn't terribly moved by the choreography, and I can't fault them for that. It was definitely intense & they put so much fight into it - but I still felt a bit of a disjoint between them, something just a little off. Very good, though!

Editor's note: man, I'm hard to please tonight! I've had a perfectly decent day, I'm not in a foul mood or anything. Huh.

Evan's solo: Good 'ole Evan, same silly grin as always.

Jeanine's solo: I love her more every week.

Melissa/Ade #2: Dance. Of. The. Night. Of the season, perhaps. That number nearly brought me to tears (only nearly because I don't really cry - if I were a normal girl I'da been bawling), and I can't pinpoint precisely why, but I will say this: at work I meet women every day that are fighting this battle as best they can. They're all totally different, and yet all carry the same amazing spirit - and somehow the movements that Tyce put together really did capture that spirit. That was an astounding accomplishment, and exemplified why dance moves me to the core.

Brandon's solo: Honestly.

Kayla/Jason: Haha, I loved it! Jason was stone-cold chillifying & Kayla was great, too. *Note on Kayla: I get a little torn on Kayla because I feel like her sheer natural ability has been a bit of a double-edged sword for her. It's clearly served her well; but, I'll bet she's never had to work super-hard to be amazing, and she now doesn't quite have that same "fight for it" dance ethic that someone like Jeanine, for example, does. So I feel like she did that number really well, but didn't dig all the way into herself to become whatever the dance required of her. There's my 2-cents.

I'm not even gonna try to pick the bottom dancers this week - I'm just gonna focus on preparing myself for the squee-fest that tomorrow night's show promises to be! It is going to rock, ladies & gents.