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RYAN & KATHRYN - Samba - I love Kathryn, but I didn't love her in this dance. The slow beginning just allowed several slight catches to show through. When the dance got going, I found Ryan much more connected and natural in this style. It was good, but not great.

JAKOB & ELLENORE - Broadway - Broadway-style dancing actually allows Jakob's exaggerated movement to come across better, so I thought this was a good style for him. Ellenore is PERFECT for Fosse, with her clean precision and her penchant for odd body angles. I liked it a lot.

RUSSELL & ASHLEIGH - Contemporary - The biggest problem with this dance was a notable lack of chemistry between these two dancers (makes me glad that Ashleigh couldn't dance with him last week). Russell was pretty good, but not nearly as good as the judges said. Ashleigh wasn't bad, either, although she had a lot of truncated lines with her arms, especially later in the piece. Overall, though, I would have been fine with both individual performances if they played off of one another better. Another one that was just okay.

ELLENORE & RYAN - Jazz - This choreographer is really smart. While he was clearly choreographing to Ellenore's strengths, what he did also masked Ryan's most long-standing weakness (stiffness in the upper body) brilliantly. I was a little disappointed that it seemed so much less challenging than much of what we are seeing at this point, and I can't believe how incredibly little of that big stage they actually covered. None of that is the dancers' fault, though.

ASHLEIGH & JAKOB - Foxtrot - I often like the ballroom numbers more than many, but I found this one pretty boring. I think that's because Ashleigh and Jakob as individuals are a little boring, and they need something more flashy to showcase themselves. From a dance perspective, I think what was missing for me was a bit of resistance. Ballroom works largely from the tension of two bodies being held apart by a rigid frame. In this dance, there was no particular force pushing them together or holding them apart.

ELLENORE & RUSSELL - Paso Doble - Russell definitely performed the paso better than Legacy on a technical level, but he didn't come close to what Legacy did on a performance level. The intensity in the eyes just wasn't there. As a result, he got very pose-y. The movements between poses were strong, but the poses themselves felt static because there was no internal fire maintaining the tension. Ellenore was sensational, and unlike Kathryn when she did this style with Legacy, I was able to watch Ellenore because the dance wasn't DOMINATED by her partner...

JAKOB & KATHRYN - Contemporary - In my opinion, Kathryn pulled off an impossible feat, here. She brought out a convincing semblance of heterosexual lust in Jakob! She must be a sexy, sexy dancer if she can do that! I actually thought that she was more impressive than him, here, even on a technical level. Her movements felt more controlled and stronger, while he weakened his core in a few places and looked too rubbery. I don't think this piece was as emotionally swoon-worthy as the judges seemed to think, but I was very impressed.

RYAN & ASHLEIGH - Contemporary - It was great to see these two work together, particularly on a night when everybody did some variation of contemporary dance. It really allowed us to see the limitations that keep these two from being as good as the other four. I have always commented on Ryan's lack of flexibility and extension, but Ashleigh has the same deficiency. And you could really see how much less exerting the choreography was than what Travis has given to ANY other couple he's worked with - I will posit it was because these two simply couldn't pull it off. All that being said, I thought that Ashleigh connected MUCH better with her husband than with any other partner she's had, and it was a pleasure to see her beam with sincere adoration. Ryan kind of remained showy and cold to me, but perhaps I just missed his connection…

RUSSELL & KATHRYN - Hip Hop - It must be a result of several seasons of seriously sub-par hip hop dancing that this routine received the raves it did. Yeah, it was okay and both of them got a nice swagger going. However, they weren't in synch AT ALL throughout the dance. Before I can rave about a dance like this, the execution has got to be TIGHT.


Routine Rankings:

1. KATHRYN & JAKOB - Contemporary
2. ELLENORE & JAKOB - Broadway
3. RUSSELL & ASHLEIGH - Contemporary
4. ELLENORE & RUSSELL - Paso Doble
5. RUSSELL & KATHRYN - Hip Hop
6. RYAN & KATHRYN - Samba
7. ELLENORE & RYAN - Jazz
8. ASHLEIGH & JAKOB - Foxtrot
9. ASHLEIGH & RYAN - Contemporary


Individual Rankings:

1. ELLENORE (I like Kathryn more overall, but tonight, I think Ellenore did a little better)
2. KATHRYN
3. JAKOB
4. RUSSELL
5. ASHLEIGH
6. RYAN