And So There Were 8

Let's start with a few housekeeping items...
1. A moment of silence for Kherington. What happened? I know she had a rough night with Mark, but...what! Letting Gev go was also a mistake.
2. Tour dates have been announced. Tickets go on sale 8/2. Portland show 9/21, Pittsburgh show 11/8. I've seen this show, American Idol and Dancing with the Stars. I won't go to the latter two again, but I'll see SUTUCD live as many times as possible.
3. Nigel and Mary...EWWWWWWW! That banter at the beginning of the show was digusting.
4. I don't think I've said it before, but the camera blocking on this show is fantastic. Sometimes the lighting is weird, but there is rarely a wierd camera angle or something important missed. I can't say the same for DWTS.
5. Happy birthday Chelsie!

On to the dancing...

WILL & COURTNEY (SAMBA/HIP HOP) - These two are both fantastic dancers and they did great tonight. I just don't think this is my favorite partnership. The samba was hot and the hip hop was smooth. Since there's not much to pick on tonight, I will say I thought Courtney was a bit stiff/mechanical at times in the hip hop. I love that Dirty Dancing inspired Will to start dancing. Does anyone else watch that movie every time it's on TV? That has to be at least a couple of times a month.

TWITCH & KATEE (CONTEMPORARY/BROADWAY) - I love that these two knew each other before the show and it showed. This was the best partnership of the night. I never really considered this before, but maybe it's Katee that is the fabulous partner. She has had fantastic pairings all along. Her stock goes up and up every week in my book. She's a total standout at this point. I don't want to forget my boy Twitch. Still love (nearly) everything he does. Loved both routines. The choreography set up these two fantastic performers to bring their characters to life. I especially loved when Twitch opened the door and Katee was swinging from it.

MARK & COMFORT (HIP HOP/FOX TROT) - I'm so over both of these two. It doesn't help that they both should have gone home last week, but I was done even before that. Didn't love their hip hop, but it wasn't bad. Looks like that fox trot might have done them in. I agree with Nigel that Comfort's solos don't have much substance. I did love Mark's solo. It was very creative.

JOSHUA & CHELSIE (ARGENTINE TANGO/DISCO) - Work those legs girl! Great footwork by both on the tango. Unfortunately the disco wasn't great. I am actually going to blame this one on Dorianna. There were too many lifts and they were so difficult that I could see them worrying about and working for them. They executed most of them OK, but it wasn't any fun. It was fun when they got away from the lifts and just danced. Bummer. That said, I just love these two and they are great together.

Great show. Kind of a rough ending, but not much to pick on. I will pick on Toni Basil a bit. At first I thought it would be fun to have an icon like her on the show. Unfortunately, she was wierd and went on and on and on. Maybe she just needs a forum to share her opinions. She should try bla-bla-blogging.