I’ve been watching So You Think You Can Dance Canada, of course. And of course, I must blog about it, because it’s a dance show and by definition takes up at least 50% of my waking thoughts. But I realize that there is an even smaller audience for my Canadian dance show commentary than my American dance show commentary, so those of you with actual lives can just skip this post.

Also, warning to FameThrowa, who is like, three weeks behind in her SYTYCDC viewing, there will be spoilers. I drink your milkshake!

So I was going to write this post about which dancers I like, and which ones have top ten/top four potential. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that SYTYCDC has really been coddling most of the remaining dancers by giving them dance styles well within their wheelhouse (I don’t believe for one second that the dance styles are truly assigned randomly).

For example, I think Vincent is one of, if not the, strongest dancer so far. But his specialties are contemporary and hip-hop, and what has he had to do so far? Contemporary, hip-hop, and jazz. Hardly pushing him outside his comfort zone there; I feel like I can’t really pick him out as a strong contender for winning the whole thing until I see him do some waltzing, or some indian movie-style dancing, or some jive. You know?

Or take Francis. He’s done fine so far, but he’s a ballroom dancer — and so far he’s had to do a waltz, a paso doble, and a rhumba. Where is his turn at hip-hop? At krump? At dance hall? Likewise, his fellow ballroom guy, Danny, has had to do a jive, a chacha, and a quickstep. Way to push the limits there!

It seems that the only times dancers on this show have been asked to do something new and different, they’ve been sent home. Romina, a ballroom dancer, had to do hip hop and contemporary (and was AWESOME), and then she got sent home (and I am STILL BITTER). Kevin in the first week had to do hip hop. and granted it was a terrible terrible mess and he deserved to be the one sent home, but he was also the only one doing a style that was new to him.

So, what gives SYTYCDC? Do you think they are deliberately giving familiar dance styles to some couples in order to favour them? Do you think they are deliberately protecting certain dancers that they think have good stories or “deserve” to be in the top ten?

Or, do you think that the quality of the dancers overall in the Canadian version is not as high as in the American version, so they gave the dancers familiar styles in order to not have a crazy hot mess every week, embarrassing the country and causing viewers to flee?

I think maybe that’s it.

Given that we haven’t seen a lot of versatility from any of the remaining dancers on the show, it’s very hard to say who is a standout, and who has a chance at winning. I’m looking for someone to break out and do something exciting and different and be amazing at it, like say Pasha doing hip-hop or Twitch doing contemporary (to reference the American version). I guess we’ll see what happens in the weeks to come.

Until then, though, I’ll take some wild guesses.

Top dancers: I really like Vincent and Lisa, and Nico and Arassay, although neither have really been pushed (Nico and Arassay have had to do salsa, which is her specialty, and two contemporary, at which both of them have experience). I would have said that these two couples are going to be the top four dancers, right there, but again, we will see what happens when they are asked to do something different and to work with other partners. Personally I think Nico might really have a shot here. He is popular, and he was surprisingly good at the salsa, so he seems to have some versatility lurking in there.

Bottom dancers: Two more women and two more men are going to go home before we get to the exciting final-10 round. Who should go? Of the women, my number one pick is Caroline. The judges always slobber all over her but I have not been impressed at all, either by her dancing or her charisma. The judges often point out that she “overpowers” Jesse, but that is not really a good thing — I think she is all power, and no finesse. Again, she has only been asked to do dances she already knows — I hope she gets something gentle and feminine next week like a waltz, and if she pulls that off maybe then I’ll be impressed. I think the other weakest female dancer is Natalie. There’s no denying that she is very watchable, even magnetic, on stage, but I think she has really been hiding behind Francis — his strong leading has pulled her through their dances. She showed in her week 1 hip-hop that she doesn’t have any musical sense at all and has trouble following choreography; when she and Francis have to do something where they dance apart, I think she will not be able to keep up.

As for the men, Vincent and Nico are in for sure, and I also think Miles and Izaak have been two of the few dancers asked to do things way, way outside their comfort zone, and have really been great at it. That leaves Francis, Danny, and Jesse. It’s really hard to say anything about Francis and Danny, because they really have only been asked to do ballroom; until they are asked to do something else I really can’t guess at what kind of talents they may have lurking. Based on pure stage presence, I would say that Francis is the stronger competitor; he’ll also fit better in the top 10 because Danny’s shortness will make it hard to pair him with partners other than Allie. As for Jesse, I love love love the guy, and the judges are nutso for telling him every week that Caroline is better (blech). However, there’s no question that he is one of the weaker male dancers overall (compare his performances with fellow B-boy Miles, who has been so so amazing), so I think he will probably be the one to go. So I guess I pick Jesse and Danny to go, although as usual with dance shows, the men seem to be stronger overall, and I wish we could keep them all.

Okay, now that I’ve got it all out…time to get back to work around here!