We’re down to 16 people on Dance! Show!, and finally, FINALLY, the voting will begin. I really did not like this “judges pick the losers” thing. Since they got to pick the top 20 to begin with, it seems like they were able to target the ones they had pre-decided were weak. It was like lions thinning a herd of zebras. Natural, I guess, but I still don’t feel entirely comfortable seeing it in Hi-Def.

Also, they sent Phillip home! STUPIDS.

Anyway! Time to talk about who’s left, who’s clicking, and who’s not.

Making It Work

Oh my heavens, isn’t Karen so sexy? But not in a skanky way? I really like her. She and Kevin seem to be finding good chemistry, and they both seem like strong, popular dancers, so I predict they will go far.

I also like Legacy and Kathryn (despite his use of some crazy B-Boy name, like, whatever helps you keep your street cred, dude). I actually enjoyed their Stacey Tookey number this week. I’ll say that again: I LIKED A STACEY TOOKEY NUMBER. Mark your calendars, folks!

This saddens me to no end, but I also must put Nathan and Mollee at the top of the heap. I really dislike them both — they’re so giggly and childish. And yet…Mollee’s legs are awesome. Nathan needs to work on his snap, but his spins — oh my. And they do seem to have a little magic between them. Sigh. I declare it is okay to vote for them, I will just look away.

Middle of the Road

I really like Ellenore and I think she and Ryan have potential. Right now they are missing something for me, but they have put together two very interesting performances and both are excellent dancers so there is hope.

Ditto for Ashleigh and Jakob — there seems to be some fire missing from them as a pairing, but they are both attractive and likable and I think with some work they could become something great.

Bottom of the Heap

As usual with this show, the bottom is chock full of good dancers who just seem to be mismatched with their partner. I think Channing is cool, but she really needs to work on her partnering skills — she has trust issues. We’ll see if she can sort them out with Victor, who is good but who has ego issues.

Of course my heart lies with Peter now, as the final tapper left, and he has real charisma even if he is lacking a little in training. Pauline is kind of a snooze in terms of personality, though, so I’m not sure what kind of heat these two can generate.

Russell seems to be very popular with the crowd, and for good reason — I adore his solos. Even his two-second intro bit is always interesting and full of fire. Still, at things like the waltz it’s obvious that he just doesn’t have the power and technique to handle all the different dances. As for Noelle, I have ongoing bitterness about the fact that she was allowed to stay in the competition even though she couldn’t dance the first week. LAME. So these two would be both my guy and girl pick to go home — however, I suspect that the popularity of Russell will propel them to safety.

Happy viewing, dance fans, and happy voting!