I can’t believe I blogged about Dance! Show! last week and totally forgot to mention Sir Monkeypants’ brilliant idea. Dance Show is on at exactly the same time as American Ninja Warrior – our two summertime favourites – and I was flicking back and forth between the two a few weeks ago (we PVR both, don’t worry, we don’t miss a second of either). Sir Monkeypants got the idea to combine them – imagine Nigel and Akbar Gbajabiamila commentating as athletes did a combination of monkey bars and small dance routines. Hilarious, and yet also: GENIUS. I actually think there’s a lot of crossover, athletically speaking. Plus I would LOVE to see Akbar give Nigel a “friendly” punch in the arm when someone totally nails that piroutte-jete-salmon-ladder combo. SWEET.

I realized this week that I have been watching all along with the idea in my head that I’ll be able to get a much better look at some of these routines and dancers during the live tour, and then I just went and checked this morning the tour is not coming ANYWHERE in Canada, let alone Ottawa. The closest I could get is Brooklyn, and even I cannot travel to Brooklyn just for Dance Show, although the chance to see Jaja in person is tempting. However, I’m afraid I am going to have to live with TV-only viewing, which is sad.

So this was our first look at the top 10 with the new stage/street format, which was good in some ways (so much hip hop! fantastic solos!) and bad in others (no more group routines, plus a couple of people who got the opposite style, like Megz, kind of got screwed). I was happy enough with the going-homers – JJ was my pick for street and with her injury, seemed like it was her time. I would have kept Edson over Derek any day, but either was really expendable.

So who’s left and being awesome in the top 8?

Virgil. Loved his number with Comfort this week – Christopher Scott is so fantastic. Virgil is just so groovy and Comfort was a perfect match for him. Plus, his solo was cool and he continues to charm. Could he win it all? Possibly.

Hailee. Also loved her Broadway routine this week – she brought the dazzle. With so few dancers remaining I feel like she is really beginning to stand out from the pack. I just hope that since she was first up this week, the voters remember how great she was when it comes time to dial in.

Jaja. Her rep was certainly damaged by the kiss-of-death Bollywood this week – RETIRE IT ALREADY, DANCE SHOW. However, giving her Bollywood usually means she’s at the top of the voting board – they tend to give Bollywood to someone with an ironclad voting block, so they can withstand the horror. Plus, I’ve seen worse – MUCH worse – when it comes to this style; at least she managed to keep up and keep it cute.

Jim. Jim is great, but I don’t know, sometimes I just feel a little removed from him onstage. Having Alex around this week – even though he was stuck in Bollywood hell – made me realize that Jim is no Alex in terms of personality and charm. I plan to re-watch Jim’s performance this week because I feel like I should have gotten more out of it than I did. He’s still, I think, the stage team number two though.

Neptune. Loved him this week. It’s funny, I never really cared for Jasmine when she was actually on the show, but as an all-star she has really shone. I thought she and Neptune were the perfect match – amazing chemistry and physically they just seem to go together. I’d say this was Neptune at his best and he deserves to be around another week – in fact, he’s probably good enough to win it all, and it’s too bad he has Virgil and Jaja to fight against for Street Top 2.

Gaby. Once again this week, the judges (and Cat!) were all, “OMG WE LOVE YOU,” and again, I do not see it. Her number with Joshua (JOSHUA! SQUEE!) was good but I mostly watched him, and he was GREAT, while Gaby was just kind of…there. I’m going to rewatch this one too to try to figure out what I missed – maybe it’ll have more magic the second time around. Wanted to mention here, though, that I ADORED her solo – my favourite! – and so that alone is enough to keep her around for another week in my books.

Megz. Oh Megz, I love you and want you to move next door so you can come over on Saturdays for drinks and a movie with me and Paula. Bring your shoes. But this week showed her weaknesses – her jazz number was okay but she was outdanced by Marco for sure. She just didn’t have the technique to be super clean and her adorable personality wasn’t enough. She was hit with a double whammy – not her style, and the dreadful Ray Leeper – but still, I don’t think she will be able to make it another week, sadly.

Derek. He’s still here. Can’t explain it. Once again this week, I watched his partner (Kayla! Squee!) almost exclusively. America: sometimes you are an odd and unpredictable beast. Hopefully it’ll sort itself out next week.

Kay, off to do some rewatching. In the meantime: brainstorm ninja/dance fusion titles. American Ninja Dance Show? So You Think You Can Ninja? American Dancer Warrior? Discuss.