It appears that I owe Lil C an apology. In Thursday's performance recap, I wrote that he had made up a word to describe one of the dancer's performances. It sounded like a cross between "malevolent" and "fluorescence," neither of which really described any of the dances, and given Lil C's history of just making stuff up, we didn't really think much of it.
But those montages get you every time.
Apparently, the word he uttered was "mellifluous," meaning "having a smooth rich flow ." That makes a lot more sense.
In other news, two more dancers were sent home last night.
After an enjoyable traditional Broadway-jazz routine performed by all 16 remaining dancers, we get to hear a plug for Kristin Chenoweth's forthcoming country album. I've said before that Cheno can do no wrong, but I the 5 seconds or so I heard were disappointing. It sounds like yet another pop-disguised-as-country record. Prove me wrong, Cheno!
The first half of the show is dedicated to bringing the couples out in groups of two or three and telling them whether they're in the bottom three. Leave it to Fox to draw out a process that could take, I dunno, five seconds to 30 minutes. Anyway, the bottom three couples are: Ashley and Chris (not surprising, since Nigel reamed them for lack of emotional connection with the audience), Miranda and Robert (the judges liked their performance, but I wasn't impressed) and Caitlynn and Mitchell (their Samba was awesome; I don't know what's wrong with America).
Then we move on to the special performances, which, after last week's hot messes, I wasn't too thrilled to see. But Axis Dance Company totally restored my faith. Axis is a physically-inclusive dance company, meaning they feature performers with and without disabilities. Two dancers--one in a wheelchair--give a beautiful, moving performance. Later, we're also treated to a crazy performance by Eric Luna and Georgia Ambarian that was really more acrobatics than dance--Eric spinning Georgia on his head, lots of weird stretching, etc.
Break's over, time to dance for your life: Ashley achieves great height on her leaps, Chris gives it his all in a spellbinding hip hop performance, Miranda does a graceful contemporary routine (except for this one part where she does some weird, flappy movements with her arms), Robert shows speed, control and of course, personality, and Caitlynn and Mitchell do tons of pirouettes.
When the judges return, Nigel says their decision about which girl should leave is not unanimous. Miranda's chosen to leave. Meanwhile, the judges' decision to take Robert out of the competition is unanimous. They both take the news well, and as Robert leads the crowd into a giant, final "wooooo," I realize how much I'm going to miss the guy. It was probably his time, though.
Next week: Seven couples remain.