SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE WEEK THREE ELIMINATIONS, AND RIP MICHAEL JACKSON

Well, that was a nice tribute to Michael Jackson that Nigel gave at the top of the show. His contribution to the dance world really cannot be overestimated and it was very fitting. It really brought the point home, to me at least, that he actually died. Did you guys see all that on Twitter today? @BreakingNews tweeted about it, a bunch of people linked, then a lot of weird things started happening. Misinformation was being fed, sites were being linked to that looked like real news sites, reporting things like the cardiac arrest was caused by a “drug overdose”, by his taking 24 sleeping pills, “an apparent suicide,” police “found him dead in his apartment,” etc. And then @BreakingNews started reporting that those other websites were invalid and warned people to pay no attention to them. Then some sites, like TMZ reported he’d died, others like CNN said he’d been resuscitated and was in critical condition, then reports were he was in a coma, etc. People were tweeting like nuts: “No, he’s only in hospital;” “No, he passed”; “No, CNN specifically said he’s alive,” etc. I left for the ballet at 7:00 p.m. honestly not knowing whether the whole thing was real or not.

I started thinking of him again, for some strange reason during the dance of the four cygnets (it was Swan Lake at ABT). I have no idea why I started thinking of him at that point. That part was danced excellently tonight (I could tell by the wild applause and by my few glimpses up at the ballerinas onstage) but my mind was elsewhere throughout the whole thing. I didn’t really watch it at all.

So it IS for real. But no less unbelievable.

I’m glad they showed part of Thriller on SYTYCD. I wish they would have shown the whole thing, but of course, there wasn’t enough time. I’m sure we’re all going to be remembering his best work over the next several weeks; well, for longer than that, for a while.

Anyway, the eliminations: I thought Jason’s solo tonight was really good. I’m surprised the judges didn’t. I didn’t think he was shaky and falling all over himself, like Nigel said; I thought he danced with passion and with great articulation, in the mid-body especially, and I thought his little solo had a structure. Ditto for Karla’s. The rest I thought were full of tricks, although, again, I can’t blame the dancers for throwing every gymnastic tumbling pass, grand jete, split, grand battement, and whipping fouette they can possibly pull off — both because they think the judges want that and because this could be their last dance and the audience goes for the pyrotechnics. They want to show what they are athletically capable of doing.

I’m not surprised Asuka left — I didn’t really think she was that great of a Latin dancer to begin with I’m sorry to say. Even tonight’s solo — some of the moves may have been sexy and all, but they were a bit sloppy. The bachachatas (tiny backsteps), for example, were not precise at all. And Jonathan — well, I’m sorry to see him go because I really liked him. I thought he had a great dance personality and he’s done very well in prior weeks (like last week). But seeing as how it was either him or Vitolio or Jason, I’m not surprised. So I guess the new couple next week will be Vitolio and Karla. I think they should make a pretty good partnership. We’ll see.

Wow, there’s a fight outside my apartment window — lots of cursing. Gotta go!