Chehon Wespi-Tschopp is a mouthful of a name, but one I hope we'll have to keep saying. He's a Swiss ballet dancer and DREAMBOAT who reminds me of Victor Smalley (currently being the only reason I allow myself to watch Dance Moms: Miami). He's long-limped, graceful, powerful, super controlled -- if anything, he's maybe too controlled? But those are issues for down the line. For now, he's stunning to watch. Where have they been hiding this kid? The judges seem forcibly restrained when it comes to giving feedback. It's like they're playing the misdirection game, only they never really break out with the superlatives. Which he most definitely earned.
THE PRETTY GOOD
Amelia Lowe is a contemporary dancer with a Dita Von Teese face. Nigel compares her to Berenice Bejo from The Artist -- and, indeed, the show has a whole over-produced vignette about her flapper style and silent-movie-era appeal. Like, there's a scene where she's tied to the railroad tracks like an old-timey damsel in distress. It's more than a bit much. She even auditions to that one Edith Piaf song. You know, the one that told the people in Inception to wake up? Anyway, Tyce is wooing, but these seem to be fairly standard movements. She's not bad, but the standing O? Okay. But sure, Vegas, duh.
Hip-hop, pop-locking, ballet (?) dancer Toshihiko Nakazawa, 26, pulls out some really unfortunate reactions from Nigel about how he can't understand his Japanese. He's really fluid, for a locker, though his ballet spins are weak enough to be ill-advised. Nigel compares him to Twitch in the way he delivers something so unexpected. Tyce latches onto his musicality before also falling prey to the language-barrier "humor" ("YOU HAVE GIFT"! he hollers). Toshihiko gets put through to choreography, but like many a street dancer before him, he finds the choreography a bit too much to handle (he can't do lifts, for one thing), and he leaves the competition.
THE PRETTY BAD
Lots of pomp and circumstance for supernerd Austin Freeman, who dances "the wiggle" (or, alternatively, the "Mr. Wiggles"). This is either some hipster Tumblr prank shit or some Asperger's Abed Community-gimmick-episode stuff, if not both. He dances to "Sexy and I Know It" so mark your bingo cards, we got it out of the way really early this season. The dancing itself is just a lot of shaking, like he's a washing machine on the agitate cycle. Tyce and Mary are laughing, but Nigel is vaguely horrified. He's a cute kid but what is going on here? Nigel ultimately lets him down easy.













Comments