The second group routine is a contemporary dance, choreographed by Dee Casparay. The idea is one of medieval women poisoning the men with goblets of wine. Jess sees some of the season-long theme (at least how Nigel's been framing it) in this concept. All eight dancers are really graceful in this, but the standouts are Melanie, Jordan, Jess, Ricky, and to a slightly lesser extent Caitlynn. Poor Alexander once again gets faded into the background, both by virtue of his own quality and because the choreography keeps him there. I'm always of two minds on something like that. Yes, that's the choreographer making a subjective call on which dancers get to be featured prominently in the group routines, but I also strongly believe that it's completely merit-based from rehearsals. It's kind of a great way to see which dancers are most respected by the professionals who would know. Remember how before we even knew much about him, Jakob Karr kept getting front-and-center position in all those group routines? Now it's Melanie (SPOILER, Melanie is awesome). Anyway, my other takeaway from this routine is that I hope that in addition to the all-stars, we still get mixing and matching of these dancers past the Top 10. I'm suddenly really intrigued by the idea of a Melanie/Jess pairing.

RUNDOWN! In order of my own preference tonight:

Tadd & Jordan's hip-hop
Caitlynn & Mitchell's samba
Melanie & Marko's hip-hop
Clarice & Jess's Foxtrot
Sasha & Alexander's contemporary
Ryan & Ricky's contemporary
Miranda & Robert's Broadway
Ashley & Chris's jazz

Joe R is happy that a night full of really great routines has gotten his mind off of Iveta and Nick. NICK! Oh, crap, the FEELINGS are back again! Send him email while he's weeping in the corner and softly singing Whitney Houston's "Didn't We Almost Have It All?" Questions, comments, and unadulterated love can be sent to him at joseph.reid21@gmail.com.