Thank the lord of the dance that they decided to condense the sentimental farewell to Allan and Snow into 15 minutes. Especially tonight, when I really just wanted to be watching the footwork over at Arthur Ashe stadium. But some of these couples made me totally forget I was missing the U.S. Open. Big Poppa's parting words put these competitions back into perspective: "There's so much tragedy in the world, at least I have a home to go back to." So let's get on with it:Melissa and Artem: Artem's chest almost distracted from the fact that little Melissa did most of the work and rocked that pop routine. Then they both finally showed us what the quickstep is supposed to look like, and the Enrique Iglesias look-alike made us think he was Fred Astaire.Kamilah and Nick: Sex bomb Kamilah was made for the tango. Nick was downright athletic in the pop dance. He'd totally beat Blake in a dance-off. (Um, why did Mia's pupp
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I was glad Angel didn't give up on this show until the night the actual dancing began. And then I sat through over half an hour of "getting to know everyone's sob story" without even the benefit of "lyrical" choreography. By the way, I'm not alone in being baffled by that category of dance. My sister Gabrielle, a dancer for 14 years, hadn't heard of it either. "It looks like modern," she shrugged. She actually called me from Florida in the middle of Ryan and Melissa's mambo because, well, they suddenly made the show worth talking about. Neither of them had much experience in the genre, and everyone was worried about Ryan's hedgehog hair getting in the way, but they totally pulled it off like pros. Dan's weird summation of the performance as "badass" led to the quote of the night from Nigel: "Nothing touches a badass?" And as much as I want to hate selfish Blake, he and Destini were totally in their element and made all that rolling on the floor
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Another so-so, way too long episode. I promised myself I wouldn't complain too much about the painfully drawn-out audition process and would withhold judgment until it got into the actual "Hollywood" portion of the show, but honestly, did it really need to be an hour and a half? I think not. But there were some interesting characters in L.A., like roller-skating dude Andre, Big Poppa and that cute Timo guy. I'm not the only one who found Timo attractive — Nigel's wife (and fellow judge) Bonnie apparently also thought his sexy costume worked well. Nigel claims to live to make her happy. That is, when she can get a word in edgewise; he's always talking, and Bonnie and Jeff are relegated to minuscule roles where they have to act more agreeable than Paula Abdul. But at least they are spared having to read atrocious voice-over dialogue like host Lauren Sanchez. My favorite sample of the evening: "So far L.A. has produced a real
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