We’re Team JoJo Siwa After That So You Think You Can Dance 17×07 Argument

So, about those judges’ spats from So You Think You Can Dance 17×07 “Around the World.” Shoutout to JoJo Siwa. Thank you, girl. Seriously. Go off. Finish her. All that good stuff.

Because, you see…I’m just a girl, who loves dance, and is begging So You Think You Can Dance Season 17 to turn itself around. Actually begging. On my knees, which don’t like me to put too much weight on them anymore…because of that one time I didn’t hold my core well enough in jazz class, causing my left knee to slam into the floor while my right knee tried to catch me. (And failed, obviously.)

Let’s get this out of the way: The audience-only voting is not working. In fact, it makes the “America’s Favorite Dancer” title a joke — at best. No, it doesn’t make whoever wins a joke. Every single finalist is a beast. But…you’re not “America’s favorite” without a good population sample making the choice. And that studio audience ain’t it.

See also: Thiago Pacheco “not connecting,” after he destroyed the specificity and style of his Broadway number. Or, the previous episode: Virginia Crouse, with those feet and that gut-wrenching performance…also gone. Seriously?

So You Think You Can Dance 17×07 Got Messy

But whatever, I guess. Sometimes, we disagree with who gets sent home. If I thought this show was a shadow of its former self whenever I disagreed with the rankings, I would not have watched every episode of every season.

No, So You Think You Can Dance Season 17 is suffering from cramming too much into too little time. From a shortened season, without any extended episodes. And from huge changes to the judging lineup, which we’ve kvetched about before.

Sadly, we need to do it again now.

Leah Remini, as a judge, continues to just not fit. SYTYCD 17×07 didn’t even get through one couple’s performance and “critiques” without her showing just how far out of her depth she is.

After his salsa choreographed by Jonathan and Oksana Platero, with partner Anna Miller, Remini told Carter Williams to get “a little lower and a little bit more grounded.” Which, ok. She did one salsa, which received good scores, when she was on DWTS. So, that could have been a fair correction…except.

Well.

I’m not sure Carter, who Dance Spirit magazine once called “comp-world royalty,” and who is “4x World Latin Finalist | 2x National Latin Champion” according to his own social media, needs technique advice from a celebrity whose knowledge is “learned one routine for a celebri-comp in 2013.” Actually, the second I heard Carter and Anna were doing a salsa on So You Think You Can Dance 17×07, my immediate thought was, “wow, we could use Mary Murphy right now.” Because, you know, she actually knows what she’s talking about.

Is ballroom, much less latin ballroom, my area of expertise? Nope. But that’s why I’d never dare to correct more than the most obvious mistakes — like, “hey, there seemed to be a hesitation before that lift” — when addressing someone who’s trained and competed it for years. And I’d literally frame it as, “um, so…if I’m wrong, ignore me.”

Remini…not so much. I’d almost admire the audacity, except dance means too much to me. And I know how much hard work goes into it.

And when JoJo Siwa told Remini to “show [her] where his straight legs were,” she couldn’t. Because…she apparently doesn’t even know what things like “grounded” mean. JoJo stood up for Carter and stood firm in her opinion, saying “he was down” a few times. She even told him directly, “I do feel like you were down, and I do feel like you were in it.”

I’m going to take the word of the girl who’s been dancing her entire life — in a variety of styles — on this one, guys. She knows the language and what she’s looking for.

And while we’re at it, the looks on Siwa’s face were priceless.

Furthermore, I don’t know WTF Remini thought she was demonstrating. But it wasn’t good, whatever it was. And, in the previous two SYTYCD Season 17 episodes, she couldn’t even come up with words or her own movement to explain things she liked.

Dear God. Was this…supposed to be…improvement?

…and that wasn’t the only time the “dance enthusiast” had the audacity

But wait! There’s more!

Next up: Let’s talk about Thiago Pacheco.

So, Al Blackstone, who choreographed Thiago’s Broadway number with partner Alexis Warr, cheered the performance like he was at [insert your favorite Nationals here] or something.

But Remini…had the following advice for Thiago:

“Don’t be so protected. Use your pain. And put it in your art.”

That would’ve been a fabulous motivational speech for a much different piece. But it was terrible, the complete opposite of understanding the assignment really, for this.

Both dancers’ attention to detail and specificity fit the style perfectly, and facial expressions — the cheekiness!!! the fun!!! the flirting!!! — were on point. No pointe pun intended.

But, let’s all use our pain from SYTYCD 17×07 to create all that.

Sure, Jan Leah.

JoJo Siwa, who has certainly done plenty of this style, was not about that “advice” either.

So, not only did her face sum up everything we were thinking, but JoJo’s words really nailed it:

“I saw a duo on stage of two dancers that were clean, precise, and did exactly what they were supposed to do.”

Perhaps, if the audience hadn’t been fed nonsense about how Thiago and Alexis didn’t connect with the audience…the voting for So You Think You Can Dance 17×07 might have gone differently. But we’ll never know, will we?

In the meantime, we’ll just keep begging for something to give.

Were you Team JoJo or Team Leah during SYTYCD 17×07? Who would you have sent home? Drop us a comment!

So You Think You Can Dance Season 17 airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on FOX…which sounds like more of a threat than a promise these days.