#rutnt7

I’m so late it’s not even funny. But I’m interested in seeing how my opinions will change over the course of this season, so here we go. First impression based on Top 37 preselections and the first top 24/26 contestants liveshow:

Yuliana Bukholts / Юлиана Бухольц / 26 / Tap / Jazz / Audition: By competing in season 1 and almost winning the All-Star season she’s raked in lots of experience and it shows. All my doubts stemming from a rather lukewarm audition have dissipated in light of her self-choreographed dance with Ksenia Goryacheva. I do realize that the public back-lash to her return to the show will probably prevent her from winning.

Alisa Artishevskaya / Алиса Артишевская / 23 / Hip-Hop / Audition: She has spunk in loads and I love her acting. Totally stanning for her.

Ksenia Goryacheva / Ксения Горячева / 19 / Contemporary / Audition: Just look at her!! hmhghm. Beauty and grace. Enough said.

Niko Marunov / Нико Марунов / 23 / Vogue / Strip-Plastic / Audition: All of the sass. Love him.

Alexey Mechetny / Алексей Мечетный / 30 / Hip-Hop / Audition: Mature, sophisticated and just a kind spirit. i sense some of those paternalistic vibes from him that likely propelled Maxim Nesterovich to winning Season 2.

Brian Opoku / Брайан Опоку / 22 / Hip-Hop / Audition: I want his style. So bad.

DAM´EN / 28 / Hip-Hop / Audition: Down-to-earth guy everyone loves.

Roman Belov /  Роман Белов / 20 / Contemporary / Audition: A true Contemporary powerhouse.

Kolya Baghdasaryan / Коля Багдасарян / 26 / Contemporary / Audition: He turned a new leaf with his audition and I can definitely see him been giving dances fitting that, short of type-casting.

Eva Uvarova / Ева Уварова / 16 / Contemporary / Audition: Her talent was already apparent during her time competing in SYTYCD Ukraine but I’m glad she’s grown up a bit since then so the choreographers will likely rely less on her insane flexibility.

Kris Belova / Крис Белова / 31 / Strip-Plastic / Audition: Her audition with Niko and her preslection trio last year were some of the biggest highlights on this show for me.

Tema Sidorov / Тёма Сидоров / 28 / Hip-Hop / Audition: He’s cool.

Rash / Раш / 30 / Hip-Hop / Audition: He’s got that special something. I hope it translates well to the actual liveshows.

Decki / 20 / Hip-Hop / Audition: She’s that kind of contestant I love but the public typically doesn’t care for so I’m trying not to get too attached.

Kirill Zub / Кирилл Зуб / 17 / Hip-Hop / Audition: He’s got the skills, but he sure looks young. I hope that works out for the dances he will get.

Ekaterina Boyko / Екатерина Бойко / 18 / Contemporary / Audition: I don’t know how she ended up this low, but I guess it’s just a very strong cast this year.

Stasya Kozhemyako / Стася Кожемяко / Dancehall / Audition: Almost didn’t recognize from her time on SYTYCD Ukraine. There’s an endearing softness to her.

Egor Gufranov / Егор Гуфранов / 18 / Contemporary / Audition: Technically strong, but still kinda green.

Ulyana Smoleninova / Ульяна Смоленинова / 19 / Contemporary / Audition: She’s growing on me.

Daniil Saveliev / Даниил Савельев / 16 / Hip-Hop / Audition: I guess I like him, but Kirill (and Eva) already took the spot of the prodigious wonderkind this season.

Lera Zubrilova / Лера Зубрилова / 21 / Hip-Hop / Audition: She’s got spunk. I’m glad she got another hair style to set herself apart from the others.

Daniil Patlakh / Даниил Патлах / 30 / Freestyle / Audition                          I know, he didn’t dance and technically even got kicked out of the top 24 but a kick-ass audition can carry someone a long way

Aziza Kondybaeva / Азиза Кондыбаева  / 29 / Jazz / Audition             People have been speculating that she got the last remaining spot by default since Svetlana had to drop out due to her knee injury. It’s a plausible theory.

Anna Ustinova / Анна Устинова / 23 / Hip-Hop / Audition                         I feel bad for her since she didn’t get to dance for reasons entirely out of her control (the reason being Pathlak), but she just feels like such a blank slate for me

The season officially started more than half a year ago so the age descriptions are probably no longer correct in some cases.

Eliminated contestants

Svetlana Kambur / Светлана Камбур / 28 / Contemporary/HH / Audition: I’ve been waiting for seven seasons for her to show up only for an injury to take her out. Life’s just unfair. I was all but ready to post her routines from SYTYCD Ukraine season 5.

Arina Nikoghosyan / Арина Никогосян  / 19 / Dancehall / Audition: I’m still mystified how she didn’t make it.

Oleg Ninja / Олег Ninja / 20 / Vogue / Audition: That audition was sooo good.

Robert Amirov / Роберт Амиров / 27 / Hip-Hop / Audition

Evgeny Zaplakhov / Евгений Заплахов / 28 / Breaking / Audition

Alina Chernovskaya / Алина Черновская / 16 / Hip-Hop / Audition

Nastya Kilaseva / Настя Киласева / 17 / Hip-Hop / Audition

Dima Levanov / Дима Леванов / 20 / Contemporary / Audition

Andrey Bocharov / Андрей Бочаров / 23 / Dancehall / Audition

Anna Deltsova / Анна Дельцова / 32 / Hip-Hop / Audition

Elena Kulagina / Елена Кулагина / 24 / Contemporary / Audition

Maria Arkhipova / Мария Архипова / 25 / Contemporary / Audition