Recap - Antm Cycle 13 Episode 06
By: Edward Ganges
Original Article
for RealityTVMatrix.com

Wednesday, October 7, 2009
ANTM Cycle 13, Episode 6
"Dance with Me"

Laura starts the episode with the declaration that "panel wears me out; the stress just makes me go [downhill]". Ashley of course was not too happy to be in the bottom two, but the critique that it was difficult to work with her is what depressed her the most. Nicole-ANTM-2009-Cycle-13.cfm' style='font-weight:bold'>Nicole worries about Nigel's impression of her as a stoner [due to her lack of conversational expressiveness]. Kara versus Nicole: "I'm not a big fan... Nicole is awkward... she makes a fool of herself every five words that come out of her mouth". Nice.

The Challenge:
Tyra mail is delivered in the limo: "Now that you've learned to Smize, let's see what you can do without your eyes!"

Posing instructor Benny Ninja meets the girls at a neon lit dance studio to teach them about dancing and expressing themselves with their bodies. This makes Ashley happy and Nicole nervous. The girls are introduced to dancer, choreographer and recording artist Little Mama. Sundai is called forth to express sadness using only her body; she does the cabbage patch dance. Admittedly, it was not good. Nicole is asked to do angry and instead does bipolar (yeah, it was THAT hard to interpret). The Jabbawockeez (former winners of America's Best Dance Crew) come to the rescue and express happy sad angry, etc. -- except they get to do it to music and of course the music carries 90% o the emotional content. Just saying.

The girls are divided into groups for a competition that will have them perform in a Vegas show with the Jabbawockeez and win a prize worth $17,000 in jewelry. Ashley starts thinking "show me the money." The teams are Jennifer, Kara and Rae on Team One. Team Two has Laura, Brittany and Sundai. Team Three is Erin, Ashley and Nicole. They get one hour to practice.

Team two hopes "to at least make it look good". Team one bonds immediately and had a lot of fun; Kara asks if she can do a cartwheel and they all start jumping up and down and laughing. Team three puts too much pressure on poor Ashley to be the leader and choreographer; especially when you consider that Nicole admittedly "forgets things very easily" and "hopes that at show time she doesn't blackout". In the opposite of Erin versus Ashley, Erin expresses her confidence based on the fact that Ashley is a dance instructor and was competent when helping them work out their moves.

The models take the stage wearing Jabbawockeez-style masks and perform in front of a live audience. This is either going to be fun or a complete disaster; I'm thinking "disaster". Up first is Team One: cartwheels for happy; wallowing on the floor for sad; mosh pitting for angry. Team Two: shaky hands and mimed jump rope for happy [Erin was not very impressed: Erin versus Laura, Erin versus Brittany, Erin versus Sundai]; for sad it looked like maybe it was raining; for angry they did some cat walking and then push fighting. Team Three's happy was weak [Jennifer was not impressed due to the basic "seen enactment" style of the dances: Jennifer versus Erin, Jennifer versus Ashley, Jennifer versus Nicole-ANTM-2009-Cycle-13.cfm' style='font-weight:bold'>Nicole]; their sad was a little too theatrical; the angry was the most innovative with Nicole doing a stare down with Benny Ninja.

The ladies are introduced to jewelry designer Rhonda Faber Green who will be awarding the jewelry prize. The unity and physical interactions of Team One impressed both Benny Ninja and Little Mama. Little Mama was not able to become part of the happiness of Team Two. Team Three managed to score a Total Disconnect with the judges. And the winner is Team number... One. Nicole attempts to empathize with how disappointed Ashley must feel. Ashley states to the group that "if it were just me [it would have been a] totally different story". Not exactly the best way to make friends: Ashley versus Nicole, Ashley versus Erin. Kara bonds more with Jennifer. Ashley phones home.

The Photoshoot:
An early wake-up call finds the girls flying to Las Vegas to meet J. Alexander at the Treasure Island Resort and Casino for the Cirque du Soleil segment of the show. Jay comes out as part of a Cirque du Soleil stage show to get the girls primed. Hair and makeup goes more towards the wild side. Photo shoots will be in groups of three which makes Nicole a little nervous. Editorial photographer Mike Rosenthall will be taking the pictures of the girls.

The groupings change so the first three girls up are Brittany, Jennifer and Rae. Philadelphia, PA native Jennifer notes that "the make up is amazing, the hair is amazing, the outfits are amazing, the photographer is amazing - so if anything goes wrong I'm F'ing it up." Good clarity from Jennifer. Unfortunately, Jay feels that "Jennifer fell flat" and basically forgot everything she's learned in the five weeks so far. Ouch.

The next three girls are Erin, Sundai and Nicole. Sundai manages to make herself look tall despite being the shortest in the competition at 5'3". Nicole started to get worried based on receiving excessive critiques in comparison to her partners [Nicole versus Erin, Nicole versus Sundai]. Erin just sat there and looked amazing in her platinum pooffy hair-do.

Ashley, Kara and Laura finish off the nine, and are reminded to bring everything that they've learned so far. Laura feels she looks a little "like some kind of creature and I love it". Ashley "loved her clothes, loved her hair, loved the concept and [felt] really good about it" -- on the other hand, Jay was NOT feeling it from Ashley at all. Jay felt Kara basically "faded into the background": his words, not mine. And the girls go home to start worrying about the elimination...

Guest judge:
Supermodel Josie Maran is the guest judge. Josie has been modeling for 19 years, has been in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition three consecutive times, has modelled for Victoria's Secret, has graced the cover of Glamour magazin