I think I find the new format interesting just because not all the All Stars are better than the Newbies. I'm thinking in particular of Billy Bell & his partner (Lauren?). IMO he was miles better than she was. I'm also wondering if these All Stars were out of work & that's why they were available for the show?
I know some of them have been working. Lauren and Courtney (as well as Kherington and Jesse) have appeared as part of Vocal Adrenaline on Glee. Even before the show, Twitch was also teaching and choreographing at a studio in LA(?). I think their only all-star requirement was no winners and bit personality and strong dancers in their genre - I think everyone's at least top 6 in their season.
I think the point of picking all-stars is so you don't have 2 people learning a dance style that is also outside of both expertise's. i.e. a swing dancer and a break dancer learning a contemporary routine having to compete against 2 hip hop'rs doing a hip hop routine. By having at least one expert in the routine, it helps the less experienced dancer. In the case of Jose, it didnt' make a huge difference since he's a breaker doing hip hop - yes, they are different, but it's not as hard as him learning ballroom. Alex, Billy and Robert were within their expertise. Kent was probably the furthest outside of his genre.
I think Kent has a good shot at winning - he's definitely got the personality and charm to capture a lot of votes; so, if he performs well, he could be in the finals. Alex, Billy and Robert have to up the personality level; especially since they are such great dancers that they won't neccessarily show as much big improvement as some of the others.
I agree that the men appear to be the most likely finalists. None of the girls are performing as well as the 'weakest' guy and their personalities aren't coming across as big either. We'll wait and see - Jeanine , winner from 2 seasons ago, started off quiet and finished big.
