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RSS'So You Think You Can Dance': Season 6 Top 20 are introduced!
"So You Think You Can Dance" treated us to a special introduction to our Top 20 tonight, and I'm actually surprised they haven't done this before. There were several dancers I barely remembered from auditions, so it was great to see them do their own thing before getting paired up and thrown into new styles. Nigel, Mary and Adam are joined by an empty chair labeled "Paula Abdul," just in case she decides to take them up on their invite. I can't decide if that would be a good thing.
Many thanks to Tamara for filling in for me last week while I was busy bailing out my flooded apartment!
We christen the fancy new set with a Wade Robson group routine based on a turf war in a 1930s bar, set to "Comanche" by The Revels, which I will forever associate with the "Pulp Fiction" soundtrack. I love the group routines when there are still a bunch of dancers on the stage, and this one looked like it would've been a blast to dance.
Hip Hop: Next up is a hard-hitting Tabitha and Napoleon hip-hop routine featuring our boy Russell, along with Kevin and (yes, he really made the Top 20) Legacy. Kevin does this craaazy move where he spins Legacy around his body, Legacy rocks some breakdancing, and Russell gets to show off his krumping. Nigel practically pees his pants with excitement.
Contemporary I: We move on to a contemporary routine choreographed by Tyce Diorio. Ariana (Remember her? No? Me either.), Channing, Jakob and Nathan are his first victims lucky dancers. Just kidding, Tyce fans who probably exist! I actually like his contemporary better than his Broadway a lot of the time. It's a piece about four stories of sadness, and it has a very nice flow. There's a great move where Ariana vaults off a chair into Nathan's arms, and Mary compliments each dancer on his or her performance. I especially dug Jakob - his leaps were just awesome.
Year of the Tapper: Peter, Bianca and Philip tear up the stage with a routine by new tap choreographer Derick Grant. You guys, tapping makes me smile on the inside. And the outside, I suppose. And these dancers are fantastic -- their feet move so fast they're practically a blur! I think Bianca, especially, will do well. She's got great stage presence, and not just because she was framed by two guys. Nigel rightly points out the disadvantage they'll all have, since their style is harder than it looks in the first place and though they'll be dancing everyone else's, no one will be dancing theirs.
Jazz: Mollee, Pauline and Ellenore land a "sexy" (or perhaps more flirty) Sonya routine. I think Ellenore (whom I looove) manages sexy better than the other two ladies, but it's an admirable effort all around, and very fun. Adam tells Mollee she's "graduated from 'High School Musical,'" but I'm not sure she's 100 percent there yet. Though she certainly is adorable.
Contemporary II: In our second round of contemporary, Billy, Katherine, Noelle and Victor dance a beautiful Mandy Moore routine meant to showcase their talents. She gives them a fair amount of partner work, which is probably good practice for what's to come. I still love me some Billy Bell (and am super bummed that this is apparently the last we'll see of him this season), but I'm not totally sold on Katherine yet. Perhaps that's just the bias that little screen time creates, though. Raves all around from Mary, of course. Nothing but love tonight from the judges!
Latin: Finally, our three Latin dancers are showcased in a Jason Gilkison samba routine. Poor Karen -- she's totally the third wheel dancing with Ashleigh and Ryan! Awkward. The dance is centered around the ladies fighting over Ryan, in fact. It really is amazing how different ballroom looks when it's being danced by people in their own genre -- I'm not sure I fully appreciate it the rest of the time.
Okay, let's hear your picks! Who do you love? Who doesn't belong in the Top 20? And how psyched are you for tomorrow night?
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Zap2it Twitter Talk 
What was that song the hiphop dancers did the routine to? I cannot for the life of me remember the artist and it's driving me insane...
Leanne .. the song is Beggin' by Madcon! :]
On the whole, really enjoyed tonight. Although, I thought it got better as the night progressed.
Group #: Really, really liked it. But it was a Robson routine, so no surprise there.
Hip Hop: Individually, they were awesome. But the routine as a whole just bored me. Don't know why, it just did.
Contemp #1: Again, great individual dancing, lackluster routine. No surprise; it's Tyce after all.
Tap: Liked the tap, hated the music. It was distracting, it did not seem to fit at all. I'll admit to being musically-challenged, so I could be very wrong, but it just felt like the music and the dancing were at totally different tempos that did not mesh at all, except on the final note.
Jazz: Love Sonya; her routines are almost always great and the girls really did it justice (though they seemed more 'sexy' in the intro than the actual performance).
Contemp #2: Mandy Moore makes Tyce look like the two-bit hack he is, huzzah! And a very strong quartet of dancers to boot.
Latin: Awesome end to the show. Wasn't sure how a trio would look in this style but it was actually really good.
Haven't read the news about Billy yet, but if he's really leaving, that's a bummer. I had him pegged as a definite contender for top honors.
thank goodness we got to at least see Billy do two (although I couldn't tell which was which on the first group number). This totally sucks that he's gone. bummer. He's being replaced by another hiphopper? I wish they would've replaced him with the other last guy standing.
Seriously, wtf is up with Tyce. I was so looking forward to Nathan's performance and then I saw Tyce, and I was just dreading it. and for good reasons apparently. Maybe people in the dance world likes that kind of stuff? but it sure looked all over the place. blah. I can't stand him.
The group number is a blast. Amazing.
Billy is definitely the stand out in his group and even in the top 20. Too bad he's not making it this season. Well, there's always next year.
I forgot, Nathan is also a standout. He's amazing in the group number!
Jakob shines in his genre number.
The new stage is not as camera friendly as the old one. The background seems to take away from the dancers more than it adds.Distracting visually as though the lights were trying to compete with the dancers and Also seems less intimate.
The wrong song choice can drag down or even sabotage a dance routine. I saw/heard this happen several times last season and it happened with a couple of numbers last night too, especially the tap. Haven't picked a favorite dancer yet, but was looking forward to seeing Billy perform.
I thought Nathan and Jakob showed star quality last night and look forward to seeing more of these two especially. I totally agree about the poor music choice for the tap routine. Likewise, I thought the tappers' outfits seemed cliched, distracting from the performance.
I loved, loved, loved the Wade Robson number, truly fantastic.
I agree about the tap music not meshing with the routine.
Here is something else that sruck me, they keep making such a big deal about this being the first time that there are tappers on the show. But is everyone forgetting the first person ever eliminated from the show was Sandra Lynn Colton, who auditioned as a tap dancer. Here is a quote from her blog.
"In the link above she is correct in stating that it is false that the show has never had a tapper on, as I was on Season 1 and yes I’m a tapper, along with having more dance styles in my tool kit, like hip-hop, jazz, cheerleading, tumbling and stunts.
People wanted to know, am I mad over this? Well, I’m not upset because anything that can further tap and the art form is good. Am I upset that I’ve basically been written out of the So You Think You Can Dance Tap History Vault? Not really, they haven’t made false claims of this being the first time 3 tappers made it to the Top 20, because it is the first time. In Season 1, we only had a Top 16, so they’re are correct only on a technicality. But I do believe that I had a part in this show and helping to spur it on to what it is today like all of the contestants on Season 1."