So You Think You Can Dance – Meet The Top 20 – VIDEO

lol on Paula’s chair. Yay, Wade!!! WOOT WOOT!!!

Also, love the new set!!!

I hope Wade brings it tonight. I don’t wanna say he has gotten stale but he’s not the virtuoso he was in Season 2 or Season 3!

Ugh… I wasn’t that impressed with the routine. The music sucked most of the life out of the number. Luckily Russell was in top form! <3 that guy!

The new set is purdy! Love the “Paula” chair! :)

It’s official I am in love with Russell.

The b-boys were terrific. I especially liked Kevin, who I think has gotten the least press so far. Oh well.

Wow. A Tabitha/Napolean routine that wasn’t a literal interpretation. :lol:

Love Wade! Yeah!!!! {insert clappy smiley here}

Clearly Travis should have been allowed to choreograph one of these contemporary numbers. Why does Tyce get to choreograph ugh.

Im glad the Tabitha and Napoleon routine was good too.

Clearly Travis should have been allowed to choreograph one of these contemporary numbers. Why does Tyce get to choreograph ugh.

About this tap routine…..

But Tyce’s choreo for the first four contemp kids was… Not so good. Nathan is my fave so far, and I thought both the choreography and camera work kinda sucked. It was hard to see what anybody in particular was doing or get a sense of the overall dance. It just came out sloppy and random to my eyes.

I love the tap routine (Phillip is a BEAST) but I’m afraid it won’t look like much to anybody but me. Oh well… I loved it. I guess I should just be happy with that.

About this tap routine’ ¦..

Zzzzzz….. That was boring. Maybe I’ve been too spoiled watching Everett on SYTYCD Canada. He was f’ing HOT!

I like Tyce doing contemporary better than Broadway. The guys, Nathan and Jacob, were great – there were girls dancing with them? :lol:

Is it me or is Wade kind of losing his touch? There wasn’t a lot of WOW in that opening group number…..

And the music kind of overwhelmed the number.

Sonya is so hit and miss…. I hope this is a HIT routine.

Pauline was not giving me any leg in that routine. The other girls had much better extension.

Sonya is so hit and miss’ ¦. I hope this is a HIT routine.

A miss for me….

Laurie Ann should have done this Jazz routine……

Ugh Mandy Moore. She was so underwhelming during season 5. Let’s hope she brings it. Anything is better than double Tyce though.

Where is TRAVIS?

Yeah a Jason G routine next!!!

ETA: Floved it!

The jazz really left me cold. I liked the second contemp piece better than the first, but Billy really stood out, so that’s a shame. And I liked the Latin threesome, too. Weird they didn’t even tell us that Billy was out in the last individual little bits. I mean, c’mon. That would’ve been easy to sub in a cameo for New Guy instead of Billy.

I didn’t really care for the latin balroom. I really miss Pasha and Anya :-(

Overall I was a bit underwhelmed with the show. I think the concept was well intentioned but a lot of the choreography wasn’t up to par, IMHO. Hopefully it will be better tomorrow night.

did i miss how they were eliminating 2 tomorrow night after the dancing? just leaving it up to the judges?

Just got this from Slezak’s update at EW,,, and I am profoundly saddened:

Seconds before publishing this blog item, I received an extremely upsetting email from Fox’s publicity department which read as follows: ‘Top 20 dancer Billy Bell has left So You Think You Can Dance due to illness and will be replaced by Brandon Dumlao, 21, a Hip Hop dancer from Concord, CA. Dumlao will join the Top 20 this week as they compete on the first two-hour performance show Tuesday, Oct. 27 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX.’  A moment of silence for the end of Mr. Bell’s hotly anticipated season six run, and best wishes for him to make a swift recovery ‘” and the season 7 top 20.

-The opening number was meh (disappointed that we missed the opportunity for a kick-ass wade routine).
-The hip hop, Ballroom and both comtemporary numbers were stand out and the dancers really out performed the others IMO. Particularly Elanor, Billy : ( , Russell, Nathan, Jakob, and the girl in the ballroom dance who isn’t married to ryan.
- Fell really bad for the tap dancers. Sorry to say but I laughed (not in a good way) through their entire routine. I’m sure to a seasoned tap dancer they were exceptional, to me it was just boring. Jazz…Meh. from the beginning package I was expecting something better. These girls came off more as Kittens than Cats (though I love Elanor).
But I expect to enjoy this season dispite it all! : )

Even though it was NappyTabs the hip hop was awesome, I am going to love these guys. I didn’t like the “london bridge” bit in the middle that was kind of lame and girly but not the guys fault, all 3 of them blew me away.

With the exception of Billy, Arianna, Jakob and Nathan were the best of the contempories. It really, really sucks that Billy has gone I hope he comes back next season.

I didn’t like the Tap at all, I think I was expecting something special and I didn’t see it. I really wanted to like it but meh, it was boring. As was the weak Mandy Moore routine, she used to be one of my favorite choreographers but i’ve found her routines so lack luster just lately.
I didn’t care for Sonya’s either and I hope Mollee goes home fast, I don’t get the fuss over her.

The latin was great, I really like Karen I hope she outlasts Ashleigh. How many times does she need to flash that ring, ok we get it, you’re his wife.

I can already tell that I’m not going to like hubby/wife latin dancers. A certain amount of humility goes a long way. “He’s mine!” Well you can have him.

My fave routine was the second contemp routine and I really liked Sonya’s Jazz routine although it really was a subpar routine from her. The hip hop routine had greatness written all over it but the dancers just weren’t that strong imho. Their timing was totally off. Bummer.

Thus far not alot of personality which I hope will change when we meet individual dancers. No one had Evan’s charm, Brandon’s grace, Jeanine’s raw joy, or Janette’s quiet confidence for instance, which would make them stand out in a group routine. It gave me a new found respect for Kayla who could stand out in a group…

Loved the Paula chair and I totally want her to take it! Really I think she is far more qualified to judge dance than judge singing anyway…I think she would provide a nice balance to Mary who, while enthusiastic, can be pretty harsh.

I loved:
Hip hop (yeah, NappyTab)–all three of them are great, but I am a huge Legacy fan.
First contemporary (Tyce, do contemp, not jazz, por favor)

Wade’s piece was not my favorite. I think Peter is a great tapper; the other two, not so much. Latin was okay, but no one will ever top (EVER) Anya and Pasha, so it’s tough for me to judge. I liked but did not love Mandy’s contemp routine. I usually adore Sonya’s routines, but this one didn’t really work so well for me. (Maybe it wasn’t down and dirty enough and the tutus were distracting, but not their fault, as we always say.) and tap…meh, except digging Peter.

I am in love with Legacy and Kevin and Jakob and also a big fan of Nathan. Oh, and Adam Shankman rocks my little world. Thanks for taking the time to actually EXPLAIN dance. And he is so enthusiastic. (I remember how much he loved Mark/Chelsie and Mark/Courtney: Sonya, that was SIIIICCK, so I will always have a soft place in my heart for Adam.)

Yeah, they are eliminating TWO tomorrow, due to the World Series. BOOO.

Yeah, they are eliminating TWO tomorrow, due to the World Series. BOOO.

They always eliminate 2 dancers. Do they mean two sets, so 4 total? And will the judges just be doing it themselves since you can’t vote in time?

I love Billy. That kid was amazing.

The thing about it tomorrow is the judges decide who they wanna kick off and not America.

Very much like dance school.

NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! not Billy Bell!!!! he was amazing! and he really stood out even tonight…darn…my favs were Paula van hoppen and him. both had left even the show has begun…not to mention Mia MIchaels is not there any more, and not to mention the fact that i loved the routine between the third choreographers as judges….
sad…
i did enjoy tonight’s sow though. the tootoo skirts kinda hurt the sexy dance but other than stupid thing the show was good.

oh, and am i the only one who can’t stand ryan? he is no not real– always looking to the camera and pretending to be something rather than be it.

Thus far not alot of personality which I hope will change when we meet individual dancers. No one had Evan’s charm, Brandon’s grace, Jeanine’s raw joy, or Janette’s quiet confidence for instance, which would make them stand out in a group routine. It gave me a new found respect for Kayla who could stand out in a group

There was only one dance so far. Can’t get much personality out of the dancers from that except for Russell and Eleanor who obviously stood out the most in their dances tonight as well as in their audition.

Mollee pls go tomorrow. Adam was lying when he said you were dancing like a woman on stage.

Karen outperformed Ashleigh, though I did like the routine and see Ryan in the TOP 10. He’s a terrific dancer. I see his wife going home before the voting begins.

I appreciate the talent in Tap dancing, but this routine was just OK. After watching Season 1 yesterday, I KNOW that Sandra Colton was the first Tap dancer to enter the TOP 16 in Season One. Now Cat is lying to us. Of course, she wasn’t there to see Sandta do her solo which was a Hip Hop TAP dance. If Sandra is watching this season, she has got to be angry. I know I would be.

Bianca is not as talented as Sandra. It is possible one of the tappers will go before TOP 16.

There is something about Legacy that is so appealing. So, Brandon is also a Hip Hop dancer. I will miss Billy not being there.

She was in the Top 16, not the Top 20. I may have missed something, but I’m pretty sure they’ve specified “Top 20″ each time they mention the “never been a tapper in the Top 20 before” thing. Misleading, but not flat out lying.

I loved Wade’s routine (the man is a genius).

I thought tonight showed tons of talent! Though I must admit, I am still waiting to be blown away like I was in Season 5. I am sure it will happen though. It has barely started, but already I can see lots of standouts. It’s a real shame about Billy as he was a huge standout for me. And I know that this not a popular opinion, but I actually thought Mollee was the best in the jazz routine…I was shocked. I think she’s got a lot of predetermined hatred that she will have a hard time digging her way out of…kind of like a certain fellow from AI, Season 8. I also loved Noelle in the Viva La Vida routine. She’s beautiful to watch! Catherine (or however you spell her name) didn’t impress me that much though. It’s tough to tell from just tonight, but it will be a good season, for sure!

Thus far not alot of personality which I hope will change when we meet individual dancers. No one had Evan’s charm, Brandon’s grace, Jeanine’s raw joy, or Janette’s quiet confidence for instance, which would make them stand out in a group routine. It gave me a new found respect for Kayla who could stand out in a group

There was only one dance so far. Can’t get much personality out of the dancers from that except for Russell and Eleanor who obviously stood out the most in their dances tonight as well as in their audition.

Mollee pls go tomorrow. Adam was lying when he said you were dancing like a woman on stage.

I don’t disagree. I was just saying that no one really piqued my interest and then two of them go tomorrow. No great loss as I can’t say that the others deserved to go…

I see what you mean Calas, but Bianca acted like she was the first to accomplish this feat. Probably, many don’t even remember Season 1 or never saw it in the first place.

The two dancers that impressed me are gone. I am willing to give this a chance, but something isn’t right. It will be good to see Paula judge. I want her to do a good job.

She was in the Top 16, not the Top 20.

Well if you make Top 16 then you would also have to have been Top 20, correct? Semantics. But irritating none-the-less.

Tapping can be so much fun to watch. I think people would enjoy Everett Smith from the Canadian show. He ended up 4th this season. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8gG2GvEQKs

Hopefully our tappers will be given more engaging material in the future. I think the choreo let them down.

That hip hop routine was sick. It was definitely my favorite routine tongiht. Sooooo entertaining!! I hope the hip hop routines are more like that this year instead of that lyrical crap we had to put up with last year.

To be honest, I was sad that the chair said Paula when he spun it around. I was hoping it would say Mia.

Crushing on the opening piece. So hard. It was Wade! with a touch of Fosse! set at an old speakeasy. (See, Tyce, that is how you take inspiration from the genius of Fosse and make it your own thang.) Jakob and Nathan killed it, too. Especially Jakob…he was a beast in that piece and really stood out for me. I wasn’t expecting that from him.

I enjoyed Nappy Tab’s hip hop. The three guys had great chemistry and worked it hard which made me overlook a few timing issues.

Tyce’s choreo was pretty much contemporary paint by numbers. But those two boys danced the shit outta it, and Channing surprised me. I miss Mia already. :( Tyce is kinda like the Salieri to Mia’s Mozart. Sigh. Mandy’s contemporary was choreographed more innovatively, but not danced with the same passion. Except for Billy, who is amazing.

Sonya’s jazz was another fave, but I kinda hated the costumes.

The camera people/editors really did a disservice to the tappers. Show. their. feet! The. whole. TIME! That routine was fairly difficult and I was exhausted watching it, but when the camera zoomed in on their upper bodies it totally broke the flow and you missed a whole section of footwork. Arrrrg. Not getting why the producers went for either dude over Ryan K, though, who seems to have a lot more charisma. Maybe a height thing.

Didn’t love the latin. I don’t know that the samba fit the vibe of the love triangle…maybe a group tango would have worked better?

I’m giving the first night to Jakob Karr and Billy Bell (get well soon.) And Wade. :D

‘Loved the Paula chair and I totally want her to take it!”

Me too! I love Paula and she is definitely qualified to comment on dance, although I feel as though she’s qualified to comment on vocals too – much more so than Ellen.

“the tootoo skirts kinda hurt the sexy dance but other than stupid thing the show was good.”

Agreed – there was nothing sexy about those tutus – very distracting to the number which made it difficult to watch. The rest of the fabric on their outfits was ugly too.

“I thought both the choreography and camera work kinda sucked.”

I feel as though the camera work has always been horrible on this show. Inevitably, just as I’m starting to enjoy the close-up dancing and feel a dance, the cameras pull back to almost top tier level. The camera work is choppy, cuts off key moments of dances and has always been the least favorite part of this show for me.

I also agree with those who have said there were talented dancers in Season 5 WITH personalities. I met the S5 dancers after the tour in my area and they are all very funny and personable. I think it’s the editing that left the personalities out of the show.

I don’t like the new stage. It seemed to swallow the dancers. The camera work was horrible, also. (or maybe it was because the stage was so big)

I like this season much better than season 5, I really didn ´t care for that one, but now there are a lot of amazing dancers with great personalities, specially the men, loved the first contemporary more than the second, but Billy stood out in that one, too sad the ha had to leave, loved the hip-hop routine, three very charismatic dancers there, I think the jazz routine would ´ve worked out better with other costumes, the tu-tu ´s didn ´t let appreciate all the moves, I think Mollee stood out there and I the latin routine was really good, Ryan is a really good dancer, my favorites are Russell, Nathan, Jakob, Ryan, Victor and Peter, I don ´t a favorite girl still, have to look again the videos to decide.

Oh and I don ´t like Wade Robson at all, I think I just liked one choreography he did back in season 4 but that ´s it. Just not my style.

I loved the first two numbers and after that it felt to me as if a lot of the energy and fun left the show. Russell is my man. I don’t know if he’s the best, but he sure is my favorite. So far, he’s my Josh for this season. I hope he can bring it in the other styles.

I really can’t see trying to pick a fave so early in the season. I think if you’re already predisposed to a certain type of dance it’s easier to pick a fave of those who dance that style. I think Phillip Chbeeb is a great example of this. He was great in his style but overal was rather blah. I think the crumper is going to suffer mightily this season, more so than the tappers who had alot of cold water splashed on them already. In straight up hip hop he was the weakest link by far. But hip hop is his secondary style not his first so he’s going to take heat for that.

On another note does anyone else think that Bianca is not long for the show? A little attitude and she beat out Evan’s brother for that tap spot. I don’t think tap fans are going to vote for her, no matter how talented she is.

ew, can we get rid of the tappers first please?

I am not a fan of Tyce’s piece. And it’s annoying to see him always talking in an exaggerated way. It seems that his choregraphy always gets high pimp from other judges, especially Nigel. See how many Tyce’s pieces Nigel selected for his TOP15. But none of them is really impressive for me.

MJ, thanks for posting links to all the vids in one place! I still can’t believe I missed this on TV last night! Curses to FOX and their schedule-fiddling!!! The opening Robson group number was really good as a staged performance, but as far as judging or comparing individual dancers, there was way too much going on. The best routine for me was the Napolean and Tabitha one with the 3 hip-hoppers! That Legacy dude has always bugged me, but I like Kevin and LOVE Russell the Crumper!!! That guy is amazing at what he can do, not only in his own style, but how he’s fared so far in the others is impressive. I was a little bored by the tap routine as I felt like it didn’t stretch them as dancers at all, like the other numbers did. Oh, well, none of it means anything until the competition starts with all of the dancers out of their elements, anyway.

Elspeth, I am not impressed with Bianca and her attitude; however, she is from Detroit, so she may get some sympathy votes. This area in Michigan needs something to cheer about.

Yes, it is too hard to decide on personalities right now, but Simon was wrong about the lack of personality from the dancers. As someone said earlier, editing can change things. Right from the beginning, Jeanine was so sweet and very silly, too. Loved her and others.

The trios were a brilliant idea! The ones I wanted to watch again, and still loved when I did, were the hiphop, 1st contemporary (I liked the performers in the 2nd contemporary piece but i dont think the choreography allowed them to shine as much as in Tyce’s) and the Latin Ballroom number. Not that I am biased to a specific kind of dance, but I loved these because of the way the 3 performers in them worked together as an ensemble. In each one there is a chemistry that fuses them synergistically that is just beautiful. This is something that is hard to achieve in the big group numbers, because there are just too many people (though it sometimes happens, like Ramalama, for instance imo).

Thanks MJ, I’m happy that they showcase the dancers in their own genre, but they need better choreo’s. Wades piece was great. The talent of the hip hoppers were wasted. Shane, David Scott, Lil’ C where are you!!! Nappytabs do well with non hip hop dancers but with all that talent…did they showcase their strengths??? They should have let them have a dance off. The tap routine??? Has Nigel ever seen the Rapsody in tap routines, or the group from Stomp. Heck get Paula Abdul to choreo tap, she’d at least be more current. Like you said Nigel, this is the only time for the audience to see tap…ZZZZ…Every dancer takes some tap, and this was so old school and boring. The stuff in the studios now is so hip.Now for the Jazz. I think the routine was good, I think the costume was distracting and I think Molly made the three look out of sync. Tyce’s routine as much as I think he’s given too many numbers in this show was good, the dancers made it great. Jacob and Nathan are ones to watch. I think Nathan is a dark horse. Mandy’s routine was technically difficult but it came across the TV as tentative. Was it the camera work. To me the dancers were technical, but thats about it. I think they have an incredible amount of talent this year, and for the first time the contestants made the choreographers look bad. Oh I forgot the ballroom folks. I can’t understand why they hype Ashley so much??? Love Tim Gulikson as a choreographer.My favorites: Russel, Jacob, Nathan, Paula, the latin ballroom girls, and I really think Bianca has alot of potential. We’ll see tonight.

Hip Hop trio killed it all night, although Kevin seemed to be the weakest link. however, together as a group, they were fantastic.

Tap trio were boring, sorry but Bianca’s slouching bothers the F out of me. And Peter is a bit creepy. Im putting my money he will be the first one to go and he might get something hard like krump tonite.

Comp dancers: i was impressed by all. Nathan however didnt seem to be in control of his body. He was a shaky, especially on his pirouettes. Jakob in comparsion owned that routine. Every move, he was on point. Depsite not having enough screen time, Aryana and Kathryn both were standouts. Too bad regarding billy, but i do hope to see him next summer.

Ballroom: oh, man. Ashleigh should enjoy tonite’s show. it might be her last. UNLESS producers want to milk her storyline for a cpl of more shows. She just doenst have rhythm. her upper body/shoulders tend to be uncoordinated to the rest of her body . in latin dances you have to know how to work your hips without the rest of the body moving…almost as if the bottom half of your body wasnt connected to the top. i was almost embarassed for her. can you imagine sticking her in a group of brazilian samba dancers???

Jazz: still cant stand Mollee..She’s annoying and there is nothing about her technique that stands out. Pauline was actually good…Ellenore let me down a bit, she didnt seem to hit her moves as hard. Although the number itself was a big mess IMO.

I don’t like the new stage. It seemed to swallow the dancers. The camera work was horrible, also. (or maybe it was because the stage was so big)

agree. its the same issue i had last season during the finale. the stage was too big, camera angle too wide, that i didnt feel connected to the peformances. even the travis piece felt cold on that stage.

Am I the only one who saw the murderous looks between Ashleigh and the other female ballroom dancer during their teaser bit before the commercial break? They were (kinda) playing around trying to remove each other’s hand from the studly dancer’s chest when the dark haired dancer took it a bit far and gave Ashleigh a good push. Then they both got dead serious and the claws came out. Whew, if looks could kill! I watched a few times in slo-mo and am convinced they were NOT playing around at the very end there. Ashleigh better figure out how to let her man get groped by another woman for a while.