So You Think You Can Dance - Vegas! 6/5/08

The hopefuls take the stage, and judges are Napoleon & Tabitha, Mia Michaels, Debbie Allen, and of course Mary and Nigel.

The first routine is a hip hop routine by Napoleon & Tabitha. They have only one hour to learn their routine, and Robert Murane, street popper extraordinaire is having huge troubles with the choreography. Robert is thinking of quitting before they even get to the dancing, because he isn't comfortable with it. Nigel tries to talk him into staying, and asks him to do his solo to see if the judges will all fight for him to stay. He obliges and is amazing as ever. He did a flying leap into a lotus position, and some weird and wonderful double jointed moves. Debbie Allen (who is cool enough to wear her sunglasses inside) asks him what he is scared of, and Mia tells him not to poop on his gift, basically. All in vain, because he doesn't want to stay. He's back to the street. And for him, that's a good thing. I am sad to see him go.

The first group includes Courtney Galliano and Rebecca Hart. I also saw Susie Garcia last night, and she is through, along with Courtney. Rebecca is gone. Ricky Sun and Strip Club DJ Ryann Race are also gone.

At this point, they do the whole thing so quickly it's hard to catch people. I think I saw he Gene Kelly guy and the Salsa dancer from last night through.

Claire Calloway gets her chance in Vegas. She messed up right off the bat, and the judges call her a hot mess. She is not through this year. I hope that she tries again because I really like her. Practice more, Claire dear.

By the end of Day one, they are down to 129 from over 200.

Day 2, and it's time to dress sexy and sassy, for choreography by Tyce D'Orio. I'm sure I've spelled that dreadfully, but it's Broadway time! Some people have a hard time seeing when learning. Hope that they do well.

Erika Gee is in the first group, and she is partnered with Brittney Parks because there are not enough boys to go around! I thought they were both fantastic, but the judges didn't like Erika. Brittney is through. Erika is shocked and stunned. The second group included a lot of my faves, like Gene Kelly guy, Susie Garcia, etc. Everyone in the second round is through.

The Hart twins are up next (Anthony and Antwaine). Anthony is through, but no one else is. Anthony is sad about being separated from his brother, but he is still going through.

The cuts continue, and I think that Phil from last night is one of them. One girl got really bitter and blamed it on not being blonde. I knew a girl in high school like that, in theatre. (I am blonde, she is a brunette - We got the equivalent part and she went on a diatribe about how she should just dye her hair and maybe then she would get a good part. Um, how about you do better in the audition? Same applies here. I am glad that whiney didn't get through.)

At the end of the round, it's down to 94.

Round 3 - Jean-Marc's Fox Trot is up next. The Joshua Allen is one who had troubles getting through. His partner's name is Comfort, and in her original audition, Nigel called her the best female hip hop dancer he's seen. Joshua and Comfort get props for being so good out of their genres and they are through. Joshua broke down in tears, and Comfort followed suit.

Pageant Girl Paige Jones is up and is it wrong that I hope she crashes and burns? She annoys the crap out of me. She is paired with Will Adams, a hip hop dancer. Will is coming back to "Dance for his life," and Paige is going to dance with someone else later.

Aliona and Chelsea are at home in the fox trot and are through. Best friends Michelle and Courtney Pierson are through. William Wingfield is also through, as is Twitch, which is awesome.

With a different partner, Paige and her stupid baby doll dress are cut. I can't help it, I squealed a little. Paige is sure Jesus Christ has a plan for her. She throws a little snit about the ugly ugly ballroom hair, and tosses out the bobby pins. She's like a toddler throwing a tantrum.

Jerimiah Hughes danced for his life, and he is through. Will Adams gives it a try, and his weird half torn shirt is really distracting to me, and he is not good enough and is cut.

There's a surprise before the end of the day! They are going to be split into groups, and each group gets a random cd, and by the next day, they have to have a piece choreographed for the group to perform. Wow. By the morning, very few people have had much sleep, and it's time to perform.

The first group includes Twitch, Jason Glover, and Bianca Revels. They have to dance to Every Step I Take. They didn't get to bed until 4:30 AM, and were not feeling great, but right before taking the stage they got much happier about it. Right in the beginning, Bianca disappeared from the stage, only to return later with the music cut out, with the others dancing in slow motion and then joining her with a bit of tap in the end. The judges hated it, with the only good bit being the "selfish" tap by Bianca and everyone joining in for a final tap at the end. Yipes.

Each judge tells the dancers they don't like to take a step back. Two steps back means Dancing for their Life, and 3 steps means elimination.

In this first group, only one person (Jason) needs to Dance for his life, and though they had some terrible choreography, the others were all good enough dancers to make it through this round.

Two other groups are shown with terrible comments, but no results shown.

The fourth group is called "Angels & Demons." There were some major battles during the night between Derrick and Jessica King. They are also dancing to Every Step You Take. There were a couple cool tricks, and I thought that Comfort did really well. They are all safe.

Some other unnamed people did pretty well, and it is time for Jason Glover to Dance for his Life. It's a close vote, and he skates by by the skin of his teeth.

Only 4 people were cut in the group rounds, including Courtney Pierson.

The next round is Mia Michaels (also known as Super Challenge). They are all running on almost no sleep. One of the most amusing things to listen to was Mia's vocalizations about the movements she wants them to make. "And zchwaa, boom boom bah, and greadgljgahhh."

Liz Plott (tap dancer from Baltimore) is having a really hard time with it. She says her legs aren't working right, but "If I'm going out, I'm going out laying on stage." During her group audition, Mia says "The Ballroom Guy is a Hot Disaster," but Liz gets good marks, but she is told that it is visible how stressed she is. She then began to talk back to the judges, about how her legs wanted to give out on her, but her mind fought back. Mary tells her that it is not going to get any easier, and Debbie told her she needed to stop talking. Liz earns a step back from Mia for talking too much, and is cut because her attitude earned her no friends. Hope to see her back next year.

Jerimiah Hughes is in the next group, and he lost it completely. He left the freaking stage. He's a contemporary dancer, and he couldn't do contemporary. He threw a temper tantrum and he is cut. Everyone else in the group was good. At least he was humble when he left, saying that he knows he is not ready.

22 dancers, including Jason who was saved earlier, were cut in this round.

47 dancers are left, with 9 dancing for their lives, including Sheila Kaiser, Dominic Pierson, and Twitch.

Dominic Pierson is up first, and Nigel called it "a bit desperate," and then he hurt himself and it was all over. It looked like his knee was locked. Debbie Allen took a moment to console him. He pulled a muscle, and went to the hospital.

Sheila and Twitch were very cool. Mark was awesome and did a routine to Bohemian Rhapsody, and is safe. Twitch is safe, but Sheila was cut. I really liked her, so I'm sad about that.

The last round is everyone doing solos, and Nigel is careful to say that their solos will "have a lot of bearing" on their fate. Because I'm sure the producers also have a role in that.

They show snippets of the solos, but not enough for me to get any idea who did really well and who didn't shine.

It's the final decision about who will be in the Top 20. Cat shows off the dramatic corridor each contestant will walk down on their way to find out their place in the show - monitors showing their first audition through their last auditions are shown.

Kelly Baker is up first, and I really loved her. She is the High School Musical girl. Nigel called her a fabulous dancer, but she needs more personality when she is not dancing. She is not going to be in the top 20 this year, but they pretty much beg her to come back next year.

Courtney Galliano is up next, and they love her as a dancer and think that she is beautiful. She is through.

Chelsea Hightower, latin dancer, and Susie Garcia are through also. So is Chelsea Trail, and Kortni Lind.

Anthony Hart is next to find out his fate, and it is a no for this season. The Gene Kelly guy got cut (*sob* I really liked him), and so did Bianca and the salsa dancer from last night.

Joshua Allen is in the Top 20, and he is thrilled. He started crying again.

Twitch was cut at this point last year, and he is not cut this year. I am glad, because I really like him.

Kherrington Payne is up next, and she is in the Top 20 (considering how many people have googled her to get onto my blog, I think she is going to do well.)

Raven Armio is through, along with Matt Dorme, Thayne Jasperson, Marquis Cunningham, and Marc Conamora, Comfort, and Jamie Bayard. (Some of those people I don't think I've seen yet, and I am sure I've murdered many names.) Chris contemporary dancer is through also, and he shouted it to the rooftops. And the fire extinguisher.

(The guy who danced for his mom - forget his name - he made it through). Derrick who argued with Jessica King earlier got cut. Jessica King is through to the Top 20, so THERE, Derrick. William Wingfield, contemporary dancer, is also in the Top 20. Because he was a protoge of Debbie Allen's before, she can't be a judge so long as he is on the show. That's stand-up of the show.

The last two guys are Brandon Bryant and Gev (let's skip his last name). I guess I'll have to learn Gev's last name, because he is through to the Top 20. Brandon vows to return.

The final two girls are Katee and Natalie, best friends and roommates. Now, that's just cruel. Based soley on last night, I want it to be Natalie. Katee says that she wouldn't come back if she gets cut, but Natalie says that she is sure she would. Katee got cut last year, and feels burned by that and doesn't feel like she would have it in her to do it again. The judges ask them to leave the stage so they can re-vote with that knowledge. They worry that Katee is not going to work hard enough. Looks like it is a split decision. The original vote was in favor of Katee. Mia said that she felt against Katee now, but since it was a split decision, the original vote stands, and Katee is through. Natalie vows to come back next year, and I hope she does, because I really enjoyed her. She missed her college graduation to be in Vegas, which is kind of amazing. I hope to see her again, and I hope that Katee steps up her game.

You could win tickets to the finale for your own Snuggle Happy Dance. I don't intend on trying. Do any of you?

The Top 20 are:
Gev
Kourtni
Joshua
Rayven
Matt
Courtney
William
Katee
Twitch
Kherrington
Jamie
Chelsie Hightower
Chris
Jessica
Mark
Susie
Marquis
Chelsea Trail
Thayne
Comfort

And I cannot wait until next week!! Wonder who the partners will be?