The night that we have been waiting for all summer long is finally upon us. To quote Mary Murphy, “Whooooooo!!!!!”
I don’t know about you, but I have a feeling that tonight’s two-hour show is going to be great. Last night may have been a bit of a letdown, but tonight, they are bringing back the eliminated dancers to perform all of our favorite routines from the season. That’s what I’m excited for. Oh yeah, and also, we’ll find out who wins!
Stay with me tonight as I sit here, watching and writing my thoughts. Post your own too!
Welcome to So You Think You Can Dance!
Cat Deeley, wearing a fringetastic two-piece, starts the evening off by welcoming all the eliminated dancers from the top 20 (minus Jessica King who is probably still rehabbing from her injury) back to the stage, followed by the top four: Katee Shean, Joshua Allen, Courtney Galiano, and Twitch Boss. For the last time this year, let us welcome our……joodges! Mia Michaels, Adam Shankman, Debbie Allen, and Lil C are all in attendance next to Mary Murphy and Nigel Lythgoe. Adam announces that the winner will have a featured dance role for the next movie he’s producing. It will be the first dance movie shot in 3-D and is called Step Up 3-D. Cool!
The top 20 dancers get together for one last time to dance a big group number to the song “Boom” choreographed by Shane Sparks. Aww! It’s great to see all of them performing again. I particularly missed Kherington Paine and Gev Manoukian. And Chelsie Hightower. And, well, all of them. Wow, this group routine has some really cool moves and tricks!
The judges get to pick their favorite dances from the season, and Nigel’s first pick is Katee and Josh’s Bollywood. Yay! So good! I love the arm positions in all the turns in this style, and I love the floor work that they both do. Gosh, they make it look so easy!
Mary’s favorite routine is the rumba danced by Courtney Galiano and Gev, mostly on the strength of their wonderful partnership. Woah, I’ve sort of forgotten how sexy this routine was in the intervening weeks since they first performed it.
Oh goodie! It’s time for the pop-off between Robert Muraine and Phillip Chbeeb! Phillip came down with pneumonia and couldn’t make it to the Vegas callbacks, and Robert quit after the first day of the Vegas auditions. They have never met face to face, until tonight. I’m preparing myself to be grossed out by their popping. They face off to the music of “Stronger” by Kanye West. Robert goes first, and he’s answered back by Phillip, doing a standing worm. Oh no, he di’int! Robert does his best impression of not having a skeleton, which, lemme tell you, is really good. I don’t know who’s better. I’m going to call it a draw, but the judges get the final say. Mia votes for Phillip. Adam votes for Robert. Debbie votes for Robert because of his theatricality. Nigel’s on board with Robert. Mary shrieks in favor of Robert. Lil C thinks everything was buck but has to go with Robert. So Robert wins the pop-off, 5-1.
Adam Shankman, still plugging his Step Up franchise in every breath, gets to pick his favorite routine from the season now. It is Comfort Fedoke and Twitch’s hip hop to “Forever” that they performed after Comfort got her second chance.
Lil C’s favorite routine was “Bleeding Love” by Mark Kanemura and Chelsie H, the D’Umo routine about the workaholic and his clingy wife. Boy, do I miss these two! I love Chelsie’s little tantrum at the end of the piece when Mark leaves with his briefcase in hand.
It’s Mary’s turn to pick a favorite, but she is nowhere to be found. Suddenly, she shows up on stage dancing a samba with Dmitry Chaplin from season 2! Who knew that Mary had gams like those?
Mia Michaels, sporting a platinum pompadour, picks one of my personal favorites for her encore: Katee and William Wingfield’s “Imagine” pas de deux. So incredibly beautiful! I am almost moved to tears watching this amazing performance. I only wish that I didn’t have to listen to David Archuleta while enjoying this performance. But yay! They nailed the turn that they missed during their first performance! Go Katee and Will!
Adam gets to pick another routine. He picks new choreographer Sonya Tayeh’s jazz to “The Garden,” performed by Courtney G. and Mark. Yay! I missed this routine last week, but I heard so much about it. I”m glad I get to see it. It’s wonderfully dark and weird and slightly manic. I love it.
Cat brings out the final four on stage for the first round of results. The first dancer to find out that he or she will not win is Courtney. Oh sad! Yes, admittedly, she is technically the weakest dancer among the four, but she is definitely the most improved and has the most heart. She makes a heartfelt speech about how proud she is of having made it this far and, awww, how much she appreciates her family.
The top five guys do their “Five Guys Name Moe” routine, dressed like they just jumped off the set of Guys and Dolls.
The cast of Criss Angel: Believe, from Cirque de Soleil and choreographed by Wade Robson, take the stage, all wearing gigantic bunny ears. This is the Wade Robson that we know and love: bordering on twisted and creepy, but so insanely inventive and masterful.
The remaining three finalists are brought back out. Who’s going to get cut now? The next dancer to be eliminated from the competition is Katee. Woah, shocker! I would have put money on her being in the final two or even winning. So now it’s down to Twitch versus Josh. But, oh my goodness. Cat Deeley reveals that there is a surprise. This year, there is a prize for the top guy and the top girl, so Katee will be going home with $50,000.
Debbie Allen introduces some of the youngest and oldest members of her eponymous dance academy who perform a big tap number to “Boogie Wonderland” by Earth, Wind, and Fire. Ooh! Even Nigel joins them! This old guy can move! You know, it’s gratifying that the judges on So You Think You Can Dance are all so accomplished in their own right as dancers, teachers, and choreographers. They have the authority and the knowledge that when they give critiques, you know that they actually know what they’re talking about. Hey, I just had a thought. Wouldn’t it be cool if they brought tap as a dance style next season? Adam Shankman says that if he’s on the judging panel next year, he wants to take Nigel on.
Mary Murphy’s next favorite routine is Mia Michaels’ psycho ex-girlfriend routine performed by Twitch and Katee. Cool! Golly, how many routines are they going to make Katee dance tonight?
This season’s final musical guest, the Jonas Brothers, take the stage, and I swear, the volume of screaming from the audience just rose. I know that I’m sometimes jaded and whatnot, but I don’t dislike the Jonas brothers. I know they are trying to cultivate a squeaky clean image, having crossed over from the Christian music circuit, but their music doesn’t suck.
Debbie Allen, doing her very best–and funny–Lil C impression, requests to see Twitch and Kherington’s Viennese Waltz that Jean-Marc Genereux dedicated to his physically disabled daughter. It’s just as beautiful and haunting as ever, despite Celine Dion’s chest-beating.
Nigel chooses the last encore of the season. He chooses a Tabitha and Napoleon D’Umo routine-yay! It’s Katee and Josh’s “No Air,” the really emotional one from the very first performance show in which Josh plays an enlisted man who has to go off to war. Katee is so good at representing wrenching emotion, and Josh is no slouch either. I love when she takes Josh’s jacket off and puts it on, all in one motion, at the end of the routine.
One final performance before we find out the results, some alumni from season’s past dance a big jam session to “Please Don’t Stop the Music.” Aww, I love Neil Haskell – such a cutie.
Finally, with five minutes left in the program (where did the time go?), it’s down to Joshua and Twitch. Whichever way it goes, it will be the first time that a street dancer has won. After 60 million votes, the winner of So You Think You Can Dance is Joshua Allen!!! Yay! I’m so happy for him! The air explodes with confetti and everyone cheers. It’s deafening. Josh is officially America’s Favorite Dancer and a quarter of a million dollars richer, to boot!
-Debbie Chang, BuddyTV Staff Writer
(Image courtesy of FOX)
Staff Writer, BuddyTV
