So You Think You Can Dance hits Las Vegas tonight. The Vegas rounds are where all the dancers who made it past the initial auditions try and prove that they deserve to be in the top 20. What follows are my live thoughts as I watch tonight’s episode.
And here we are in Las Vegas. 190 dancers have made it to this round. By tomorrow, we’ll be down to a top 20.
The dancers are going to learn a bunch of different dances in a very short period of time. People will cry, if you’re into that sort of thing.
Joining Nigel Lythgoe and Mary Murphy for Vegas week is Shane Sparks and Ice Queen Mia Michaels.
First order of business: learning a Shane Sparks hip/hop routine. After learning the routine, dancers split into groups of ten to dance in front of the judges.
Olivia, whose mom has cancer, is featured. She is nervous.
The dance teacher/student combo is in the first group of ten performance. Both student and teacher are sent home. They send a lot of people home right away.
Myles, the quarterback, is immediately sent home.
Micahel and Evita, the two Lindy Hoppers, hit the stage. They actually seemed pretty good. Michael gets two votes (they need three to move on, two lets you “dance for your life” at the end of the round. Evita gets two as well.
Olivia gets three votes and moves on.
Michael and Evita go out to dance for their lives. They do the Lindy Hop. It’s, obviously, really good. The judges love it, and send them through.
62 dancers get eliminated thanks to Shane Sparks hip/hop dance.
It’s Mary Murphy’s turn. She teaches everyone a samba. Everyone gets to know a new partner.
Performance time. Janet, with the fake arm, is up first. She moves on through. I didn’t notice, like the judges, that her arm was fake. Crazy.
After only a day, almost half the dancers had been sent packing.
Day 2 begins. The dancers eat and stretch, then head to the theater.
It’s Mia Michaels time to teach. She choreographs really difficult stuff. And, she talks shit, which is fun.
Michael, the Lindy Hopper, is gone. Evita gets two votes, and will have to dance for her life again.
Hok, and Big Jamaal will be also dancing for their lives.
Ricky, who we haven’t seen before, is a huge judge favorite. He’s moving on.
Emotions are running high.
“Twitch” begins the dancing for your life portion of day two. He’s doing some freestyle to James Brown. Awesome, funny, really athletic. He’s moving on.
Hok is damn good at what he does and he’ll move on. D’Trix gets enough votes as well.
Big Jamaal does his thing, but it’s not good enough anymore. He’s done.
Evita gets to bring Michael on for a dance partner, but she gets voted down.
Day three begins. All dancers choreographed group routines over the night. The first group has the Russian, Faina, in it. She is confused by the contemporary choreography. They work throughout the night, with no sleep. Faina makes it through.
Hannah Lee, the girl who fell through the floor on the dance floor, has a sprained ankle. Olivia is also in the group. They’re doing a hip-hop dance. Hey, surprise, the group isn’t getting along. Everyone bashes heads.
Olivia pulls a freak out late at night.
The group performs, and it was actually a really cool routine. Hannah gets two votes, but the rest of the group moves on to the final round before the top 20.
Hok moves on. As does Twitch.
Final group of the day features Jessi Peralta, the oil girl from LA. In her routine, the other 4 dancers start, and eventually she emerges from a suitcase. A small suitcase. That was weird. All 5 from the group dance for their lives.
It’s the final dance for your life routines. Hannah Lee can’t figure out what to do with her bad ankle.
Jessi Peralta does some weird disjointed contemporary dance, that’s actually pretty cool. The judges love her and she’s moving on.
Hannah Lee does a crazy, super-emotional dance that accentuates the bad ankle. The judges are split, so she’s going home.
50 dancers are left, and tomorrow, we’ll see them perform one solo each, and then the judges will decide who is put through to the top 20.
-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image Courtesy of FOX.com)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
