This is it! The final night of competitive dancing in So You Think You Can Dance season 9 has arrived. The remaining Top 4 dancers — Chehon Wespi-Tschopp, Cyrus “Glitch” Spencer, Eliana Girard and Tiffany Maher — must dance one last time in order to earn our votes. And two of them will be chosen as America’s favorite dancers.
Although we will not find out the actual winners tonight — that’s next Tuesday — we will get to see which SYTYCD dancers have the best shot at winning our votes. That means a whole lot of dancing.
So let’s get to it!
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Cat Deeley has very red lips tonight. They match her dress.
Oh, for the record, those of you who like to vote, tonight is the final night for that. So don’t mess up!
Tonight, we get five dances from each of the Top 4 dancers. They will be judged by Nigel Lythgoe, Mary Murphy and guest judge Rob Marshall.
First dance of the night:
Eliana Girard and Cyrus “Glitch” Spencer
Style: Paso doble
Choreographer: Jason Gilkison
This music doesn’t exactly make me think “paso doble.” But I guess the beat is right. They’ve definitely got the anger and aggression going for this one. That, along with some surprisingly fancy footwork and clean movements from both dancers — not just Eliana — make this very enjoyable to watch.
Nigel likes Cyrus being a cape, Eliana’s general brilliance and Cyrus’ ability to answer all questions with single syllables. Mary uses the phrase “skinny-dipping with snapping turtles” when talking to Cyrus and then hoots/hollers about Eliana. Rob loves how Eliana can throw away her technique. He’s excited by Cyrus.
Tiffany Maher and Will Wingfield
Style: Jazz
Choreographer: Sonya Tayeh
Will seems to be pretty much tossing Tiffany across the stage here. It’s very pretty. The dance is kind of strange — they’re barely dancing together. It’s more like two dancers doing solos that happen to coincide perfectly with each other. The chemistry is still there. So weird. So good.
Mary gets to hoot again. Rob makes the first 9/11 reference of the night (apropos of nothing) before giving Tiffany a generic compliment. Nigel refers to Tiffany as a “little person” and admits that he has “undersold” her this season.
Eliana Girard and Chehon Wespi-Tschopp
Style: Ballet
Choreographer: Marat Daukayev
Oh I love this music — anything from The Nutcracker is automatically perfect in my mind! This is ballet and therefore not as dynamic as most of the dances we see on the show. The precision and grace, on the other hand, are amazing. Still I’m not sure about the choice of having Eliana spin for about 45 seconds with nothing else happening. Probably a ballet thing.
The judges offer their first standing ovation of the night for this. Rob is shocked by the pair’s versatility in dancing along with Eliana’s extension. Nigel points out how really, really hard this dance was (subtly insulting the previous dance in the process). Mary calls the whole thing a triumph.
Tiffany Maher and Cyrus “Glitch” Spencer
Style: Lyrical hip-hop
Choreographer: Tessandra Chavez
Sitting dance! Despite the angry theme of this performance, it’s also somehow fun. Maybe it’s the quick and sharp movements of the dancers? I’m not sure. Cyrus is doing pretty good, but he is being disturbingly out-stripped by Tiffany, who kind of looks like she is about to explode with fierceness.
Nigel points out that neither of these two have ever been on the bottom and attributes this to their emotionalism. Then he calls Tiffany a rag doll. Mary thinks they killed the dance and (apparently) her ability to comprehend stuff. Rob likes their “abandon” and calls it his favorite routine of the night.
Because they don’t have enough dancing to do otherwise, all four of the finalists are dancing together in a Tyce Diorio routine. Don’t ask me what the style is. It seems to be about everything, danced to classical music (and then a techno-remix of that classical music).
That was weird.
Eliana Girard — Solo
Eliana has yet another tutu for this routine. I swear she’s worn four already tonight. The solo is ballet again, although you can tell how much looser this is than the very formal ballet from earlier.
Chehon Wespi-Tschopp and Alison Holker
Style: Contemporary
Choreographer: Stacey Tookey
Chehon gets to leap around in this performance, which is already a good thing. He also holds Alison in the air over his head with one hand. How exactly is that even possible? I’m not as big a fan of this choreography as many of the others, but I can’t deny it isn’t danced well.
The judges don’t deny it either, opting for another standing ovation. Mary screams and refers to Stacey Tookey as “Nommy-eminated” in her fluster. Rob likes their performances. Nigel likes the partnering and the emotions it brings out.
Eliana Girard and Tiffany Maher
Style: Burlesque
Choreographer: Ray Leeper
This should be good for Eliana. Since pole-dancing is what she has done professionally. The choreography could have more to it, but the dancers are doing plenty with it. And Eliana’s crazy spinning on the pole at the end is pretty incredible.
And the judges are on their feet again. Rob puts Queen Latifah into all of our imaginations. “There’s no sense on the panel right now.” — Mary Murphy. Nigel doesn’t want to say anything because he would sound dirty. Nigel is probably right.
Cyrus “Glitch” Spencer — Solo
And the robot is back! Forget all of these other dance styles, I would watch a whole season of this. It honestly doesn’t look humanly possible most of the time.
Tiffany Maher — Solo
I do have to agree with Tiffany that it sucks how the show never bothered to feature her before the Top 20 were chosen. Seems like a big oversight. As for her solo, Tiffany looks very pretty, with a lot of spinning.
Cyrus “Glitch” Spencer and Chehon Wespi-Tschopp
Style: Jazz
Choreographer: Sonya Tayeh
Chehon and Cyrus are actually a surprisingly well-matched couple when dancing. The choreography highlights athleticism and precision — something both guys are experts at. The result is one of the most strongly masculine dances I’ve ever seen. Very nice.
Nigel praises Cyrus’ improvement and Chehon’s growth as a human being. Mary continues with the motivational speaking. Rob talks about the awesomeness of the dance community.
OMG! Jennifer Beals is there! Flashdance!!!
While the Top 4 get a moment to rest, we get entertainment from a French b-boy, Jean Souk. Who has one leg. The results are impressive to say the least.
Chehon Wespi-Tschopp — Solo
When a dancer says he is going to perform the story of his journey on the show, he usually doesn’t go to the lengths of having a ticket to Vegas in his hand. Nice. This is followed by the patented Chehon leaps.
Eliana Girard and Alex Wong
Style: Contemporary
Choreographer: Travis Wall
Despite the laughter in the rehearsal, this is not a happy dance. Pretty, sure. But not happy. In between the angst of their shared moves, both Eliana and Alex try to rival Chehon’s leaps. They do a pretty good job. Honestly, this dance is so passionate that any ending not including death and/or sex seems like a bit of a letdown. But I guess they can’t do that on network television. Oh well!
Cat can’t let them walk over without loads of praise, while the judges stand for another ovation. Rob is flabbergasted and claims Eliana can do anything. Nigel calls it his favorite dance of the night and then calls Eliana his favorite dancer ever on So You Think You Can Dance! Wow. Mary is just happy to see Alex dancing. She likes the dance too.
Tiffany Maher and Chehon Wespi-Tschopp
Style: Rumba
Choreographer: Dmitry Chaplin
Chehon and Tiffany have good facial expressions when being silly. Separately anyway, these dancers definitely have the sexy going. They’re a bit too technical and separate for true rumba passion. But you can’t say they aren’t enjoying each other — affection at least shows up. And are they ever good dancers.
Mary praises Chehon’s masculinity (but not chemistry) and Tiffany’s cute Latin-dancing. Rob thinks it was sexy and connected. Nigel is happy that Tiffany was controlled and that Chehon had a shirt (even if it didn’t have buttons).
And last, but not least (probably)…
Cyrus “Glitch” Spencer and Twitch Boss
Style: Animation
Choreographer: Christopher Scott
Everyone involved in this dance was having far too much fun planning it. Far too much.
The boxes at the beginning look like airport security gates. Ooh! Broken glass! Robots are dangerous. Considering what we all know these two guys can do in this style, a little more crazy robotics would have been cool. But that’s a choreography complaint. The dancing was well done.
A final standing ovation ends the performances for tonight. Rob calls both dancers superstars. Mary shrieks her entire commentary. Nigel calls the dancers world-class (apparently quoting Christopher Scott).
Granted, he’s still not going to vote for Cyrus. Can Nigel vote? Is there any purpose to this speech, other than to make it clear that Nigel prefers Chehon? Weird.
Weirdness aside, that’s it for the final performances of the season. Did you have a favorite performance? Who do you think is going to win? Who do you think should win? Leave your comments below!
(Images courtesy of FOX)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
Laurel grew up in Mamaroneck, NY, Grosse Pointe, MI and Bellevue WA. She then went on to live in places like Boston, Tucson, Houston, Wales, Tanzania, Prince Edward Island and New York City before heading back to Seattle. Ever since early childhood, when she became addicted to The Muppet Show, Laurel has watched far too much TV. Current favorites include Chuck, Modern Family, Supernatural, Mad Men and Community. Laurel received a BA in Astrophysics (yes, that is possible) from Colgate University and a PhD in Middle Eastern Studies and History of Science from Columbia University before she realized that television is much better than studying.
