Cat welcomes everyone into the theatre in Vegas using a megaphone, and she's almost trampled as they all rush in to take their seats in front of the judges table. Joining Mary and Nigel are Tabitha and Napoleon, Mia Michaels, and Debbie Allen (wearing giant sunglasses inside, god bless her). Nigel tells them he's looking for stars. "If you're not a star, get off the stage!" No one leaves. Not immediately, anyone. The dancers are getting one hour to learn a dance routine from Tabitha and Napoleon, and it doesn't take very long for Robert Muraine to be miserable. This was the popper from Santa Monica whom Nigel called his favorite dancer of the year so far on the first episode, and he says he's never done choreography. This is something I'm sure is true of many of the other dancers as well, but we're focusing on Robert, and his carping. He tells other dancers that he doesn't want to screw up a partner, which is a copout, given the judges are able to tell when it's your partner who sucks and not you.
Wind of Robert's misgivings have reached Nigel, who calls him up on stage to explain himself. Robert offers the "don't want to bring down a partner" excuse, but Nigel can't believe he's come this far but already wants to throw in the towel. He asks Robert to dance his solo for Debbie and Napolitha, who haven't seen it yet. I missed Robert's audition episode, and if this is the same routine, I'm sorry I didn't see it the first time. It's so good, even though Robert kinda looks like he doesn't care. He jumps, does a 360 and lands and the floor cross-legged, for god's sake. He twists his arms and legs and torso and folds in on himself. I expected to see him wink out of the third dimension altogether. He's fantastic. He gets a standing ovation. Debbie Allen calls him amazing, and wants to know what he's afraid of. Mia tells him not to quit, and also not to shit on the gift he's been given. Nigel asks him point-blank if he's going to stay or go. "I'm gonna go," says Robert, and he's gone.
So let's get to who stays. Courtney Galiano and Rebecca Hart, contemporary both. They're in the first line of dancers performing. Courtney? Staying. Rebecca? Gone. The judges mean bidness, Cat tells us. The strip club deejay is gone, but that might have been for skeevy quarantine reasons. One dancers seems terrified that they're cutting more than half. They're cutting down to 20, babe. That's a lot more than half. Turns out her math is off anyway, since by 3 PM 150 dancers had performed, with 62 getting cut. And by 4 PM, it was time for the successful dancers to relax poolside
And then there's Claire Calloway, who got injured in Season 2 and in the family way by Season 3, and has thus far underwhelmed this year. The pressure is mounting, and she folds like a cheep deck chair. She could barely keep up, and gets cut. She tearfully says that even though she only got to do one choreography round, she's grateful for the opportunity. She's one of 203 dancers who performed, but not one of the 129 who made it through Day 1.
Those left have no idea what to expect the morning, but they were told to wear "sexy and sassy." I assume, failing that, "skanky and slutty" is also acceptable. Legally Blonde dancer Paige figures the front of her black dress isn't low-cut enough, so she wears it boob-enhancingly backward.
Tyce Diorio is doing a Broadway routine for the dancers today. Erica gets a little mini-feature before being partnered with another girl, Britney Parks, since there aren't enough boys left for the routine. This is why fathers should be encouraging their sons to dance. Nigel tells Britney she did the boy part better than some of the men. And then he lowers the boom on Erica by telling her no one was "feeling" her. She's clearly not expecting that, but thanks them anyway for the opportunity. Outside, her emotions catch up with her and she talks about all the money she's spent, and how hard it's going to be to tell everyone she didn't make it.
Mia puts through -- man, I can't remember the names of these people. Except Susie Garcia. Does that make me Nigel? A bunch move on, and everyone yells and laughs, and the judges may be drunk.
The dancing twins -- aw, I have to look up how to spell their names. There we go: Anthony and Antwain Hart. Antwain is worried the judges are going to split them up. You'd think they were Chang and Eng, for crying out loud. After their routine, that's just what happens; of the bunch on the stage, Anthony is asked to step forward, and he's the only one of the group moving on. He seems to take it harder than his brother that Antwain is done, and they hug a lot before separating. The cuts continue, including one woman who has no idea why she got cut. So her theory is that she's not as pretty as "all these little blondies running around" and snaps that she's not going to get plastic surgery for So You Think You Can Dance. How about a personality implant? Not for the show, but just for your general well-being?
We're down to ninety-four dancers, and Jean-Marc Genereux and his wife France are choreographing a foxtrot for them. Hip-hopper Joshua Allen is getting frustrated -- he's partnered with Comfort, also from Dallas, but they're facing their "toughest challenge yet." After they're done, Mia tells them that for hip-hoppers and poppers they were wonderful. The two of them start crying, figuring they're done... Like bawling, like mother's-funeral waterworks. Mia twinkles as she says that while parts of it was a "hot mess," they're moving on to the round. "But not everybody was so lucky," says Cat. Like that one chick and that other chick!
More focus on Paige. Apparently she's been smiling ever since getting to Vegas. "But ballroom has wiped the smile off her face." She's paired with a hip-hopper, Will, and she clearly doesn't think much of him, or dealing with the crowd on the stage. You know, like EVERYBODY HAS TO. Watching them do the foxtrot, though, it's clear Will is terrible, so he'll have to dance for his life, while they're going to pair Paige with another boy later on.
That boy is Leo Routenberg (? -- forgive me, because I missed one of the episodes and this show's not doing the on-screen graphics with the dancers names, so I'm definitely going to spell some wrong, especially among the ones who get cut tonight), who knows what he's doing, which means it's OK for Paige to smile again -- at least for a little while, until she's told by un-blown-away judges that they didn't see enough "elegance and grace," at least in Debbie Allen's view. Paige's eyes widen, and then she composes herself and her cheeks re-dimple. "Jesus Christ has a plan for me," she says at the back of the theatre, predicting that this is just a "springboard" for her to something better. And then the pageant façade cracks, ever so slightly, and we get just a taste of the industrial-strength tension of the pageant girl as she berates herself. "You don't fail, and if you do fail, you don't cry. And if you do cry, you go and do it in a room by yourself," says Paige, who then heads off to the bathroom to bitch about her ugly ballroom hair. I'm in favor of her going off to a room by herself to cry, and the camera should leave her alone, because she has to make out with Jesus.
Dancing for their lives: scary-pushup master Jeremiah Hughes, who gets through again. Mia tells someone that she's angry because some guy didn't dance. He just took his shirt off and stared at the judges. Really? That actually sounds kind of bad-ass. Do my abs frighten you? They should. Pick me. Will's up to do some popping hip-hopping. "Will, that was good enough to get you here to Vegas," says Nigel, who wants him to be proud for making it to the third round. But he's going home.
Those who are left are now going to be put into groups, and they're going to draw a random routine to rehearse overnight, to be presented first thing in the morning. Yes! That's right! It's the "sleep deprivation makes everyone lose their shit" portion of the competition.
Well, except for Cat, as it's seven AM, and she is just as perky as ever. When did everyone go to bed? Well, three AM., five AM, "we invented a 37-hour clock and we went to bed at 36 AM," Tap dancer Bianca Revels and her group are still working, with "one idea too many" at 4 AM. Twitch calls it poor planning. Six hours later, just before they're about to go on, apparently everything worked itself. They're dancing to "Every Breath You Take," a contemporary routine with some of Bianca's tap to finish it off -- hampered somewhat by a shoelace coming undone. Nigel says the tap was the best part, but the rest was a mess. Mary says "hot mess," which is a phrase I'm sure is going to get beat into the ground this season, and calls Bianca "selfish" for having a little section of the dance all for herself. Of the group of five, Jason has to dance for his life. From his tears, I think he's under the impression that that's literally true. Twitch blames himself, because he's supposed to be the vet who knows how to handle this kind of stuff. But it gets worse, because if dance doesn't work out, he's going to the navy.
Into the montage o' suck now, including Kortni and Susie. And then we get a group of dancers who call themselves "Angels and Demons." Derek Spiers admits to being the "demon," and we go back to last night and his non-stop bitching-out of the choreography. "I'm not going home for someone else' mistakes," he says, and eventually goes to bed, while the rest of the group practices until 3:30 AM. How they managed to not completely shit the bed is a mystery to me, but it looks all right for an all-nighter routine. "I thought that was really interesting," says Mary praising how it showcased all of them really well, and the judges vote for all of them to stay, but not without Nigel showing Derek the Hush Y'all stick.
Jason Glover dances for his life now, a contemporary/ballet routine, that I'll have to leave up to the judges. Mary says she sees great potential. Napoleon praises his lines and technique, but the parts don't add up to a whole. Nevertheless, he gets enough votes (Mia votes yes so she can see him dance something awesome -- her own work). Jason is just relieved not to have been shot.
Courtney, or Kourtnee or Khourtnie Pierson is among the four dancers cut by lunchtime. We're down to sixty-eight dancers, and they're going to be subjected to Mia Michaels' choreography. "Many of the dancers are starting to feel the pressure," Cat tells us, no one more than Lizz Plott, the woman representing tap. "I haven't worked this hard in a long time," she says during rehearsal, and we watch a melodramatic-mini-meltdown about how her legs aren't working, and how if she's going out, she's going out lying down on stage. When she performs with a couple other dancers, even I can tell she's struggling, but she does all right. The judges say she's doing great considering her tap specialty, and Nigel notes that she appeared stressed earlier, and Lizz launches into an hour-long tirade about how she was stressed because her legs are going to give out, and not for the reason Nigel thinks she was stressed, whatever that means. It's absolutely cringeworthy; I sat there begging her to shut up, but because I like her, and not because she's, say, Mary screeching (which has been mostly mercifully absent so far this season). Unfortunately, she talks herself right out of a spot. Mary, Mia and Debbie all put her in her place for not just accepting the notes, and she's out of the competition. To her credit, she blames no one but herself, for letting her mouth get her into trouble, and she promises she'll be back year with a zipped lip.
God, how often do we have to see the clips of Jeremiah Hughes' terrifying pushups? Can I send Fox some money? Well, we won't have to watch it too much longer, actually, because he has a hissyfit during the routine, stomps off stage, and then back on. He gets an earful from Mia, especially, and the judges talk about professionalism. Afterwards, he's creepily calmly apologetic, and I have to think he's trying to decide which belltower to climb with a sniper rifle.
Speaking of sniping, there goes Jason Glover! Bye! He's disposed of rather efficiently, considering how much time was spent on him earlier.
Dominic Pierson is dancing for his life, with a contemporary routine that Nigel calls "desperate" while it's still going on. And then Dominic collapses, necessitating a medic, who comes to help him offstage. The medic is then shoved aside by the judges to rub Dominic. And it's just a pulled muscle, but he gets an ambulance ride out of it.
Mark does a funny routine to "Bohemian Rhapsody," while Twitch rocks the popping. Charlotte's staying. Mark stays. Twitch stays. Leo is staying. Four are left on stage, and they didn't make it, including Sheila Kaiser, the biological engineering student whose dad doesn't approve of her dancing. Well, at least now her dad and the judges agree.
Those left are going to do solos that Nigel says will not be critiqued, but will have large bearing on whether they make it into the Top 20. "After the toughest week of their lives, it's time to leave it all on the floor," says Cat, and we watch a brilliant montage of spins, backflips, popping and splits of too many dancers to identify.
The judges deliberate while the dancers sweat it out. And as the dancers get called to the stage, they're going to walk past video screens displaying their first and last auditions.
Contemporary dancer Kelli Baker, she with the choreographer mother, is up first. "We've had long talks about you," says Nigel, because she's a fabulous dancer. He says they need to see more personality from her. It's a no right now, but they want her to come back because they all adore her. She thanks them, not just for herself, but for creating a show that showcases dancing.
Courtney Galiano is the contemporary dancer whose sweet grandparents came to the audition with her. Mary calls her a beautiful dancer, but they have to look at everything... I don't know why, but it's always obvious to me when Mary's trying to fake someone out. Courtney's through, as are Chelsie Hightower and Susie Garcia, as well as Chelsea Trayer and Kourtni Lind.
First guy we see: one half of the dancing twins, Anthony Hart, who doesn't make it. This leads into a bunch of rejected dancers, including Bianca Revels, and that blonde salsa dancer with the black streaks. And since we get an extra long intro for Joshua Allen, we know he's going to break the losing streak. Debbie talks about how he says he's a hip-hopper, but the judges are sure they saw him do a brisé. I knew it! I know a damn brisé when I see it! I totally said, "That looks like a move wherein he swept one leg into the air to the side while jumping off the other, bringing both legs together in the air and then beating them before landing!" when I saw that. Now, Debbie Allen can sell a fake; she makes out like there could be a problem if Joshua hasn't been truthful about his dance background -- but then says he can provide some answers in the Top 20. "You were brilliant," says Nigel.
We reminisce with how it came down to Twitch or Hok last year, which was like having to pick only Gretzky or Lemieux, but not both. With no one I've seen in Twitch's league as far as the popping goes, if he doesn't make it this year, I'm going to hurt somebody.
Tabitha calls him Mr. Personality. "But sometimes personality can only get you so far," she says before talking about education and everything else that he's going to get to do in the Top 20.
Soccer player Kherington Paine is up , and the judges talk about how so far she's done just enough to get by, and she has to be memorable -- which she'll get a chance to do in the Top 20. Rayven gets through. Matt Dorame, Thayne Jesperson, Marquis Cunningham, Mark, Comfort and West Coast swing dancer Jamie Beyard. Chris gets a personality speech as well, because all the judges think he needs to show a little bit more of it. In the Top 20, and he responds by mistaking "annoying" for "personality."
Markus Shields with his mother on a T-shirt gets cut. Derek Spiers gets a personality speech too, but it's not of the "show more personality" variety but "personality ain't enough" variety. He's out.
Jessica gets "faked out" by Mary; she's in. Contemporary dancer William Wingfield is a protégé of Debbie Allen. So is there really any question as to whether he's going to make it? Well, to head off any future questions like that, Nigel announces that Debbie Allen won't be judging the competition as long as William's a part of it. Debbie says she's happy to step aside so William can share his joy, and also possibly plant rainbows and raise unicorns.
Four dancers are left in the holding room, with only two spots left, one each for girls and guys. It's down to Gev and Brandon Bryant, who in a way are both winners already, because Cat gives them each a kiss. And the judges pick Gev, after talking about how tough it was. "You will see me again. I will come back," says Brandon afterwards. This is the guy who has the body my wife wouldn't mind seeing on me, so all I have to say is, don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.
Naturally, the last two women are the roommates and best friends forever Katee and Natalie, who walk out to face the judges holding hands. Nigel asks if the one who's not picked will come back year. Katee says this is her second time auditioning, so probably not. Hmm. Probably not what the judges were expecting to hear, and Katee explains that it was so devastating last year, and Natalie sticks up for her but the judges are not impressed. Mia says she's turned off, and from the comments by the judges, it's pretty clear who they had picked to go through. Nigel asks the girls to leave, and the judges discuss it some more, and then revote. Outside, Katee realizes that she might have just sour-graped her way out of a spot in the top 20, while Natalie consoles her. "I would come back!" wails Katee. The girls are called back in, and Nigel reveals that Katee indeed had been their choice, before she said she was going to throw in the towel at 19 if she didn't make it this time out. So they revoted. Nigel says this time there were three votes for Katee and three for Natalie (and I'd like to point out that if they originally did vote on Natalie vs. Katee instead of putting them both in the mix with all the other girls, that's kinda shitty). Nigel says that since it was a tie this time, the original vote stands. He says it like he went to an official So You Think You Can Dance rulebook or something. Natalie says she will definitely try again year, and gives a little speech about what a great opportu--- zzzzz. "We will always respect you as a person for what you've just done," says Nigel. And backstage, Natalie, tearing up, announces Katee as the final selection. Now that is a friend.
So here's the Top 20:
Gev, Kourtni Lind, Joshua Allen, Rayven, Matt Dorame, Courtney Galiano, William WIngfield, Katee Sheehan, Twitch, Kherington Paine, Jamie, Chelsie Hightower, Chris, Jessica King, Mark, Susie, Marquis, Chelsea Trail, Thayne and Comfort.
Can't get enough of SYTYCD? Watch some videos here and here.