So you think you can make the Top 20? Cat takes us along the final walk the dancers make on their way to find out if they're in the Top 20 or not. I love all the video screens along the way, so dancers can catch some Stanley Cup highlights along the way, I presume.
The judges are all sitting, waiting for the dancers to come in. They're all together backstage. And the way-ay-ting, is the hardest part. The best part? Cat keeping your spirits up! She tells them all to take deep breaths and try not to be too nervous.
Janette is up first. She's had a couple of rough weeks before Vegas: she was in a car accident, and her boyfriend broke up with her. So is this going to be the last straw, or no big deal?
She comes out to face the judges, and Nigel reminds her of how she broke a streak of crappy auditions in Miami, and then along came hot and spicy Janette. Nigel tells her she's in the top 20, and then she gets all personal and says she needed this, what with her boyfriend breaking up with her, like maybe you should just accept your spot and not make the judges regret it. Nigel figures her boyfriend must be crazy. There's more to relationships than just looks, Nigel. She goes backstage and screeches that she made it, and everybody cheers, because she's just the first one and there's not yet that feeling that "oh, yeah, everyone who makes it means there's one fewer spot for me."
Then there's Diana Varden, who brought a lucky charm: a stuffed monkey. She's had it with her all week; so far, so good. She goes out before the judges and admits to being nervous. Debbie smilingly asks if she's excited or nervous, and Diana nervously babbles about being excited. And Debbie's being really nice, so it was kind of surprising that she's told she's not in the Top 20. Lil' C babbles about, I don't know, using it as motivation to improve or whatever, and Nigel tells her that she's a better dancer now than when she arrived in Vegas, which don't seem to comfort her too much, as she heads back down the hall, tears streaming down her face. "It hurts so bad," she tells us.
After the commercial, we recap what's happened so far. Not necessary! Vitolio's finding this unsettling. "Diarrhea moment!" he tells us. NOT NECESSARY! He says not a lot of people expecting much from him because he's from Haiti, or something. Rough life, this guy: was put in an orphanage, left when he was fifteen. And now he's gotta put up with bullshit from Mia.
Out in front of the judges, Vitolio listens to Lil' C talk about showing up to perform, and then he really came to life when he had to choreograph his own thing, and then Lil' C says a whole lot of nonsense that eventually leads to Vitolio being factored into the Top 20. "I love you guys!" says Vitolio, who we can only hope isn't shitting his pants.
Cat tells that for the half an hour, it was only bad news. And we watch a montage of the judges bringing the axe down on a few contestants, but we're not told who they are. After seeing a hundred and seventy-two dancers come through Vegas, I have a hard enough time keeping them straight when we're told who they are. One of them is named Henry, and he gets swallowed up in a consoling Cat hug.
Kayla Radomski's the one who came to Denver with her grandparents, who she tells us would be just ecstatic if she won. Mia blah blahs about how glad she is that Kayla came, because Mia loves male dancers so much, and she rarely connects with female dancers. But she's connected with Mia: "I'm so glad you came into our world," says Mia, and Kayla's in! She thanks them and goes running backstage to share the good news.
Kupono's trying to hold it together backstage. He cut his Sanjaya hair after Nigel made some kind of "you kids get off my lawn!" comment about it. We also learn that Kupono makes lists of tasks. But not just actual tasks, but goals. So he has for example, "get iPod" and "live on the stage" on the same to-do list. He has "breathe" and "smile" on his list, and he hasn't checked off "breathe" yet. The final task is "Make Top 20!"
He comes out in front of the judges, and the judges have some fun with his long Hawaiian name, and then Adam suddenly gets serious and says he hates this part of the auditions, and gives a laundry list of things that the judges didn't like about him (like hair, for example), but they think he's grown since he's come to Vegas, and it's going to be a challenge for the producers to put his name up, because he's in the Top 20. Kupono yells and is excited and takes out his to-do list so he can show the judges that he gets to cross off the last item on his list. Mia could take out her to-do list and show him that she's already got "act like a massive bitch" checked off. But she'll get to make another mark soon enough.
Paris Torres? Top 20! Jeanine Mason? Top 20! Ade Obayomi? Top 20! Karla Garcia? Top 20! Jonathan Platero? Top 20!
After only an hour, almost half the spots in the Top 20 have been filled, Cat tells us. You know, that doesn't sound that fast to me. Brandon Bryant's up . Brandon (who I referred to as "Brandon Ryan" in last night's weecap) brought Mary to tears in Denver, but Lil' C wasn't impressed in Vegas, and Mia thought he was not all that. Nigel thought he was fantastic.
He comes out in front of the judges, and ... oh, Jesus. Mia's speaking. She says she "can't take" Brandon and what he brings to the floor. "It annoys the (bleep) out of me," she says, and blah blahs about something rubbing her the wrong way, what with his attitude and his fake smile. Good god, is she serious? Brandon apologizes, but Mia's still not finished talking about how good Brandon's not, and Debbie speaks up in Brandon's defense but Mia won't even let Debbie Freakin' Allen speak, to the point that Nigel has to step in to tell Mia that she's had her chance to say something. "When you dance, I get it. I love the way you dance," Debbie tells Brandon. Lil' C gives his whole "I'm just not impressed" routine, and a pissed-off Mary says she doesn't want to "sit and listen to this crap." She says to have any judges talk bullshit about him is nonsense, and he's not cocky at all. She's really pissed. Nigel tells Brandon that he got three out of four votes, which is good enough to put him in the Top 20, and he'll have the opportunity to change people's minds. All the judges clap, except for Mia, who asks what's going to happen when they're in a room together, and Brandon pleasantly says what sounds like "It'll be bomb," don't worry, and all the judges laugh, even Mia, which is big of her considering the huge waste of talent the judges just put through. Great. It's like Danny all over again, so we can have the fake moment later on in the season where Mia lavishes praise on Brandon, but it won't be because she was wrong about Brandon, but that he's improved to meet Mia's standards.
Tony Bellissimo can only think about his brother, who's in Afghanistan. Tony says if his brother knew he was here, he'd be fighting security to get in, because he's Tony's biggest supporter, apart from his mother. Time to face the judges. Nigel says right off that he doesn't think Tony's technique is as strong as it should be. He acknowledges that his colleagues all want to see him succeed. "It's just this lack of vocabulary in your dancing," he says. But he's delighted to say they've put him in the top 20. Tony's expression doesn't change. He just stares at Nigel, to the point Nigel has to tell him not to look so shocked. So he gets all excited, and mimes a defibrillator on his chest. Nigel warns him not to let them down, because Tony is the biggest limb they're going out on for in the Top 20.
More people make it: Maksim Kapitannikov. "Everything that we gave you, you did it. You succeeded," Mia tells him. Caitlin Kinney: "You have survived this cut," Nigel tells her, reducing her to happy tears on the walk backstage. Melissa Sandvig? She's in. "It's gonna be fun watching you grow in the top 20," says Adam. Jason Glover. "There are amazing dancers each season. You're gonna be one of them, because you have made the top 20," Lil' C tells him.
Ashley Valerio is on her fourth year of auditions. She tells us that she's cautiously optimistic that this is her year, but she's really nervous. She comes before the judges, and Mary talks about how she's a fighter, and she's really improved, but this is the final stop: because this time she's through to the Top 20.
Randi Evans -- did we actually meet her in Denver? I don't remember her. Mia says she has the body of a tigress, she's that powerful, but she's not quite there yet. And then she babbles about the way Randi has committed to her unitards -- unitard montage! "We love you, and we think America's gonna love you," says Mia, and they want her in the Top 20. Randi giggles and cries and can barely say she accepts for she runs squealing off the stage.
So far, seventeen dancers have made it through. Do the math. Alex Wong hopes he's getting one of the last three spots. He's a ballet dancer, but he said he was amazed when he saw all the talent dancing all the different styles in Vegas. "I just wanna show who I am, and I just love it," he tells us.
He gets up before the judges, and Nigel says they adore him and think he's one of their strongest dancers. However, he is under contract to the Miami Ballet Company. Alex is kind of like, uh, yeah. Nigel spoke to Alex's director to ask if they could let him out of his contract for the duration of the show. And the answer was no. Alex is heartbroken, which seems to make the judges feel like shit. Lil' C says it's inspiring to see the hunger he has, and Debbie Allen encourages him to go back to work and be positive, and Nigel reminds Alex that he's working with one of the country's premier classical dancers in Miami, and he can go and come back whenever he can. None of this looks like any kind of comfort for Alex.
Then four more dancers get cut, some of whom I imagine we'll see in the fall or year. Five dancers left for three spots, including Phillip Chbeeb. He comes limping out to see the judges, who ask if he's injured. "Emotionally, maybe," drawing laughter from the judges. Adam asks about his week, and Phillip talks about how stressful it was, but he's enjoyed every minute of it. "Nobody does what you do better than you do," says Adam, but they're looking to see what else he can do. Phillip's really grown and improved, and dance seems to mean a lot to Phillip. Phillip completely agrees, and Adam breaks the good news that they're going to see a lot more of him, because he's in. "The things I wanna tell you guys. Good things!" says a relieved Phillip. He tells the camera on the walk back that it's silly he's in the top 20. "I'm gonna show you all kinds of things you've never seen before."
Back in the waiting room, there are two women left, and the Kasprzak brothers, and Cat breaks the news that there's one spot left for a woman and one left for a guy. Nobody has to draw the brothers a picture. They hug, and we go to commercial.
The Kasprzaks hold hands and hug. Evan tries the glass half-full perspective, which is that at least one of them's going to be in the top 20. But he's got tears in his eyes. The remaining women are Deena Brickly, contemporary dancer, who we're told we met in Miami but I don't recall, and Asuka Kondoh, ballroom dancer. They stand before the judges. Debbie says she knows they know that one of them is going through, and one is not. "One of you was so exciting to watch. One of you was very powerful but didn't seem to take enough risks, and didn't go the distance that we want to see," says Debbie, who then tells Deena that it's the end of her journey, and she welcomes Asuka to the top 20. The girls hug, and hold each other walking off the stage.
Backstage, Cat's doing her best to keep the tears flowing as she asks how the brothers will feel if the others make it. They keep hugging as they walk towards the stage. Back with the other dancers, Deena starts in with the body-wracking sobs, and Asuka hugs her before being like, "OK, I'm going to start being happy for me now!" and starts getting excited.
The Kasprzaks take the stage. We watch some interviews, Evan saying how great it is to dance with his best friend. Ryan talks about everything he's heard through his career: "You're too short, you're too fat, you're too bald, we don't need a tap dancer," and for four years that kept him on the couch. It was always only ever his fear that kept him from dancing, he says. "All those things that I thought would keep me from being on the show, might be why I make the show," he says.
Nigel tells the brothers they're similar in style, acknowledging that Ryan choreographed Evan. He says they felt they just decided there was only room for one of that style. Nigel gets right to the point and tells Ryan to be proud, because it's probably his choreography that got his brother into the top 20. The brothers hug -- Adam looks shattered, watching the brothers. He really seems to feel for the rejected contestants -- and Nigel encourages Ryan to keep it up, and that he crossed off "too short, too fat, and too bald" the first moment he saw him dance, and says he looked fine during West Side Story and doesn't always need a cap. Ryan takes it off, and keeps his chin up. Backstage, he hugs his brother and then shoves him away so his brother can go join the rest of the top 20. Maybe he should do a flea hop! And not a, um, "fleet" hop, as I misheard last night.