This was the last episode of So You Think You Can Dance before the real competition begins. At the end of tonight’s episode the judges announced their top 20 dancers. The judges included Nigel and Mary as well as all of the choreographers. The most surprising thing which happened on tonight’s show was when popper, Robert Muraine, announced that he did not wish to continue. He was one of the best performers from any of the auditions. His routines absolutely fantastic. Nigel even tried to talk him out of it, but after a final solo performance, Robert bowed out of the competition.

The group round was a disaster. The judges hated group routine after group routine. Despite that only 4 dancers were sent home. I think that next season they should just skip the group competition. The judges weren’t impressed, the dancers were stressed and fighting, and in the end it only eliminated 4 dancers. Following the group performances the remaining dancers had to learn a Mia Michaels Pop routine and then perform it for the judges. This round seemed to filter out more of the dancers. Then the remaining dancers were then each given a final opportunity to perform a solo for the judges.

As the show wound to a close the judges then called each dancer to the stage and let them know whether they would be moving on to the top 20 or heading home. It was funny to watch the judges trick the contestants who made ti through to the top 20 into thinking they were leaving the first 4 or 5 times they did it. That little act got old pretty quick. I know it gets a great reaction for the cameras out of the contestants. The final bit of drama occurred when they brought out the final two contestants Natalie and Katy. When Nigel was talking to them, he mentioned that whoever went home that they would want them to come back next year. Katy then said that because this year had taken so much out of her that she would not be back if she didn’t make it this year. This caused Nigel to ask them to leave the stage so the judges could talk again. Nigel asked the judges to vote again because he thought that Katy’s attitude was not that of a competitor while Natalie was standing there sticking up for Katy. In the end the vote was tied so Katy continued on to the top 20 as they had originally planned. Katy did not make any friends among the judges with her comments. She may have made it through to the top 20 but she is going to have to work harder than any of the other dancers if she wants to remain in the competition.

That’s it. The top 20 have been selected and the real competition can begin. See you next week after we watch the first of the pairs competitions.

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