‘So You Think You Can Dance’ review: BluPrint, Fik-Shun among top 20’s surprises

The top 20 on “So You Think You Can Dance” this week came, saw, and conquered their routines. We don’t know how they do it, just how we don’t know how this show does not get better ratings sometimes. Out of the twenty dancers who performed this week, we’re feeling almost 100% confident that 16 of them are probably safe. (More on that later.)

Joining Nigel Lythgoe and Mary Murphy this week was the master of improv in Wayne Brady who may not have the most dance experience out of everyone who has been on this show, but knows entertainment. Not only that, but he is thoroughly entertaining.

Mariah Spears and Carlos Garlos, jive – Could they make this any harder on our favorite krumper? Mariah was a favorite of ours last season even though she didn’t make the live shows, and now that she is the producers aren’t giving her any favors. First, she draws a style that is the polar opposite of what she does, and then she goes first with a dancer in Carlos who is far more experienced in this sort of thing. She has her work cut out for her.

Jasmine Mason and Alan Bersten, contemporary – We found the routine incredible in that they were able to do such beautiful and lyrical movement without actually being able to see each other, but was the blindfold a tad gimmicky? We feel almost like we’re voting because of a twist rather than their technique, so it gives them a tad of an advantage.

Malece Miller and Jade Zuberi, jazz – A very cool routine about a movie star duo who receive conflicting reviews on a movie, but to us, Malece was the clear star here while Jade lagged somewhat behind. You could tell that he was an animator in another style, which does differ from someone we are going to be pointing out in just a minute.

Jenna Johnson and Tucker Knox, Broadway – Tucker got some love from not only Jenna, but also Cat Deeley! He got what Marko wanted two years ago after he kissed Melanie!

Brittany Cherry and BluPrint, Afrojazz – Remember what we said about a animator excelling out of their style? This was it. BluPrint was not only excellent, but he dominated this dance. You can argue that he may have been judged slightly easier given his lack of classical training, but his work in this routine shows how much of a natural gift and love for dance that he has.

Alexis Juliano and Nico Greethan, hip-hop – We genuinely thought that Nicol was a favorite to win going into tonight, but this routine just didn’t work for them. Neither went hard enough for it, and it was like hip-hop lite: Watching dancers of other styles almost playfully do their own thing with a few moves mixed in.

Makenzie Dustman and Paul Karmiryan, waltz – We knew that Paul had won an international version of the show, but the guy had never done ballroom before. This was ultimately a royal dance between a princess and her prince charming, and this dance was very sweet. There were no major flaws, and it felt like the ending of a Disney movie. May sound cheesy, but it’s true.

Jasmine Harper and Aaron Turner, jazz – This was a Sonya Tayeh routine, which really means one thing: This is gonna be intense. The swamp thing was pretty cool, and Aaron has a little bit of work to do as a tapper to adapt to some of these other routines. There were no major flaws, and supremely entertaining to watch.

Hayley Erbert and Curtis Holland, hip-hop – Hayley really stole the show with this one, primarily with the level of emotional intensity that she brought to a confident routine that was basically all about her “killing” Curtis. Crazy, no? But also supremely awesome. A far improvement over the earlier hip-hop.

Amy Yakima and Fik-Shun, contemporary – Sonya’s gotten herself off to a great start as a choreographer, but this routine was really about both of them conveying this level of emotional intensity to a piece that was about things that can hold you back. Nigel’s right that America will vote this as one of their favorites.

In the end, we’re left with an interesting situation in that the bottom two teams seem to be obvious: Mariah and Carlos, and Alexis and Niko. The former are still probably more likely to leave, though, given that ballroom and Latin are not always embraced by voters, and they had the challenge of going first.

Who was your favorite tonight, and do you wish Wayne was on every show? If you want to re-watch some of those viral videos featuring Nigel from early on in the episode, all you have to do is visit the story over here.

Photo: Fox