After a week off for the fourth of July holiday we got our first live performance of the Top 20. They started with a cool opening number, very Mad Men-esque. It has some great what I think was strings only music (awesome). The choreography and costumes were really sweet too. Kenny Ortega joins the night as the third judge. Four dancers eliminated next week (2 boys and 2 girls). Looks like the season is going to start out hard. Let’s see how they paired up and how they dance.
Whitney & Chehon – Latin routine by Louis Van Amstel
Great routine. Whitney looks so good both in costume and moves. No surprise on either for her. She’s in her element and she’s a very pretty girl. . Chehon loks so confused. He looks the part for sure, just can’t move like it. He doesn’t know how to move his body. There’s no hip action. He can definitely take it up a notch and I bet he does spectacular in the future. Whitney’s also going places.
Tiffany & George – Contemporary routine by Sonia Tayeh
Really well done, fantastic. They are both completely in their element. It’s hard and passionate. I think they really brought out exactly what the dance is supposed to be. They lived and breathed that.
Janaya & Brandon – Hip Hop routine Napoleon & Tabitha
It was an alright routine. I liked the choice of Rihanna & Drake music. I wasn’t particularly whelmed. I was a bit impressed by Brandon’s moves because he is a stepper. He lived and breathed that. He certainly wasn’t perfect. If he continues to try he’ll make it.
Alexa & Daniel – Jazz routine by Sean Cheesman
Shiny costumes and they totally look like twins. Interesting dance to say the least. I’m not so sure about dancing in the scaffolding. There were some cool aerial moves and some of them just looked hard. They did OK. I didn’t love it though I applaud them for the difficulty level.
Amber & Nick - Ballroom (Waltz) by Jason Gilkison
Amber out shined Nick in his own genre. Her presence is very large. Not perfect technique from Nick either. He almost dropped her. Overall it was good. They kept it together at the end.
Amelia & Will – Hip Hop by Napoleon & Tabitha
This routine totally fits Amelia’s weirdness. It started out a bit strange but totally grew on us. I love the musical choice of The Cure – unconventional music for a hip-hop routine. They both did great. She was better than him. He is quite good for someone so tall.
Janelle & Dareian – African Jazz by Sean Cheesman
Janelle is a great belly dancer. We didn’t get to see her dance when they revealed the top 20 so I’m looking forward to what she’s got. Loving the costumes. She is super flexible. Talk about stage presence cause she’s got it. This routine has great energy. Dareian is executing this without a sweat. They both make it look very sexy. 100% in character. Awesome routine.
Eliana & Cyrus – Broadway (Scene from Hairspray) by Tyce Diorio
Well put together routine. It’s a lot of fun. I just want to get up and clap. Tyce choreographed it well to Cyrus’ skills. He has a lot of raw talent but you can see the lack of training. Eliana is just great. Even in this toned down routine you can totally see her skills (perhaps it’s because she did more dance moves 
).
Audrey & Matt – Contemporary by Travis Wall
Very passionate routine filled with a lot of close partnering that they both did very well. For just being together for a week they’re showing a lot of chemistry. They’ve either really got it or are great actors. Lot’s of aerial moves. Thankfully she’s so tiny that he can toss her far. Great routine and great dancing. We loved it. Favorite routine of the night so far.
Lindsay & Cole – Ballroom (Paso Doble) by Jason Gilkison
Cole drew the perfect partner for a routine like this. It was pretty awesome. I loved the music – there was so much fire to it. He did amazing, paso is a very hard dance. He certainly knows how to pose. This was the other best performance of the night.
They certainly saved the best for last. The last two routines were by far the two best. That’s not to say the rest of the night wasn’t great. We weren’t really disappointed with anything. If they keep up this level all season we’re going to be in for a treat and it’s going to be hard to let people go. Natalie has not found a standout girl but it on the lookout for George. Right now I’m rooting for Eliana and Cole, though a bit of me wants to root for Cyrus as well.
One more week of dancing and then 2 guys and 2 girls are eliminated. We look forward to it. Wednesday night at 8:00PM on Fox.