Destination 'So You Think You Can Dance': Lessons learned from Thursday's elimination show

Gev Manoukian is a dark horse.

Gev has never been in danger, but he has never been a crowd favorite either.  All of that could change after his stunning solo this evening. Backstage after the show, Nigel Lythgoe called it the best of the night.

Free T-shirts make tweens scream

When Tommy the warm-up guy offered a free T-shirt to the audience, the screams from the mosh pit climbed into the whistle range. "They're cheering for that shirt louder than they're cheering for me," quipped Nigel.

Mary Murphy can shake it!

Yeah, we know she was a professional ballroom dancer, but we never get to see Mary's moves on "So You Think You Can Dance." Tonight, the way she shook her hips on her way to her judge's chair was worthy of a seat on the hot tamale train.

Nigel has a soft spot for JT

When "Sexy Back" began to blare through the speakers, Nigel couldn't help dancing right there in his chair.

Cat Deeley talks to herself

When she broke out laughing before introducing the show, Cat reprimanded herself, saying, "serious face!"

I'm never gonna like the song, "Money Makes the World Go Round."

There's just something sinister and icky about it.  Ditto on the opening group dance.

Chelsie Hightower needs her own reality show.

Before the show, Chelsie came outside to grab a banana from the snack truck, and struck up an easy conversation with us lurking reporters.  When I asked how difficult it was learning two dances a week, Chelsie looked at me like I'd just asked something truly ridiculous.

Doing two dances a week is great, she explained, because she gets to dance more. Duh.  After the show, when all the dancers left the studio, Chelsie walked alone in her sky-high platforms and Rastafarian backpack.  One part glamorous, one part laid-back, Chelsie doesn't seem to have a self-conscious bone in her body. 

Like it or not, Nigel, Courtney Galiano loves her hip-hop side.

When the audience started singing "Apple Bottom Jeans" during a break, Courtney got pumped and started dancing.

Comfort Fedoke and Thayne Jasperson are having a blast together.

The newly formed couple wouldn'€™t stop goofing around between segments. Whether Thayne was pretending to bite Comfort or something equally silly, the two were always horsing around.

Popping ain't easy.

After Robert Moraine, the popping guy from auditions, performed his dazzling number, Tommy the warmup guy recruited a self-proclaimed popper from the audience to show off his moves. The result was tragic.

The "Dance" judges are more laid back than the "American Idol" judges.

On "Idol," the judges leave during every commercial break, then return to their seats seconds before the segment begins.  On "Dance," they take their seats at the top of the show and hang out for the duration.

Nigel is a gentleman.

When the judges went backstage to deliberate, Nigel helped both Mary and Tabitha down the stairs.  Napoleon had to fend for himself.

There is a right way to say goodbye.

Tonight, Matt Dorame came off classier than any booted contestant who came before him. He motioned toward the remaining dancers and stated simply, "These are the best dancers in the world."

-- Stephanie Lysaght

Comments

[sarah]

I would say Nigel CAN be a gentlemen -- last night, he was pretty rude to Courntey and Gev ("Little people?" ) and to Robert Moraine, who he called a coward twice. I thought he made himself look like a huge ***. Would've loved to see more of this behind-the-scenes dancer silliness vs. the Tyce montage.

[Ryan]

Ditto to everything said about Nigel as well as the backstage stuff. I'd love to hear more about Chelsie. She seems like such a walking dichotomy - graceful and beautiful one minute, tomboy the next. She's just a fun character (and an amazing dancer!).

[djproscribe]

"Money Makes the World Go 'Round" is **supposed** to be creepy. That is its entire purpose in "Cabaret."

And I would put money on the notion that Mr. Moraine has a genetic condition that makes one's joints really loose. There is a whole family of them. That he can control his movements like that is amazing, but you can't do that shoulder move without the genetic bit.

[jengod]

Great post.

[SafeTinspector]

I.. um.. located a copy of the SYTYCD season one finals (the one right before the finale) and watched it just to see how the show has changed over the four seasons.

I always take the "these are the best contestants so far" stuff with a grain of salt, but none of the performances on the Season 1 finals (some of which got rave reviews from Nigel and company at the time) would even have carried their dancers through from Vegas week this year. Even Nick (the eventual winner) was only just OK.

Man...

Just sayin'....