On tonight's So You Think You Can Dance top 20 show, the ridiculous opening number—a Mad Men-esque office gender standoff set to Kerry Muzzey's "Architect of the Mind" and created by Christopher Scott—did just what it should: showcase the brilliance of these twenty talented kids and how high the stakes will be as we whittle them down to one guy and one girl (two each will head home next week), our Power Rankings tell you the leaders to look out for, as well as who's on the bubble:
1) Audrey & Matthew get a Travis Wall contemporary number, so that's essentially just brought them half a season of life of this show, I'd like to hope. The Righteous Brothers' "Unchained Melody" sets a great tone for a Titanic-themed piece, and where Travis' choreography usually requires completely unrestrained chemistry and technique, they both really nailed it. Every lift, every catch, has been completely superb. They've both developed into frontrunners in just one short week, and if they can bring the same gall to other styles, this is going to be a tough year for everyone else.
2) Tiffany & George These two are already hindered by being in the shadows of bigger names and personalities in the competition, but you've gotta hope that a Sonya Tayeh piece can help turn that around. Sleeping At Last's "Turning Page" was a brilliantly created contemporary routine, shockingly so for the first week in the season, and went a really long way to exposing Tiffany as a real force in this competition. George might be, as Mary said, one of the best dancers here, but his personality didn't come out through the dance in the way that hers did.
3) Lindsay & Cole nab Jason Gilkison for a Paso Doble, and more than any other ballroom style, this requires a man's man to bring it home. Cole was more than up to that task, and Lindsay helped him bring this number home. It was incredibly powerful from the pairing, set to E.S. Posthumus' "Unstoppable". They certainly deserve a spot in next week's show, but ballroom is always a tricky one to measure, so it'll be interesting to see how the numbers turn out.
4) Janaya & Brandon Tabitha & Napoleon are tops in hip-hop when they're on their game, and an addiction-themed work to Drake & Rihanna's "Take Care" is on par with their best stuff. The two didn't evenly match each other as well as other hip-hop duos in the show's history (Janaya was the significantly weaker one), but each of them gave the piece a good strength that should carry them to next week.
5) Amelia & Will Based on all that Vegas screentime, Amelia shouldn't have anything to worry about for a few weeks, even if a Tabitha & Napoleon hip-hopper set to The Cure's "The Lovecats" turns out horrible. It obviously doesn't, but Will couldn't get the sharp grittiness required to make the piece a real hit. Amelia came across well, but she may have gone to even higher heights had she gotten a more urban-enabled partner.
6) Janelle & Dareian picking African Jazz with Sean Cheesman is the most intriguing option of the week, and their routine set to Hilight Tribe's "Jungle" turns out to be a pretty entertaining one. Physically, it's more of a standout moment for Dareian than Janelle, but Janelle's personality this week outperformed Dareian's. Together, you gotta hope that’s enough to get them both to next week.
7) Alexa & Daniel The show has been completely non-discreet in their gunning for Alexa to win this whole thing, and Daniel's also a buzzy contender, but a Sean Cheesman jazz piece doesn't come with any guarantees. A remix of Dennis Ferrer's "Hey Hey" allows them to slink all over the stage and each other in red suits, and while it was aptly performed, it lacked energy. I'm not sure it was a memorable number in the bunch.
8) Witney & Chehon The Cube Guys and Luciana's "Jump" was a tough one for Chehon to get into as a ballet dancer—the Samba movement was there, but he looked heavy, and wasn't on his toes enough to bring the piece to life on his end. But Witney obviously owns this (it's her genre), and sassed the pair to a well-received number by the judges. Louis Van Amstel's face wasn't convinced, though.
9) Amber & Nick have the Waltz this week, which already puts them in a poor position for next week as a) it's out of Amber's style, b) ballroom-er Nick seems to have a lot of trouble getting it, and c) no one typically goes crazy over the Waltz. But Nick came up to scratch from my angle, and Amber performed better than I anticipated. Pretty, but occasionally dull.
10) Eliana & Cyrus might be a weaker pairing given the worst possible choreographer for them—Tyce DiOrio for Broadway—but the trick to a good Broadway is personality and energy! Yet Hairspray's "Run and Tell That" felt strange: occasionally stagnant, lacking dynamic, and noticeably weak form Cyrus. I wish I'd have seen Eliana perform this with another partner, so I could judge her properly, but this wasn't nearly as good as the judges and Tyce claimed it was.
Leftovers
Janaya totally looks like Emily Van Camp from Revenge, right?
How tall is Cat Deeley? She made Janelle and Dareian look three feet tall.
So we're supposed to believe it's just convenience that Lindsay and Witney and Nick got ballroom numbers? Why do they pretend that this is random when it's very clearly not?
I would love for Nick to pull hip-hop one week.
"People are just gonna Google you up!"
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