So You Think You Can Dance recap: Top 10 revealed!

Two more dancers have left the competition after the August 6 performance show, which featured guest judge Kenny Ortega, some incredible duets, a commitment ceremony involving a rope, and plenty of side-eye from me, namely because….

Malece Miller and Alan Bersten have been eliminated. WHAT? Nigel Lythgoe attempted to soften this blow (?!) by suggesting that they try (try!!) to join the Top 10 tour anyway, as swing dancers or alternates. As if he could pull a few strings and mayyyyyybe sneak them in. As part of the help. AS IF HE ISN’T IN CHARGE OF ALL OF THIS.

RAGE!

Rage.

It bothers me that Jenna Johnson has landed in the bottom three girls three times now and the judges keep sending her right on through. Why not at least make all of the bottom six dance their solos? Jenna was even wearing her finest dramatic curlicue cape/skirt in anticipation of a possible solo. She was clearly ready to WHOOSH for her life! Let her! It’s just weird. I demand equal-opportunity whooshing!

So Jenna, Amy Yakima (a big surprise), Nico Greetham, and Tucker Knox joined those two in the bottom six. The judges immediately sent Jenna and Nico to safety, leaving Tucker and his knee infection, Alan, Malece, and Amy to dahnce for their lives. I’d have kept the visually arresting blonde elf and the baby-faced shirtless ballroom dude over the injured guy and the girl no one seems to be voting for. But oh well.

***Tucker will automatically land in the bottom two guys next week*** since he couldn’t dance his duet with Jenna. (Why helloooooo, Alex Wong and his abs!) And speaking of All-Stars and next week — the Top 10 will each pair up with a SYTYCD All-Star for next Tuesday’s duets!

Disappointment aside, it was a fantastic night of dance anyway — I got swept up into the magic so many times! Jasmine and Aaron’s hip hop?! Paul and Makenzie’s contemporary? Oh my God.

Just a quick note before we get started:

Jean-Marc Généreux is totally the Ben Linus of So You Think You Can Dance.

NEXT: Did you uneducated cretins do your homework and watch YouTube? Hayley and Nico — Braodway choreographed by Sean Cheesman

Music: “Kiss of the Spider Woman” by Jeffrey Huard & Chita Rivera

Wow. What I thought might be a cheesy love spell (she’s a gypsy fortune teller?) turned out to be a moving theatrical performance that makes me wanna see Kiss of the Spider Woman — both the musical and the 1985 movie that was up for four Academy Awards. What a delightful opener from two not-necessarily frontrunners. Hayley’s never been in the bottom, but has she ever really surged ahead? I think she may have this week.

It wasn’t all about her, though — watching this dance back, you could focus on either one of them and get caught up in the web/vibe of the pair’s mystical entanglement. She was the enchantress, but their energies were so in sync that either one of them could have been conjuring up the other. The one-legged back walkover lift (way better than how I’m describing it) was insane, and I loved how close the cameras got as Hayley slammed the door shut with Nico against it. Pink sequined fringe never hurt anyone either. Just saying.

Malece and Alan — jazz by Mandy Moore

Music: “Come Dance With Me” by Michael Buble

As soon as Nigel sent Jenna to safety, we all pretty much knew Malece was headed home, and the poor girl was bumbling around like a wounded Tinkerbell (wand infection?) all night. I felt so awful for her. The pair got a horrible edit at the start of this segment — Alan’s accent is a sham, these kids have barely heard of Gene Kelly, and according to their choreographer, they didn’t even seem to be enjoying the dance.

I could feel myself being programmed to dislike them, but the dance itself was not as bad as Nigel claimed. He really wanted to drive home the point that the couple did not seem like they were in love in the dance or in general. How dare they not be obsessed with each other after a couple weeks of partnering? Jerks! At least Malece’s tears had the potential to sparkle extra brightly when Kenny Ortega compared her to a young Judy Holliday or Goldie Hawn. (Who’s that now? Are they on YouTube?)

NEXT: Alex Freaking Wong goes DOUBLE BELT Jenna and All-Star Alex Wong — paso doble by Jean-Marc Généreux

Music: “He’s a Pirate (Ship Ahoy Tribal Remix)” by Chris Joss & Klaus Badelt

Hooray for Alex Freaking Wong and his abs! What’s crazy is that the whole time they were dancing, I marveled at how his thick woven belt amplified his abs and blended with them to create a stunning tapestry of ab-belt. But then when they slowed down I realized he was wearing TWO BELTS. It was less of an illusion than I thought! So many abs. Just the right amount of belts.

Oh, and what’s really crazy is that Alex Freaking Wong never even competed in ballroom during his season — he was about to do the foxtrot when his Achilles tendon snapped. Agh! Terrible thought. Go back to the ab-belt. Are you there yet? Suffice it to say I wasn’t really focused on Jenna throughout this number, which will probably work against her because this style supposed to be her forte.

I will say, though — to my untrained eye it did look like Jenna held her own in Stacey Tookey’s gorgeous and haunting group contemporary for the Top 6 ladies. I have nothing against her as a dancer. I’m just missing why it’s been necessary to save her again and again. Is it because she’s the only ballroom dancer left? Because any trained dancer can try ballroom for the first time, catch a whiff of the right spirit, and perform it really, really well! That’s the whole point of the show. But I digress.

Makenzie and Paul — contemporary by Mandy Moore

Music: Lady Gaga’s “The Edge of Glory” (live from A Very Gaga Thanksgiving)

Oh, man, do I love a pair of black costumes twirling and heaving all contemporary-like under those creepy blue lights. (Allison and Ivan’s “Why” piece always comes to mind!) Chronic nail-biter Paul and Ms. Ugly Face (pshaw) Makenzie played a pair of “unlikely lovers” perfectly — I liked the concept of the stage representing their “secret space,” but as the dance transpired, the setting ceased to matter. Their extensions and breathing alone — Nigel referred to “that Thelma and Louise moment” (he said “Thelmer”) when they were just on the precipice of movement but intentionally holding back — made this routine a dazzler.

Makenzie’s ability to contort so wildly and keep re-centering herself so quickly makes her dancing so fascinating to me. I feel the same way about Amy.

Kenny delivered a whopper of a compliment to Paul, one you could agree with yourself just by marveling in Paul’s reaction to it even if you hadn’t thought this way towards him before: “You have a fire burning in your soul, young man.” Whoa. “Every move that you make has something so alive underneath it. Your love for dance is so apparent in every single move that you make.” Oh, my, was he BEAMING.

So many times in my life, I’ve paused my TV and just had all that CAT HAIR around my apartment for the next few hours. Who needs a pet, anyway? This purebred is the real deal. #CatHair.

NEXT: Gold diggin’ Jasmine and Aaron ‘The Body’ Turner Amy and Fik-Shun — Viennese waltz by Jean-Marc Généreux

Music: “A Thousand Years, Pt. 2” by Christina Perri feat. Steve Kazee

I liked the idea of using the Viennese waltz to generally honor their partnership instead of tell another hokey story. I said above that I was swept away so often tonight, and this dance exemplifies that. I stopped thinking about the individual dancers or the fact that they were doing a Viennese waltz (which can honestly be a bit of a buzzkill) and just let myself float along in their temporary world for 90 seconds. “Yeah, there’s some technical issues going on,” admitted Mary. But the overall effect was one of ease and glamour — and fun! I loved how effortless it seemed for Amy to settle into that perfectly horizontal spin at the end. I zoned out big time during this number, in the best possible way. Ooh, are those sparkles cascading down Amy’s back as they calmly stride away? Niiiiiiice.

It’s quite a shock to see Amy in the bottom three girls this week. I loved the girls’ “Young and Beautiful” group number and thought she stood out as one of the more expressive dancers.

Not sure why I love this so much, but I do!

The girls are so strong this year, but I wonder if Hayley/Makenzie/now Amy might be blending together into one contemporary-minded brunette. I think they’re all fantastic. Hayley could be the sleeper hit of the season — perhaps she’ll peak at the right time, i.e. now.

Jasmine and Aaron — hip hop by Tabitha and Napoleon

Music: “Gold Rush” by Clinton Sparks feat. 2 Chainz, Macklemore & D.A.

YES! Yes yes yes. Jasmine is not a native hip hop dancer, but she was completely in the zone tonight. It’s almost like she created the zone on the spot and then commanded it — a hip-shaking, long ‘n’ lanky sass monster offering the masses a tutorial on how to make “gold digger in a So You Think You Can Dance routine” look like the coolest f*cking job on the planet. And I don’t want to discount Aaron at all. He played confident, cocky, and mean to a T and even kept up with the sass monster — including that lightning-fast breakdown! remember, they’re so tall! — is a feat worthy of a spot in the Top 10.

And Aaron even set himself apart from the rest of the guys in that intriguing Nappytabs group number with the rope. While the rest of the guys are compact and wily, Aaron is huge and strong and so sensual, slithering around on the floor like an overgrown earthworm in heat. I’m loving his passion. And his body. It’s okay to love them both!

Which were your top dances? Will you still love me when I’m no longer thirtysomething and average? Discuss!

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