SYTYCD Top 10 recap : Best Top 10 show ever??

Week 7 of So You Think You Can Dance with Debbie Allen as the guest judge started off with a brilliant contemporary group routine created by Christopher Scott. His diversity is amazing. He's actually a tapper but he dances hip-hop and animation too and he creates fantastic contemporary and jazz pieces. Is there anything he CAN'T do? By the way if you like Chris even from the song choice you might have guessed that it was his work from the beginning of the routine as it greatly resembles the songs he picks for group routines that he creates for LXD. If you remember he made a piece for LXD which he also took a part in when they were guest dancers in the previous seasons in SYTYCD and the song was very similar too.

Happily there was no news of any injury so we got to see all of our top 10 dancers perform in that amazing routine. But then like every good thing this had to come to an end too as it was time to announce the bottom 4 dancers. As there are 10 dancers left we won't have bottom 6 anymore, it'll be 4 dancers instead. To my surprise Makenzie was in the bottom which upset me quite a bit. Makenzie was joined by Jenna. As Tucker couldn't dance last week due to injury he was automatically in the bottom. The second male dancer in the bottom was Nico. Judges didn't ask them to do solos as they stated that they've seen them do their solos lots of times so they just wanted to watch their couples performances.

If you are following the show you know that last week it was the last time the dancers were with their partners as this week they'd be split up to be joined by the all-stars. In my recap of last week I stated how much I wanted to see Jakob, well I want to thank Fox for making that happen because Jakob was in fact an all-star in the show. I hope he'll be in the upcoming shows as well. I found out about this only 2 days ago and at work today my mind was always on what he did. I even wanted to check Youtube to catch a glimpse of it. I actually did but I didn't want to watch the dance at all, instead I just saw the reactions that the judges gave, standing ovation with lots of wow which got me even more excited. Thus when I finally got home, starting from the beginning of the show I literally kept yelling "Jakob" after every single performance because I got tired of all the waiting. Well I waited a lot during the show as well because he was the second last... Anyway I'll get there when it is time because there is a lot to say about this week's episode as it was filled with brilliant performances so I don't know where I am going to start. 

First performance of the night was a Doriana Sanchez disco routine. Disco is pretty difficult to like really and I realllllly dislike it :D It was danced by Amy and all-star Brandon. I don't even remember Brandon from previous seasons, he obviously didn't leave his mark on me, although the lifts in this routine were pretty difficult and he managed to do them all perfectly. Amy was really good as well. I really can't understand why they picked that particular song though. Mary wasn't happy with the song decision either because it simply didn't go well with the routine.

Second performance of the night was a pretty amazing one. I've always liked Stacey Tookey's choreographies but I'm starting to LOVE them now. Especially when they are danced with even more amazing dancers like Aaron and Kathryn. I simply can't see Aaron as a tapper anymore, it is just too difficult for me to imagine that and this is coming from someone with a pretty broad imagination. Kathryn can't act at all and we saw that in Step Up but she can DANCE!!!!!! It was even more surprising that Aaron kept up with her all the way, he was actually great. After I watched this routine I said to myself how undecided I am when it comes to my favourite male dancer in this season. First it was Fik-Shun and each week Aaron kept it up with him and after this I decided on Aaron to be my favourite but funny thing is Fik-Shun, who performed just after Aaron did, changed my mind again! But to be honest it's a strong tie between them, I still can't decide :D Anyway here is this beautiful contemporary number:

Up next was Fik-Shun who was joined by the winner of season 8 all-star Melanie. Melanie was my favourite dancer in season 8 and I always rooted for her to win so I was pretty happy when she won. Now it was great to see her again especially together with another favourite dancer of mine in this season. The result of this collaboration was fantastic. Fik-Shun can really do everything that is thrown at him. He was criticised by the judges for not having straight legs in the group performance at the start of the show but they gave him credit for fixing that in his performance with Melanie. They also noted how much he grew as a dancer.

After Fik-Shun, Paul along with all-star Witney took the stage with a crazy fun and fast Jean-Marc cha cha. It was home territory for Paul so I expected of him to be great at it and he really was. I stated numerous times before that I don't like ballroom but I loved this cha cha. It was definitely the best cha cha of the show in ALL of the seasons. Mary's reaction was priceless too, she also said Witney was born on the Hot Tamale Train. I definitely agree with that statement :D

First hip-hop of the night was danced by Hayley and Twitch and it was choreographed by Christopher Scott. I love Chris' pieces but I'm afraid I didn't enjoy this one tonight. It wasn't Chris' fault don't get me wrong. I just thought Hayley was pretty weak compared to Twitch. Well Twitch is Twitch but still with another dancer this could have been a fantastic routine. By the way I can't understand all the hype around Twitch, judges kept praising him, they didn't praise another all-star as much as like that ever. They hardly even acknowledged Jakob which enraged me. I sound like I am jealous but I am not, I am just mad.

Mandy Moore's break-up-themed contemporary was danced brilliantly by Neil and Jenna. I'm very happy to see Neil again, he is one of the best contemporary dancers on the show and he definitely upped Jenna's game too. And the performance, as the judges say a lot throughout the show, was effortless. There is a great chemistry between them considering it was the first time they ever met let alone dance together...

My wait for Jakob was finally nearing its end when Cat announced the two couples that were going to take the stage after Jenna and Neil. But it was Jasmine's turn first. Jasmine was paired up with all-star Marko for a Ray Leeper jazz piece. I think the routine was pretty interesting, there were also times when I couldn't differentiate between Jasmine and Marko which was the whole point of the show as they were supposed to be duplicates of each other. Jasmine's short hair helped too of course :D She was fantastic as always. Marko is insanely talented as well so I'm glad to see him again. After the judges' commentary I started screaming Jakob's name even more as it was finally his turn!!!

And finally it was time!!! I've always wanted to see Jakob as an all-star, he was one before but he was mainly a shadow (literally), he was behind a curtain so we couldn't watch his mesmerising ability to steal the stage and capture everyone's attention. You know how everyone keeps talking about Jasmine's legs and how if they could be reborn, they'd want to be one of her legs, I feel the same way about Jakob, his extensions are endless. So I was extra excited about this as I hoped I'd get to see more of him (hmm this sounds perverted I know but I don't mean it that way :P) Jakob partnered Makenzie in a broadway number choreographed by Spencer Liff. I'm crazy about Spencer Liff's work. So when you get two brilliant dancers like Jakob and Makenzie and a brilliant choreographer like Spencer Liff together of course the result you get wouldn't be short of brilliant! Actually it was perfection. I want to apologise to Makenzie but I couldn't watch her at all as my eyes kept going to Jakob. Actually for my eyes to get back to Jakob it'd mean that they were drawn away from him in the first place but they weren't so let me rephrase that, I want to apologise to Makenzie because my eyes couldn't STOP watching Jakob, well that sounds much better. Then I rewatched it again because I wanted to see how Makenzie performed, but well I ended up watching Jakob again. Then I watched it for the third time and I promised myself that I'd definitely watch Makenzie this time but then... hmm I watched Jakob again, well sue me he's my favourite dancer EVER on the show so how can I help myself?

I really would like to say that I think Jakob should have gotten more credit for being on the show as it is his second time ever to be an all-star. It was sad to see that he wasn't even acknowledged at all whereas Twitch was welcomed in such a way that the only things that appeared to be missing was a cake and some party hats that said "Welcome back Twitch" on them. Anyway, with only 1 routine left after this one, this dance immediately became my favourite in this week's show. However, silly me had no idea what would follow this one so before I talk about the final and possibly the best routine of the season let's enjoy this amazing performance of Jakob and Makenzie first.

After this routine I was still trying to catch my breath when the following routine literally HIT me! I wasn't even expecting something like this at all! The story, the dancing, the choreography, simply everything about this performance screamed perfection and excellence. It was definitely the best routine of the season so far, and one of the best routines of the show EVER. Of course I am talking about Travis Wall's contemporary piece performed by Tucker and Robert. Travis has got this great ability to be inspired by what happens to him or his loved ones to carry that into his work. The story was about him and his brother who hit "rock bottom". (Travis' brother Danny Tidwell was a runner-up in season 3 if you remember, he was actually my favourite dancer in that season and I was shocked when he didn't win the competition.) Travis was the rock for his brother to hold onto and this piece portrayed that perfectly. It was about a second chance at life, and having someone to hold onto.

Tucker was in an accident before he made it into the show, he was told by the doctors that he wouldn't be able to walk let alone dance because he was paralysed. But he made it back and he became this beautiful dancer in this show. Robert was also given a second chance at life to dance so both the dance and the story clicked well with them. Robert's reaction throughout the routine as well as after it was incredible. He was clearly still struck by what happened to him and he completely broke into tears after the dance ended. I applaud him for not letting his emotions get the better of him DURING the dance, and Tucker was really the rock in the piece. This was not one contestant one all-star performance, this was simply two all-stars dancing together. As Nigel said; "All the stars are aligned and it created this piece that will always be remembered on this show." Well all the stars are aligned for Tucker, Robert, Travis and Danny that night for sure!

Also I would like to make an important point here, sometimes they need to get that bloody audience to SHUT THE HELL UP! They completely ruined some of the parts for me. I really hate it when a piece like this is being performed and some of these show offs start screaming at the top of their lungs. Just shut up so we can enjoy it! I hope Danny will be better soon. My thoughts are with Robert as well. Anyway here is the video of this stunning performance. 

After all the dancers performed it was time to announce the dancers who had to leave the competition. Judges were unanimous to send Nico home. But as for females Nigel was outvoted by 9 to 6 to save Makenzie. So I'm afraid Makenzie had to go home as well. I was very upset by this as Makenzie was a great asset to the show and her performances have been nothing but perfect so far so I can't understand why. I thought it should have been Jenna. Nigel didn't want Makenzie to leave either but it doesn't matter now, I think it was unfair! Well anyway I've still got Jasmine :)

I believe this was the best top 10 show I have ever watched in all of 10 seasons and the bar is rising every single week now so I expect next week to be the best top 8 show in all of 10 seasons as well and so on. I hope Jakob will be in next week's show too :P