The results are in, and tonight we’ll find out who’ll be crowned this season’s winner. We’ll also revisit some of the season’s best performances, as well as seeing some special guest performances. There are lots of judges on the panel tonight as well. Among the usual Nigel Lythgoe, Mia Michaels and Adam Shankman, we’re also joined by Tyce Diorio, Kenny Ortega, Stacey Tookey and Mary Murphy.
 
The final group routine of the season is really, REALLY fun to watch. The entire top 11 and all of the all-stars get in on the action, and there’s a lot of action. We wish more of the group routines could be like this one.
 
After a recap of last night, it’s time to start seeing some of the judges’ favorite routines of the season. Below are some of the choices:

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This is the final performance night of the season, and our last chance to vote for our favorites. After a recap of the rest of the season, it’s time for things to get underway.
 
First up are Kent and Lauren with a Bollywood routine. The routine is about a couple who’s about to get married, but the guy is having second thoughts. There’s a great amount of energy, but after the first few seconds it becomes a bit disappointing. Lauren is the all-star, and really, she outshines Kent. It’s not bad, we just would have liked to see him highlighted a bit more. Our rating: 8/10
 
Lauren and Twitch’s hip hop is about people running for office. We’re not amused at all by the theme, and the choreography is really not much better. There’s nothing that really stands out. They dance well, and do a good job with what they’re given, but this is less than what we expect of a finale. Our rating: 5/10

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At the end of tonight’s show, we’ll know which three contestants are in this season’s finale. And for the first time this season, the elimination is based entirely on audience votes- the judges no longer have any say in what happens, and they cannot save anyone from elimination. We’ll also see guest performances by Janelle Monae, Desmond Richardson and Flo Rida.

The group performance choreographed by Dee Caspary is definitely not one of our favorites of the season. There’s so much going on all at once that we can’t really pay attention to any of it well enough to know what’s going on, or even to remember it by a few minutes into the show.

Next, we see some footage from National Dance Day and Nigel tells us a bit about next week’s finale. He’ll be tap dancing again. We’ll also see Twitch and Alex’s hip hop piece recreated, with a “dance legend” taking the place of Alex.

We’ve seen Janelle Monae perform on several other shows recently and she’s always sucked, so we don’t expect much from this one. Good thing- we don’t like to be disappointed. We kind of feel like we’re watching an episode of The Ed Sullivan Show gone horribly awry.

Lauren performs her solo. It’s good, but it’s the same thing she does every week. It just doesn’t stand out much.

This past week, the dancers visited the Gatorade Performance Labs. This season’s winner will become the first dancer to be featured in a Gatorade ad campaign.

Kent’s solo is really energetic and very exciting to watch. This is how a solo should be danced at this stage of the competition.

Cat brings the top 4 dancers to the stage to start revealing who’s in next week’s finale. The first person to make it is Lauren. No surprises there.

Adechike’s solo is not the best we’ve seen from him, but it’s different and interesting to watch. It’s a good performance.

Robert’s solo leaves us slack-jawed again. It’s almost painful to watch, but in such a good way. He’s absolutely fascinating, and this is one of the best solos we’ve seen from him all season.

More results- Kent is in the finale. Shock! Awe! Or, um, not.

Desmond Richardson performs in some pants that seem to be missing a leg. The whole thing strikes us as pretentious and ultimately boring. We’ve had enough ballet this season.

After some footage from the premiere of Step Up 3D, Flo Rida performs. Pretty much the only thing about this that’s even remotely interesting is that we get to see the all stars dance. Otherwise, we’re ready to find out the results already and just move on.

Finally… time to find out whether Robert or Adechike has earned the third spot in the finale! And it’s… ROBERT!!!!!! Adechike is eliminated.

Things are going to go down a bit differently this week. Since no one was eliminated last week, two dancers will be cut this week. But the good news is, no one is injured this week, for the first time in nearly a month! Also, we’re joined tonight by guest judge Toni Redpath.
 
Kent is up first in the all-star round. He’s partnered with Anya for a cha cha. He’s done this before, but this one is a big improvement. We’re really impressed with his presence- he seems so much more mature than he usually does! This goes really well, and we’re excited for Kent. Our rating: 9/10
 
Robert is once again joined by Kathryn for a contemporary piece about a soldier going off to war. The emotion here is beautiful, and we never want this to end. There’s really nothing else to say, besides that we love the twist at the end. This is pretty much perfection. Our rating: 10/10

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Tonight’s group performance of “All That Jazz” is really badly destroyed by the terrible rendition of the song. We’re so busy thinking about how awful it is that we kind of forget to actually watch the dancing.
 
Before things get underway, Nigel announces that Denise Jefferson, the director of the Ailey school, has passed away. She taught there for ten years and was appointed director in 1984. There’s a quick tribute to her to start off the show.
 
Right down to business. Again, Billy is automatically in the bottom three tonight because he was injured and unable to perform last night. The remaining five dancers will now find out who’s joining him- and it’s not Lauren or Kent. They’re both safe.
 
The American Ballet Theatre performs. Why are the guest performers always ballet dancers this season? We get that it requires a lot of training and stamina- however, it gets really boring seeing pretty much the same thing week after week.

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For the third week in a row, a dancer is injured and unable to perform tonight. This week, it’s Billy. His doctors have told him it’s okay to dance if he feels he can, but he’s decided to sit out and let himself heal. This means he will automatically be in the bottom three for this week’s results.
 
Tonight, besides seeing performances, we’ll also be hearing from the dancers’ families. This should be fun, and maybe it’ll distract us from Cat’s unusually hideous outfit. Oh, and there’s also a special guest judge- Kenny Ortega.
 
Lauren is up first tonight with a hip hop routine. She’ll be joined by Twitch. She manages to nail all the choreography, but it comes across as really awkward and forced. We’re not convinced, but it could be worse. Our rating: 6/10

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Thankfully, the group performance tonight is a vast improvement upon last week. It’s a Broadway piece choreographed by Tyce Diorio, and we really like the “classic” feel to it. Everyone handles this very well. Hopefully we can stick with the performances that are fun to watch from now on, because last week was a hot mess.
 
An update on National Dance Day, which takes place July 31st. Tabitha and Napoleon have choreographed an official routine for the day, and people are now sending their videos to the show. The best ones will be chosen and aired each week. There will also be a flash mob performing the dance in Los Angeles.
 
Kent and Lauren are the first two dancers to learn their results. Not surprisingly, they’re both safe.
 
Two kids from Mary Murphy’s ballroom academy perform. They’re 10 and 11 years old, and taking that into consideration, they’re amazing! It’s really fun to see something like this on the show. What a great opportunity for such young dancers! Maybe we’ll see them on the show as contestants someday.

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Tonight’s results show starts with a Mia Michaels piece about angels, featuring boys in dresses and halter tops. The ridiculous costumes completely detract from the dancing, which isn’t all that good in the first place. Definitely not one of the better group performances we’ve seen.
 
As we learned last night, Alex was injured during rehearsals this week and was unable to perform. This means he’s automatically in the bottom three, and if he survives tonight and is still unable to perform next week, he’ll be eliminated from the competition.

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It’s that time again! Tonight, the top 9 compete for our votes and try to avoid the bottom three. Also, we’ll see all 9 contestants dance solos tonight.
 
Adechike starts the night off with his partner, Lauren. They dance a Dave Scott hip hop routine, which means they’re actually dancing jazz to a hip hop song. But besides the choreography, the whole attitude seems wrong. Everything is peppy and happy and bouncy, and just seems very contrived. We’re not impressed. Our rating: 5/10
 
Ashley’s partner is Ade, and they’re dancing a contemporary piece. It has a nice ethereal quality and is incredibly graceful. In fact, it’s the best we’ve seen Ashley so far this season. This is incredibly impressive. Our rating: 9/10
 
The first solo of the night comes from Billy. It’s very unique and fun to watch. We really like him. This solo definitely does not disappoint, and sets the bar for everyone else. Our rating: 9/10

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Last night they performed for our votes, and tonight spells doom for one more dancer. But first, a group performance choreographed by Sonya Tayeh. We would have guessed it was actually Wade Robson choreography, just because it’s so off-the-wall. But it’s a lot of fun to watch.
 
For the first round of results, Cristina, Adechike and Kent are called to the stage. Kent gets his results first, since he’s pretty much the most obvious- he’s safe. Adechike is also safe, which means Cristina is in the bottom three. Which is ridiculous, considering she was one of the best last night. We’re beginning to think Nigel’s fear of all the girls being eliminated before any of the guys may actually happen.
 
The next group to get their results is Jose, Melinda, Ashley and Alex. Alex and Jose are both safe, which isn’t a big surprise to us. Ashley is thankfully also safe, which means Melinda is in the bottom three. Hooray! We can’t stand her.

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