[caitlin1214]

As Fox's jubilee of fancy footwork prepares to crown its new winner, we count down the show's most impressive performances


By Adam B. Vary
(EW.com)







15. Blake & Melody's Lyrical
Season 1, Top 8, Sept. 14, 2005


Watching this routine now, what's most striking is how at home it would've felt in the three seasons that followed it. Well, except for the lack of a ''behind-the-scenes'' package with choreographer Tovaris Wilson, the designation of the dance as ''lyrical'' instead of ''contemporary,'' the absence of comments from the judges, and the presence of original host Lauren Sánchez. But the dancing, so open and passionate — that still impresses.

[caitlin1214]

14. Chelsie & Joshua's Argentine Tango
Season 4, Top 8, July 23, 2008
When I solicited suggestions for this list from my colleagues, Annie Barrett — a.k.a. EW.com's resident Dancing with the Stars fanatic and general on-staff dancing connoisseur — submitted this number. I could go on about how it further solidified Joshua's standing as a freakishly talented chameleon able to adapt to most any style thrown his way, but instead, I'll just quote the message that accompanied Annie's nomination, since it uses what looks like official dancing lingo:
''I thought Joshua and Chelsie's Argentine tango was INCREDIBLE. Slowing it down to 2/3 time to focus on footwork and seduction made it that much special-er.''
Amen, Annie. Amen.

[caitlin1214]

13. Pasha & Sara's West Coast Swing
Season 3, Top 14, July 11, 2007
''Oh, jeebus,'' we all (or, at least I) thought. ''Benji is choreographing a West Coast swing number. And poor Pasha and Sara have just started working as partners, too. What kind of mugging hot mess is this gonna be?'' Turns out the joke was on us (or just me). The season 2 SYTYCD champion pulled out all his signature moves — the shoe slide, the double cartwheel — but it was Pasha and Sara (i.e., the breaker who was not supposed to be able to do this) that brought the number home, performing as if they'd been swing dancing together for years and keeping the energy dialed to 11 without ever showing us the effort.

[caitlin1214]

12. Lacey & Kameron's Contemporary
Season 3, Top 20, June 13, 2007
In hindsight, there's actually not much to this Mia Michaels routine: Lacey's apparently upset, and she flails around a lot, and Kameron basically just tries to keep her from flailing off the stage (when he's not flailing himself). But it's all such artful flailing, opening with such an arresting image — Lacey collapsed in Kameron's arms as she raises her crooked, quivering arms to the sky — that you can't help but be immediately sucked in, right up to Lacey's climatic leap into Kam Kam's arms. Put it this way: I was on vacation in China when this episode aired, and two separate people sent me the YouTube link of it the next day (or, um, the day before, or something — the time difference was confusing); even in the temporal and particulate haze of Shanghai, I knew this was a dance people were going to remember.

[helpl!!! slush]

oh oh more!!! :) thank you for posting these YAAY!

[caitlin1214]

11. Travis & Benji's Hip-Hop
Season 2, Top 4, Aug. 9, 2006
A perfect example of showmanship trumping technique. You could pick apart this first-time partnership between the final season 2 male dancers, Travis and Benji (i.e., Tranji), 'cause, with all respect to choreographer Shane Sparks, their dancing is a wee bit o' the mess. But why would you want to when it's just so much fun to watch them transform from nerds to crotch-thrusting, assisted-somersaulting studs?

[caitlin1214]

10. Nick & Melody's Broadway
Season 1, Top 6, Sept. 21, 2005
Any doubt as to why Nick and Melody came in first and second, respectively, in SYTYCD's first season is washed away after witnessing these ha-cha-cha slinky steps from choreographer Tyce Diorio. And I can't be certain, but from the looks on judges Nigel Lythgoe and Mia Michaels' faces, I'd say the couple also fostered the debut of the iconic Mary Murphy scream. We won't hold it against them.

[caitlin1214]

9. Katee & Joshua's Bollywood
Season 4, Top 12, July 9, 2008
Just when STYTCD was beginning to feel lousy with uninspired routines that felt like warmed over versions of dances from previous seasons, out came this thrilling breath of fresh air from Bollywood choreographer Nakul Dev Mahajan. Of course, I don't quite know how the judges are supposed to seriously critique a Bollywood number, and, indeed, Mary Murphy seemed at such a loss for words that she veered dangerously close to Paula territory with this mind-blowing apothegm: ''On this stage, we have one rule. Heart. Soul. Equals stardom.'' And yet, with all the natural heart and soul Katee and Joshua poured into this routine, somehow Mary made a crazy kind of sense, especially considering these two were the only original couple to make the season four finals — and two spots on this list. (Oooo! Foreshadowing!)

[caitlin1214]

8. Jaimie & Hok's Jazz
Season 3, Top 16, June 27, 2007
Quirky? Sure. Effective? Totally. Choreographer Wade Robson was quick to note that it was less a ''jazz'' routine than ''my version of a ballet,'' with Hok cast as a flitting hummingbird trying to seduce the blooming flower played by Jaimie. The piece turned out so beguiling that it felt like an excerpt from a professional company's concert than a piece on a reality dancing competition, and neither dancer was ever quite able to equal it again.

[caitlin1214]

7. Mark & Chelsie's Hip-Hop
Season 4, Top 16, June 25, 2007
Readers of my SYTYCD TV Watch this season already know about the warm, well-upholstered spot in my heart for Mark, and this is the routine that put it there. Which is actually kinda odd, since it's really quite bittersweet: A heartsick woman (Chelsie) tries to keep her workaholic (Mark) lover from leaving, but instead he steals her heart and then walks out the door. One of the biggest complaints about season 4 is the time the judges spent heaping endless praise upon the choreographers rather than discussing the dancers, but in the case of hip-hop choreographers Napoleon and Tabitha Dumo (i.e., NapTab, just 'cause), that praise was well deserved. The couple brought a lyrical storytelling sensibility to their routines that transformed hip-hop from hard-hitting abstract steps to something far more emotionally engaging — along with Mark, they're my favorite SYTYCD discoveries this year.

[caitlin1214]

6. Danny & Lacey's Samba
Season 3, Top 10, July 25, 2007
Sexy. Sultry sexiness. Sensual syncopation of a sexological nature. ''Hip hip, chin chin'' went the music, and beat beat beat went our hearts (and, er, other regions) when Danny and Lacey first partnered on this number choreographed by another season 2 alum (and certified SYTYCD Casanova), Dmitry Chaplin. I'd like to define just how hot this number was, but since scientists have apparently yet to settle on a measurement for the hottest temperature in the universe, I don't think it's even possible. But I can, at least, note this: The heretofore supercilious Danny had been a fixture in the show's bottom 3 for the previous three weeks, but after so expertly moving those hips in this number, he never appeared there again.

[caitlin1214]

5. Allison & Ivan's Contemporary
Season 2, Top 12, July 12, 2006
After this performance, judge Nigel Lythgoe apologized to Allison for not spending more time lauding her consistently fluid, expressive work, because for him the whole number was about Ivan. The baby-faced B-boy barely stumbled through a salsa in his first week, so watching his fluid, expressive work in this Tyce Diorio routine a mere three weeks later was indeed literally like watching the boy transform into a man right before our eyes. Of course, it was easy to forget that Ivan wouldn't have looked nearly as good without a peerless partner like Allison — which is perhaps why Ivan ultimately lasted one week longer than her on the show.

[helpl!!! slush]

eh i wouldnt have put mark and chelsie's hip hop in a top anything, it was good but i duno if it was that good,,,

[caitlin1214]

4. Heidi & Benji's Mambo
Season 2, Top 8, July 26, 2006
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Heidi and Benji are cousins and have danced together practically their entire lives, and the mambo is itself a cousin to the couple's West Coast swing style, so the deck was stacked incredibly in their favor from the get-go blah blah blah…this dance frakking rocked. Alex Da Silva threw trick after trick at these two — Heidi starting off as a human belt, Benji dropping under Heidi's legs in a split, Heidi spinning underneath Benji's leg — and they pulled it all off with effortless aplomb. Pure entertainment.

[oxyoxy136]

Oh...the Hummingbird routine is one of my absolute favorites.