Hip Hop Street Dancer Wins So You Think You Can Dance
Last night’s 2 hour finale of So You Think You Can Dance wasn’t the typical fluff-filled, make you wait til the last minute to find anything out kind of season ender. The top 20 returned and all danced together to a hard-hitting Shane Sparks routine (He’s been MIA all season as he worked on Randy Jackson’s America’s Best Dance Crew). Among other highlights of the action-packed finale was the first ever televised popping battle between Phillip Chbeeb and Robert Muraine. Robert won in a 5-1 decision and I definitely agree with that choice. He is sick with it! The six judges on the panel included Debbie Allen, who had to step down this year because she was phenom contestant Will’s mentor. Each judge chose 2 of their favorite dances from throughout the entire season to see performed again. Among them was one of my personal favorites, “The Door” featuring Katee and Twitch to the song “Mercy” by Duffy. Notably missing was Twitch and Kherington’s routine done completely on and around a huge tilted bed on stage, but we did see them dance the beautiful piece to Celine Dion’s “A New Day Has Come”, choreographed by Jean Marc Generaux for his daughter.
“Hot Tamale Train” screaming judge Mary Murphy and season 2 contestant Dmitry performed a ballroom number, while judge and executive producer Nigel Lythgoe participated in a tap dance piece with some of Debbie Allen Dance Academy’s youngest students. Cirque de Soleil performed a routine from their Criss Angel: Believe show, choreographed by the insanely creative Wade Robson. The Jonas Brothers also sang one of their latest singles. There was a video catching us up on what our favorite dancers from seasons past are doing, followed by a “Best of So You Think You Can Dance” number. However, the one person absent from the finale that I looked forward to seeing most was Sabra, winner of Season 3. She hasn’t been seen at all this year… I will do some investigating on that and get back with you.
It only took an hour to get to the first eliminated contestant, Courtney Galiano, a Long Island native who was a definite underdog to even make it to the final 4. Fifteen minutes later, Katee Shean was cut, and gasps were heard throughout America. Not only was she one of the most technically beautiful dancers the show had ever seen, she was by far the best dancer left. This year they gave an award to the best female and male dancer, which they quite obviously just made up so Katee wouldn’t leave empty-handed. Though she should have left with top honors, she did receive $50,000. Not too shabby.
With five minutes left in the show, it was down to the two hip-hoppers with hardly any dance training. No street dancer had ever made it to the finale and no one could have ever predicted these would be the top two. After almost 60 million votes, a crowd favorite, Stephen “Twitch” Boss came in second as Joshua Allen, a Fort Worth native took home the grand prize. Along with $250,000, he won a feature role in Adam Shankman’s new movie, Step Up:3D. Joshua has been a humble, yet amazing dancer all season long, blowing the lid off any expectations people had of him. It was so nice to see the top two on stage, so honored to be there and so proud of each other. Congratulations to each of them!
POSTED BY: Eva Elise
Related Posts
DROP A COMMENT BELOW
