And we’re back! After a two-week hiatus, So You Think You Can Dance Season 18 is finally moving on to the main portion of the competition. When we last tuned in, Comfort, Allison, and Max congratulated the Top 10 for making it through the auditions. Now, with the new panel of judges and a fresh Top 10, Season 18 is underway. Read on for our full recap of the music video round.
The Judges
While Comfort Fedoke was one of the three judges making decisions through the first four episodes of Season 18 of SYTYCD, the official judges’ panel for this season doesn’t include the hip hop icon. Allison Holker, Max Chmerkovskiy, and JoJo Siwa, with their combined knowledge of professional and technical dance as well as the dance entertainment industry, will give their feedback to the Top 10 and choose a winner this season.
New Challenges
The show opened with a group number to “Don’t Start Now” by Dua Lipa. The denim-clad Top 10 showed off their hip hop and jazz funk moves (with a dash of their own personal styles). The judges joined the performance for the end of this performance choreographed by Luther Brown.
Cat broke the news to the Top 10 that this isn’t your average season of SYTYCD. While there will be performances happening on the stage, that is not where the competition will take place. The dancers will compete “in the real world” with choreographers who may be potential jobs for future professional jobs. After each challenge, the bottom performers will have to dance from their lives for an elimination each week.
The first week of the competition wasn’t just the beginning of new challenges for the Top 10. They were moving in together! Turns out the first challenge was deciding how they would divide themselves into shared rooms in the Guys’ and girls’ houses. Moved in and optimistic, the first challenge of the season was a music video. Working with choreographers Luther Brown or Phillip and MacKenzie Chbeeb in two randomly selected groups.
Phillip and Mackenzie’s Group (Contemporary)
Working on a reimagined Justin Beiber video choreographed by Phillip and Mackenzie, Avery, Dakayla, Braylon, Roman, and Jaylin learned to work with a ladder to show emotions that capture the support of important relationships. The technical work paired with a bulky prop made shotting this video difficult and reminded the dancers how important technique and synchronicity are. Despite his stress that he wouldn’t thrive in contemporary, Max commented that he was “blossoming” during the shoot.
Luther’s Team (Hip Hop)
Luther’s team got to work on a new version of the video for Lizzo’s music video “Juice.” Olivia, Mariyah, Madison, Easton, Anthony had to bring the right emotions and work ethic to impress Luther and bring it all together. Filming in a white box, they danced together before shooting solos. While some, like Mariyah, Easton, and Anthony, wowed, others, like Olivia, struggled to get it just right.
The Results
The judges presented quick feedback to each dancer after screening each team’s video.
Avery had a wow moment in the Justin Beiber video, but Allison didn’t think she was consistent. Max also thought that Braylon took too long to find the choreography even though it was in his style. “Dakayla!” JoJo shouted her feedback. “I think you were the star of this music video,” she said, but she didn’t think Dakayla believed that. Max refused to give feedback to Jaylin who did such a good job in so far outside of his comfort zone. Roman received praise from Allison for being “adaptable” and “teachable.”
For Allison, Anthony was a natural part of Luther’s new “Juice” video. JoJo seemed to have a lot of enthusiasm for Easton, but she wanted to him letting lose more. Allison felt the same about Madison’s performance. Mariyah caused disagreement between Max, who thought Mariyah was a bit “soft” on the movements, while Allison shared she gave her “Luther vibes all day.” Olivia’s struggle to let go of her Broadway sensibilities was obvious to JoJo, but benefited her in Max’s opinion.
Braylon, Avery, Olivia, and Easton were revealed to be in the Bottom 4.
Elimination
In classic, SYTYCD fashion, the Bottom 4 dancers had to perform solos for a last chance to secure their spot in the next round of the competition. Easton performed an emotional and fluid contemporary solo the judges were obsessed with. Avery followed with a fast-paced pointe routine. Olivia brought a passionate and emotive performance to the stage. Braylon performed the final solo of the week, a determined and complex contemporary moment that brought him to tears.
After four incredible solos, the judges had to decide who would go home. While the expectation may have been an elimination of one guy and one girl, Allison’s announcement that Easton and Braylon would stay while Olivia and Avery went home shocked the crowd.
Next week, the Top 8 return for a Broadway challenge at 9 pm ET on FOX.
