So You Think You Can Dance Season 8 Top 20

America's 20 Favorite Dancers... this year

 

This seems like a good place to start...

So You Think You Can Dance revealed it's Top 20 for Season 8 tonight. Ever adapting the show's format, this year the Top 20 were revealed and then performed on stage one group at time. It saved some time combining the drama of the reveal and the non-competition performance special that was introduced last season. Plus, instead of awkward home visits, the dance hopefuls were thankfully placed back in their holding room to wait to face the panel of judges. (Maybe Nigel didn't want to risk getting lost again in Wapakoneta!) 

There weren't many heartbreaks in the choosing of the Top 20. Probably the most upsetting for me was seeing Natalia Mallory go. I know it would've been complicated, but that girl was remarkable and she brought it every time. She's definitely an inspiration. 

I was happy to see her sister, Sasha, put through though. At least one of them made it. My other favorite is probably tap dancer Nick. Did they not show him to us before, or am I only now noticing how adorable he is? I thought I liked his genre counterpart, Broadway dancer Jess, but something about the number tonight created an association with Peewee Herman. 

I would watch out for seductress Jordan Casanova, though. She killed the Sonya Tayeh jazz number. And props go to Iveta for finally making it through. Well deserved. I was also pleasantly surprised with the four hip hop dancers, though I would have loved at least one female hip-hop dancer... maybe Sasha counts.

Another welcome return was the Top 20 format itself. Though the All-Star format did push the dancers to be better last year, I was with most of the fans in missing the chemistry of such combinations as Season 6's Kathryn and Legacy, Season 4's Katee and Joshua, and Season 5's Brandon and Janette. I'm happy with the compromise for this year- pairings for the Top 20, and All-Stars for the Top 10. 

Even the stage is better, without the obnoxious lighting of the previous stage. My main complaint for the evening was the camera work. It felt more difficult to watch the dances than I am used to with the show. Maybe they are getting used to the new stage, maybe it was just that they were large group numbers... either way they better figure that out by next week.

Photo courtesy of TVguide.com