SYTYCD 9 -- Vegas Week

You really saw just how good these dancers have to be to make it into the Top 20. I was wondering how some of the more memorable and talented Hip Hop dancers would make it when they were given other people's choreography and had to dance different styles from their own, and the answer was not very well.

Nigel and Mary were joined by Tyce, Debbie Allen, Adam and Lil C as the judges. If you watched this episode and then saw celebrities on Dancing With The Stars whining about having to learn two dances in a week's time, you really can't feel sorry for after watching these dancers have to lure dance after dance in a number of hours, some even having to stay up all night learning the routine. It really was an intensive elimination process that went from 200 dancers down to 35.

Some of the brilliant and innovative hip hoppers fell by the wayside pretty early in the competition. Hampton, whose dance routine brought you to tears during his audition, had never been choreographed and just couldn't do it. He gave up and told the judges this just wasn't for him. The Dragon House dancers who were all equally and uniquely impressive couldn't handle the choreography, either. Of the three, only Cyrus managed to survive all the rounds, though he struggled. At one point he even had to dance for his life and the judges saved him from elimination.

Danielle, the girl with the bacon diet had quite an arduous adventure during the various rounds. She got paired dancing with someone she was trying to help, but who she felt was negatively affecting her dancing. Then after making it through the round, she agreed to be the partner for someone else and he literally kicked her in the head while they were dancing. She had to be taken to the hospital for several hours for observation. When she came back all the dancers had formed into groups for the group dance and she got one group to take her in, but it negatively affected the dance they had planned and Danielle was ultimately eliminated and sent home.

Someone that got more chances than I kind of felt she deserved, as none of the other dancers were given as much chances as she was, was Alexa. You have to wonder since Adam mentioned it, if it isn't because of her looks she was given so many chances. Alexa was cut last year before making it to the Top 20. Adam complains she shows no light when she dances and he's sick of saving her because of her beauty. Nigel also seemed to grow tired of her as he went against the other judges and didn't want to give her another chance. Eventually she cried on stage and it seemed to be a breakthrough for her as the judges suddenly felt she was putting emotion in her dance and she made it to the Top 35.

Teddy, who is a Vegas vet, was very bitter when he got cut. He didn't know what the judges wanted from him, and he vowed he was done with the show and would never come back.

Rachel aka the Stripper Dancer [she calls is burlesque] got cut during the jazz round, but she refused to go gently into that dark night. The judges agreed to let her dance for her life. Once again she thought sex would sell. The way she was dressed she looked like she belonged on a stripper pole. Debbie tells her that her whole appeal is based on sex. Rachel declares she's a star and she'll be back. You may be back, but you'll be cut again, if you don't take some dancing lessons and get away your bumping and grinding that belongs in a strip club.

I think Rachel was the former wallflower. She seems to have gone from one extreme to the next. She needs to find a middle ground. Sex sells in a strip club, not a professional dancing competition.

Amelia, who I honestly don't remember from the auditions, also has to fight for her life. She does a stunning dance when she's choreographing it. But when she's being choreographed she can't do it. Nigel says she needs to learn to embrace other people's dances the same way she does her own.

Aubrey [who is a ballet dancer] choreographs a great group dance to the point the judges praise her as a mini Mia Michaels. She's devastated when she's later cut from the competition during the Ballroom Round.

Joshua [who I also don't remember] makes it through the Contemporary Round. But he does something stupid. He's trying to come up with some new trick to show the judges when he performs his solo and he falls and bangs his head on the floor. Like Danielle, he's taken away in an ambulance. The question is has he cost himself a place in the Top 20?

Other memorable dancers that didn't make the cut: The guy who did the Preying Mantis routine. Mariah the Krumper. The guy who Mary came to his house to tell in person he didn't make it the last time he was on the show.

The interesting thing about the dancers who were so unique and brilliant in their own genre, they just couldn't do another. Maybe they're not supposed to. Maybe they're so brilliant in their own genre because that's the type of dancing they're meant to do and they shouldn't try to translate that into other dance types.

I was actually hoping the Top 20 would be picked this week. They got the number down to 35 dancers and from that group, 15 will be cut. I'm just wondering since the show is planning to have both a male and female winner and Nigel said they were basing who made it and who didn't on talent, if there will be 10 men and 10 women like usual. Or it'll be the Top 20 based on who they feel is the best dancer, filling the required gender spots be damned? It should be interesting to find out.