After the likes of Bleeding Love, the door dance, Joshua/Katie, and the bed dance of season 4, I skeptically tuned in to watch the Top 20 perform on Wednesday. Well, these dancers did not disappoint! The very first couple slammed on the floor with a lyrical Napoleon and Tabitha hip hop number. Executed beautifully by Phillip and Jeanine, the story relates the ecclesiastical saying, “Don’t let the sun go down on your anger.” What makes it even more unbelievable is Jeanine’s lack of experience doing hip-hop. In true Chelsea Hightower fashion, she nailed it. And Philip, well, I’d be surprised if he’s not in the top 4.

I’ll just highlight a few dances ranked for your reading pleasure. You can watch for yourself at the SYTYCDism.com. Everything you’d ever want to know is on that blog. I’ll just tell you the good parts.

So, Rank 1, Philip/Jeanine. Rank 2, Kayla/Max. Again, Kayla has no ballroom experience and looked like an expert doing the samba. I think it is incredible to have a week to learn a dance and then make it look like you’ve been dancing like that forever. This is Max’s genre and you can tell why.

Rank 3, Evan/Randi. Evan and Randi are a unique couple because, as we found out in the pre-dance shoot, Randi is married and Evan is humorous. I often wonder how dancers do it; these dances can be so romantic with lots of touching. Randi let us know she was uncomfortable acting “in love” with Evan and Evan said, “well, I’m a little worried because I don’t know how big Randi’s husband is.” But for all their worries, this Mandy Moore contemporary ballad looked like the most natural first love experience. Can’t wait to see Evan and Randi tackle hip hop.

Rank 4, Jason/Caitlin. Bollywood uses every facet of a dancers body and skill. Fingers and feet all have their place in this fast-paced combination of traditional Indian dance and hip hop. Joshua and Katie nailed the introduction to Bollywood last season, but they’d been dancing together 4 weeks at that point. This was the FIRST dance for Jonathan and Caitlin. Caitlin did a handstand with her feet pointing to opposite walls. She must have held that handstand for 30 seconds. Incredible. I hope they use Bollywood sparingly, however, because I think it will lose it’s appeal if attempted every week.

Rank 5, Melissa/Ade. Melissa is the oldest contestant, a whole 29 years. But they paired her rightly with Ade, a powerhouse dancer. Both of these trained dancers contain the ability to go far this season. Their chemistry really worked and their lines compliment each other. Not to mention, Ade hoisted her up with nary an effort, flipping her from back to front while Melissa kept the splits in true form.

Rank 6, Brandon/Janette. Now getting the foxtrot on any round can be close to a death sentence. It is just so boring for me. That and the quick step do not have enough fun in them. But it will take a lot more for Brandon to lose. He is an amazing dancer. He exuded the calm air of Fred Astair while Janette, the Cuban hot, salsa dancer, eased into her Ginger with all the coldness required of that role. I look forward to seeing real choreography from this couple in the future.

These rank as the most memorable dances of the first night with Season 5’s Top 20. On Thursday, the bottom three couples consisted of Vitolio/Asuka, Jonathan/Kayla, and Tony/Paris (none of my favorites from above *wink*). From the solos performed, Vitolio and Jonathan stood out for me. We do need to see more of them. The women all seemed the same and will really have to prove themselves in the coming weeks.

The only other draw that is almost certain death is getting your genre and failing it. That’s what happened to Tony. He drew hip hop and although, Napoleon and Tabitha produced kickin’ choreography, the fight wasn’t there. Paris didn’t seem connected to Tony at all. As a result, this is the first couple eliminated Thursday night.

Now, we’re down to 18, 9 couples. Who will survive another week and who will blow us away? Tune in next week!

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If you’re new to So You Think You Can Dance, here’s a little course to catch you up-to-date. First off, I know that’s a stupid and rather long name for a show, but once you tune in, you’ll fall in love with the dancers and forget about that silly name. This season marks the fifth search for America’s favorite dancer. Because this is the fifth season, the competition is fierce.

Thousands of professionally trained and self-trained dancers flock to tryout for this show. Auditions held all over the country weed out the good from the best. Typically, a dancer performs once in front of the shows two standard judges, Nigel Lithgow, SYTYCD producer and dancer, and Mary Murphy, ballroom expert. There will always be a guest judge, usually one of the choreographers or someone like Debbie Allen. The dancer will either be sent straight to Vegas for the second round, sent to choreography or sent home. Dancers sent to choreography can show off their range of skill by learning a short choreography by one of the season’s choreographers in a few short hours. Then, the group will perform in front of the judges and either move on to Vegas or go home. You’re getting the idea now. In Vegas, all the dancers go through rigorous routines to find out who will be the Top 20 dancers, chosen ultimately by the judges (not by votes like American idol).

The producers pair the 20 dancers by stature to create the best couples, ie, the shortest guy will usually be paired with the shortest girl, etc. These determined couples will then dance together for 5 weeks, picking a dance genre from a hat each week. They could pick Fox Trot, Paso Doble, Hip Hop, Krump, Salsa, ChaCha, Contemporary, Jazz, etc. Every Wednesday, the dancers dance for America’s votes and every Thursday we’re treated to a group dance. The bottom three couples (who received the least amount of votes) dance “for their lives” with solo performances. The judges then pick which two dancers will go home. If a couple goes home, nothing changes. But if one dancer from two couples goes home, the two dancers left will be paired up, which can produce some interesting pairs.

When 10 dancers have been eliminated, the 10 dancers left will then pick a dancer and a genre out of the hat for the following week. At this point, we can determine which dancer’s can really dance and which dancer’s partners have been a crutch. The judges cannot save anyone after this point, either. It’s all up to America.

The choreographers hail from the very best in their genres. You’ll get to know Napoleon and Tabitha, Mandy Moore and Mia Michaels, Wade Robson, Shane Sparks, Lil C, and many more.  Each week, we’re treated to original dances. You’ll soon learn some choreographers tailor dances to the dancers and some only care about his/her choreography (*cough*Tyce*cough).

Even though the judges can be over the top, there’s no snurky Simon, or prozac Paula to take away from the dancing. And even though the judges will show favoritism, America usually gets it right in the end!

Quick season recap:

Season 1: I really have no idea; I was seriously missing out.

Season 2: Ok, starting to get familiar: Winner, Benji, the infamous bench dance.

Season 3: Totally hooked! Winner, Sabre, the conference room table dance with Sabre/Neal.

Season 4: Obsessed. Winner, Joshua and Katie. (Katie was so good they included top male/top female so Katie could win, too!) Joshua and Katie never messed up once. But then there was Twitchington, Chelsea/Mark’s Bleeding Love and Courtney/Gev. The talent was insane.

Season 5: Just started and I’ve committed to letting you know the best and worse each week here at Metroglow. Tune in every Friday to hear my expert analysis (and by expert I mean, no dance experience at all).

So You Think You Can Dance airs every Wednesday/Thursday on Fox. Check your local listings at fox.com/dance. We’ll see you next week!

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It’s Tuesday again, which means we’re smack in the middle of a new work week. To help you get through it, we’ve selected Emergency Meeting at the Cadbury Egg Company to remind you that your boss may not be so bad after all. Enjoy!

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