"SYTYCD" Season 9 Favorites

September 17, 2012

Today is the day! Before long we’ll crown our two (two!) “So You Think You Can Dance” champions! We’ll know who’ll be on our December cover! It’s finally happening! I’m so excited that I overdid it a little on the caffeine this morning!

But really: This should be a fantastic finale episode, right? And DS editor in chief Alison Feller and managing editor Rachel Zar will be there in person to see how it all goes down. Follow us on Twitter to catch their tweets from L.A. tonight during the show!

In honor of the fantastic four finalists, I thought I’d round up my top four routines from this season. Then I started browsing and discovered I couldn’t, just couldn’t, stop at four. So, without further ado, here are my top seven routines:

Eliana and Alex—contemporary by Stacey Tookey. I mean, when they paired these two technical powerhouses, we knew something magical was going to happen. Did we know it’d be this magical? Nuh uh. Bravo, guys.

Eliana and Chehon—ballet by Marat Daukayev. Two very classy ballet dancers doing some very classical ballet? YES PLEASE.

Chehon and Kathryn—contemporary by Tyce Diorio. Tyce’s stuff is generally far too cheesalicious for me. But Chehon’s emotional connection to this “suitcase” piece made what could have been a bit melodramatic feel honest.

Tiffany and Brandon—disco by Doriana Sanchez. Any time there’s a Doriana Sanchez disco on the lineup, you know you’re in for a good time. This particular routine takes everything that’s awesome about Tiffany and turns it up to top volume. And those insane PANTS! Love, love, love.

Tiffany and George—contemporary by Sonya Tayeh. (George! I miss George.) A beautiful, heartfelt routine with a bit of Sonya quirkiness to stop it short of saccharine.

Tiffany and Cyrus—lyrical hip hop by Tessandra Chavez. Clean, musical, hard-hitting, passionate—it’s reminiscent of Chelsea and Mark’s showstopping “Bleeding Love” routine from Season 4. And that is high praise right there, people.

Cyrus’s Top 4 solo. OK, yes, it’s not a routine. But when it comes down to it, “SYTYCD” choreography doesn’t really mesh with Cyrus’ unique skills. Only when he’s doing his own thing can you see just what a BEAST this boy is.

 

Well look at that. Going into this, I thought I was an Eliana girl all the way—and who ends up on top of my roundup? Tiffany! Just one of many signs that this contest could still go in any direction—which is just one of many reasons I can’t wait for tonight. Another reason? Three words: Carly. Rae. Jepsen.

Tune in tomorrow for our recap of what promises to be an epic finale!