The contestants are back to show off their dance skills in this episode of So You Think You Can Dance Next Generation, and this week the top 8 becomes the top 6 as two are eliminated. The show started with the all stars and the contestants performing to “Ain’t Playing With Ya” by District 78. The piece featured the dancers dressed as clowns and toys and was an amazing way to start.
Emma and Gaby were first up to perform a tap dance to “Walk Like An Egyptian” by The Puppini Sisters. The piece showed off Gaby and Emma’s skills by shining a spotlight and letting them tap their way through the performance on their own at one part, with Emma showing she could absolutely keep up.
Emma and Tate were matched up to perform as if they are two students stuck in detention. While the judges agreed the style was out of their comfort zone, they mostly all agreed that it was not their best performance at this point.
Tate and Kathryn performed as a daughter who grew up without her birth mother who is now wanting to reconnect. Travis Wall said the choreography was something he normally would only teach to those 18 and over. The judges recognized the difficulty of the dance and the emotion involved and were completely captured by it.
Tahani and Comfort brought their emotion to their piece, starting off by dancing side by side with a wall in between them. It was about a husband/father leaving their family, and they ended by finding comfort in each other on the same side of the wall. Paula said they were like doppelgangers through their dance and the judges agree it was their best performance.
Tahani was paired up with J.T. in a ballroom dance piece that is outside of both of their comfort zones. Nigel told them they don’t “have the basic style of cha cha” but that they “put 100% into everything”.
J.T. and All Star Robert dance a jazz piece to “Friend Like Me” by Ne-Yo. Maddie was worried that J.T. might focus too much on outdoing his last performance from the previous week, but in the end the judges thought the performance was fun and that J.T. continues to shine. Paula told him the performance was definitely “Broadway worthy”.
Ruby and Paul took to the stage with a lot of flips and spins during their performance. Maddie told Ruby she definitely bounced back from being in the bottom two from the previous week and Jason told her she was a fighter.
Ruby and Kida paired up to dance a contemporary piece, which is completely out of their comfort zones as a ballroom and hip hop dancer. Kida was brought to emotion at the end of the performance. Paula said it was the first routine that she was “swept away” and the judges were all impressed with how they performed.
Kida and  Fik-Shun took on the act as bees in their hip hop performance. Jason said he felt like he was able to “sit back and enjoy the show. That was entertainment at it’s finest”.
Jordan and Jake were the first of the top 8 to pair up for their performance. They performed a hip hop piece which included some crazy movements. Jason told the two that there was a “forward dive roll connected” movement was something he would go tell his friends about.
Jordan and All Star Sasha performed to an a capella version of “Amazing Grace” by the Harlem Gospel Choir which was dedicated to choreographer Sean Cheesman’s father who is currently sick. Paula commented on how beautiful the routine was and told Jordan “this is where you really really shine like a star. This is your genre”.
Jake and Jenna performed as a football player and coach to “Land of 1000 Dances” by Wilson Pickett. Maddie said that Jake’s “partner work just gets better and better every week”. The judges were also impressed by the pair pulling off an awesome double cartwheel during the performance.
Since there was a double elimination, both of the dancers in the bottom two were eliminated. Jordan and Jake went home and the top 8 officially became the top 6. Tune into So You Think You Can Dance Next Generation Monday at 8ET to see the top 6 perform next week!
