So You Think You Can Dance just wrapped its ninth week of live shows for its twelfth season this Monday (September 7) at CBS Studios in Los Angeles, Calif.
The Top 4 — Gaby Diaz, Hailee Payne, Virgil Gadson and Jana “JaJa” Vankova — took the stage to perform for America’s votes one last time this season. On tonight’s “semi-final” episode, each dancer performed a solo, one duet with an all-star and another with a fellow contestant.
The show kicked off with a hip-hop performance from Hailee Payne and Jana “Jaja” Vankova to Kalenna’s “Put It In The Bag” choreographed by Misha Gabriel & Nick Bass. Following Hailee and Jaja, Gaby Diaz and Virgil Gadson performed a lyrical hip-hop routine to Elliot Moss’ “Slip” choreographed by Phillip Chbeeb.
During the short commercial break, Gaby returned to the stage with Jaja for a jazz routine to Joy Williams’ “Woman (Oh Mama)” choreographed by Nick Florez & RJ Durell. Just a few minutes later, Jaja teamed up with Team Street member Virgil Gadson for a difficult contemporary piece to Woodkid’s “I Love You” choreographed by Stacey Tookey.
After Jaja and Virgil mastered that difficult contemporary piece, Virgil teamed up with Hailee for a fun Broadway piece (as noted by the judges) to Bette Midler’s “Billy-A-Dick” choreographed by Josh Bergasse. The last contestant duet of the evening was from Team Stage contestants Gaby and Hailee who performed a beautiful contemporary routine to “Do Not Hang Your Head” by Elizabeth & The Catapult. The contemporary routine was choreographed by Team Stage captain/mentor Travis Wall.
After the commercial break, America was able to see their favorite all-stars return to the SYTYCD stage with this season’s contestants. Virgil and all-star Joshua Allen kicked off the second round of performances and brought the judges’ favorite number of the evening — a hip-hop routine to Track Daddy, Lil Jon and Twista’s “Let’s Go.” After Virgil and Josh, Hailee and all-star Marko Germar performed a jazz performance to Janet Jackson’s “All Nite (Don’t Stop)” choreographed by Ray Leeper. Although the judges acknowledged that Hailee is one of the best jazz dancers out there, they noted that this performance did not push her to the best of her ability. Following Hailee and Marko, Jaja and all-star Cyrus Spencer performed a hip-hop sequel to Cyrus and Team Street mentor tWitch‘s glass-breaking routine from season nine to Kaolo’s “Yellow Claw” choreographed by Christopher Scott. The final duet of the evening came from Team Stage‘s Gaby Diaz and last year’s semi-finalist Zack Everhart with a tap performance to “Dibidy Dop” choreographed by Anthony Morigerato.
In between the contestant and America also watched the Top 4 perform solos for votes and learned more about their journeys on SYTYCD. Gaby, Virgil, Jailee and Jaja each showed their strengths during each mini performance.
After all the performances, host Cat Deeley announced that there will be no elimination this evening, and all of the contestants will receive their results on the season finale next Monday. Who do you want to see crowned “America’s Favorite Dancer?” Make sure to tune in next Monday evening, September 13th @ 8PM ET/PT to find out who wins!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXd9aCB0yKuhOVX_FjNxdMGSBf2FAdWqQ
Photos: Michael Becker/FOX
