so you think you can dance winner

so you think you can dance winner

Who will be crowned America’s favorite dancer?

Judging from the comments here and the rest of the blogosphere, people seem to have little doubt that it’s going to be Melanie.

There’s an opening group number to “Wanna Get Hype” by District 78. They’re in bondage/futuristic looking outfits and big hair and leap around a lot. It is kind of interesting when they crawl on their heads. That blond has got to be Ryan, I recognize the grin. And it’s the top 20.

Cat comes out in a short red shiny dress and just long hair.

And a Sonya Tayeh number, which explains a lot.

There’s a big panel of judges for tonight, I’m not sure why as we’re supposed to have voted already, including Lil’ C, in a sort of silver tux, Pussycat Dolls founder Robin Antin, Tyce DiOrio (oh well), Sonya Hayeh, whom Cat calls “fabulously weird” ( love her lion necklace and matching earrings), Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Mary Murphy in a sort of cocktail-ish black/silver number and the “beautifully coiffured” (meaning his hair is feathered back!) Nigel Lythgoe. Cat points out the rest of the choreographers sitting in the audience.

In addition to letting us know who is the winner tonight, the Finale reprises favorite routines picked by the judges. I wish we could have voted for those, too, but I suppose it would be sort of unwieldy. Most of the judges will pick routines involving the top 4, and mostly recent routines, but there are a few outliers.

The four finalists come on, all in their futuristic warrior bondage wear.

The judges talk to them. They talk about victory and overcoming and surviving and how proud they are, and personhood and other summer camp autograph book kind of things. Jesse is funny saying dance your heart out and hopefully America will vote—oh wait they’ve already voted. Then he too goes into the whole “win or lose, you’re all winners” thing and really, those words were actually part of the Tuskarora alma mater from Camp Red Wing (color war). Nigel takes the opportunity to say he was insensitive to tell the guys last night that they wouldn’t win. I think he is reading tweets! And the blogosphere! He apologizes!

We get see a review of the auditions including people who didn’t make it to the top 20 like Irish dancer Mary Kate Sheehan. And the Ringo Starr impersonator again, which is just sad, and the San Francisco stripper. And then clips from the shows throughout the seasons, and some judges. We get to see Lady Gaga cry again. It’s a nicely edited video.

Now for the routines. Mary Murphy picks “Fool of Me” by Sasha and Kent, choreographed by Tyce DiOrio. That’s the one they did with a wall. Well, yes, that was great. And the best one Tyce did the whole season, I think.

There’s a promo for the Gatorade prize again. I didn’t pay attention.

Cat tells us the real romance was on the judging panel, so we see a lot of clips of Nigel and Mary. Cat says she is scarred for life.

Cat segues into the routine that started out the whole kissing thing, and Nigel says it was Marko—and his wonderful partner, Melanie.

The routine is “I Got You,” choreographed by NappyTabs. This is the :guy jilted at the wedding and realizing he loves his best friend” routine, with Melanie in the ugliest costume ever. It has not improved with age, it’s still zebra striped with rose. I get that she’s a bridesmaid but really. The plot is really still silly, but they sell it, and I love Melanie’s happy leap into his arms.

Mary’s on her feet, and Nigel’s hugging Jesse. Cat orders Nigel to get off Jesse’s lap. It all reminds me of the fakey banter on local news.

Robin’s favorite routine is Tadd and Lauren dancing to Mandy’s Moore’s choreography in “Another One Bites the Dust.” She loved the use of the rock band too. I wasn’t expecting that, but this dance about the was it jewel thieves? Bank robbers? is cute. And shows off some of Tadd’s tricks nicely.

Cat reminds us of all the characters the dancers had to play, and we see a video montage of waste management technicians, sea creatures, a prince, singers in the rat pack. I like the way it’s edited so that it looks as silly as it was.

C picked a routine with characters. He says “within the faculty of adjudicators” (th rest of us would say “panel of judges,” but OK). he is the Hip Hop representative. He picked a routine by NappyTabs with Robert and Miranda, “Break Ya Neck,” the woodpecker dance. Oh Miranda, you really were robbed.

Cat has picked a routine—that made her cry—the top 8 circus routine by Tyce DiOrio. I also thought this was gorgeous too. I especially love its slow ending, and Jess in his red tails. All right, I concede

The current UK champion, Matt Flint, performs, accompanied by Jess and Nick. Part of his prize was to perform here. And Jess taps. Did we ever get to see him do that? And Nick’s amazing pirouettes. Oh, Nick. You were robbed, robbed, robbed!

Wow, they were all so good, I hardly knew where to look. That was really wonderful. They tap offstage (although in all honesty, I I were Mr. Flint and performing were part of my prize, I might be annoyed at having to split my spotlight in three; it’s not as if solo tapping is not fun to watch!)

Nigel interrupts to say it was one of the most exciting tap routines he had ever seen. It was amazing. Does that mean you might invite Nick back? Routines like that, I’d consider catching the tour. Note how it had no story, just three boys in taps.

Mary picks Mandy Moore’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” with Melanie and Neil, and its great big leap. It is still a beautiful emotional dance and that leap is still amazing. And when she pulls him down to her she seems to mean it.

All the judges are on their feet. “All the girls swoon,” says Cat, for shirtless, pretty blond Neil.

But I’m still thinking about that great tap, and rewound to watch it on the commercial. That Mr. Flint is easy on the eyes, too.

Jesse loves that the dancers had to stretch when paired with the All-Stars. Marko and Alison’s number, “I Know It’s Over,” choreographed by Sonya Tayeh made everyone cry, “even the fly on Lady Gaga’s hat”. It is lovely but I don’t feel like crying. Maybe it looks better in person. Everybody’s on their feet again.

I’m still thinking about that tap number. Loved the woodpecker Hip-Hop too. I have a limited tolerance for the emota-dance.

Tyce also chose a number by Sonya Tayeh—the geishas, with the top 10 girls. Wow, I must have completely blocked this from my memory. It’s cute. Actually, it’s cutesy. But there are some energetic leaps.

Everybody’s on their feet again. And Cat says “it’s no wonder no one went home that first week,” reminding us of when it was (Of course, since all 10 girls were there, it had to be the first week).

Now we see clips of what happened last night, with some clips of the judges talking, and the dancers being interviewed. Clearly they really have a lot of time to fill.

They got over 11.5 million votes last night, Cat tells us. And the one who came in fourth was Tadd. He gets a farewell montage.

When she says hes risen to every challenge he says even though hes only 5’4… so how short was Jess?

C picks a routine by Spencer Liff for Chris and Ashley, the “Please Mr. Jailer” number. Spencer Liff’s choreography is so creative here, and both of them really do look terrific.

Everyone on their feet again.

And there’s a Glee crossover, as the top four go into the studio and see three cast members from Glee. They get told they’ll be singing and dancing, but then that they’re just kidding. They’re handed tickets to the Glee movie premiere and that’s the extent of the visit. It’s their first movie premiere, and we see them on the red carpet. And then some clips of the movie. Oh well, So You Think You Can Dance has never been known for subtle product placement. The movie opens tomorrow.

Nigel picks a routine by choreographer Chris Scott, the one with All-Star Twitch and Sasha to “Misty Blue.” This is the one Nigel calls the “soggy cornflakes” routine. Cat said she watched it 5 times. I’m with her. There’s so much emotion and intention in it, and the song is so unexpected here and works so well. I love when she just throws her glasses off.

Sonya asks to see the 10 guys in Chris Scott’s Hip-Hop piece to “Velocity.” The one with lots of doors. And I strongly suspect that we had to see the top 10 guys and the top 10 girls to make sure everybody had a chance to dance. It’s moody and kind of sci-fi.

Jesse picks Miriam and Leonardo’s tango for Caitlynn and Pasha, exchanging some fast repartee with Cat that you kind of had to be there for. This Argentine tango was fun. Caitlynn’s hair is not in her face, and Pasha. Just saying. Pasha.

I’m going to stop telling you the judges are on their feet from now on. But they are. Just imagine me hitting cut and paste.

Mary says the next number worked in the first ten seconds, and she picked Marko and Melanie, Travis Wall’s contemporary piece, “Turn to Stone.” And again I have to agree this was a gorgeous number, one of the few times that the story made sense, and really worked with the music. When they hit their breakout leaps together as living statues it is exciting.

We’re going to get the next results, and Sasha comes up. And the dancer in third place is Marko. No surprise there, it was pretty much pre-ordained to be between the two girls. We watch his video montage from audition through clips.

Before they announce the winner, there’s one more judges’ pick. First Nigel thanks the lighting designer and the director. Nigel hopes that the routine he picked shames the people who thought the dancers would never work in NY. It’s another Sonya Tayeh piece, “Game On,” or, as Cat calls it, “our two beasts.”

OK. I am officially sad that nobody picked Jess and Clarice’s dance in the park by Justin Giles on July 6. Still my favorite routine on the show. I want to see that one again. I wish we’d seen more from Justin Giles.

In fairness, the routines the judges pick show what the season was like—mostly contemporary or lyrical Hip Hop.

There’s a video montage of the two girls before we find the results. The girls brush away tears and hold hands while they wait.

The second place dancer got over 32% of the vote, but the champion got over 47%, says Cat.

And America’s favorite dancer is: MELANIE!

Are you shocked? Are you happy?

The ladies hug as confetti goes flying. She’s America’s favorite dancer! And we already see her in the G series ads! Hanging up above the audience!

All the top 20 go running onstage and hoist her up.