So You Think You Can Dance 5, July 22: Uno, Dos, Tres, Cuatro

Cat’s dress looks like a shiny, plastic mud puddle. Interesting. Evan has Twitch glasses, it looks like. Cat reminds us that the dancers drew new partners this week, though as we’ll soon find out, one pairing isn’t new at all.

As advertised last week, Ellen Degeneres and Mia Michaels are both guest judges tonight. Dr. Nigel is back from England and reminds us that tomorrow is the series’ 100th show. Cat asks Ellen if she’s ever had any formal dance training. Ellen goes all Toni Basil, talking about learning dance on the streets (in a gated community) from a guy named Eduardo, but they didn’t really dance. I can’t do the joke justice. Mary says that even though it sounds like a cliché, the show keeps getting better. She uses the phrase “off the chain” and confuses Nigel. I’m sure he’s heard that somewhere along the line.

Mia and Cat talk about Mia’s third Emmy nomination (for the “Mercy” routine), which she thinks is a blessing and a curse. She’s always looking for inspiration, and once you’re bored or not nervous or can’t find a challenge, it’s time to quit. She’s grateful that she’s nervous every week on the show. Is it just me or does Mia have Kate Gosselin’s haircut?

The dancers will perform four times each tonight – two paired dances, one solo, and a group dance choreographed by Travis Wall. Cat coos over how grown-up he is sitting with the other choreographers. We’re starting out with his routine, which is a rave party in the future. He’s fused a bunch of styles, and the dancers get to show off their own styles. Travis wants it to be a huge extravaganza.

The rave takes place to Kevin Rudolf’s “Let it Rock,” and the dancers are wearing glow sticks all over their costumes, as well as over their eyes. It pretty much is a combination of a bunch of different styles, with a feeling of a big celebration. There aren’t a ton of flashy moves in it, but it looks like it takes a lot of energy and attention to detail.

Nigel feels like a proud father, seeing Travis back on the show. Everyone was terrific. Ellen: “First of all, I can do that.” Then she says she helped Travis with the wardrobe, which originally included light bulbs. Mary liked everything and has no nitpicks for anyone. Mia’s proud of Travis, and she asks Ellen to wear one of the Lady Gaga-ish costumes with her tomorrow night.

Cat teases us a little with what we’ll see tomorrow night. We’ll see some of the show’s favorite routines, including “Ramalama” with Wade Robson. They should have all the choreographers dance.

Evan & Janette – jazz – Sonya Tayeh

Hey, where’s Sonya been? I missed her. The routine is about Evan & Janette wanting each other to shut up. This involves physically putting their hands over each other’s mouths. Evan isn’t used to this style. Janette plans to bug him backstage to get him in the fighting mood.

The song is “Move” by CSS. Evan is still a little stiff for me, but Janette is great at this style. I’m not quite getting frustration from them, though. Their faces aren’t selling it. They’re making it more quirky than angry.

Nigel says that Janette & Evan are undoubtedly stars and are showing more of their personalities each week. He’s bugged Evan to give more, and he is. Ellen: “I can do that.” She gives a bunch of adjective and starts talking about wine, then just says they were amazing. I have a feeling this is what we’re going to get from her all night.

Mary thought Evan & Janette both did well, but Evan wasn’t gutsy enough toward the end. He was impressive outside of his style. Nigel covers Mary’s mouth, which would have been funnier if she hadn’t been giving actual good feedback. She continues that Janette can’t take a wrong step. Mia thinks Evan made a step in the right direction because he usually has the same feel in his characters. He’s too adorable to be the dark, twisted dancer that Sonya requires. (Sonya can’t argue with that.) Mia admits that Janette is her favorite dancer this season.

Kayla dances the night’s first solo to Imogen Heap’s “The Moment I Said It.” What’s with this show and Imogen Heap? She does more writhing than dancing, but it’s Kayla, so whatever. It’s annoying for me to keep saying “it’s good” about the solos, because we’re probably never going to see a horrible one, at least not at this stage of the competition. Though if it’s this over the dancers talking about how things went last week, I’ll take the dancing, thank you very much.

Brandon & Jeanine – waltz – Hunter Johnson

Jeanine’s excited to waltz for the first time. She hopes to feel like a brunette Cinderella. Judging by the rehearsal footage, she’s only Cinderella if Prince Charming dropped her a lot. Brandon gets overwhelmed by all the names of the steps and starts thinking about cats and birds. Okay, then.

They dance to Hayley Westenra’s “May It Be,” which I’m pretty sure we’ve heard on this show before. What, after 100 episodes they’ve decided to start recycling songs? In her yellow dress, Jeanine looks more like Belle from Beauty and the Beast than Cinderella, which makes sense because Belle and the Beast danced. Oh, yeah, the performance. They both look wonderful, especially Jeanine, whose turns are fabulous. Brandon does what the judges always tell us to look for in a good partner – he doesn’t distract the viewer from Jeanine.