So You Think You Can Dance 3, July 25: Can The Academy Retract An Emmy Nod?

The crowd has certainly thinned. We’ve lost some amazing dancers on our way to the top ten. The tour starts on the east coast, premiering September 21st in Albany, New York. Cat has smoky eyes tonight… a little too heavy on the eyeliner, I think.

Tonight we have Mia Michaels as the guest judge, joining Mary Murphy and Nigel Lythgoe. Mia is up for an Emmy for her work on the show. Go Mia! Tonight all the dancers will have new partners and will also dance solos.

The solos will be choreographed by the other Emmy-nominated choreographer, Wade Robson. It turns out all the dancers will learn the same solo. Wade wants to create a dance that all of them can connect to. The piece is an anti-war piece, about peace. Wade thinks that as a younger generation, they can facilitate change. They get to pick the word that means the most to them as an individual for their T-shirts.

Lauren and Pasha, dancing hip hop to “Fuego,” by Pitbull

Lauren is paired with Pasha tonight, and they will dance hip hop. Lauren’s looking forward to breaking Pasha into hip hop. Pasha feels that Lauren really goes for her routines, but is not looking forward to the possibility of letting Lauren down. Shane Sparks will choreograph. He’s nervous that Pasha may not be able to hang.

The lighting guys have the rotating nuclear symbol going again, which morphs into a circle of green pinwheels. As the mechanical sounds of the music engage, Lauren rises of the ground, seated on Pasha, who is in a back bend. They seem to be wearing skeleton T-shirts and ‘70s style basketball socks. Lauren collapses first, and then they both fall to the round. The synchronized portions are good, both sharp and fluid, when they need to be.

Pasha looks better than I thought he would, and Lauren looks better than she has in a while. Probably due to Pasha, they have a nice chemistry. The mechanical motions are nice, and overall I think they do a good job. It’s very cute how Pasha back-crawls over toward the judges with Lauren still atop him.

Nigel thinks it was a great opening routine by Shane Sparks. He created human Transformers. Nigel thinks that Pasha moved well from Latin ballroom to hip hop. He’s probably the best Latin ballroom hip hop dancer he’s seen. Pasha is genuinely relieved to receive such praise. We all know this is the style he’s been dreading. Lauren seems pleased with him too. Nigel tells Lauren that last week the judges were having a hard time deciding if they should keep her, but he’s very glad they did.

For Mary, it was unbelievable, and a great new partnership. She thinks they clicked from the beginning. Mary was very impressed by Pasha, and enjoyed how hard-hitting and synchronized they were. They were just getting down! She has a fever tonight, and the only prescription is that she’d like to see more of Pasha.

When Mia heard that Pasha was doing hip hop, she was freaking out, and in an awful way. (Pasha too.) However, Mia feels that Pasha pulled it off. For Mia, Lauren is “blowing up,” and that’s in a good way.

Jaimie dancing a solo to “Waiting on the World to Change,” by John Mayer

Jaimie seems to have selected “honesty” as her word-of-the-day. Jaimie looks a lot like Jessica from last year. The music seems to stop unexpectedly, but Jaimie continues without giving away if it was intended or not. The sign language bits are unnecessary. The whole package is way too preachy for me. Do we really have to sit through that ten times? Let’s hope the music changes at least. I’m disappointed, Wade. Less politics, more kookiness.

Ick. We are going to have to endure this ten times! Shame on you, Wade. You get nominated for an Emmy and use it as a license to push your agenda. I want the war to stop too, but playing this terrible song ten times isn’t going to change a thing. Also, the outfits are unflattering for every contestant. Yuck.

Dominic dancing a solo to “Waiting on the World to Change,” by John Mayer

Dom’s word is love. Dominic looks as good as Jaimie, with perhaps more sharpness, toe points, and musicality. The music stops for him too. Did they play the CD so many times that it skips now? I hate this. Urgh. Eight more?!

Sabra and Kameron, dancing contemporary to “Amazing Grace,” by Crystal Lewis

They’ll be working with Tyce Di Orio. Sabra is looking forward to working with Kameron because he would never drop her. Foreshadowing. Kameron likes how much fun Sabra is to work with. Tyce likes their chemistry and flow. Kameron doesn’t like how Sabra has cooler hair than he does.

Really, “Amazing Grace?” What’s wrong tonight? Sabra and Kameron look light and fluid. Sabra looks excellent, but Kameron is struggling to keep up. As the music “kicks in” they explode into greater leaps. Kameron has a nice aerial cartwheel, but Sabra is the star of this routine. I don’t know… the music made this lamer than it should have been.

Nigel thinks it was really well-danced from the pair of them. He didn’t believe the emotional journey Kameron was on. Sabra was soaring, though. He doesn’t want to take away from their dancing, because they did very well. Although, Nigel doesn’t think they found the magic between themselves yet.

Mary agrees with Nigel. There’s no magic. It wasn’t bad, though. When Mary watches Kameron, it just doesn’t seem to go on and extend. It always seems to stop short for her. Sabra is pure perfection out there. It was a mixed bag for her. She feels a little bit empty regarding Kameron, but Sabra is up in the heavens. (Where hopefully there is a better dance mix of “Amazing Grace” than what Ms. Lewis came up with.)