Gino, Sophie, and Mariah, all three were also deserving of the title. I look forward to seeing the top 10 on tour this fall. While season 17 isn’t a guarantee yet, but it seems that Nigel wants to find a way to bring back the top 20. I hope that the higher-ups can find a way to make this happen.

I loved that we got to see a switch up with the partners and they got difficult styles to perform.

Mariah & Gino: I don’t remember the last time we saw a quick step but I know it has been awhile. Sharna and Artem created a fun but difficult quick step. Side note DWTS is crazy to let these two go. I thought Mariah and Gino did this dance justice. It may not have been perfect technique wise but the performance quality made up for it.

Sophie & Bailey: They had a Bollywood routine. This style always seems somewhat difficult because of the details, like the placement of the hands. I have to disagree with Nigel, I really enjoyed they dance and thought they danced it well. 

The performance of the night for me was the contemporary that Sophie and all-star Marco performed. I hope that Talia will nominated for an Emmy next year. The lifts were breathtaking…especially that first one. Sophie just completely let go and trusted Marco and danced from her heart.

Overall, I enjoyed all the dances. Now who will win and as cliché as it sounds they all could win. There was some chanting going on in the studio audience for one dancer…Bailey…based on that alone, I think he will win. We will have to wait till next week to find out.

Bailey & Koine: Broadway; Here’s what I really liked about that dance it showed how much Bailey has grown as a dancer. He is not just a b-boy anymore…that spilt leap kinda blew my mind.

Gino & Comfort: Hip hop; A big improvement compared to the last time he had hip hop and Gino showed off a few tricks that he had up his sleeve. I have to agree with Laurieann, Gino finally got out of his own way and just danced. He didn’t over think it.

Sophie & Kika: Samba; Anyone else excited to see Pasha back? I normally rely on Mary’s opinion when it comes to the ballroom numbers. However, this time I saw that her Samba rolls still needed some work. Other than that Sophie could pass for a professional ballroom dancer.

Mariah & FikShun: Hip hop; Working with props can be difficult but I imagine working with magic props are even trickier. Props to FikShun for kick the hat out of the way and somehow making it look like part of the dance. Nigel seemed to be the only one that seemed to be on the fence about this dance. I honestly think Mariah could win this show.

Gino & Sophie: Broadway; Now this is what I expect out of a Broadway routine. It fun, fast, and entertaining. I feel like these two should have been paired from the beginning and they make it hard to figure out who might win.

Bailey & Mariah: Jazz; I can’t say I had the same reaction as the everyone in the studio because seeing things in person is so different compared to watching on tv. That being said, they definitely are fighting for being the top couple. It would not surprise me to see them as the top 2 dancers.

Groups: I thought both the boy and girls has amazing routines. Though I think the guys edged them out but not by much.

Unfortunately we had to say goodbye to Ezra and Madison. They both had a great night but they just didn’t get the votes.

Bailey & Mariah: I think for most part they are still the couple to beat and unless they completely bomb next week, we will see them in the top four. Their contemporary was good and fun to see how Mandy and Elizabeth incorporated a big stage prop in their choreography. Their cha-cha was good to but you could tell that Bailey did struggle with the lifts.

Gino & Sophie: They were a new pairing and they also had a the two new choreographers Monday night. Gino and Sophie are my other pick to make the final four. I loved the contemporary by KC Monnie, it was beautifully danced by Sophie and Gino but I do wish Gino wasn’t on the props as much as he was. The jazz was fun and a nice throw back to Elvis, Gino seemed to be able to channel his inner Elvis.

Ezra & Madison: Hands down these two had the hardest dance of the night with the Argentine Tango and they managed to pull it off with flying colors. Which makes me happy their hip hop was first, and it was nice to see the fun light-hearted side of Madison. For whatever reason these two aren’t connecting with the audience, which is why we saw them in the bottom two this week

Benjamin & Anna: I feel like I understand why they were the ones to go home Monday night. For whatever reason both of their dances left me wanting more. Like Nigel, I found myself comparing their Tahitian dance to one for a past season. The broadway on the other hand was good but I think it was too understated for a top 8 performance.

Now that we are getting down to the last few episodes of the season there is a good chance that the top 4 will be solely based on the viewers votes.

Okay can we just hand Travis Wall another Emmy…seriously though that opening number was incredible. It also had a powerful message and I look forward to seeing it on the tour. Last night each couple got the chance to dance again and a bottom four was revealed and the judges decided which two to save. 

Gino & Stephanie: Jive, Emma & Sasha

A high energy performance with plenty of personality. An improvement from last week. The judges enjoyed it and so did I. I almost didn’t recognize Gino with his hair done.

Eddie & Sophie: Contemporary, Travis Wall

This piece was had a lot of partner work and Eddie stepped up and was there for Sophie. It was nice to see Eddie improve compared to last week. Overall I enjoyed the dance and it made me like the song a little bit better too.

Benjamin & Anna: Hip hop, Randi & Hef

So many sparkles and if the light hits it the right way does not sound fun for the eyes of the audience. That aside, I love seeing Anna in her element and I found myself watching her over Benjamin (who was great as well). I love when they stay in character after the dance as well.

Ezra & Madison: Jazz, Ray Leeper

I love and good steamy/sensual routine and these two knocked it out of the park. Madison is a power house and Ezra is a not only a great partner but quite a good dancer himself. Though Dominic commenting on his favorite part had me giggling but I agree with him it was a nice moment.

Bailey & Mariah: Hip hop, Luther Brown

Honestly I have no words for these two. I mean the definitely brought the “sauce”. The couple to beat.

Bottom Four: Eddie, Ezra, Anna, and Stephanie

Going Home: Eddie and Stephanie. Hate seeing them go but someone has to be first.

Bailey & Mariah: Jazz, Mandy Moore

It might have been somewhat of an obvious pairing due to Bailey’s height but it was a great one. I love the song choice (which I have danced to in the past). I loved the beach theme…though I might have put Mariah in red. Overall it was a fun and sassy to watch. I have a feeling these two will go far.

Gino & Stephanie: Hip hop, Luther Brown

Honestly I had to watch this one twice because I missed what the concept was about. It fell a bit flat for me, it was danced well but I felt like something was missing. Even the Judges had mixed reactions.

Anna & Benjamin: Cha Cha, Emma Slater & Sasha Farber

Let me say I loved the fact the first thing they did was come up with a team name. Second, Emma and Sasha prove again that they are amazing teachers. I love the dance and they seemed to be having fun themselves. Agree that Anna needs to point her feet.

Madison & Ezra: Contemporary, Talia Favia

Talia created a beautiful piece that Madison was able to connect to and we got to see her softer side. I was Dominic’s favorite dance of the night. Ezra, was great too and prove that he is not only a good partner but also quick thinking. He was able to take a little mistake and make it seem like it was part of the dance.

Eddie & Sophie: Jazz, Brian Friedman 

Brian style tends to require the dancers to have to infuse a personality to match the choreography of the dance. Again it was danced well but felt bad for Eddie, Sophie out shined him in the dance.

Travis Wall and Luther Brown gave us great group dances and all the dancer seemed to dance well. There wasn’t anytime for Judges comments but I do feel like some of the dancers might have redeemed themselves in this round. However, will the home viewers take that in to the consideration when they voted. I hope so…I not looking forward to losing people next week.

Top 5 Girls: Anna Linstruth, Madison Jordan, Stephanie Sosa, Mariah Russell, and Sophie Pittman

Top 5 Guys: Bailey Munoz, Benjamin Castro, Ezra Sosa, Gino Cosculluela, and Eddie Hoyt

After the group round came the final solo round…the last chance for the dancers to prove they should be in the top 20 and move on to the final cut. Gino, Sumi, Bailey, and Eddie had the featured solos for this episode. Eddie’s choice of footwear must have thrown him off his game since the strap came undone at the beginning of the dance. The top 10 girls and guys were finally revealed and consisted of 7 ballroom, 6 contemporary, 5 hip hop, and 2 tap dancers.

Top 10 Girls                                                           Top 10 Guys

Ashley Sanchez (Ballroom)                                  Bailey Munoz (B-Boy)

Anna Linstruth (Hip hop)                                      Brandon Talbot (Contemporary Ballet)

Sofia Ghavami (Ballroom)                                     Benjamin Castro (Contemporary)

Nazz Slydryan (Ballroom)                                     Ezra Sosa (Ballroom)

Madison Jordan (Contemporary)                        Vlad Kvartin (Ballroom)

Stephanie Sosa (Ballroom)                                  Nathan Cherry (Hip hop)

Sumi Oshima (Hip hop)                                        Aleksander Ostanin (Tap)

Mariah Russell (Contemporary)                          Gino Cosculluela (Contemporary)

Melany Mercedes (Salsa)                                    Bryan “Clocks” Volozanin (Hip hop)

Sophie Pittman (Contemporary)                         Eddie Hoyt (Tap)

Looking forward to seeing the contestants paired with an All Star next week and to see who will make the final cut to be in the Top 10 and move on to the live shows. I have a few guesses and curious to see if I am right.

Round One: Hip Hop (79 Dancers)

Luther gave us a hard-hitting routine that allows the dancers to inject their own personalities into the performance. I also agree with him when it comes to talking while he is trying to teach. The dancers have 90 minutes to learn these routines…I would be paying attention as closely as I could to each choreographer.

The only hip hop girls to make the academy were up first and one of them seemed to get a little bit flustered but they were given a second chance. The second chance was much better.

It’s really hard to see those struggle with picking up the choreo and that includes dancers from all styles. However it is also great to see the dancers succeed as well, like Jay Jackson being part of the best group. Sophie Pittman seemed to be worried while learning but shined when it came time to perform.

Laurieann’s reaction to Nigel being a bit harsh was amusing “You made it, run for your lives before he changes his mind…” By the end of day one a total of 10 dancers were cut.

Round Two: Ballroom

I love that Emma and Sasha are back and that they want to show the dancers what they created first. Wow…what a cha-cha. I was really cute to even see the ballroom dancers react to that last trick. Which was probably an optional thing due to the potential injuries if the trick went wrong.

The was a lot of debate after the first group to which D-Trix commented that when they did that his season, that it scared him. The entire group made it through but I understood their critiques.

The ballroom round turned out to be the end of the road for many dancers including  a few of my favorites (like Smac) from the first auditions.

Round Three: Contemporary

I feel like Talia created a piece that sums up this week of auditions. The dancers are at “war” fighting and crawling your way to the top 10. With not much time left in the episode we only saw a few clips of this round.

Unfortunately Jay Jackson, even though he had improved since last year, it wasn’t quite good enough. It had to sting a bit when Nigel said we will see you again. He quickly said that they wouldn’t because he is 30 and that is the cut off age for this show. 

The best group of the night was Bailey and John John, a b-boy and a hip hop dancer. They put their whole heart into that performance and show more emotion than some of the contemporary dancers.

Next episode will feature the group round with Mandy Moore and the Top 20 that will make it to the final cut to create the top 10 for the live shows.

Andrew Avila & Melany Mercedes: I enjoyed seeing the street style of salsa and those tricks were fun to watch. I am however more drawn to her as a performer.

Michael Sales: At the age of 15 he was ranked as one of the top 100 b-boys. That first jump trick was impressive. It might just be me but I feel like we’ve seen more b-boys this season.

Mariah Russell: I agree with Lauriann’s comments, she had a slow build to get to the heart of her routine. Mariah is a great dancer, she just needs to use her story to give more power to her movement.

Phoebe Kochis: Her story just made me happy and I hope she has inspired others like herself, teaching them they can do anything. It was incredibly sweet that Nigel invited her as his guest to the academy. It will be a fantastic opportunity for Phoebe just to be able to experience and enjoy.

James Cody: He previously auditioned in Season 10, 11, & 12…I don’t remember him though. That being said I hope that he puts in the work and makes it through academy week.

Maia Bliudnika: I can see how he name is always mispronounced and the same can be said about many of the contestants. According to Mary she had a perfect audition. I not sure if I would agree on the perfect part but she was good.

Eddie Hoyt: He was a favorite of mine that didn’t quite make it and it seems like he was a favorite of Nigel’s as well. Eddie put his heart and soul into his audition and even had the judges tearing up. Then he blows everyone’s mind when he said he improved that!

Looking forward to what the Academy has in store for this season and hopefully give me more of an idea of who will eventually make the top 10 for Season 16.