Episode 23 Recap: And the Winner Is...
Tonight was the season finale of
SYTYCD and we found out the winner.
The top 20 dancers were back to perform group numbers and some of their best individual routines. There were few surprises in store for us during this two-hour episode.
The show opened with Tyce's take on a routine from
The Lion King. It was great to see the top 20 all back together; it was also great to finally see a Broadway number done right. Broadway numbers really cannot be done without 10 or more people. We were also treated to group dance routines by the top eight and 10.
We were then treated to the routines that the choreographers wanted to see again. These routines, in order of performance, were:
Mary: Pasha and Lauren - Shane's Transformer
Nigel: Hok and Jamie - Wade's Hummingbird and Flower
Jean-Marc: Dom and Sabra
Adam: Sara and Neil - disco
Wade: Lacey and Danny - Dmitry's samba
Shane: Sara and Pasha - Benji's West Coast swing
Tyce: Danny and Anya - fox-trot
Tony: Jesús and Sara - Wade's Chaplin/Bums
Mia: Neil and Sabra - Mandy Moore's jazz
Dan: Lacey and Neil - Mia's tribute to her father
It was great seeing all of these routines again. I still have my favorites: Pasha and Lauren, Sara and Neil, Sara and Pasha, and Neil and Sabra, but everyone put on a great show and were troopers, especially Lacey and Neil.
I found it interesting that there were 10 favorite routines chosen by the choreographers, and Neil and Sara were each in three routines, butt only Neil made it to the final four.
There were two surprise guests from dancers we met during the auditions: the clogger
Brandon Norris and
Brian Gaynor, the robot dancer.
We were teased all night with a dance between Nigel and Cat, which was really a little animated scene from the guys at
Jib Jab.
I suppose you are all waiting for me to mention who won. Well, Lacey was the first to go, then Neil, and finally, with Danny and Sabra remaining, Sabra was anointed America's favorite dancer.
Three changes I would love to see next year: 1) allow Internet voting and not just phone voting, 2) announce the total votes that each dancer/couple receives when they are in the bottom two or three, and 3) allow a nonprofessional to be a judge. If this is really America's favorite dancer, it would be beneficial to have a non-dance professional acting as a judge.
Finally, congratulations to Sabra on a well-deserved victory.
Read here about what Benji said to Sabra backstage.
What did you guys think?
If you missed tonight's episode, use the
Online Video Guide
to find clips or other favorite scenes from this past season.
