It was a tough week. While it was great that the top six got to do things over again, it was tough to lose two. Even more difficult when one of the two lost included Billy. I was stunned that Lauren ended up in the bottom three for the first time and when that happened I knew Billy was doomed because the judges weren’t going to kick out the last girl, especially one as talented as Lauren. If it had been Billy vs. Robert, I think Billy would’ve come out on top, especially given the performances he’s had the past couple weeks.

Next week the top four begin the two weeks to the crowning of America’s Favorite Dancer. Kent, Lauren and Robert are all great top four choices. I’m not happy that AdéChiké is there. While his dancing is very good technically, he’s so inconsistent with this performance ability that I’ve never understood how he’s missed the bottom three every week.

Here’s my top three dances from this week:

• Billy (Stacey Tookey contemporary): Outstanding! Billy and Ade were well matched here. I loved the counterpoint in the dancing styles. The story was heartbreaking too and both dancers found their characters perfectly. It was really great to see Billy so in the character moment. And, since this was Billy’s last week, at least he went out on a stunning high.
• Robert (Stacey Tookey contemporary): Stacey was on a roll this week as she delivered two amazing numbers. Robert and Kathryn were perfectly in sync here as a husband and wife saying goodbye… that it was Kathryn going off to the army was a great and unexpected twist. Robert has had great contemporary pieces this season and this will stand as one of the best of the season.
• Billy (results night solo): I don’t usual write about results night solos here, but since I’m writing doing top three after the fact I can. Billy left it all on the floor for what turned out to be his final dance in the competition. I was glad he was in bottom three so we could see that. Absolute perfection!

Here’s the rest of the recap in performance order:

• Kent (Jean-Marc Genereux & France Mousseau cha cha): Kent did a pretty good job playing the “bad boy.” It was kind of funny watching him slip in and out of “kent face,” but on the whole he nailed this. His dance style has come a long way since the first time he danced with Anya.
• AdéChiké (Tyce Diorio jazz): I didn’t feel a huge connection between AdéChiké and Courtney and I agree with Nigel when he said that AdéChiké did not have enough wild abandon with this dance. It was good, but not as good as it could’ve been.
• Jose (Marty Kudelko & Dana Wilson hip hop): I loved this number. Jose rocked this. Comfort and Jose had such strong chemistry here, it was smooth with a nice flavor of fun. It didn’t feel like hip hop to me, even lyrical hip hop. But it was fantastic and Jose’s best number of the season.
• Lauren (Tyce Diorio Broadway): Another, rather dull, Broadway number from Tyce. Lauren did it great with Allison, but it wasn’t the most memorable number of the night either. But they were cute and bubbly, doing everything they could to sell it.
• Jose & Kent (Tyce Diorio Broadway): Kent rocked this number and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see him in a Broadway musical within the next year. While Jose did a solid job here, better than his last Broadway run, Kent definitely overshadowed him.
• AdéChiké & Lauren (Jean-Marc Genereux & France Mousseau foxtrot): Lauren was radiant in this number and so smooth. I know the judges said there were technical issues, I simply didn’t care. AdéChiké partnered very well, but he looked like he was thinking too hard about the whole thing.
• Billy & Robert (Nakul dev Mahajan Bollywood): Great closing to the performance show. Robert did out dance Billy here by just a bit. Robert was hitting with such power that it made his dance incredible while Billy’s was simply good. Together they were fun to watch with the complicated fusion choreography.

The solos on performance night were a mix of things that felt like a rerun and things that were great. Jose brought some new moves and some passion to his. You could tell he was doing everything he could to stay in. Lauren had beautiful musicality, but didn’t offer anything new. Billy got a little more daring (a daring he pushed even more on results night). Kent did a good job, and there was no “Kent face,” which I was happy about. Robert had the best of the night with his fluid grace. AdéChiké was powerul, but didn’t break new ground either.

The results show group number from Mia Michaels was awesome! So sad that Lauren didn’t dance in it as Alice (she got injured during the performance show, but was okay to dance solo). The musical guests were blah. But the Step Up 3D dancers were incredible (can’t wait to see that movie).

Next week the top four begin their quest to the finals and the judges no longer have a say in who is safe.

In other SYTYCD news. We have tickets to the tour (yay!) and will be at Radio City Music Hall on October 7 to see the show. I can’t wait.

It usually happens once per season. There’s a show where the dances are good, but not extraordinary. There are fewer goosebumps, fewer tears from being moved and fewer clips saved for future watching. Last night was that night for So You Think You Can Dance Season 7 and it’s not really that surprising since everyone peaked last week.

The injury list continued to grow this week. This time it was Billy who sat in the audience watching instead of performing. It sounds like his injury will allow him to dance next week so it hopefully won’t be him going home from the bottom three tonight.

Last night was SYTYCD‘s 150th episode! That’s quite an excellent benchmark. Choreographer Kenny Ortega (High School Musical) was guest judge and he did far better at the guest judging stint that when Ellen was on for the 100th show.

Here is my top three from last night:

• AdéChiké (Tabitha & Napoleon D’uomo hip hop): I’m surprised I’m putting AdéChiké in the top three, but this performance was pretty perfect. It was the right marriage of choreography (and haven’t NappyTabs been outstanding this season!), performers (Comfort rocked here as well) and music. It’s AdéChiké’s best performance to date. If he’d performed like this all season I would like him a lot more. Meanwhile, this number stands beside “Bleeding Love” as one of the best lyrical hip hop pieces the show has ever presented.
• Kent (Chuck Maldonado step): Kent performed this with Twitch instead of Billy and I thought this was a train wreck in the making. I was so wrong. Kent managed to shed his wholesome image for a couple minutes and brought out a strong, fierce dance that allowed him to shine next to his all star partner. Unlike last week where I thought Neil outdanced Kent, here Kent and Twitch were pretty equal.
• Robert (Tyce Diorio jazz): The musicality in this piece was outstanding and Robert and his all star Lauren nailed this dance. It was sexy and had some drama in it. It seemed occasionally like there was a tango trying to bust out of the jazz.

Here are the rest of last night’s numbers, in the order they were performed within their groupings starting with the all-star partner numbers, the contestants together and then the solos.

• Lauren (Tabitha & Napoleon D’uomo hip hop): Tremendously fun number. Great to see Lauren find a new side to herself. She stayed sexy, but developed an edge. The parting scene with her riding off on Twitch was perfect.
• Jose (Sonya Tayeh contemporary): Despite what the judges said, I thought this showed growth from Jose. His technique appeared to be stronger tonight that it did in last week’s Broadway or his previous contemporary piece. Allison was a willing partner too, allowing herself to be thrown around quite a bit. This was a good piece for Jose and hopefully it keeps him safe another week.
• Kent (Sonya Tayeh jazz): This was just cute, fun and peppy. Kent found the right performance face too. It would’ve been easy for him to go over the top here (and Mia seemed to think he had), but I thought it stayed in a believable place.
• Lauren & Robert (Dmitry Chaplin samba): Robert’s done a lot of ballroom this season and he just keeps getting better at it. This partnership was quite excellent too as they both looked like ballroom dancers, lost in the music having a great time.
• AdéChiké & Jose (Dmitry Chaplin paso doble): This was the disappointing number of the night. Burn the Floor has a male paso doble in its show and it is outstanding as it overflows with fierce, fighting drama. I was hoping that’s what we were going to get here. While AdéChiké and Jose didn’t quite find the right characters, the choreography also let them down. There was too much cape spinning at the beginning and too many moves, such as the death spirals, that seemed more appropriate in a male/female paso than a male/male one.

As we head into the solo commentary, I have to say that I was overall disappointed in the solos this week. The dancers didn’t seem to do anything new or risky here. It was just them, doing their thing. I’d like to see at least some innovation within their styles so it doesn’t feel like I’m seeing the same solo every week.

• AdéChiké: Here was his usual strong contemporary style, but there was nothing new or fresh to it.
• Robert: At least there was some joy and some really great musicality to this piece. Even though we’re seeing a sameness here, he looks so happy to be doing the dance that you can overlook the sameness from week-to-week.
• Lauren: She looked like she relished this 30 seconds, which helped make it a pleasure to watch.
• Jose: Another annoying case of same dance, new song. There are so many things Jose can do in his style. I’d like to see him pull some new tricks out of his bag.
• Kent: He was really in sync with his music and seemed to get lost in it. That was good to see, rather than him playing to the audience.

So we know Billy will be in bottom three, but who will join him? Jose will make a reappearance since he wasn’t helped by the paso. The last slot is a hard call. I think Robert’s going to end up here too since he didn’t stand out last night. It will be Jose’s night to go home. The judges, who’ve hammered him for two weeks on technique, aren’t going to let him get another step closer to top 4.

Speaking of top 4… I think that’s going to be Lauren, Billy, AdéChiké and Kent. Sorry Robert, AdéChiké’s got some sort of magical fan base in play that’s going to cost you the spot you should have.

Results update: That was a surprise and I guess a good one. I got the bottom three right for the first time this season, but then the judges sent no one home. Next week two will go home so we’ll still get to the top four at the usual time.

I loved DJ Smart and getting to see his whole routine. It’s amazing someone as muscular as he is is as flexible as he is. Based on this solo, I don’t understand how he got cut in Vegas. I hope he makes it on in a future season because I’d like to see what else he can do.

The other highlights of the night were the classic routine from Neil and Lauren as well as the hot opening number.

It’s so distressing that Alex is injured. It was revealed at the top of last night’s show that front runner Alex was injured during dress rehearsal on Tuesday. Even more sad is that it could be a ruptured Achilles, which would have him sidelined not just for the rest of the So You Think You Can Dance season but for months beyond it too. Hopefully tonight’s results show will reveal that he will be able to continue next week.

On the whole it was a solid show last night with each dancer performing with an All-Star they had not been previously paired with as well as dancing with a fellow competitor. Here’s a look at my top three performances from last night:

• Billy (Spencer Liff Broadway): Billy was paired with All-Star Katee, who filled in for an injured Allison (it was awesome to see Katee back!) to do “Macavity” from Cats. Billy nailed this piece with both his dancing and his performance as a sly cat burglar. It was fun and stylish. Hopefully Spencer will return for more Broadway. He did a great job with the choreography here.
• Robert (Sean Cheeseman Jazz): This number was too cute with the Barbie and Ken setup. Hopefully this will give him the lift he needs to get out of the bottom three. He had exactly the right personality for this and his dancing was excellent as usual.
• Jose (Mandy Moore contemporary): This was as stunning of a revelation as Alex was at hip hop last week. He had grace, fluidity and even pointed toes. He found the right character too and was completely believable with Lauren. I like Jose more and more all the time. He’s growing so much week to week.

Here’s a look at the rest of last night’s performances in the order they were danced:

• Lauren (Jean-Marc Genereux & France Mousseau cha cha): Go Lauren! This is the best ballroom I’ve seen from any of the females this season. She worked that choreography and Pasha. And finally she gave a pretty mature performance.
• Kent (Dave Scott hip hop): Kent channeled some Justin Timberlake in this routine with Comfort. It was very smooth hip hop and thankfully he didn’t over do the facial expressions either.
• AdéChiké (Mandy Moore jazz): After showing some signs of life last week with the geek number, AdéChiké underwhelmed again this week. I’m not sure in this case of it was him or the choreography though because in general there was something missing in this number that I just couldn’t quite put my finger on.
• Ashley (Tabitha & Napoleon D’uomo Hip Hop): This was hip hop that looked a lot like bollywood to me for some reason. I still liked it though as Ashely and Dominic played assassins. Ashely stepper up her game this week and really nailed the dance and the performance.
• AdéChiké (Nakul bollywood): AdéChiké was supposed to have danced this with Alex but danced with the choreographer’s assistant instead. It looked like he was in the same character as he was for his jazz piece. I was underwhelmed and agree with Mia when she said that she wished Alex had been on the stage. I suspect Cat may not play devil’s advocate any more either because that certainly opened up the floodgates on what Jose has that AdéChiké does not.
• Lauren & Kent (Travis Wall contemporary). Outstanding choreography and outstanding technical performance from the dancers. However, the dance seemed soulless to me. The judges liked it, as did Will, but something just didn’t get me here. I wanted it to hit the heights of the “Heart on a Chain” dance Jason and Jeanine did in season five. I need to watch this again to see if I was just off last night or if something was really not here for me.
• Robert & Ashley (Jean-Marc Genereux & France Mousseau quickstep). I love a good, fun quickstep and this was exactly that. Ashley really turned it on, giving her the best night she’s had on the show. Robert was also quite good and I’m a fan of his ballroom (I loved his Argentine tango a few weeks ago). Yes, there were some technical issues, but they survived this very well.
• Billy & Jose (Sean Cheeseman African Jazz): When these two were dancing apart there was some tremendous stuff here, especially from Billy and some of the poses he can strike. When they were battling though it didn’t seem as fierce as it did in the rehearsal package and that was disappointing. Overall I liked the number.

Bottom three tonight is tough. We know Alex is there because of his injury and he’ll surely pass to next week unless they know by showtime that he cannot continue. My pick for the other two AdéChiké and Lauren. I love Lauren from last night, but I think doing some ballroom will hurt her since the voters don’t seem to go for the ballroom. AdéChiké got beat up by the judges and didn’t show anything new this week so I’m really hoping he visits the bottom.

If Alex is not forced out by medical issues tonight and AdéChiké is in the bottom three, the target squarely sits on his back tonight since the judges were not fans this week. Otherwise, I think any boy in the bottom three (outside of Alex) is in trouble because eventually they are going to want to balance things out a little bit between the boys and the girls.

Results Update: I’m so sad to see Alex go. He will be sorely missed. I’m glad they are going to let him come back in Season 8. Get well soon! We need to see more of your extraordinary talent.

Meanwhile, I’m convinced the voting public is just lame. AdéChiké misses bottom three yet again. Is he paying people to vote for him? Why put Billy and Ashley there after they had such strong nights? I don’t get it. If AdéChiké had an ounce of real personality I’d get it, but he doesn’t and I’m ready to be done suffering through his lackluster performances. I’m sad that Mia felt she needed to apologize for her remarks from last night because she was exactly right.

I loved the In the Heights performance! I loved Natasha Benningfield. Her new song was great and the all-stars had a great routine with her. It was also awesome that Mia choreographed the opening number, which was gorgeous.

Congrats to the SYTYCD Emmy nominated choreographers! Mia Michaels was nominated for the “Addiction” number from Season 5 for Kayla and Kupono. Meanwhile, from Season 6, Stacey Tookey was nominated for “Fear,” which was performed by Legacy and Kathryn. Well done!