(S06E14) I'm very surprised that So You Think You Can dance had no musicians this week. I thought any desperate pop/dance musician would jump for the opportunity to hawk their song to America. Instead we get only one amazing dance group, but that wasn't enough to fill an hour's worth of television.

I hope that the show was really live because there were some awkward camera angles, a microphone that wasn't adjusted in the beginning, and graphics that appeared out of nowhere. Luckily, it was adjusted in the first five minutes, but it shows that SYTYCD was depending on their pre-taped nature for the past few weeks.

It's a fair question. I'm not going to knock the skills the boys obviously have, but in a way this is a reality all-star crew of hip-hop dancers. Three of their performers are former finalists of FOX's summer hit So You Think You Can Dance. Hell, even judge Shane Sparks choreographed and judged on SYTYCD before beginning his stint on Randy Jackson Presents: America's Best Dance Crew for MTV so the audience is already aware of a connection between the two shows. And you have to figure there's a pretty heavy crossover audience between the two. How many dancing competition shows are there that feature street dancing?

The question is whether or not its unfair that so much of America has already become familiar with and fallen in love with the dynamic style of Hok Konishi, Ryan Conferido and Dominic "D-Trix" Sandoval of Quest Crew. Where do you draw the line, or is there any need to? On SYTYCD the three each competed individually whereas here they're part of a larger group so it's not like they're getting a second chance. Still, I'm pretty sure I remember Quest Crew even performing on a results show of SYTYCD last summer.

"We can dance if we want to. We can leave your friends behind. 'Cause if your friends don't dance and if they don't dance then they're no friends of mine." --Men Without Hats

Yep, "Safety Dance" blared through several speakers in the courtyard of the Nokia Theatre yesterday. I was there for So You Think You Can Dance's record-setting event. I also got to talk to some ex-cast members of the show. Read about the event and see what Lauren, Hok, Dominic, and Lacey had to say about their experience on SYTYCD (and their lives since then) after the jump.

%Gallery-23284%

(S03E19) The show kicked off with what I am calling the Broadway Matrix, starring Lauren as Trinity. It was a fun number, set to "Get Up" by Ciarra. I thought that giving Lauren the lead role might have been a bad omen for what was to come for her when we got to the results. There was plenty of other filler stuff to get to before we would find that out though.

First, Cat had a little chat with the judges about dance as a career. Nigel expounded on why it is so difficult, comparing it to being a professional athlete because the career is so short. He noted that the whole time someone is trying to get work as a professional dancer they have to be mindful of what they will be doing in the future. Adam added that the reason that people go through all of the struggles is because it is so full of joy. Mary was asked whether or not a girl can win the competition this year and she responded, "Absolutely a girl could win." I agree with that.

(S03E18) Holy smokes. Episode 18 already? Our summer, and the SYTYCD competition, is flying by. As Cat pointed out in the intro, we're only two weeks away from crowning the season three champ. The everybody dances the same solo format from last week was out the window, which I think was for the best. You can have too much of a good thing. There was also a welcome absence of political commentary, as I think that really took away from what the show is about last week. That doesn't mean that there wasn't controversy though, but we'll get to that later. More about all of the performances, after the jump.

(S03E17) We've turned a corner in the season three competition. The eliminations to go from ten dancers to eight represented the first choices made by the fans at home. Would they get it right? Or would this be another head scratching result like so many of those the judges brought about with their sometimes strange decisions? In the spirit of the results show, you'll have to wait to find out.

That gets us to the first point about the results show this week. It was certainly worth hanging around to find out who was going home. Given the dancers that are left, there was certainly some question as far as who that would be. That said, as an episode, this was far and away the worst of the season. They've stretched to fill time before, but this was the first time that I felt like they were just jerking the audience around. It was 30 minutes of show stuffed in a one hour bag. But there were results to be had, and I'll have those after the jump.

(S03E16) Cat kicked off the show reminding us that the decision is now in the hands of the viewers. That will put an end to the weekly musings about the judges curious elimination decisions. However, I don't think there will be any shortage of controversy with the viewers in charge. If the week six performance show is any indication, you could make a case for anyone to stay, so somebody is going to be disappointed with tomorrow's results. That's getting the cart ahead of the course though, there is a whole performance show to deal with.

Viewer voting isn't the only change this week. There are new partnerships to take a look at, and along with those five partner dances all ten of the contestants danced the same Wade Robson choreographed solo. Witnessing all of this were, of course, Nigel and Mary. Mia Michaels was along for the ride as guest judge. It all made for a pretty impressive night of competition. We'll try and wrap it all up in a nice neat bow after the jump.

(S03E15) It seems like the summer is just flying by. Here we are, already down to the top ten. The competition has been very tough up to this point. Still, considering the talent of the contestants left, and adding in the fact that all of the partnerships are out the window, it's only going to get tougher.

Jean-Marc Genereaux got the nod to choreograph the big opening number this week, to the tune of "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy." It was my favorite of the opening numbers so far. Lots of energy, and the period costumes were great. It's pretty impressive that, after all of the work that goes in to the weekly routine, the group is still able to come together and deliver these big numbers each week. As fun as they are though, we do tune in for the results. All the details are after the jump.

(S03E14)This week we will lose two more dancers and that will bring us to the top ten. It's not winning, but making the top ten is a bit of a feather in the cap, and it also means that you get to go on the tour. So there is a lot on the line for the dancers. In addition, beginning next week the teams will be paired up randomly each week.

Wade Robson is the guest judge this week, joining Nigel and Mary. Wade talked about what he was looking for in the dance. He thinks that given the audience for the show, the dancers have a responsibility to tell a human story. I didn't actually follow all of that, but he's Wade Robson. I give him a lot of leeway on things like that. Anyway, with the pressure as high as it has been so far this season, on with the dances after the jump.

(S03E13) Cat opened up the show looking absolutely lovely with her hair up and her blue dress. She said that after last night's performances this might be the hardest elimination yet. I didn't really think it was that tough a decision, but considering that my picks for elimination didn't pan out, maybe it was more difficult than I thought.

That led right into the big group performance, choreographed by Adam Shankman, which I'll call a modern take on the sock hop. It had a very Happy Days feel to it, if Ralph Malph had occasionally paused to do a little break dancing before telling someone to sit on it. It was a very fun performance all around.

(S03E12) After a week off for the 4th of July holiday, Nigel, Mary, and Cat are back with the top 14. Along for the ride is guest judge Adam Shankman. He is the director and choreographer of the upcoming Hairspray. The show started off by sending a small percentage of the audience into epileptic seizures as they got a look at Cat's dress, and then moved on to Nigel defending the decision to cut Jessi.

Really, I think they should have just let it go. He's not going to change any minds no matter how well thought out he thinks his explanation was. All this served to do was remind the people that didn't agree with the decision that the last results show was, as they saw it, a travesty. It's not changing, so to be fair to the other dancers, get on with it. As we should do now. Rundowns of all the performances after the jump.

(S03E11) After a crazy performance show it was only natural to expect that anything could happen on elimination night. Things started out normally enough with a group performance to "The Lion's Hunt" from the Lion King soundtrack, choreographed by Tyce Diorio.

It was not my favorite of the group performances, but it was fun. The thing I found interesting was that, like last week, this one also ended with the focus on Sabra. I'm taking that as a subliminal message for people to vote for her. She's quickly becoming my favorite in the competition.

(S03E10) So You Think You Can Dance, come for the dancing, stay for the drama... One of the things I really like about the show is that they stay pretty heavily focused on the competition. Sure, we get the sometimes useless backstage bits, but they have to fill out the two hours of their summer hit somehow. For the most part though, they do steer clear of the theatrics and keep the actual dancing in the spotlight. That broke down a little tonight, though maybe not as much as it could have. More on that later.

First, look over there, it's dance legend (we can call her a legend, right?) Debbie Allen sitting in as guest judge. I had heard that she was going to be making an appearance and have been looking forward to it. She didn't disappoint either. Throughout the show she was a lot of fun. Nigel and Mary were, of course, along for the ride. So, with the introduction out of the way, on to the performances... and the drama.

(S01E05) I have to say, I'm glad to be done with the qualification episodes. The show is always best when it gets into the competition round anyway, but these last couple episodes have just been very poorly produced. It's hard to argue for or against any of the judges decisions about who is in, and who is out, because we have seen so little of the actual performances.

Getting the final fifty contestants down to the top twenty followed along those same lines. It was an hour spent trying to create suspense that mostly fell flat. It's a little difficult being concerned whether or not someone is moving on when we haven't even been introduced to them. And since they refuse to put names on the screen, we aren't even sure who some of them are anyway.