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Am I that bad? Really?
I have a lot of admiration for the young people who audition on So You Think You Can Dance, and I love the show because you get to see such a wide variety of human behavior. Some of them, even though they might not be very good dancers, you just have to root for, or at least feel for when they’re sent home. I’m thinking of the wonderful Abigail Thurman, who so graciously accepted Tice Diorio’s assessment of her dancing as “horrifying.” She had absolutely no concept of what dancing was, and no idea how to move to the music, but she bowed out with class.

Let’s compare her with the ridiculous Syiddah King, who talked over the judges and admitted she didn’t want to be a dancer, didn’t even want to call what she did “dancing.” Or Shamikah Robinson, who insisted the judges were lying to her when they told her she wasn’t a dancer. She was trying to do something they hadn’t seen before, she told them, and they just didn’t understand her style. She walked off before they could get through to her that they’d seen it before, and it still wasn’t dancing.

But I had to love Anthony and Antwain Hart, the twins who were so supportive of each other that they were each willing to give up the chance to move on so the other one could. It was so cool that after they did their own choreography together, they both were invited to go to the next round in Las Vegas. It was one of the best moments I’ve seen on the show.

My other favorites tonight were Brandon Bryant, who had tried out three years ago but had to drop out because he lied about his age, and Courtney Galiano, who was there with her grandparents. They both lit up the stage with exciting, entertaining routines. I loved B.J. Harris, whose body was so flexible he had moves nobody could believe, but who couldn’t make it past the choreography. I cringed at Jason Looney, who showed up in drag and was quite accurately called a disgrace by the judges. They were embarrassed by the disrespect he showed to all dancers everywhere, and they told him so.

I also sort of fell in love with D.C. Swing, a dance style I’d never seen before (neither had the judges). The pair who performed it, Markus Smith and Deonna Ball, had a laid back, easygoing style that was so much fun to watch you couldn’t help smiling. It’s too bad that was all they could do, but I’d be happy to watch them do it again.

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