Last night’s episode of SYTYCDC season two marked the epic ‘Finals Week’ in Toronto and this year is looking to be even tougher than last year! Top soften the intensity, last year’s winner Nico Archamault returned to give the approximate 200 finalists some advice, and hot damn did he look good.

The judges once again returned to offer their remarks on each of the upcoming rounds; Jean Marc Genereux, Tre Armstrong, Luther Brown, and Blake ‘I-think-I’m-the-best-dancer-in-the-world McGrath. Blake’s words of advice, naturally, “dance your asses off”.

The first choreography round challenge was Hip Hop with Luther Brown. The dancers were given 90 minutes to learn the upbeat choreography and at the end of this round, almost half of the dancers would be cut from the competition. CRAZY!

Random Insert: Of course Emanuel Sandhu was back, and he was even more disgusting than last year. Seriously, stick to figure skating, you aren’t meant for competitive dancing with the general public voting for you.

The majority of the dancers were ALL over the map with hip hop…seriously, not the efforts just weren’t good.

Second on the program was the first day’s dancers who weren’t terrible enough to go home but also weren’t strong enough to make it to the next round, being left to dance for their lives. There were some AMAZING solos, and there were some AWFUL solos. Unfortunately, due to the production, there was too much time focused on the negative dancers and not enough emphasis on the good dancers. This definitely bummed me out…

Next on the repertoire for the start of day two was Jazz with Tre Armstrong. Her routine was intense, and included partnering; an interesting twist this early on in the finals rounds. This jazz round definitely spelt the end of the road for a lot of the dancers, and I have to say, there were some BAD dancers that needed a bit of a reality check.

Day three brought out the worst in Jean Marc as he took to the stage to teach the dancers a partnered Samba. Ballroom, naturally, is tough for everyone outside those who specialize in this genre, and my least favourite number at this stage in the competition. To no surprise, Jean Marc lost his cool with the dancers, and needless to say, it was annoying as hell.

After a few rounds of bad ballroom and a large number of the early contestants sent home, all of the dancers were pulled back to the stage and scolded for not bringing enough energy. It’s moments like this in the show that I feel the judges need to take a step back and realize the demand they are putting on the dancers. Three days of barking orders wears on people, seriously.

Day four wrapped up the judges choreography for now and put the onus back in the dancer’s hands, with group routines (I secretly DIE during this part of auditions – LOVE LOVE LOVE).

The first group to the stage was AWFUL. It was unbelievably bad…

The second group to the stage was pretty damn well put together…

Group three and four and five were AWESOME.

Group six was lack lustre. Group seven was terrible. Group eight was horrid. Group nine was a disaster too…

Group ten, the final group, had their issues throughout the night and went to bed early, and that proved fatal for everyone involved. The number was a MESS!

Following the group routines a number of individuals were left to dance for their lives.

In a random twist of events, Cody Benal (sp?) decided to dance for his life instead of sailing straight through to prove why he should be in the competition, as both Luther and Blake doubted his abilities. It was a bold move that paid off as he was sent through with ALL of the judge’s approvals. Well done Cody! A little balls-out move for ‘baby face’.

The final round in the Toronto finale week was Blake’s dance-your-face-off-like-monkeys contemporary choreography. The routine was definitely intense, and dancers were being cut left right and center, with a few surprizes surviving to make it through to the final solo round.

At the end of the day 46 dancers were left standing vying for the coveted top 20 spots.

This SUNDAY is the final decision day as the judges determine the top 20 dancers. I CAN HARDLY STAND THE WAIT. Yes, just like that movie from the 90s.

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