Does being one of the best two dancers in a competition guarantee you a place in the final? Not if you don’t give your absolute best performance every single week, as Drew found out to his peril in the fourth round of So You Think You Can Dance.
Drew has consistently looked the boy to beat, with his slick moves and playful, theatrical attitude, but he has been fighting a strong field given the strength of Alastair the beautiful ballet-dancer, Tommy with the acrobatic prowess he’s brought with him from the street, and Robbie, the tall blonde guy who has totally wowed the judges.
But then, so has Drew - and as Nigel told him and Robbie on Saturday: “We are terribly upset about choosing between you, because we expected you both to be in the final.” Instead of that, Drew had to take his final bow; Robbie was saved, according to Nigel, by his double turn into a side split - a move he didn’t even know the name of when he learned it last week!
The dancers are learning new steps fast, but the contest can no longer be entirely about dazzle - which is why Charlie, who has looked such a star since the beginning, found herself in the girls dance-off last week. As Arlene said: “Last week Charlie blew us away, but today we saw a lot of holes in the work she does.” Charlie, just 17 and by far the least experienced, was lucky judges agreed to keep her over Cuban salsa dancer Yanet, who was praised by Nigel for the “animalistic magnetism” of her last performance.
Mandy, the oldest dancer, is hanging in, and her routine with Tommy, which had a touch of West Side Story about it, was praised by Nigel as “the best dancing of the night”. Sisqo went so far as to say:
”If you two are not in the final, it will be a crime”. But who knows if this couple can hang in more than one more week, with a couple as strong as Lizzie and Alistair - the judges’ overall favourite last week - to beat? Not to mention resilient and talented Robbie and Charlie still hanging in there....it’s a close call now we’re down to the final six.