TVSquad

(S06E10) In a So You Think You Can Dance first, we get to meet the Top 20 before competition starts. It's nice to see the dancers doing well in their element before they fall apart trying to learn Disco, Bollywood, or Russian Folk.

We also welcome Adam Shankman as a permanent judge. Nigel wants Paula Abdul to guest judge eventually. Since she was in the audience of Dancing with the Stars, she's probably got the time.

I dislike the return of last season's finale stage as the new permanent stage. The camera angles constantly have heads in the corners, and there are no more stairs for cool performance elements.

The judges didn't have much to say since there was no voting, so I've omitted any of their fluff commentary.

Top 20 Performance - Jazz - Luckily, to figure out all the dancers, they are broken into four groups. There were a lot of people and I wished they had name tags. It's nice to see Legacy keeping up with the jazz steps; maybe he'll make it to the top ten based on his talent and not just his good looks.

Hip-hop - Russell Ferguson, Kevin Hunte, Jonathan "Legacy" Perez - The three, with three different genres of hip-hop, have NappyTabs teaching choreography. Unfortunately, all three lacked cohesion. I hope that their outfits aren't an indication of what the outfits will look like for the rest of the season. They do some really interesting partner work that even DWTS couldn't touch.

Contemporary - Channing Cooke, Ariana DeBose, Jakob Karr, Nathan Trasoras - Tyce is happy to see strong technique, and uses the story of how four people portray sadness. The extensions are strong and the technique is amazing, but I can't help but think that Jacob has too much camera time. Jacob's shirt looked like it was borrowed from last season's "If it Kills Me" routine.

Tap - Phillip Attmore, Bianca Revels, Peter Sabasino - Derick K. Grant is a new choreographer, but I wonder if he'll teach something outside of tap. There was something weird about the coordination in the beginning, but after Bianca's flips the tree seemed closer. There's something I don't like about Phillip, but I can't pinpoint it yet.

Jazz - Mollee Gray, Pauline Mata, Ellenore Scott - To prove that the show doesn't differentiate between Contemporary, Jazz, and Lyrical, three girls who basically represent contemporary will dance jazz. Sonya Tayeh wants a sexy performance but she defines sexiness as confidence. There is definite sass, and even with short hair, Ellenore out sassed Mollie.

Contemporary - Billy Bell, Kathryn McCormick, Noelle Marsh, Victor Smalley - Mandy Moore wants to showcase the group's talent. Noelle busted a toe; probably a bad sign for her. I'm surprised how easily Billy lifted the girls, he doesn't look like he has muscle.

Samba - Karen Hauer, Ashley Di Llelo, Ryan Di Llelo - Karen is from Venezuela, explaining her sass. The choreographer, Jason Gilkison, returns after a season absence. I was blown away by the storyline because Jason didn't just leave spaces for solos. I still dislike Ashleigh's spray tan, but she's growing on me.

I think I made my personal favorite list (Victor, Pauline, Bianca, Ryan, Jakob, and Russell). I would almost put Peter in, but he used the word "audio-ly." Who stood out to you? Leave comments below.