“We choreograph to the words, and every word has a meaning,” Napoleon told audiences. But in Season 4, the NappyTabs dream team brilliantly combined the two-using their strong hip-hop choreography to tell an emotional story-and “lyrical hip hop” was born. The impact: Lyrical and hip hop used to be different worlds. “But I begged, and finally co-executive producer Jeff Thacker gave in.” Thank goodness: The powerful, athletic piece was all about the hard-hitting accents in the music, which Moore highlighted with lots of awesomely intense table-slamming.īleeding Love (photo by Kelsey McNeal, courtesy FOX)Ĭhoreographers: Tabitha and Napoleon D’umoĭancers: Chelsie Hightower and Mark Kanemura “I asked if I could use a table, and the show felt the routine didn’t need it,” she says.
Moore’s idea was to create a piece about a business lunch. The impact: This is the routine that brought classic jazz (think layouts and fan kicks) back into the mainstream.
Song: “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This),” by The Eurythmics Sweet Dreams (photo by Kelsey McNeal, courtesy FOX)
“It was important to Wade that we kept the clarity in our storytelling.” “We studied flowers and hummingbirds and how they interact in nature,” Goodwin remembers. But Robson set Goodwin and Konishi up for success in this piece-affectionately known as “the hummingbird and the flower”-by customizing the choreography to their talents, rather than trying to shoehorn them into something pre-made. The impact: Pair a dreamy contemporary dancer with an eclectic b-boy and you have a potential choreographic disaster. Song: “The Chairman’s Waltz,” from Memoirs of a Geisha The Chairman's Waltz (photo by Kelsey McNeal, courtesy FOX)ĭancers: Jaimie Goodwin and Hokuto “Hok” Konishi (Later, Tyce Diorio and Travis Wall created memorable contemporary pieces about loved ones stricken with cancer, and Stacey Tookey and Sonya Tayeh also explored themes of abandonment, loss and heartbreak.) Time marked a turn for “SYT” contemporary routines: They started to focus on powerful narratives rooted in real-life experiences. Schwimmer portrayed a young Michaels reuniting in heaven with her dad, who was played by Haskell with sincerity and charm. The impact: Michaels’ tribute to her lateįather was one of the show’s first tearjerkers. Time (photo by Kelsey McNeal, courtesy FOX)ĭancers: Lacey Schwimmer and Neil Haskell One second, Wall and Groskreutz were touching hands through the bench in a moment of innocent passion the next, Groskreutz was flying into Wall’s arms. Remembered as “the bench dance,” it featured the perfect balance between simple, quiet movements and explosive lifts and jumps. The impact: Michaels defined contemporary dance as we now know it on the show with this routine. The zombie-esque choreography showcased the angular, fiercely musical style that would become Robson’s signature.Ĭalling You (photo by Kelsey McNeal, courtesy FOX)ĭancers: Travis Wall and Heidi Groskreutz The impact: In the early days of “SYTYCD,” everything Robson touched turned to “You’re safe this week.” His group routine for Season 2’s Top 10 was so far from a “typical” jazz routine that America went wild for it. Song: “Ramalama (Bang Bang),” by Róisín Murphy Ramalama (Bang Bang) (photo by Kelsey McNeal, courtesy FOX) Here are the routines that changed the course of the show-and forced the world to take made-for-TV dance seriously. To the dancers and choreographers who bring “SYTYCD” to life: We salute you. They’ve brought amazing musical artists to our attention, changed the face of contemporary dance-even created new genres (hello, lyrical hip hop!). But many “SYTYCD” pieces have also helped shape and shift trends in the larger dance community.
Their routines are the core of the show, and the source of some of our favorite television memories. Since “So You Think You Can Dance” debuted in 2005, we’ve watched each week of its 11-season run hungrily, eager to see what the choreographers have in store for us.