a little miracle on stage

So You Think You Can Dance Competition Finale!

Oh, summer love. Is it over already? How can it be? I haven't even met Cat yet! Oh, fine, let's get cracking. I'm running a little late tonight because I just had to go see Eddie Izzard at the Kodak. I know, my life is hard.

Courtney & Twitch, hip hop: Mac & I were all Yay! when this song came on ("Church," T-Pain ft Teddy Verseti), because we were just listening to it in the car, because we seriously can't stop listening to the Step Up 2 soundtrack. The routine is adorable, musical and fun, and both of these dancers work it hard and commit to their characters and the dance. Awesome.

Courtney, solo: Courtney has grown so much in this competition, and she's just so darn loveable and adorable. I can totally see why she's here in the top four. It's impossible not to love her sweetness and joy, and she just throws herself into every dance. And, yeah, I might have gotten a little teary during the judges comments for her. What? I'm not made of stone, y'all.

Cat looks sensational. Love the hair, love the dress, love everything.

Katee & Joshua, Wade Robson: Do you like how they don't even try to qualify his choreography as "contemporary" or "jazz" anymore? As for this routine. Wow. The sharp, angular movements contrast so neatly with the strummy song, and they dance it so, so well. They commit so much to the emotion in this number that it just feels really authentic, and their movement is precise and executed so perfectly without feeling studied.... The judges really said it all. These two are a little miracle on stage.

I already know I'm going to save this episode for months just so I can watch at least the first two dances over and over again.

Courtney & Katee, Broadway: With Tyce! And there he goes with a parasol! Love him. As for the routine, I'm not crazy about the goofy costumes. And it's a cute routine, but it seems a little uneven? They're not synchronized very well to me. It's kind of like they're having a lot of fun, but trying to get away with Cute more than Dance. On the other hand, I like cute and fun. So I guess the tongue bath the judges are giving them is okay.

Twitch, solo: The thing is, when he just stares into the camera and smiles, with those cheeks, I just want to hug him to bits & pieces. And he remains a fun, entertaining, musical, and talented dancer.

Joshua & Twitch, Russian: Oh, my god these two are TOO CUTE. They're like brothers, with the constant bickering & one-upping. The routine is a fun concept, but a little too much standing around and clapping for me. That said when they actually have to dance together it's really fun. And I suppose with that much leaping and spinning, a guy can use a clap break. These guys are amazingly athletic performers.

Katee, solo: Well, Hide & Seek has been done to death, but otherwise this is a crazy solo. It's manic and passionate and packing all her skill into a tiny amount of time. I'm with Mary on this, most of my favorite numbers from this season have been Katee's. She's phenomenal.

Katee & Twitch, Foxtrot: And the smack-talk between Twitch & Joshua continues. The music and choreography are so great here. But Katee is showing up Twitch a lot. Giant lift aside, characterization aside, he was a little too stiff for me. I wanted it to feel more elegant and effortless, and I felt like I could kind of see the pole shoved up his butt. The judges... WTF? Are they done critiquing this season? Or are they just selling us Twitch? Not even Mary is going to critique? BAH! I call shenanigans.

Joshua, solo: First, Cat making fun of Joshua for how much he cries is hilarious and awesome. Second, this guy is such a superior hip hop dancer. Jumping over to the judge's stage was a little gimmicky and a little clever, and I'll allow it because he danced his fabulous big booty off when he got there. I love this guy. I just love him. If I'd watched it within the voting window, this would have been my vote.

I love how the boys are sweating all over Cat and her coutour, and she just doesn't even care.

Courtney & Joshua, Jive: With that cute Australian choreographer. Hi there. And I love a little Dirty Boogie. I was kind of worried about the footwork, particularly Josh's, at the beginning, but about halfway through these two really started nailing it. If I could pick any kind of dance to learn and just do for fun myself, this is exactly the dance I'd pick. Maybe not with as many leaps & tricks, but yeah. So damn much fun, and these two were fantastic.

Final Four, Contemporary: Well this is just a treat, at this point. I just love the dancers, and I love the show, and now I'm as bad as the judges. Forgive me, I'm just a sap and I don't care who knows it. Seeing these four dancing so hard as a unit, after everything they've been through tonight... and it's such a joyful celebration. Watching this reminded me of what it was like to watch women cross the finish line at my triathlon. It was like a magical sprint to the finish.

So now it's just a matter of the votes, here at the end. The judges are still selling Twitch too hard, and I'm over it. I have no idea who's going to win this, y'all. I feel like it's going to come down to Josh vs Twitch, and we'll get to see how much people responded to the selling of this whole Twitch story. I think it *should* be Joshua & Katee, with Joshua winning, but I'm not convinced that will happen. If a girl wins, no one will be more surprised than me. I adore them both to pieces, but I'd still be surprised.

We'll see we'll see, eh?