So You Think You Can Dance? 6/30/11 Recap

Miranda Maleski and Robert Taylor, Jr. were eliminated, and AXIS Dance Company and Eric Luna and Georgia Ambarian performed.

The June 30, 2011 results episode of So You Think You Can Dance? featured impressive guest performances from AXIS Dance Company and Eric Luna and Georgia Ambarian. As usual, the judges emphasized how talented all the dancers were and how reluctant they were to send anyone home. Ultimately, Miranda Maleski and Robert Taylor, Jr. found themselves going home.
Opening Group Number

The show opened with a group number set to “The Incredits”, from the soundtrack to The Incredibles. The focus was on the dancers executing moves in unison, both as couples and as individuals, and in general the choreography was tighter and more focused than in the previous week’s group routine.

Host Cat Deely introduced the judges: Lil C, Kristen Chenowith, Mary Murphy, and Nigel Lythgoe. Chenowith talked about her forthcoming country album, saying she wanted to get back to her roots.

Voting Results: The First Three Couples

Deely asked the first three couples to come to the stage. She started off with Melanie Moore and Marko Germar, telling them they were safe. Next came Ashley Rich and Chris Koehl, whose zombie-themed jazz routine received a mixed reception from the judges. They found themselves in the bottom three.

Ryan Ramirez and Ricky Jaime were the last of the group to find out their fates. They were relieved to learn they were safe this week. After a break, Deely asked Lythgoe about National Dance Day on July 30th, and said routines choreographed by Murphy and Robin Antin would be posted on the show’s web site.
Voting Results: The Next Three Couples

The next three couples walked out to the stage. Jordan Casanova and Tadd Gadduang learned that the audience agreed with the judges’ praise of their playfully sexy hip-hop routine.

Sasha Mallory and Alexander Fost were next to have their routine recapped, but had to wait to hear the results, as Deely went on to the recap for Maleski and Taylor. Maleski and Taylor were the second couple in the bottom three, while Mallory and Fost were safe.
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Voting Results: The Last Two Couples

After a commercial break, the last two couples joined Deely on stage. Clarice Ordaz and Jess LeProtto also had to wait until after both their performance and that of Caitlynn Lawson and Mitchell Kelly were recapped to learn the results. Deely revealed that Lawson and Mitchell were the last couple in the bottom three.

The night's first guest performance came from AXIS Dance Company, a troupe that included dancers with disabilities. A male dancer in a wheelchair and a fully-abled female dancer performed an intricate routine to Janine Jansen's recording of the fifth movement of Bach's Partita No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1004.
Solo Routines

Next, the dancers performed their last-chance solos. Rich came first, followed by Koehl, and his energetic hip-hop routine was a drastic contrast to her more restrained, traditionally balletic performance. Maleski followed with a number full of athletic leaps and stretches.

Taylor's solo incorporated breakdancing moves along with some choreography reminiscent of Michael Jackson, and displayed the most personality of any of the dancers. Lawson's routine emphasized dramatic leaps and twirls, and Kelly closed out the solos with an emotional interpretation of Adele's "Rolling In the Deep".

Lythgoe said that he loved all six dancers and didn't want to send anyone home. The judges headed backstage for their deliberations. While they made their decision, Luna and Ambarian gave a performance that started out sedate and traditional, but quickly became more dramatic as Luna twirled Ambarian around his body and over his head.
Voting Results

Before announcing which of the female dancers was going home, Lythgoe said that the judges loved all three of them and weren't unanimous in their decision. He told Maleski that she was going home, and Deely embraced her as they looked back at her best moments on the show.

With the men, the decision was unanimous. Lythgoe noted that Kelly was impressive when dancing for his life, but was consistently in the bottom three and wasn't connecting with the public. He told Koehl that he was doing a good job but had to grow quicker for the public to recognize what he was doing. Finally, he told Taylor that this would be the last time he would be in the bottom three, because he was leaving this week.

After a brief recap of his time on the show, Taylor told Deely he didn't see the show as a competition, but rather an opportunity for growth and friendship. He said he wanted to spread a message of peace, and closed the show out with his trademark "Woo!".