"So You Think You Can Dance" 18 Dancers Remain!

Tonight's episode of "So You Think You Can Dance" on FOX network will bring the 18 remaining finalist together to compete. Nine male dancers and nine female dancers will be paired up, and each couple will compete against the other eight couples until they are eliminated from the show or until they reach the point when partners are rotated each week by picking names out of a hat. This week one guy and one girl will go home. Because FOX is broadcasting the World Series, the judges will pick the one male and one female dancer that will be eliminated. Starting next week, America will start voting.

Several notes of interest: 1. Noelle is healed up and ready to dance this week. 2. Brandon will be able to audition for the Top 20 next season, despite the fact that they brought him into the show at the last minute last week to fill in for Billy Bell. 3. Billy Bell will be able to come in at the level of the Top 100 in Vegas next season. All these announcements seem very fair to me. 4. Paula Abdul is still a no show, so they moved her chair over by Adam Shankman to see if there would be a better draw. Only time will tell.

Here's how each couple did:

18-year old, Noelle (contemporary) and 19-year old, Russell (krumper) will be taking instruction from choreographer Jamal Simms. We're going to be playing a round of tennis hip hop style. This routine is fast and Jamal handles it better than Noelle. From a choreography perspective, the props kind of become more of a burden towards the end of the routine. Both dancers do a good job, but they also look overwhelmed at times with the speed. That prevents them from really getting into the characters which is extremely important. Noelle really messed up on her aerial cartwheel. Her hand touched the ground and her legs were bent and all over the place. My Scores: Noelle - 7 Russell - 9

18-year-old, Channing (contemporary) and 25-year old Phillip (tap) will be dancing the Samba choreographed by Melanie Lapatin and Tony Meredith. Channing looks hot in the pale blue outfit. The lifts are atrocious. It looks like Phillip doesn't have the strength to lift Channing, so I don't think it's her fault. Her dancing was also more convincing than Phillips. Bravo to her bravery for trusting a partner who clearly was not in control of the lifts. When Channing was just dancing, she executed several Samba motions with amazing expertise. My Scores: Channing - 8 Phillip - 6

27-year old Ashleigh Di Lello (ballroom) and 18-year-old, Jakob will be taking their instruction form Melanie Lapatin and Tony Meredith. We're going to a wedding and their performing a Waltz. It starts out with a "and now you can kiss the bride" kiss. Ashleigh is elegant and has beautiful lines both in her dancing and her lifts. Jakob can leap like there is no tomorrow. Their chemistry is good but I'm not totally convinced they're in love. The routine was suppose to be a Waltz, but there really was not a lot of actual Waltzing in the routine. That was a good thing for Jakob, because he was terrific at all the lifts, but his actual footwork in the Waltz was not good. The up and down motion and the movement across the floor was not dynamic enough. My Scores: Ashleigh - 9 Jakob -8

20-year-old, Bianca (tap) and 20-year-old, Victor (contemporary) will be chorographed by Tyce DeOrio. We're going to church now. This is a southern revival "praise the Lord" kind of church. The dance starts out great from the beginning. However, the music becomes more dynamic in speed and intensity, and the dancers don't. They had good technique and they were entertaining, but they were truly not converted, and neither were we. This could have been a great routine and it was just okay. My Scores Bianca - 7 Victor - 8

27-year-old, Karen (Ballroom) and 23-year-old, Kevin (Hip Hop), will be dancing a hip hop routine choreographed by Tabitha and Napolean Dumo. We're going to a repair shop now, and Kevin is the mechanic. Karen is the sexy customer that comes into the shop. Karen is performing this routine like she's done hip hop all her life. She's even giving Kevin a run for his money and he is a hip hop dude. Nevertheless, they're both hot. They had amazing chemistry and they got the story. This could be my favorite routine of the night. We'll see. My Scores: Karen - 10 Kevin - 10

19-year old Ellenore (Jazz) and 28-year-old Ryan (Ballroom) will be dancing a Argentine Tango routine choreographed by Miriam Larici and Leonardo Barraionuendo. There are a lot of very hard lifts in this routine. Ellenore could work a little harder at relating to Ryan as well as he relates to her, but to her credit, her dress catches on the high heel of her shoe at the very beginning of the routine. That had to be very distracting, but she kept going. She danced beautifully. They performed the lifts flawlessly. My Scores: Ellenore - 9 Ryan - 9

18-year-old Pauline (Jazz) and 21-year-old Peter (Tap) are dancing inside Van Gogh's "Starry Night" choreographed by Wade Robison. They are literally turning the strokes of genius into characters and movement. The music was great and the choreography was very original. Wade Robison's routines are sometimes controversial, only because sometimes his artistic impressions don't always show the dancer's full potential. Having said that, he is brilliant and his work is entertaining. I love his work. Pauline and Peter both did a wonderful job on this unique piece. They were completely committed to a character that was a little hard to understand. My Scores: Pauline - 10 Peter - 9

18-year-old Katherine (contemporary) and 18-year-old Legacy (Hip Hop) will be dancing a contemporary routine choreographed by Stacey Tookey. This was a powerful song "Two Steps Away" sung by Patti LaBelle. Watching this powerful routine, you would never know that Legacy was a Hip Hop dancer. He and Katherine danced this routine about "Fear" in a convincing, fearless manner. The execution was clean and the performance was done with total abandonment to the feelings and characters of this routine. My Score: Katherine - 10 Legacy -10

18-year-old, Mollee (Jazz) and 18-year-old, Nathan (Contemporary) will be dancing a Bollyoood routine. Imagine that Mollywood will be dancing Bollywood in Hollywood. Sorry, Mollee thought that was cute. Let's see if her dancing is as cute. Nakul Dev Mahajan is the choreographer in charge and he tells a story of a warrior going off to battle and a lover who isn't very happy with that. This routine starts out so beautifully with the backdrop of a yellow moon. It just continues to go uphill from there. These two dancers gave this routine everything they had. They were sharp and dynamic. It showed off their skill levels very well, especially Nathan's. It ends with the same beautiful backdrop. I loved all of it and Mollee continues to mature as a dancer. My Score: Mollee - 9 Nathan - 10

Favorites of the Night My three favorite routines of the night are Stacey Tookey's "Fear" routine, Tabitha & Napolean Dubo's "Mechanic Shop" routine, and Nakul Dev Mahahan's "Bollywood Warrior" routine.

My three favorite female dancers for tonight are: Karen, Catherine, and Pauline.

My three favorite male dancers for tonight are Kevin, Legacy, and Nathan.

Dancing For Their Lives The four who have to dance for their lives are Bianca, Noelle, Phillip and Victor.

First up is Noelle dancing for her life. Great choice of music and her dancing was moving. Powerful solo.

Second up is Victor, one of my personal favorites, dancing for his life. He too dance in a moving an powerful manner. He reminds me of Brandon from last season.

Third up is Bianca dancing for her life. Bianca is a awesome tap dancer, but she didn't come close to Noelle in my opinion.

Fourth up is Phillip dancing for his life. Again, Brandon is a great tap dancer, but it's hard for a tap dancer to move you with the same power and emotion as Victor did.

Judges Adam Shankman, Mary Murphy and Nigel Lythgoe will make the decision this week. There will not be a vote from America. Evidently the judges felt the same way I did because we just lost two of the three tappers. Bianca and Phillip have been eliminated.