More coherent spoilers

Excuse any grammar/spelling mistakes; I've been up since 6 this morning and I have to get up for work in that many hours so I'm pretty much dying.

SHORT VERSION

Brandon and Jeanine were awesome, the judges/crowd agreed, really good performances but nothing that I personally will remember for the rest of my life.

LONG VERSION

So it was a crazy experience, and I'm kind of disappointed because I came out of it without a ticket stub (I'm really anal about those). They made me a seatfiller, so I got moved around a few times before the show started, but I ended up in a pretty good seat a few rows behind the judges' table. The contestants came in from my side, and right off the bat Kupono and Jonathan (who is seriously gorgeous in person, omg) seemed really close. Jonathan was holding hands with Caitlin. Phillip had trouble finding his seat. He and Tony were messing around a lot at the beginning -- they seem like really good friends.

Third judge was Adam. Mary was wearing a really hot red dress and ridiculous sparkly heels. Cat was wearing a horrible silver dress thing. Jeanine seriously had a strong showing in the crowd. Everyone was going crazy for her. Kayla got the second most cheers, and then Brandon, and then Evan. By the end of the show, though, most people were cheering for Brandon and Jeanine. Oh, and random note: Nigel was seriously on perv mode tonight. I mentioned two of his episodes, but there was another one I can't remember. Suffice it to say the audience was more than amused/appalled.

Group dance - Pop/Hip Hop/something I can't really classify - Wade and Amanda

The concept was the guys were football players and the girls were flirty cheerleaders. There was a lot of acting involved and goofy moves -- not a whole lot of substance, but the performance was lots of fun and I loved it. At one point the guys were dancing with pink pom poms, and at another point the girls jumped and flashed their red, sparkly underwear, lol.

Evan and Jeanine - Jazz - Sonya

Concept for this piece was Evan's still in love with Jeanine but she wants nothing to do with him. Basically, another girl power piece. Evan got thrown around a lot and there was a really cool assisted lift in there. It was pretty good, but not amazing. It was clear Sonya tried to choreograph something that would allow Evan to shine (even though he didn't, really). The crowd gave it a standing O, but I'm pretty sure that's just because they loved Jeanine that much. The judges said it was great and praised Jeanine for being a strong dancer. They said Evan is great b/c he's popular -- basically, a backhanded compliment. Adam said he didn't expect Evan to make it to the top four or Jeanine to be as good as she is.

Brandon's solo

Before the solos, Cat interviewed all the contestants about their time on the show. Brandon talked about winning Mia's approval and how he never thought he'd make it and how Janette is the person he misses the most. The performance was his usual stuff. He did the thing where he throws himself on the ground again. I was sitting close enough to see that a lot of his movements were a bit desperate, but overall, still good. The judges said he was really competing and putting himself out there.

Brandon and Kayla - Broadway - Tyce

It was a classic style broadway routine, with a song from All That Jazz... something about my man dying, idk. They both looked FAB -- Brandon had this glittery cape/jacket thing on. Brandon started out lying on a table, and at one point during the routine he danced on top of it. The whole thing was REALLY epic, guys. Lots of changes in the music and flashing lights and all that jazz. There was this one segment where they had to pirouette at the same time and the timing was almost perfect. I think this was my favourite performance of the night. It didn't get a standing ovation, but Adam did jump on his feet. The judges freaked out about Brandon and Kayla being the holy trinity and said they were the two strongest dancers and seeing them together was awesome or something, idk.

Jeanine's solo

Jeanine said her favourite routine was the Jason contemporary because they really connected and there was no awkwardness between them. According to my friend (I wasn't paying attention at the end of her video), she also said the kiss at the end wasn't choreographed. Okay, this is when the judges dropped Kayla for Jeanine. The music Jeanine chose was paso doble-ish in nature, so she really got the chance to show off how strong her dancing is. She had a plastic flower in her mouth the whole time. The solo was INCREDIBLE. She did the most perfectly controlled pirouette I've ever seen on the show; it was stunning. The crowd went WILD afterwards, and everyone + the judges gave it a standing ovation. Seriously, people would not stop cheering. Jeanine got really emotional and the judges showered her with praise, saying she and Brandon were really battling it out.

Brandon and Evan - Hip Hop - Laurieann

Woooow, talk about a mismatched pair. The concept was they were fighting to be the winner. The boys looked hot in wifebeaters and leather jackets. Brandon destroyed Evan in every possible way. He hit harder, stayed with the beat, and out-fierced Evan by a country mile. The judges threw Evan under the bus and ran him over several times for good measure. They said he couldn't get into character and wasn't nasty enough for the routine. Mary asked Evan what was the nastiest thing he ever did, and Evan said he didn't know, the list was too long. Nigel said he didn't think Evan had ever done a nasty thing in his life, and that was the problem.

Jeanine and Kayla - Contemporary - Mia

The concept of this piece was shedding layers. The girls came out in several skirts, and they ripped them off one by one in time with the music. The routine was incredibly difficult -- lots of fast, intricate movements. It involved almost no partner work, which was kind of disappointing, because it already seems like the girls don't really care for each other. They were both great, though Jeanine had some issues ripping her skirts off. I thought it was great, but it didn't touch me the way the Gravity routine did. Nigel was perving hardcore -- he said he wished the dance had gone on longer (i.e. he wanted to see them take off more clothes). The judges complimented Mia more than the dancers, but said that they danced a hard routine very well.

Evan's solo

Evan talked about how emotional it was losing his brother, and said the butt routine was his favourite. According to Nigel, he did the same routine he auditioned with, except with a few tweaks. The solo was very, very uninspiring. All the judges thanked him for bringing back a style of dance that's fading. Nigel said he doesn't think Evan has grown at all, however.

Kayla and Evan - Jive - Tony and Meredith

Okay, this was just odd. It was country western themed. Kayla had on this blue bra top with fringes, a sparkly, ruffly skirt, and cowboy boots. If anyone has been complaining about Kayla getting preferential treatment... well, don't, lol. The jive itself was fun, but really, really lacking in substance. There was a cool lift sequence in there, but that was about it. I personally thought it looked like Evan struggled. Adam criticised Tony and Meredith, saying they didn't choreograph a routine worthy of the finale. Mary and Nigel got on his case. Mary said Evan was subpar technically. Poor Evan looked like a kicked puppy. The crowd responded by chanting Evan's name, which was really sweet of them, since they clearly didn't care for him. Nigel said Evan was good and Kayla's personality is finally starting to shine through.

Kayla's solo

Kayla said she definitely has what it takes to win the show because she's a performer as well as a dancer. Her favourite routine was "Gravity" because of all the responses she got from viewers telling her how much it touched them. Her solo was good, but I didn't think it was fantastic. She danced it to a popular older song that's similar to "Tainted Love," but I don't think it was "Tainted Love." Sorry, I'm really bad with music :( It was a mid-tempo, rock-ish song, though. It just didn't show us anything new. The judges showered her with praises, but it didn't really seem like their heart was into it, at least not to me. Adam said the solo was good but not good enough, but added that she's one of the best dancers he's ever seen on the show and likened her to Travis and Danny. Mary and Nigel pretty much agreed.

Jeanine and Brandon - Paso Doble - Louis van Amstel

SERIOUSLY? SERIOUSLY??? I can't wrap my mind around how good these two are. This was a really dark, angry paso doble, with a lot of fiery lighting involved. They were dressed in black and lots of leather. They were SO unbelievably strong and fierce and perfect. I honestly don't even remember most of what happened in the dance because I was too busy being mesmerised. It got a really loud standing O from the crowd and the judges. They couldn't stop talking about how amazing it was and how both of them deserve to be the last two standing. Mary screamed for the first time, and Nigel screamed after her. Again, Nigel started perving on Jeanine -- he said something about how Brandon was doing all sorts of crazy things to his woman, and it made him (Nigel) want to get up on stage and do the same things to her.

After the performances all the contestants lined up and Cat asked the judges to predict who was going to win. Adam said he couldn't because all of them were amazing and Mary agreed. Nigel, however, said that it would come down to Jeanine and Brandon. My friend was sitting next to Kayla's family at this point, and she said they were really pissed off about Nigel's comments.

AT THE END AFTER THE SHOW STOPPED TAPING:

The producer announced that they had a special surprise for us: they were reprising Mia's mirror group routine with the top 8 contestants and Nigel, Mary, Adam, Mia, Debbie, and Tyce. While we waited for everyone to change, Corey introduced all the contestants who were there (everyone but the top 8 + Lauren from S3). He pulled Phillip up onto the stage to freestyle for us, and then Tony went up and danced to "Beat It." Everyone started chanting the names of people they wanted to go up, so it was just a big mess. Kupono got the loudest crowd reaction, but according to my friend who sat in the contestants' section, he insisted he was injured and couldn't do it. (I'm pretty sure it was just beacuse he didn't want to improvise a contemporary routine.) Then we brought up a guy named Jerome whom Corey had talked to earlier, and then Phillip brought up one of his bboy friends, but he didn't have a chance to perform because Debbie ushered him off so we could start taping the performance.

The top 8 came out dressed in white suits and top hats. The crowd LOVED Ade. Homeboy can seriously work that booty of his. They had to film the contestants' part of the dance twice. Between takes, I noticed Jeanine and Jason hugging for a REALLY long time behind the mirrors. Janette and Brandon kept stopping to talk, and at one point Melissa jumped on Ade and hugged him tight. Then they turned down the lights so they could bring in the judges and hide them behind the mirrors. Then they came out (not dressed in the white suits -- they had tailcoats and stuff, but the girls were wearing black corsets under their coats; it was awesome) and danced for half a minute or so. It was awesome -- probably my favourite part of the show. We had to re-film it three times. The performance should look really good once it's edited together.

At the end all the choreographers were hugging and kissing each other and poor Tyce stood at the end looking a little lost, lol. Oh, and at one point Adam jumped on Mia and wrapped his legs around her waist. It was adorable.

And I took a picture as I was leaving after the group performance taping... it was the best I could get, since I didn't have time to stick around to try to meet them: