https://youtu.be/N5VcY5jO_pE
Provo ballroom dancer Jensen Arnold advanced to the Top 8 on “So You Think You Can Dance” with two strong performances on Monday night.
Arnold and her partner Jay Jay Dixonbey danced a unique African jazz routine, which was choreographed by Sean Cheesman, and brought the judges to their feet. Judge Nigel Lythogoe, who gave the couple a critical review on their Jazz routine last week, called the duo the “strongest dance couple on the show this year.”
“I know we’ve said that everybody is out of their style today, but that’s nobody’s style,” Lythgoe said. “There were things in there, movements there that you will never, ever do again in your entire lives.”
Judge Mary Murphy called the routine, which was to “Run” by Hybrid Core Music + Sound, her favorite of the night.
“I have to say I was a liar. I said that your first number was the best performance of the night, but that number was definitely the best number of the night,” Murphy said. “The attack was so amazing. You were just digging in, and you just ate it up. Both of you were just stars in that piece. You annihilated it.”
Arnold and Dixonbey’s first number was a contemporary routine to “Lost Without You” by Freya Ridings.
https://youtu.be/O4YSD6Cpqyk
Besides the two routines together, the couple joined the other Top 10 contestants for a quirky group number to “Yummy” by Gwen Stefani and Pharrell.
At the end of the night, two contestants — a male and female — were eliminated. Through audience votes from the previous week and a final decision by the judges, Chelsea Hough and Evan DeBenedetto were eliminated from the show.
Season 15 of “SYTYCD” continues on Monday, Aug. 20 at 7 p.m. Two more competitors will be eliminated on next week’s show.