Cue Music! Celebrate 'SYTYCD's' 10th Birthday With Its Best Routines Ever

Lyndsey Parker
·Editor in Chief, Yahoo Music
Updated

Happy-dance time! This week, So You Think You Can Dance celebrates its 10th anniversary, with a Very Special Episode on Tuesday night. The show has often struggled in the ratings, but after 10 years, 12 seasons, 53 Emmy nominations, 13 Emmy wins, and hundreds of amazing auditions, solos, partner dances, and group numbers, it’s still here, still wowing fans, and still inspiring people to dance.

SYTYCD has always been the most highbrow of reality talent shows, exposing mainstream audiences to the art of dance, turning choreographers into household names, and even breaking a few musical acts (like Lady Gaga, Christina Perri, OneRepublic, and A Great Big World) along the way. Reflecting now on my all-time favorite SYTYCD performances, I derive great pleasure from watching these phenomenal routines, and hope that more fantastic moments like these will be on my TV screen over the next 10 years.

So to celebrate this milestone, I’ve compiled a list of my all-time favorite SYTYCD dances. It was very hard to whittle down my unsurprisingly Mia Michaels-dominated list; eventually I just went with my gut and chose the 35 routines that really stuck with me over the years). Cue music!

35. “Where the Light Gets In,” Season 9
Dancers: Top 10 girls
Choreographer: Travis Wall
Music: Sennen

34. “Blood and Stone” (aka “The Ballet Boys Dance”), Season 12
Dancers: Darion Flores & Jim Nowakowski
Choreographer: Benoit-Swan Pouffer
Music: AudioMachine

33. “The Antidote” (aka “The Kings Dance”), Season 11
Dancers: Ricky Ubeda & Zack Everhart
Choreographer: Phoenix & Pharside
Music: District 78

32. “The Garden,” Season 4
Dancers: Courtney Galliano & Mark Kanemura
Choreographer: Sonya Tayeh
Music: Mirah

31. “Ramalama (Bang Bang),” Season 2
Dancers: Top 20 cast
Choreographer: Wade Robson
Music: Roisin Murphy

30. “Dreaming With a Broken Heart” (aka “The Bed Dance”), Season 4
Dancers: Kherrington Payne & Twitch Boss
Choreographer: Mia Michaels
Music: John Mayer

29. “Bang Bang, My Baby Shot Me Down,” Season 9
Dancers: Eliana Girard & Alex Wong
Choreographer: Stacey Tookey
Music: Nancy Sinatra

28. AXIS Dance Company, Season 8
Dancers: Sonsheree Giles & Rodney Bell
Choreographer: Alex Ketley
Music: Janine Jansen

27. “Dirty Diana,” Season 11
Dancers: Allison Holker & Rudy Abreu
Choreographer: Ray Leeper
Music: Michael Jackson

26. “Blurred Lines,” Season 10
Dancers: Jasmine Harper & Mark Germar
Choreographer: Ray Leeper
Music: Robin Thicke feat. Pharrell & T.I.

25. “If It Kills Me” (aka “The Locket Dance”), Season 5
Dancers: Jeanine Mason & Jason Glover
Choreographer: Travis Wall
Music: Jason Mraz

24. “Message in a Bottle,” Season 1
Dancers: Ashlé Dawson & Melody Lacayanga
Choreographer: Mia Michaels
Music: The Police

23. “The Lovecats,” Season 9
Dancers: Amelia Lowe & Will Thomas
Choreographers: Tabitha & Napoleon
Music: The Cure

22. “Relax,” Season 6
Dancers: Ashleigh Di Lello & Jakob Karr
Choreographer: Mandy Moore
Music: Frankie Goes to Hollywood

21. “Like a Criminal,” Season 9
Dancers: Twitch Boss & Cyrus Spencer
Choreographer: Christopher Scott
Music: District 78

20. “Turn to Stone” (aka “The Statue Dance”), Season 8
Dancers: Melanie Moore & Marko Germar
Choreographer: Travis Wall
Music: Ingrid Michaelson

19. “This Woman’s Work” (aka “The Cancer Dance”), Season 5
Dancers: Melissa Sandvig & Ade Obayomi
Choreographer: Tyce Diorio
Music: Maxwell

18. “Hallelujah,” Season 7
Dancers: Allison Holker & Alex Wong
Choreographer: Sonya Tayeh
Music: Jeff Buckley

17. “Medicine,” Season 10
Dancers: Tucker Knox & Robert Roldan
Choreographer: Travis Wall
Music: Daughter

16. “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” Season 10
Dancers: Top 20 cast
Choreographers: Tabitha & Napoleon
Music: Herb Alpert

15. “Misty Blue” (aka “Twitch’s Breakfast”), Season 8
Dancers: Sasha Mallory & Twitch Boss
Choreographer: Christopher Scott
Music: Dorothy Moore

14. “Hometown Glory,” Season 4
Dancers: Katee Shean & Joshua Allen
Choreographer: Mia Michaels
Music: Adele

13. “Koop Island City Blues” (aka “The Butt Dance”), Season 5
Dancers: Randi Evans & Evan Kasprzak
Choreographer: Mia Michaels
Music: Koop

12. “Run the World,” Season 10
Dancers: Jasmine Harper & Comfort Fedoke
Choreographers: Phoenix & Pharside
Music: Beyoncé

11. “The Chairman’s Waltz” (aka “The Hummingbird Dance”), Season 2
Dancers: Jaimie Goodwin & Hok
Choreographer: Wade Robson
Music: Memoirs of a Geisha soundtrack, John Williams

10. “I Am the Best,” Season 10
Dancers: Jenna Johnson & Mark Kanemura
Choreographer: Mark Kanemura
Music: 2NE1

9. “How It Ends,” Season 7
Dancers: Kent Boyd & Neil Haskell
Choreographer: Travis Wall
Music: DeVotchKa

8. “Mercy” (aka “The Door Dance”), Season 4
Dancers: Katee Shean & Twitch Boss
Choreographer: Mia Michaels
Music: Duffy

7. “Bleeding Love,” Season 4
Dancers: Chelsie Hightower & Mark Kanemura
Choreographers: Tabitha & Napoleon
Music: Leona Lewis

6. “Outta Your Mind,” Season 7
Dancers: Alex Wong & Twitch Boss
Choreographers: Tabitha & Napoleon
Music: Lil Jon

5. “This Bitter Earth,” Season 7
Dancers: Billy Bell, Alex Wong & Ade Obayomi
Choreographer: Mia Michaels
Music: Dinah Washington & Max Richter

4. “Time” (aka “The Flowers Dance”), Season 3
Dancers: Lacey Schwimmer & Neil Haskell
Choreographer: Mia Michaels
Music: Billy Porter

3. “Calling You” (aka “The Bench Dance”), Season 2
Dancers: Heidi Groskreutz & Travis Wall
Choreographer: Mia Michaels
Music: Celine Dion

2. “Sweet Dreams” (aka “The Boardroom Dance”), Season 3
Dancers: Sabra Johnson & Neil Haskell
Choreographer: Mandy Moore
Music: The Eurythmics

1. “Gravity” (aka “The Addiction Dance”), Season 5
Dancers: Kayla Radomski & Kupono Aweau
Choreographer: Mia Michaels
Music: Sara Bareilles

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