‘So You Think You Can Dance’ Season 3 Finale

By Erin Washington

Two young African-American dancers got a jump-start to their careers last week. 23-year old Daniel Tidwell was runner-up and 20-year-old Sabra Johnson won the title of America's Favorite Dancer on Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance."

In its 3rd season, the dance version of "American Idol" has become a summer favorite among dancers and dance-enthusiasts. It is produced by Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe, the producers of “Idol.” Lythgoe is the head judge, and the remainder of the judges, including L.A. hip-hopper Shane Sparks, are choreographers in styles such as hip hop, modern and ballroom dance. Each episode they either judge or choreograph dances. Debbie Allen even guest-judged for one episode.

The top 20 dancers found in auditions across the country are invited to Hollywood, when the weekly performance competitions begin. Each dancer is paired with a dancer of the opposite sex, and they pick a style out of a hat to learn and perform each week. Every week one boy and one girl are voted off by viewers at home.

The emphasis of the show is on versatility among dance styles. This means that a ballroom dance champion such as Lacey Schwimmer, sister of season two's winner Benji, has to be able to perform such styles as contemporary, musical theater and hip hop, and do it well, even though she only has a few rehearsals to learn it. The top 20 dancers found in auditions across the country are invited to Hollywood, when the weekly performance competitions begin. Each dancer is paired with a dancer of the opposite sex, and they pick a style out of a hat to learn and perform each week. So a breakdancer, commonly known as a b-boy, and a ballet dancer could be paired together and they might have to perform a swing dance.

This season showed a marked improvement among the technical abilities of the contestants. There were several technically trained dancers, but overall it was a diverse group. There were breakers, including a b-girl, ballroom, jazz, ballet, contemporary and hip hop dancers. Since the challenge is to quickly adapt to different styles, those who have experience in a variety of genres generally performed better. Almost everyone had acrobatic skills, so the season was full of amazing flips and feats of strength.

The two biggest surprises as the season went on were Tidwell and Johnson, who were both considered underdogs in the beginning. Tidwell was in the bottom part of the votes three times in a row in the beginning of the Hollywood part of the season. The choreography and style sometimes affects how the viewers will vote, depending on if a bad dancer is made to look good, or vice versa, or if the dancer is familiar with the style. It wasn't until it was narrowed down to about 10 dancers that Tidwell and Johnson started to stand out.