I can't believe they made the funky ballerina go through choreography. Didn't she say she's training at Harlem's Dance Theatre? Also, she was fantastic! They make such weird choices sometimes.

Yeah, that did seem weird. But, she's going through, so that's what counts.

I liked the guy who came back with a better attitude. It's too bad he didn't pass the choreo round. He was clearly trying really hard.

I liked the last guy, too, who had been shot. I was bummed he didn't make it.

Oh, and Jenna being an All-Star! That was great!

Yeah, I was sad dude who got shot wasn't better at choreo--though I was kinda surprised they didn't send him through to Vegas just on his initial dance. Their decisions make no sense sometimes.

I was kinda curious about Funky Ballerina--she said she had trained? or trains? with the Harlem Dance Theater. She's 21--is she a professional dancer, or just taking classes, or?

Dance Theater of Harlem, like many professional companies, has a school of dance that students can enroll in. The best students often audition for the company and a few make it. Others train there and then audition for other companies. Sometimes really talented students are invited to dance with the company in the corps (happened to S3 Danny when he was dancing with ABT's studio company - which is their apprentice company). So Funky Ballerina is probably at Dance Theater of Harlem's dance school, which is still amazing. Lots of kids audition and very few get accepted into the professional program.

I wasn't surprised that Funky Ballerina got sent to choreo, but I suspect had Misty Copeland not been on the panel, she'd have gone straight through to Vegas (I refuse to believe in Pasadena as a next stop for SYTYCD!). Misty had her magnifying glass out and she was ready to nitpick. That said, it was totally nitpicking with love and she wasn't wrong. Funky Ballerina is a little bit weak in the ankles which stems from the fact that she's not exactly over her toes (straight over the top of the box in her toe shoes) and so that is stealing some of the power and stability of her moves. Compare her to the other girl who danced en pointe earlier in the episode. That girl was solid, so strong, not a shaky move in the bunch. At one point they both did a plie in second en pointe but the first ballerina got so much deeper, so much more turn out, than Funky Ballerina. But Funky Ballerina is very, very good. I knew she'd get through choreo and I am looking forward to seeing her in Vegas because she's clearly trained in other styles.

And clearly, I loved the first ballerina even more than Funky Ballerina. First Ballerina was everything!

I also liked the last little black boy from Philly. So charming! And I agreed with Nigel that he doesn't even know what he's got. Some of his moves were very unfinished and he throws his feet and hands away sometimes, but he's lovely. Lots of upside potential. And so tall. He was like Tommy Tune out there.

And I do think Shafeek made it through to Vegas...that was the kid with all the attitude in S9 who swore he'd never come back but then he did come back. They showed him in choreo being a good little citizen and learning the dance fairly well and then they showed him getting his ticket and mugging outside the theater with the other choreo round survivors while they chanted "Season 11"!

I wanted to see more from the montage of 3-4 gorgeous little black boys. It was like a mini-Ailey audition. All of them were fantastic in the 2 seconds we saw of them, although the last one was my favorite. There was also a bearded dancer whose movement quality reminded me a lot of Mark and we all know how I love me some mark.

Speaking of, I think my favorite part of the night was seeing a snippet of the dance he choreographed and performed with Jenna. Work! I'm glad she'll be back as an All-Star. Her partner looked so goofy with that Jim Carey in Dumb and Dumber haircut that I really couldn't concentrate on his dance skills too much. That is going to have to go immediately. I was happy to see so many good ballroom kids, though. Super excited that Armin is back. I was salty that they blamed him for the accident with that pinch faced Malece last year. He was great and his partner was on fire! I also liked that we saw two smooth ballroom couples getting through. SYTYCD tends to tilt more to the latin ballroom. I don't remember anyone else, really, so they must not have been that good.

The 9 year old popper was adorable, but the show really needs to get off Cyrus and Fik Shun's jock. I'm over those two. They've already competed and won. What up with the rest of the winners? We get a glimpse of Melanie leading the choreo round. What's that all about? I'd love to see her invited to come up on stage and improv with a contemporary dancer. I'm all the way over them. Hope neither one has cousins in or any ties to Atlanta. I need a break!

So Funky Ballerina is probably at Dance Theater of Harlem's dance school, which is still amazing. Lots of kids audition and very few get accepted into the professional program.

Yeah, I know about that for ballet companies--but my impression was that most people by that age were not in the pre-professional type program at that point, that usually they've up or out by like, 18 or so. So at 21, I'd think she would either be part of the company or just taking adult classes, but "I take classes at..." doesn't necessarily mean much--I could go take a beginning ballet class at Pacific Northwest Ballet, but that doesn't mean I'm good at it! But maybe she meant she trained there in the past, and now does (something else)?

They have a pre-professional program for under-18s. They also have a professional program, it's kind of like going to Julliard but just for dance, and students in that program have to have a HS diploma in order to get in, so most everyone is over 18. It's a 3 year program, so she could easily be 21 and still in it, or just recenlty finished with it. Or she could just be doing open classes at the studio, like you said. We may never know!

Catching up on auditions. Pretty much agree with everything that's been said, especially the part about how Bieber should not be on my TV.

Mostly, I'm just happy that SYTYCD is finally on Hulu. And on my TV, none of this "web-only" crap.

Stupid delayed plane. Missed the first 20 minutes of SYTYCD! Though I'll eventually get to watch it from my TiVo, not for another week though. :(

I slept through the first half hour. (hangs head in shame) Who was the guy who was the guest judge for the first half?