"So You Think You Can Dance" Recap: Welcome to The Academy!

July 17, 2017

They’ve impressed the judges, now it’s time for the Top 100 dancers to enroll at The Academy—and to impress the All-Stars. Welcome to So You Think You Can Dance Academy!

The 100 dancers who made it through auditions in NYC or L.A. are now at The Academy, which is basically a beautiful building with floor-to-ceiling windows. The show opens with that Mandy Moore-choreographed Academy routine which, even after watching it 12 times and trying to learn all the choreography at home, is still delightful.

Here’s how The Vanessa Hudgens-less Academy is going to work… (We miss you so much, Vanessa.)

First, the dancers perform a solo for the All-Stars.

Then, if the All-Stars are psyched about it, they’ll send the dancer to the first choreography round. From there, the dancers get an hour to learn the choreography before performing it for the All-Stars. Then, the All-Stars decide who they love the most, and they’ll beg them to be on their team. Ultimately, each All-Star will be paired with one dancer to form the Top 10, and those dancers will compete in the live shows. So basically, it’s “SYTYCD” meets “The Voice.” Got it? Good. (Oh, and if the dancers aren’t good enough at any point—either performing their solos or during the choreography rounds—the All-Stars can get all “boy bye” on them. Scary!)

“It will be the hardest challenge of their lives,” Cat tells the audience before introducing the All-Stars.

Adam Rose/FOX

The All-Stars! Season 14’s very esteemed panel includes Robert, Gaby, Paul, Jasmine, Marko, Comfort, Cyrus, Jenna, Fik-Shun, and Allison. (Who would you choose?!) Cyrus is looking for passion! Gaby wants to see how quickly the dancers can pick up choreography under pressure! Allison loves everyone!

The good thing about these episodes is that they move fast, and we get to see a lot of dancing along the way. Here are the moments that stood out most from the first week at The Academy.

Lex Ishimoto
—again

No one can get enough of this guy. The fan favorite performed another solo, much to the delight of the All-Stars. He made it through the Nappytabs hip-hop choreography round, and joined Team Gaby. (Did anyone else predict he’d either be Team Allison or Team Robert? Curveball!)

Blue-haired Kaylee Millis and Robert Green

These two teamed up to dominate the Nappytabs choreo, and both ultimately made it onto All-Star teams (Kaylee joined Team Cyrus. Cannot wait to see this dynamic duo in action!)

Everyone wants Logan Hernandez

The contemporary dancer performed his solo again, and the best part wasn’t even the dancing—it was the priceless reactions from the All-Stars. They loved him. (Jenna, Robert, and Allison really loved him, and all tried to get him on their respective teams. But he opted for Team Allison.)

By the end of the night, 71 dancers had made it to the hip-hop choreography round, and a handful of them made it onto All-Star teams. (Dassy Lee nabbed a spot on Team Fik-Shun while Kevin Davis Jr. went with Team Allison.) Next week, the cuts keep coming as the dancers head into the ballroom round. See you then!