So You Think You Can Dance Canada - The Toronto Finals!

Here we are at the finals and we've got about 200 dancers congregating in Toronto for a couple of days of what looks like torture. We get a quick preview of what's to come... and it looks like... lots and lots... of tears. It looks fierce.

But wait! LOOK! It's NICO! Sigh. He does a little pep talk, telling them to remember that they love dancing, to take a deep breath, and have fun!

Our judges tonight are Jean Marc (JM), Tre Armstrong, Luther Brown and Blake McGrath. After some advice from all of them - "leave no regrets!", "dance your asses off!" - we get started with the first challenge.

A 90 minute hip hop session with Luther Brown. And then into small groups for judging.

Pretty much from this point on, I am overwhelmed by names. I'll do my best to keep up, but my apologies early for any missed names and spelling mistakes!

Tara Jean Popowich from Alberta makes it to the next round, but our cheerleading friend Troy Miller does not.

Corryne Baron has to dance for her life (DFL), and she continues on. Emanuel Sandhu makes it through as well. Vanessa Polly, the girl dancing in memory of her mother, does not make it.

Blake says no a lot. But then yes to Melanie Mah from Ontario. And another yes to Tatiana Parker. I like her, I think I said that when she first auditioned...

Kloe Schultz from North Bay moves on, so does Natallie Lyons from Halifax. Vincent Desjardins and Sean Fraser move into the next round as well.

Twins Jayme Rae and Jenny Dalley make it through, and so does Sebastian Mersch from Ontario.

Jeff Mortenson is asked to DFL and he makes it into the next round.

Tiger still has a good attitude, even after being asked to DFL. Alvin Caliente DFL's as well, and it's a go. Same for Victor Tran and Jonathon Mendoza.

Best line from Blake so far? Wowzy woodles! Not sure who he was referring to, but it was worth mentioning.

B-Boy Paul Kus makes it to the next round and so do James Jones, Nick Robinson and Josh Martin.

Jeremiah Hughes, who auditioned last year, and this year for the American version, continues on for now and oh! Gessuri Gaitan! Love. Him. Moves on to next round.

Nina Strazzulla makes it through, and so does Tarzan Boy Alexander Topanova. And that, I think, is the end of Day 1. Wonder how many I missed... sheesh, they are moving fast and not making it easy for bloggers!

Day 2 starts with Challenge 2 - a jazz routine choreographed by Tre. I don't know if I've ever seen her dance before, she's good, and man has she got some pipes on her!

The judging starts and Anthony Grafton and Tara Jean Popowich make it through, as does Emanuel Sandhu... but... interesting... his partner Aeriel Swan is cut. She may not have come off well by saying that she couldn't connect with her partner, it sounded like she was sluffing the blame, but... ummmm.... if he makes it through, I have a feeling we are going to hear a lot more along those lines. I think this guy could be poison, I really do.

Vincent's girlfriend Kim Gringas makes it through to the next round, as does Moses.

It's a no for Shana Nolan and Jeramiah Hughes pretty much gets told not to come back anymore.

Sunshine Melissa Charlot gets cut and so does Sophie Richards.

Corynne Baron, Amy Gardner, Vincent Desjardins and Jonathon Arsenault (yay!) all make it into the next round.

Jenna Lynn Higgens, twins Jayme and Jenny, Sante Fortunato, Paul Kus and Melanie Mah - a yes to all of them for the next round.

I kind of feel like I'm just rattling off names at this point, but if you don't mind, neither do I, so let's just keep whipping through them!

Cody Bonnell makes it and Tiger has to DFL again. Austin Du Iulio makes it, and so does Tatiana Parker, even though she falls down.

Thankfully Gessuri Gaitan is still in.

A series of those who DFL make it through, like Victoria Marshman, Justin David and Vicky Luo, the little sweetheart who did the Mongolian dancing. Brook Jones, Rachel Wainright and Everett Smith are successful as well, but bad news for Alexander Topanova and our friend Tiger is gone as well. Oh, and 3 more, Catherine Turcotte, Camille Norton (yay!) and Sebastian Mersh are on to the next round as well.

Phew!

Everyone following along?

Good!

Let's move on to the next challenge, where things are bound to get even tougher. It's samba time with Jean Marc and his wife (I'm sorry, I never catch her name) - and I have to give it to them... wow! Can they ever dance! When they were doing their demo I was riveted. They are truly fantastic.

However, JM is a tough, crusty cookie and he's getting testy early in the game. Testy turns into a big blow up pretty quickly and the dancers are left looking subdued.

We get into the judging, and after just a few couples (Mitchell Jackson, Victoria Marshman and Alvin Calentes are all sent home and Natallie Lyons is asked to DFL) they halt the procedures and all take turns giving them the gears. A solid few minutes of yelling, and then back to the dancing.

It must have helped because the following folks make it through to the next round: Vincent Desjardins, Melanie Mah, Camille Norton, Nicholas Begin, Amy Gardner, Charlene Hart, Jayme Rae and Cody Bonnell. (Hey, I'm starting to remember the last names without looking back at my notes!)

I think Mongolian dancer Vicky Luo gets sent home, but they don't say specifically. Damn. I liked her.

Rachel Wainwright and Sean Fraser both get the boot, and Sean... well, Sean doesn't take it very well. He and JM get into a yelling match (with Rachel standing to the side looking mortified) and he ends up getting escorted out by security. Sean, not JM, just to be clear. But he doesn't seem to want to go, in fact he seems more intent on wanting to make a complete asshole of himself. He does a very good job. Poor Rachel says she needs a vacation.

We end this part of the challenge with another successful group - Victor Tran, Amanda Someone, Moses Someone, Nina Strazzulla, Sante Fortunto (frankly, I am a bit surprised by this) and Natallie Lyons are moving on to the next round.

And guess what the next round is! Everyones favorite, group choreography. I honestly think this is the first real test, it always seems to show the weakest link. I'm sure we won't be disappointed.

We see a fair amount of conflict within the groups as usual, but nothing that really stands out.

First thing in the morning each group takes to the stage to show the judges what they came up with, and all I can do is try to pick out key people in each group to differentiate them.

The first group has Austin Du Iulio and Blake is hiding in his seat saying it was the scariest thing he has ever seen, and not at all in a good way. I have to say that as much as I liked Austin in the auditions, he is coming off a bit of a whiner, and so the punishment is that he has to DFL.

The second group all make it through, and I don't even get a chance to see who was all there.

They really aren't focusing on any specific groups now, just flying through, but I catch that Melanie Buttanazzi and Natallie Lyons have to DFL as well.

Cody Bonnell's group is up next and they say Corynne Baron was a disaster and both Blake and Luther think Cody messed up. Tre defends him and says no way does he have to DFL. Blake says something about her needing glasses and they go a couple of rounds as to whether Cody should go on or not. Cody steps in and volunteers to DFL if that will help Blake and Luther come to an easier decision. Brave kid, I gotta say. So he does, and he makes it through. He's got me on his side after that, for sure!

Oh, there's going to be a bit of conflict here - Jonathon Arsenault's group is up next and this is the group with Shelaina Anderson - during the rehearsal, apparently all she wanted to do was go to bed, and this didn't sit well with the rest of the group.

After their 'performance', Tre calls it a hot mess and said it looked like they needed more rehearsal time. Someone asks what time they called it quits, and when they say 4:15am, the judges are shaking their heads. Luther picks up on the eye-rolling in the group, and Shelaina gets thrown under the bus in about 1 second flat. Catherine Turcotte and a couple of others are asked to DFL, and then Tre says she doesn't think Shelaina should have to, because she should just be sent home. Guess she'll be able to get lots of sleep now. (Why do I have the feeling if she's reading this that she just gave me the finger...)

A few more DFL and make it through to the next round - Owen Selkirk, Corynne Baron, Nicole Bowser and Jenna Lynn Higgins (she was really good, I have to say) are moving on.

Moving on to what, you ask? Well, something pretty comparable to hell, I'm thinking. Contemporary. With Blake. 90 minutes of choreography with Blake. They look scared to death. Leah asks Blake to be nice to them. Nice try Leah, I'm thinking...

Once they get into the judging, they really, and I mean really!, start to fly through the results... all I have now are pages of names, so I'm just going to list them off...

Those who make it through: Jonathon Arsenault (yay!), Juliet Someone, Anthony Grafton, Jason Ego Noel, Nicole Bowser, Austin Du Iulio, Melanie Buttanazzi...

The Dalley twins are up next, and uh oh. Only one of them is going to make it... They pick Jayme Rae to stay and send Jenny home. They are both devasted, and out in the lobby we see them both crying, but Jenny is still able to spit out a "I'm so proud of you" to her sister.

Kim Gringas (yay!) Nina Strazzulla, Cody Bonnell, Charlene Hart and Melanie Mah are making it through to the last cut.

Sante Fortunato, Paul Kus and Victor Tran are sent home.

Amy Garder, Natalie Heath, Jeff Mortenson (yay!), Kloe Schultz (yay!), Breanne Someone, Sebastian Mersch, Corynne Baron and Vincent Desjardins all live to see another day, but Catherine Turcotte is cut.

Emanuel Sandhu is up next, and Blake gives him a 'no'... interesting! However, he gets a yes from the other 3, so I guess we'll find out his fate tomorrow. I have a feeling, a bad one albeit, that we are not going to see the backside of him for a while yet.

Now I hope you were all paying attention, because there is going to be a test on who made it, and who didn't.

Ha, yeah right! I'm half delerious myself from all the name dropping and am kind of thankful this night is over.

Tune in Sunday night at 9pm (PST) to see the final results and to meet our Top 20 dancers!

See you then - and again, apologies if I butchered your name, or missed you completely...