So You Think You Can Dance Turns 20: Two Superfans Revisit The Routine They're Still Obsessed With
Hold on to your toe shoes: Today marks 20 years since So You Think You Can Dance's series premiere. Yep, it's been two decades since the first time aspiring dancers took the stage to audition for the chance to become America's Favorite Dancer — a season-long gamut that involved varying dance styles performed with a rotating cast of partners, with judges' critiques and viewers' votes determining who stayed and who went home.
TVLine Managing Editor Rebecca Luther has covered the Fox reality competition for years. Editor-in-Chief Kimberly Roots has been a fan of the show since the very first "Cue music." Below, we go deep on the number that has stuck with us after all these years.
ROOTS | So we were talking about So You Think You Can Dance's 20th anniversary, and I brought up the fact that Jeanine and Jason's "If It Kills Me" from Season 5 lives, rent-free, in my brain at all times.
LUTHER | And an important note about why we settled on discussing this routine in particular: You had barely said the words "Jason Mraz" before I knew exactly which dance you were referencing — because it was the one in my head, too!
ROOTS | Which is crazy, given how many routines we watched over 18 seasons of this show. I have a few ideas about why this one stuck with me, but I want to hear your thoughts on the matter first.
LUTHER | For me, above all, Jeanine and Jason's chemistry is unmatched. There were many, many routines over the years that we were explicitly told should feel romantic or sensual or full of longing, and they either a) didn't get there at all, or b) they got there, but it felt like A Performance. With these two, you feel the whole time like they are actually close friends on the verge of becoming more, and it terrifies them a little. I especially love when Jason presents that necklace to Jeanine at the top of the number, and he looks a little sheepish to be doing so.
ROOTS | God, it's so good. And you're so right. There's a depth of feeling and connection there that is notable; I felt similarly about Melanie and Marko's "I Got You" in Season 8 and Lauren and Kent's "Collide" in Season 7. It's also possible I just like numbers where the dancers are willing to kiss a lot at the end.
LUTHER | Yes! The kissing! I don't recall Jeanine and Jason's makeout being planned, either, which only made it more thrilling (especially to the romance-obsessed teenager that I was at the time). There's just an aching vulnerability here — from both of them, but especially Jason — that makes the routine so watchable. Also? It was a rare win for the inclusion of a prop. Actual furniture, like doors and benches, usually enhanced a performance, but handheld props could veer into clumsy-and-unnecessary territory. The necklace was a surprisingly effective storytelling device, no?
ROOTS | Absolutely. Also, given that I am a) not a dancer, and b) kind of a klutz, I'm so impressed that neither of them dropped it. Related: This was Travis Wall's first piece as a choreographer on the show, and he nailed it. I still marvel at that side-by-side section, and the way Jason and Jeanine are so in sync with their movements. (Again, not a dancer.)
LUTHER | Oh, yes, big kudos to Travis Wall. I don't want to think about a SYTYCD world where he never started choreographing routines. And if you'll indulge me in one more necklace moment: I cannot overstate how many times I've watched 1:10-1:20 in the video above, when these two bring the heat and hold the necklace in their mouths. I feel like I should look away! (But I never have.) Any other moments from this one that run on a loop in your brain?
ROOTS | So many — mainly the ones where they look especially wrecked. And I really, really love that lift at 0:47 that descends into his catching her by the neck, and then it looks like she's levitating?! You?
LUTHER | There are countless pretty lifts, and Jeanine's blue costume makes them all look so dreamy. For reasons I can't explain, though, I'm especially fond of the move at the 30-second mark, where Jeanine kinda karate-chops Jason in the face. I'm not sure if she actually made contact, but regardless, she committed.
ROOTS | She did. Man, I miss when the show was like this. The latest iteration — or more specifically, the last season that aired before So You Think You Can Dance went into its current limbo — was such a pale imitation. You said it best in your excellent Season 18 commentary: "If this is the So You Think You Can Dance we're left with, perhaps it's time for a curtain call."
LUTHER | It pained me to write that last spring, and it pains me to write it now. But I feel the same way, more than a year later: If the show isn't even going to attempt a return to its original format, Fox oughta pack it in. Even more depressing? That we can only relive the show's glory days via grainy YouTube videos. Only Season 18 is currently available to stream on Tubi; the other, superior seasons are lost in the digital abyss. A tragedy!
ROOTS | Especially because, even two decades later, I don't feel like the concept is played out. Who doesn't love gorgeous dancers dancing gorgeously? Fox, or really anyone: Please revive this show!
LUTHER | Just think of all the new routines we could obsess over for the next 15 to 20 years, then dissect in a 2045 TVLine story! But, alas, if these 18 seasons are all the SYTYCD we'll get, I'm grateful for them — and for the YouTube rabbit holes we can still journey down when the mood strikes us. Cue music!
Which So You Think You Can Dance routines are still pirouetting through your minds after all these years? Tell us in a comment below!