'So You Think You Can Dance': The 15 Greatest Routines

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1. Katee & Joshua's Hip-Hop
Season 4, Top 20, June 11, 2008

After clicking through clips of dozens upon dozens of routines for this list, the one that moves and impresses me most of all, even after repeated viewings, is easily this hip-hop number from the illustrious NapTab. A perfect match of story (a soldier telling his girlfriend he's going back to war), music (''No Air'') and the two dancers performing it — it ain't even a contest. Katee brought her technical finesse and deep feeling, and Joshua his preternatural talent and strength, and together they created a number that felt all of a piece, that transcended its steps, imbuing the movement with an uncomplicated humanism that is doubly impressive considering it was their first ever full performance on a nationally televised dance competition show. (I guess Emmy voters weren't watching the show yet, because it was inexplicably snubbed.) It's no wonder these two dominated so much of the season (and this list), but nothing they or anyone else have done on So You Think You Can Dance has quite equaled the agile, eye-misting power of their earliest routine.