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  • MARY MURPHY: Well, definitely, as they go along, the pressure

  • increases mainly because of the wear

  • and tear on the bodies.

  • The one good thing that they have going for them this

  • season is the fact that they got a break.

  • They get to rest their body.

  • We're two weeks off during the Olympic Games.

  • So again, the first time in So You Think You Can Dance

  • history, dancers will be able to heal themselves.

  • DANIEL BAKER: I almost got a concussion the other day

  • because I went to do one of my moves on the

  • pole and hit my head.

  • It was just hard because we didn't have much rehearsal

  • time with the prop, so we really had to

  • get it together quickly.

  • TIFFANY MAHER: It's been really tough.

  • I mean, slamming yourself on the floor over and over and

  • over again.

  • It's really hard.

  • And you get bruises and things like that.

  • But every night you got to go home and ice yourself.

  • But honestly, it's all worth it.

  • It's all worth it, and once you get on that stage, every

  • time you perform, all of the bruises, cuts,

  • scars, they all go away.

  • GEORGE LAWRENCE II: The first time I was just breaking into

  • Sonya's style, it was so much.

  • My body was breaking down.

  • Second week, I felt like it flowed naturally.

  • Her connection between her students and--

  • it was just amazing.

  • Everything she gives to us is so genuine, and it just makes

  • you want to please her and the audience.

  • TIFFANY MAHER: What she brings out of you, you can't even

  • believe it.

  • Like, when she first taught us, I was like, I don't know

  • if I can do it.

  • But she brings it out of you, and she makes

  • you grow in one week.

  • SONYA TAYEH: The first minute they walked in,

  • they were so invested.

  • So it was nothing but an amazing, really calming

  • experience.

  • Her effort, and her stamina, she is such a beast.

  • And she's two and half feet tall.

  • You know what I mean?

  • She's just compact.

  • But she's so loving and giving.

  • And her eyes are really wide and big, and there

  • are stars in them.

  • And she just wants to learn.

  • She's just a sponge.

  • And she's one of the most humble people

  • that I've ever met.

  • JANELLE ISSIS: There were points where we had to do this

  • routine four times in a row, two-second break between.

  • And by the end of it, you're like, OK.

  • DAREIAN KUJAWA: Yeah, you're so toast.

  • JANELLE ISSIS: You're literally dizzy, blacking out.

  • Your body is just falling apart.

  • But it made us so strong.

  • I feel so good.

  • Yeah, I feel like a warrior.

  • DAREIAN KUJAWA: Feel like a straight-up warrior.

  • When we found out we were paired and that we got African

  • jazz, we were like, oh my god, this is perfect.

  • And so we worked so hard on the routine.

  • We put so much into it.

  • And then you do it on stage and it goes by in a second.

  • You wish it could last longer.

  • JANELLE ISSIS: Like, can we do that again?

  • TYCE DIORIO: It was tough to find the right piece for

  • Cyrus, considering he's never trained--

  • and balancing him with Eliana who has.

  • I think we found the right combination within the music

  • and the storyline and all that.

  • And they delivered it within performance quality.

  • And it was a victory.

  • So I'm really happy about it.

  • ELIANA GIRARD: It was the perfect medium between the two

  • styles, and we got so lucky.

  • It was an incredible experience.

  • And we got to do based off of Hairspray.

  • Our piece was based off of Hairspray, which is an

  • incredible movie and play.

  • CYRUS SPENCER: Yeah, definitely.

  • It was a really, really great piece.

  • It was very tiring, I tell you that.

  • You had to have stamina to conquer that piece.

  • And you had to live in the piece.

  • You couldn't just do the moves--

  • you have to become it.

  • WILL THOMAS: Every lift that we did, Tabitha did with me.

  • She does not care-- well, she cares.

  • And Napoleon's saying, you're carrying my baby, you're

  • carrying my baby, freaking out.

  • It was so cute to watch them in rehearsal.

  • It's like, oh my god, stop it!

  • They're so awesome.

  • They're so genuinely nice and everything you'd ever wish for

  • to work with

  • TABITHA DUMO: I mean, I try to be as full-out as I can be.

  • But I am very limited at this moment.

  • But then I forgot that I am.

  • So then I go full-out.

  • I'm like, it should be like this.

  • And then I'm like, OK, you got it?

  • Because I can't do that again.

  • BRANDON MITCHELL: It didn't even change anything.

  • She was eight months pregnant, and she still moving like the

  • best of them.

  • Such a huge fan of Nappytabs.

  • It was an honor to work with them.

  • They were my first big choreographers that I wanted

  • to work with on the show.

  • Got a chance to do it, dream come true,

  • amazing, had a blast.

  • NIGEL LYTHGOE: The choreographers

  • help a great deal.

  • But the dancers, too, just stand out.

  • Witney is still the star for me.

  • And that's the hardest point, to open the show with a Samba.

  • Samba never normally gets a lot of votes, anyway.

  • People don't get it.

  • But you've got Witney there and Chehon.

  • Chehon is a brilliant ballet dancer.

  • He could be in trouble this week because he was in the

  • opening number doing a Samba, for goodness sake.

  • CHEHON WESPI-TSCHOPP: I think that's really hard, especially

  • for your first show.

  • I think it's important to get people to like you

  • immediately.

  • And for me, I open up more the more you get to know me.

  • But I guess on this show you just have to be yourself

  • straight from the beginning and not be afraid of letting

  • people know who you are.

  • NICK BLOXSOM-CARTER: The first day, our lesson, when we

  • learned the routine, it was just a smack in the face.

  • Like, wow.

  • Let's get it together, Nick.

  • Come on, let's do it.

  • And I'm like, you know what?

  • I can do this.

  • I'm going to be positive.

  • This was rough, but I'm going to practice my heart out, and

  • we're gonna do it.

  • And we did it!

  • MATTHEW KAZMIERCZAK: Everybody's routines looked

  • amazing tonight.

  • AUDREY CASE: I loved the Broadway one.

  • I loved the African one.

  • I loved the Cat one.

  • I just loved all of them.

  • MATTHEW KAZMIERCZAK: Yeah, I don't know.

  • I don't have a favorite or anything.

  • During rehearsals for all this when we were finally able to

  • see everybody's pieces, I was just in shock at how strong of

  • an episode this was.

  • Nobody's pieces were weak.

  • Nobody looked bad.

  • Everybody looked fantastic.

  • Even though people were out of their element in some things,

  • nobody looked it.

  • It was amazing.

  • KENNY ORTEGA: For me the biggest stand out of the

  • entire night-- and I think in part because the night built

  • on itself, and it just kept building on itself--

  • but the very end, Jason's piece just

  • electrified the room.

  • COLE HORIBE: We're so lucky to have got Jason.

  • When we found out, we were like, thank you.

  • Thank you so much.

  • He is brilliant.

  • LINDSEY ARNOLD: Going last, it was hard sitting there and