The judges and Twitter voters all had a say in who packed their bags after first round of eliminations on "So You Think You Can Dance" last night.
The night presented many firsts for all the Top 20 competitors as the street dancers had to perform stage dances while the stage dancers hit the streets for some challenging routines.
Stage dancers Hailee Payne and Darion Flores and their street partner, Yorelis Apolinario, kicked off the show with an Urban Salsa. Unfortunately, the routine received lackluster reviews from the judges. Hailee and Yorelis were declared safe, but Flores remained in danger of elimination.
The second team paired street dancer Ariana Crowder with stage dancer Derek Piquette. Their jazz routine garnered great reviews, but each hopeful were still in danger following last week's viewer vote.
Team Stage's Alexia Meyer may have had the upper hand being partnered with street dancers Megz Alfonso and Virgil Gadson for a contemporary dance. They all received overwhelming positive comments (and viewer votes from last week) to ensure all three stayed safe another week.
The night's most challenging routine, 'Bollywood,' was expertly executed by Lily Frias and Burim Jusufi from Team Street and Team Stage of Gaby Diaz and Edson Juarez. Only Lily found herself in danger despite the group's success.
Last-minute replacement Asaf Goren of Team Street was highly praised for his adaptability in tackling a Broadway number with Team Stage's Kate Harpootlian and Team Street's Neptune, who was left in danger by the end.
Ballet dancer Jim Nowakowski (stage) brought judge Nigel Lythgoe to tears following his hip-hop routine with Jaja Vankova (street). Lythgoe touted his perfect execution of an unfamiliar dance style as, "What this show is all about." Both dancers were deemed safe.
The show's final performance united Team Stage's Moises Parra and Marissa Milele with Team Street's JJ Rabone for a jazz routine. Moises received praise for standing his ground amidst the girls, yet found himself in danger.
With the bottom six revealed, the vote then went to Twitter to save one contestant from each team. Neptune and Moises received the most votes.
The judges then saved Derek and Ariana, which left Darion (stage) and Lily (street) shut out of the competition. Lythgoe and the his two co-judges agreed with America's save choices which made their save choices a little easier.
"From my point of view, the jazz routine that the two did that we saved, I thought was just tremendous. I didn't feel that from the other two dancers," Lythgoe told Headlines & Global News when asked about their decision.
Judge Paula Abdul added, "It's always hard the first week when someone goes home, you never know how it's going to affect the rest of the team. I'm proud of the Top 10 on each team, they're brilliant. It's hard, but you keep on showing up and doing your best."
HNGN spoke exclusively with eliminated contestants Darion and Lily for their reaction to being sent home first and what lies ahead for each.
How are you feeling after the elimination?
Lily: Bummed of course.
Darian: I'm okay actually. I'm glad I had the experience. It was a great two weeks and it was wonderful meeting everybody. I'm just humbled and kind of excited to go home because the days were so long. But overall it was a wonderful experience and I can't complain. I'm definitely excited to see what happens next.
Is the worst thing about doing a show like this the long hours?
Darian: All the behind-the-scenes stuff takes up so much time, all the 'not dancing' [activities]. Obviously the dancing is a lot of work, but everything else that comes with it takes away from that and that's probably the bad part. Other than that, meeting everyone and just being in our little family and group was the best part for me. I love meeting new people.
Lily: I'd say the same thing, but I'm definitely going to miss all my friends in the Top 20 and I will be rooting for everyone. They're all amazing and I guess we'll see them all at the finale. I'm going to miss working with the choreographers too and pushing the limits and growing. This was one stage and I guess I'm moving to the next one, but I'm not going to miss the long hours of working and training (laughs).
Have you thought about what's next?
Darion: Go home and continue the ballet training, get back to my technique. I'm still young so I'm excited to grow more. This was a great experience to get you out of your comfort zone and work with choreographers, that experience alone will help me.
Lily: I want to keep building my career as a professional dancer. I'd really like to travel and teach waacking and the style, just what I know and love and to be able to share that would be amazing.
Check out the Top 18 when 'So You Think You Can Dance' returns next Monday at 8 p.m. on Fox.
