15 of the best dance routines ever from So You Think You Can Dance

“The Nutcracker Suite” (Eliana & Cheon, Season 9) – Classical ballet

Choreographer: Marat Daukayev

SYTYCD has showcased so many different dance styles over the years, from contemporary to Bollywood to African jazz. But one dance style that isn’t often performed on the main stage is classical ballet, and for good reason. Some dance styles can be picked up rather easily — if you’re a trained dancer — but when it comes to the technique involved in ballet, you just can’t fake it, and you can really hurt yourself if you try.

So on season 9 when the final four included not one, but two classically trained ballet dancers — Eliana and Cheon — they knew they had to take advantage of their talent and pair them up for a classical ballet routine. They didn’t just perform any routine either; they performed one of the most recognized ballet routines in the world, the pas de deux from The Nutcracker!

There’s something so magical about ballet, especially The Nutcracker, and Cheon and Eliana are perfection from their heads down to their pointed toes. Their lines were perfect, and they both looked strong and powerful. Their leaps were sky high, and their pirouettes were on point (much like Eliana’s toes, heyo!).

We’re not going to pretend we know anything about classical ballet, but to us, it was absolutely flawless. Surely other trained ballerinas could find some faults somewhere, but to the untrained eye, it was magic.

This season, they decided to switch things up and had two winners, a male and a female. And guess who took the crowns? Eliana and Cheon! SYTYCD definitely needs to feature more ballet dancers on the show, especially if they’re as amazing as those two were.