By Kristal Bailey

Tonight on Live to Dance, Paula Abdul and the other experts have the challenge of narrowing down the shortlist to just 18 acts.

The experts rewatched all the acts that got 2 or more gold stars and talked through which ones they liked and think should go through the top spot. I wish we had seen more of the routines they highlighted during last night’s show. A lot of the groups they discussed, were barely shown more than 5 seconds on last night’s episode.

After much discussion and debate (Du-Shant vs. Roosevelt, Iconic Boys vs. Inside the Box), they finally decide on the first act to go through to the semi-finals: Jill & Jacob! They were an adorable blend of hip hop/popping and contemporary. Then the yeses just kept coming:

Tap Sounds Underground

Twitch

Dax & Sarah

But then, came the tough decisions. They were on the fence about Kendall Glover, they just weren’t sure she’d be able to sell to a huge audience yet. Dance Town Chaos were a great dramatic modern, lyrical contemporary group. Travis liked that they highlight that contemporary can be masculine too, not just hip hop. White Tree Fine Art exhibited gorgeous ballet. The girls love them, but Travis was not a fan.

The last spot comes down four potential groups, who will have to do one final performance live before the experts make their decision.

Here are the groups that made it through so far:

The young ballroom couple: D'Angelo & Amanda

The elderly couple: Bev & Hap

B-Boy Jalen

The Vibe

Lindy Hop partners Dax & Sarah

Dance Town Chaos

Du-Shant Stegall

Shore Thing

Roosevelt Anderson

Austen Acevedo

Dance in Flight

Jittin’ Genius

Twitch

Chi-Town Finest Breakers

Jill & Jacob

Tap Sounds Underground

It’s down to four groups to dance off for the final two spots. They have 24 hours to come up with a completely new routine to impress the experts and America. The routines were performed live and you can vote for your favorite to move forward to the semi-finals.

Inside the Box – They consider themselves a live version of a cartoon: energetic, quirky, and just fun to watch. They had a lot of energy and I think they did a great job, but it’s hard to tell with the camera constantly cutting between shots. They didn’t hold a shot for more than 5 seconds so it was hard to see what was going on during the routine since the group was so large.

Kendall Glover – At 11 years old, she’s already so talented. If this doesn’t work out for her, maybe we’ll see her on So You Think You Can Dance in 7 years.

White Tree Fine Art – They worked in the same dance company and were partnered together. They danced, the fell in love, and now they’re married and want to spread the love of ballet to the world. They performed beautifully! Their lifts were amazing and her leg extension is just ridiculous.

Theatrix – This group of young guys is so inspiring. Many of them fundraise or work at the studio in order to take classes. If they were to make it to the semi-finals and go on to win it, the $500,000 would make a huge difference in their lives. I’m assuming since their name is Theatrix that they only dance to show tunes? They did a very fun and entertaining routine to Footloose. They were in sync and had a lot of personality, doing a few moves playing off the term “footloose” by dancing with their shoes on their hands, and then ending the routine by throwing the shoes up into the air.

Paula loved watching Inside the Box, but they have a great niche already so she’s not sure they’ll be able to do a lot of variety. Kimberly continued gushing about White Tree Fine Art , while all of the experts thought Kendall Glover was magical and just seemed to float on the stage. Travis was impressed that Theatrix showed that they have more in the repertoire, and that their brotherhood shined throughout the routine. He did notice some out of sync footwork though, thanks to those white shoes.

After all that, they decided to put Kendall Glover through the semi-finals! She exudes everything that this show is about. Paula thought she really hit the zone and made time stand still while she danced.

America now has to vote between White Tree Fine Art, Inside The Box, and Theatrix. I don’t like White Tree Fine Art’s chances, just because I don’t think many people will vote for ballet over hip hop. Tune in next week to see the live semi-finals.

Live to Dance airs on CBS Wednesdays at 8/7c.

(Image courtesy of CBS)

Follow Kristal @kristal_bailey

For more Live To Dance links, visit SirLinksALot.net