(Fox)
Hailee Payne gave her all with five different routines on the “So You Think You Can Dance” performance finale on Monday. Watch below!
Payne has been praised by the judges throughout season 10 for the personality she brings to the stage. She was nearly eliminated last month after viewers’ votes landed her in the Bottom Four, but managed to edge-out a fellow Team Stage dancer for a spot in the Top 6. And now she’s in the Final Four, competing against Team Stage’s Gaby Diaz, and Jaja Vankova and Virgil Gadson on Team Street.
For her final set of performances before the winner is crowned next week, Payne had to perform a hip-hop routine with Jaja for a Stage-Street mashup as the night’s first performance. Paula Abdul thought they “equally” excelled, and Jason Derulo was particularly impressed with Payne showing different “levels.” Payne next switched partners to dance with Gadson for a routine that relied heavily on acrobatics.
Adbul said they nailed the “fun” and “timing” of it, but Derulo interestingly thought Payne lost her Broadway character, and said he’s seen her do better. Lythgoe admitted he saw where his fellow judge was coming from. Fittingly, Hayne’s next performance, with Diaz, was about the fear of not being accepted.
They earned a standing ovation from Abdul and Derulo, the first of the show, and Derulo confessed, “I would pay money to watch that. I would pay a good two-to-three hundred to watch that. It was expensive.” Lyhtgoe said it was “beautiful” to see how they embraced the emotion of the dance, and Abdul predicted it was one of those performances people will rewind over and over again.
During the second half of the two-hour live show, Payne was asked to perform with All-Star Marko Germar, who finished in third for season 8. As the last remaining jazz dancer in the competition, she was excited to show how sexy the moves could be. Abdul called her style “potent,” and said it would be hard for people to forget, though she felt the routine wasn’t as challenging as it could’ve been.
Immediately after, Payne reflected on getting not one, not two, but three tickets to Las Vegas over the years, and finally making the live shows this time around. And so, for her fifth and final routine of the night, she reminded everyone exactly why she’s gotten this far with a star-making solo set to Abdul’s “Cold-Hearted.” She received a standing ovation not just from Abdul, but Derulo and Lyhtgoe as well.
Payne will now have to wait til next week to find out if votes from tonight and last week were enough to make her the 2015 winner. Check out the videos below, and tell us what you think!
