This is still my all time favorite top 10 routine!

Every muscle in my body aches from watching this. These ladies were bringing it and I know it had to be a test of endurance to get thru this routine. Outstanding.

Love the robotic / doll quality of this routine. Stylistically it pulls from Japanese geisha dress etc, but other than that, it's just Sonya T doing Sonya T genius choreo as usual.

2019 check in. Still love this dance. Still love Lil C and his thoughts.

Sonyas routines are always so awesome!! ❤ I really really hope she returns to sytycd one day! I miss her routines sooo much!!

2018 and this is still my favorite dance

Just watched top twelve of SYTYCD. Decided to revisit one of my favorite numbers from my favorite season. Still love it.

have to look up this routine from time to time, so much fun. great for the girls' group dance.

This feels like i saw it yesterday and we're already on the top ten girls season 9

you killed it ladies, your song, inspired me to make a hip dance from the beat of the song

Still one of my favorite dances e v e r.

Best performance ever!!!!

absolute favorite dance

u are a genius, i watched this video, because it is the exact same song my dancers are dancing to

i love this dance so much!

Sonya Tayeh has the best taste in music on the show

Ah the nostalgia. Still the best season.

TENS ACROSS THE BOARD!

marvelous job

what a well choreographed number!!!

they did a great job!!! :D

Sonya had an amazing season! I hope she gets an Emmy nomination for all her amazing choreography

The only reason this was dubbed the strongest set of girls is because everyone except 1 was a contemporary/jazz dancer so they're all doing their style

Did anyone bother to find out the premise of the dance or even SEE THE EPISODE? Sonya wanted to create creepy geisha dolls on stage and she did. She didn't set out to insult, in fact she was setting out to warp an idea as we all do in some form! If insult happened and she didn't realize, take it up with her, don't just bicker in the comments section. It does nothing to help the situation. Pretty sure Sonya has a twitter, send her an @ or something! Engage conversation with the root of your frustration, the person who is continuing the appropriations you see. Really.

Ryan is everything in this

So awesome that they only showed it once and never again! Keep it closely guarded so no one can see!

my siter saw this so many times she knows the moves and so do i lol

super

Also: they weren't clowning around, they weren't paying it any disrespect. If anything is weird here it's that dumb comment from the hostess.

Great routine, hate the SD picture quality. Can anyone post this in HD?

yes.

Melanie, Ryan and Missy shone in this routine!!! Wish they would have saved Missy, she didn't have a great partner like Melanie and Ryan did

Pop drop and roll

ryan only pulled my eye in group numbers

this is my competition line song c:

A lot of people might say this is cultural appropriation/racist but idk I thought that the level of skill and muscle control and artistry that went into it paid homage to Asian music and dance and incorporated it well into modern jazz, considering it's kind of a no holds barred sort of style. The makeup and the little bit at the end was unnecessary but other than that I've always thought this routine was phenomenal, and the track is amazing (also because an actual Asian was featured in it) and it's not as if Asian (particularly Japanese) dancers have been ignored before. If they were then this would be an issue but again the routine and aesthetics are just so. So. Good.

look at this : Mather Dance Company - Pop, Drop, & Roll - Vegas Nationals

Yes

I love this dance, but I do think that they should have held off on the styling. It's hard for people native to the US to understand (myself included), but traditional clothing is very sacred in other cultures. Kimono is put on very ceremoniously, and tied a very specific way. To see it represented incorrectly and purely for entertainment is understandably problematic. The hair and makeup were about as close as you can get to yellow face while just skirting it. I love the dance, but they didn't have to go all the way with the styling just because the song has Japanese words in it. The song is also very modern, it really doesn't make sense to have them styled traditionally at all.

ayyyyyyeee#turnup

POP, DROP and ROLL

Okay 1 word... AH-MAY-ZING!!!! :D

lolllll.. KAWAIIIIII.. lol woman

I'm not sure what you're talking about, but i'm guessing you're referring to season 9 the recent episode when some people went home am i right? If not then to correct you there is only 10 guys and gals in the top, not eighteen :)

"theeeere she blows..." hahaha

I didn't see them come out in eating rice... I just want to know what people think they should have worn if they were dancing to a song that has japanese words in it.

Look guys in this day an age every time someone does something there is someone out there who finds is offensive for some reason. Forget the negatives and look at the positives. That was some seriously hard choreography which they performed extremely well, and I say well done to them.

Holy fuck, they're dancing. Not playing concentration camp. All these "omfg so racist" and "mocking Japanese culture" people need to get a grip on what they're sayingggg. They're dancers! They can't do this routine in a full fucking kimono!

What is the name of the song please

If a bunch of clearly-not-African girls came out in kente cloth and pseudo-"African tattoos," and started doing a dance that mocked (as in "poorly 'interpreted'") traditional Ghanan dances to a song that ripped off Ghanan phrases... yea, I would call that racist too. Last I heard, dancers could have respect for other people and still dance.

melanie and ryan stood out the most, to me.

a love joden in this veido

As usual, the black dancers are in the BACK

They're basically dancing like drunk geishas in this one

While you guys are arguing about how this is "racist", I'm just sitting here watching this and being amazed by their movements and how they are not getting any cramps.

LMAOOO

And I'm not even White. I'm a minority my self and I see lots of bad interpretations of my cultures music and dance. But I don't even see it as racism most of the time. Most of the time I give them an E for Effort. A lot of the people I come across who are White have tons of admiration for other cultures. So once again I just want to know what you think they should have worn to a song with Japanese words in it.

are sonya and christopher (scott) a couple?

The argument over racism will never been demolished. Why does it have to be in the comments of a KZfaq video? What good does complaining to a KZfaq channel or video do for your beliefs? Take your opinions elsewhere because there will never be a time where everyone agrees.

The choreography, nor the idea if the piece is racist. This dance is simply conveying a way of life: in this piece, The Way of the Geisha. There's nothing racist about it. If Sonya had choreographed a piece about slavery in the olden days, would it be racist? No, because it is just telling a story about those old times where slavery was in existence. You people need to calm the hell down and enjoy the damn show.

She seemed more confused, I think... :P

This isn't racist. It's a show. They're dancing. It's entertainment. I LOVE this.

0_0 Did they just drop it like it's hot? @0:34

do they lift caitlynn

it's a cultural appreciation piece so it's a fusion between American and Japanese dance moves and music. it's just a fusion piece that's the only way it seems disrespectful....but truly do you think Sonya cares?....Nope

this is not racist because first of all they all ways do themes each week from places all over and nobody says anything and yet now that they did this performance everybody is making a big deal out of it just stop !

i don' t think it's kawaii.... it's sugoi and extremely daebak!!! XD

cause real geisha dance is so boring for people nowadays. this one is much better.

ohmygod this dance, the costumes, and the comments are all so racist. how was this allowed to air?? "we are not worthy?" really mary??

they danced bollywood a couple of weeks later, is that racist too?

How is that racist? haha its a dance.. ?

Come on! It's not chineis it's ASIAN!

I was enjoying this episode till all the racism. ughhhhhhhh.

uh, ew. what the hell do you mean by "the way of the geisha?" dancing in sexualized , skimpy versions of traditional clothing and dancing around pantsless? i think it would have been mentioned in the books, dont you? please stop pretending like you know what you are talking about; it's just as disrespectful as the video.

literally the second they came on stage i almost threw up. how disgustingly unprofessional and insensitive of them. they clearly have no futures beyond this show.

Wow. I just... wow. This is awful. How can people NOT see how insensitive... I'm sorry, how *offensive* this is? The dance mocks Japanese dramatic stances, the outfits mock Japanese traditional dress and the makeup mocks Japanese dramatic makeup. There's nothing kawaii about it. It's appropriation at best and flat out racist at worse. You don't turn someone's LIFE into a "funny" costume or a "funny" dance!

what did i just watch... this is racist..

wow this is awful... and incredibly offensive