This past Wednesday (June 27, 2012), the top 20 dancers (10 male / 10 female) were announced for season 9 of FOX television’s dance-reality show So You Think You Can Dance. With this season’s top 20 announcement show, the episode was fused with the results from “Vegas Week,” along with live performances from the top 20 themselves. This episode also marked the 200th episode of the hit dance-realty show.

The group performances showcased all of the dancer’s expertise areas, such as: contemporary, ballroom, jazz, ballet, and hip hop. Giving the dancers praise and critique are regular judges Nigel Lythgoe (Executive Producer) and Mary Murphy, along with guest judge Zooey Deschanel.

The Top 20 dancers for Season 9 have been provided below, along with their genre of expertise.

Girls:
• Alexa Anderson (Contemporary)
• Amber Jackson (Contemporary)
• Amelia Lowe (Contemporary)
• Audrey Case (Jazz)
• Eliana Girard (Ballet)
• George Lawrence II (Contemporary)
• Janaya French (Contemporary)
• Janelle Issis (Belly Dancing)
• Lindsay Arnold (Ballroom)
• Tiffany Maher (Jazz)
• Witney Carson (Ballroom)

Guys:

• Brandon Mitchell (Step)
• Chehon Wespi-Tschopp (Ballet)
• Cole Horibe (Martial Arts)
• Cyrus Spencer (Animation)
• Daniel Baker (Ballet)
• Dareian Kujawa (Contemporary)
• Matthew Kazmierczak (Contemporary)
• Nick Bloxsom-Carter (Ballroom)
• Will Thomas (Contemporary)

I have provided some of their performances from this past Wednesday’s episode below that have been uploaded to YouTube:

With Zooey Deschanel being a guest judge on this first episode of the competition section of the season, the Twitterverse did have some mixed reaction with her judging techniques:

The Twitterverse also cheered on the various contestants, showing off who was their favorite so far: