You can thank the long July 4th weekend for this very belated recap of the So You Think You Can Dance Top 14 elimination! Sometimes a girl’s just gotta get her fireworks and BBQ on.This is going to be short and sweet - recap and videos below (clips from MJ’s)!

Group number: an energetic “raise the roof” Broadway number to “Brand New Day” from The Wiz by Tyce Diorio. The dancers are a circus painting come to life - a.k.a. the stuff of my nightmares, usually. VIDEO

Unfortunately, we learn that Karla & Vitolio are (again) in the Bottom 3 and must (again) DANCE FOR THEIR LIVES. Randi & Evan are safe, although I thought their fisty-punch-punch Broadway number was underwhelming compared to Karla & Vitolio’s quick-changing Quickstep. C’est la vie. VIDEO

Next up, it’s no real surprise that Janette & Brandon are safe as usual (PS - Janette’s 1970’s Karen Carpenter hairdo needs to be nixed - PIC). When it’s between Kayla & Kupono and Melissa & Ade, you know it can’t be good news since both pairs were very strong Weds night. I thought that viewers probably under-appreciated the classical ballet number by Melissa & Ade but I’m wrong - Kayla & Kupono are the ones in the Bottom 3. Their angsty vampire number just didn’t grab hold of audiences. Kayla showed a slight lack of modesty by tearing up, nodding along and agreeing as Mia Michaels told the pair how great they were and that they didn’t deserve to be in the bottom. Could the judges’ fawning over Kayla 1) be backfiring and making viewers avoid voting for her, and 2) filling Kayla’s ego like a hot air balloon? Hope not! VIDEO

Another surprise comes when Jeanine & Phillip are in the Bottom 3 after their chained-up hip hop routine, which meant that Caitlin & Jason’s weird impregnating alien dance actually got them votes! Wtf! VIDEO

Before the Bottom 3 couples DANCE FOR THEIR LIVES, we see a jaw-dropping, toe-curling Contemporary Ballet number performed by Patricia Hachey and Desmond Richardson from Complexions Contemporary Ballet. They’re doing all kinds of astounding en pointe moves. Ouch and wow! The dance is choreographed by Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson (song: “Caprice in e Minor, Op. 1 No. 3″ by Midori), who I believe choreographed Katee & Will’s gorgeous Pas de Deux last season. VIDEO

Enough stalling, time to DANCE FOR YOUR LIVES, kids! First up is Karla doing her YouTube-famous (VIDEO) contemporary solo to ”Blackbird” by Dionne Farris. Next is my lovely Vitolio flying and kicking to ”Here Comes Goodbye” by Rascal Flatts. Then Kayla does a decent Contemporary solo to ”Stupid” by Sarah McLachlan, and finally Kupono does a contained performance to ”Over the Rainbow” by Israel Kamakawiwo’ole - I felt him, but I think people wanted to see more drama, more movement from him. VIDEO

Finally, we get to see Jeanine & Phillip do their thing. Jeanine delivers the strongest female solo to ”Moonlight Sonato” by Smart Sleep with Classical. She spins and spins like a whirling dervish. And finally, the always fun Chbeeb/Phillip goes nutty and jelly-jointed on us with ”You’ll Find a Way - Switch & Sinden Remix” by Santogold. He is definitely entertaining to watch in his element, but I don’t think he deserves to make it much further on SYTYCD. VIDEO

As Nigel, Mary and Mia deliberate on the male and female to leave, we watch Kelly Clarkson rock to “I Do Not Hook Up.”  Wonky camera angles and all. VIDEO

ELIMINATED: Karla Garcia and Vitolio Jeune. VIDEO

The judges were unanimous and even though it wasn’t a real surprise, it’s a bummer because I liked them both. Sigh!

Ooh la la! The pressure was on in tonight’s episode of So You Think You Can Dance: a lot of the dancers got their own styles or genres that weren’t too much of a stretch AND guest-judging was “love you or hate you” Contemporary choreographer, Mia Michaels. Like everyone else, I couldn’t wait to hear if she still couldn’t stand Brandon Bryant for no reason besides his face “annoys the sh!t” out of her…could he win her over? Let’s find out! Thoughts on tonight’s dances and videos (courtesy of MJ) below:

MY BOTTOM 3: Randi & Evan, Caitlin & Jason and Karla & Vitolio

Janette Manrara & Brandon Bryant - Cha-Cha - Jean-Marc and France Genereux - “Hush Hush; Hush Hush” by The Pussycat Dolls (VIDEO): Can these two do any wrong?? Guess that applies to both couples: Brandon & Janette AND the best ballroom choreographers evs, Jean-Marc & France. The dancers nailed this Cha-Cha and, to use Mary Murphy terminology, they were two spicy sexpots waiting to board the first class coach on THE HOT TAMALE TRAIN - YES THEY WERE - WOO WOOO!! Nigel said it was the best Cha-Cha ever on the show and they were so good that Mia did some furious backpedaling and pretended that she was only an outright bitch to Brandon during auditions because she “saw soooo much potential in him.” It was sort of like those made-for-TV movie moments when the drunken husband slurs, “I’m sorry! I only beat ya cuz I loves ya, baby!” Whatevs, I still think she was out of line with her personal attacks during his auditions (not critiquing his dance technique, but his FACE? Come on.). So far, Brandon definitely has what it takes to win this entire show, BUT can he and Janette win enough fans over? Also, will their egos get the best of them?

Kayla Radomski & Kupono Aweau - Jazz - Sonya Tayeh - “Eyes on Fire” by Blue Foundation (VIDEO): This was a perfect number for “Kaypono” - another bizarre, angsty, ragdolly Sonya number. The pair were moody, broody and sexy vampires and it worked. They were totally into their characters and their movements were so together. They looked ever so loverly (y’know, for a dance about death and bloodsucking immortals) and the judges finally gave my boy Kupono some props for his talent! He reminds me more and more of last season’s resident Hawaiian dancer, Mark Kanemura, with his style and embodiment of characters, but he’s sexier to look at. Love ya, Kupono! Hey producers, BTW, can we get some more shots of Kayla’s teddy bear of a grandpa? I miss him.

Randi Strong-Evans & Evan Kasprzak - Broadway - Joey Dowling - “Rich Man’s Frug” from Sweet Charity (VIDEO): This dance was a little too much like last week’s “Butt Dance” (boy-chasing-girl) at first and I thought the music was all wrong and understated for the choreography. I disagree with the judges and blame the choreographer for this underwhelming number. Evan & Randi had some strong moments, but overall I was not really into the number and Evan did come off looking weirdly feminine in some of his movements. It’s getting really hard to pick “Bottom 3″ couples this week because we’ve got some fantastic dancers this season, but Team Short Stuff is on my list for the week.

Caitlin Kinney & Jason Glover - Pop Jazz - Brian Friedman - “Creator” by Santogold (VIDEO): Caitlin played an alien who destroyed mankind and was trying to impregnate Jason, the last human on Earth. Very Xenu. I am still not in love with this couple, but they both did their best to commit to the ridiculous roles given to them, so props for that. Jason even had a few leaps in the dance that were beautiful and impressed me more than he normally does, but overall it was a very strange number and like Mia, I was way distracted by Caitlin’s outfit - something resembling a vacuum-sealed garbage bag coiled with aluminum foil. FASHION POLICE. Poor Caitlin - another pair for the Bottom 3.

Jeanine Mason & Phillip Chbeeb - Hip Hop - Tabitha and Napoleon - “Love Lockdown” by Kanye West (VIDEO): Wow these fools lucked out by getting another Tabitha & Napoleon number!  No Shane Sparks er anything to possibly screw them up. The dance literally chained Jeanine & Phillip at the ankles to represent their partnership on the show — funny how for me the chain came to symbolize how I’ve been stuck with Phillip on my TV, wonking up dance after dance and sending better dancers home. Sorry Chbeeb lovers, I’m sick of his one-note, over-pouty, fish stank face. Yes he’s a talented hip hop dancer, but even in his own genre, his performance (a.k.a. his character) always sucks and he doesn’t emotionally connect. Unfortunately for me, this dance was a success so I guess he’s safe for another week. SIGH.

Melissa Sandvig & Ade Obayomi - Pas de Duex - Thordal Christensen - Romeo & Juliet (VIDEO): I was glad to see Melissa, our sole ballerina, get to do this dance. I still really root for this couple! Definitely not Ade’s strongest dance, but it was far from a disaster and what these two lack in technique they made up for in emotional connection and chemistry. But I wonder if audiences will vote for a classical ballet number…? I hope they stay safe!

Karla Garcia & Vitolio Jeune - Quickstep - Jean-Marc and France Genereux - “Puttin’ on the Ritz” by Rufus Wainwright (VIDEO): I put these two in my Bottom 3, but honestly thought they did a really excellent job and enjoyed their spunky Quickstep moreso than Melissa & Ade’s Pas de Deux. But Mia was right that sometimes Karla wasn’t fully in her character and had a stunned facial expression that took a little away from their dance and lost some points from me. HOWEVER, I am also really rooting for this couple because Karla & Vitolio were, IMHO, anchored down by weaker partners in the past weeks and this dance alone showed that they have a lot more to offer. Overall it was a fun, quick-changing Quickstep! I mean, Karla’s dress totally transformed in the middle of the number, and that’s gotta be a crowd-pleaser. Will it be enough though?

Tomorrow night we get a performance by “AUUGH KELLY CLARKSON!” and find out which gal and guy are leaving us. Who will they be? Tune in to So You Think You Can Dance at 9pm on FOX!