So You Think You Can Dance

We’ve seen many hip hop choreographers come and go on the past 8 seasons of So You Think You Can Dance, feeding us dance junkies with amazing routine after amazing routine. But none have made quite the lasting impact that husband and wife team Tabitha and Napoleon D’umo (aka NappyTabs) have.  

On this Fat Tuesday, we’re going to celebrate Tabitha and Napoleon’s SYTYCD career by highlighting their choreographer highs on the show. Here are our picks for the 5 best NappyTabs hip hop routines of all time.

5. “I Can Transform Ya”

We knew SYTYCD winner Russell Ferguson could get down ‘n’ dirty, but we had no idea contemporary dancer Kathryn McCormick could rock out a hip hop number the way she did in this Season 6 routine to Chris Brown’s “I Can Transform Ya.”

NappyTabs transported us into an alternate world of sci-fi-meets-hip-hop. We totally dug the hard-hitting moves and inventive lifts. Plus, Kathryn and Russell delivered a killer performance, winning praise from both the fans and the judges.

4. “Love Lockdown”

Featuring SYTYCD winner Jeanine Mason and finalist Philip Chbeeb, this Season 5 routine to Kayne West’s “Love Lockdown” is a perfect example of the innovation that is NappyTabs. Using an actual chain to represent both the bonds and struggles of being in love, Tabitha and Napoleon created a truly unique number.

Jeanine and Philip not only mastered the tricky NappyTabs choreography, but they also expertly dealt with an unpredictable prop...a chain that literally locked them together.

3. “No Air”

A true SYTYCD classic, this Season 4 routine to Chris Brown and Jordan Sparks’s “No Air” featured SYTYCD winner Joshua Allen and his stellar partner Katee Shean as they portrayed the challenges of saying “good-bye.”

In this routine, Tabitha and Napoleon showed that not only can they entertain, but they also have the ability to make us feel something.

2. “I Got You”

NappyTabs proved that they still got it in this Season 8 routine to Leona Lewis’s “I Got You,” featuring SYTYCD winner Melanie Moore and Top 4 contestant Marko Germar.

The routine highlighted hip hop’s sweet side; Tabitha and Napoleon know how to bring out the best in their dancers, as demonstrated in Melanie and Marko’s charming performance of boy meets girl, boy falls for girl, girl falls for boy.

1. “Bleeding Love”

This Season 4 routine to Leona Lewis’s “Bleeding Love” was a true testament to NappyTabs' choreographic skills and the chemistry between contestants Chelsea Hightower and Mark Kanemura.

From the music, the moves, the dancers, to the story — routines like this keep us coming back for more! Not only is this routine one of Tabitha and Napoleon’s best, but this is one of SYTYCD’s best!

Keep creating Tabitha and Napoleon! We can’t wait to see the dances the duo comes up with in an all new season of SYTYCD!

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