We're down to the Top 10, which means that the game has changed. The partnerships we've had since Top 20 are a thing of the past. Now each week the women will pick a male dancer's name out of the hat in addition to a style, and partners will change each episode. Also, the judges no longer make the decisions about who goes home. Each individual dancer will be assigned a telephone number, and the lowest vote-getter will get the boot. This is when it gets serious, y'all.

Guest judge: Debbie Allen! She's been gone too long. I adore her - she's a soundbyte machine, even if she rarely offers up any useful critique. But I need for her to do something about her hair. It is looking rough.

Every contestant danced three times: in a pair routine, a group routine, and a solo. First up was a group number for the girls, a Bollywood piece by Nakul Dev Mahajan. The Top 5 girls were decked out in gorgeous Indian outfits and danced with water jugs. After a slow start it really picked up with lots of energy. The hips were constantly shaking, the feet constantly bouncing, and everything was perfectly in synch. It looked like quite a cardio workout. At one point they turned around and had male masks on the backs of their heads, to signify when the male singer came in. It was weird, but kind of cool. I noticed Kayla and Janette (Janette kept having issues with her scarf falling over her face), and my viewing party also noticed Jeanine. Randi and Melissa didn't stand out.

For the first couples dance Kayla picked Evan. I was ambivalent about that. I love Kayla, I love Evan. But both of them have been struggling lately, especially Evan. I think I would be heartbroken if Kayla went home, and I didn't want Evan to drag her down. Also, there is a MAJOR height differential between Amazonian Kayla and wee Evan, and that's difficult for ballroom, which is what they pulled with a Viennese waltz routine by Tony and Melanie to "Kiss From a Rose" by Seal. (What a spectacularly lame song choice.) They put Evan in lifts, and Kayla was barefoot, which kind of evened the height thing out. Kayla was flowy and gorgeous, and I thought Evan danced strongly, but lacked a connection to Kayla. By the end of the song, the rise and fall kind of disappeared. Nigel really liked it. Whew! Mary was not a fan, and picked on Evan's lack of energy and grace in parts, but praised him for making the lifts look effortless. She loved Kayla, of course. Solo: Brandon to "In Your Eyes" by Jeffrey Gaines. Lots of flips and jumps, then some very strong arm and body flailing. It was a touch desperate. Was that the first solo we've seen from him this season?

Janette picked Ade and his fucking pick, which now appears to be covered in Swarovski crystals, and they drew hip-hop by Tabatha and Napoleon to "Love Sex Magic" by Ciara and Justin Timberlake. I hate that song; it's proof that absolutely no musical ability is required to get a hit single anymore. Ade was an old-school Michael Jackson type who used that f'ing pick to hypnotize bookish Janette into embracing her inner funkiness. Overall I was underwhelmed. They weren't together in parts. Janette didn't hit it as hard as I would have liked. Ade didn't capture my attention at all. There were some really fun moves in it - it's a TabNap after all - but it was not my favorite number. Nigel blathered on and suggested that he was going to sexually assault Mary in her dressing room (shudder), and Mary thought it was funky. What happened to the gloves coming off? She was way too kind to the two of them.

Solo: Randi to "Dream" by Priscilla Ahn. It was a beautiful, authentic contemporary solo. It's interesting; compare Randi's work here to Jeanine's solo from the week before, and you can really see how goddamn talented she is.

Solo: Kupono to...something. He did a lot of tribal-type moves. I appreciate that he's trying to do something different, but he has GOT to pull out some more interesting moves. The stuff he was doing was practically bargain-basement African dance. He also spends WAY too much time doing nothing.

Jeanine picked Jason - a good pairing, I think - and got a contemporary routine choreographed by Season 2's Travis, who looked like hell. (Sorry! The hair and the styling need a MAJOR upgrade. He used to be dreamy.) They danced to "If It Kills Me" by Jason Mraz. The story is two longtime friends who are hooking up for the first time. There was a heart-shaped necklace that the two of them passed between each other, which was a tad literal. But I liked pretty much everything else about the routine. It was passionate, it used the dancers' bodies in really interesting ways, it had tons of energy. And Jeanine and Jason were probably the best they have ever been. It was one of my favorite routines of the whole competition. The judges AND the audience gave it a standing ovation. Mary called the two of them stars, and I think that may have been a star-making routine. It was that good. And then Mary went into a supersonic scream, and I think she put them on the train, but it was kind of hard to figure out. Travis got verbal blowjobs from every member of the panel. Deserved? Sure. But a little much? Absolutely.

Solo: Melissa to "Gabriel" by Lamb. On pointe, and it was a better solo than the one she did last week, which I'm still convinced she came up with backstage at the last minute. She's really going to have to up her solo game if she expects to stay in this competition. I think she's coasting a bit at this point. The skill is clearly there, but I want fireworks. Ping! Pa-ping!

Solo: Evan to "Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart" by Rufus Wainwright. Why can't he have this much personality in his pair routines? He always looks so terrified in his partner numbers, but he was so alive and free in his solo. Loved it, very worried about him.

Solo: Kayla to "Rock Your Soul" by Elisa. I'm just always impressed by her control, her lines, her flexibility. It was a much less manic solo than she's done in the past. Still not star quality, but it's getting better. That's all I ask.

Randi picked Kupono for her partner number. Eek; not a good match. I love Randi, but I question how much of a following she has. And Kupono is wildly inconsistent. They were assigned a a paso doble by Tony and Melanie, which was an especially bad pull for Kupono, because he has a tendency to dance girly in the best of times. To pull off paso doble - a dance in which the male represents a matador fighting for his life -- you have to be crazy butch. They put a ridiculous wig on Randi that was totally unnecessary. As for the dancing itself, it looked to me like Randi was leading the routine. Kupono was barely present. It was the least convincing paso doble I've ever seen on this show. Randi worked her ass off to compensate for Kupono's total lack of...anything, really. But that's problematic in itself, since she's supposed to be playing a cape. Randi was basically throwing herself around the stage.

Solo: Ade to "Unchained Melody" by the Righteous Brothers. Again, lots of things thrown out on the stage, but very few of them seemed linked together in any way. His athleticism is amazing, and the man can get incredible height. I just...I respect him as a physical presence, but he's so uninteresting to me.

Solo: Jeanine to "Violento" by Bailongo. It was a less contemporary solo, and more Latin influenced. Her extension was really impressive, second only to Kayla's. She's really growing on me.

Solo: Jason to "Train Fare Home" by Muddy Waters. Terrible musical choice for this; you need to get the crowd riled. This will putting them to sleep. His solo was too subdued for my tastes. Some great leaps, but not a lot else. At least it wasn't as desperate as he's appeared in the past.

Melissa picked Brandon, and they were assigned Broadway by Tyce DiOrio to "Aquarius" from "Hair." Melissa looked beautiful. I hate Tyce, but I really liked the routine (until the terrible ending), and I thought the two of them danced it brilliantly. Both dancers got a chance to shine; Brandon in particular was impressive in his physicality, although Melissa threw in some ballet moves too. I'm not sure any other couple could have pulled it off as well as they did. Judges loved it.

Solo: Janette to "This Is Miami" by Sander Kleinenberg. Hard for salsa dancers to do solos, but it was impressive. Compared to, say, Asoka's solos earlier in the competition, that was on a whole ‘nother level.

Finally, the guys got together to do an authentic African routine, which looked very hard, but also very awesome. HUGE energy, lots of intricate rhythms, and lots of fun. Plus they were all shirtless. That always helps. I noticed Ade and Jason the most, and thought that Evan held his own. Interestingly Brandon was a total nonentity. The judges singled out Evan as seeming totally out of place. I'm guessing because he's the only white guy left? But they thought he did really well for something that is light years away from what he's used to. (As an aside, the judges pick on him entirely too much. They went on and on on how short he was, but Brandon can't be more than an inch or two taller, and you NEVER hear about it.)

Predictions: I think Kupono is pretty much toast. Evan could be danger (I hope not), and Ideally I'd like to see Ade go home because I just don't connect with him at all. But Kupono seems like a lock to get cut. As for the girls, it's tougher. They're all very good at this point. I'm very concerned for Randi, but Jeanine could get lost in the shuffle. Similarly, a surprise Melissa boot isn't out of the question either.