The "So You Think You Can Dance" tour waltzed into Target Center Thursday night. While it was arguably the weakest of the hit Fox TV show's concerts to play in the Twin Cities, the stage version nevertheless attracted several thousand fans, from preteens to grandparents to many father-daughter pairs, to watch an evening of serious choreography.

Highlights included the Travis Wall-created "Statues" dance with Season 8 champion Melanie Moore and contemporary-dance partner Marko Germar (pictured, from the TV show), a "Bladerunner"/"Matrix"-style sequence combining three dances from the past season and B-boy Tadd Gadduang's military tribute to "Coming Home." Contemporary dancer Jordan Casanova and Broadway stepper Jess LeProtto owned the stage whenever they were featured -- not an easy task in the cavernous Target Center, even in a half-concert setup. The same couldn't be said of Moore, who tended to disappear in group numbers, although she did have the best solo performance of the night as well as "Statues."

One of this year's biggest problems was the live production's format. The best numbers from the season were presented mostly as mash-ups – grouping several similarly themed dances and connecting them with interstitial sequences and unifying set design. So even the killer moments, like "Statues," were bookended by something else and didn't exist in their own space. It lessened the impact of much of the work. Many of the dances also were negatively affected by using fill-ins for the TV show's original performers, some of whom were alumni from previous seasons who don't go on tour. And then there were the "What the …?" moments, including ropes that didn't seem to work in what should have been a show-stopping circus sequence and the sudden disappearance of season runner-up Sasha Mallory during the final group number.

Finally, there was little interaction between the dancers and the audience. While past years' concerts occasionally staggered under the weight of rote banter by the dancers, at least they verbally engaged the crowd. This year had just an awkward intro by Moore and Mallory and then a few recorded segments from the TV show's Nigel Lithgoe and Mary Murphy. The live production could benefit greatly from having a live MC.

But in the end, it didn't really matter. "So You Think You Can Dance" is one of the best performance shows on TV and owns the Emmy category for choreography. (It's nothing like the drivel performed by washed-up celebs on "Dancing With the Stars.") The live production celebrates the best of the previous TV season, and last night's concert certainly did that, even with the bumps. Think about it: Serious dance, watched by thousands, in a basketball arena – it's hard to quibble too much with the wonder of that.