The powers-that-be are seriously toying with So You Think You Can Dance this year, and we think it may actually be a good thing this time. The beloved summer (yes FOX, you heard me, SUMMER) show is changing people, get on board… because we certainly are.

Executive producer, creator, head judge, general pooh bah Nigel Lithgow just announced the new format the show will be taking on, the biggest change since season 2 saw the dancers in consistent pairings and eliminated by judges’ choice.

This year there won’t be a top 20, it will be a top 10, and only 1 dancer will go home each week. What? You ask, how is that possible, the numbers won’t match up?!

Well, according to Nigel, they have a plan, a pretty good one. The top 10 will come out of Vegas week in usual fashion, just fewer of them. Then when they make it to the big stage they’ll be paired up with an All-Star. Yup, an All-Star. Past contestants will be back to dance alongside this year’s competitors in their specialty style. The first dancer in the All-Star pool, and the most obvious choice, was announced today and it’s season 4’s fan favourite Twitch who’ll be representing hip hop, popping, krump and all things Twitch-y.

Otherwise, the format will stay pretty much the same: only the competing dancers will face the judges, viewers will still vote and the judges will still have the final say in who goes home after incredibly boring and pointless results-show solos.

This sounds like a great idea to me. I love the old contestants (fingers crossed for my favourites Danny Tidwell and Katee Shean to return). But will their presence take away from the competing dancers? If I have old favourites to invest in am I going to care about the new kids? The new format might crash and burn but I like the idea behind it and am psyched to see where it takes the constantly re-invented series.

In related and happy SYTYCD news, Mia Michaels is back on board both choreographing and in the rotating judge’s chair (apparently with the guest judges they may sometimes have a fourth member of the panel this season- hello Canada rip-off!). Thank God Mia’s back though, the show needs her woo woo artistry and razor sharp critiques to keep them out of saccharine territory. And Mary Murphy will apparently be taking some time out of her permanent judge’s chair to choreograph for the show as well.

Big changes, all of them good? Get psyched for the summer when time will tell.