Spoilers ahead for the July 20 episode of America's Got Talent on NBC.
The auditions stage of America's Got Talent Season 16 has come to an end with the last batch of hopefuls before the live shows begin, and I think it's safe to say that AGT saved some of the best for last, including a dance act that defied belief courtesy of duo Pasha and Aliona. In fact, it was a dance act that probably needs multiple views to really make sense of what happened, in the very best and mind-boggling way.
Although Pasha and Aliona are a married dance duo who landed a slot on AGT together, Pasha took the stage alone, saying that Aliona had missed her flight and wouldn't be able to participate in a new number, so he'd have to more or less wing it and try to perform a duo dance all by himself. He headed off-stage so he could make his big entrance, and the result was... well, it has to be seen to be believed, but a duo did kinda sorta take the stage even if Aliona wasn't able to make it! Take a look:
I won't lie – I spent most of the performance the first time around trying to figure out the physics and mechanics of what was happening, because I couldn't for the life of me decide where Pasha actually was. The mannequin of Pasha is realistic enough from a distance that it really could have been the real Pasha with a very determined stage smile plastered on his face, but there was enough of an uncanny valley effect that there was definitely something puzzling going on.
Plus, AGT has featured enough contortionists over the years that the body-bending didn't seem impossible, if still pretty improbable. It just didn't make much sense until the big reveal that Pasha was underneath both of them.
And honestly, I'm still not 100% clear on how he pulled it off, so I totally relate to Simon Cowell seemingly needing a second to get on his feet and process whatever it was that he saw. Sofia Vergara was the first to be delighted by the twist in the big finish, while Howie Mandel and Heidi Klum were quick to start laughing.
Pasha also earned a yes from each judge to be able to move forward in AGT, so hopefully his wife Aliona won't run into any flight problems on the way to the next performance. After all, if Pasha could put on a dance duo performance as just one person, what will he be able to achieve when he has his partner with him?
The stakes are getting higher than ever moving forward into Season 16 now that the auditions stage is over, but fans will have to wait a few weeks before finding out what happens in the next round of competition. America's Got Talent is taking a break while Olympics programming dominates NBC primetime, but will return to NBC Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET when the schedule gets back to normal ahead of fall premiere season.
