Paula Abdul Plays Nice on Round 1 of 'Live to Dance'

Wednesday night on CBS' "Live To Dance," Paula Abdul and her team of judges announced the final act chosen to compete in the semifinals. And Paula showed that when the ball is in her court, she still plays nice.

Last week on "Live to Dance", Abdul and dance choreographers Kimberly Wyatt and Travis Payne couldn't decide between all boy-ensemble Theatrix, married ballet duo White Tree Fine Art or Inside the Box, a mega group ensemble. Instead, they left the decision up to a viewer vote. Wednesday night the results were in: White Tree Fine Art was chosen as the viewer favorite.

The top 18 semifinalists will compete for the grand prize of $500,000.

Meanwhile, on the show's first live episode, Abdul said she is "humbled to have a show that celebrates this unbelievable art form."

Six acts performed on Wednesday night, with Abdul and Co. selected one of them to return in three weeks to compete in the finals. One more act will be selected by the viewers each week. Here's how Wednesday nights' performance panned out:

The Vibe- This tribe of 38 from Utah danced frantically to a medley of Beethoven and Michael Jackson instrumentals. All of the judges dubbed them "amazing" and "awesome" and it garnered them the highest praise of all: three gold stars.

Jittin' Genius- This Detroit street dancer also impressed the judges, prompting Kimberly Wyatt to dub him, "new, innovative and very deserving."

Chi-Town Finest Breakers- This family act (4 brothers and little sis) may have been out of their league, but they got an A for effort- from Paula, anyway .They danced to a Jackson 5 medley and even kinda looked like the young Jackson kids. While the judges praised their potential and chalked this up to a learning experience, only Paula gave them a gold star.

Austin Acevedo- This ten year old - sporting a faux hawk- started out with contemporary ballet moves, then went into a street dance. The judges thought the young dancer- who has only been dancing for a year- was a bit disconnected from his dance. No gold stars here.

Bev and Hap- Oldies but goodies, this duo shimmied to "Boom Boom Pow" but they lacked punch. Travis gave them the dreaded, "You are an inspiration" line before slapping them with a dire red star. Kimberly agreed, although Dancing Queen of Nice Paula just couldn't do it- she still gave them a gold star.

D'Angelo and Amanda- This tween couple from Miami looked like mini "Dancing with the Stars" pros. All of the judges loved them, gracing them with three gold stars.

With all of the performances in the can, the judges made the decision to send The Vibe into the finals. Viewers will decide which one of the remaining 5 acts will move on to the finals.

"Live to Dance" Finalists

The Vibe

"Live to Dance" Semifinalists:

Jittin' Genius

Chi-Town Finest Breakers

Austin Acevedo

Bev and Hap

D'Angelo and Amanda

Jaden

Bev and Hap

Jill and Jacob

Shore Thing

Twitch

Du-Shaunt Stegall

Tap Sounds Underground

Dance in Flight

Dax and Sarah

Dance Town Chaos

Roosevelt Anderson

Kendall Glover

White Tree Fine Art

You can catch Round 2 of the "Live to Dance" semifinals on Wednesday, January 19^th at 8:00 p.m. ET on CBS.

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Source: "Live To Dance", January 12, 2011, CBS TV