If the dancer exhibited exceptional ability in their performance, judges award a "ticket to Vegas," moving them instantly one step forward in the competition.

Alternatively, if judges are on the fence about the dancer, they will ask the contestant to wait until the end of that day's auditions to participate in a short test of their ability to pick up professional choreography.

The dancers are put through a battery of rounds that test their ability to pick up various dance styles (typically some of the more well-represented genres that are later prominent in the competition phase, such as hip-hop, jazz, ballroom and contemporary).

Additionally they may be asked to perform further solos in styles of their choosing and, since season 2, participate in a group choreography round in which small teams of contestants must display their musicality and ability to communicate professionally by choreographing a performance to a randomly selected piece of music — this challenge is notable as being the only time competitors are asked to choreograph themselves, aside from solos.

HCMC week is often portrayed as one of the most exhausting and stressful stages of the competition; each successive round sees cuts in which a significant portion of the remaining dancers are eliminated from competition and dancers are given a limited amount of time to adapt to styles they are sometimes wholly unfamiliar with while being physically taxed by the rapid progression of rounds and a limited amount of rest.

Dancers are paired-up — in some seasons at random, and in others by judges — into male-female couples that will stay paired for half of the remaining competition if neither is eliminated.

Prior to most duet performances, a video packet of clips of the couple preparing to perform the routine is shown; these packets are intended not only to demonstrate the couple's efforts to master the routine, but also to give glimpses of the personalities of the dancers as well as to allow the choreographer to give insight as to the thematic, narrative, and artistic intentions of the piece.

These duets and their accompanying video packets and critiques typically take up the majority of a competition show but may be supplemented by solos or group numbers during the later portion of the season.

The judges then retire briefly (typically during the night's headlining musical guest performance) to determine which man and woman (which are not necessarily from the same couple) will leave the competition.