It’s aaaaalmost Memorial Day weekend, which means summer is aaaaalmost officially upon us (in terms of weekends at the beach and TV schedules — I know the actual official first day of summer is June 21), which means its time for…”So You Think You Can Dance!”
I know last fall’s experiment with airing it in September sort of ruined the whole strictly summertime feel of the show, but it really is a warm weather series. Mostly because everyone on it is always sweaty and almost naked. And last night’s premiere was no exception!
There are going to be some changes to our beloved dance competition this season. First of all, there will only be a Top 10, instead of 20. Secondly, the season will have an all-star slant, with alumni returning to dance with the Top 10 in their own styles. Those returning include tWitch, Courtney Galliano, Neil Haskill, Dominic Sandoval, Mark Kanemura, Pasha Kovalev, Kathryn McCormick, Comfort, Ade…basically all the AWESOME ones, so its sure to be a veritable smorgasbord of talent and muscular abs.
Thursday’s episode kicked off with auditions in New York. This year’s permanent judging panel, including Nigel Lythgoe, Adam Shankman and Mia Michaels, were on-hand. Michaels returns after taking time away from the show last season. “The b*tch is back,” said Shankman, to mark the occasion.
I feel kind of sad without Mary Murphy around to designate seating on the Hot Tamale Train or scream at me. She was truly the “Paula” of the series, with the volume turned to 11. Things won’t be the same without her, but Mia was certainly the right choice to fill the void (remember how awful Ellen DeGeneres was as a guest judge on the show last year? “Are you a carpenter? Because you nailed it!” — imagine if they hired her for “Idol” and this!).
Among the stand-outs in the NYC auditions were:
* Contemporary dancer Sarah Brinson who, if she hadn’t mentioned her “big” size, I probably wouldn’t have even noticed that she didn’t have the “typical” dancers body. Nigel thought she looked like Charlize Theron. Mia said she danced “beyond [her] years” and Adam was impressed that she was so self-assured (back-handed?). She went straight to Vegas.
* Giselle Peacock and Henry Byalikov, Latin ballroom dancers who were featured in Broadway’s Burn the Floor were so hot, my TV screen needed a swipe of antiperspirant. Vegas.
* Teddy Tedholm, the contemporary kid who auditioned last season in those wacky golfer-looking pants and made the judges freak out but then totally bombed in Vegas, came back and Adam practically hyper-ventilated over him again. Mia said Teddy reminds him of “the unpopular kid who was laughed at” in school. She meant it in a positive way, saying that she understood how he taps into “the pain and the reality,” but mostly, it just sounded like she was calling him a loser who can dance. Nigel reminded him how much he sucked in Vegas last year and urged him to not “let yourself down this time.” I don’t really get what the big deal is about this kid, but we’ll see him again in Vegas.
* Chris “Isolock” Dixon is a locker who was mentored by the first locker in New York. He moved decently, but he didn’t blow me away like the first time we saw Phillip Chbeeb. The judges were concerned about whether he could handle choreography so they sent him on to the next round, where he was cut. (BTW, Jason Glover and Courtney Galliano are teaching the choreography rounds!)
* Parkour dude Wadi Jones impressed the judges with his hip-hop but couldn’t handle choreography.
* Contemporary dancer Edward Spots is a returning auditioner, whose dad saw him on TV the last time and finally understood his passion for dance. They now have a better relationship. Edward dances with Alvin Ailey and has ridiculous quads. He got a ticket to Vegas after the choreo round, which I was surprised the judges even made him go through.
* Megan Carter was another auditioner with an “unconventional” dancer’s body. She said she was inspired by Mia Michaels, who’s spoken about how hard it was for her to find work as a dancer because of her size. After Megan’s audition, Adam said, “You just blew every single stereotype so far out of the water…I hold stereotypes sometimes, too. You just schooled me.” Mia was proud. Nigel brought everyone back to reality and said that being a professional dancer would be difficult for Megan. Indeed, she didn’t make it past the choreography round.
* Folks we only saw briefly but received tickets to Vegas: Briana de Falco, Daniel Baker, Anthony Burrell and Megan Davis.
* Bad auditions included 1 2 3 Party! guy Mike Perlman who doesn’t know who Adam Shankman is; bio-hazard dude Scott Vogel, who cleans up blood at crime scenes and also loves a good country line dance–I bet he’s fun at parties; and Jamie Greco, a cross-dresser who rocked the Carmen Miranda look for his audition, including broccoli for nipple tassels.
* Did anyone else spot that intense ballroom chick from last season who looks like she’s 60 winning a ticket to Vegas in the choreography round?
* Is Adam Shankman annoying?
In the second hour of last night’s episode, the auditions moved to Miami, with Nigel, Jason Gilkinson and Sonya Tayeh judging.
Standouts included:
* Latin ballroom dancer Michael Petr, who I didn’t understand a word of what he said except for “Patrick Swayze.” I’m guessing he wanted to dance like him? He kind of pulled it off and went straight to Vegas.
* Tyrell Rolle is a contemporary dancer from a rough neighborhood where the only dancers were hip hoppers. His father, who wasn’t sure about the whole contemporary thing at first (and his two gold teeth!), finally came around to the idea and even started crying talking about how proud he is of his son. Adorable! And Tyrell was awesome, too. Officially the Gregg Burge of this season. Straight to Vegas.
* Henry Rivera was nervous in front of the cameras giving an interview, but all of that went away the second he started to dance. The whole time he was performing, Sonya was going, “Mmm. Mhmm!” Nigel thought he was the best dancer, contemporary and beyond, in Miami they’d seen. Vegas.
* Daria Kopylova performed a sexy ballroom number…WITH HER DAD. The judges were freaked out. It was a no.
* Contemporary dancer Ami Aguiar-Riley has a 6-year-old son, whom she taught the robot. The judges were only kind of feeling her. Nigel thought some of her moves were too “aerobic,” but she made it through the choreography round is headed to Vegas. Her triceps are incredible.
* Candace Craig is in a Spice Girls-like girl group, and is the “sexy” one. She has GIGANTIC breasts, which were flapping every which way during her audition, which was sort of jazz, sort of burlesque-ish. Nigel loved it. Jason and Sonya were very tactful with their criticism. Jason said she was a “very likable performer” but didn’t make “clever choices.” Sonya said, “You don’t have to over do it.” She moved onto the choreography round, for which she wore a sports bra, but was cut.
* Hip-hopper Jose Ruiz was inspired to audition by last season’s Legacy. He even thinks he’s better than Legacy. The judges were impressed — Nigel even called him “a good looking kid”–but his skills in the choreography round were questionable. They sent him to Vegas anyhow, because he’s “likable.”
I am so excited it’s started some of the dancers are awesome this years. I hate thet they are only picking 10 OMG it will be so hard!! I too was suprised Edward Spots got sent to choreography he was great his muscle build is INCREDIBLE and he was so sweet.
Jose Ruiz he is ok but he is not as good as Legacy but we will see. I did not like Legacy at all last year, could not believe he made it to the top 20, then after his first performance all I could say is Legacy is AWESOME!! SO we will see how Ruiz does, who kows he may suprise us all. Oh and the guy in the funny pants, I agree there too I think his dancing was more of a theatrical type and I don’t see him making it all the way through/
Dancing is really a beautiful sport, and I’m glad to see it making such a comeback. For years it was mostly dismissed as something fluffy for women. I’ve noticed a recent explosion of dancing related television shows and quite the upswing in my local area for dancing classes. I have to wonder why, though? Most of the shows that come on seem to be about people who normally don’t dance trying to learn to do it well in a very short period of time. Are we turning into an audience that loves to see people screwing up? Do we insist that people make fools out of themselves to make us feel better about ourselves or are we really interested in watching people do something complicated, difficult and beautiful?
Donald from Sage Tea Sweating