(S04E05) How happy am I that Jason covered the last night of auditions on Wednesday! I'm going to agree with him about the two tappers. The second girl, Liz, was fabulous. With tap, the excitement happens below the knees so performers have to be conscious of what's going on with their upper bodies.Okay, I have a word problem for you. What do you get when you take hundreds of dancers then make them do four different styles, deprive them of sleep, critique them on national TV, and make them play some sick version of Mother May I to see if they get to the next round?
The Vegas episode of So You Think You Can Dance, of course!
Tonight we headed to Las Vegas for the final rounds of auditions. We were joined by Nigel, Mary, Mia, Tabitha, Napoleon and the incomparable Debbie Allen. The first round was a hip-hop routine by Tabitha and Napoleon. The second round was Broadway jazz with Tyce DiOrio. The third round was Jean-Marque's foxtrot. And the last round was Mia's contemporary. After that, the remaining dancers did solos and we found out the Top 20 for season four.
The Vegas Auditions: Some Entertaining Moments and Commentary:
- Why on earth do male contemporary dancers always wear basketball shorts? They do realize that doing Mia Michaels' choreography is much different than playing for the Lakers, right? Sorry, I'm not a fan of contemporary jazz. So, I'm hardly sympathetic to the basketball shorts + tube socks + V-neck shirt trend.
- Debbie Allen was back tonight. I think you can see that out of all the judges, she's the toughest. She's also the only one who has her own company and school. I think she offers us a realistic look into the audition process. I loved that she told Susie Garcia to put on some clothes. Sheesh.
- How much did you love Tyce DiOrio's number to "This Joint is Jumpin'", a Fats Waller number from Ain't Misbehavin'?
- The tapper Jason and I loved so much, Liz, really let me down. She did fine in Mia's routine but looked completely stressed the entire time. Then when the judges called her out on it, she talked back. And it was the sass that got her cut.
- Here's a few people I was glad to see get cut: Claire, Jeremiah, and the pageant queen. Claire was a "hot mess" according to the judges. By the way, if anyone wanted to do a SYTYCD drinking game, you could count the number of times, they say "hot mess." As for Jeremiah, I was glad to see his true colors. In the most unprofessional move I've seen this season, he walked off the stage during Mia's routine. The Texas pageant queen got two chances to perform the foxtrot and just didn't pull it off. The judges cut her to core by saying that her performance lack elegance and grace.
The Top 20 Revealed (and my humble opinions)...
Please forgive the spellings. They didn't flash the text on the screen for the Top 20 reveal.
GIRLS
Courtney Galliano: I like her. She's got a sweet personality and beautiful long legs.
Chelsea Hightower: Not so sure who she is. If they showed her, she couldn't have been memorable.
Susie Garcia: What? Seriously?
Chelsea Trayer: I know it's rude but she and Grace Jones share the same body. Whoa, muscles! It's better than skin and bones though.
Kourtnei Lind: I fell in love when she pointed and flexed those feet during her first audition. She articulates her entire body when she dances. And the best part? Kourtnei is passionate. So, I guess I'll forgive the ridiculous spelling on the name.
Kherington Payne: She's cute enough. Another weird name though.
Comfort: I like her. Great mover.
Jessica King: I'm so happy for her after she had to suffer through Derek's drama during the group choreography.
Raven Armino: It's nice to see a classical ballet dancer get in. I love watching people dance on pointe.
Katee: Can you believe how stupid these dancers are? Did she actually think telling the judges that she would quit at nineteen would go over well? Sorry I didn't catch her last name.
BOYS
Joshua Allen: Remember the toe touch that was at least ten feet in the air? Yeah, me too. I'm excited to see that again.
Twitch: I loved him last year. But talk about the unfair advantage FOX has given him with all the coverage and the backstory in these past few episodes.
Rabin Ormeo
Thayne Jasperson
Matt Dorame
Marquise Cunningham
Mark Kanamura: I adored his piece to Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody."
Chris Jenrose: He was adorable when the judges told him he needed more personalitiy.
William Wingfield: Why isn't this guy dancing professionally for Debbie Allen? He's her protege. And why can't Debbie be a judge anymore? Her bias clearly didn't matter in this part of the competition. But, from the very small amount of footage we got to see, I can tell this guy is going to kick ass.
Jamie Bayard
Gev Manoukian: A breaker from Salt Lake City.
Sorry, I don't have more to say about the top ten boys. They totally blew through it.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-06-2008 @ 8:38AM
fowak said...
I was really disappointed they let Katee through instead of Natalie. However, that is based on their initial auditions since we didn't get to see ANY of them in Vegas.
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6-06-2008 @ 8:48AM
Riley Freeman said...
whats wrong with that mary judge? because debbie allen is next to her she feels she needs to let the black out. STOP SAYING HOT MESS.
whats wrong with susie garcia. shes the best looking girl there. they didnt show her moves but i assume she must have done well when she was doing her solo performance. besides everyone there is cute she the only one that is actually above average. although watchign her in high def shows some flaws
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6-06-2008 @ 9:12AM
Sarah said...
Mary has been saying hot mess the whole audition process, before Debbie Allen showed up in Vegas. i actually think it was Mia Michaels who said it first and then Mary started saying it, so black has little to do with it.
6-07-2008 @ 9:42AM
Nikki said...
I also don't see why Debbie Allen has to be excused from the show judging this season because Wingfield was her protege. In season 1 they didn't excuse Mia Michaels from judging because Nick Lazzarini danced for her company. If anything I think that Debbie Allen would be tougher on him, like in season 3 when Lauren Gottlieb audition and got through to the top 20. She danced with Tyce DiOrio and the judges knew her.
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6-06-2008 @ 9:13AM
Erin said...
Out of the entire 2+ weeks of auditions, my two favorites actually made it into the top 20. Kourtnei (sp?) and Joshua Allen. I was just mesmerized with Kourtnei the entire time during her audition. Joshua Allen just touches me everytime he cries..haha...I don't know. It's so sweet...and he is representing my hometown, Dallas!
I was disappointed that the girl ballroom dancer didn't make it through. She was the ballroom dancer that did all the insane tricks with her partner. I guess she wasn't very good at the other styles.
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6-06-2008 @ 9:35AM
I miss my stars! said...
This episode should have been called "Shut Up and Dance!"
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6-06-2008 @ 10:43AM
tpp said...
Naah, it should've been called "Let's Create Fake Drama for Ratings".
I think they should judge the dancers based on how they dance rather than spend half the episode creating completely overblown "TV moments" and screw with the youngsters' emotions for ratings.
6-06-2008 @ 9:56AM
Brent Todd said...
Anyone know what the name of that song was that Will danced for his life to? It was something like "hands up" but I can't figure anything more.
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6-06-2008 @ 4:18PM
Brent Todd said...
Took a while to figure it out, but it is by L.A.E. (Live Audio Explosion) and the song is called Hands Up
6-06-2008 @ 10:56AM
Bas said...
I was sorry that the guy who auditioned with the picture of his mom on his shirt didn't make it through - his previous performance really was moving. As to the last 2 girls - they should have taken the other one, she had way more personality. Loved Joshua Allen. Hope Twitch does well - I think we all knew he was going to make it. My biggest shock? Miami tramp made it through. Are you friggin kiddin me???
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6-06-2008 @ 11:06AM
Daniel said...
-Funny to me that Chelsea Hightower is labeled here as "couldn't have been memorable." She was one of my favorite auditions,and, along with Twitch and Kourtnei, one of the people I'm pulling for from the get go. Truly a talented dancer.
-I wish they had showed us more of the group-choreographed routines. The lack of coverage beyond the drama just proves that it is nothing more than a sleep deprivation experiment to get people bickering.
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6-06-2008 @ 12:37PM
Riley Freeman said...
@ Sarah sorry i didnt ever watch this show recently until a friend forced me to watch it with her before the basketball game started.
anyway it doesnt sound right coming out of mary's mouth. its originated out of the Urban community to avoid saying a specific race. and it sounds terrible.
its like in tv shows or movies when the old uptight guy says word or whatever slang. u can tell its out of place. and she shouldnt say it. it sounds terrible.
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6-06-2008 @ 12:42PM
fowak said...
oh and PS I'm disappointed Evan, the 40s/50s dancer with the hat, didn't make it all the way through. I loved that guy and thought he was really unique compared to most of the dancers we see.
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6-11-2008 @ 12:54AM
Niamh said...
Seriously! I was hoping like crazy that Evan would get into the top twenty, but not only did he not make it, the only footage in the episode of him was when they said yes to him to go on to another round and then the no for the top twenty.
As for Katee, I don't blame her. She was sleep deprived, had been working her ass off, and was afraid that at the end she was going to get her heart broken again. Is it that surprising that something stupid came out of her mouth?
6-06-2008 @ 1:10PM
Tori said...
I was sad to lose Brandon, the last guy that got cut over Gev. His audition was brilliant. Susie Garcia needs to tone it down on the look but she was pretty good with the choreography from what they showed. I loved Comfort, Courtney and Kourtni. That bit with Katee at the end was ridiculous. At least the way they edited it, she only said she wouldn't try out for the show again not give up dancing. She didn't deserve all that vitriol even though it wasn't very smart of her to say it.
But there were quite a few that that didn't get a stitch of airtime which can skew things (I love Twitch too but c'mon). At least this year it's a good number and not a select few like last year.
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6-11-2008 @ 2:38PM
ABoy said...
America's got Talent is much better, they have all types of categories of performers. For crying out loud they have 80 year olds tap dancing, that is Televison at its best!
Plus, dont you think the Hoff is Awesome?
Reply
6-11-2008 @ 3:12PM
ABoy said...
America's got Talent is much better, they have all types of categories of performers. For crying out loud they have 80 year olds tap dancing, that is Televison at its best!
Plus, dont you think the Hoff is Awesome?
Reply