S13.E03: The Next Generation: Auditions #3

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

In the final set of auditions, judges Nigel, Paula and Jason must decide which young dancers will continue in the competition to become America's Favorite Dancer. Find out who makes the cut to move on to the next round of the competition.

[Quickbeam]

Wow, no comments? Really enjoy the male ballroom dancers. The ballet and jazz girls/ women sometimes are a bit too HMV me. I know they are flexible but it makes me squeamish.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I continue to loathe the opening credits with all the swiping and phone screens (as well as the other graphics throughout the episode with the faux instagram). It's like watching a grandpa use slang. It's just such an obvious attempt to be cool.

The first pair of kids had me cringing before they even hit the stage. Between their stage mom telling them how awesome they are and their explanation of their costume theme as Magic Mike, I was already thinking ugh, please stop. I thought they were good but not great. If they'd auditioned separately, I don't think they would have made it to the next round.

Ruby has a great attitude. I really liked that she is totally fine with her dad giving her feedback and corrections. And I thought that it was very sweet that when Nigel told her dad to get on stage to do the routine with her, his first reaction was to look at her to ask if it was okay with her first. Too many of those other parents are way too eager to jump on the stage so it was nice to see him be respectful about the fact that it was his daughter's audition. I also liked that her costume was appropriate for her dance but was more covered up than some of the costumes we saw last week on the younger girls. She definitely has great attitude while dancing. I knew that she was getting a ticket as soon as she said that she is the reigning Latin champion. You know Nigel would never turn down the opportunity to have a contestant like that on the show.

When Tate said she was from Canada, i was curious what the rules for this season are. I don't mind non-American contestants but I was already wondering what the academy schedule would be like since all the dancers this season are under 18. I know there are restrictions for how many hours a day they can film but I'm not sure what the child labor laws are about rehearsal for television shows. I wonder if Tate had to get a special work visa to be on the show since she's under 18 and she's from Canada. I remember they had some issues with Hok getting a visa the first year that he auditioned. I appreciate that Jason and Paula both have dance experience but when Jason said Tate had done things he'd never seen before and started talking about her back walkover, it reminded me of Nigel saying that every year (which always makes me roll my eyes because it's rare that he says that about something new or innovative and it ends up making him look out of touch with dance). Tate had beautiful control so I'm looking forward to her continuing.

Alex and Valeyria brought up a point that we were wondering about. They broke up their partnership a few years ago because she was too short for him, so how are all of these kids going to dance with the adult all stars? Some of these kids are tiny! She was good but I thought that Alex was better. Watching them together made me think this is what we're going to see once the contestants are paired with the all stars - one person will be noticeably more mature and have sharper technique.

Lucas the tap dancer is 13 but I still don't want to see pelvic thrusts from a kid that age. Other than that, I support a kid who dresses age appropriately and gets told his dancing is clean by all three judges.

I liked Liza and Josh as  couple more than Alex and Valeyria. If they took A&V then they should have taken both Liza and Josh. I loved Josh saying that if he won, he would buy his parents a Lamborghini so they could drive him around.

Kai is only 12 but already so practical. He doesn't know if he can make a living as a dancer? I loved that Cat's reaction was to ask if he has expensive tastes. I was sure that they would put Kai through because this is the last round of auditions and we have not seen many breakers. He was good but seeing him dance with the other two guys from his crew once again illustrated why I prefer having older dancers. Kai is good for his age but the other guys were better.

I'm still not thrilled with the parents on camera but at least Dougie's mom had a good story. It's ridiculous that even in the dance world, people think that ballet is only for girls. Dougie gets extra points for auditioning as a jazz dancer. I thought it was silly for Nigel to say there was more club dancing than studio dancing when Jason complimented a previous dancer for having a lot of current  dances in his routine. I agree that Dougie's technique wasn't perfect but he was a great performer.

Olivia has beautiful flexibility but I want to see some turns and other technique from her. It was nice to see someone with pointed toes.

I'm excited to see all the dancers at the academy next week. I wonder how many dance styles they will have to learn before being picked by the all stars. Whoops, according to the internet, Travis, Warren Carlyle, and Tabitha and Napoleon will be the choreographers at the academy so that answers that question.

[luvthepros]

Thank you EB for your insightful post. I always enjoy your POV.

I'm sad there is so little interest in the show this season. The number of posts in this thread is a red flag as to how this season is going to do. :(

[Primetimer]

The New York auditions present a couple dancers with actual maturity. And then there are the overzealous dads and kids who based their costumes on Magic Mike. Kids ruin everything.

View the full article

[ElectricBoogaloo]

2 hours ago, luvthepros said:

Thank you EB for your insightful post. I always enjoy your POV.

I'm sad there is so little interest in the show this season. The number of posts in this thread is a red flag as to how this season is going to do. :(

Thanks! I always enjoy your DWTS posts and I appreciate your expertise since my ballroom knowledge is based on two classes I took in college. 

I agree that the lack of posts for this season of SYTYCD doesn't seem like a good sign. But according to the opening credits, that's because all the cool kids are tweetering on the instagram! (Mr. EB has a relative who still thinks the correct term is "tweetering" which still cracks me up every time I remember).

[WhosThatGirl]

This is my first post in SYTYCD this season. I don't know, you guys. I think I may not be into it very much this season. I'm not sure why. The kids thing, maybe? And this is coming from a viewer who has watched Dance Mom's for it's entire run. This for some reason, just isn't my thing.

The dancers are adorable though. Although, I can't deal with the magic mike hiphop thing but whatever.

[Pallida]

I haven't heard mention of what the winner receives. I think part of the reason Hok had an issue was because he was in the US on a student visa and wouldn't be eligible for prize money? 

Even though they are focusing on good auditions, I just can't seem to focus while watching them. It might be as simple as I don't seem to enjoy most solos. 

[LennieBriscoe]

 I love this show! My favorites are always the spitfire Latin-dance kids!

[luvthepros]

7 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Thanks! I always enjoy your DWTS posts and I appreciate your expertise since my ballroom knowledge is based on two classes I took in college. 

I agree that the lack of posts for this season of SYTYCD doesn't seem like a good sign. But according to the opening credits, that's because all the cool kids are tweetering on the instagram! (Mr. EB has a relative who still thinks the correct term is "tweetering" which still cracks me up every time I remember).

Thanks back at ya!

[ketchuplover]

F'n Twitch

[sofiah]

I didn't think those two boys that danced together were that impressive.  I didn't think they'd make it through.

Tate was great, but I had already seen her dance, so I knew she'd go straight through.  Seriously you watch that little girl dance at 9 years old and she would have made it through even then.  The other contemporary girl (Olivia?) was good - but I did not think anywhere near as good in terms of quality of movement and musicality - just very, very flexible.   Although its hard to say from just one audition. 

[Morgan of Hed]

Tate would have caught my attention on the adult show, she was gorgeous and expressive. 

[Irritable]

I'm dragging myself through these episodes with all the strength I can wring out of my loyalty for the show before it changed formats.  I'm not a kid-hater, I just usually choose to avoid watching anything that has kids in it, ever.  Hopefully, seeing some all-stars next week will give me a boost, but I have to confess that I only recognized maybe 3 of them. 

It's painful to watch Kat have to navigate her way through these horrible interviews.  It almost feels like I'm watching her take a pay cut that she doesn't deserve.  She didn't do anything wrong!

[PhD-Purgatory15]

YMMV, but I think Cat is having a ball, because as an ace host/interviewer she loves the unpredictability and unfiltered-ness the kids bring.

The one Mom who came with the two mini-Magic Mike's is the first true stage mom in demeanor that I've noticed. If they were supposed to be dancing in sync at any point, then they failed miserably.

Pretty sure Ruby and her father were in a giant Latin dance group that competed on AGT a few seasons ago. Still liked her. One of the ballroom kiddie couples stood out too.

So we learned that the 10 all stars will get us down to 50 kids (not sure if the judges will whittle it down any beforehand)....

If I was continuing to try and build an ultimate Top 10 only with kids we saw audition, I like Tate, Ruby, Kai the breakdancer, and the tap kid's chances moving forward...

[Evangeline]

Ruby stood out, I really liked her a lot and I don't even like that style of dance. 

Remember that kid from 2 years ago (I think) who auditioned for the experience? Do we know if he auditioned for real this year?

[realdancemom]

I like Tate.  The last girl has potential too.  I didn't like her routine since I wanted to see different technique and more of a flow between movements instead of just a bunch of flexibility moves and poses.  But I can tell that she has training because she had really nice pointed feet.  It also takes strength and balance to do some of those poses.

I also liked Ruby and the two Latin boys.  The boy tapper was good too.  The breaker was good for his age but he didn't finish his movements.  He seemed rushed and sometimes was ahead of the music.

I rolled my eyes at the mom of the two Magic Mikes.  They weren't very good and was surprised they made it through..

From what I can tell, the All-Stars first choose five each by the end of the first day.  Eventually, they will only choose one to be their partner.  Since there were a lot of ballroom auditions and there are ballroom All-Stars, it seems that ballroom won't take a back seat this year.  I was disappointed about that last year.

ETA - A good dance mom is that mom that got the one teacher fired.  A teacher should never tell a boy that ballet is only for girls.   

Edited June 15, 2016 by realdancemom

[Mertseger]

The new format is almost guaranteed to insure that we won't see the ten best dancers in the top 10. But, then, I'm not sure that the judges' choices were much better at that objective.

Anyone catch who all the All Stars are? I believe I caught Fik-Shun and Jenna.

[realdancemom]

I saw this at idolforums.  It gave a link to this tweet from Paul.

From that tweet, the All stars are:

Jenna Johnson - S10 Top 8
Joshua Allen - S4 Winner
Kathryn McCormick - S6 Third Place
Du-Shaunt "Fik-Shun" Stegall - S10 Male Winner
Gaby Diaz - S12 Winner
Paul Karmiryan - S10 Top 6
Comfort Fedoke - S4 Top 8
Robert Roldan - S7 Third Place
Sasha Mallory - S8 Runner-Up
Jonathan Platero - S5 Top 16

From the preview, I did notice that one of the girls wanted to be paired with either Jonathan or Paul. 

[Mertseger]

Thanks: a bit S10 heavy, but still a bunch of people I'd generally look forward to seeing dance again. Perhaps the key to watchability will be the ability to ignore the partner. That generally works well with Karina and Anna over on DWTS.

[Shannon L.]

I'm liking this season more than I expected. I was worried about the kids having good technique, but no performance ability. Some of these kids can really act.

I don't remember the names, but I was impressed with the flexibility and control of the last girl that danced and I loved the ballroom dancers. 

I'm not annoyed with the moms because I fast forward through all of the interviews, so I don't have to worry about kids that are too precocious or stage mom attitudes. It makes the show more palatable that way.

[PhD-Purgatory15]

Well, now I  want to know who Jonathan is/was/bribed to be a part of this cast? Cause he's clearly the outlier. Everyone else is definitely in SYTYCD's Who's Who.

If they (and it's a big if) all pick within their style, I guess we'd have:

3 Hip Hop/Breakers

1 Tapper

2 Ballroom Kids

4 Lyrical/Contemporary/Jazz/Ballet

Seems to me all the ballerinas that made it through to the Academy might have an uphill climb with really only Robert who would be a natural fit...

[calipiano81]

2 hours ago, PhD-Purgatory15 said:

Well, now I  want to know who Jonathan is/was/bribed to be a part of this cast? Cause he's clearly the outlier. Everyone else is definitely in SYTYCD's Who's Who.

If they (and it's a big if) all pick within their style, I guess we'd have:

3 Hip Hop/Breakers

1 Tapper

2 Ballroom Kids

4 Lyrical/Contemporary/Jazz/Ballet

Wouldn't it be 3 ballroom kids if the All-Stars picked within their style (Jenna, Paul, Jonathan)?

I'm actually pleasantly surprised Nigel only chose three outright contemporary/jazz All-Stars (maybe actually only two - Kat and Robert - since Sasha is probably a hip hop crossover).

Edited June 15, 2016 by calipiano81

[Anothermi]

3 hours ago, PhD-Purgatory15 said:

Well, now I  want to know who Jonathan is/was/bribed to be a part of this cast? Cause he's clearly the outlier. Everyone else is definitely in SYTYCD's Who's Who.

Yeah, that stood out. He did get eliminated early in his season. BUT he must have subsequently submitted routines he'd choreographed that were good enough for TPTB to hire him as a show choreographer. They've used him once a season since S10.

[phoenix780]

Do the all stars dance with the kids? I have a tough time Imagining that, especially for ballroom. 

[Lemons]

I watched this last episode and missed the first two.  It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  The ballet dancer from Canada was incredible.  She needs to show the contemporary dancers how to do leg extensions without holding on their legs for dear life.  They also had some really talented little ballroom dancers.  Do they take the dancers from you tube and competitions or do they really all audition? 

[WhineandCheez]

Quote

Sasha Mallory - S8 Runner-Up
Jonathan Platero - S5 Top 16

Cannot remember these 2 at all.  Glad to see Paul! there.  I think he got hosed in his season.

Either my TV performed jujitsu or I fell asleep but in the previews they showed a young African American boy who did ballet-type dance, and cat was shown "wrestling" with him, but his audition wasn't shown?  Did I FF too much--help?

 

I know its because they are kids but standing Os for everyone? Magic Mike guys?  

[luvthepros]

I think you might be referring to the young boy who's costume looked like something Michael Jackson would wear which had blue sparkly striping on it. They did show his audition.

[PhD-Purgatory15]

Yeah, but he wasn't the kid who put Cat into a couple of wrestling holds where Cat said she was done or dead at the end. That kid was just wearing a grey shirt. A tank top maybe. I was surprised we didn't get to see his audition also. I wonder if he might be one of a few (I'm assuming) who we'll officially get introduced to during the Academy and will at least make up the numbers when the all stars start off with 5 kids each.

So this mystery Jonathan person has a ballroom background.....I wouldn't not have guessed that (cause I genuinely have zero recollection of him from his season). I was assuming he was another contemporary/lyrical Travis Wall type.

It feels like we've seen more quality auditions from girls so far. I wonder if it will end up being a 5, 5 split or if we might end up with 6 girls and 4 boys. Any more skewed than probably would raise too many eyebrows even if skewing it that way would actually be warranted...

Edited June 16, 2016 by PhD-Purgatory15

[realdancemom]

I think it will be a 5, 5 split since there is a 5, 5 split among the All-Stars.

Jonathan is ballroom.  He was paired with Karla during his season.  He and Oksana have choreographed Salsa routines for SYTYCD and probably DWTS since she used to be in the troupe.

The show uses different clips of Cat interviews.  I think they just take funny ones but the kids might not necessarily be picked or have their auditions shown.

[NextIteration]

Tate auditioned?  I'm so on the fence about watching any of this, so I was poking around in here to see reactions.  I have it on my DVR and have almost deleted the shows a couple times now, is it worth watching?   A saw Tate last summer watching some of the ADAs, she's a beautiful dancer.

[Anothermi]

On 2016-06-15 at 10:28 AM, realdancemom said:

Sasha Mallory - S8 Runner-Up
Jonathan Platero - S5 Top 16

8 hours ago, WhineandCheez said:

Cannot remember these 2 at all. 

Couldn't find Sasha's bio, just Jonathan's, and for some reason I'm having trouble embedding pictures  so you'll have to click the links to refresh your memory.

Sasha Mallory with Twitch  

Jonathan Platero & Karla Garcia

Dance Specialty: Salsa

Jonathan Platero

Hometown: Sanford, FL

Currently Resides: New York, NY

Age: 25

Jonathan was a gymnast before he began dancing at age 16. He is a graduate of Seminole High School, was a World Salsa finalist in 2006-2007 and performed as a dancer and acrobat in “High School Musical.”

Jonathan is a salsa dancer from New York City. Born in 1987, He was paired up with Contemporary jazz dancer Karla Garcia but was eliminated in the third week.

Edited June 16, 2016 by Anothermi
add pictures, after a fashion