S14.E03: New York Auditions #1

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

The judges head to New York to see what kind of talent the East Coast has to offer, as they continue their search for the best dancers in the nation. Find out which dancers have what it takes to move on to "The Academy" callback rounds.

Edited June 27, 2017 by Drogo
Thread title correction.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Chaz Wolcott:

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Ana Sanchez

 

Joseph & Huwer

Kaylee Mills

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Koine Iwasaki

 

Ryan Bailey

 

Darius

Edited June 27, 2017 by ElectricBoogaloo

[Quickbeam]

Tap! You can't go wrong there. Liked the Columbian salsa dancer. Contemporary, no matter how good grates on my nerves. 

[PhD-Purgatory15]

Chaz seems um, a bit overqualified as a working tapper on Broadway. I don't care though. Long live tap on SYTYCD...

Salsa girl should've been forced to do choreography. If you took away the tricks, the actual dance was a little bit lacking.

The last, weirdo contemporary guy seemed like he was straight out of an A-Ha or some other new wave 80s group music video. Eh.

It's the freaking home of Hip Hop (and all of it's styles). Give us more than a duo, and truncated bits of three other dancers please.

[crowceilidh]

Yes, more hip hop.  Now.

The Columbian salsa was really not that great.  The tricks were telegraphed - the steps were missing fire.  I wasn't impressed.

[solea]

Is Cheese the new Sex?

[crowceilidh]

It certainly looked disappointingly that way.  I could do without Cheese, the dancer.  

[hula-la]

Is there some sort of official beige sock that all contemporary dancers must wear? It seems every time I watch a contemporary dancer in socks, they're the same beige sock.what is so special about those socks?

[PhD-Purgatory15]

Just to keep a running tally, through three episodes we've seen 21 dancers get a full audition package (or at least get a relatively full audition shown, not in a montage) and be sent through to the academy.

It breaks down like this with tonight's people in italics:

Ballroom (5)

-Ana Sanchez, Jensen Arnold & Tristan Sosa, Kristina & Vasily ???

Contemporary (5)

-Darius Hickman, Kaylee Millis, Koine Iwasaki, Ryan Bailey and Matthew DeLoch

Jazz (1)

-Alexis Gilbert

Hip Hop (9)

-Anastasiia & Viktoriia ??? (I think this would be their preferred style), Dustin Payne, Inyoung "Dassy" Lee, Joseph & Huwer ???, Matthew Villaver, Robert Green, Sade Austin

Tap (1)

-Chaz Wolcott

 

We've also seen somewhere between 8 and 10 more dancers get tickets straight through their auditions but in montage form (mostly contemporary iirc)...

Edited June 27, 2017 by PhD-Purgatory15

[ElectricBoogaloo]

1 hour ago, hula-la said:

Is there some sort of official beige sock that all contemporary dancers must wear? It seems every time I watch a contemporary dancer in socks, they're the same beige sock.what is so special about those socks?

If you're talking about what I think you're talking about, they aren't socks. They're dance shoes called half soles (also sometimes called lyrical shoes) which allow the dancers to cover the balls of their feet so they can turn without tearing up the skin on the bottoms of their feet. They're beige because they're supposed to be skin colored so that they blend in (as opposed to wearing black shoes). They come in a couple different styles. Some dancers prefer to wear socks instead of half soles and those are the dancers who you'll usually see wearing only one sock because that's the foot they turn on. I find it hilarious that some people in the WOD forum have been complaining about the prevalence of HMV and how they want to see dancers do it on both sides instead of always using the same leg. No one ever says that about turns or leaps. "Nice interpretation of the black swan, but I really need to see you do 32 fouettés on both sides to prove that you're not just relying on turning to the right."

[Whimsy]

I really, really enjoyed Kaylee.  Even though it was contemporary, she had attitude, swagger and even amusement in her dance.  As a parent that worked three jobs to pay for my daughter's all-star cheer (and, my daughter paid a very good portion herself too), I was a bit confused about her parents telling her she had to pay for all of her dance by herself.  But, I guess it worked because I thought she was great.

I agree with the others about the salsa.  I'm not a ballroom dance aficionado, but even I could tell that the in-between steps were bad and there was just trick after trick.  I thought for sure she'd go to choreography.

I FF'd that weird contemporary guy.  Maybe I shouldn't have based on the judges comments, but I just think he's doing weird stuff just to be weird.  I hope his dance studio does more stuff than just that.  Otherwise he's really hurting his students in not letting them explore all types of movement.

I mostly liked the smooth (? can't remember if that's the right terminology) hip-hop guys, but some of the stuff was a little weird (the belly stuff).  But, there was still a story there.

I agree that Chaz seems a bit over-qualified, but I really loved him.  I thought it was funny that Nigel called out how perfect the choreography was, though.  I'm sure it's one of his numbers from a show, or he may have had help from a professional choreographer.   

[NeverLate]

I can't unsee the big cheese, eww!

I'm not keen on auditions, but the girl with blue hair and odd name, and the Japanese girl were very good, especially the latter.

I love a tapper.

[hula-la]

7 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

If you're talking about what I think you're talking about, they aren't socks. They're dance shoes called half soles (also sometimes called lyrical shoes) which allow the dancers to cover the balls of their feet so they can turn without tearing up the skin on the bottoms of their feet. They're beige because they're supposed to be skin colored so that they blend in (as opposed to wearing black shoes). They come in a couple different styles. Some dancers prefer to wear socks instead of half soles and those are the dancers who you'll usually see wearing only one sock because that's the foot they turn on.

Thank you, but they're not half soles--I'm familiar with those shoes, and as an aside, have to colour mine with makeup, as beige isn't a skintone for a bunch of people.  I'm thinking about these beige socks, this kind of weird yellowish tan, that I see a bunch of contemporary dancers wearing. Ryan was wearing them during his performance.  It's such a specific, odd shade of beige that I was trying to figure out of there's something special about those socks. I will post a picture, but again, it's not that weird shade of beige (can't find a picture).

[romantic idiot]

Ok, I'm going to come right out and say it. I was trying to be patient because I really liked Powerless and I'm on the side of the Broadway actors in general, but seriously, can someone please ask Vanessa to stop talking? She's always talking. And at one point she said that Mary's scream was piercing and all I could think of was 'look who's talking'. Plus the way she's talking is coming off to me as fake (she didn't talk that way in Powerless so I apologise if this is the way she normally talks). Just stop. 

[scowl]

17 hours ago, crowceilidh said:

The Columbian salsa was really not that great.  The tricks were telegraphed - the steps were missing fire.  I wasn't impressed.

Lifts always look awkward to me in salsa. The dancers are bursting with energy from the music, then suddenly they stop, they prep for the lift, the guy picks up the girl, she does something and comes down, then there is a pause, then... we're back to high energy dancing. It seems to me like they have to purposely ignore the music for fifteen seconds so they don't go too fast and screw it up. 

[mojoween]

The thing for me with the salsa is that to my untrained eye her too-old partner was doing the bulk of the work and was more impressive to me.

The tapper was good but he's no Aaron.  *purr*

Although I would totally watch SYTYCD Senior Edition.

I liked the first girl, but her constant hitting her chest, pointing to the sky, gesturing to the audience and then back to the sky was irritating.

The guy at the end should not have gotten a ticket.

[Terrafamilia]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who was a bit underwhelmed by the salsa. She said Columbians do their salsa fast and that's what I kept expecting...and expecting.

I really liked Kaylee though to my way out of practice eye her hamstrings seemed a little tight.

I didn't dislike spazz dancer Ryan but I really thought he should have gone to choreography instead of straight to the Academy. And I couldn't help wondering what kind of dance education his students (and his students' parents) were paying for. Hopefully for them it's a lot more than what was shown.

[LadyMustang65]

Honestly, my favorite from this group was one of the guys in a truncated/montage segment - the one who combined contemporary with b-boy, I think?  What little we got to see of it really intrigued me, and I was annoyed I didn't get to see the entire audition.  I also really liked the tapper.  (And agree that Aaron was special.)  Several of my favorites over the seasons have been tappers.  I have to agree on the salsa dancer, although to be honest I am not a fan of that type of salsa anyway.  It always strikes me as being way too frenetic, and the lifts often interrupt the flow.  I'll be kind of surprised if she makes it past the next round.

[cali1981]

It looks like the show is going to be loaded with contemporary and ballroom dancers, to me a good thing.  The venue that the NY auditions are being held in is the old Lowes Kings movie theater in Brooklyn  My high school graduation ceremony was held there way, way back in 1966. It was a classic theater back then and from what I can see, it still is.  Small world, no?

Edited June 28, 2017 by cali1981

[BensBritches]

Quote

It looks like the show is going to be loaded with contemporary and ballroom dancers, to me a good thing. 

If the accounting from PhD-Purgatory15 above is correct, there are currently 10 combined contemporary/jazz/ballroom and 10 hip hop dancers (plus one extraordinary tapper!). So I don't see this as being weighted in favor of either ballroom or contemporary.

I am not enjoying Vanessa much yet, but I am giving her the benefit of the doubt until the actual competition starts. If she can add nothing more than "that was amazing" during her critiques, I will  start the "get rid of her" chant.  I don't like platitudes. I want solid, fair, constructive feedback... oh wait... what show am I watching again??

[Guest]

I strongly disliked both Kaylee and Ryan.  They both felt totally phony to me.  I hate that 'trying too hard to be quirky' thing.  It's kind of the opposite of the good quirky, which I love.  

I did notice Ryan's holey beige socks.  

Vanessa is 28 but acts and sounds about 13 to me.  She comes off as so immature.  Which is ironic since her breakout role was as a fairly mature high school girl 11 years ago.  I really want to like her on this because she seemed so strong and gracious having to do Grease Live like the day after her father's death.  

I liked a lot of the dancers tonight.  I would've liked to have seen that Shaquille hip hop guy's audition.  

Edited June 29, 2017 by Guest

[realdancemom]

19 hours ago, BensBritches said:

If the accounting from PhD-Purgatory15 above is correct, there are currently 10 combined contemporary/jazz/ballroom and 10 hip hop dancers (plus one extraordinary tapper!). So I don't see this as being weighted in favor of either ballroom or contemporary.

I am not enjoying Vanessa much yet, but I am giving her the benefit of the doubt until the actual competition starts. If she can add nothing more than "that was amazing" during her critiques, I will  start the "get rid of her" chant.  I don't like platitudes. I want solid, fair, constructive feedback... oh wait... what show am I watching again??

If it's like the kid version, the styles will be balanced.  The All-Stars tend to pick somebody from their own style.   The good thing is that we get amazing dances of each style when the All-Star and contestant get their own style.  The negative is that the contestants weren't pushed as much into other styles.  Maybe, this will change if they took it easy last year so they didn't stress out the kids.

I also want to hear better critiques from Vanessa.  Even Jason gave better critiques.

I like Kaylee's audition but I don't think she'll get chosen as one of the final 10.   Allison might be different but Katherine would go for the really flexible contemporary girls.

I didn't like Ryan.  I can tell that he has good technique but he was trying to be too quirky.  I don't even think his movements matched the music most of the time. 

Chaz seems overqualified.  I think Mary or another judge even asked if he was free enough to do the show.

Ana Sanchez should have gone on to choreography.

Either Joseph or Huwer was better than the other.  I think it was the one that didn't show what he could do with his stomach.

The Big Cheese was a waste of time.  i would have rather seen the guy that mixed contemporary and break dancer.

[AllAboutMBTV]

Am I the only one who thought it odd that the gorgeously renovated Loews King Theater was surrounded by... empty lots? Oh, Brooklyn... Never change. (Or, always change...)

Please let Chaz make the Top 10. He was a delight; I watched his audition three times. Although some of that may have been down to that arrangement of If My Friends Could See Me Now (sung by Sammy Davis, Jr., I think?). Would like to see a little more extension in his legs, though.

Bless you, Bigger Cheese, but save it for the club.

Edited June 30, 2017 by AllAboutMBTV

[Gella]

King Theatre actually has a lot going on across the street but it sits on a weird mini block with the Sears parking lot behind it, so the way they are filming it is misleading. 

Additionally there is always much more vehicular traffic on the that street. 

[Guest]

Chaz's experience with Newsies and Cats isn't the actual on-B'way shows but the national tours.  Isn't that less prestigious?  

[WhineandCheez]

I loooved it when blue haired girl comes out with some pretentious long operatic  Italian name and Nigel asks her what her real name is and she says "Kayleeeeee"  Ha!! Nigel smacked that shit down real fast!

I thought overly grasping/emoting Japanese girl was more clutching hand gestures than dance.  I thought that she was going to choreo.  Then again when the hell do we ever see anyone in choreo.  Its gonna be a big room with only Double Cheese or Big Cheese in it.

Edited June 30, 2017 by WhineandCheez

[Morgan of Hed]

I guess I'm alone in loving Kaylee and the nisei girl. I'm with y'all on the weak salsa.  

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I really liked Koine's routine because it was more dancing and less tricks but she clearly has solid technique. I feel like too many of the audition pieces are just trick trick trick trick trick without any fluidity between them (ahem, salsa girl Ana)

Edited June 30, 2017 by ElectricBoogaloo

[SnarkyTart]

On ‎6‎/‎28‎/‎2017 at 8:20 AM, LadyMustang65 said:

Honestly, my favorite from this group was one of the guys in a truncated/montage segment

I can't remember on SYTYCD, do contestants who get the montage treatment ever make it to the lives? 

[Guest]

I could be wrong but I think some montaged dancers win.  I know for sure that's true of American Idol.  

[nx74defiant]

I defiantly noticed Salsa girls problem transitioning from trick to dance, you can see her taking a bit to get back into the rhythm of the steps. Her small size helps to do the great tricks.

[drzelda]

On 2017-06-30 at 9:47 PM, SnarkyTart said:

I can't remember on SYTYCD, do contestants who get the montage treatment ever make it to the lives? 

Sometimes they montage dancers who have used music that the show doesn't have the rights to broadcast, so it's not always because the dancers are less interesting or capable.