S11.E04: Auditions #4: Atlanta

[Bella]

No description, but I, for one, am relieved to learn that this is the last audition episode. I hope they saved the best for last. 

[luvthepros]

IMHO....they did. 

[ElleryAnne]

Well, I don't know if they saved the best for last, but there were definitely some very good auditions this week.  I think has jazz become the new contemporary.

 

My favorites of the night:

 

Mariah - just a beautiful, fun dance.  Great humor, and a really nice pirouette.

 

Silky - very unusual performance, but some excellent moments.  I knew Nigel would appreciate that he'd spent time studying the show between audition years.  

 

Conrad - I loved his interpretation of the music.  Probably my favorite number of the night.

 

Ricky - nice height to his leap.  And I liked his sense of humor with the judges.

 

Angie - I agree with the judges that she should have included more in her number, but her control was gorgeous.  And I'm sappy, so I loved her brother hugging her afterward.

 

Jerrod's little boy was absolutely, utterly adorable.  I wanted to reach through my TV and scoop him up.  But I also wanted to smack someone for waking the little guy to make him dance on stage.  

[Mumbles]

I wonder what the racial breakdown is on who gets sent to choreography. Seems to be a lot of minorities (disproportionately so?) from the small glimpses we get.

[mjt626]

I have noticed that fantastic hip hop dancers are more likely to be sent to choreography than fantastic contemporary or jazz dancers.  While I think it's important to make sure that people can do other genres, they don't seem as interested in making sure that contemporary dancers can do the ballroom or hip hop routines.

 

The two hip hop guys from tonight definitely didn't deserve to get a ticket and I'm betting that there were some dancers who did, that would look as awful doing the aforementioned less important styles.

[luvthepros]

Ricky Ubeda immediately became my #1 favorite after I saw his "Slide" routine in a spoiler thread on another forum. He not only has a sense of humor, he conveys this humor in dance too....

 

http://youtu.be/wZTLFWqRzh8

Edited June 19, 2014 by luvthepros

[ElleryAnne]

I have noticed that fantastic hip hop dancers are more likely to be sent to choreography than fantastic contemporary or jazz dancers.  While I think it's important to make sure that people can do other genres, they don't seem as interested in making sure that contemporary dancers can do the ballroom or hip hop routines.

 

 

I always thought it had more to do with seeing if a dancer could partner well.  Dancers in contemporary/jazz/ballroom generally have more experience in partnering than those from other dance styles.  

Edited June 19, 2014 by ElleryAnne

[ramble]

Ricky Ubeda immediately became my #1 favorite after I saw his "Slide" routine in a spoiler thread on another forum. He not only has a sense of humor, he conveys this humor in dance too....

Thanks for the link! That was wonderful. He really stood out to me tonight. He was powerful but light as well & he had beautiful eyes.

There were several lovely dancers but after awhile it all begins to blur together. I'm glad that this is the end of auditions.

I found it interesting that the Dragon House crew made a point of apologizing for their member who got angry & wouldn't quiet down. As small of a world as dance can be I thought that was probably wise of them to take that step. I didn't really understand why the guy got so angry. I kept thinking I missed something.

[GeorgieNY]

I have noticed that fantastic hip hop dancers are more likely to be sent to choreography than fantastic contemporary or jazz dancers.  While I think it's important to make sure that people can do other genres, they don't seem as interested in making sure that contemporary dancers can do the ballroom or hip hop routines.

 

The two hip hop guys from tonight definitely didn't deserve to get a ticket and I'm betting that there were some dancers who did, that would look as awful doing the aforementioned less important styles.

It may seem unfair, but I believe it is to see if they can actually learn choreography (in addition to partnering) because most of them are free styling, or doing self- choreographed routines, and as we have seen many times, many of them cannot pick up taught choreography at all. The great contemporary dancers, while they may not be good in hip hop (and so may get cut later) are mostly very trained (you really can't do what they do without training) and so are well versed on picking up choreography- which is a different skill than dancing,

I found it strange that suddenly Nigel is giving contemp. Dancers a hard time for not training in ballroom.

[crossover]

Must be auditioned-out.  No one moved me.  Was hoping for more hip hop. 

 

Wonder if they suggested that FikShun's friend try out?  Surely, he didn't do it on his own because if it is one thing sytycd has pushed, it's the strength of the male contestants.  I know a lot of people don't agree with this but I do.  This is a TV show.  I like the image of the strong tall man (Team Tall all the way).   That's one reason that I don't like soft short male dancers, for this show.  I loved Stanley's routine last week but I wanted him to go to choreo to see if he could lift safely since he's so skinny.  If it were a "true" dance competition, I wouldn't care because I'd be mainly looking at things like technique, lines, transitions.  Most times the short guy does have better technique, shorter limbs to control.

 

Ready for the competition.  I just hope the judges don't push their agenda down our throats.  And I hope there's not a contestant with too big of a fanbase right off the bat.

 

 

[SilvaVocat]

I found it strange that suddenly Nigel is giving contemp. Dancers a hard time for not training in ballroom.

 

A few people here have suggested that Nigel and company are pushing for a ballroom winner this season, and I think this is more evidence of that. He's putting the word "ballroom" in fans' heads as much as possible.

[Haleth]

I found it interesting that the Dragon House crew made a point of apologizing for their member who got angry & wouldn't quiet down. As small of a world as dance can be I thought that was probably wise of them to take that step. I didn't really understand why the guy got so angry. I kept thinking I missed something.

 

I think it was all set up to add a little drama.  It all seemed a little scripted to me.

 

Wow, they are rushing through the preliminary stuff, aren't they?  Only 150some dancers at call backs and only one show devoted to Not Vegas week.  That's ok, I'm ready for the competition to start.  Ramble is right that they are all starting to blur.  The only stand out I can remember is Ricky.

[Bella]

I noticed Nigel's ballroom emphasis, too. It will be interesting to see how this translates into the competition further along.

 

I always assumed that the seemingly large percentage of hip-hop dancers sent to choreography had to do with factors such as lack of experience with partners, skimpy formal training, and ... my cat just distracted me, I hope I remember the third point later. Anyway, this show taught me to appreciate hip-hop as an art form, and I'm always in awe of those who do it well. If there were more white dancers whose only genre was hip-hop, I think we'd see many of them go to choreography as well.

 

Whether or not the Dragon House confab with Nigel was scripted, planned, suggested, or otherwise, I've come to admire that group. They are trying to innovate, they support one another, and they seem to have an ethic of constant improvement, last night's exception notwithstanding.

 

I loved Ricky and Conrad. But oh, the way these dancers are blurring in my mind - NotVegas is a week overdue in my world. I would have preferred 3 audition episodes and 2 NotVegas episodes, but we'll see how it works out next week.

[Skittl1321]

 

I found it interesting that the Dragon House crew made a point of apologizing for their member who got angry & wouldn't quiet down. As small of a world as dance can be I thought that was probably wise of them to take that step. I didn't really understand why the guy got so angry. I kept thinking I missed something.

I thought it was kinda funny- it was like the crew was thinking "oh, shit, he's going to ruin this for us". I mean Dragon House has a great reputation on this show for producing incredible dancers, who can learn other styles, and who can work respectfully with choreographers/authority.  Ruin that reputation, and the other DH dancers down the line might not get picked up for their turn.  But, it can also be looked on as just being polite.  I wonder if the crew talked with that guy about how he represented them. Do crew have demerits like dance teams?

 

I think he was arguing because his 'integrity' (or something) was being questioned. They were basically saying he wasn't doing the dance he was doing, which calls into question his skill/ability. The judges were right though- he was dancing, but not the style he said he was going to do.

 

I thought it was funny how much the judges called out the hip-hoppers for misnaming their style.  It 1) made me seriously impressed that Nigel and Mary have really taken the time to learn and understand hip-hop and what makes the styles: animation, pantomime, pop-lock, krump, clowning, etc: in season 1/2, these things were just "hip hop"; now the judges understand and can call out the difference. But again it also made me laugh, because the first guy who came up to crank, they asked what the difference between krumping and kranking (and it was well demonstrated- very cool to see the difference), but then the last hip hop guy, he said he was going to krank, then did something difference and now Nigel is the expert saying "I just didn't see the kranking".

[Tara Ariano]

Here's Danny's post on the episode!

[Bella]

Since I FF through everything Bieber - is his "friend" in these segments anyone other than his friend? Does the guy have any cred aside from his association with that scourge?

 

Also, best line from Danny's review:

 

At this point maybe the United Nations should declare Dragon House a heritage site.

[Skittl1321]

The guy with Bieber is his choreographer.

[Bella]

Thanks. I figured it was 50/50 that he had a purpose versus he was just a buddy.

[Canada]

Okay, in what has been a crappy season so far, this was the worst episode.  A lot of clunkers and not a lot of people who are actually impressing me.  This is really shaping up to be a terrible season.

[luvthepros]

I found it strange that suddenly Nigel is giving contemp. Dancers a hard time for not training in ballroom.

This show is on its 11th season. These auditionees need to know by now that they must take a few lessons in Ballroom to be cast for the show. Most serious auditioners do take a few lessons. For example....although many people insist Benji Schwimmer, season 2 winner, danced as a Ballroom dancer, he was not. He competes in West Coast Swing with is a completely different animal. Anyway....Benji knew he needed to take some Ballroom lessons before he auditioned for the show. He was honest about that and claimed he took a few Latin lessons to understand the technique. Good for him and that was only season two.

 

I understand Nigel's impatience with auditioners who don't take the inititative to get a few lessons in genres other than what they specialize in. This show is all about diversity.

Edited June 19, 2014 by luvthepros

[peachmangosteen]

I liked Angie so much! I feel like she has little chance of making the Top 20 though so now I'm sad.

[luvthepros]

I liked Angie so much! I feel like she has little chance of making the Top 20 though so now I'm sad.

Angie seems to have a very strange affect. I don't think she is right for this show due to her strange personality.

Edited June 19, 2014 by luvthepros

[peachmangosteen]

I loved her personality! She was so hilarious. But, I agree with you that this show doesn't usually cast her type.

[Mumbles]

"understand Nigel's impatience with auditioners who don't take the inititative to get a few lessons in genres other than what they specialize in. This show is all about diversity."

I guess he's changed his view since the show basically directed Melanie's win by overwhelmingly giving her contemporary or jazz routines.

On that note, I still don't get why contemporary dancers don't get sent to choreography more. There's nothing inherent in stomping/rolling around on the floor/running/squatting that seems to make up contemporary on this show that would make it easier for such dancers to work with a partner, any more so than a so called "street" style. (I'm showing my bias against contemporary here!)

[realdancemom]

I have audition fatigue too.  Glad not Vegas is next week.  I had to read Danny's review to remember who was who.  I liked Ricky and Silky.  Fik-shun's friend Dynamite was really good in his solo but he can't partner.  I'm not sure if Freakshow can partner either but his solo was great too. 

 

The Dragonhouse crew and Sideshow's mom was telling him to settle down.  He got too riled up even before he started dancing.  Blu-Print made a face and I think he was embarrassed.

[ari333]

I didn't think the Sideshow drama was scripted.

 

Mr. Strange did not impress me at all and I was shocked that he got through with no choreo or got through at all. But what do I know.

 

Mariah is beautiful and so is her dancing, imo. We here at the house noticed that every time the lyrics of Mariah's music said, "I am woman" (or whatever it was) that her legs were spread at a 180 or close to it with an HMV.  Once would have been a coincidence. Every time... interesting. [/snerk]

 

Fikshun's friend was pretty good imo. Much, much better than the Mr. Strange dude. Do they still cast fodder on purpose?

 

It's funny how things change about the face pulling. Way back when dinosaurs roamed one was supposed to grin like a monkey the whole time during a performance especially if female. "Smile!" (whether in a dance team situation or in a "I'm a female bass player; leave me alone" situation.) Sorry, I guess I'm still bitter heh. But anyway, I was thinking that the Partridge Family edit girl was told by her show biz folks to, "Git out there and do the faces! The faces!"

 

That one dude they showed in the choreo partnering bit who couldn't lift the female and she was all over the place. That was sad.

[Kat From Jersey]

Ricky Ubeda, where have you been all my life?  Beautiful dancer, and very easy on the eyes.  I think/hope he'll make the top 20, unless there's someone who auditioned but didn't get much/any TV time, for whatever reason I can't imagine.

 

Everyone else, just, meh.  Meh to the hair flipping/sexy contemporary girls, and meh to the average pop/lock/crump/whathaveyou.  A lot of 'meh' the last few weeks at auditions.

[ali59]

I'm so tired of auditions that I forgot SYTYCD was on last night.  Thank goodness for Hulu!

[ElleTwoThree]

I will be honest, I only watched the videos in Danny's recap there, so I don't know anything that happened outside of that, but I got my favourite! That Mariah girl was fantastic. Apart from envying her ridiculous legs (why did I not get those legs?), she has wonderful musicality, seemed fun and sexy and not in a "I am sho shexshy" kinda way and her extensions... ah! Loved her.

 

I also very much liked the kid that roared and got told off for screaming by Nigel the asshat and then danced wonderfully. You could see in his routine that he has extensive cross training (the pirouettes, while made to look more "street" by not extending etc... were very clean, a couple of jumps in there screamed ballet/jazz to me) and is obviously very good in his own style. 

Oh and the "poor" boy, he was wonderful to watch, though made me think of Billy somethingother who was great but then didn't have the best time on the show (did he get hurt? I cannot remember, I remember he did not live up to his expectations). Crazy flexibility!

 

The others were meh: the gymnast was good at gymnastics. Can she dance? I dunno. She is like a more muscular, less dancy Molleee. Trick, trick, trick, trick, half a dance move oh wait trick! The mugger was awful I thought. She is probably a cheer leader and very good at that, but SYTYCD would expect a more coy performance for most choreos.

 

I am not very good at this quote thing, but a bunch of people have been talking about hiphoppers having to do choreo and contemporary people not. One thing is that everyone will have done choreo before even coming on that stage so they would have a note or something saying whether they did well or not. Another thing is that the choreo round is ALWAYS contempo style stuff if I recall correctly... so while they don't know if people can partner up, it is of more interest to see those who do not usually do contemporary in that style. And lastly and this is the main reason in my opinion as to why contempo fly through and hiphop don't: the show is very contempo/jazz heavy. If you halfass hiphop that is usually kind of ok, but you shan't halfass contemporary. Their hiphop routines are year by year less hard hitting and more adapted to the dancer's strengths, their contemporary routines are more flexibility and lift heavy. So basically they won't cast a hiphopper who has little crosstraining, but they will cast a contemporary dancer who cannot hit hard, simply because that works fine for the kind of show they are filming.

[realdancemom]

It's funny how things change about the face pulling. Way back when dinosaurs roamed one was supposed to grin like a monkey the whole time during a performance especially if female. "Smile!" (whether in a dance team situation or in a "I'm a female bass player; leave me alone" situation.) Sorry, I guess I'm still bitter heh. But anyway, I was thinking that the Partridge Family edit girl was told by her show biz folks to, "Git out there and do the faces! The faces!"

Nigel has never liked pulling faces.  He's said something about that since Season 1.  It reminds me too much of a competition dancer.  I think Broadway is one of the styles were it's o.k. to have an exaggerated facial expression.

 

Ricky Ubeda not only had great elevation in his leaps and other nice technique but he had the most beautiful eyes.

The others were meh: the gymnast was good at gymnastics. Can she dance? I dunno. She is like a more muscular, less dancy Molleee. Trick, trick, trick, trick, half a dance move oh wait trick! The mugger was awful I thought. She is probably a cheer leader and very good at that, but SYTYCD would expect a more coy performance for most choreos.

I'm surprised that the gymnast made it to Green Mile last year.  I didn't think she was that great.  She does have a powerful presence.  But then I was disappointed in her leaps and jumps.  I saw her muscular legs and expected her to fly.  She barely got off the ground.

[Shades of Red]

Ricky Ubeda, where have you been all my life?  Beautiful dancer, and very easy on the eyes.  I think/hope he'll make the top 20, unless there's someone who auditioned but didn't get much/any TV time, for whatever reason I can't imagine.

 

Really enjoyed his routine.  I agree with you realdancemom about his gorgeous eyes.  I noticed those in all of his close ups.  Of course I felt a little pervy giving how young he is and wonder just how young he looks without the facial hair ... which I'm sure he's growing to help make him look older.

 

I really wish they would put more of the more "mature" contestants through or show us their auditions.   I have no idea if more mature dancers are showing up in huge amounts but I think from some of the clips I've watched of earlier seasons, (I came to the show later on), the earlier shows had more mature dancers in them.

[BensBritches]

Ricky U. is one of my new favorites, but looking at the Slide video linked to above, I wonder if he's going to be "too fem" for Nigel.  He looks strong enough to me... Hope we get to see lots more of him. In some ways he reminded me of Mark Kanemura.  Not so much in dance style (although they both can be highly humorous in their choreography), but more in his facial expressions and body language during his speaking time with the judges.  And we here at the Britches household love us some Mark.

 

I fell asleep during the episode and could not for the life of me figure out who the "a bunch of adjectives, but none that mean anything" female judge was.  She seemed like a waste of space.  Is she actually anyone from the dance world?  Missed the whole debacle with the DH guy having a fit, so I'm looking forward to watching that later.

 

Could not stand the "Partridge Family" girl.  She seemed to have to take 3 steps between dances moves and didn't seem to do all that much dancing.  Plus I hated her hair-whipping, but that's just me.

 

Regarding who gets sent to choreography and who doesn't, I agree with the above that it has more to do with seeing if the dancer can A) dance to another's choreography and B) partner (isn't all the dancing done in choreo partner dancing?  We see so little of it I might be wrong here).  While contemporary dancers do solo routines as auditions I think most of those who are "trained" have done partner dancing, which is why they are less likely to get sent to choreography.

 

Happy the auditions are coming to an end, but I wish we got more Not Vegas and less "here's a funny Dad dance" or "here's a long clip about how my Mom once stubbed her toe and couldn't perform in her high school musical, so I'm here to do this for my Mom"(*cue tears) stories.  I like the (not) Vegas rounds, so one show seems like a rip off.  But I'm OK with just getting on with the show... unless Ricky doesn't make it- then I'll be far, far, far less interested in the season.

 

Do the Dragon House contestants who make it into the Top 20 always do well in the voting?  I can't remember...

[Haleth]

I wish the show would caption the names of the dancers in the montages of those who made it through but only got a few seconds of exposure. They deserve some recognition too.

[SilvaVocat]

I knew Ricky Ubeda would be good as soon as I saw him run from the microphone into his starting position. He ran like a dancer who could fly, and he did fly. It was lovely.

As to Rick U being feminine in the Slide number, I can see that, but none of that showed in his SYTYCD audition.  Anyone trying out for this show has to know that if you want to go all the way as a boy in this competition you have to dance "like a man" and any male dance who has the ability will tailor his solos to that expectation.  I think he'll be fine in the show, and watching a few of his routines online, he is both strong and very bendy, so the choreographers will enjoy using him as their paintbrush.

[Bosman]

I pray that "Partridge Family" girl doesn't make the top 20. If I have to watch her whip her hair while her camera-hog parents scream in the audience, I may not be responsible for my actions. Nigel, you are warned! 

[LadyMustang65]

I liked Angie so much! I feel like she has little chance of making the Top 20 though so now I'm sad.

The dh and I loved her too.  Yes, she's a bit different when you're talking to her, but she was a beautiful dancer, and we thought her personality was just delightful.  "Hello, I'm back."  I don't hold out a lot of hope for her making Top 20, but I did love her.

[SilvaVocat]

I pray that "Partridge Family" girl doesn't make the top 20. If I have to watch her whip her hair while her camera-hog parents scream in the audience, I may not be responsible for my actions. Nigel, you are warned! 

Plus, I just don't think she's a particularly good dancer.  The hair drives me nuts on so many of them.  I want to give them all a good tight french braid and make them do their solo again.

 

The dh and I loved her too.  Yes, she's a bit different when you're talking to her, but she was a beautiful dancer, and we thought her personality was just delightful.  "Hello, I'm back."  I don't hold out a lot of hope for her making Top 20, but I did love her.

Her dancing was beautiful, and I hope that the judges in notVegas see past her shyness.  She might not do very well when voting comes because America cares about personality more than dance, apparently, but I think she'd rock the kind of routines this show produces.

[Morgan of Hed]

Angie was the only one I connected with this time out.  I thought she was simply gorgeous and quirky, loved her.

[kechara]

I watched a clip of Alex Wong's season  on you Tube. I see nobody who appeals to me  like he did in his season as a dancer.

[Rick Kitchen]

I couldn't stand the Partridge Family girl or any of her family.  They were all too, too twee.  :(

 

I liked Ricky a lot, but it looked to me like he never held any of his landings.  His feet seemed to wobble every time he came to a position.

[ElleTwoThree]

 

I liked Ricky a lot, but it looked to me like he never held any of his landings.  His feet seemed to wobble every time he came to a position.

Yeah, I hated how he would always fall out of his pirouettes. It is a very "competitive dance school" kind of move (you pirouette but don't hold position tightly so you start to wobble and when you would naturally stumble out they fall to the floor to do a floor move or a jump or something. Classically trained dancers (as in ballet dancers who are going towards a career in ballet rather than compete as children/teens) would end the pirouette move and then proceed to do the next move, a lot of emphasis is on holding that position) and a lot of the SYTYCD dancers are guilty of this. I realized at some point that all my favourites were the ones that don't do that (Ellenore, Nathan Tresoras, Chehon, Alex Wong) and the one that I really noticed and liked in this audition process was the girl who was training at the Joffrey. She had a lovely pirouette position.

 

I sound nitpicky, and there is beauty in the competitive dancing style and to use that natural fall to do something too, I don't mean to criticise. It is a personal preference at the end of the day.

 

I kept thinking Angie was the Partridge kid and was confused as to why people loved her. Now that I realised it is two separate girls I agree, the Partridge kid was awful, the really strange shy/disinterested one was good. Not as amazing as Mariah to me, but good! And points for no hairography!

[Heather Lynn]

While I loved Ricky's dancing, I think his hands are horrible!! I swung from the highs of beautiful legs and leaps to those floppy things hanging off the end of his arms. They were so distracting! Maybe he should dance with mittens so I can fully enjoy his performances.

[Lonesome Rhodes]

Man, Nigel gets on my last best nerve sometimes.

 

It seems Silky was preordained to go through, but that fool Englishman interrupts immediately and demands to know what is up.  Then, HE dares get flustered when poor Silky instantly decides to give Nigel whatever he wants and the heck with his own artistry.  What in blazes do you expect, Nigel?  I don't believe Silky was rounded (by his own admission!) enough to merit a ticket straight away, but, I'm OK with it since he was especially charismatic and Nigel messed with him.

 

The rest of the first hour and change did very little for me.  However, the promise of the montaged dancers is exciting.  Did Lil Buck do anything?  Maybe the least involved jidges edit I've yet seen.

 

Crazy Legs may have been "ATL Cranking," but to me, it felt like nothing evolutionary.  If this were a true advance, Nigel would have fallen all over himself passing him through past choreo.  Now, the guy had some talent, no doubt, and he was super personable.  But, a visionary he is not.

 

I honestly did not get why Angelina was given sooooo much time in her package and performance.  The jidges' comments (which were actually good) dragged on forever, as well.  Beyond being nervous, she seemed a bit odd, beginning with her husky/low voice.  I don't think she will make it to even the green mile.

 

I loved the aura of that young boy who has endured all those surgeries!  Props to Nigel for identifying with him.  

 

I really feel for the choreo partner of the various "street" style dancers who have so little partnering experience.  What a huge disadvantage they are put in!  The girl in the gray unitard in the second day seemed pretty good, but I didn't see her getting a ticket.  Does anyone know if they ever have the 'decent" partner go again with a more rounded partner?

 

Oh well, off to Pasadena!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I can't decide if I'm glad the auditions (aka sob stories with a side of dancing) are finally over or if I'm dreading the transition to the regular competition part of the show where I have to see/hear even more of Nigel's usual annoying comments.

 

I liked Mariah's audition routine because it showed good technique while also giving us some personality which I often don't get from a lot of the technical auditions (contemporary dancers, I'm talking to you).

 

I liked Silky. As soon as he told Cat, "Today I'm a hip hop dancer," I knew he was going to say that he had auditioned in another style before. He has a fun personality without seeming fake, which was an interesting contrast to his dramatic hip hop "grandma in the asylum" routine. I also like that he since he last auditioned for the show a few seasons ago, he has studied the show to see which contestants did well and that he took some ballroom classes to prepare for the show. I totally support dancers being strategic and smart about auditioning. And I like that he's 24. I love seeing some older dancers.

 

Kelly's show biz family, ehhhh. I don't want to sound like I'm denigrating their showbiz background, but their pedigree wasn't that impressive. I hated the fake audience noises that they added to her family's interview, but I feel like if you're going to use your family story to get some airtime, I'd rather see something like this than another story about car accidents/abandonment/eating disorders/dead parents, friends, or siblings. On a shallow note, I like that she doesn't have a high pitched squeaky little girl voice that we sometimes hear with the younger contestants. I cringed when she bounced in center splits because I could see that her knees were pointed forward. I hope she doesn't hurt herself! I like that she has a slightly bigger body build. I am NOT saying she's fat or overweight or anything. I just like that she looks like she weighs more than 85 pounds. Between her and Mariah, I hope we are seeing a resurgence in jazz auditions.

 

I love the diversity of the looks in the Dragon House. Cyrus, Bluprint, and Mr. Strange all look so different in the way they dance, they way the dress, everything. Cyrus has the big mohawk, Bluprint has the blue streaks, and Mr. Strange has glasses and a sweater. It must be so amazing to dance together and learn so much from each other.

 

When Conrad said he had gotten all those tattoos in the last year and Nigel asked why, I thought he was going to say someone had died and they were a tribute so I loved that he said his friend's brother did them for free. Ha! While I hate when Nigel bitches about men not dancing masculinely enough, I like that Conrad listened to their criticism last year and came back with a routine that was full of masculine movement.

 

Taveaus is definitely from the school of Fikshun. I love seeing that kind of smiley hapy hip hop. I feel like some hip hop dancers try really hard to be hard so people forget that hip hop can be fun too. I agree that he had a great range of skills. I always wonder why some hip hop dancers are given tickets to Not Vegas (Mr. Strange) but others (Taveaus) are sent to choreography.

 

Sideshow said he wanted to be a smiley happy dancer but then he got started getting aggressive before his audition (which made me wonder if they asked him questions that we didn't see). Afterward, he was way too defensive. Admittedly, Nigel was being an ass. For the record, Nigel doesn't take criticism very well either. It was really obvious after Sideshow's audition that Nigel wasn't alone in feeling that Sideshow was getting out of line. The poor guy's mom was telling him to be quiet, and you could see the other Dragon House members sinking into their seats. Normally I don't trust the crowd reaction shots, but I would guess some of those were real reactions to his outburst.

 

Ricky reminded me how very old I am. He is 18 so he was only 9 when S1 aired! No wonder Cat said that makes her 107. He has beautiful leaps and flexibility but I agree that his weird hands are distracting during his leaps.

 

ITA that Marissa the gymnast is not really a dancer (or if she is, her routine didn't show it). The choreography was very similar to a gymnast's floor routine, which is to say a bunch of aerials and back handsprings with some poses and leaps in between. She's coordinated and flexible and strong, but that doesn't make her a good dancer. I agree that she didn't get a lot of height considering how muscular she looks.

 

Elaine the girl with a hole in heart reminded me of a friend who has a family history of Alzheimer's. I can't imagine living with that hanging over my head. It must be hard enough to be a kid taking care of your mom, but also knowing that it could happen to her in the future, yikes. I thought she was a very clean dancer and I liked that she wasn't as flaily as many of the contemporary girls we see on this show. But she's 26! To be able to maintain that level of dance while dealing with her mom is impressive to me.

 

It totally cracks me up how Nigel starts bobbing his head around to try to seem like he's down with urban music. It's like watching your old uncle try to be cool at a wedding reception. I liked that Mary admitted she was not an expert on kranking but that she enjoyed it.

 

How many times did we need to see the zen breathing clip? Did the episode really need padding? I hate seeing hashtags on my screen, but #littlesister is one of the lamest ones I've seen. And that's coming from someone who watched Twisted and had to see lame hashtags like #poorjo.

 

I found it kind of hilarious that Angelina said her brother specifically told her to have a personality and not be boring and then she proceeded to give the most boring answers in a totally monotone voice. The change in her carriage and presence when she began dancing was huge. I thought it was weird that Nigel criticized her routine for not having enough dancing considering that Marissa the gymnast and other dancers have had less dancing than Angelina did.

 

Yay, this is the last week I have to see Stoned Bieber during SYTYCD, right? Please say yes! I felt like Jungle Boogie had less editing during their dancing so we actually got to see them dance more than a lot of the groups in the past. The fact that they featured a group from Atlanta during the Atlanta audition episode made me feel like the producers really want them to make the finals. Meanwhile, I don't think they mentioned where the Control Freaks group was from.

 

I was so annoyed when Nigel acted like Cristina had an impossibly long name. Sorry, not everyone is named Sally Smith. Cristina didn't have a super weird name that was hard to pronounce either so I don't know if this is like the hair thing were Nigel just picks something really obvious to act weird about. She had some great control but I don't know why they hyped her so much in the "coming up" segment before the commercial break. I was expecting the be-all end-all of auditions.

 

I love watching Cat interact with the dancers at auditions. I was cracking up while she was talking to Jerrod. I felt bad that they woke up his little boy to dance. Poor kid. When Nigeltold him that it was his big moment, I imagined that kid thinking, "It's supposed to be my damn nap time!"

 

I don't love when they have celebrity guest judges but I will admit that Jenna Dewan is qualified given her dance background (she was a backup dancer for Janet Jackson and 'N Sync on their tours in 2001 and 2002)

 

Wow, they are rushing through the preliminary stuff, aren't they?  Only 150some dancers at call backs and only one show devoted to Not Vegas week.

In the earlier seasons, Fox let the show air two nights a week so the auditions sometimes went by faster (although in some seasons, they dragged out the auditions and callbacks - in S6, they had six audition episodes spread over four weeks and then three more weeks of callbacks, while in S7 they blew through all the preliminary stuff with six audition cities and callbacks all in four episodes that aired in three weeks).

 

I agree that sending people to choreography is mostly to see if the dancers can pick up choreography because no one, regardless of the style of dance they do, can get by on the show if they can't learn choreography. Because a lot of hip hop dancers are not trained, they may not have experience learning choreography and that's why they're usually sent to choreography. Even if they can't do all the technical tricks, the judges want to see that they can follow along and not stick out like sore thumb.

 

They also want to see if they can dance with partners since that is a huge part of the show (IMHO being able to dance with a partner is not necessarily a requirement for being a great dancer, but this show has decided you must be able to partner in order to make it far). I don't think they're checking to see if the dancers are already capable of doing amazing partner tricks. They just want to see if you can dance with another person without hurting them. Can you stay in your dance space and still do the movements without whacking the other person in the face? When it's time for the actual partner stuff that requires you to touch, are you a mile away?

 

But I think they also use the choreography round so that they can cut people while still giving them the opportunity to prove themselves. This way it's not that they were being hardasses who thought your solo wasn't good enough. Of course, given that we know the way they actually format the audition process behind the scenes (versus the way it's shown on tv), it's all a charade since the judges already know ahead of time who didn't do well in the choreography.

[luvthepros]

While I loved Ricky's dancing, I think his hands are horrible!! I swung from the highs of beautiful legs and leaps to those floppy things hanging off the end of his arms. They were so distracting! Maybe he should dance with mittens so I can fully enjoy his performances.

Horrible hands? Really? I see deliberately placed hands that appear very graceful and I've noticed them because they look wonderful to me. But...what do I know?

 

Also, to the poster up thread a bit who commented on Ricky's unsteady landings.....  My goodness, that's not what I see. I see a guy who lands his leaps light as a feather with great control. Even Mary commented that she could not hear Ricky landing his jumps. I'll watch closer to see if I can catch his wobbly landings which end in a move to the floor.

Edited June 20, 2014 by luvthepros

[Bella]

 

 

I agree that sending people to choreography is mostly to see if the dancers can pick up choreography because no one, regardless of the style of dance they do, can get by on the show if they can't learn choreography. Because a lot of hip hop dancers are not trained, they may not have experience learning choreography and that's why they're usually sent to choreography. Even if they can't do all the technical tricks, the judges want to see that they can follow along and not stick out like sore thumb.

They also want to see if they can dance with partners since that is a huge part of the show (IMHO being able to dance with a partner is not necessarily a requirement for being a great dancer, but this show has decided you must be able to partner in order to make it far). I don't think they're checking to see if the dancers are already capable of doing amazing partner tricks. They just want to see if you can dance with another person without hurting them. Can you stay in your dance space and still do the movements without whacking the other person in the face? When it's time for the actual partner stuff that requires you to touch, are you a mile away?

 

ITA. And this was where Cyrus won over a lot of people IMO. Was he as good as a classically trained dancer? I wasn't alone in thinking that he was not. However, he was a quick and willing student who showed an aptitude for other styles and for partnering. I felt they should have sent him home that season instead of having him on the show, because a year of practice with partners in other dance genres could have made him a powerhouse the following season. 

[ElleTwoThree]

 

Also, to the poster up thread a bit who commented on Ricky's unsteady landings.....  My goodness, that's not what I see. I see a guy who lands his leaps light as a feather with great control. Even Mary commented that she could not hear Ricky landing his jumps. I'll watch closer to see if I can catch his wobbly landings which end in a move to the floor.

That poster would be me, it is not in his leaps, it is in his pirouettes. And this is very common, so unless you are trained in dance (and maybe slightly overly nitpicky like me) you might not even realise it because most of the people auditioning will have done the same. If you do want to "see it" I would recommend watching how he ends his pirouettes (there is a series of them 3/4s into his audition, and he leans into his right each time and ends the series in a floor move to the right, that is what I mean - it goes well with his choreo stylistically, so maybe it was intended, but most of the time it isn't). Now watch this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmuQYNO_eRU and look how Jenna holds her pirouette series and how she ends the moves before moving into the next move. Again it might be a stylistic choice but I have seen this with a lot of the people who audition (and compete) on this show (and I see it in my students).

[realdancemom]

Everytime, a person leans and goes into a floor move after a pirouette, I always wonder if they fell out of their turns.  However, I also see a lot of people that really do fall out of their turns.

[Heather Lynn]

Horrible hands? Really? I see deliberately placed hands that appear very graceful and I've noticed them because they look wonderful to me. But...what do I know?

MMV. If that's the case, and that may be based on the separate video, I really hate his placement. For me, I don't notice hands unless they are distracting in either a good or bad way and I didn't care for his at all. Edited June 20, 2014 by Heather Lynn

[legaleagle53]

Taveaus is definitely from the school of Fikshun. I love seeing that kind of smiley hapy hip hop. I feel like some hip hop dancers try really hard to be hard so people forget that hip hop can be fun too. I agree that he had a great range of skills. I always wonder why some hip hop dancers are given tickets to Not Vegas (Mr. Strange) but others (Taveaus) are sent to choreography.

 

I thought I read a few years ago that everyone is actually required to go through choreography, even those who supposedly get direct passes to Vegas (or wherever it is they go these days after the auditions), and that the distinction between those who are expressly sent to choreography and those who are sent directly through to Vegas (or wherever) is just for show.