S16.E03: Auditions 3

[ElectricBoogaloo]

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The auditions continue in Los Angeles, as the judges search for the best dancers in the nation.

Promo:

Original air date: 6/17/19

Edited June 18, 2019 by ElectricBoogaloo

[jewel21]

I actually didn't mind the majority of these dancers. The girl with cystic fibrosis was adorable and inspiring. I liked the B-Boy from the start. And the dancer who works with the Harlem Globetrotters was great and I adored his energy. 

[PhD-Purgatory15]

Let's see, of the 6 ballroom dancers we've seen so far (The Sosa's, The Armenian pair, & the Lurie's) my favorites are the male Sosa from week one and the female Lurie from tonight's show.

Ghost was all personality and bombast and pretty limited technique/substance. If he vanishes into the ether of the Academy I would not be surprised.

Contempo Bagel Boy was your typical soul-less, paint by numbers audition piece.

Bailrock was good, although his Top sections were kind of spastic (not in a good way) and it didn't really seem like he was B-Boy'ing "to the music" all that much.

Sophia is one of those "So SYTCYD" dancers that pop up every season. I'll be stunned if she doesn't make her way through the Academy to the Top 20. Of the three returnees who we got glimpses of, really glad to see Dustin is back; Jay can go....instantly, and the girl I didn't really have a memory of from last season.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Bailey Munoz - How Deep Is Your Love

Frank "Ghost" Crisp Jr. - Pump It Up

Lauren Luteran - Marathon (In Roses)

Sophie Pittman - Girl Crush

Elan & Jordynn - Baila Como Es

Maria Babineau - The Devil's Den

Luke Romanzi - The Crumbling

[ElectricBoogaloo]

When I saw that Bailey was going to dance to "How Deep Is Your Love," I was expecting the Bee Gees.

Ghost is definitely a performer. He knows how to connect with a crowd, play to them with his personality, and do tricks that will get applause. I liked that he showed us several different styles/techniques.

Lauren was fine. She's as good as some of the other contemporary auditions we've seen over the last two weeks. I didn't find her choreography or skills to be extraordinary but at least this wasn't one of those pity auditions where she didn't have the skills to back up the sob story. She was on par with the other dancers we've seen so far this season. I was cringing at the position of her feet when she slid down into center splits though. I don't want to downplay her disease because it's pretty serious, but science and medicine have made significant strides. In the 50s, kids with cystic fibrosis commonly died before they even reached elementary school. By 1980, the life expectancy was 14. Now more than half of the cystic fibrosis population is over the age of 18. In 2006 the median survival was 37 years. It's still a terrible disease and it is A LOT to deal with, but the odds are that she is not going to bite it in the immediate future. She performed the same routine almost three years ago. It was choreographed by Travis Wall:

I liked that Sophie had a slightly different style to set her apart from the other contemporary dancers. Either the audience thought it was AMAZING that she took her hair down or she did something awesome while the cameras cut to her family. Either way, there was inexplicable applause and enthusiasm and I didn't see anything to warrant it. I knew Nigel would love her.

I can't lie - I was predisposed to dislike the ballroom couple because I hate the way Jordynn's name is spelled. I know that's her parents' fault, but ugh. They had smart choreography though.

Maria was so fun to watch. I don't know if she can do any other styles, but I enjoyed her audition.

Luke was very light in his landings and he had a lot of control, but I'm so bored of these contemporary auditions.

Edited June 18, 2019 by ElectricBoogaloo

[EllenB]

Ah, I'm not the only one who expected to hear the Bee Gees.  Damn, I'm old.

I try.  I really try, but I just cannot love the flail and flop contemporary dances.  I always think of the Choreography number from White Christmas.

[displayname]

I was generally bored this week.

[Tikichick]

6 hours ago, displayname said:

I was generally bored this week.

And I'm crushed to agree with you wholeheartedly. 

[pally]

This was the week of cannon fodder. Dancers who may make some noise but will ultimately fall to the side on the way to the top 10

[Mystery Author]

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Sophia is one of those "So SYTCYD" dancers that pop up every season. I'll be stunned if she doesn't make her way through the Academy to the Top 20.

Is Sophia the dancer who sleep-walked her way across the stage? I thought the most exciting part of her dance was letting her hair loose <yawn>.

Is there going to be a Top 20? Or is it once again a Top 10...5 "boys" and 5 "girls"?

[realdancemom]

10 hours ago, displayname said:

I was generally bored this week.

4 hours ago, Tikichick said:

And I'm crushed to agree with you wholeheartedly. 

Sadly, I agree with both of you.  I was dozing off through the last half so don't even remember some of them.

Liked Bailey and Jordyn.  Thought Maria had no musicality and didn't think she was that great anyway.  Glad Dustin came back.  Didn't think Jay should make it again.  He probably did improve but from what little they showed, his technique is still not that great.

[susannot]

10 hours ago, pally said:

This was the week of cannon fodder. Dancers who may make some noise but will ultimately fall to the side on the way to the top 10

That makes sense.  I was wondering why I wasn't overwhelmed by any of them.

[nx74defiant]

It made me laugh when I heard D-Trix say Nigel told him to talk about Lauren's weaknesses, but he wanted to say-

Ops don't think Nigel wants to admit that he is telling the other judges what to say.

[Haleth]

Ghost would be fun to watch but I wonder if it would end up with him overshadowing all other contestants since he has so much personality.  For example, put him and Sophie on stage together and who is everyone going to watch?  (And vote for?)  He's a force of nature.

[crowceilidh]

Yep.  About 20 minutes to watch that show.  So much is unwatchable due to some quite misguided scripting (how fake was the set up for Granddad up dancing with grandchild?)

[khyber]

It takes hardly anytime to watch this show since I fast forward through the sob stories. The second Sophie showed up Mr. Khyber said "A pretty blond, she's going through". Nigel is so predictable. 

[realdancemom]

6 hours ago, Haleth said:

Ghost would be fun to watch but I wonder if it would end up with him overshadowing all other contestants since he has so much personality.  For example, put him and Sophie on stage together and who is everyone going to watch?  (And vote for?)  He's a force of nature.

I watched three of the dancers last night:  Ghost, Lauren, and Sophie.  I only watched their dances not their stories or judges' comments.  Ghost definitely draws you in and I see him as an audience favorite.  I'm not saying that he has a lot of Classical technique but choreographers will just give him something like an emotional contemporary, jazz with a fun character, etc.

15 hours ago, nx74defiant said:

It made me laugh when I heard D-Trix say Nigel told him to talk about Lauren's weaknesses, but he wanted to say-

Ops don't think Nigel wants to admit that he is telling the other judges what to say.

I don't know what happened since I didn't watch the judges' comments.  However, I don't think Lauren is that good of a dancer.  She's flexible and shows emotion.  But she seems like a heavy dancer (not commenting on her weight but how she dances) and her jumps barely left the ground.  I don't think she will make top 5/10 girls.

Sophie was different and Nigel was definitely going to let her through.  She needed a little more moves that showed technique but I like that her choreography/style is different.

Without the choreography round, I would have voted Lauren and Sophie through.

[Samwise979]

I thought Sophie was terrible, boring. I agree with the (not Nigel) male judge who said she wasn't putting any emotion into it, that he watched the dance but didn't feel the dance. But I knew she was going to make it, she's like the epitome of sytycd. 

I'll admit they got me with that last dancer's story. When the mom said something like, she's (Lauren) starting to accept that she probably won't outlive us.... Omg I lost it. 

I like that the drag queen from last season (don't know his name) made it to Academy. I am interested in seeing what he can do. He made it quite far last year, right?

[EssieMay]

Sophie: beautiful face, great body, decent technique, dancing to a song that is waaaaaay too mature for her. These pretty prom queen dance competition girls just don't have the life experience to carry off something that angst-y. With appropriate music and choreography she might be fun to watch.

Edited June 20, 2019 by EssieMay
Spelling

[Law Mom]

I looked up Bailey because he's from my home town. For a teenager he has an impressive resume. The most interesting thing I learned is that he went to Las Vegas Academy, which is one of the best arts magnet high schools in the country. Fun fact for World of Dance watchers--both Ne-yo and Derek went there.  Assuming he was a dance major, we should expect to see a b-boy who can dance other styles!

EDIT: as noted below, it was Julianne Hough, not Derek Hough, who went to LVA. Sorry!

Edited June 23, 2019 by Law Mom

[realdancemom]

25 minutes ago, Law Mom said:

I looked up Bailey because he's from my home town. For a teenager he has an impressive resume. The most interesting thing I learned is that he went to Las Vegas Academy, which is one of the best arts magnet high schools in the country. Fun fact for World of Dance watchers--both Ne-yo and Derek went there.  Assuming he was a dance major, we should expect to see a b-boy who can dance other styles!

When did Derek go there?  He moved to London when he was 12.   I know Derek did take dance in Utah when he was younger. 

[mojoween]

I know I am going to sound like old woman shouting at clouds, but I am beyond over slow motion, and seeing the back of the audiences heads in front of the dancers, and shots of the audience and judges instead of the dancers, who presumably this show is about, and last but not least the infernal 360 cam.

Just show me an uninterrupted routine.  Is that so damn hard?

Jordynn and Elan were nice to watch, but Nigel crapping all over Elan was rude.  He was good too!

I like that even if they tweak the opening, Cyrus gets to stay.  He could be the whole opening IMO but I know that ain’t happening.

[Terrafamilia]

I didn't mind Luke's contemporary. The music selection gave the thing a modern dance feel, one dance style I don't think has ever been spotlighted on this show.

[crowceilidh]

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I like that even if they tweak the opening, Cyrus gets to stay.  He could be the whole opening IMO but I know that ain’t happening.

Word to everything you said, but esp this.

[Law Mom]

18 hours ago, realdancemom said:

When did Derek go there?  He moved to London when he was 12.   I know Derek did take dance in Utah when he was younger. 

Ugh my bad--Julianne went there.

[realdancemom]

1 hour ago, Law Mom said:

Ugh my bad--Julianne went there.

That makes more sense since she moved back to the USA.