Last night on: So You Think You Can Dance. The show took us to the West Coast where LA impressed and Seattle depressed. I’ll just focus on the good dancers - videos below thanks to MJS Big Blog:
Bianca Revels - Tap (VIDEO): Bianca is a stellar tap dancer who nearly tippity tapped her way to the Top 20 last season, but fell short. Man, these kids just don’t quit do they? She’s back with fancy footwork and a cheeky smile - all enough to earn her a ticket straight to Vegas.
Calico Sequeira - Lindy Hop (VIDEO): Ok, so Calico is not a very good dancer, but she had a really spunky attitude and this video is only worth watching because guest judge Adam Shankman goes up to dance with her and pokes fun at the whole audition process. PLUS, we get to see last season’s stars: Joshua Allen, Katee Shean and Comfort Fedoke make an appearance and tease him! Cuh-yootness.
Asuka Kondoh and Ricky Sun - Latin Ballroom (VIDEO): The judges were totally enamored by this couple, and by Miss Asuka in particular. I’m not sure if I’m 100% sold on them, but they were solid enough to skip choreography and head straight to Vegas. So there’s that.
Nathan Trasoras - Contemporary (VIDEO): Oh my gosh, I looooooved this kid! He is such an incredible dancer - very graceful and strong. The judges note that he has a very good “center” meaning he can spin and spin and spin like the dickens without losing balance. He’s too pretty - crazy long limbs that go on for days and excellent movement. Unfortunately, Nathan won’t be 18 before the show starts, so he was ineligible! Blue balls. Like me, Nigel hearts him so much that he wrote an “IOU” pass to Vegas for Season 6 of SYTYCD (coming this fall)! Now I definitely have to tune in to next season in hopes that Nathan continues to amaze.
Sammy Ramirez - Pop Locker (VIDEO): Sammy has the CUTEST face, with twinkly eyes and a grin from ear to ear. He’s a really entertaining pop locker and also proves that he can handle learning choreography so he makes it to the next round.
Amanda Kerby - Contemporary (VIDEO): I’m not sure what to think of Amanda. I thought she was an alright dancer (also has a “good center”), but not perfect - even shaky in some parts. My parents were outraged that she made it through at all, and blame it on the fact that’s she’s just pretty. I think they’re haters - what do you think about Amanda?
Phillip Chbeeb and Arielle Coker - Pop Lock and Contemporary (VIDEO): I’m new to SYTYCD, so I have no idea who this Chbeeb character is, but people seem to adore him. He’s a pop-locker whose missed a few chances to get to the finals, so this year he got a ticket to Vegas, no questions asked. As it turns out, he’s also a partner for contemporary dancer, Arielle. The judges were impressed with their choreography but seem way more excited about Phllip than Arielle. We’ll see if they both make the cut.
Kelsea Taylor - Contemporary (VIDEO): Kelsea came to the judges after a day of horrendous Seattle auditions. She’s very quirky and creative, although her hair style screamed, “Amy Winehouse” to me. I’ll forgive her because I found myself really locked in to her performance.
Kuponohi’ipoi Aweau - Contemporary (VIDEO): A dancer from Hawaii who reminded me just a tad of Mark Kanemura from last season. Mary was “eh” because some parts of his performance were too lady-like, but I loved watching him. Very emotional and all accented by the delightful swishiness of his hair. He passes the choreography test, however, and gets that golden ticket to Vegas.
Woohoo! So the 6-hours of auditions for So You Think You Can Dance are over! Fun as they can be, the last couple of episodes were spending way too much time on really horrible dancers. But now we’re down to 169 dancers who will duke it out in Vegas during next week’s episodes. They’ve got to suffer and toil through multiple routines by this season’s choreographers. It’s gonna be ROUGH. I’m there.