This week of SYTYCD auditions are all in Las Vegas, narrowing down the 172 dancers into the Top 20. The guest judges for this round are Mia Michaels, Lil' C, Adam Shankman, and Debbie Allen. They're going to start by having each dancer to a solo for the judges, to remind them of who they are and refresh their memory of them. Nigel announces that they can, and will be, eliminating dancers for poor solo routines and performances.
Alex Wong - who we first saw in Miami. He's shirtless and mighty fine looking! Starts off with some amazing strength and balancing moves, beautiful lines and spins. He is full of power, but graceful at the same time. The judges aren't commenting this round, but all of them are dropping their jaw, very impressed with his performance.
Tony Bellissimo - Starts off in a suit, reading a newspaper with a big picture of Nigel on the cover. He gets a lot of laughs, but I don't think he's all that good. He opens his briefcase and there's another picture of Nigel and also one under his suit jacket. I didn't see any impressive dance moves, but he was memorable.
Solo Montage to Dance With Me by Old 97.
After the solos are over Nigel asks all of the dancers to come back on stage. The judges are already getting fed up with the dancing that they're seeing. Nigel then says they've decided to eliminate some of dancers based on their solos. Kayla Costa and Erica Ray are both cut, Kayla is embarrassed because her entire high school is watching and Erica just cries. For some unknown reason, he calls up Tony Bellissimo just to tell him he's safe. They then proceed to cut 42 more dancers, including Michael Prokop (football coach's son), Talia Rickards (the young widow), and Chimezie Nwosu (NY hip hop artist who likes his name pronounced the correct way!). I'm not at all surprised about Michael Prokop or Talia Rickards, but I am sad about Chimezie, I thought he was pretty good.
They cut some more dancers, I don't recognize any of them though. Next up is hip- hop dancing with Napoleon and Tabitha D'umo choreographing! The dancers get together in groups and perform for the judges, which is choreographed to Boom Boom Pow, by the Black Eyed Peas.
Gabi Rojas - Is in the first group we see dancing and she's a little nervous about the routine and thinks she's struggling a bit. She's suffers from rheumatoid arthritis and originally Nigel predicted she'd be in the Top 20. She misses a few steps in the beginning and then just seems to get lost for awhile. It's obvious this isn't a strong area of dancing for her. They bring back all the female dancers from that group, as Mia tells them that she loves to cut people because she "likes to see people who aren't good at what they do, go home!" Harsh words. but they decide to not cut Gabi because of her first impressive and memorable audition solo. Then they cut one of the other dancers named Sara(h), but I don't remember ever seeing her before, so I can't give you more details.
Dancing montage of Day One, Hip-Hop. They highlight Amanda Kerby (Dad has MS), one of the Kasprzak brothers (dressed in 40's style outfits for the audition), Brandon Bryant (amazing dancer who lost out to Gev last season), and Priscilla Marrero (from Miami, Tyce loved her).
They then cut 32 more dancers, I don't recognize any of them. Day One is now over and only 96 contestants are left.
Day Two begins with a waltz choreographed by Jean-Marc Genereux, to May It Be an Evening Star, by Enya. Last season he choreographed such a beautiful dance with Twitch Boss and Kherington Payne, to A New Day by Celine Dion, that was dedicated to his terminally ill daughter. Phillip Chbeeb is in the first group of dancers and he does okay, not bad for a guy who does popping and locking. They don't cut him, but they do cut Arielle Coker the girl that was Phillip's audition partner.
Nobuya Nagahama - He was the amazing Japanese locker that Napoleon compared to Hilty & Bosch. Ballroom dancing isn't exactly his cup of tea, and he's very nervous. Okay, he's actually really good at this! I'm so impressed, he's even doing the proper facial expressions and arm movements. I think his height might become a problem (he's short) later on, especially if he has a tall partner, but I'm not even sure of that. Most "street" dancers don't have a lot of classical training and usually don't do nearly this well in the ballroom category. Obviously he's going on to the next round, and he breaks down in tears of happiness and thanks his teachers back home! Sweet.
The end of Day Two and 16 more dancers are sent home. For you non math-whiz geniuses out there, or if you're feeling lazy, that leaves 80 dancers left. I didn't recognize any more of the dancers that got cut.
The beginning of the Day Three starts with a routine from Sonya Tayeh, it's to Great DJ by The Ting Tings (ironically, their lead singer is named Katie White- ME). The first group contains both Brandon Bryant and Natalie Reid (she lost out to her best friend Katee Shean last season, for the very last spot) dancing together. Of course they're AMAZING! Just fabulous, hitting every move with precision and knocking Sonya on the ground in awe. Natalie has to dance again with some other dancers, I think she's still really good, but it's obvious that she's tired- it's not as good as what she did when she was partnered with Brandon.
They cut Natalie! WTFrak!!?? She was so good. Nigel gets up and gives her a kiss goodbye. Coldfront by Amie Miriello is played as she does her goodbyes. Everyone seems shocked, and Natalie doesn't understand why she was cut, she thinks she let the judges down. Brandon is crying, and he has to dance next. Everyone, except Nigel, is REALLY hard on him, saying that he wasn't living up to his potential or their expectations. Mia even goes so far as so say that she doesn't know why there was ever even any fuss over him.
But they don't cut him, whew! Natalie and Brandon hug backstage, playing in the background is Say Goodbye by Mike Schmid.
Montage of good dancers. Priscilla Marrero, Paris Torres, Asuka Kondoh, Janette Manrara and Romulo Villaverde all make it through to the next round
They then cut to Gabi Rojas, she's in one of the final groups to perform and she knows that if she doesn't do well, she's out of the competition. She looks okay to me, but not spectacular. Debbie Allen says she's been such a disappointment and Nigel tells her that she has to "Dance For Her Life." There are six judges and she has to get at least three votes from the judges in order to stay in the competition, but they'll be judging her on both this performance and past ones. She dances to Four Women by Nina Simone and she is so wonderful. Why hasn't she been dancing like that? Maybe she just needs extra time practicing the choreography.
After her performance, Mia Michaels is the only judge who does not giver her a yes vote. Lil' C says she was Buck! Nigel says she needs to work on picking up choreography faster, especially in her weak areas. Then they bring all the dancers back on to the stage and Cat tells them what's next. They're going to pull names out of a box, and those groups have to choreograph their own routine to perform in front of the judges- TOMORROW morning! I guess that means a dancing all-nighter.
Eric "Silky" Moore is in this first group. Oh, I love him, I thought he had smooth moves. But his group isn't getting along, he says they're having "extreme difficulties" and personality clashes. He thinks that he's going to have to Dance For His Life, so he's getting his solo ready. And he'll need it, because they're terrible! It's a sad attempt at a jive, the judges said it stank and they were really disappointed in the dancers. Mia asked them if they went to bed thinking they were ready for tomorrow, and when they said no, she said then they shouldn't have slept! He Taps For His Life later on, and he just doesn't have the magic he had in his first audition. He's going home. I liked him a lot, but with that performance, he didn't really deserve to move on the the next round.
Bad Dancing Montage.
Brandon Bryant's group is next and they're dancing to Kelly Clarkson's My Life Would Suck Without You. It's a fun routine, pretty good partnering moves, considering they made it up the night before. Mary thinks Brandon needs to be less hesitant and more aggressive and dominant. Mia says that he is still unimpressive and he needs to step it up or else he's gone. But in the end the entire group passes to the next round.
Good Dancing Montage.
Nerdography is next and that term is defined as "a spontaneous explosion of dance that occurs when a nerd simultaneously hears a sweet tune and sees a hot girl." The only dancer I recognize, and he's the leader of the group it seems, is Ryan Kasprzak. They dance to Freeze by T-Pain and they are FABULOUS! Really entertaining to watch, and Adam says they made him want to dance again.
Mia Michael's is choreographing the next round, it's to
Belief by Gavin Degraw, and everyone is freaking out. I think it's all a little too over the top and effusive, but that's just me!
Tony Bellisimo is the first dancer that they highlight, showing some really good past footage of him dancing. He says he nervous and he feels like he's going into the Lion's Den, haha! I thought he was much better than I originally did, but the judges didn't think so. They tell him he's not going on, but they want him to dance one more time, doing the choreography. He dances again, and I think he did a better job than he did the first time. But seriously, we've never heard of Tony Bellisimo before tonight, and he's been on like four times this episode. He starts to cry when Debbie Allen begins with how he's let them down, but it's just the preamble, and he's makes it to the next round.
Amanda Kerby and Nobuya Nagahama are going home. I'm really surprised about both of them, especially Amanda, who Nigel ogled every chance he got!
Megan and Caitlin Kinney are next. I'm not a huge fan of Megan, she's a very good dancer, but I like Caitlin more. Obviously the judges don't agree with me, because they put Megan through to the next round and Caitlin has to Dance For Her Life. Ugh, I'm getting annoyed. Everyone I liked is getting sent home! I don't understand why they spend so much time introducing us to dancers that aren't going to make it. Caitlin dances for her life with To Make You Feel My Love, covered by Adele- I think she's great, but not all of the judges think so. Adam Shankman, Lil' C, and Mia (shocker!) all think she should go home, but Nigel, Mary and Debbie say YES and she's still in it!
Ryan & Evan Kasprzak - I like them too, I hope I'm not their kiss of death, as I seem to be tonight! Ryan dances first and he makes it through and then Evan dances and makes it through! I'm very happy about these two, I think they're so adorable.
Paris Torres makes it to the next round.
I feel like this episode is lasting forever, I'm ready for it to be over. Tyce Diorio choreographs Day Four, the dancers are divided up into boys and girls. All of the girls dance together to a West Side Story number.
Bianca Revels - She was the tap dancer who got cut right before the Top 20 last year and this year Nigel said she was the best tap dancer they've ever had on the show. Unfortunately she has a bit of a hard time, her moves aren't as flowing and as the others and she kinda stands out, and not in a good way.
Priscilla Marrero, who's been great all along, fell at the very end of the routine. That stinks, it's probably the end for her, and it is, she's eliminated and sent home. Going with her are Gabi Rojas and Megan Kinney.
Nigel then brings out all the remaining girls and tells them they're the Top 16 girls, but six will be going home, and all of them need to get their solos ready. At this point I'm too tired to figure out who I liked in the past rounds isn't in this group. But I promise I will get to that later!
Next up is the boys routine, with the girls cheering them on in the audience. They split the boys up into two groups, with the Kasprzak brothers in the first group together, all dancing to another West Side Story song. Nigel then brings six more guys up on stage and sends them home. I'm not sure what their names are, Nigel isn't the best at pronunciation, and they didn't show us at the bottom.
Everyone performs their final solo for the judges, but we only get to see snippets. Cat gets ready to announce the top ten guys and the top ten girls, she calls up Jannette Manrara- she will be the first one to make that long walk to the judges. AHHH! We have to wait until tomorrow to find out who the Top 20 are going to to be. Okay, I am TIRED, but I can't wait until tomorrow when we finally know who the dancers are going to be! Goodnight.
