Tonight on FOX, SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE continues with an all new Monday, June 1 season 12 premiere episode called “Auditions #1: Memphis and Dallas”. On tonight’s episode the 12th season begins with the first round of auditions in Memphis and Dallas. Also: an interview with First Lady Michelle Obama.
For those of you who don’t know, SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE enters its 12th season on a new night and with a new twist: the series will showcase America’s most talented dancers from the stage and the street, beginning with the audition rounds.
On tonight’s show per say the FOX synopsis “the Emmy Award-winning SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE, the original and hottest dance show, is back! It’s time to pop lock and drop in for an all-new season, new contestants and the best and worst of auditions. Season 12 features an intensified competition between dancers from stage and street as the judges – Nigel Lythgoe, Paula Abdul and Jason Derulo – search New York, Dallas, Detroit, Memphis and Los Angeles for America’s Favorite Dancer. Also featured is an exclusive interview with honorary All-Star First Lady Michelle Obama. See who struts into the judges’ hearts and who trips up.”
The finale episode of So You Think You Can Dance season 12 airs tonight at 8PM and you don’t want to miss it. Celeb Dirty Laundry will be live blogging the show, so don’t forget to come back to this spot at 8PM EST for our live recap!
Tonight’s episode begins now – Refresh Page often to get the most current updates!
Season 12 of “So You Think You Can Dance” was always bound to be different. But this time around the creators of the show have decided to up the ante and make this a competition in more ways than one.
This year it’s Stage Vs Street.
With every contestant that makes it into this competition, they’ve have to identify themselves as either a stage trained performer or a street virtuoso. So not only will the dancers be going head to head with each other but this time the lines in the sand are definitely drawn. And it’s time to finally decide once and for all who’s better. Stage or Street?
First up was 18 year old Peyton. Now he was a stage performer yet that doesn’t mean he adhered to certain structure of rules. Coming from this newbie, I’d say he was both a fluid and a creative dancer. And the judges must agree seeing as he left his mark on them as well.
Peyton went on to also be the first person to make it to the next stage in this competition. So the bar was set with him and an unfortunately the next face up just so happened to be an old one.
Andre had returned for season twelve but if he looks familiar that’s because he’s had come back in order to redeem himself. See Andre is a street performer and originally he tried out/ even made it to Las Vegas during season 9. But then he clearly hit the self-destructive button when he chose to dropp out of the competition after he found the dances they were learning to be too hard. So although Andre was once again good on stage – Nigel was a tad apprehensive about giving him a second chance.
Should he give a burnout another opportunity to disappoint?
Nevertheless Nigel chose to take the risk. And he allowed Andre to pass on to the next stage. So hopefully they won’t run into the same problem.
As for the dancer that was next up, she was considered a risk as well. Jordan known as “Jojo” was classically trained. She grew up with her mother that also served to be her dance instructor. And no offense to anyone watching or reading but many considered that to be a double edge sword.
How can a mother be objective? Naturally she would want to support her child and before getting onstage, Jojo admitted to seeing the pitfalls. Yet she wasn’t going to let a little thing like that stop her from auditioning.
And she was good.
Jojo was impressive. Newbie judge Paula had begun applauding her while she was still dancing a mixture of ballet and contemporary. But despite her technique, Nigel of course had something to say. He warned her that he didn’t really see her move. So he advised her to work on it as she went ahead with the competition.
So you see. These guys have to be more than trained. If technique was everything then the street performers would never have had a chance.
After Jojo, there was Ladia and she learned everything she needed to know from the street. And as she said herself, the talent in street performing is that they can dance on command. In essence they never really stop dancing.
Thus, once she was finished with her own set, Ladia the dance teacher took over and her kids were invited onstage to show what they got.
And just like Ladia, they knew how to dance. Those little tykes brought it and that caused Judge Jason Derulo to come join them onstage. So Ladia must be doing something well if both her and the kids she teaches can easily move on to the next round.
But Courtney as in the Courtney Barnes would forever be a whole another story. Because he came back this year and much like before he appeared to be dancing to his own beat.
Courtney went up onstage and he danced a full range of contemporary to hip hop to at one point it looked like he was doing some kung fu fighting. So it was a lot of things going on and funnily the judges were left unsure about what to do. Paula like always was supportive. Jason though just couldn’t take Courtney seriously. But ultimately this year Nigel chose to allow Courtney his uniqueness. And he gave the younger man the golden ticket.
However Day Two of the competition tryouts in Mephis, Tennessee were almost a bust. It seems there was a fire in the downtown area so that caused the whole city to lose power. And after hours waiting in the dark, the judges had to break the news.
Unless they were able to light the stage then no one was going to be allowed to audition.
But luckily a backup generator was found and not everyone was sent home disappointed. The dancers were able to audition though at first they had to do so in groups. So by the end of the stop in Memphis, there still wasn’t a clear winner between Street and Stage.
Though Dallas may just prove to be the deal breaker. The new city had plenty of stage dancers. And one by one the majority of them were given the ticket to Las Vegas. Including funny man Guillermo.
Jimmy Kimmel has his Guillermo and now the competition has one of their own. From the first moment he was introduced, Guillermo showed he had personality. He even made the judges laugh. But this competition was about dancing. And despite being stage, Guillermo only learned in the last few years.
Apparently he was once a jock and so he initially wasn’t interested in dancing. Nor did he think about it possibly in a different life scenario. Yet things began to change for him after he did community service and used to see little kids dance during one of the classes at the center.
Those same children inspired him to learn to dance and after three years of training Guillermo managed to impress the judges with his routine of contemporary with a hint of contemporary. No seriously that’s what he called it. And he still got the ticket to Vegas.
After Guilermo, there was Jaclyn. Jaclyn was another performer for Stage and surprisingly she’s the only one that threw a flirtatious wink at Nigel. Earlier it was either Jason or Paula that proved to be the object of affection but then someone finally remembered Nigel. And he was appreciative. He let Jaclyn have a ticket.
Although it was Steven that made an impact.
Steven came to this competition as a self-proclaimed nerd and he looked like he could pass as a younger Bill gates. So honestly no one was expecting much from him. He was trying out for Team Street and he somehow astonished everyone that had doubted him.
That stick thin glasses wearing young man knew how to breakdance. And for his talent, he was given a ticket to move on to the next stage.
However it wasn’t always that easy to choose who would go on. After all there was Vishonda, who while talented, needed some work. Meaning she was a good performer but the judges were on the fence about letting her through. And that’s why (in my opinion at least) her backstory ended up playing a part in their final decision.
Vishonda had it rough growing up and sadly she was one of those children that had to look out for their grandparents rather than have it the other way around. So when she came to the auditions, she made it clear that she had the recently departed family member on her mind and wanted to honor the older woman with her dance. And, well, who could let someone like that down after hearing their story.
So Vishonda got her ticket but Kiosh wasn’t as fortunate. Kiosh came to the stage wearing practically everything in his mother’s closet and though he was good for a laugh – his dancing was more about having a fun time than being “So You Think You Can Dance” worthy. Thus Kiosh didn’t make it to the next round.
But, before he left, he did get the chance to teach Jason some of his more colorful “moves”.
Then, after having themselves a good time, it was back to business. And so Lily tried out for Team Stage. See Lily was classically trained and even if that wasn’t stated beforehand then such a fact still would have showed in her every movement.
So did it come as surprise that she moved on in the competition? No it did not. She had earned her spot even if she didn’t show off anything technically new on the dance floor.
Jaden on the other hand did attempt to be different. And the audience doesn’t know if it was him or something else that must have happened backstage but the judges couldn’t stop laughing. As for Jaden, he did do his dance of ballroom with a touch of hip hop yet there wasn’t a point at any time that it looked like he was taken seriously.
He knew how to dance and he was entertaining but for some reason he wasn’t allowed to go onto Vegas.
Though the last performer of the night, Edson, did leave the show on a happy note. Team Stage got another fierce competitor and the show closed with someone getting their dream.
THE END!
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