Thursday, May 27, 2010

So You Think You Can Dance, Season 7: Auditions 1 & 2

Tonight was the premiere of a new season of So You Think You Can Dance. This season the show will only take 10 contestants from Vegas Week and pair them up with some of our favorite SYTYCD alumni. The 2 hour episode included the auditions in NYC and Miami. Like all audition shows, there were good, bad and a lot of "I'll just take the judges word for it." The were two stand outs for me, and they were both contemporary dancers. I usually favor the b-boys. The first was a guy named Teddy in NYC that tried out last season (or maybe two seasons ago since they were only a month or two apart). He wore some ugly golfer/khaki/argyle/print something at his past audition which didn't hold him back getting a ticket to Vegas. This time he wore a suit and brought more than enough emotion to bring the always charming, Adam Shankman (& Mia) to tears.

My other favorite was a mom named Ami Aquiar-Riley who auditioned in Miami (clip below). They made her do choreo - which I suppose makes her less awesome to some people - but I loved her audition. I want to see her do some hip hop, and I think Sonya spelled out for me when she called her an aggressive dancer. I also like that she referred to her audition for the show as a chance to be selfish. It's not some depressing back-story about putting food on the table, and I find that very refreshing. So those are my big two. There are other amazing people that made it two Vegas, but these two are my favorites so far. Next episode features auditions from LA and Chicago.