Category: reality tv

The auditions concluded in So You Think You Can Dance Season 8 Episode 3 with auditions from Jordan Casanova, DC Chapman, Arielle Coker, and Alexis Mason. Tonight we go to Vegas with more dancers and more judges. Robin Antin, Adam Shankman, Debbie Allan, and Tyce Diorio join Nigel and Mary.

Iveta Lukosiute is in her third trip to Vegas, where she apparently believed she was going to be performing at a gentleman’s club. They don’t have to ask her to take anything off because she starts off pretty well unclothed to begin.

Marlon Pelayo shows up in a unitard, which the judges complain about.

Marlon’s out because his outfit’s too distracting. Iveta’s very distracting outfit, however, is not a problem, and she’s moving to the next round.

Wadi Jones is a bboy known for his freerunning. Sasha & Natalia Mallory decide to perform together again for their “solos”. They’re heading to the next round.

114 people move to the next round (hip hop with Tabitha and Napoleon), with 46 having been eliminated from the solos that may or may not have featured two dancers.

Chyna Smith tries to be up for the challenge of being bad ass and buck. As much as any person from Idaho can be. She realizes she’s not very good, but they’re going to give her another chance.

Hero McRae (who I never understood why they didn’t send to choreography) and Patty Anne Miller are eliminated. Mary Kate Sheehan, Kristen Dobson, and shouldn’t have been sent to Vegas Princess Lockerooo are also out.

Wadi Jones will perform in spite of the cramps in his legs. He’s lucky this is a comfortable style for him because the lack of practice doesn’t hurt him.

8 contestants have been given another chance to dance the same style they messed up earlier, including Chyna and Iveta. They’re all through to the next round.

The first challenge of the next day is Tyce Diorio’s broadway routine. Jason Gilkison joins the judges’ panel while Adam gets his knee checked at the hospital.

Lil O, somebody named Jessica, Jordan Casanova, and Wadi are through to the next round. A long list of others join them.

Rebecca Hart is in her fifth season. She talks about how she really wasn’t going to come back again. Really? Jeremiah Hughes has been around just as long as her and has gone so far as to audition for SYTYCD Canada, too. He was previously cut in a silly display from the judges complaining about him being upset. Jeremiah scrapes through. Rebecca is out, and her request to dance for her life is denied, regardless of whether she’s made it further than this before or not.

Jason Gilkison’s jive is the next task.

Josh Williams has been struggling to lift his larger partner Natalia. Whether she’s talented or not, her size is a problem (if it weren’t, they wouldn’t have to work around it), and keeping her around just seems to be delaying the inevitable. They are split up and given new partners. Natalia gets a larger Bryce Johnson (the professor) as her new partner. She’ll be moving to the next round.

Ryan Ramirez was axed last season in the final round. She’s going to the next round, and so is Sasha.

With a winner in her family, Alexis Mason is expected to be in the top 20, which we’ll be back to again since they decided the top 10 concept was stupid. The judges question think her performance was artificial, whatever that means, and ask her to dance for her life. Nigel says no. Mary agrees with him but says yes. Tyce is also conflicted but says yes. Debbie also says yes, which is enough for her to stick around.

At 10PM, they’re told they are not done for today. It’s group night. Each group picks a CD at random and must create a routine for that piece of music.

A group of contemporary dancers (Bridget, Caitlynn, Ricky, and Clarice) plus Wadi is up first. They bounced through their choreography quickly and were all quite happy as they finished up around midnight. They sail through to the next round.

Natalia is not feeling well, but she has been cleared by the medics to dance. In her group are DC, Arielle, Dashi, and Jordan. Their additional problem beyond the lost rehearsal time is that DC feels he’s being ignored by dancers outside of his style who are too graceful. Regardless, they’re through to the next round.

Day 3 is contemporary day, which Nigel warns them will be a bloodbath.

Ryan is injured and off to the hospital for an X-ray. Natalia’s also off to the hospital due to her low blood sugar.

Sasha is through to the next round, and so is Bryce. Robert Taylor Jr., Wadi, and Lil O are as well.

Ryan returns with good news that she does not have a fractured or broken butt, just a lot of deep tissue brusing. She is cleared to compete and opts to dance in this round regardless of the lack of rehearsal. To give her a bit of a boost, they give her Robert Roldan as a partner, but she doesn’t really need the help because she’s got it down.

Jeremiah and Arielle are in the next group. He has been cut in contemporary twice before, and she was eliminated last time in this round as well. DC is also in their group. Arielle has been eliminated, and DC has as well, with a request from Debbie to man up. For Jeremiah, the news is positive.

Chyna is out.

Natalia returns with news that she has diabetes. She is cleared to dance and gets a pass through contemporary, and she and her sister are through to the next round.

Kimalee Piedad, Chase Thomas, and Amber Williams have been eliminated.

The final performance of the night goes to Alexis Mason, who has been eliminated.

31 dancers remain, and from them the top 20 will be chosen.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of So You Think You Can Dance Season 8 Episode 5, which airs Thursday at 8/7c on Fox.

Salt Lake and Utah in So You Think You Can Dance Season 8 Episode 2 brought us Chyna Smith, Chase Thomas, Brandon Jones, Virgil Gadson, Mary Kate Sheehan, Jess LeProtto, and Kristen Dobson. Tonight we head to Los Angeles, where Tyce Diorio joins Mary and Nigel.

Jordan Casanova dances to a song called Naughty Girl, while insisting she’s innocent. Mary calls that one of the hottest performances ever.

Derion “DC” Chapman teaches Nigel some new dances that Nigel considers hip. This is Nigel we’re talking about here, but anyway, he enjoys that the most since season 4 when Twitch did the conducting.

Arielle Coker keeps coming back each year and promises to keep coming back until they let her be on the show. A quick search tells me she has made it to Vegas before, so it goes without saying she’s going again. Nigel was captivated and says she keeps getting better, while Mary was knocked out.

Hero McRae came here from Japan to dance for us. Nigel loved that. He’s not sure whether she can do anything else but doesn’t care, and she’s going to Vegas.

Joe “Big C” Doyle is under the impression he’s Santa Claus. He’s not, for the record, and I’d be happy if I weren’t eating while he strips.

Season 5 winner Jeanine has brought her little sister Alexis Mason. High expectations to live up to, but she does not disappoint.

Patty Anne Miller is a hip hop dancer that has the judges chatting from the start. The judges love her, and Nigel doesn’t mind not getting an answer to what other styles of dance she’s done.

The final audition of the season is sisters Natalia and Sasha Mallory. Once they’re done slapping each other, they perform together. Nigel was especially shocked by Natalia, who lacks the physique of a dancer, but nonetheless is a strong dancer. Tyce wanted more, though. They’re the first of the night to head to choreography, and then they head to Vegas.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of So You Think You Can Dance Season 8 Episode 4, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on Fox.

The auditions kicked off in Atlanta and San Francisco in So You Think You Can Dance Season 8 Episode 1, as we got to see Melanie Moore, Kimalee Piedad, Ashley Nicole Rich, and returning hopeful Ryan Ramirez. Tonight we head to Salt Lake City and New York City, breaking away for now from the evening’s tornado coverage.

Robin Antin joins Nigel and Mary in Utah, home of High School Musical.

Devon McCullough and Micah Clark are steppers. Mary thought they were fun and had personality, though she doesn’t know if they can do anything else. They’re heading to choreography.

Chyna Smith is obsessed with the show, but not in a creepy way. She reminds Nigel of Molly. Robin would put her at the top of her list if she were casting the Pussycat Dolls.

Annie Gratton impresses the judges, then her dad steps on stage and joins the act.

Tadd Gadduang adds some humor to his bboy routine, and he’s going to Vegas.

Samantha Hiller danced to the point of knocking herself into amnesia three weeks ago. At least she remembers how to dance. She’s headed to choreography.

Micah and Samantha have been cut, but Devon is going to Vegas (I was more impressed with Samantha).

Chase Thomas is in love with himself, and he’s got the body to get the audience’s attention, though they’re disappointed to find out about his second engagement and subsequent marriage to another college student. Turns out he didn’t even need the lack of clothing to make his way to Vegas.

Brittany Starr has a short story that she’d like to make long. She says Ringo Starr is alive and her father. The real Ringo Starr, not the fake one we see on TV. If she were related to Elvis (a living Elvis not currently on another planet), that would impress me. Needless to say, the audition is a joke, and Mary accurately describes her as delusional. She hopes we remember her. When she dies.

Jason Gilkison joins Mary and Nigel in New York.

Princess Lockerooo calls her dance style whacking. Well, this should be a way to fill five minutes. The judges are sending her to Vegas. Huh?

Contemporary dancer Brandon Jones dances in memory of his father, receiving glowing compliments from the judges.

Brian “Hollow Dreams” Henry wants to take krumping back to Brooklyn. He says he’s dancing this violent/angry style in order to praise God. In spite of Mary whining about him dissing Lil C, he’s heading to choreography.

Mary Kate Sheehan is a champion Irish step dancer, a style she tells us was the Irish as a way of dancing without moving the tops of their bodies so their British overlords didn’t know they were dancing. She’s going to choreography.

Virgil “Lil O” Gadson has Nigel believing that, as a performer, he’ll do well on this show. Jason can already imagine him in the top 20.

Mary Kate is going to Vegas, and so is Brian.

Jess LeProtto is an actor/dancer/singer, in some order. He’s a musical theater dancer. Nigel enjoyed that, but he’d like to see Jess look like he enjoyed it, too. Mary agrees. Jason, however, loved it. He gets a yes for choreography. Picky judges.

Kristen Dobson could probably form an outfit out of what she’s wearing, but it would take some effort. Jason enjoyed her personality but felt her closed off from her partner. Mary is impressed with her progress in 3 years of dancing. She’ll be in choreography as well.

Robert Taylor Jr. has a fun act that would be wiser to be put into a group effort on America’s Got Talent. Mary calls him the most entertaining person of the day.

I didn’t get why either Jess or Kristen went to choreography, and they’re going to Vegas.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of So You Think You Can Dance Season 8 Episode 3, which airs Thursday at 8/7c on Fox.

With Idol being put out of its misery for the season, that means it’s time for So You Think You Can Dance. Mary Murphy is returning after having been benched last season. Lil C joins Mary and Nigel. We start off in Atlanta, GA.

Colombian salsa dancer Bianka Hinklerian starts things off on the right foot and heads to choreography.

Melanie Moore is an art major whose father died at a young age. At that time, she was not good at dance. Nigel is amazed but worried she’ll fall apart in Vegas. Mary is overwhelmed.

Deon Lewsa, Jr. and Damon Bellmon are under the mistaken impression they’re ladies’ men who are going to land Cat or some other female who they view as desperate. They have better odds of just hitting on each other. At least they’re entertaining dancers. They’ll be heading to Vegas. This is the start of a record setting 10 dancers in a row who go straight to Vegas.

Marko Germar was shot in 2009, and the bullet’s still in his shoulder. He said he’d be back and be a beast, so here he is, being a beast. He’s headed to choreography.

Bianka makes it through to Vegas, and Marko will be joining her.

Kimalee Piedad is given compliments across the board and is going to Vegas.

Then we get a Lil C montage. Nobody knows what he’s talking about as usual, even himself.

Uncoordinated white boy John “White Chocolate” Palermo believes he’s a hip hop dancer. I guess it really doesn’t matter what kind of dancing he does because it will look equally bad regardless. Before he leaves, he wants a hug from all of the judges.

Kyre Batiste has a familiar face at the judges’ table, as his grandmother is pulled up from the audience. She turns out to be his toughest critic, one who hits Lil C with her belt. He gets two votes for choreography, if you count his grandma, which they do. That’s as far as he’ll get.

In San Francisco, Tyce Diorio and Toni Redpath join Nigel.

Amber Williams always has people asking if she’s on something, for good reason. Her excess of quirkiness is distracting, but the judges enjoy her dancing and are sending her to Vegas.

Nigel calls Bboy Timothy Joseph stunning but wants to see if he can make it in choregraphy. Toni’s not impressed by anything more than the tricks and votes no, but Tyce gives him the second vote he needs.

Ieshia Moss didn’t know the auditions were coming to town until she turned on her local news. Too bad she had to turn on her local news. She fancies herself a stripper, but at least she’s keeping her clothes on. The booty shaking and missing front tooth are bad enough. She sticks around to encourage Marcos Pieto in his similarly trainwreck performance.

Danielle Ihle has been homeless since her father lost his job, kept it from the family, and then abandoned them. Toni likes the spinning and the dancing, but she lacks the emotional connection. Nigel would rather have seen a happier audition, but he’ll let her go to choreography.

Ashley Nicole Rich wows the judges, who will be sending her to Vegas… and then singing.

D’on-que (if that’s his real name, his parents are mean) Addison warns us of a pending rising of the underdogs. He will not be part of that rising, whether he breaks down crying or not.

Saying he tweaked his knee, Timothy opts to bow out. Danielle heads to Vegas.

Jeffery McCann is another bboy. The critique he gets is “heck yeah,” which apparently is sufficient explanation for his trip to Vegas.

Ryan Ramirez returns after getting cut last season from the top 24.

Levi “I Dummy” Allen brings us turf dancing, which originated in Oakland. He heads to choreography but not to Vegas.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of So You Think You Can Dance Season 8 Episode 2, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on Fox.