So You Think You Can Dance Auditions: June 2, 2010 by mjcc64

I love having the best dance competition on television back on during the summer. The latest auditions introduced two new choreographers: Hi Hat, a Hip-hop choreographer who has worked with Kanye West, Mary J. Blige and Lady Gaga and Stacey Tookey, a contemporary choreographer. I am looking forward to seeing the routines they develop when the Top 10 is chosen. My overall impression is that the judges are really getting stingy with who they are sending through to Vegas. I was surprised a couple of times they sent people through to the choreography round I thought would have been given a plane ticket. I am already getting anxious about what it will be like when they have to make choices for the Top 10.

The LA & Chicago auditions were all about the women. Male dancers didn't seem to figure too much into the drama.

In the Los Angeles portion I had a different perspective this year because the auditions took place at the Orpheum Theatre. I just attended the Lost Series Finale party there. I spent some time in the theatre and I spent lots of time waiting outside. Very cool.

The first featured dancer was Laura Froderman who only found out about the auditions 30 minutes before showing up at the theatre. I expected her to be a bit of a train wreck but she was fantastic and I definitely see her being in the top 10.

I have to say that Hella Hung was just all sorts of wrong. Characters like this just want their time on camera. The stunned expressions on the judges’ faces were priceless. I just hope he doesn’t get brought back in the season finale to give him more airtime. Better. Not. Happen.

Another dancer I was totally impressed with was Rachel Girma, the rhythmic gymnast. Her skills as a rhythmic dancer completely translated into a fantastic dance routine. She seems to be another contender for the top 10. My only concern for her is that she had stress fractures which prevented her from going to the Olympics so I hope her injuries won’t interfere again.

Overall, two dancers brought me to tears with their stories while one dancer's courage made my heart sing. The first person who brought me to tears was Taylor Costello. She had such a heart wrenching tale with her inspiration being her deceased biological mother. The emotions pouring out while she danced were palpable. The judges loved her but thought her performance was rather frenetic so they put her through to the choreography round. I was surprised and disappointed that they did not put her through to Vegas. Once again I started to get engaged with a dancer who did not make it.

The second was from the Chicago auditions, Andrew Phillips. His fraternal twin was born with Spina Bifida which is a birth defect in which the backbone and spinal canal do not close before birth. His inspiration is his brother who loves to see him dance. He was very interesting to watch but the judges acknowledged that he has great technique but has not grown into his body yet. I thought his performance was such that in previous seasons he would have been put straight through to Vegas but he ended up having to do choreography. Thankfully he did really well. I can’t wait to see how he does in Vegas.

The last dancer got to me but in a different way. He demonstrated he was able to dance to music despite being deaf. In fact, he seemed to have something that other dancers lack at times which is being totally in sync with the music. Some of the judges’ critiques to other dancers was that they were not connecting with the music as well as with them. Jarrell Robinson’s performance was totally attuned to the music. Unfortunately his technique was not at the level they needed but he showed everyone a hearing impairment was not going to prevent him from succeeding in dance. This made the night for me.

Both Los Angeles and Chicago had some great dancers although it was definitely all about the women. I was irritated they had more montages showing people going through to Vegas and basically we got no information about them. We only briefly saw their faces and didn't even get a chance to learn their names. Some of those dancers were even male. One can only hope that does not indicate they will not be important to the overall story arc they are developing. Looking forward to more auditions as well as the beginning of Vegas.