The SYTYCD season 11 auditions continued this week in one of the most exciting audition episodes yet.
This week, Nigel Lythgoe and Mary Murphy were joined on the judging panel by Fabrice Chalmers from the Joffrey in Chicago, and star of stage and screen Christina Applegate in L.A. There were also a boatload of past So You Think You Can Dance stars in the audience for the L.A. auditions, and we even got to see some of them take the stage with a few of the contestants.
Chicago standouts
Paul ‘The Puppet’ Brushaber
We met “The Puppet” in Chicago on day two, and found he has invented his very own style of dance, “puppeting.” It’s his very own style of animation; he was inspired by robotics, but put his own spin on it when he realized he looked more like a puppet than a robot. As much as this all sounds like the lead-up to another embarrassing, disastrous audition, his puppeting was actually pretty amazing. And since they’ve previously sent such innovative dancers straight through to the next round, Mary twisted Nigel’s arm and convinced him to put The Puppet through, in spite of the fact that he’s never danced with a partner before.
Emily James
We saw Emily James’ audition in a sneak preview for this week, but we have also seen her on the show before, when she’s auditioned for seasons 8 and 9. She took last season off to go to business school, because she feels bad wasting her marketing degree after her family has put so much money and effort into supporting her. But her beautiful contemporary routine proved to the judges and to Emily that she was meant to be a dancer. And to help her on her way, Mary gave her a ticket to the next round.
Jenna Scaccia
Ballet dancer Jenna Scaccia had a bit of extra pressure on her for her audition, since the Joffrey-trainee would be auditioning for Joffrey principal dancer and choreographer Fabrice Chalmels. He didn’t remember her before her audition, but her beautiful performance is sure to stand out in his mind. And it had to have meant a lot to her to hear Fabrice say, “You made me proud!” Almost as much as it probably meant for her to get a ticket to the next round.
L.A. standouts
Jana ‘JaJa’ Vankova
JaJa Vankova came all the way from the Czech Republic for her dance career, but she was brought to the U.S. by SYTYCD’s very own Phillip Chbeeb. The season 5 animator met JaJa in a class he was teaching in the Czech Republic, and encouraged her to come to America. Her audition was one of the best female hip hop auditions we’ve seen, and it was great to see a girl perform so strongly in what has otherwise been a male-dominated field. The judges were basically throwing tickets at her as soon as she was finished.
Dani Platz
Dani Platz has come a long way to this audition stage, having taken two years off from dance to recover from an eating disorder, and come to terms with her body image issues. Her audition routine represented this journey, and it was beautiful while being, at times, a little bit ugly. It was a tearful and healing experience, and Christina told her, “By telling us your story, you’re healing a lot of girls out there who feel the same way you did.” After choreography, Dani was off to the next round.
Marie ‘Mary Poppins’ Bonnevay
Marie Bonnevay, or “Mary Poppins,” is a French transplant performing in Vegas, and she has a true passion for dance, and hopes that her passion will inspire other young women to start popping through her appearance on the show. Her audition was so captivating that it even inspired last season’s winner Fik-shun to hop up and join her in a little improv. Marie was so thrilled she gave him a huge hug and started crying. “This is what dancing is all about,” she said. “No tricks, just feel it!” After calling her sensational, elegant, and “the epitome of a true artist,” the judges put her right through to the next round.
Dance Crews
Justin Bieber and his choreographer Nick De Mauro were back this week, being worthless for the most part. After revealing that the Syncopated Ladies were last week’s winners, we were introduced to two more crews: Breaksk8 and Academy of Villains.
Breaksk8 specializes in breakdance, flips, and gymnastics…all on skates. They raise a valid point, saying, “We can do what they can do on feet, but they can’t do what we do on skates.” Academy of Villains is an “illusional dance company,” which basically means they’re kind of weird and like to use props. Their slogan is apparently “We’re gonna take you into a dream, you’re gonna leave a nightmare.” By the end of the show, Academy of Villains was leading in Twitter votes.
Next week, the auditions continue in L.A. and Philadelphia on Wednesday at 8 p.m. on Fox.
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