This week's comments, questions and concerns come without any technical dance knowledge and no actual dance skills ... just straight up love for "So You Think You Can Dance."
Bear with me, friends: We're almost through the auditions and getting closer and closer to the good stuff! Atlanta was no joke, seriously no joke. It was hard to choose the dancers to highlight below because one after the other impressed the pajama pants off me.
Atlanta Audtions
Guest Judge: Debbie Allen
Audrey Case
Everyone loves a little potty humor, right? Audrey Case used her super special talent -- making fart noises with her neck (it was more of squeak, if you ask me) -- to grab the attention of the Nigel Lythgoe, Mary Murphy and Debbie Allen and then kept their attention throughout her audition, getting a standing ovation and a ticket to Vegas.
Tim Conkle
Tim Conkle stepped on stage carrying a Selena Gomez backpack (odd) and a schoolboy schtick about learning to dance so he could get girls. The minute "Moves Like Jagger" played and he started to kick, jump and spin across the stage, I confidently announced for no one to hear, that this karate/dance combo style of dance would get him through to the choreography rounds. After a brief showing of his barely-there ballet skills, the judges sent him straight through to Vegas. I was personally shocked, and actually yelled, "OH NO WAY!"
Janelle Issis
Belly dancing is on the list of things that I can't wrap my brain around, but I don't care because it's pretty remarkable. Janelle bewitched the judges with her sparkling eyes and infectious smile, but they sent her through to the choreography rounds to see what else (besides ridiculously moving hips) she had to offer and all she got in return was a ticket to Vegas.
Danielle Dominguez
There are four things you need to know about Danielle: She's a bacon lover, cheerleading mom, "weird" dancer and she went straight to Vegas! Her double jointed dance moves had Nigel thinking she'd be a favorite of veteran "SYTYCD" choreographer Sonja and he casually mentioned how she'd be a great match for Season 4 dancer Mark Kanemura ... Mark, you can't just casually mention Mark! (I mean, he was a part of this, after all).
Courtney Kirby
Courtney brought her adorable, crying Grandma Everdeen (Katniss, anyone?) and she hit the stage while Grandma sat with the judges clutching Mary's hand. Courtney floated around the stage making her leaps and spins look easy, like really I-can-do-that-easy, which clearly they are not. After the first Nigel innuendo joke of the night -- "I think she thinks she's got my hand" when referring to Grandma's tight grip on Mary -- Courtney was handed her ticket to Vegas.
Asher Walker
"Footloose" at its finest! Asher Walker, a nice country boy, brought us the second Justin Bieber reference of the night and memories of Kevin Bacon cutting loose in one of the best dance movies (or movies, movies) ever. Asher's skills may not have been as finely tuned as some of the other well-trained dancers, but as Nigel said, he was so entertaining and his musicality was "fabulous." His good ol' boy charm got him a ticket to Vegas.
George Lawrence II
The parents-not-supporting-me backstory gets me every single time and this athlete-turned-dancer, George Lawrence, had me at hello. His power and strength was so obvious, but he presented it so softly that it was actually beautiful. No surprise to literally anyone, George Lawrence II is headed to Vegas.
Dion & Damon
This duo, Dion and Damon, tried out last year hoping to be a part of Season 8, but ripped off their choreography from YouTube, and received some major backlash from fans of the show. Because "STYCD" is SO awesome, they let them come back for a second chance and these jokesters brought their A game. This year, they put together a really fun "Moves Like Jagger" routine that was rather impressive; but after both were sent to the choreography round, unfortunately only Damon made it through to Vegas.
Question:
Where are the ballroom and salsa dancers at? Have we seen one?
Comment:
My one complaint for this episode was the number of super incredible dancers they quickly breezed through because there was just too much talent for a two-hour show.
Concern:
We haven't seen Mary Murphy craughing in two solid episodes now ... and I'm worried.