SYTYCD Episode 3 Recap

Hey all I'm back to recap Thursday's show and I promise I'll try to make it shorter this time- especially since I want to go watch the spelling bee on DVR when SYTYCD is over (that bee is addicting, though it makes me feel like an idiot sometimes...)

LA Auditions:
Love Cat getting down and dancing with the auditioners, even laying on the concrete sidewalk to see what it was like for those who slept on the floor all night...

Today's guest judge is Adam Shankman, aka the director of Hairspray! Woot I love that movie (and the show!)

Day 1:

The contestants get a surprise visit from last year's winner Joshua (fan of his) along with
fellow top 20 member Comfort (not a big fan of hers).

Bianca Revels: Another returning contestant who just missed out on the top 20 last year. Returnees have had good luck on this show so far. Her mother is also there for support. She does an a capella tap routine and every time the camera focused on her feet all I could think was "Wow her legs are skinny"! I don't love her somewhat stiff arms but the dancing itself was really good. All three judges give her a standing ovation and call her brilliant. Mary even says she is the best female tap dancer they've ever had. I didn't think she was that good but I haven't seen female tap dancers on this show before so I don't know how many they've had. She gets a ticket straight to Vegas.

Siblings Xavier and Brynelle Blanton- They go everywhere holding hands. That's kind of weird. There's also been a lot of siblings this year- is that always the case? Then they go out and do a very romantic routine that actually isn't horrible until you remember they are siblings, and then it is just gross. I do think Xavier was significantly better than his sister. They do mess up their lifts at the end though. The judges think it is strange and shows a lack of technique. Xavier is happy this competition brought him and his sister closer together. Nigel even says Brynelle dances like she is four even though she has been dancing since she was four. They are sent home even though I think Xavier has potential.

Debra Lawson dances badly in slow motion, then speeds up and gets worse, running around the stage like a mother looking for a lost child. Nigel says she must learn what works for her larger body. Debra is also Jewish, yet if she dances on Saturdays or in front of men she is breaking Judaism rules. Good for her for going for her dreams no matter what. Adam says she should not give up dancing since she loves it, but stresses she is not good enough to do it professionally (that's for sure). She seems like a sweet woman as she is sent home.

Suzanne Fernandez dresses like Britney and does a "fairy medicine dance". Nigel wonders what she is on. John Fleming dresses like KISS and tries (and fails) to dance to heavy metal. Michael Han hops on one leg and copies Rihanna's "Umbrella" routine. All were sent packing.

Calico Sequeira- Swing dancer in her last year of eligibility for the show. She is okay but her male partner is better. The judges find her enjoyable but only good at a social dance level, not at a professional level, which is fair. She too is sent on her way. Rough night so far.

Adam then says he would love to dance with Calico, so she invites him on stage. He even gets a label on the screen listing his name, age (21ish!!!) and hometown like the contestants get! Awesome! The music is slow at first and then speeds up. Adam has some moves (and gets a standing ovation from the judges!)

It gets better as Adam steps up to be "judged" by Joshua, Katee, Comfort and a girl I don't recognize from last season. Katee asks how much he wants it and Adam says he has wanted it bad for ten minutes! Adam reminds Joshua he put him through last year, which is all Joshua needs to give Adam a ticket to Vegas! That was hilarious! He even comes out of the audition room screaming and crying for joy like the other contestants who get through.

More returnees: Asuka Kondoh and Ricky Sun -International Latin ballroom dancers. Asuka made it to the last round before the top 20 last year (there's a lot of that going around tonight). They do a routine to "Mercy" by Duffy and they are really good. My favorites so far tonight, though it is still early. The dance started out a bit slow but then really picked up. I actually liked Ricky a bit better than Asuka. Nigel doesn't remember Ricky being that good last year, and notes Asuka is a great performer as well. Mary agrees, though Adam says he could not keep his eyes off Asuka. Both get tickets to Vegas! I hope to see more from them since they were both impressive.

Montage of great dancers who we don't get names for. One girl dances with a scarf, another in a white tutu. They sandwiched a guy who was really good as well.

Nathan Trasoras- He quit dancing in eighth grade since people always made fun of him. His brother told him to keep going and now four years later he is on this show. I don't love his choreography but he definitely has skills. One move gets a cheer from the crowd though it doesn't seem that impressive to me. The rest of his dance was really good though. Adam calls him bleeping impressive, and Mary agrees. Nigel loves his spins and centers. Unfortunately he is only 17 and thus too young for the show (apparently you must be 18 to audition). But Nigel gives him a ticket to Vegas for NEXT year, and he promises to come back. I don't know why he even bothered to audition if he was too young though. I'm also surprised the age limit is so high since on Idol you can audition when you are only 16.

24 dancers got through on Day 1- that's a pretty good number. No clips of the choreography since we didn't see anyone who got sent there.

Day 2:
Sammy Ramirez- A former wrestler with Allison Iraheta red hair. Now he's a locker who was taught by a dancer named Junior who went to jail for gang violence. The other thing I learned watching this show last season is that I'm not a big fan of the style of popping, but I have to admit this guy is pretty good. He's even kind of entertaining, though he spends a bit too much time moving his shoulders and not enough moving his legs or arms. The judges love him but fear he may only know this style. Nigel has Sammy show off his hair choreography, where he literally moves his hair. That's kind of cool. He is sent to choreography to see if he can learn other styles.

Stacey House does a super fast routine but she actually has some skill in there. She does a weird thing patting her head that is just annoying. I get tired just watching her! The judges thought it was too crazy and send her home. I thought she had some potential but what do I know.

Amanda Kerby- Her dad has MS but has been symptom-free for six years after barely being able to move a few years before that. She dances to a pretty song I don't know and does some impressive turns though the routine was a bit repetitive and it seemed like something was missing. Nigel agrees something was missing but still liked it. Mary loved it even more. Adam says the dance didn't fit the song, which I also agree with. She is sent right to Vegas.

Next up we are re-introduced to Philip, a dancer who made it to Vegas last year but got pneumonia and couldn't go. The judges spot him as he warms up and send him right through to Vegas without an audition. That was nice of them, though it does seem a bit unfair since other returnees had to audition once again this year. We only get to see a glimpse of his audition from last year but it looked pretty impressive.

This year Phillip has a partner, a girl named Arielle Coker who goes to his school. She was in a really bad car accident with her parents. She and her father had relatively minor injuries but her mother broke her leg and neck, among other things. Phillip drove Ariel to the hospital and cheered her up during that time. Aww such a sweetie! She taught him how to partner dance while she was in a wheelchair. That's pretty impressive. They dance together for her audition. The choreography is great and both of them are talented, though I think I like Phillip better. The routine also had a few too many lifts in it and not enough dancing. The judges had trouble taking their eyes off of Phillip but thought she was good as well. She is sent to Vegas after a fake-out from the judges, and she jumps right into his arms.

Alexie Agdeppa dances a routine to a version of "To Make You Feel My Love" sadly not done by Kris Allen. Despite that she does a great job, one of my favorites so far. Diana Vaden also dances well though the electronic soundtrack distracts me from her actual dance. Chanel Smith dances to "Then You Look at Me", another great song, and is another one of my favorites so far despite her weak choreography. All are sent to choreography.

Kevin Cormier- His nickname is "Shakiro" because of his hip shaking, not his looks. He promises something the judges have never seen before. That usually means bad dancing is coming, but he is actually not horrible at the belly dancing. There is not much else in his routine though. He's no Shakira, but he's better than I thought he would be. They say that his audition was just shaking and no dancing, which is true, and they send him home.

All that is left is the choreography round, where we see some of the others from earlier in the episode. Chanel lost her spark from her first audition and is sent home. Too bad I really liked her. She seems devastated by the news. Sammy is up next- I thought he looked great in the clip of his choreography, and the judges agree, sending him through along with Alexie and Diana.

Seattle Day 1: It's raining, of course. Maybe people can use umbrellas for props like that guy last week did.

Wow this is the last audition city- that was fast! Why doesn't Idol have only two days of auditions?? Mia is serving as the guest judge, and I realized last season I don't love her choreography but oh well.

Christopher Keller- He does mix of tangos and swing that will mix gender roles. If the judges didn't like the male partner dancers last week I doubt they'll like this. His partner is his friend from school who is not auditioning so she can stay in school. He gives an odd smirk to the judges as he starts. Then they dance like two drunk high schoolers at prom. There was lots of stiffness and stomping. The judges can't stop laughing before Nigel puts an end to his misery and stops them. Chris says it felt rough since he only had a week to prep. That doesn't surprise me. Again they get the "social dancer" card and are sent off.

Nick "Nasty" Salzman- An aspiring tattoo artist who looks like a wrestler with the muscles and huge tattoos and big earrings. He starts out kind of slow but then starts doing some madly impressive breakdancing/hip ho, complete with a flip. I don't know if his dancing quite matches the music but he certainly has a lot of talent. And of course as soon as I write that he messes up the roll-on-the-head part and stops. He said he wanted to come out and do something different and is happy with what he did. Nigel is offended by that, though I'm not quite sure why. Mary is so offended she switches her vote from a yes to a no!!! All three vote no!!! I thought he was great and should have gotten to do choreography at least! I don't get why what he said was so offensive. Other contestants said the same thing and the judges weren't offended. Though I agree if he can't last through a two minute routine he will have issues on this show. He did say the two ladies were nicer, but that isn't exactly breaking news. And it's no worse than what Idol contestants say to Simon.

Dmitrious Bistrevsky- Over six feet tall. Thought he was a good dancer until he saw himself on tape a week before his audition. I think his instincts were right as he tries and fails to breakdance to a hard rock song. If they didn't send Nick through they better not send him through. He's only been breakdancing three months, and it shows. Mary is scared for his safety. Mia thought the music was killing him, which leads to a cursing match among the judges. He is sent home.

The judges are so bored they are falling asleep during the dances, only to be woken up when one guy falls hard to the ground during his routine. They start being cranky towards the contestants, causing them to cry. Many of them are apparently not showing a lot of passion in their movements, causing Nigel and Mary to yell at those waiting to perform.

Next up after this tirade is Kelsea Taylor, who is begged by Nigel to be good. She is not the best so far tonight but she certainly is the best in the weak Seattle crop that we've seen. Nigel says she fits Sonja's style, which is very true. Then again I don't like Sonja's style which is probably why I didn't love it. The judges like her zany, new style and ask her to do choreography.

There she joins 23 others. Wow no dancers were shown getting tickets right to Vegas. Seattle must have as little dance talent as it has singing talent (at least according to Simon Cowell, who a few years ago called Seattle the worst audition city for Idol of the season, even with Jordin and Blake auditioning there). Kelsea loses some of her spark in her choreography but did a decent enough job to go through to Vegas. Only three other dancers from Day 1 join her. They weren't kidding about the lack of talent in Seattle.

Day 2:

Nigel tells this new crop of dancers to bring it after yesterday's disappointing showing.

-Kuponohi'ipoi Aweau- A Hawaiian dancer whose name is impossible to pronounce or spell. However we may be hearing his name a lot since his solo is one of my favorites so far. It comes complete with a chair and reminds me of some of the dances from the top 20 last year. Mary loved parts of it but thought it was too feminine. Really I didn't see that at all. He gets the comparisons to Mark from last year, which is odd since I didn't like Mark but I liked him. The judges give him a chance to do choreography. I wanted a ticket straight to Vegas for him but hopefully he will impress later on.

The day is off to a better start, with a girl getting invited to choreography and a very impressive guy in a white sweatshirt getting the same. So does another Asian guy. This gets the judges all happy.

But that will change with the return of a guy called "Sex". All I know about him is that he auditioned last year and was told never to do so again. That can't be a good thing. But he's back. His real name is David Soller, and he is a horrible breakdancer who I think is too old for this competition anyway. Nigel did tell him not to come back but that didn't stop him.

Meanwhile we meet Leonid Knyshov- a Ukranian who does grief counseling for a living. I can't really understand much of what he says though with his accent. He does a fast routine like Stacey House earlier in the episode. Then again since they hated her they'll probably hate this too even though I don't think it's that bad. As he slows down though he shows his poor technique more though. It reminded me of someone playing DDR. Leo claims it has elements of jive, though I couldn't see that and neither can the judges. Nigel says it was like it was at a rave party, which actually kind of makes sense. Mary says it was like little kids twirling around, and Mia wants a battle between him and Sex.

And on that note Nigel asks Sex onstage to see which bad dancer can out-bad dance the other.

The producers show footage of great boxing matches and them set up the Battle in Seattle- Leo versus Sex, aka Sex with Leo. That just sounds wrong. I think Leo is better from what I've seen of Sex, not that that is saying much seeing how bad Sex is.

Love the commercial for "Glee" with the kids calling themselves "Gleeks"!

And now the moment we've all been waiting for (well not really)- Leo versus Sex. I'd rather see if that Hawaiian guy made it through to Vegas. They do have an announcer calling the match like a boxing match. Sex wins Round 1 apparently. The second round is closer, and is called a draw after Sex hits the floor and Leo jumps in the air. Leo does a good double turn, while Sex comes back with the worm. Sex is pooped, so Leo wins Round Three. It is a draw, and the judges must pick a winner. Mia picks Leo, as does Mary. Nigel picks Sex, and gets arguments from the ladies. I do agree Leo did a much better job, especially with his twirls. I still think some of his moves are pretty decent, unlike Sex, who is just all around bad.

Nigel suggests Sex go to the choreography round!!! Really??? He does seem to think Sex will fail there, and he does it in hopes it will get Sex to stop auditioning every year. Well that actually does makes sense- maybe if he has some success he will give up. Then again success might encourage him to try even harder next season, and already he is comparing himself to Twitch, who apparently auditioned multiple times before making the top 20 last year.

All that's left is the choreography round. And unfortunately that is right when my TV basically dies. So I guess that is its way of saying my blog should end, though I'm hoping when I wake up tomorrow I'll find out that guy from Hawaii made it through to Vegas. He was one of my faves of the night, along with the Asian ballroom dancers, Sammy Ramirez, and Alexie. I also think Phillip is growing on me if he stops popping and does styles I actually like.

Thoughts on tonight's show? Anyone else think the tattoo artist should have gotten through? Post your comments below.