SYTYCD Recap Episode 2

Hey all so I've decided this week to start quasi live-blogging my favorite summer reality shows, starting with So You Think You Can Dance. I also hope to do America's Got Talent and Hell's Kitchen once they get started up. As for last week's show, my early favorites were the tap dancer guy, the Japanese guy, the African-American girl (Arielle?) who was cut early during Vegas week a few years ago, and Brandon, the last guy cut from the top 20 last year. I did think Natalie, the last girl cut before the top 20 last year, was overrated, but then again I didn't see her last year since last season was my first time watching the show and I only watched from the top 20 on. Anyway on to Wednesday night's show...

Miami Auditions Day 1:
Yeah for the show's producers playing "Right Round" in the background during the introduction to Miami- that song is so catchy. Thought it is a bit weird that my 60 year old father has it on his iPod...

The guest judge for this round is Tyce Diorio. I do find this rotating third judge thing a bit weird since I'm used to the typical three judge mainstay on Dancing with the Stars and American Idol (until this year of course) but it is nice that they have experts on different styles of dance.

Tony Riendeau- He claims to have his unique "Tony" style where he moves like a rubber band. This could be really good or really bad. I'm guessing the latter. He's dancing to Footloose, which makes him cool in my book. Though I should put "dancing" in quotes- he's mostly just jogging in place and then doing a few sloppy breakdancing moves. And then he falls down trying to do a cartwheel (I think). Thankfully the judges don't like it either. Tyce calls him "flush it like a public toilet bad", whatever that means. Then he calls it "baahahahaaad". Nigel would have put him through to the choreography but the other two thankfully pass.

After his audition Tony starts feeling faint and asks for a medic. Yet as the show reminds us, during his pre-audition package he said he could go for hours and not get tired. I do hope he's okay though...

Priscilla Marrero- She claims to have been raised on rice and beans. Well whatever she was raised on it worked as she comes out with an impressive routine. The choice of music was weird though and kind of distracting. But she did show great toe-pointing (sorry for the lack of technical terms) and good choreography. She apparently was injured when she was a teen but never gave up. Sympathy points! Nigel loves her lines, Mary says she is captivating, and Tyce says she makes him happy to be a dancer. She gets a ticket straight to Vegas. Not one of my absolute favorites, but good enough to go to Vegas for sure.

Meanwhile Tony is still seeing the medic. To be continued...
After the break we find out he has eaten a banana and drank some water so he is now fine and dandy.

Next up are two more Season 4 returnees- Janette Manrara and Romulo Villaverde. Only Janette made it through to Vegas last season and she was cut before the top 20. It seems like this show gets a lot of repeat auditioners- moreso than on Idol. They have added a backflip lift to their act this time around. They dance a ballroom routine (a salsa) and are pretty good, especially with their lifts. Nigel says it was nice to see some salsa, Mary gives her patented scream, Tyce loved their lifts. They also get through to Vegas. I think that was well-deserved- they remind me of the pros on Dancing with the Stars, though I wonder how they'll do with other styles. Especially since Romulo's celebratory break dance looked like Tony style more than breakdancing....

The Guadix twins- Jennifer and Jessica. They claim to love all kinds of dancing. They do a routine that starts with them sitting and sliding across the floor and then look like drunk girls dancing at a hip hop party. I thought this show focused more on good auditions than Idol does but I guess I was wrong. I read on other blogs last week that the premiere episode had fewer bad acts than usual but I was hoping they were wrong. I guess not. They claimed they only had one day to practice. Nigel wonders why they did not dance in unison and one twin claims they were supposed to be. The key phrase being "supposed to be", as Tyce points out. Is it just me or does he seem Simon Cowell-esque obnoxious tonight? Or maybe he's always like this. Mary says she's never seen anything like that before. Tyce says it was fun yet tragic. Needless to say, they are sent home.

Speaking of Tyce, more shots of him being obnoxious to bad dancers. He calls one dancer a milkshake full of Tylenol. Another one makes him want to call the dance police, and another he compares to Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz (and not in a good way). Okay he definitely is the Simon Cowell of this panel.

Joseph Smith- Claims he will "Schwamm" the judges, and I'm still not sure what that means even after he explains it. I'm not sure if he did that but he did do a very impressive hip hop routine, complete with a split. My favorite of the night so far. Nigel enjoyed it, and Joseph claims he will give a big "Schwamm" once he catches his breath. Mary says he is a great entertainer, but Tyce was only half impressed. They send him to choreography, which disappoints me a bit but I guess his routine was so comedy filled they needed to see if he could do more actual dance, which is fair. He does well with the choreography, at least to my eye. And the judges agree, sending him to Vegas. Good for him. The "Schwamm" is getting really annoying though.

18 dancers get through from the first day in Miami, which I think is a decent number though less than the number that got through NYC on Day 1.

Haha one girl dropped her ticket while celebrating and had to chase after it. I always wondered if those tickets were real or just souvenirs....

Miami Day 2:
Wislande Letang- She feels like she ate a bowl of butterflies before her audition, and during it she just looks like a bad dancer in a rap video. Her movements are ten times slower than the music playing, and her breasts are hanging out under her very short shirt. Mary says it was a dance for Nigel, Nigel says there was no personality in the dance. I think that was the least of her problems. He says it was full of basic step-ball-change moves done by little girls when they first learn to dance. Tyce points out how she shows her crotch during the dance, which is a big no-no as well. She tries to argue back but doesn't make any progress and she is sent home.

Montage of sad rejections, and Nigel crushing dreams, telling mediocre dancers they should consider other careers. Harsh, but someone had to tell them the truth.

Eric "Silky" Moore- A tapper who has done tap and hip hop since he was 10. He wants to bring tap back into the mainstream. He starts out with a cool hip hop slide and then goes right into some fast, smooth tap dancing to "Thriller". He even adds a moonwalk for good measure. Another one of my favorites so far. He then adds some hip hop at the end and he's just as good at that. He even does the worm! Nigel loved the hip hop especially and says he threw everything into that solo. Mary says she didn't want it to end and agrees it was one of the best today. Tyce says he came prepared, whatever that means. Eric explains he got his nickname because he was silky smooth at a dance battle. Then he says he starting tapping to get girls. This guy is awesome! And he gets a ticket right to Vegas! Wow I thought they might make him do choreography but I'm pleasantly surprised they didn't.

Paris Torres- Won a Miss Washington pageant and claims the girls there are actually nice. She comes out and does a pretty routine to a slowed down version of "Toxic". What's with the weird song choices today? It doesn't matter though because she was still really good. Nigel thought it was fabulous and she kept him interested. Mary calls it beautiful and says it was everything they are looking for. Tyce says she focuses too much on her legs and feet- he really is a party pooper. Tyce wants her to do choreography but the others overrule her and send her right to Vegas. She was the best female dancer so far tonight though I wasn't as enthused as Mary and Nigel.

Next up is a montage of dancers who got to Vegas. Henry Rivero does a great contemporary routine. Megan Kinney also impresses, though she does a bit too many handstands/cartwheels and not enough dancing for me in her short clip. Alex Wong is also pretty good- not my favorite, but he does have great lines as Tyce says.

Geo Smith- African dancer complete with headdress. He jumps off the stage and rushes the judges before coming back on and dancing some more. He actually isn't bad. I would send him to choreography to see what else he can do. The judges agree and send him off.

Talia Rickards- married when she was 18 and hasn't auditioned in two years. She was married for four years until her husband crashed his motorcycle one night and died. Wow I though she was going to say they got divorced but this is so sad. She learned not to take life for granted anymore. She does a sexy hip-hop routine that is a bit belly-dancerish for me but still really good. Also hated the music but what can you do. Nigel warns her not to scrunch up her face too much and says there wasn't enough material. Mary likes her fire but agrees on the lack of substance. Tyce says she was one with the music but says there was little hip hop and all energy, which is all fair. Tyce rejects her outright, but Mary says she wants her doing choreography. It's up to Nigel. I'm rooting for her, so I hope he says yes. He says "I'm sorry.... to have to disagree with Tyce!" Oh Nigel, you've been watching Simon Cowell too much!

On to the choreography round, where I thought both Geo and Talia were good but I don't know how to judge them. Geo does get through to Vegas, as does Talia! Good for her, she seems to have potential to be really good.

In all 32 dancers from Miami are off to Vegas... Now it's off to Memphis.

Joining Mary and Nigel is Lil C, a krump legend. All I know about krump from last season is that I hate that style. I do like hip hop though so he won't be too bad, hopefully. He can't be any worse than Tye.

Marico Flake- A local police officer. He claims he does a Memphis Juking? style, which is based on a rhythmic bounce, whatever that means. Based on his audition, it means bouncing in place a lot and doing some hip hop in between. Not really my style but I'm sure some will love it. I do wonder why the song he picked has a lyric saying "He was black not Jewish"- that's kind of random. Nigel enjoys it, as I figured. Lil C says it was just juking, with no fusion of other styles with great humor as well. Mary loves it as well, especially his performance value. They send him straight to Vegas. I have a feeling he'll be really popular even though I don't like that style of dance.

Dustin Dorough- His mother has been a cop for years and taught him how to be a man. Okay.... He is Howie Dorough's cousin from the Backstreet Boys! Wow that's awesome! I have a feeling he will be bad but he gets bonus points for bringing me back to my teen years with that reference. He even learned all Howie's moves for school dances, but that made him unpopular! More bonus points for actually dancing to a good song ("Poker Face"). Unfortunately he isn't good at anything else, from the poor dancing to the goofy grin on his face the whole time. I can't even tell if he is trying to do BSB moves or not. Nigel says that the hip hop community would be insulted by that dance. Dustin claims he had to cut out all his power moves because he just had the flu and bronchitis. This isn't Idol, dude- just because you have bronchitis doesn't mean you can't do power dance moves (not that his would be that good anyway). He claims he will come back next year. Mary wonders why he looked feminine with his moves and that it was too martial arts. Lil C says he should try "tricking" which is more a fusion of martial arts. That's good advice, I like him better than Tye already. And love the BSB music as he walks out of the auditions!

Christopher Carrozzaa- Another guy with his own unique style, which he calls electric. There's a lot of those tonight, aren't there? He basically blends a bunch of styles together and makes a new blend. Mostly he just jumps around and moves his arms over his head. It has a bit of a Bollywood feel to it but not really. Nigel says the choreography doesn't show if he's a dancer, which is true. Mary agrees with me that all he did was jump. Chris just seems happy to share his dancing with the world and had figured he wouldn't get through. Chris starts to walk off without hearing Lil C's criticism. Nigel thinks he is being rude, and Chris says Nigel is being rude for being critical. But that's their job, Christopher!!! Nigel must have read my mind since he says the same thing back to Chris. Chris says he had a good time and that's all that matters and he walks off again without hearing Lil C.

Next up is SYTYCD's Guide to a Good Audition. Why do I have a feeling this will be a montage of bad auditions with Cat saying this is what NOT to do.
1)Start with your best move. And sure enough we get montages of people falling down trying to do big moves.
2)Come dressed to impress. One guy rips off his shirt, another lookks like a goth, and a third wears his number on his arm, reminding Nigel of dancing Nazis. Okay some of the dancers in this group were dressed weirdly, but what's so bad about a number on the arm? I didn't even notice it until Nigel pointed it out.
3) Connect with the judges. Shots of contestants trying to dance to the judges and just looking like fools. Crotch-shower Wislande gets a second appearance.
4) Always follow directions. Apparently there are rules for the dancers to follow for their solos that Nigel gives them before hand- no lipsyncing the words to the songs (that should be a rule on DWTS too!), no dancing on the back of the stage, and don't look down during the dance. Yet dancers break these rules and are send home as result. One guy is told by Nigel to come closer to the judges when he dances, so he runs forward and falls off the stage and flat on the floor. Ouch that had to hurt! That clip was in the previews too and it still makes me cringe. Mia is the third judge in the clip, so it must be from a city we haven't seen yet.

Caitlin Kinney- Her sister was Megan Kinney, who auditioned in Miami, yet we only saw her briefly doing lots of cartwheels. Megan is better in the short clip they show while Cat interviews Caitlin. Caitlin is good as well but I like her sister better. Her sister has more energy, which makes her routine more entertaining. She's only been dancing five years, but Nigel says she is superb, and the camera loves her. Caitlin even had hip reconstruction surgery, which makes her dancing even more impressive, as Mary points out. Lil C says it was lovely to watch. They send her right to Vegas, and since her sister was not featured I guess she will make it further than Megan. I think it's just my personal taste that makes me like Megan better.

Six more dancers get through in the choreography round on Day 1, none of whom we get to see actually dance.

Day 2:
Anna Dunn- Her father killed himself about a year ago. Dancing is her outlet for coping with the pain. Sympathy votes! Hopefully she is better at dancing than fellow sob-story reality show contestant Danny Gokey at singing. She is, as you can see the passion as she moves around the stage. She picked a beautiful song to choreograph her routine too and she rolls around the floor like her life depended on it. She is my favorite from the Memphis auditions so far. Nigel says she overchoreographed by moving her head too much, which I did notice, especially early in the routine. Mary agrees that she loved everything except the head movement. Apparently Lil C's father committed suicide as well, and he tells her to use dance to ease the pain. Aw he made her cry.... They send her to choreography so they can see what her face looks like while she dances. Hmm I would have sent her right to Vegas but it seems like they really liked her from their comments, and just her poor choreography held her back. I think she'll get through.

Travis Prokop - From a small New Mexico town where his father is a football coach. Travis was made fun of for being a dancer and not a football player, yet his dad was always supportive and proud of him no matter what. He has potential but is a bit lazy with his moves. His arms don't go up all the way and the movements are just a bit slow. Nigel says he needs strength in his movements. Mary agrees he has a great future but he needs to be stronger. Lil C says he is graceful but has the strength of a hamster. Maybe that was what I noticed when I said he looked lazy in his movements. They tell him to stay for choreography, which surprises me based on their comments. I'm glad he's getting a second chance though.

Brothers Evan and Ryan Kasprzak Evan auditioned last year with a jazz routine and made it to the top 40. This time he has a Gene Kelly-like routine planned. I heard someone on a blog say there was a Gene Kelly-esque dancer on the show this year, so I wonder if this is him. Ryan is doing a more fun routine with a whoopie cushion accompaniment. That actually sounds pretty funny. Apparently choreographs all of Evan's routines. Evan is first and his style is very theatrical, which I guess could be a good thing for this show. He is very talented though, just again not really my taste. He ends with a cool backflip, and his brother claps in approval. Nigel hopes the other dancers in the building notice the great choreography, since that is what made it so great. Mary worries that solo wouldn't get a lot of public support, since viewers won't see how great of a dancer he is. I can see he's a great dancer, just too theatrical. Nigel worries about the other styles. Lil C calls it amazing but also worries about him doing other styles. But they still send him right through to Vegas. The question will be how long he will last there.

Before we see Ryan we see two sisters, Lauren and Lydia Guerra. They are dancing together- hopefully they are better than the other twins we saw before. And wow are they! They are in unison doing a contemporary routine and while I like Lydia better, both are very talented. They are two of my favorites so far. Nigel says Lydia was the better dancer but Lauren the better performer. He calls them a joy to watch. Mary says they have great technique and are solid. Lil C says they are different in how they dance but both are great. They both are sent to choreography. What is with all my favorites in this round going to choreography.

Now it is Ryan's turn. I thought his routine would be all fun but it actually is really good. He taps around the whoopie cushion, occasionally stepping on it for humor. At one point he starts to step on it but then shakes his head and keeps going! He is not as good a dancer as his brother but to me he is more entertaining. Nigel says it is a lot of fun and asks him what else he can do. He says he taught Evan what he knows and also has done other styles of dance. Mary thinks it is clever and pure entertainment. Lil C says he used his prop well. Nigel wants him to do choreography, but Mary and Lil C send him right to Vegas! I knew I liked Lil C!!

All that's left is the choreography round. I hope Anna and the twins get through. Twin Lauren is sent to Vegas, as does Anna (yeah!!!). Travis is surprisingly sent to Vegas since he improved with the choreography. The last one left is Lydia. Nigel teases her a bit saying he hates splitting up family. Then all we see is Lydia bursting through the door with a ticket in her hand! Double yeah!!!

15 Dancers in all get through from Day 2 at Memphis.

So while they were more clunkers tonight there were some standouts as well. My favorites were Joseph Smith, Eric "Silky" Moore, Megan Kinney (in what little glimpse we saw of her), Ryan the whoopie cushion dancer, twins Lauren and Lydia, and Anna Dunn.

Any thoughts on tonight's show? Feel free to post your comments below.