So You Think You Can Dance: Destination Vegas

Well, it’s finally arrived. Welcome to So You Think You Can Dance (dance………………dance) Vegas week! After seemingly endless weeks of auditions we’re down to one hundred and fifty two hopefuls.

And At Least One Idiot  

 

Why is Mia Farrow wearing a paisley bullseye on her vag? 

As Cat tells us how awesome the talent is and how tough this week is going to be, we see clips from this episode and the rest of the Vegas callbacks. And then we hear Mia say that season six is going to blow season five out of the water. Again. Yeah, that’s old already.

And so is seeing this dude on my TV 

On the judges panel for Vegas is Sir BitchyPants, Mia, Debbie Allen (yay!), Adam, Mary and Nigel. No Lil C this year? Interesting. Cat tells us that the week will begin with each dancer taking the stage alone to perform a solo. 

First up is Nathan Trasoras! Remember Nathan? He’s the kid last season that was too young for the show so Nigel gave him a ticket straight to Vegas for this season. I remember really liking this kid. He tells Cat he was frustrated that he had to wait, but then he was excited because he had time to work on what he needs to work on. But then again, you have to live up to your expectations.

I like him 

And Adam looks like he might be in love. 

The judges don’t give any feedback at this point, but Debbie does turn to Mia sitting beside her and says, “Amazing.”

Next up is Ellenore Scott, doing a sort of a parody of classical ballet. It’s clever and funny, and also shows that she can actually dance. I am both really liking this audition, and somewhat irritated by it. I think she is going to annoy the crap out of me, but right now I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt.

She gets a standing ovation from everyone except Mia when she is done. After Ellenore, we get quick clips of other solos, and a peek at Nigel’s new (and awful) haircut.

I never thought I’d actually miss the Barry Gibb do! 

After the first ten solos, the judges compare notes and those ten dancers are called onto the stage. Nigel tells them they need three yeses to keep them in the competition. Nigel asks two kids we’ve never seen before, Chance and Paige, to step forward. They’re cut.

Good bye people I don’t know or care about! 

We get glimpses of people we’ve seen before, and some we’ve never seen. Looks like Silky has decided to do a contemporary solo this year instead of tap. And he does some sort of flip that causes Debbie Allen to curse. Go Silky!

After clips of some pretty great dancers all getting through, we move on to Allison Becker, the hearing impaired dancer, and Thomas Hamilton, the kid whose mom is a drug addict. Cat tells us they both had to overcome incredible obstacles to make it through the auditions in their cities. Allison seems to do fairly well, but Thomas……..well, it looks like he forgets some of his routine and decides to improvise.

Not a good idea. 

They both get cut. Their cuts are followed by a montage of Nigel telling dancers they’re outta there. Time for a quick break! Going into the break we see a clip of Mia telling someone what they did was so disrespectful. Oh! I can’t wait to see what that was!

Were they talking on their cell phone? 

Ooooo, I hope not!

Back from commercials, it’s time for the last solo (duet) of this round. It’s Willem de Vries and Jacob Jason, the same sex ballroom couple that originally auditioned in Phoenix.

I think it’s interesting that both Tyce and Adam are talking to their fellow judges about liking Willem but not Jacob. It’s interesting to me because Willem is dancing the traditional “male” role, while Jacob’s dancing appears to be more feminine.

Nigel calls the last group all up on stage, and I love the editing on this show because one of the girls in the cut montage we just saw waltzes right onto the stage. Nigel makes it seem as if Jacob is the only one who gets cut from this group, but the girl walking by a couple of seconds ago and appearing in the cut montage says something different.

Anyway! Jacob pretty much just walks out without even saying good-bye to his partner which I thought was a little lame. Willem wonders if he’s upset because they didn’t get a critique back from the judges, but he shouldn’t be upset about that; no one got feedback in this round.

 

Bye Bye Ya Big Baby 

It’s 7 pm on day one and the cuts have brought the total remaining dancers down to one hundred and eleven. Time for some hip hop. Ryan Kasprzak hams it up a little for us as does Teddy “Get Him Off My TV Now” Tedholm.

Is he wearing his dad’s undershirt? 

Handling choreography for the hip hop round are everyone’s favorite hip hop choreographers, Tabitha and Napoleon. Teddy talks but I just jab myself in the ear with an ice pick so I don’t have to listen. 

B-boy Jean Lloret is having a little bit of trouble keeping up with the choreography, which is a shame because he has some really good moves AND he seems like a little sweetie pie. He says they’re going really fast, and this is where it’s definitely harder on the guys that haven’t had to pick up choreography before.

Teddy’s in the first group, dancing with that Christina salsa popping girl that the judges loved but I thought was a big bowl of meh. Nigel stops the music before their completely done, but never fear, they’ve all made it through.

BLARF. 

Jean is in the next group, and he’s visibly struggling to keep up. Unsurprisingly, he gets cut. Nigel is nice about it though, saying it’s a shame because he is so fantastic at what he does. Jean has a great attitude, saying he has to practice and come stronger next season. I do hope he comes back.

We see the girl with the sick dad from last year (Amanda Kirby??) get cut, along with a bunch of other people I’ve never seen before.

And some I hope to never see again. 

And then it’s Ryan’s turn. Of course Cat feels a need to reshow us Ryan during the season five auditions, including the scene of them at the end of the top twenty selection and Evan getting picked over Ryan. Ummm, I really REALLY don’t need to see that again. It’s not like season five was sooooooo long ago I can’t remember. Shit! Didn’t they just show that to us when we saw the L.A. auditions??? UGH.

After their group dances, Nigel calls Ryan forward. Nigel tells him that they’re split three-three. That’s enough to keep him in the competition, but not enough to keep Nigel from giving him a little lecture about spending too much time in the studio (watching his brother) rather than training. I actually thought he did well during this round, certainly better than the girl he was dancing with. Thus ends day one.

Day two! Today the dancers have cha cha, but first, they’re sitting down to a nice healthy breakfast. Accompanied by some white girl trying to rap. She does not succeed. I have another Silky sighting, but I’m wondering if I should be worried about him making it through since we haven’t heard him mentioned once yet. 

Louis van Amstel (assisted by Anya) will be their choreographer for this round, and Cat tells us he has put together a particularly difficult routine. First Louis and Anya demonstrate the routine, and holy moley, it looks FAST.

More glimpses of familiar faces, and then. Someone gets whacked in the nose. It’s poor Billy Bell, bopped in the nose by Christina the Salsa Popper. I knew I didn’t like that girl. He has blood pouring out of his nose, and the helpful editors show us him getting whacked by Christina again. In slow motion. With a helpful arrow pointing it out.

Thanks for saving me the photoshopping, editors! 

If you missed it the first time, they show it three more times (in a row). Thanks so much guys! The only thing that could have made that better is if you could have shown the blood spurting from his nose in slo-mo. 

Cat tells us Billy is not allowed back on stage until after the bleeding is stopped. But the rehearsal must go on, and so it does. Some people seem to be having problems, but krumper Russell Ferguson seems to be doing well. Yay! I really like him!

GOOOOOOO Russell!! 

He tells us he’s just going to move through this competition with weight, power, love, passion, and just doing his thing, trying to make it out of the hood. He’s trying to put Boston on the map.

Already Done! 

It looks like he’s paired up for ballroom with Iveta, so know we know that not only is a good dancer and a cutie, but he’s smart as well. 

Just as the judges take their seats for the performances, Billy’s nose stops bleeding. So basically he missed out on all the rehearsal time because of Christina and her stupid elbow. They practice in the aisles until it’s their group’s turn to take the stage.

On stage now is Russell and Iveta’s group. Silky is also in this group for those that care. Russell and Iveta are kicking ass. So much so that Nigel begins to channel Austin Powers, shouting out “Yeah, baby!”

You Are Gross 

The whole group gets through, and Adam calls out “Couple Number Two!” (Russell and Iveta) and then stands up and claps for them. He tells them that was the most unexpected thing he has ever seen. Nigel tells Russell he’s dancing with a world champion, and whatever she did to Russell, she should do to a lot more people here.

I love when you see unlikely partnerships that really work on this show. These guys are actually really adorable together. Iveta says it wasn’t hard to work together at all, she says maybe they should do ballroom together and then she could learn the what-do-you-call-it? Krumping.

Then it’s time for a montage of good ballroom before we get to Billy Bell and his nose crunching partner, Christina. Did you miss her clocking him in the face? Here, let’s see it again.

He actually hasn’t even been able to do it with the music yet, he tells Cat. That’s sort of a crock of shit. He may not have done it on stage to the music, but if he and Christina have been practicing while everyone else goes I’m pretty sure they’ve been playing the music. 

Billy is definitely freaking out here, you can tell he’s almost in tears, probably because he feels woefully unprepared for this. And who knows if his stupid partner will hit him in the nose again? Also in Billy’s group is b-boy Legacy who has been partnered with crying pixie girl from last year (Paula Van Oppen). 

Before rehearsals Legacy was full crap confidence, telling us he’s going to tap into his Latin roots, and the faster the better. But then the rehearsals started, and he realized that the cha cha is no joke. He tells Cat he’s not used to copying other people’s movement, but he better get used to it if he makes it onto this show. You don’t get to make up your own choreography for the dances, dipshit!

The group dances and Mary tells Legacy that he was not good. She says it is killing them because they love what he does, they love his solo, but he did not bring it in personality in this routine. He’s going to have to dance for his life. Everyone else is through to the next round.

Another dude named John is told he’s going to have to dance for his life as well. And then, it’s time for the final group of the day. Ryan is in this group, and after what happened yesterday he looks like he is shitting a brick.

Please don’t poop on the stage, Ryan! 

He’s trying so hard to be intense, but it’s coming off as both desperate and creepy. This is not good at all. At the very least he will be dancing for his life. Nigel says they gave him an extra chance yesterday because they just adore what he does. His solo is outstanding.

Nigel goes on to say that today it was frighteningly strong and there was no relaxation down into the hips. He looked as if he was going to mug his partner. Basically, it sucked. And he’s outta there. 

“Evan? I got cut. I knew I should have done a Tonya Harding on your ass last year!” 

Yeah, I’m not surprised by this at all. But unlike with Natalie’s cut last year, I’m not pissed off. He didn’t do well in this round, so they cut him. I think they would have cut him anyway, even if he was amazing. Maybe not this time around, but he was never going to make the top twenty, not after Evan went so far against Nigel’s wishes last year. Bye, Ryan. I really hope you get to come back and choreograph for the show!

Day two is winding down, and it’s now time for John Litzer and Legacy to dance for their lives. Up first is John.

That was an acro routine with a little bit of dancing thrown in. I did not like it at all. Nigel tells him his face was dead throughout the entire performance. It’s a no for Nigel. Mary gives him a yes because she thinks he is so talented and deserves another chance. Adam says yes too. 

Debbie Allen thinks they have men that are so much stronger than him. No. Mia says no, so it’s all up to Tyce. After being his normal Sir BitchyPants self and talking way too much, his vote is no. So John is sent on his way. Don’t feel too bad for him though. He’s only eighteen, I’m sure he’ll be back again.

Legacy is the only dancer left to perform and he’s being a big ole drama queen.

Are the cameras on me? Boo hoo hoo. 

 

Are you getting this? 

He tells us he’s trying to hide his emotion that he was just blubbering all over my TV so that he can leave it all on the stage. Dude! You left most of it on my TV!!!

I honestly don’t get what the big deal is about this guy. He isn’t doing anything we haven’t seen before. And better. Plus his transitions are for SHIT. He’s not horrible, but the judges creaming themselves over this guy just reinforces for me my suspicion that he’s going to make it into the top twenty because he has a previous relationship with the show. It’s annoying.

Nigel tells him his cha cha stinks and the only reason he’s standing there is because his b-boying is great. But he’s got to come up to a certain standard, he needs to be able to dance on his feet too. It’s a yes for Nigel.

Sir BitchyPants also gives him a yes. Mia calls him an asshole and after criticizing his transitions also gives him a yes. Even though that’s enough, Debbie tells him he gets a yes from her too. 

You got a little something in your tooth there, Debbie. 

Adam tries to say transitions three times, but can’t. Oh! It’s a new tongue twister! It’s a yes from him too. Mary doesn’t vote at all because she can count to three and knows her vote is meaningless at this point.

We do get some good news here as Cat tells us some other early “favorites” didn’t make the cut.

Hip Hip HOORAY!!!! BUH-Bye! 

Awwww, the New Orleans bounce dancer Shelby Skipper gets sent home too. He says he will be back, and he’s another one I hope to see again.

Next week – the most exciting rose ceremony Vegas week ever! Looks like Drill Sargent Gibson will be there, and Sir BitchyPants and Mia are choreographing as well. I wonder who Sir BitchyPants will be ripping off this year? Ummm, I see a clip of Russell crying and I am gonna be hella pissed if he is cut. 

P-I-S-S-E-D.

And in case you were wondering, Mia thinks season six is going to blow season five out of the water.

What did you think, Gasmi? Were you surprised by Ryan’s cut, or did you see it coming? Do find Legacy as irritating as I do? Russell as adorable? Come on, let’s dish! 

SWAK, PottyMouth

PS – Only one show next week – Hell’s Kitchen season finale is two hours on Tuesday!